Ch 11: The Cannon Fodder Won’t Play Along Anymore [QT]

A dark blur charged toward them.

Mu Xing: “???”

The people behind him were startled too. Uncle Fang, who was standing right behind, instinctively stepped forward to shield Mu Xing.

Then they finally saw what that blur actually was—
a male pheasant.

Its long, beautiful tail feathers shimmered in the sunlight, vibrant and colorful.

Normally, male pheasants were very protective of their prized tails.

But now it clearly had no time to care—its feathers were all fluffed out, and even its tiny bean-sized eyes seemed full of panic.

It landed right at Mu Xing’s feet.

Before Mu Xing could speak, another shadow lunged toward them.

The pheasant flapped its wings and dove straight into Mu Xing’s arms.

Mu Xing: “???”
Others: “???”
Viewers: “???”

[What kind of bizarre storyline is this?]
[Watching Xingxing’s stream is always full of surprises—yesterday it was Da Hei’s family, today a pheasant is literally throwing itself into his arms.]
[Such a beautiful pheasant!]
[That moment just now scared me to death.]
[Wait! There’s a monkey behind—looks a lot like the little one from yesterday.]
[Don’t all monkeys look the same?]

The next second, they heard Mu Xing, holding the pheasant, call toward the treetop monkey: “Xiao Hei?”

[It really is Xiao Hei!]
[What’s Xiao Hei doing? Playing tag with the pheasant?]

Xiao Hei chattered twice, glancing at the pheasant in Mu Xing’s arms.

The pheasant, feeling the monkey’s gaze, instantly covered its head with its wings and buried itself deeper into Mu Xing’s chest, pretending it didn’t exist.

[Hahahaha did this pheasant just decide Xingxing is its mom?]
[Turns out the “male mom” I’ve been watching all along is my streamer.]
[The pheasant’s a bit silly—humans aren’t necessarily safer than monkeys for it.]

Mu Xing lifted the motionless pheasant out of his arms and set it on the ground.
Before he could say anything—whoosh! flap!
The pheasant was pounced on by Xiao Hei.

“Xiao Hei!” Mu Xing called quickly—only to see the monkey wasn’t using its claws, just pinning the pheasant so it couldn’t escape.

Xiao Hei tilted his head up at Mu Xing, chattering: “Zhi zhi zhi!”
With both hands, he lifted the struggling pheasant toward Mu Xing, but didn’t dare come closer with other people around.

Mu Xing tried asking: “Is this… for me?”

The little monkey perked up, but as the pheasant wriggled again, it quickly tightened its hold.

After a moment’s thought, Mu Xing took the pheasant from Xiao Hei.

The monkey called to him twice, then turned and leapt into the trees, vanishing from sight.

Uncle Fang clicked his tongue in amazement: “That monkey’s really got some spirit.”

The comments were already exploding:

[Spirit? More like it’s become a spirit.]
[If this weren’t live, I’d believe it was CGI.]
[So Xiao Hei wanted to give Mu Xing a gift, and this unlucky pheasant just happened to be the one?]
[Be bold—maybe Xiao Hei saw this pretty pheasant, got smitten, and decided to catch it as a gift for the streamer.]
[Why do I suddenly want to ship Xingxing and the little monkey?]
[??? The longer I read this chat, the more confused I get.]

Mu Xing wasn’t sure either. He set the pheasant down again and said, “Let’s go. Just hope Xiao Hei doesn’t run into it next time.”

But the pheasant didn’t move.

Mu Xing said, “Let’s keep walking. Maybe it’s just scared—it’ll leave on its own.”

The group continued forward.

Someone in chat typed: [That’s it? Such a pretty pheasant—would make a nice pet.]
[Dude, no. Wild animals are wary of people, you can’t really tame them.]

Then the cameraman suddenly stopped walking.

Mu Xing didn’t notice and kept moving, but the viewers saw the group growing smaller in the frame.

[Why isn’t the cameraman following?]
[?]
[???]
[WTF!]
[WTF!]

