Chapter 8 Pets "I'm sorry, did I hit you too hard...?"

A few days passed peacefully. Xiao Jiang continued to raise her merfolk as usual, occasionally going out to fish and hunt. Only once did she see those outsiders searching for something in the mountains from afar. Remembering Jiang Liuyun's words about adapting, Xiao Jiang did not follow them.

When she returned home that day, it was already quite late. Candlelight was lit in the Jiang family's small house. Jiang Liuyun had prepared a meal and was waiting for her to come back. He wanted to ask her why she was only coming back now, but when he saw her appearance, Jiang Liuyun couldn't help but chuckle - not only was Xiao Jiang carrying a long string of fish, but she also had a bunch of red and green wild fruits in her clothes, which could be described as a bountiful harvest.

Jiang Liuyun felt once again that even without him, Xiao Jiang should be able to live a good life. He should be gratified that she could take care of herself at such a young age. But then he thought that she didn't have to be like this. If that person were here, she could have used her abilities without restraint, without being controlled by anyone or anything. For a moment, gratification and loss were mixed in his heart.

Xiao Jiang was unaware of her father's complex emotions. After quickly finishing a full bowl of rice, she hid in her room, seemingly fiddling with something.

She was in a hurry, but she knew she couldn't rush things.

Today, while picking wild fruit in the mountains, I met a mountain sparrow. The sparrow told me that it had learned about the magic of shrinking from the mountain god.

For the entire afternoon, Xiao Jiang practiced the method of the titmouse many times. At first, he was not very proficient, but after practicing a few more times, he no longer made mistakes.

Xiao Jiang took out a bottle the size of her palm from her bosom. The bottle was made of crystal, clear and bright, and one could see the contents at a glance. This was something Jiang Liuyun treasured very much. Xiao Jiang had only seen him take it out once, play with it for a while, and then put it back in the box and put it away.

Xiao Jiang looked at the bottle with a guilty conscience. She swore that she would only take it out when she took Xiao Hai out, and would never touch it at other times.

Forgive her; she just wanted to give the miniature version of Xiao Hai a comfortable home.

Xiao Jiang held the bottle up to the merman in the bathtub, silently calculating how small it should be.

The merman emerged from the water, looking at Xiao Jiang and the glass bottle in her hand with a puzzled expression.

Xiao Jiang pointed at the mermaid and then tapped the bottle.

The merman understood, but he didn't believe it and even wanted to dive back into the water.

Xiao Jiang held his shoulder to stop him from sinking.

"Wait."

At that moment, facing the huge bathtub in the room, Xiao Jiang silently recited the incantation and steps in his mind.

Xiao Jiang looked into the eyes of the mermaid in the bucket: "Shh..."

She put a finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet.

A faint golden halo appeared at Xiao Jiang's fingertip, gradually spreading from the size of a grain of rice to the size of a bean, flickering and dancing like a flame.

The merman stared at the faint but familiar light, a look of confusion appearing in his icy blue eyes. How could this be... how could this... appear on this person?

Before he could even think, he saw the girl's lips move slightly, and she uttered something. Suddenly, his body was submerged in the water. The water suddenly became wide and deep, and caught off guard, his body gradually sank, giving him the illusion that he was in the sea.

The water is still the same water, and the planks are still the same planks; it's not that the water area has widened, but that it has shrunk.

A large hand covered his head and pulled him out of the water with an irresistible force.

...Retrieve...that's right.

He was indeed pulled out of the water, just like an ordinary fish...

The merman suddenly felt everything go black.

When the world brightened again, he met a pair of eyes, huge and bright, like flowing gold or dancing flames, making him want to immerse himself in them. With each blink of her eyelids, his world flickered between light and shadow.

The merman lay motionless in her palm for a long time.

Xiao Jiang was so happy she almost jumped up, nearly bursting into a silly laugh. She wanted to, but remembered to cover her mouth and didn't make a sound.

Her father disliked her dabbling in magic, and she absolutely couldn't let him know about this.

But looking at the tiny sea creature in his palm, Xiao Jiang couldn't resist poking it everywhere. Of course, he was met with fierce resistance from the merfolk, but that resistance was now like a tickle.

After teasing her for a while, Xiao Jiang noticed that the merman's skin was a little red, and she immediately began to reflect on her actions.

"I'm sorry, did I hit you too hard? You've gotten a big red mark here."

These words only made the merman feel like her whole body was on fire. She struggled to get back into the water, thinking that it must be because her palm was too hot.

Watching the tiny thing wriggle in his palm, Xiao Jiang blurted out, "Xiao Hai, you look like a mudfish right now!"

The merman's body, which was struggling desperately, instantly stiffened.

He never imagined that one day he would be compared to a mudfish that rolls in the mud by an ordinary person.

In a fit of anger, he bit her on the web of her hand.

"hiss……"

Even though its body had shrunk, the merman's teeth remained sharp, still managing to bite out two small holes, with two thin lines of blood flowing down.

The merman looked at his "creation" and felt a little dizzy, unsure whether it was from the heat or the smell of blood. He awaited his master's punishment, thinking that if she used force, she might really kill him with one blow; he had witnessed her strength before.

But after a while, instead of punishment from above, only one of her fingers fell.

"Don't be angry, don't be angry. There's no loach as pretty as you. Xiao Hai is the cutest and most beautiful fish in the world." Xiao Jiang stroked the merman's head with one finger, gently stroking his fur, coaxing him softly.

