30. The Ill Child

Shenmi looked from the dining room to the apartment door, where her mother was standing with a shocked face.

"Mom, what's going on?" the white girl wanted to know. Hesitantly, she approached her mother. Only when she was close enough to her, she recognized Liu, who was leaning against the door frame.

"What's going on?" Shenmi repeated her question, and her gaze wandered back and forth between the two peahens.

"Shenmi, please go back to your brothers and sister," Yin-Yu finally said and pushed the white peacock girl towards the dining room.

"What happened?" Shenmi wanted to know persistently, but her mother pushed her forward so energetically that she almost stumbled.

"I'll tell you later," Yin-Yu urged. "Please go and eat something again."

After Shenmi was out of sight, Yin-Yu moved Liu into the apartment and led her to the next adjoining room where Xia's and Shenmi's beds were. Liu still seemed a little out of her depth. She just stood there as if her head had been swept clean. After making sure no one was watching them, Yin-Yu turned her attention back to what Liu had shown her earlier.

"Let me see."

Liu let her do it without resistance. Gently, the older peahen pushed the blanket open. The creature's appearance hadn't changed. Yin-Yu took a closer look. It was atypically colored, but it was a peacock chick. It was white, like Shenmi, but with the addition of light purple spots on the small crest feathers. The older woman stroked the still damp little head. To her relief, it finally responded, albeit with great difficulty. Looking into its eyes, Yin-Yu noticed the purple tinted irises surrounding the dark pupils. Yin-Yu didn't dare to say it, but it looked like... like Shen and Dao. Only this one was purple instead of the red color.

"Maybe it was part of my family after all," Liu breathed. "I don't know anyone from my family."

Yin Yu nodded. "It's possible." However, she wasn't entirely convinced. "May I?"

Liu nodded slowly. Carefully, Yin-Yu pulled the chick out of the blankets. The body was formed quite normally, she found. Just the behavior didn't fit. It wasn't active. It didn't even beep. As if something had drained all its energy. Only now and then it escaped a soft gasp.

"It's a girl," Yin-Yu said after a moment of silence. "You have a daughter."

Suddenly, they winced when they heard a hard pounding on the stairs. But it wasn't an ordinary gait, more like jumping. Shortly thereafter, someone shoved open the door with full force and Xiang stumbled into the anteroom of the apartment. As he caught sight of Liu, the blue peacock reared up on his leg, audibly gasping for air after his fast, clumsy run. But despite his exhaustion, his eyes sparkled with hate. "You... damn... bitch!"

Yin-Yu took Liu aside protectively. "What did she do to you now?"

Liu threw herself against her in dismay. "He thinks that... I and Shen had an affair."

Yin-Yu kept her beak open, stunned. For a moment, she wasn't able to think. She only felt Liu digging her finger feathers into her shirt. Finally, she managed to shake her head and look determinedly in Xiang's face.

"How can you say that?!"

"And how do you explain that?!" Full of contempt, Xiang pointed to the chick that Yin-Yu was still carrying.

Unconsciously, Yin-Yu rocked the baby, who began to tremble slightly at Xiang's loud roar.

"T-that's no proof!" Yin-Yu replied. She couldn't show that Xiang was wrong, but with the best will in the world, she couldn't imagine that Shen would betray her like that. And if she thought about it, she couldn't even think that of Liu. Even if it had been a completely different peacock.

"What are you doing here?" Xia's voice suddenly came out of the dining room together with her little siblings Shenmi, Zedong and Jian.

Xiang let out a loud snort. "Ask your fine father!"

"You're talking crazy things!" Yin-Yu intervened angrily. "I just can't believe that you can only believe something like that! There must be another explanation for that!"

"What's going on?" Zedong wanted to know.

But instead of an answer, Xiang's anger got the better of him. "Now you're lying again!"

Xia screamed as Xiang threw himself forward and lunged at Liu and Yin-Yu. But before he could strike, Yin-Yu kicked the peacock in the chest with full force with her foot and Xiang landed hard on her back to the ground.

"Hey! Leave my mom alone," Zedong complained, "or my dad will spank you!"