From the pulled-back view, an uninvited guest strolled into frame—
the same pheasant, walking leisurely after Mu Xing’s group.

[Wild animals are wary of people?]
[Can’t be tamed?]
[Don’t like humans?]

Up ahead, Mu Xing finally sensed something off, turned around, and saw the pheasant trailing behind.

He froze. “Huh?”

The pheasant, seeing him turn, let out a loud cry and ran happily up to him, rubbing its body against his leg.

[That’s… affection, right?]
[So the monkey likes him, the pheasant’s in love at first sight—did this streamer steal a protagonist script from some god-tier romance drama?]

Mu Xing didn’t even look surprised. He crouched down, stroked the pheasant’s feathers, and said, “Why are you following me? Go back to your own place.”

Then to the camera: “Just showing off a bit—animals really like me. The village cats love hanging out at my place, and I often get strange little visitors in the yard. Da Hei’s family just came to play on their own.”

[This man is openly flaunting it in broad daylight!]
[Not just Da Hei’s family and the pheasant—there are cats too? I’m jealous!]

[Looks like a Disney prince—insanely good-looking and loved by animals. Why does this feel so familiar?]

[Xingxing, are you actually a Disney prince who escaped from the castle?]

[“Disney runaway prince” LOL]

Since the pheasant refused to leave, Mu Xing could only say, “Let’s get to business first.”

The group walked to the persimmon grove. Mu Xing climbed a tree, picked about a dozen fully ripe persimmons, then headed to a small creek outside.

“Our Xiaoxi Mountain is named after this creek. The water is mountain spring water—very sweet.” Mu Xing washed the persimmons in the water.

[I know this creek! The video that made Xingxing go viral years ago was filmed right here, wasn’t it?]
[Two years later, Xingxing looks even fresher and younger.]
[He was already pretty young, right? I remember he debuted at eighteen.]
[Eighteen? Didn’t he go to school?]

“Here, let’s get a close-up.” The camera zoomed in—Mu Xing held a ripe persimmon in his palm for everyone to see clearly.

[Hand fetish satisfied!]
[I want to lick it!]
[Do you mean the persimmon or…?]
[Jealous of the persimmon in Xingxing’s palm!]

“Hey, you guys—” Mu Xing didn’t expect that kind of reaction from the chat. He quickly clarified, “Look at the persimmon, the persimmon, not unrelated things.”

[Okay, this persimmon is so white—wait, no, so red, so beautiful!]
[Buy buy buy! I want a hundred jin!]

Mu Xing split the persimmon open, showing the bright red flesh inside. Seeing the comments, he said, “Persimmons don’t keep well and spoil easily. Don’t buy too many at once—if you like them after finishing, you can order more.”

He took a bite. “Sweet!”

On camera, the boy’s face lit up with pure satisfaction—his happiness seemed to spill out of the screen.

[Xingxing is too good. This is the first time I’ve seen a selling streamer telling fans to buy less.]
[These persimmons do look delicious.]
[I’m tempted… how much per jin?]
[Usually when celebrities sell goods, it’s pretty expensive, right?]

Mu Xing said, “The shop link will be in the stream tomorrow. Pre-orders start tomorrow, shipping within half a month. Price is 1.5 yuan per jin. Free shipping for five jin.”

[???]
[Did I hear the price wrong?]
[That’s cheaper than what I’ve seen in other online stores!]
[Selling this cheap—can you even make a profit?]

Seeing the doubts, Mu Xing smiled and pointed at Uncle Fang and Uncle Zhao, his helpers. “The price was decided by our village after discussion. If you don’t believe me, let the uncles say it themselves.”

He handed them the phone. Uncle Zhao waved it off, saying he couldn’t read, so Uncle Fang read a few comments aloud.

“Too cheap?” Uncle Zhao gave a simple smile. “Not cheap—it’s already higher than the price bosses usually pay us when they come to collect.”

Then he bowed gratefully toward the camera. “Xingxing said a lot of kind netizens want to buy our persimmons. Thank you, everyone. If you didn’t buy them, they’d just rot on the trees. Really, thank you all.”

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