Taiji Hall was brilliantly lit, the faint strains of music drifting out into the night air. In the evening breeze, a perimeter of imperial guards stood ramrod straight in their black armor, encircling the great hall.
The stone steps before the hall were as white as jade and impeccably clean.
Ye Zhao sat on the bottom step, leaning against a stone pillar to rest while he waited for his father and mother to emerge so they could leave the palace together.
He was beginning to doze off when a sudden commotion erupted atop the stairs.
He turned to look back but could see nothing clearly, only hearing the faint shouts of several people.
As the voices grew louder, Ye Zhao craned his neck curiously to get a better look. Suddenly, a large... thing appeared on the top landing.
A chicken?
“???”
Ye Zhao doubted his own eyes. He squeezed them shut and looked again—
And then, he watched as that "chicken" sprinted across his field of vision.
“Catch it!”
Amidst the chaos came the sounds of people shoving and chasing.
Ye Zhao: “...”
A gust of wind blew past, and he suddenly let out a sharp sneeze. “Achoo!”
There was nothing much to see, he told himself. Just a chicken that had escaped from somewhere and was leading people on a merry chase.
He moved to sit back down, but before his backside could touch the ground, the shouts of the crowd suddenly rang out clearly right behind him.
He thought to himself, *Wait, why does that sound so close?*
Ye Zhao turned his head, his expression gradually shifting into one of shock.
The "chicken," which had looked like a large round dot from afar, was a veritable warrior among its kind as it drew near.
A fat bird slammed directly into his chest, and Ye Zhao felt his soul nearly leave his body. “Holy—!!!”
That was likely the most frequent exclamation he had uttered all day.
Like Mount Tai pressing down upon him, he was knocked flat onto the ground. The "cannonball" had the audacity to remain perched on his body, flapping its wings and squawking incessantly.
“Boss... Boss... Big Brother, Big Brother...”
“Squawk... Squawk... Gwah... Big Brother...”
“Back... Back... Gwah!”
His ears ringing from the noise, Ye Zhao struggled to roll over and sit up, but the bird was pushing its luck, fluttering and scrambling all over him.
“Get off, get off!” Ye Zhao struggled, using his folding fan to fend off the bird, his mind a complete mess.
“Gwah... Gwah... Boss, Master...”
“Master... Master... Gwah...”
“I’m not your master, stop shouting nonsense!”
Ye Zhao had been listening to it for a while before it finally clicked—this thing wasn't a chicken; it was a parrot.
However, calling it a parrot was a real strain on Ye Zhao’s eyes.
The parrot had bright plumage with a blue back and a yellow belly. It was as tall as an adult’s knee and was essentially a round ball of fluff. On the very top of its head was a circular patch of green feathers, making it look as if it were wearing a watermelon rind as a cap. It looked incredibly foolish.
Ye Zhao finally managed to stand up, but the creature kept trying to cling to him. Due to its weight, however, no matter how much it flapped, it couldn't quite take flight, so it simply kept bumping into Ye Zhao’s legs.
“Hey, stay away from me...”
“Go away...”
As Ye Zhao was battling the parrot, a sharp, childish shout suddenly rang out from the stone steps above. “How dare you! You bird thief, return that bird at once!”
“Thief? Bird?” Ye Zhao was stunned. He pointed incredulously at the creature still trying to hop onto him. “Why would I steal this fat chicken? To roast and eat it?”
Standing on the steps was a round, golden lump. The boy looked to be about five or six years old, fair-skinned and chubby, but the look he gave Ye Zhao was far from friendly.
He looked down from his high vantage point, glaring at Ye Zhao. He was dressed in golden robes and draped in gold, jade, and jewels from head to toe. Around his neck hung a string of large gold beads; at a glance, he looked like a Little Golden Buddha.
Ye Zhao felt his eyes were about to be dazzled. If this were daytime, he feared he would be in danger of being blinded.
Upon hearing Ye Zhao’s words, the child’s eyes widened as if he were a balloon about to pop. He jumped up and cursed, “Insolent! You actually want to eat Cuicui? This Prince will teach you a lesson!!”
What?
Cuicui?
Then, the words "This Prince" registered.
Ye Zhao was momentarily dazed.
The child gave an immediate order: “Men! Seize this bird thief! This Prince shall have him beaten severely!!”
Ye Zhao snapped back to his senses and waved his hands frantically, trying to distance himself from the bird, though without success. “No, no, no! I didn't steal this chicken—I mean, bird! It ran into me on its own!”
