Chapter 11: Son of the Mountain God

Before the sky had turned dark, the film crew wrapped up for the day. The weather forecast said there would be localized heavy rain in the mountains at night, and the mountain roads would be difficult to navigate after the rain. The assistant director, terrified of an accident, practically herded everyone onto the vehicles.

Shen Xici sat on the back of the motorcycle, picked a leaf from the hood of Sheng Shaoyan’s jacket, and held it between his lips, trying to make a few sounds while he had the chance.

He lost control of his breath for a moment, and the sound that came out was too shrill, startling the birds on a nearby branch into flight. Shen Xici froze for a second, watching the birds’ retreating shadows, and opened his mouth, “Ah, sorry!”

Sheng Shaoyan was now able to listen to the noise without a change in expression. Seeing a pothole in the road ahead, he reminded him, “Shen Xici, hold on tight.”

“Oh,” came a muffled reply from behind. The noise stopped, and then a pair of hands rested on his shoulders.

A damp, earthy smell filled the forest, mixed with the faint woody notes of pine resin and eucalyptus leaves. Sheng Shaoyan gripped the handlebars as the person behind him leaned closer. “A’Shao, I think it was around this stretch of road that I saw some chicken blood vine. A’po said a few days ago that her rheumatism was acting up and she wanted to buy some chicken blood vine for soup. The person who usually sells mountain goods hasn’t set up their stall lately, so she couldn’t buy any.”

The airflow from his speech tickled Sheng Shaoyan’s ear. He pulled his scattered attention back to listen to what Shen Xici was saying. Chicken blood vine? The name was completely foreign to Sheng Shaoyan. “What does it look like, exactly?”

“Grayish-brown, long strips, a very long vine. I remember it was on a slope—stop, stop! I see it!” The motorcycle screeched to a halt. Due to inertia, the person on the back seat was pressed entirely against Sheng Shaoyan’s back.

The contact lasted only a moment.

“The surface has longitudinal cracks, five leaves, dark green on the front, grayish-green on the back, an odd number of leaves, pinnate.” Shen Xici stood on the edge of the slope. Seeing that Sheng Shaoyan nodded with every word he said, he was surprised. “You actually know what chicken blood vine is?”

That couldn’t be right. When did Sheng Shaoyan gain this kind of knowledge?

Sheng Shaoyan averted his gaze, staring at a cluster of similar-looking plants in front of him. “I don’t.”

Shen Xici: “Then why were you nodding?”

Sheng Shaoyan said matter-of-factly, “I thought what you said sounded right, so I nodded in agreement.”

Fine, completely unreliable.

Taking out the fruit knife from his bag, Shen Xici extended his left hand to Sheng Shaoyan. “I’m going down to take a look. Give me a hand.”

Looking down at the hand extended before him, Sheng Shaoyan paused for two seconds before reaching out to hold it.

As his feet sank into the layer of decaying leaves, Shen Xici leaned forward, stretched out his hand, found a spot of suitable thickness, and swung the knife hard at the grayish-brown vine.

Before long, reddish-brown sap flowed out from the cut.

“It really is chicken blood vine!”

With a soft “mm” in response, Sheng Shaoyan’s gaze fell on Shen Xici’s wrist. It was a very slender wrist, and in the gradually dimming light of the forest, it showed a lustrous white glow, possessing the fragile beauty of carved white jade. The delicate lines of its contour flowed downwards, disappearing into his own palm.

It was cool to the touch, like holding a piece of jade.

The motorcycle rushed out of the forest. Strands of rain were already being carried by the wind, hitting their faces. Behind them, a rain cloud hung over the mountain forest, instantly enveloping the entire forest in dense water vapor. All the leaves were washed into reflective prisms, and the entire mountain range became a resonance chamber for the sound of the rain, grand and immense.

Clutching the cut chicken blood vine tightly, Shen Xici grabbed the fabric of Sheng Shaoyan’s clothes at his side with one hand. He looked back and urged loudly, “A’Shao, quick, quick, quick! That rain cloud is about to catch up to us!”

The vibration from the handlebars shot through his palms to his spine. The mountains folded one upon another, and the scenery on both sides was like paint being swept across a canvas by a brush. In that instant, the bewilderment and frustration of waking up with memory loss, the unease of losing control over his current environment—all the accumulated emotions dissipated into the mountain wilds.

Countless mountain rocks and forest trees retreated behind them. Only the two of them moved forward. A faint smile touched Sheng Shaoyan’s lips, his voice tinged with a barely perceptible softness. “Sit tight and don’t move around. I’m speeding up.”

They raced all the way back to the county town, the motorcycle stopping in front of a fruit stall. Shen Xici eagerly jumped off the bike and shouted, “A’po, look what I brought you!”

