The visitor from Penglai that day had come to ask for help. In the end, they took Lin Juansheng away with them.
“I don’t know what the matter was. Master performed a divination and decided to send Eldest Senior Brother over to have a look.” Mu Geshen sat with one leg crossed over the other, counting his money. “Eldest Senior Brother really is the best. He even remembered to leave me some pocket money before he left. Unlike my father, who doesn’t give me a single coin even when I don’t see him for years. Hey, Third Brother, when you visit Fengdu, do your elders there give you any private spending money?”
A bout of earth-shaking coughing came from the side, accompanied by a voice speaking between coughs.
“They do, but it’s all underworld currency. No matter how much they give me, I can’t spend it.”
“Fourth Brother, stop talking to him so much. Anyone who didn’t know better would think there was a consumptive living in this room.” The door was kicked open, and Song Wentong walked in carrying a covered soup bowl. “Third Brother, go easy on the coughing. Keep it up and you’ll ruin your throat.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Wu Zixu held a long-stemmed smoking pipe and sighed helplessly. “Who knew smoking would be so difficult to learn?”
“The Guwang smoking pipe is an heirloom passed down through generations of the Yin-Yang House. Just like Second Brother’s Red-Licking Saber, it’s a symbol of the identity of each generation’s Impermanence Master,” Mu Geshen explained. “Putting everything else aside, when you light the pipe to summon the underworld officials, you don’t want everyone watching you choke and cough as though you’re about to die every single time. If this keeps up, rumors will inevitably spread. I heard that people in Fengdu are already saying that the current Impermanence Master is a pampered young master who can’t even smoke properly.”
“Fuck that pampered young master! I’ll chop him up with one slash!” Song Wentong lifted the lid off the soup bowl. “This is to soothe your throat. Drink it, then keep practicing.”
“Second Brother, did you make snow pear and tremella soup?” Mu Geshen’s eyes lit up. Just as he was about to reach for it, his hand was slapped away.
“Get lost. There’s none for you.”
“You’re so biased.” Mu Geshen pouted, then turned to Wu Zixu. “By the way, Second Brother took you to Guanshanyue yesterday, didn’t he? How was it? What did you think?”
It would have been better if he hadn’t said anything. The moment Wu Zixu heard the question, a piece of pear got stuck in his throat, and he nearly coughed himself to death.
“Shut up! Are you ever going to stop?” Song Wentong smacked Mu Geshen on the head. “There’s more in the pot in the kitchen. If you want some, go serve yourself.”
“Looks like it didn’t go too well.” Mu Geshen nodded knowingly. “But Second Brother, you actually managed not to lose every last coin this time? How did Auntie Zhao let you come back?”
“I lost everything. Third Brother didn’t have enough money either.” Song Wentong’s face was black as the bottom of a cooking pot. “Auntie Zhao told Third Brother to sing a song. She said she’d let us leave after he finished.”
Mu Geshen was startled. “Third Brother sang?!”
“He did.”
“Has the sun risen in the west? What did he sing?”
“A funeral lament.”
“…What?”
Wu Zixu couldn’t stand it any longer and defended himself. “I’m from the Yin-Yang House. Every generation of Impermanence Masters only learns this kind of thing. Besides, Second Brother, you were the one who insisted that I sing!”
“So you sang a funeral lament in the middle of the night?”
“It was the mildest option. When an Impermanence Master opens his mouth, even ghosts grow fearful. If I’d sung something else, I might have summoned something.”
“You sure can talk now. Why weren’t you this calm last night?”
Mu Geshen listened to the two of them bicker. He held back for a long time, but in the end, he burst into laughter.
He was promptly thrown out of the room.
With nothing better to do, Mu Geshen found two sturdy-looking ginkgo trees and set up a hammock between them. He lay down and slept so deeply that he lost all sense of time.
Just as he was happily counting money in his dream, something suddenly slapped him across the face.
He drowsily opened his eyes, assuming Song Wentong was messing with him again.
“Second Brother, are you asking to die—”
Then he woke up completely, because the person in front of him wasn’t Song Wentong.
It was a brilliantly colored pheasant.
The two stared at each other for a moment. Mu Geshen reacted quickly, grabbing the bird by the neck and lifting it straight up.
“Since when did Second Brother start raising chickens again?” As he spoke, he shook the bird up and down. “How fashionable. Did you even give it a dye job and a perm?”
The pheasant let out a sharp, strangled cry, but Mu Geshen paid it no mind. He promptly plucked all its bright tail feathers, then stood up with a delighted expression.
“Now I’ve got another shuttlecock! I’ll take you to show Second Brother. Hahaha, let’s see how angry he gets!”