He now realized who the child was. To appear in the palace and refer to himself as "This Prince" at that age, it could only be the current Emperor’s youngest son, the Fourth Prince of the State of Wei—Wei Yang.
Ye Zhao was truly being wronged. The black-armored guards stationed outside Taiji Hall hesitated and did not move, but the several eunuchs surrounding the Fourth Prince prepared to act on the command.
However, at that moment, the hall doors swung open.
“What is this commotion?”
An elderly man in green robes stepped out. His gaze fell upon the person standing next to the parrot almost instantly, and his eyes froze.
Taking a step forward, he nearly stumbled down the stairs. A nearby guard was quick enough to catch him. “Are you alright, sir?”
The guard did not want anything to happen to the old man, for this was Pei Shian, the renowned former Prime Minister of the State of Wei.
Pei Shian did not know how he managed to walk to the young man's side.
The wide-open doors spilled a great flood of light onto the landing, clearly illuminating the young man’s face. In Pei Shian’s mind, it was as if countless memories of that person facing him in the past flashed by. In the overlapping of light and shadow, every image converged into the person standing before him now.
Ye Zhao looked at the newcomer. Seeing that the man remained silent, he asked tentatively, “You are...?”
He paused, then added nervously, “I was just minding my own business waiting for someone here. This bird approached me on its own; I didn't steal it. The guards nearby can testify. Could you please explain this to the Fourth Prince?”
From the moment Ye Zhao spoke, the area became so quiet that only the sound of the wind could be heard—well, that and the culprit parrot, which was still squawking incessantly.
The Fourth Prince’s entourage all stared at Ye Zhao with identical expressions of curiosity and shock—it was as if they were looking at a caveman who had suddenly emerged from the wilderness!
Ye Zhao only assumed that because the old man had spoken and the others had stepped aside, he must be someone of high status whom they didn't want to disrespect.
However, he now felt the way they were looking at him was quite strange. “?”
“I... am called Pei Shian.”
Ye Zhao’s attention returned to the man standing on the steps before him. He felt the voice sounded incredibly heavy, as if it contained a thousand different emotions. The man’s gaze seemed to pierce through years of time to look at the present, this place, and this person.
The others standing nearby showed slight surprise at his words, but Ye Zhao didn't notice.
Pei Shian turned his head and said to the Fourth Prince, “Fourth Highness, why are you still here? This old official recalls that you were supposed to have left the banquet and returned to your palace long ago.”
He spoke only a single sentence, but the previously aggressive "Golden Buddha" Fourth Prince suddenly deflated like a punctured ball. His face turned red as he stammered, “I... I remembered I had something to tell Imperial Father. Little Fourth is going to find him now. Farewell...”
With that, the Fourth Prince ran off in a hurry, looking exactly like a child caught doing something wrong.
Seeing him run so fast, Ye Zhao found it strange. “He doesn't want his bird anymore?”
He had clearly seen how much the boy treasured it just moments ago.
Then he heard the man beside him answer, “This parrot is being raised by me.”
Ye Zhao reacted immediately. So the true owner was right here!
Then the Fourth Prince just now...
Well, based on the noise from above earlier, it was obvious: the brat was playing with the bird, it had accidentally broken its chain and escaped, and then it had crashed into him.
Now that the real owner had appeared, the brat felt guilty and naturally fled.
Thinking of this, Ye Zhao smiled. “Thank you, Elder.”
“No thanks are necessary.” In turn, the man handed him a handkerchief. “Your face is dirty.”
Ye Zhao suddenly realized how long he had been crawling through that tunnel. He looked down at his clothes, which were too filthy to look at. “...Er, thank you.”
This was already the second time he had thanked the man, and Pei Shian replied with the same calm "no thanks are necessary."
After Ye Zhao wiped his face, he shook the dust off his clothes. It was inconvenient with only one hand, and just as he was about to tuck his folding fan into his waist, the man stepped forward and reached out. “Let me hold that for you.”
“...Alright.” Ye Zhao hesitated for only a fraction of a second before complying.
As he patted the dust and dirt from his body, Pei Shian looked at the folding fan in his hand and fell into a daze. His fingers slowly traced the red jade on the cord knot, his eyes filled with a complexity no one could understand—a mixture of sorrow and joy.
“Mister Pei... Mister Pei?”
Ye Zhao called him twice before Pei Shian snapped out of it.
Pei Shian handed the fan back to him. “What is your name?”