"What's going on here again?!" Wang's voice suddenly thundered.

He had secretly followed Xiang after he was limping to Shen's family home, which struck the Hun king as particularly odd. Especially after Liu had rushed out.

"Stay... out of... this!" Xiang hissed and heaved himself up against the wall, where he braced himself.

Wang's gaze wandered to the two peahens and at first, he couldn't explain what had upset the blue peacock so much. Only when he noticed the white chick, he seemed to suspect something.

But before he could ask anything, Xiang unexpectedly jumped forward again. King Wang just managed to grab the peacock's long feathers. Xiang wanted to turn around and scratch Wang's face, but the ox hit and the blue peacock slammed into the wall.

Startled, Shenmi pressed against Xia.

Wang looked at her apologetically. "Sorry. But there was no other way."

In the meantime, Yin-Yu had handed the little chick back to Liu and approached Xiang. The blue peacock now sat trembling against the wall and didn't look up when she stood in front of him and looked down at him reproachfully.

"Could you stop acting like a madman?!" she scolded him.

At first, there was just a loud gasp, then Xiang opened his trembling beak. "It... it has my mother's eyes."

"I think, we should just talk to each other calmly," Po defended his point of view about the "round of introductions". "I mean, just chatting with each other."

Shen narrowed his eyes angrily. Then he yanked the bottom hem of his red and white robe, cutting the air sharply with it. "When are you going to grow up, panda?"

Then he turned and walked away with his head held high.

Po stood there first with his mouth open. "EY! Where are you going?"

"Father!" Sheng intervened now. "We weren't done yet!"

Shen stopped and gave Sheng a disparaging look. "But I'm done."

"Wait!" Sheng snapped and jumped next to his father. "You can't get away from me that easily."

But just as the piebald peacock was about to grab his sleeve, Shen slapped his finger feathers. At first, Sheng was completely confused. But then he drew his eyebrows together and both peacocks glared at each other.

Dao watched this father-son conflict with a skeptical eye. "Are you afraid of losing this battle, brother?"

Shen turned to him, fuming. As if it wasn't bad enough for him that his son had a crush on his enemy's cousin, now his own brother was stabbing him in the back.

Po got scared and faced Dao and Shen. "Oh, oh, oh, please, please! I know the communication is a bit strained..."

"Panda!"

Po flinched so much at Shen's rebuke that he ducked his head. He was not afraid of Shen's beatings. He didn't even have his sword. But the thought that his family was now going to pieces because of him gave him stomach cramps.

"Don't get involved in things you have no idea about!" Shen continued to reprimand him, pointing at him with a menacing finger.

Po swallowed, but bravely he managed to stand up straight again. Still, he kept looking at Shen pleadingly. "You're right, it's really none of my business, but please, just please, do me a favor and settle the matter after the festival, please. Okay?" Po pressed his palms together. "Just a few days. After that, we can talk and discuss as much as you want and when you want."

Panda and white peacock held strained eye contact for a while. Finally, Po's gaze wandered to Dao as well. He stood there with folded wings, but then he nodded. "Fine with me."

Po looked back at Shen. Then the oldest peacock gave in, too. Still, he could see that he wasn't thrilled about it. "Just until after the festival," Shen growled.

Po breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, good."

"Po?"

The panda looked up in surprise when he saw Tigress and Mantis coming along with Crane. "Oh, hey Tigress. Nice that you are here."

"Hey, Sheng," Mantis began. "Tell me, did something happen in your apartment?"

Sheng looked at him in surprise. "How so?"

The mantis vibrated with his antennas. "I don't know. It was very loud there. And Xiang was nearby, too."

At the mention of Xiang's name, Shen perked up. "What?!"

"Closely followed by Wang," Tigress added.

Mantis scratched his head. "Yes, he too. In any case, both of them are in the apartment, up the stairs..."

"Shen!" Po paled from the tip of his nose as he saw the white peacock run away. "No! Why before the Kung Fu Festival?!" Po legged it and raced after him.

In the meantime, Liana dared to move again and went next to Sheng. He exchanged a look with her. "Something is wrong here. Let's take a look."