In the end, Shen Xici was once again stuffed with a large bunch of longans and avocados by A’po, his two hands barely able to hold them all.

Seeing A’po still trying to stuff mangoes into the hood of Sheng Shaoyan’s jacket, Sheng Shaoyan wore a conflicted expression but swallowed his words of refusal, even bending his long legs to lower his height to accommodate her. Shen Xici couldn’t help but laugh, his eyes exceptionally bright under the warm glow of the tungsten light bulb.

At the same time, in the main promotional group chat for the Mountain Range Line crew, the PR assistant shared a Weibo post.

[@In-Focus_Camo_Uncle: Indochinese green magpie, in focus! Indochinese green magpie, in focus! Indochinese green magpie, in focus! Son of the Mountain God, in focus!! [Nine-image grid]]

[HasTheBTSBeenFilmedToday: A classic eccentric birder title, the vibe is so strong. Little Shen, how did you get into bird watching? Is some green magpie better looking than a handsome guy?]

[LittleShenIsAsleep: Why don’t you guys click and take a look? I think my eyes are playing tricks on me… @All Members]

A few minutes later.

[LittleShenIsAsleep: Has anyone finished looking? I think the person in the photo is Teacher Shen…]

[DontWannaEditVideos: My hands are shaking right now! A Weibo post from March 20th, five days have passed, and we’re only just discovering it!]

[HasTheBTSBeenFilmedToday: Shouldn’t the main point be that this damn Weibo post has over 200,000 retweets! 200,000!! Purely organic! What are you sleeping for, get up and have a meeting!]

Shen Xici carefully carried a large bunch of round longans up the stairs, afraid of dropping even one. He entered the apartment and dumped them all into a straw fruit basket, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

He was about to go wash his hands when Sheng Shaoyan suddenly stopped him. “What happened to your arm?”

A “thump” sounded in his chest. Shen Xici’s expression didn’t change at all, but his heart skipped half a beat from nervousness. He didn’t dare to move his hand, just stood motionless on the spot, trying to make his tone sound natural. “My arm? What’s wrong with it?”

Sheng Shaoyan walked over, directly took hold of his right wrist, and pulled up the torn white sleeve.

A long, shallow scratch was revealed. It had already scabbed over.

“There’s blood on your sleeve. This wound was probably from when you were cutting the chicken blood vine.”

The suspended heart suddenly dropped. His throat felt dry. Shen Xici looked down at the wound, unconcerned. “I didn’t even notice I got scratched. It’s only starting to feel a little itchy now.”

Sheng Shaoyan’s gaze moved two inches up and paused. “What’s that scar from?”

On the pale skin, it was too glaring, making him forget to hide his amnesia for the first time. Without deliberation or probing, he asked directly.

Shen Xici followed his gaze and didn’t say much. “The roundish one? Beaten by family when I was little.”

But Sheng Shaoyan insisted on asking, “It looks like a burn, doesn’t it? Who burned you?”

“I think I was four. Next to the stove, that man casually pulled a piece of wood from the fire and burned me with it. My clothes melted and stuck to my skin. It was summer, and the constant friction caused inflammation, so it didn’t heal very well. My constitution rarely leaves scars.”

After speaking, seeing the anger in Sheng Shaoyan’s eyes and his grim expression, Shen Xici was a little helpless. “I don’t say anything, you keep asking. You hear it, and you get angry. I was very young then. After so many years, no matter how much it hurt, I can’t remember it clearly.”

Taking a bottle of iodine from the storage box, Shen Xici tore open a new packet of medical cotton swabs and comforted him, “I grew tall very quickly. After I got taller than him, he didn’t dare to hit me anymore. He couldn’t beat me.”

Just as he was about to disinfect the wound with an iodine-soaked cotton swab, the phone on the table rang. The screen displayed “Lan Xiaoshan.”

“Brother Shen! You’re famous!”

Lan Xiaoshan’s voice was so high-pitched it almost blew out the microphone. Shen Xici quickly moved the phone away, and only after Lan Xiaoshan finished shouting did he bring the receiver closer. “What do you mean, I’m famous?”

“A set of your photos is on the trending topics, at number fifteen! The promotion team just found out too!”

A set of photos? Shen Xici had no recollection of taking a set of photos. The crew did have on-set photographers for stills and behind-the-scenes shots, but Lan Xiaoshan said the promotion team didn’t know about it either. “Who took them?”

“A birder!”

Shen Xici: ???

Lan Xiaoshan: “You know, that group of people who wrap themselves in camouflage until they look like a breathing tree branch, carry photographic equipment with telephoto lenses worth hundreds of thousands or even millions that are thicker than their necks, climb high mountains, cross grasslands, and wade through swamps, all just to take pictures of little birds everywhere!”