But when Song Wentong saw the bird in his hand, he shook his head.
“This isn’t mine.”
“Not yours? Could it belong to the monks at White Water Temple? No, that doesn’t make sense. Aren’t they forbidden from eating meat?” Mu Geshen looked surprised. He held the pheasant by its neck and examined it from top to bottom. “Could it be wild? Since when did wild pheasants become so flashy?”
“It doesn’t look quite like an ordinary pheasant either. Pheasants are colorful, but their coloring isn’t this… unusual.” Wu Zixu carefully chose his words. “It looks as though someone threw it into a vat of dye.”
The bird in Mu Geshen’s hand was covered in every color imaginable: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet. It was as though its ancestors for seven generations had all been the Seven Fairies, and their colors had somehow combined to produce this garishly multicolored creature.
“Should we eat it?” Song Wentong examined the bird in Mu Geshen’s hand. “We could make a pot of spicy chicken stew.”
“Eat it.” Mu Geshen made the decision immediately. “I’ll pluck the feathers.”
Before he had even finished speaking, the pheasant let out a sharp cry, pecked Mu Geshen viciously, and then bolted out the door. How could Mu Geshen possibly let it get away? He grabbed Song Wentong and chased after it. But after only a few steps, he collided head-on with someone.
“Master?”
“Teacher!”
The Master of the Ginkgo Study looked at the chicken on the ground, bent down, and picked it up.
“What are you doing?”
“Catching a chicken,” Mu Geshen replied. “We’re having spicy chicken stew tonight.”
The Master of the Ginkgo Study looked at the pheasant, whose backside was completely bare of feathers, and wore an indescribable expression.
“You intend to eat it?”
“Are we not allowed to?” Song Wentong’s expression changed. “Teacher, is this chicken yours?”
“It was my oversight. You weren’t at the study yesterday, so you didn’t meet the visitor from Penglai.” The Master of the Ginkgo Study sighed helplessly. “Yesterday, an honored guest came from Penglai. Apart from asking us to send Juansheng over, they also asked me to look after the Star Constellation Master.”
“The Star Constellation Master?” Mu Geshen was stunned. “The Vermilion Bird bloodline, the head of the Zhu family, the Star Constellation Master?” He reacted quickly, staring at the chicken in the Master of the Ginkgo Study’s arms in disbelief. “You mean—?”
“Mhm. You’ve guessed correctly.” The Master of the Ginkgo Study said, “The one you were just about to eat is our new Fifth Brother.”
Song Wentong: “…”
“As descendants of the Vermilion Bird, the Zhu family is one of the Seven Houses of the Hundred Schools. However, the Vermilion Bird is an auspicious divine creature that does not appear in times of peace and prosperity, but only in chaotic times. Now that wars are breaking out all across China, the Zhu family must remain hidden and withdraw from the world. However, the Seven Houses of the Hundred Schools have an ancient alliance sworn in the past. When the world undergoes sudden and dramatic changes, we must take the helm and guide all living beings through the storm. Therefore, whenever chaos descends, the Zhu family sends the Star Constellation Master into the world to lend support to the Seven Houses.”
Inside the waterside pavilion, the Master of the Ginkgo Study held the chicken in his arms and looked at the three people before him.
“This is the current Star Constellation Master, Zhu Yin-xiao.”
“What?” Mu Geshen hadn’t heard him clearly. “Cook supper?”
“Teacher is speaking. Stop interrupting him with nonsense!” Song Wentong kicked Mu Geshen. Then he turned back to the Master of the Ginkgo Study. “But Teacher, why is the Star Constellation Master a chicken? Has the Zhu family run out of people?”
“I remember that when Vermilion Birds are young, they cannot transform into human form, and their appearance and habits resemble those of pheasants.” Wu Zixu pondered the matter. “So the Star Constellation Master is still very young? Why not wait until he’s a little older before sending him into the world? The mortal world is full of turbid energy, which isn’t conducive to a Vermilion Bird’s growth and transformation.”
“The world is in chaos, and time waits for no one.” The Master of the Ginkgo Study gently smoothed the pheasant’s feathers. “I performed a divination several months ago. The time has come for the Star Constellation Master to appear.”
“I see.”
The three of them bowed together upon hearing this. The Heavenly Divination Master calculated the Mandate of Heaven, and all Seven Houses followed his divinations. No one would object to a divination personally performed by the Master of the Ginkgo Study.
“So this is our Fifth Brother.” Mu Geshen looked quite satisfied. “Wonderful! I’m finally not the youngest anymore.”
