Chapter Fifteen: The Hanging Cage of Fists

The little pheasant ate earthworms for quite a while before finally feeling full. Wu Zidan tossed a few more to it, but the bird merely glanced at them, refusing to peck. It flapped its wings as if attempting to take flight, but its feathers were not yet fully hardened; patches of pale yellow down, resembling the thin skins of bamboo shoots, still clung to it, making flight impossible.

Once satiated, the little pheasant hopped from the ground onto Cai Zhongsheng’s open palm, as if sharing a special bond with her, filled with trust and reliance. Finding this amusing, Cai Zhongsheng spoiled it all the more. At that moment, she said to Wu Zidan, "The little pheasant is full now, let’s go over to my place and sit for a while."

Wu Zidan nodded. Before they set off, he asked Cai Zhongsheng to let him hold the pheasant, but the moment she passed it to him, the bird let out a series of chirps, flapping its pale yellow wings in protest. Wu Zidan had no choice but to return the pheasant to Cai Zhongsheng’s open palm. It settled there, perfectly calm, falling silent immediately. It tilted its neck to look at Cai Zhongsheng, as if telling her, "I only want to be with you."

Playfully tugging at Wu Zidan’s sleeve, Cai Zhongsheng said, "See? The little pheasant only likes me, not you." With that, she began walking down the dirt path toward home. Pointing at the bird, Wu Zidan said, half-joking and half-annoyed, "You little rascal, you’re heartless! I spent all that time digging up worms for you from the muck, and you don’t just reject my affection—you won’t even let me touch you."

Ten days later, the bamboo-shoot-like down had shed, replaced by a stunning, multicolored plumage. Cai Zhongsheng often stroked its wings, her doting affection evident to all. Wishing to rival the bird's beauty, she went to the textile counter at the town shop, bought a bolt of floral fabric, and had a tailor make her a new outfit. It consisted of a top and a skirt; the jacket was a light-colored floral print, while the skirt featured a vibrant, complex pattern that mirrored the iridescent feathers of the little pheasant.

When Cai Zhongsheng wore this outfit, strolling through the village or down the street with the pheasant in tow, she was the envy of many. Most people kept dogs or cats as pets, or perhaps birds like parrots, thrushes, or mynas, though the latter were usually kept in cages, limiting their interaction with humans. Mynas were known to be clever, but their plumage lacked the splendor of a pheasant. Keeping a wild pheasant as a pet—and one that communicated so harmoniously with humans—was truly rare, perhaps even unique.

As the pheasant reached adulthood, Cai Zhongsheng named it "Pretty Girl." Wu Zidan, observing it was a male, remarked that the name was inappropriate and suggested calling it "Handsome Man" instead; the name stuck.

Now a mature bird, "Handsome Man" often flew around the house and the courtyard, relying on its natural instincts. It did not fly as high or as agilely as a bird of prey, but when it flapped its colorful wings and trailed its long, patterned tail, it looked magnificent—like a celestial maiden performing a dance in mid-air, having descended from the heavens without ever touching the ground. It was truly dazzling.

In theory, such a bird could have returned to the wild to live in the forests, but it never left, choosing instead to stay with Cai Zhongsheng. She had no intention of keeping it in a cage, and it didn't require one. Unlike its youth, when it needed to be fed worms, it now pecked at grain like a domestic fowl, whether provided by hand or foraged on its own. Living between the comforts of being fed and its own self-sufficiency, it brought Cai Zhongsheng nothing but joy, never a moment of stress.

By this time, Cai Zhongsheng and Wu Zidan were married. Whenever she went out for a stroll in her new outfit with the pheasant, Wu Zidan would tag along, only to find the bird constantly shunning him. If he approached Cai Zhongsheng, the bird would fly away; when he stepped back, it would return to rest on her arm or shoulder. This made Wu Zidan feel uncomfortable, even resentful.

To curry favor with the bird, he would dig up plump worms from the loose soil, carry them on a leaf, and say to the bird resting before Cai Zhongsheng, "Handsome Man, come here, I’ve got something good for you." The bird would walk over, peck up the worms, and immediately hop back to Cai Zhongsheng’s side. When Wu Zidan reached out to stroke its glossy, beautiful feathers, it would flap its wings and fly off, refusing to be touched, acting cold and ungrateful. Cai Zhongsheng would clap her hands and laugh heartily, which only fueled Wu Zidan’s anger.

That night, as they lay in bed, Wu Zidan held Cai Zhongsheng and asked, "I don’t understand why 'Handsome Man' is so good to you but so cruel to me." Cai Zhongsheng replied that she couldn't fathom it either. Wu Zidan proposed a plan to win the bird's favor. Once they agreed, Wu Zidan fell into a deep sleep, but Cai Zhongsheng tossed and turned, preoccupied with the question until the first cockcrow, when she finally drifted into a hazy slumber.

In her dream, she saw "Handsome Man" flapping its colorful wings, circling in the sky before descending and transforming into someone she knew all too well: Liu Sanjun, her former husband.

Cai Zhongsheng was shocked, both moved and at a loss for what to do. Having remarried Wu Zidan, she wondered what to do now that her ex-husband had returned. According to the country’s current laws, polygamy was forbidden; having two husbands was illegal—it could even be considered bigamy. Just as she was about to protest, "Aren't you dead? How are you alive? If you hadn't died, I never would have remarried!" she found she couldn't speak.

Liu Sanjun spoke first: "Zhongsheng, after I died, I suffered in the underworld. The King of Hell rebuked me for hunting in the spring and killing a mother pheasant, leaving a brood of chicks to starve without their mother. The fault was mine, so the underworld sentenced me to be reincarnated as a pheasant. That bird you keep as a pet is my reincarnation. Our fate is not yet exhausted, so I have come to spend the rest of my life with you. But I am deeply resentful of you. Not long after I died—my bones were barely cold—you took up with a man named Wu Zidan and married him. It makes me furious."

Cai Zhongsheng blinked, and before she could offer an apology, her former husband vanished. She then drifted through a series of chaotic, fragmented dreams before waking up. At the first light of dawn, Wu Zidan was still snoring beside her. She tugged at his elbow until he woke, then recounted the dream. He didn't believe it at first, but reflecting on the pheasant's hostility toward him, he wavered. He told Cai Zhongsheng, "Today, cooperate with me and let's follow that plan to see if 'Handsome Man' will treat me better."

Early that morning, the pheasant hopped out of its hanging cage in the corner of the room and walked straight to the bedroom door to greet Cai Zhongsheng. As she was dressing and about to step out, the pheasant darted inside, singing and dancing before her. Wu Zidan, who had already draped his coat over his shoulders and walked to the doorway, watched as the bird dodged him. He ignored the pheasant, looking instead at the swaying hanging cage that served as its nest.

Suddenly recalling the dream, he felt an inexplicable resentment. He lunged forward and struck the cage, which was just coming to a rest, making it sway violently again. This was the only way he could vent his frustration. He felt a fleeting sense of satisfaction and couldn't help but mutter, "What 'Handsome Man'? I'll kill you, you beast." Of course, he would never actually harm the bird; it was his wife’s beloved pet, and hurting it would only break her heart.