Then they left the place. But Dao was no less interested and joined them running.

The five friends looked at each other questioningly.

"Shall we go after them?" Mantis asked the group.

Tigress shrugged. "What else can we do? And besides, remember Master Shifu. If something else happens now, he'll blame us right away."

Meanwhile, Yin-Yu had laid the baby in Shenmi's bed. Liu stood by and worriedly, she looked at her little daughter. Xia had joined them and wondered about the little chick's strange behavior. Shenmi also craned her neck curiously and peered over the edge of the bed. "Xia? Pick me up!"

Her sister did her the favor and put her on her wings so that Shenmi could have a better view of the baby in bed.

"What's wrong with her?" she asked.

Yin-Yu didn't know what to do either. "I honestly don't know. I've never seen anything like that. She is unusually weak."

The older peahen wouldn't say what exactly was going through her mind. Lost in thought, he stroked the small white wing of the newborn. It seemed to be difficult for it to catch its breath. Such an unusual condition was not unknown to her. At least as long as the soothsayer had told her about Shen's birth. But somehow, she resisted thinking something like that and her gaze wandered to Xiang. The blue peacock was still crouching against the wall in the hallway. Wang stood by and made sure he didn't freak out again.

Yin-Yu narrowed her eyes. Or was he right in his accusation?

She shook her head. No! Never!

A loud rumble sounded on the stairs, running up the stairs at breakneck speed. In the next moment, the door flew open and the white person would have almost smashed into Wang's back if he hadn't slowed down in time.

Yin-Yu looked up in surprise. "Shen?"

But Shen's searching eyes only stopped when he saw Xiang.

"What are you doing here?!" he yelled.

Xiang didn't respond to this loud question, but he said in a monotonous voice: "So, did you come to see your daughter?"

"What?!" For a moment, Shen was dumbstruck. His gaze wandered to Shenmi and Xia. But both were fine, which is why he didn't immediately understand Xiang's statement.

"Don't listen to him!" Yin-Yu intervened. "He just doesn't want to accept his child."

Now Xiang raised his head angrily. "How can I accept a child who looks like him?!"

Shen still didn't understand what it was all about. "So what's going on?"

Zedong immediately agreed to shed some more light on the matter. "Well, he's talking about her," he said, pointing toward the bed. Hastily, Shen approached it. When he saw the white child, he wasn't able to say anything at first. And because he didn't say anything that made Zedong impatient, so the boy said what Shen least wanted to hear.

"Xiang thinks the child is yours."

Immediately, he got a hard nudge in the ribs from his big sister Xia. But that didn't help anymore. Furious, Shen turned back to the peacock crowded in the corner. "I must be hearing things! How dare you say something like that?!"

"Wang!" Yin-Yu yelled and the ox reacted immediately.

Shen would certainly have torn Xiang apart if Wang hadn't caught the white peacock in his leap at the last moment. Xiang pressed himself even closer to the wall, but that didn't stop him from throwing his rival some more words.

"What if it's true?"

Shen's entire body began shaking with anger. "I WILL...!"

"No, dad, leave him alone!" Shenmi yelled and jumped down from Xia's wings.

Panting, Po arrived at the apartment where the peacock family had been housed. However, just as he was about to run up the stairs leading to the first floor, Shifu met him on the street with the other two masters in tow.

"Po, what..."

"No time, Master Shifu," the panda brushed him off.

"Po! Where are you going?"

"Sorry, it's important." Without further explanation, the panda ran up the apartment stairs.

Surprised and annoyed, Shifu looked after him. The red panda's eyes widened even more as he saw Sheng running into the house, closely followed by Liana and even Dao. Shifu opened his mouth to call out to them, but to his even greater astonishment, nobody paid any attention to him, as if he were nothing.

"What the…?" His hand began to tremble angrily.

When he then saw the Furious Five running towards him, the little old master pushed off and jumped right at the feet of the five friends.

"What's going on here?" Master Shifu demanded sharply.

"We don't know that either, master," Viper had to admit, which didn't make Shifu peaceful at all, that now his long ears also began to tremble.

"Has everyone gone mad today?"