“My name is Ye Zhao.”
Pei Shian had never heard of Ye Zhao’s reputation in the Capital, but at this moment, he memorized the name firmly.
Seeing that there was still dirt in the young man’s hair, he said, “It’s not clean yet; there’s still some in your hair. Let me help you.”
As he spoke, he reached out to brush away the bits of dust from Ye Zhao’s head. Ye Zhao’s body stiffened at first, but he forced himself to stay still. Since they were strangers who had just met, such a close gesture was indeed difficult to get used to.
As Pei Shian worked, he asked, “How old are you this year?”
“Twenty.”
“Why didn't you go inside? Why wait here?”
“There’s no seat for me inside, and I only arrived recently. I thought I’d wait for my parents to come out so we could go home together.”
Pei Shian’s hand paused. Then he asked, “Your honorable father is...?”
Ye Zhao answered without thinking, “My father is Ye Yuan, serving in the Ministry of Revenue as a Vice Minister. My mother’s maiden name is Meng Wan.”
“How did you end up in such a state?”
Ye Zhao was startled for a moment before realizing the man was expressing concern. After all, his appearance was indeed quite pathetic—not only was he covered in filth, but he had a purple bruise on his forehead. In fact, his head was likely covered in bumps, hidden by his hair.
“I... just accidentally took a tumble.”
As Ye Zhao spoke, he actually laughed.
He didn't even notice that although he was hiding certain things, his manner was casual and natural, as if he were speaking to a friend.
“Be more careful in the future.”
Ye Zhao nodded in agreement. By then, Pei Shian had finished cleaning the dust from his hair. Just then, Ye Zhao’s stomach let out a loud growl.
Ye Zhao froze, his face turning red. A faint smile played at the corners of Pei Shian’s mouth. “Shall I find you something to eat?”
Since he had already lost face, Ye Zhao chose to satisfy his stomach’s intense demands. He said shamelessly, “...I would be much obliged.”
Just then, a young eunuch ran out from the hall. He had been sent to see why the old Prime Minister had been gone so long after stepping out to check on the noise. To his surprise, as soon as he reached Pei Shian, he was ordered to go back to the banquet and bring out several dishes of food.
The little eunuch returned to his duties in a daze and quickly brought the items out.
Ye Zhao asked Pei Shian, “Elder, aren't you going back to the banquet?”
Pei Shian sat down calmly on the stone steps. “I’m not going back. I retired from the court many years ago. His Majesty kept a seat for me out of old sentiment. However, sitting inside is far less comfortable than sitting here.”
Ye Zhao thought about it and said, “True. With so many people inside, it’s lively, but it’s also quite stifling.”
He plopped down beside Pei Shian and let out a satisfied sigh. “It’s better for the two of us to sit here; it’s free and cool.”
Ye Zhao smiled at Pei Shian, his mood lifting. He unceremoniously picked up a plate of chicken legs and began to eat, then asked, “Have you eaten? If you’re not full, let’s eat together.”
Pei Shian held the fat parrot in his arms, slowly stroking its back. He had finally managed to keep it from acting up; otherwise, Ye Zhao wouldn't have been able to sit and eat in peace.
Before Pei Shian could answer, the parrot in his arms chirped cleverly, “Eat... Eat... Gwah gwah...”
Ye Zhao thought to himself, *I wasn't asking you.*
Looking at Ye Zhao’s expression, Pei Shian let out a chuckle. “No. You go ahead.”
“Oh.” Ye Zhao assumed the man had already eaten at the banquet. As he gnawed on a chicken leg, he looked at the parrot, which was still squawking incessantly, and asked, “What does it eat?”
He reached out and picked up a grape. “Can it eat this?”
“It can,” Pei Shian said.
Ye Zhao looked at the massive ball of feathers, and a thought suddenly popped into his head.
The parrot: *For some reason, I suddenly feel a chill...*
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
:--- | :--- | :---
太极殿 | Taiji Hall | The main hall of the imperial palace.
裴世安 | Pei Shian | Former Prime Minister of the State of Wei.
魏阳 | Wei Yang | The Fourth Prince of the State of Wei.
翠翠 | Cuicui | The name of the Fourth Prince's/Pei Shian's parrot.
叶远 | Ye Yuan | Ye Zhao's father.
孟婉 | Meng Wan | Ye Zhao's mother.
户部 | Ministry of Revenue | One of the Six Ministries of the imperial government.
侍郎 | Vice Minister | A high-ranking official position within a ministry.
