Imperial Weight Chapter 26
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 26
Little Phoenix was actually quite clever, learned things quickly, and understood social conventions.
Ever since marrying him, Xingyi had often pondered this question. Most people he had encountered were either worldly-wise but stodgy and pedantic, or lacking in worldliness and dull-witted. But his little Fenghuang seemed to be an anomaly—intelligent, a quick learner, knowing what could and couldn't be done, and his perspective wasn't as narrow as children from common families. He understood propriety and had seen all kinds of human nature, yet somehow when his sincere heart was laid bare for all to see, it remained pure and untainted.
Just like that alluring romantic air about him—not the tawdriness of the mortal world. Fenghuang had once been renowned throughout the realm, most famous for being charming without being seductive, beautiful without being vulgar. He had the most radiant eyes and brows paired with the most resolute temperament. This aura made people recognize at a glance that he was a youth—willful, innocent, voluptuous, pure—all these qualities coexisting without contradiction. Looking at him, Xingyi would occasionally glimpse in his eyes another kind of life he had never before imagined for himself.
He was clever, yet also foolish.
Last time Xingyi had planned to take him to Jiangnan, but in the end they couldn't go due to being delayed by warfare. Half a year later, he found another opportunity to take Little Phoenix out—accompanying the young emperor on his southern tour. After traveling all the way to the Miao borderlands, the imperial carriage returned first, but he and Little Phoenix stayed a few extra days. Ostensibly under the young emperor's decree to educate the foreign tribes, it was actually just giving them a chance to have fun.
The Miao borderlands were treacherous, the tribes exclusionary, but once life settled down it became quite colorful and diverse. They stayed there for two months. At first no one welcomed them, but later, after Xingyi won first place at their hunting grounds with overwhelming superiority, and after Little Phoenix taught quite a few Miao girls novel and beautiful dances, someone was willing to tell them: "We don't like to associate with people different from us. When we Miao people marry, we only wish to marry those whose clothing patterns match ours. If there are no suitable women within the clan, our men can run to villages a hundred li away to find good girls with clothing patterns like their own to marry. But you are different. From now on you are—" The person paused, using somewhat clumsy Han speech to pronounce it for them, "ya'gou, ya—gou, friends."
Xingyi quickly discovered another characteristic of the local people. That evening, he told Little Phoenix: "The people here advocate monogamy, different from the Han heartland. They recognize one person for a lifetime, like wild geese—one life, one lifetime, one pair, never separating or abandoning."
Little Phoenix said, "Oh."
He looked into Xingyi's eyes, wanting to ask when he planned to take in some consorts to bear children for him. Thinking about it made him feel wronged, but in the end he still didn't speak.
He said softly, "I'm going to sleep, Weijian."
Then turned over.
Xingyi touched his face. "Don't sleep yet, let me tell you something."
Little Phoenix had already turned away and didn't move. Xingyi patiently turned him back over, and like rolling a pancake, wrapped him up in the blanket and held him in his arms. He lowered his eyes to look at the top of Little Phoenix's head with its few tufts of disheveled hair, and bent down to kiss it.
"I want to marry you again here," Xingyi said in a low voice. "Following the Miao village customs, then no matter whether we're Han or not, if either party abandons the other, if either party betrays first, if either party has someone else in their heart, our ya'gou will come after us with knives for thousands of li."
Little Phoenix opened his eyes to look at him.
Xingyi brought his face close, looking at him expressionlessly.
Little Phoenix didn't understand. Looking at Xingyi's approaching face, he instinctively smacked a kiss on it.
Xingyi looked at him with satisfaction, then said, "I only want you alone, and you only want me alone, okay?"
—--
—Give me some time, I will learn to love you, understand?
Little Phoenix was stunned for a moment.
Xingyi rubbed his head again, rubbing for quite a while without letting go. After a long moment, he suddenly murmured, "The texture seems pretty good too."
Little Phoenix raised his head and asked, "Huh?"
Xingyi said, "Nothing."
Little Phoenix started squirming again. After a good while, he finally remembered what he wanted to say and asked earnestly, "So do you learn things quickly?"
Xingyi looked at him for a moment and answered just as earnestly, "Generally quite fast, but I have no experience with this matter either, so I can't say how long it will take."
Little Phoenix quickly said, "I'm not in a hurry, you can learn slowly."
Xingyi reached out to wrap his arm around his waist and chuckled softly. "Obviously so anxious, yet insisting you're not. Really not anxious?"
He had seen through it long ago. The Golden-Winged Bird told him that Little Phoenix, in order to buy the transformation talisman, had spent a million spirit stones, losing all the money he'd earned from three hundred years of work. Phoenix Ming Zun had intentionally or unintentionally mentioned Little Phoenix's "lack of ambition," lamenting his failure to live up to expectations, calling him an unambitious phoenix. That was what others said.
There was also what he had seen himself—Little Phoenix earnestly dancing for him, Little Phoenix desperately wanting to transform, Little Phoenix unafraid of his killing without blinking an eye or his heartless ruthlessness. Like a snow-white little fat bird that had found a ball of snow existing unseasonably among summer's blooming flowers, thinking the snowball's color matched his own feathers, treating this inanimate snowball as another little round ball with white plumage. Even if frozen by it, he still had to press close against it, offering his warm heart to something ice-cold.
Such a clever little thing, yet he didn't realize that the one he had fallen for was not of his kind, not a fellow traveler.