Panting, Po reached the apartment door after climbing the small flight of stairs at breakneck speed. The door was even open, so that loud voices came towards him on the stairs.

"No, dad, leave him alone," he heard Shenmi pleading.

Po gave his legs another push and with the next jump he was standing in the corridor.

A strange sight presented itself to the panda. Xiang was leaning in the hallway in a crouched position while Wang struggled to hold Shen. Shenmi stood anxiously and let out a squeak of relief when she saw the Dragon Warrior.

"Po! Tell dad to stop!"

"Stop what?" The panda looked around in amazement and now he recognized Yin-Yu, Liu, Xia, Zedong and Jian in the girls' room.

"So what's going on? Something happened?"

Yin-Yu nervously rubbed her wings. "We don't really know either..."

"Just say it," Xiang hissed in a tight voice, as if he was afraid Shen would tear himself away from Wang after all.

Po scratched his head in irritation and looked at Shen. "Shen? What is it actually about?"

Shen's red eyes hit the panda like a whiplash, and Po unintentionally stumbled back, crashing into Sheng, Liana, and Dao, who had also arrived by now.

Xiang looked at the newcomers with a bitter expression. "So, does the rest of you want to see the new relative, too?"

"Shut up!" Po shouted, rubbing his hair so hard that his improvised wig was almost bald again. "Can someone tell me what it's about?"

This time, Zedong kept his mouth shut. For that, Xiang replied.

"Why don't you ask why your friend is secretly seeing my wife?"

Po's jaw dropped. "Huh?"

Shen broke Wang's grip. "YOU DAMN…!"

"STOP!"

A blinding flash of light blocked Shen's path of attack on Xiang as Dao sliced his katana between the two. Now the second white peacock held his weapon like a warning barrier between them. Shen caught Dao's piercing gaze, which they both held for a moment.

"If I were you, I'd do nothing for now," Dao hissed menacingly.

Shen drew his feather knife and struck Dao's katana hard. "Don't you dare tell me what to do!"

"Father, please stop this!" Sheng asked, although he didn't know what it was about yet. "The masters are also nearby."

Shen let out a derisive snort. "Does everyone have to get involved now?! It's nobody's business!"

"Po, is everything alright?" Tigress asked when she had come in with her friends.

Po looked at her in confusion. "Uh, yeah, almost, at least. I'm starting to lose track here."

"Can you guys stop making such a noise?" Yin-Yu shouted. "You should be ashamed of yourselves. Remember, we have an ill child here!"

"What child?" Po asked, stepping over to the bed where the weak white peacock chick lay. "What... what's that?" The panda was not only confused by the white coloring, but also by realizing that something was wrong with the baby. He knew the birth of Shenmi and her siblings and they behaved very differently. "What does it have?"

Yin-Yu didn't want to voice her suspicions and instead she just said, "I'm not sure."

This unexplained answer made Po's eyes wander back to Shen. "Have you been hiding anything again?"

Shen threw the feather knife. Everyone screamed. Po just managed to dodge the projectile, which pierced the wooden wall.

For a moment, everyone was frozen. Nobody dared to say a word. Not even the Furious Five. Instead, a completely different voice answered.

"What's going on here?" Master Ox wanted to know annoyed, and entered the hall first before Master Shifu and Master Croc and was amazed at the whole crowd.

"Ask him!" Xiang snapped, pointing at Shen.

Master Ox's sparkling eyes immediately wandered to the white ex-ruler. "What have you done again?"

Shen's peacock comb began to tremble. "How can you fool believe a statement by a poison adder? That is an outrageous allegation!"

"Hey, that 'poison adder' comparison wasn't nice either," Po complained, but immediately he ducked when Shen's next glare hit him.

Master Ox, on the other hand, didn't care about the private war between the two and didn't seem at all surprised that Shen was being sued again. "So you're claiming to have nothing to do with anything, like always, huh?"

"Po," Master Shifu intervened. "Can you explain this uproar to me?"

The Dragon Warrior stood there like lost. He didn't know what to think of all this. Especially since he didn't want to fuel Shen's anger any further.

"That's strange."

