A Cuckoo Takes Over the Nest, Lays an Egg, Then Flees

Fengjiu was lazy by nature, and even when it reached maturity, it still hadn't built a nest of its own.

What was it to do?

Take over another bird's nest, one built to attract a mate.

But because it was so beautiful, it was mistaken for a potential mate,

and ended up getting slept with instead.

Fengjiu: ?

After a night in which it couldn't fight back at all, Fengjiu stormed out of the nest, leaving behind a pile of feathers.

It flapped its wings, abandoned even the egg it had laid, and flew off, cursing under its breath.

*

Three years later, history repeated itself. Nesting season came around again, and Fengjiu still had no nest of its own.

What was it to do?

Take over another bird's nest.

But this time, it had learned its lesson and chose a nest belonging to a fledgling.

Fengjiu landed in a nest whose temperature, humidity, height, and softness were all exactly to its liking.

It extended a noble phoenix claw, pushed out the fledgling inside, and declared, "This is mine now."

It wiggled its rear and contentedly spread out its tail feathers. A shadow fell over it from above.

The bird's father was back.

It looked up. It couldn't win.

Fengjiu: ...

It reached out and pulled the fledgling back from the edge of the nest, trying to make things right.

"I didn't come to break up this family. I came to join it."

The male sparrow looked at the scoundrel who had abandoned him and their egg to live carefree on its own three years ago, and smiled coldly.

"Sure. But I don't keep freeloaders in my nest. Hatch an egg first, then we'll talk.

You say you don't have an egg to hatch?

Hah. Lay another one."

Theme: Married life takes effort from both partners.