The Mandarin Duck Red Thread Burns - Chapter 2

Chapter 4

Pei Du fell into Fire Hell once more.

What kind of sin deserved a punishment like this? he wondered groggily in the dream.

Was it not enough to cripple his wings, sever the tendons in his feet, and pluck out his tail feathers one by one?

Yes, he had lost the battle… He had been taken prisoner… fallen into enemy hands.

But the thing that had truly shattered every proud bone in his body was Cloud Palace.

A disgrace. He was Cloud Palace’s disgrace, its stain. When he was sent back to Cloud Palace covered in wounds, his brothers swarmed him and ripped out his tail feathers by force.

“Such flashy, seductive tail feathers. Who would’ve thought they belonged to a useless waste!”

“Strip every feather off him. Let’s see how this meat chicken preens then!”

Those incompetent brothers had hated him for a long time. Today, at last, they had found their chance.

They forced him back into his true form. Like a chicken waiting to be slaughtered, he passed out in agony. When he woke again, blood was everywhere around him, and his ruined feathers lay scattered across the floor like a snowfall that would never end.

His imperial father’s cold voice rang out.

“They did go a little too far.”

“But you were defeated and humiliated, damaging our nation’s prestige. Removing your feathers was a punishment you deserved.”

A punishment you deserved…

His father’s words seemed to twist together, taking root and sprouting in his heart, letting out a shrill, thorny screech.

Pei Du’s chest churned, and he choked out a mouthful of blood.

So this was his end-

So this was the clan he had given his life for-

Chapter 5

“Your clan has abandoned you!”

Drenched in sweat, Pei Du lifted his head and met a pair of cold vertical pupils.

“Don’t look at me with those pitiful eyes, little bird… I still prefer you when you’re defiant.”

The woman whose face was covered in blue-green scales let out a hissing sneer. She lifted his head where it hung limply from the torture rack, her scarlet forked tongue like scorching venomous flame.

“Come now… Eat something hot…”

Iron tongs pulled a burning-hot stone from the fire. Countless hands pried open his throat and forced it down-

Ah-

For the countless time, Pei Du broke apart. A violent burning sensation spread through his entire body. His mind was like dry, rotted wood, snapped and crushed before being thrown into a raging fire.

Within the roaring flames, he saw his father’s disgusted eyes and his brothers’ twisted smiles.

Ah… right… I am a tool… When a tool breaks, it deserves to be discarded…

Pei Du closed his eyes and gave himself up to the depths. But this time, he fell into a pair of gentle palms. The flames wrapped around him were lightly brushed away, and a cool, soothing touch slid over his back.

Faintly, dimly, a voice drifted over.

“Ah… Here, there really aren’t any feathers?”

“Ha…”

Pei Du could not help answering. After all, he was a male bird; when he encountered a voice that stirred his heart, it was inevitable that he would respond with a harmonizing call. But the moment he answered, that voice disappeared. The comforting hand abruptly left him, and he fell back into endless purgatory.

Don’t go-

Pei Du sank uncontrollably into panic.

I’m sorry. Was my ruined voice too ugly?

But, but-

Pei Du mustered all his courage and opened his mouth, yet all he dared to let out was a broken breath.

Please… touch me a little more…