All faces turned to Dao, who had meanwhile gone to the sickbed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Master Ox wanted to know.

"She has exactly the same symptoms of illness that Shen and I had shortly after we were born."

Xiang narrowed his eyes to evil slits. "Is that proof enough?!"

Yin-Yu noticed Liu was about to collapse and held her shoulders comfortingly. "Do you really think that of her? You said that she had your mother's eyes. Then how could she have cheated on you? Besides, it couldn't have been Shen. He was with me the whole time!"

Xiang let out an angry snort. "Who knows where he lurks secretly at night."

Shen lunged forward and grabbed Xiang by the throat. "Who knows where your wife is secretly hanging around!" he hissed at him.

"Now it's over here!" Master Ox roared. "Who is that?" and pointed to the bed with the white baby.

"His daughter!" Yin-Yu answered in a firm voice.

Xiang jumped up. "SHE CAN'T BE MY DAUGHTER!"

Ān-Mā arrived at the restaurant, panting. She had no leisure to go to the Jade Palace. She wanted to talk to the others privately first. She was sure Mr. Ping could tell her where Shen was with his family. As soon as she stepped onto the restaurant terrace, she saw Fantao who was just drawing something on the wall.

"Fantao?"

The peacock boy turned to her in surprise. "Nanny? You here?"

He dropped the brush and ran towards her. The goat almost fell backwards when Fantao threw himself against her.

"Where's your father?" the goat asked immediately.

Fantao shrugged. "I don't know. He left very early."

At that moment, Mr. Ping stuck his head out of the kitchen. "Oh, I wasn't expecting you at all. Do you want to be here for the party as well?"

"I'm just looking for Shen. I need to speak to him urgently."

"But I don't know where he is right now," Fantao objected.

"Then tell me where your family live."

"I'll take you there," Fantao offered. He grabbed the old goat's hoof and pulled her outside onto the street.

The gander looked at the two in amazement. "Something isn't right," he mumbled, looking over at his brother who was standing with him in the kitchen. "I'll take a quick look."

With these words, Mr. Ping took off his apron and left the restaurant.

"Wait, I'll come with you!" Pong called out to him, but he couldn't resist trying a small spring roll which he and his brother made this morning.

"Mm, tastes good," he praised appreciatively and took another one with him on the way.

"So, you are seriously claiming that your wife had an affair with him?" Master Ox summed up, just so he was sure that he had understood everything.

Xiang was about to nod, but Liu had calmed down enough to be reasonably able to argue again. "That's not true!" she insisted.

Master Ox rolled his eyes. This family of peacocks was starting to get on his nerves. If Shenmi didn't exist, he probably wouldn't be in any way careless with any of them, so he tried to control himself as much as possible.

"It seems," he finally said, "that there is testimony against testimony."

"You don't seriously believe that, do you?" Xia yelled, stunned. She didn't want to believe what Xiang was accusing either.

Even Shifu and Master Croc couldn't believe what they heard, even if they were reluctant to side with Shen.

"Hey! Look who's there", Fantao's voice suddenly called into the corridor. Astonished, the peacock boy stood on the doorstep and could not explain the whole assembly. Not only his family but also the three masters, Wang and Xiang and Liu were present. And even Po and his friends.

At that moment, Ān-Mā entered the stage. Her first glance was at Xiang and immediately an oppressive feeling built up in her and she groped in her coat pocket for the blue feather.

Oh, Liang.

"You here?" Po wondered. "What are you doing here?"

But instead of answering, the goat ran straight at Shen. "Shen! Am I glad to see you!"

Shen looked at her in surprise, despite his anger. "How did you get here so quickly? I thought, you wanted to stay in Gongmen."

"An alder flew me."

"You flew?" He looked at her with wide eyes. "You said, you were so afraid of flying."

"Yes, I have!" To Shen's great astonishment, the goat grabbed his wings. "And after many hours of intensive prayer, I'm finally with you!"

He felt her hooves tremble. "What happened?"

"What is this about?" Fantao wanted to know.

"Enough, that's enough!" Master Ox yelled. "If someone asks what's going on here again, I'll forget myself!"