Xingyi didn't quite understand why this was. Nor did he understand those phantom-like fragments that sometimes flashed through his mind—they seemed unreal, yet extraordinarily vivid. Because of this, he even suspected he was showing signs of demonic possession, to the point where he refined several divine weapons with his own blood, just to see whether what emerged represented the righteous divine path of his blameless life, or the demonic path that lay beyond a single moment of deviation.
He had never been to the mortal realm, of this he was certain. Before achieving divinity, he had gone through three tribulations, none of them emotional tribulations, all meticulously recorded. The marks of those ninety bolts of heavenly thunder still remained behind the Southern Heaven Gate. The ornamental pillars of the Southern Heaven Gate were built from divine stones from the Ancient God Battlefield—lean in close and listen carefully, and you could still hear the clashing sounds of weapons and the thundering of ten thousand mountains from those days.
His little bird was a habitual liar, but he felt that in this matter, perhaps Little Phoenix wasn't deceiving him.
What was wrong with learning to love someone?
Choosing someone to be his empress, and that person just happened to be the little bird he raised—what was wrong with that?
Little Phoenix hesitated, then dejectedly admitted, "Alright, I am a little bit anxious."
Xingyi comfortably pressed this human-shaped pillow into his embrace and said, "There we go. There's nothing you can't be honest with me about. You're the little bird I raised, and I won't just casually toss you out."
Little Phoenix raised his eyes, which sparkled brilliantly.
Looking at him, Xingyi seemed to see a little fat bird blinking its black bean-like eyes at him, and couldn't help laughing again. In the past when he slept, he would loosely hold Little Phoenix in his palm. When he turned over, Little Phoenix would fall out, then waddle his way up to perch on top of his head to sleep. Now that he had changed into human form, it seemed... also quite nice?
The space in front of him was no longer empty. Suddenly this unreasonable little fellow had squeezed in, occupying his embrace, reaching out to claim his arms and neck, forcefully stuffing such a bundle of cozy warmth into his life. Once having experienced this kind of warmth, thinking back to the harsh winter winds that perpetually swept through the Northern Heaven, constantly seeping in through every crack in the bedding and furniture, Xingyi suddenly felt his heart grow weary and lazy, thinking—so be it.
This was good.
"You're so terrible," he said.
Little Phoenix looked at him in confusion.
Xingyi sighed softly. "Even in human form you're as clingy as when you were a bird. Is there no way to balance things out?" Having transformed into human form, he missed the soft furry texture of the little white ball, yet couldn't bear to give up this full-sized youth in his arms. He pondered seriously—so his bed had always been lacking such a warm pillow. If he had known earlier, he would have taught Little Phoenix to transform sooner.
Little Phoenix poked his head up and asked, "Are you saying you still think I was better as a little bird?"
Xingyi said, "Not really."
Little Phoenix said, "If you like me as a bird, just tell me. Since I'm about to become your empress, turning into a little bird for you for a few hours is fine. See, don't I dote on you?"
Before Xingyi could stop him, the person before him transformed back into bird form with a "poof." A large section of the blanket sank down, leaving only a fluffy little round ball waddling back and forth on the bed, then flopping down, spreading its little wings and sticking out its little claws.
Xingyi: "......"
The round ball wiggled around for a bit, found a comfortable position, then seemed to remember something. "Weijian, this is my first time sleeping inside your blanket. Do you think when you turn over you might squash me flat?"
He pondered seriously. "If I get squashed flat, would that count as successfully losing weight?"
Xingyi: "......"
He rubbed his temples. "Sleep. I won't squash you."
Little Phoenix wiggled and shifted, more or less rolling a few times before finally settling down to sleep next to Xingyi. Xingyi felt a fluffy, chubby little ball press against him, nestling by his arm, slowly rising and falling with Little Phoenix's breathing—so small and soft, looking like it would chirp if you squeezed it even once.
Xingyi thought it over—his embrace had suddenly lost its warm heat source, so perhaps squeezing the little round ball once wouldn't hurt.
He moved his fingers and squeezed Little Phoenix.
Little Phoenix indeed started "chirping." He protested. "You're squeezing me again! I was about to fall asleep!"
Xingyi squeezed again.
Little Phoenix chirped "chirp chirp chirp" again.
Xingyi patted the ball. "Sleep. Next time don't randomly transform back and forth without my permission, understand? I didn't mean your human form wasn't good. I like you no matter what form you take. This is presuming my intentions, which warrants punishment."
Remembering Little Phoenix's coquettish speech from a few days ago, he imitated it and added, "However, because you're the little bird I raised, I'll specially allow you to make this kind of mistake occasionally. I won't pursue it this time, understand?"
Little Phoenix: "Alright, you're right. I shouldn't randomly guess at my husband's thoughts. I admit my mistake. Good night, husband—chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp." He even sang a little song, seeming very pleased with himself.
After hearing his words, Xingyi froze for a moment.
Presuming intentions... was that what he meant?
After thinking for a while, Xingyi was too lazy to quibble and also bid him good night: "Chirp."
Little Phoenix tapped the back of his hand with his wing tip to show he had heard.
Xingyi closed his eyes. At his side was still that little ball with its fluffy and warm texture, so soft that one didn't dare waver even for a moment. So that night he slept very lightly, waking and sleeping intermittently. Several times when he wanted to turn over, he forced himself awake, holding back, afraid of crushing this little fat bird.
Another sleepless night.