Xiao Jiang wasn't oblivious to the pain, but looking at the pitifully small Xiao Hai, she couldn't bring herself to be angry. Small creatures always evoke pity, and all she wanted to do was protect it.

Suddenly facing such a huge creature, he must have been terrified. It's all her fault for being so rough with him.

The merman turned his back, unable to meet her eyes any longer. Even though he had heard it countless times during this time, he still couldn't stand her overly direct praise. Now, her fingers were stroking his hair again and again, as soft as feathers, and his whole body began to burn involuntarily once more.

gurgle—

The bathtub was just below the girl's hand. The miniature mermaid leaped into the tub and hid herself in the water.

"It's my fault, I almost forgot you can't leave the water." Xiao Jiang apologized hurriedly, not knowing if Xiao Hai heard her.

But since the spell was successful, Xiao Jiang ignored it for the time being and turned to find a strip of cloth to stop the bleeding from his hand.

After a while, there was no movement. The mermaid emerged from the water with his small head and saw her bandaging herself under the lamplight. Her face was peaceful and serene. When she saw him surface, she even turned to him and smiled slightly before returning her attention to her wound.

She didn't blame him at all. This thought suddenly popped into the merman's mind.

The merman sank back into the water and swam rapidly in the tub, trying to calm his mind and let the water carry away those inexplicable thoughts.

Admittedly, by pet standards, she treated him exceptionally well. Under her care these past few days, his external injuries had largely healed. The environment she provided for him—the merman looked at the enormous tub it was currently in underwater—wasn't exactly luxurious, but… it was all she had.

Why...what did she take him for?

The mermaid shook her head heavily underwater. No, she couldn't treat him like a pet; he could never become a little girl's plaything!

However, he has no way to leave or contact the outside world right now. He can only wait until his spiritual energy recovers, which will be the time when he can leave. And this girl in front of him can actually drive spiritual energy with her mortal body; perhaps she can help him recover.

So, we'll settle him here for now. At least so far, this family has no ill intentions towards him; it's just... a bit humiliating.

It's alright, we can just erase her memories once her spiritual energy recovers.

Xiao Jiang had no idea what the merman was thinking. After bandaging her wound, she sat down by the tub and started eating fruit. The wild fruit she had picked in the mountains during the day, following the birds, was red and big. With a crunch, the sweet juice filled her mouth.

Seeing that Xiao Hai had been staring at her ever since he surfaced from the water, she assumed he had his eye on the wild fruit in her hand.

So, Xiao Jiang naturally handed the half-eaten wild fruit to Xiao Hai.

...

Seeing that the mermaid was not moving, Xiao Jiang thought she had misunderstood and was about to take the wild fruit away when the mermaid took a small bite of the fruit from her hand.

It was a very slight bite, and the bite mark was so small it looked like it had been eaten by insects.

Xiao Jiang almost blurted out that association again, but remembering how angry Xiao Hai had been earlier, he obediently shut his mouth and could only suppress his laughter.

The merman didn't even understand how he had bitten into her. He was just looking at her, not interested in her food, but as she was about to pull away, the words "You just don't like... what I gave you" suddenly popped into his mind, as if he had rejected her and would see her aggrieved expression the next moment. The merman subconsciously bit into her, and the sweet juice flowed into his mouth, an unexpectedly delicious taste.

The merman followed her arm down to her eyes, and sure enough, those eyes were slightly curved at that moment, the clean pupils like the surface of water under the sun, so bright and clear that you could see your reflection.

Without a doubt, she was very happy.

The merman hesitated for a moment, and by the time he was about to take another bite, the fruit in front of him and the people above him had disappeared.

Outside the bathtub, Xiao Jiang was gloating. Look what she'd discovered! Merfolk actually like to eat wild fruits! Xiao Jiang was practically bursting with excitement at her amazing discovery. The books said merfolk ate fish and shrimp and loved the smell of fish—completely wrong! No wonder Xiao Hai hadn't even glanced at the fish last time. Jiang Liuyun made her read books every day; it seemed there was plenty of fabrication in them too. She'd personally verified it.

A plate of washed wild fruits was placed in front of the merman. It was just an ordinary-sized plate, but it looked as tall as a mountain in front of the merman. Only then did Xiao Jiang belatedly realize that he had released the shrinking spell on him.

The merman, now back to normal size, didn't take the wild fruit from the plate. Instead, she quietly looked at Xiao Jiang's other injured hand, where the half-eaten fruit was.

Under the mermaid's watchful gaze, Xiao Jiang handed over half a fruit, puzzled. Why would she want something that had already been eaten when there was plenty of fresh fruit available?

But today Xiao Hai was unusually docile and obedient, and Xiao Jiang thought that as long as he was happy, he could do whatever he wanted.

She assumed Xiao Hai would take it. Although the merman's fingers were connected by transparent webbing, it didn't prevent him from holding things. She had already untied the rope binding his wrists; she had tied it in the first place to prevent him from being scratched by his sharp nails. But the merman still used her hand to carefully nibble on the wild fruit she had bitten, his sharp teeth chewing gently without making a sound. His posture was so elegant that the scene seemed perfectly reasonable.

But you clearly have hands, why do you need me to hold it?!

She felt that Xiao Hai had gone a bit too far.

A note from the author:

----------------------