Monkey spoke up to answer Fantao's question. "As far as I understand, it's about..."

"Oh, don't worry," Po intervened. "I have the overview, at least I think so..."

"Panda!"

"Alright, I'm quiet."

"Oh, it's good that you're coming," Yin-Yu pressed to the old goat. "We could need your advice."

Ān-Mā looked at her with raised eyebrows. "My advice?"

"It's about the girl," Po blurted out.

"What girl?"

Now Dao pushed his way to her. "She has the same dizzy spells that we had after we were born."

The old goat looked from one to the other in confusion. "Who exactly are you talking about?"

"From my daughter!" Liu said with difficulty.

The old goat first looked at her, then at Xiang. Finally, she audibly gasped for air. "Now this is the definitive final proof."

Shen looked at her questioningly. "The proof of what?"

"Take me to the child!"

As Ān-Mā pushed forward, two more people arrived.

"Po, what's going on here?" Mr. Ping asked, who now also came in with his brother.

"Dad, are you here, too? Who else more?" Po was beginning to get claustrophobic from all the crowding in the small apartment.

Ān-Mā, meanwhile, had reached the bed and was looking at the feeble baby in dismay. Shenmi followed her and looked up at the old lady. "Will she recover?"

But Ān-Mā was unable to say anything. She just looked at the white chick in the bed and didn't say a word.

Meanwhile, the next discussion arose behind her.

"It can only be yours if your own brother can attest to that!" Xiang complained.

"Wait!" Dao defended himself. "I was just saying that she has the same condition."

Xia couldn't take it any longer and gripped Ān-Mā's shoulder pleadingly. "Tell him that's not true!"

The old goat stood motionless for a moment. Then finally, she turned to the others. Her gaze lingered on Xiang for a few seconds, then she looked down. "Shen. I have to tell you something."

Shen rolled his eyes. "What is it again? Every time you start a sentence like that, you have something."

Ān-Mā took a deep breath. "Yes, Shen. I need to talk to you – privately between eight eyes."

"Eight?"

"Yes, with you, with Dao... and Xiang."

Now Xiang looked up in surprise.

Shen was initially irritated by her request, but then he let out an aggressive growl. "If you want to say something to my brother and him, you can say it in front of everyone else."

The old goat shook her head wistfully. "Shen, I just don't want you to get upset again in front of everyone."

"I don't know what can shock me today. So, talk."

Dejected, she gave in. "Shen, as you already know, Dao is your brother."

"I've known that for days. At least since you confessed to me."

"But there's something else." She hesitated to bring it up and looked up dubiously at the white peacock, who was growing impatient.

"What do you want to tell me?" Shen demanded.

At first, it looked like the old goat would give the answer right away, but then she turned away and walked with her cane up and down a few times. "Since that day in the Hun castle, many things have gone through my mind," she began in a depressed voice. "Like your family, for example. I never really wanted to get involved with my suspicions, but there were so many signs that I couldn't help but I investigated." She reached inside her coat and pulled out a roll of paper. "And that's when I found this letter what your father had left. He originally wrote it to his wife. And in it, he had confessed something."

Shen raised her eyebrows. "Since when are you authorized to read other people's letters?"

"That surprises me a bit..." Immediately, Po covered his mouth again.

But the old goat didn't blame anyone. "Unfortunately, it was necessary because something had bothered me. And now… I think, you should know it too, just to understand some things better."

"What things?" Dao wanted to know.

Ān-Mā briefly turned back to the child in the bed, who didn't notice any of this. It still lay there, breathing heavily, and it seemed like it wouldn't breathe much longer.

The old goat looked at it with pity. "I still hoped it wouldn't happen that way, but in the end, it came out." She turned back to the others. "If your father were here, I would have told him he couldn't keep it a secret forever."

The goat's eyes briefly wandered to Xiang. He didn't seem to know what to make of it and just looked at her uncertainly.

"Could you please speak plainly?" Master Ox said.

Ān-Mā lowered her gaze. What she would say now, she could never take back. She leaned on her cane and gazed at the two white peacocks.

"Shen. Dao…" She took a deep breath. "Xiang is your half-brother."