In the Lion Camel Kingdom, bustards were quite easy to find.
The two goose demons headed straight for the most famous brothel in the city. Fang Fei was responsible for keeping watch at the entrance, while Wei Dong used his gender advantage to sneak into "Xicui Tower" alone.
Wei Dong, dressed in his newly acquired, splendid clothes, had just arrived at the entrance when he was surrounded by a large group of quails, cuckoos, and sparrows, all calling him "Master Goose," "May Master Goose be blessed," and exclaiming, "Look at that huge bun on your head, you truly have an air of immense wealth!"...
Where was the Tang Dynasty style? It was completely the atmosphere of the Eight Great Hutongs of the late Qing Dynasty.
Wei Dong was invited into a luxurious private room by this group of beauties.
The madam of "Xicuilou" practically flew over, accompanied by bursts of joyful laughter: "What wind blew you here?"
Wei Dong felt the madam's sleeves still carrying the lingering wind: "Was it the wind under your wings?"
"Oh dear, you make me feel so embarrassed~" The madam covered her gray-haired face with her sleeve and adjusted the flowers in her hair: "Master Goose, you've come at the right time today. We've just received a flock of orioles and hoopoes, all of them can sing and dance~"
Wei Dong directly took out two treasures given to him by the python man from his pocket and placed them on the table.
The madam's eyes immediately lit up: "My God of Wealth! You can choose any girl you like from our Xi Cui Lou! Pheasants, peacocks, eagles, quails—we have them all! This place is a bird paradise!"
Wei Dong cleared his throat, but before he could speak, the madam glanced at the few quail-like waiters: "Go and wait outside, be alert, and listen to my orders!"
The quail-like waiters quickly shrunk their necks and went downstairs.
Truly, the madam had a keen eye.
Wei Dong cut to the chase, saying, "To be honest, I have a peculiar hobby, I just like..."
"We have males too!" the madam said with a beaming smile. "Just tell me what style you like, raptors, gyrfalcons, sickly owls! Go ahead and pick!" "
..." Wei Dong awkwardly scratched his forehead. "I just have a bit of a fetish..."
"What's a fetish?" The madam was surprised to find herself using such a frivolous term, now adopting a humble, eager-to-learn attitude.
"Well, I don't need the actual birds, I just like collecting their feathers." Wei Dong cleared his throat awkwardly. "Gah."
The madam blinked her small eyes and shook her brown and black-polka-dot linen skirt. "That's easy, it's just... you're willing to pay such a high price, you could choose any courtesan you want... but if you only want a bunch of feathers, you're losing out..."
Birds are more generous than humans.
If it were a human, the madam certainly wouldn't have said something so honest.
Wei Dong said sincerely, "This is my only hobby, a feather obsession that I'll never change. Since you think it's a lot of money, then please put in the effort to prepare something good for me. Male or female, as long as the species and color are different, one feather for each type of bird of each color will do."
"Sure, sure, sure!" the madam laughed repeatedly, then gently lifted her skirt, and somehow produced a large brown feather with black spots. "This is mine, please accept it."
Wei Dong hurriedly took it with both hands: "Thank you, thank you."
The madam took two steps outside, then turned back shyly and whispered to Wei Dong, "Master Goose, are you using the feather to tickle your feet or something?"
"I might as well just buy a back scratcher." "
So how do you play with the feather? Tell me." The madam, being a seventy-year-old bird, was unwilling to miss any way that might bring her pleasure.
"No comment."
The madam chuckled and swayed as she walked out, her expression immediately changing as soon as she stepped outside: "You pervert!"
...
When Fang Fei saw Wei Dong again, he was carrying a large bag as he left the Xi Cui Lou.
"Looks like you succeeded." Fang Fei came over to help Wei Dong carry the bag.
"No need, no need, it's very light, just the weight of a few down jackets." Wei Dong easily carried the bag, and he and Fang Fei went to a nearby inn.
Their next task was to sort the feathers.
"I didn't expect that the madam had even sorted the feathers into small bags." Fang Fei took out several small brocade bags from inside, noticing that they were labeled with different things: eagle, peacock, pheasant, and sparrow.
"I paid so much money, I have to do a good job, right?" Wei Dong looked at the other brocade bags. "Let's go through these feathers first, and take out the white feathers."
"Why? Do the white feathers have any special function?"
"I didn't read many books when I was young, so what I did read left a particularly deep impression." Wei Dong hadn't expected to find a potential breakthrough from books.
Fang Fei looked at Wei Dong, recalling her experiences of entering the painting, which were basically all regretful experiences of "realizing how little one knows when it's needed." If it weren't for Boss Mu and Shao Ling, she probably would have been trapped in the painting long ago with her limited knowledge.
This time in the Lion Camel Kingdom, thanks to Wei Dong, he had read the complete "Journey to the West" many times; and she herself had even gained some knowledge from reading martial arts novels.