“There’s no point in competing over something so trivial,” Song Wentong said. “Teacher, your health is poor and it’s inconvenient for you to look after him. Leave Fifth Brother in our care instead.”
“That will do.” The Master of the Ginkgo Study handed Song Wentong a stack of talismans. “These are transformation talismans. When a Vermilion Bird is young, its spiritual meridians are unstable, so it may transform into human form. However, maintaining a human shape consumes a tremendous amount of energy. If Yin-xiao transforms into human form and cannot change back within two hours, use one of these talismans.”
“Do you know how to use them?” Wu Zixu leaned forward. “The Yin-Yang House also has some knowledge of talismans. I can teach you.”
“I know.” Song Wentong accepted the talismans without changing his expression. “Don’t underestimate the Mohist inheritance.”
Raising a chicken was no easy task, and raising a child was no less difficult. But when you had to raise both a chicken and a child at the same time, you were truly experiencing the meaning of chaos—chickens flying, dogs jumping, and absolute disorder everywhere.
Wu Zixu was too busy, and Mu Geshen was too unreliable, so Song Wentong ended up shouldering almost the entire responsibility for looking after their new Fifth Brother. Every day, he had to prepare special meals for Mu Geshen while also adding extra dishes for Zhu Yin-xiao.
A few days later, Mu Geshen expressed his profound dissatisfaction with the increasingly meager portions of food.
“Second Brother, stop fussing over making milk porridge for Fifth Brother. He’s a divine beast. He doesn’t need such delicate food.”
Song Wentong watched as Mu Geshen drank half a jar of milk.
“What do you want, then?”
“I know what he eats. Tomorrow, I’ll take Fifth Brother out to eat. You don’t need to worry yourself over nothing.”
The following day, Song Wentong found Mu Geshen sunbathing in the vegetable garden at White Water Temple. The pheasant had been thrown into the vegetable patch by Mu Geshen and was busy pecking at insects all over the ground.
The two of them had their usual fight before reaching an agreement. The next day, a new dish appeared on the dining table: stir-fried silkworm pupae.
One plate was cooked, and one plate was raw. Mu Geshen ate the dish, while Zhu Yin-xiao ate the insects.
Mu Geshen had a habit of sneaking into the kitchen in the middle of the night. He went to bed late, so a midnight snack was practically a daily necessity. Ever since Fifth Brother arrived, the pheasant had become his primary backup ingredient. As a result, Song Wentong was forced to inspect the kitchen every single night.
“Fourth Brother, why have you thrown him into the clay pot again?!”
“Nothing much. I’m just giving him a bath. He got too dirty rolling around in the vegetable garden today.”
“You fucking call bathing someone in a clay pot taking a bath?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Then why are there scallions, ginger, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, and cinnamon bark in the pot?!”
“This is a medicinal bath.”
The first time Zhu Yin-xiao transformed into human form, the Master of the Ginkgo Study wasn’t around. Song Wentong remained perfectly calm as he covered the child’s entire body with talismans. However, they were completely useless.
Song Wentong didn’t panic. He lit incense, beat a small hand drum, and even began chanting some kind of incomprehensible incantations. In the end, he even took Wu Zixu’s Guwang smoking pipe and lit it.
The underworld official who was summoned appeared before him, and the two stared at each other in silence.
“Does the Mohist Master have some instructions for me?”
“Nothing,” Song Wentong replied, still perfectly composed.
“…Then what exactly are you doing?”
“Performing a spirit-summoning ritual.”
There had also been more than one argument between Song Wentong and Mu Geshen over what to call Zhu Yin-xiao.
“Can you stop calling Fifth Brother ‘Cook Supper’?”
“Then what should I call him?”
“…”
One day, Wu Zixu had once again stayed up all night working. He carried a lantern out of his study, only to see Zhu Yin-xiao lying outside the door with drool running down his chin.
“Fifth Brother?”
He picked up the naked little boy.
“Why did you come out here? Are you hungry?”
The half-grown child blinked up at him, sucking on his fingers. After a moment, a long, resonant cry emerged from his little mouth.
Mu Geshen’s room immediately exploded with shouting.
“Fifth Brother, can you please have some dignity?! You’re a Vermilion Bird, yet every day you crow like a rooster! Aren’t you embarrassed?!”
That single sentence had managed to invoke three different identities. In their young form, Vermilion Bird hatchlings had indistinct appearances, and everyone had been calling the little creature all sorts of random things every day, mixing all the names together.
At such a young age, Fifth Brother already had several different identities and responsibilities. He was truly a very busy little fellow.
Wu Zixu pinched Zhu Yin-xiao’s cheek. The big and little ones looked into the distance, and the young man smiled.
“Daybreak has come.”