Shen Xici understood. “You mean those old uncles who take pictures of birds in the park?”

As he was speaking, he suddenly felt a cool sensation on his arm. He looked over and saw that the iodine-soaked cotton swab was in Sheng Shaoyan’s hand, who was disinfecting his already half-healed wound.

It was very cool, and a little itchy.

A wound like this didn’t really need disinfecting since it was almost healed. In anyone else’s eyes, it would be making a mountain out of a molehill, but Sheng Shaoyan’s actions were meticulous and very serious.

Shen Xici was dazed for two seconds before turning his attention back to Lan Xiaoshan.

“That old uncle is called ‘In-Focus Camo Uncle,’ and he only has about two thousand followers. He went into the mountains a few days ago to photograph some green-feathered bird and happened to take pictures of you, Brother Shen. He posted this set of photos on Weibo to show off the green-whatever-magpie he photographed, and then, this Weibo post was reposted by a big-shot birder with over a hundred thousand followers, and then it was reposted by another big-shot birder with over six hundred thousand followers,” Lan Xiaoshan’s voice was trembling. “And then, brother, you were on the trending topics!”

It could happen like that?

Shen Xici was a little mind-blown. He was on the trending topics because of a set of photos taken by a bird-watching uncle?

This had not happened in his previous life.

Sheng Shaoyan opened Weibo on the side. The topic ranked fifteenth on the trending list was #IndochineseGreenMagpieAndTheSonOfTheMountainGod#.

“At first, the promotion team thought it was one of those annoying proxy photographers, but this uncle really isn’t. He has no interest in people. He’s over fifty and just loves to photograph all kinds of little birds in the deep mountains and old forests. He wouldn’t stoop to earn the paltry sum that proxy photographers make.”

“He also wrote in his bird-watching diary on Weibo, saying that to get a shot of the Indochinese green magpie, he dressed in camouflage and climbed a tree in the middle of the night. He dozed off in the tree, and when he woke up at dawn, he chased the little bird with his camera. He didn’t expect the bird to fly towards a tree and land on a person. He looked, and hey, there was a little brother in the tree too! In order to photograph the bird, he had no choice but to include the person in the shot.
He also said that the Indochinese green magpie is very shy, but it actually landed on your knee and hand, so he said you were the Son of the Mountain God, and even the little birds weren’t afraid of you.”

Shen Xici remembered. A few days ago at sunrise, during the scene of the mute boy’s first encounter with the pursuit team, he had been sitting in a tree waiting since before 6:30. At that time, a bird did fly over. From a distance, it looked like a flying broccoli. Up close, it was emerald green, with a black marking around its eyes like a mask that extended from its beak to its neck. Its call was very syrupy, and it wasn’t afraid of people, so he had played with it a little.

On Sheng Shaoyan’s phone screen, a person somewhere between a youth and a young man sat among the sheltering leaves and branches. His coarse white robe hung naturally. A small, greenish-plumed bird stood on his bent knee, tilting its little head to look at him.

The next photo was a close-up. The youth’s long, slender index finger held the emerald-colored bird. The dark blue cuff was drawn tight. He leaned against the rough tree trunk, his eyes half-lowered in a gentle smile.

The crimson-gold morning sun outlined his delicate features, a faint golden glow seeming to bloom on his pale skin. With the rosy dawn filling the sky, the green bird, and the green leaves, the scene was naturally charming, a truly stunningly beautiful young man.

In the comment section, the top comment was—”Uncle, which tree were you squatting in to take this? Give me the address of that tree, I’ll set off tonight!”

Sheng Shaoyan’s finger continued to scroll down.

“—Damn, so beautiful I’m speechless! Is this really not AI-generated? Even a bird would be stunned by this face!”

“—Which ethnic group is this clothing from? It looks so good on him! The point is, the earring is so beautiful and sensual, I love it!”

“—We’re all birders, how come I can’t photograph pretty birds or pretty people? What’s the use of carrying around 500,00s worth of equipment?”

“—’In order to photograph the bird, he had no choice but to include the person in the shot’?? Uncle, you really only have eyes for birds. Such a stunningly handsome guy in your lens, and you didn’t even give him a second glance!!”

Among the varied comments, Sheng Shaoyan suddenly saw one.

“Dazed Little Lamb: So beautiful, so beautiful, does any sister want to print these photos as photo cards? If enough people want them, I’ll go ask the uncle for authorization and then start a group chat!”

There were already over two thousand replies below.

Sheng Shaoyan saved the photos posted by the bird-watching uncle one by one. Seeing that Shen Xici was still on the phone, his fingertips quickly tapped on “Dazed Little Lamb’s” profile picture and sent a private message: “I want ten sets of the photo cards, thank you.”