If this world tested knowledge, then with Fang Fei and Wei Dong's knowledge, they would basically be cannon fodder.
So when Wei Dong mentioned what books he had read, Fang Fei's eyes lit up. She hadn't expected that this person had read anything besides *Journey to the West*…
"I still remember that book. My cousin lent it to me. It was quite a thick volume, but it was full of short stories. I think it was called *Three Hundred Myths and Legends*? Or maybe *Five Hundred Myths and Legends*?"
"Get to the point," Fang Fei reminded him.
"There's a legend in that book about a white bird that was injured. A kind person wanted to help it, but the white bird claimed to be a bird spirit and said that only human blood could heal its wound. The kind person was about to use a needle to draw blood to heal it.
"Then the white bird said, 'My wound can only be healed with real human blood. If you truly want to save me, I'll give you one of my eyelashes now. Then you take the eyelash into the city and shine it on everyone to see who is a real human. If you're lucky enough to meet one, beg him to use his blood to heal me.'"
Fang Fei had never heard such a strange story before: "Isn't this kind person a real human?" "
Wei Dong continued, 'After leaving with the eyelash, this person first used it to look at himself and saw a horse. Later, he took the eyelash to the city, where he saw men, women, and children, but when he looked at them with the eyelash, they turned into pigs, horses, cows, sheep, dogs, and other animals…
This person searched for a very long time and finally found an old man riding a donkey, who was a real person. He explained his purpose to the old man, who then gave him some blood, and the bird fairy was saved. I remember the bird fairy prophesied that this person would become a prime minister, and it turned out to be true. This person was a prime minister with a name in history, but I forgot who it was.
Later, I also searched for this bird fairy story on Baidu, but I couldn't find it.'"
Fang Fei listened attentively: "This 'real person' probably means the same thing as the 'pure person' the python man mentioned, and the methods of testing are both related to birds. Your story requires the bird fairy's eyelashes, and the python man asked us to find bird feathers. Could it be that the feathers and eyelashes here are interchangeable?"
As Fang Fei said this, she felt Wei Dong suddenly lean closer to look at her, and she shoved him away: "Why are you so close?"
"I...I'm just looking at your eyelashes."
"My eyelashes?" Fang Fei was thinking that her eyelashes weren't long at all, but then she suddenly realized that she still had a goose head, goose eyes, and goose eyelashes.
"I just wanted to see if birds actually have eyelashes."
"..." Fang Fei glared at Wei Dong, opening the brocade pouch labeled "Pigeon." "There are over twenty pigeon feathers in here? That brothel had so many..."
"Some of them belonged to the clients."
Fang Fei took out one of the white pigeon feathers: "Did you think of this story when the python man mentioned 'pure human'?"
"Yes, because the two things are so similar," Wei Dong watched Fang Fei observe him through the feather. "You didn't see a pig's head, did you?"
"Nothing has changed." Fang Fei put the feather away and opened the second brocade pouch.
Five hours had passed in this world, but there was still no progress in finding the fragments.
Just as the six-hour clock struck, Wei Dong suddenly exclaimed excitedly, "That's it! That's it! Fang Fei, you're not a goose anymore! You're not human either! You're not even human!"
Although it sounded awkward, Fang Fei also became excited: "What do you see?"
"A fish, a big fish!" Wei Dong pulled Fang Fei to the bronze mirror and showed her her reflection through the feathers.
Fang Fei felt as if a dreamscape had opened before her eyes: a deep sea where a lone, large fish was swimming slowly.
Fang Fei closed her eyes, and it took her a long time to emerge from the dreamscape.
When Fang Fei looked at Wei Dong in the mirror again through the feathers, she saw a skinny dog in the street, carrying food in its mouth and putting it into a dog bowl, but it didn't eat it. Instead, it turned back to continue searching for food, as if the food it found was for its family or companions.
Fang Fei closed her eyes, then opened them again, but still couldn't escape the illusion. She heard the dog barking anxiously, as if calling its companions back…
Fang Fei covered her ears and closed her eyes for a long time, until Wei Dong pulled her away from the mirror and moved the feathers, finally freeing her completely.
"Were you trapped in your sea?" Wei Dong asked. "I almost got trapped there too. That fish didn't know where it was going and was quite confused."
"No, I was distracted by the dog's barking. I don't know what it was barking about." Fang Fei's tone was somewhat complaining, though it was unclear who she was complaining about.
Wei Dong remained noncommittal: "What could it be barking about? Calling its companions home for dinner, otherwise the food will get cold…"
After a while, Fang Fei remembered to ask, "What kind of bird is this big white feather?"
Wei Dong picked up a brocade bag woven with beaded patterns, on which a single character was written in ink: Crane.
"A white crane? Is it a white crane?"
"I think so."
"So the white crane is the bird fairy."