Chapter 3 The Sea His face flushed red. Ever since entering adolescence, he…
Jiang Yuhuo was somewhat afraid of her beautiful priestess father, even though he never hit or scolded her. He only used his words to make her feel ashamed and reflect on herself, feeling sorry for her father who had raised her with great difficulty, and even more sorry for her mother who had gone far away and whom she still didn't know what she looked like. But those words were like gentle knives, torturing her young conscience piece by piece.
"They're fish! Small fish caught from the river!"
After being bombarded with a barrage of questions from Jiang Liuyun, Xiao Jiang had no idea what she had done wrong, so she could only quickly hand the fish basket to him and desperately try to explain.
Jiang Liuyun took a slight step back. Ever since that night, he felt he had developed a phobia of the word "fish."
Jiang Yuhu ran to catch small fish, and he knew without a doubt that it was to feed the "big fish".
It seems like you really treasure it.
"You're not going to school just for this?"
Jiang Liuyun put the fish basket aside, squatted down, and looked Jiang Yuhuo in the eye with his unusual golden eyes. He said seriously, "Then let me ask you, why did you use that power again?"
Xiao Jiang lowered her eyes guiltily, realizing that her father must have found out about what happened that morning. She had no choice but to confess honestly, "They wanted to come to the house to get money, but I didn't want them to see Xiao Hai, so..."
"So, you beat up five people all by yourself and threw them out like objects." Jiang Liuyun sighed. "Jiang Yuhuo, you're only thirteen years old. A thirteen-year-old shouldn't treat her friends like that, you know?"
Xiao Jiang lowered her head even further, unaware of what was happening. All she knew was that no one considered her a friend. People either avoided her altogether or ganged up to bully her. She usually refrained from retaliating, simply because she had to obey her father.
Seeing his daughter's dejected appearance, Jiang Liuyun couldn't bear it. He patted her head and said in a serious tone, "If something like this happens again, you must tell your father. Your father will teach the people in the clan a lesson, whether they are children or adults."
Xiao Jiang nodded. What she didn't tell Jiang Liuyun was that those people called her a monster, saying she wasn't his biological daughter at all, but just someone they'd picked up from the mountains. Xiao Jiang never mentioned these things in front of Jiang Liuyun; she was afraid they were telling the truth. After all, they looked so different. He had the same hair and eye color as the rest of the tribe, while she stood out from the crowd.
No normal person would give birth to a child with feathers on its back.
She saw the smooth backs of the tigers playing in the river, while she could only secretly pluck out her newly grown feathers while bathing, leaving ugly scars on her back.
Jiang Liuyun pulled out a comb from somewhere and began to comb Xiao Jiang's messy hair. Her hair was tangled terribly, but Jiang Liuyun patiently combed it out strand by strand, then braided it into two buns, one on each side, like horns growing from her head, which was extremely cute.
"Just don't use that power again," Jiang Liuyun continued to warn. "If you are targeted by bad people, your father won't be able to protect you."
A sigh came from above, "Father is still too useless."
Xiao Jiang's nose tingled, and tears streamed down her face. No, Father is a good person; it's her fault for looking like this.
Xiao Jiang threw herself into Jiang Liuyun's arms. Jiang Liuyun gently stroked her back and softly comforted her, "It's alright, it's alright, just bear with it a little longer. When your mother comes back, she will tell you what to do."
"But where did Mother go? Why... hasn't she come back yet?" Xiao Jiang sobbed, her snot and tears mixing together and smearing all over Jiang Liuyun's priest's robes.
"Does she not want us anymore?"
Xiao Jiang felt the hand on her back pause, and then she heard her father's voice, "No, how could that be? How could she forget?" It was as if he was talking to her, or as if he was muttering to himself to convince himself.
Jiang Liuyun poked Xiao Jiang's forehead and earnestly warned him, "You're not allowed to talk about your mother like that again."
Xiao Jiang nodded vigorously, but when he looked up, he saw his father's eyes dimming.
Mother, a phantom whose fate is unknown but who lives forever in Father's words.
*
The merman's wounds were gradually healing. As naturally born spiritual beings, mermen possessed spiritual power, beauty, and lifespans unattainable by mortals. Even when injured, their healing speed was faster than that of mortals. Under normal circumstances, mortals would never have any interaction with mermen throughout their lives, unless they were cultivators among the mortals who, through arduous cultivation, acquired spiritual power, comprehended the great principles of heaven and earth, and thus possessed supreme natural power, even extending their lifespan to a thousand years. Mortals called such people immortals. And these were qualities that the merman race was born with.
Naturally, in some places, ordinary people regarded the merfolk as deities and worshipped the merfolk god.
The merman was certain that these places did not include the region where he was now.
He struggled to turn over; even though it was the largest bathtub available, it was still cramped for the merman. When he submerged his head, his tail would stick out of the water, and his entire body could not be completely submerged.
Unfortunately, no matter how many advantages the merfolk had, they still couldn't escape the infighting among their own kind. Upon discovering the empty spirit chamber, the merfolk revealed a cold smile; his kin truly wanted to exterminate him.
When he was being strangled, he thought he was really going to die, but he never expected that the ocean current would bring him to such a strange place. On the night he was stranded by the water, he felt himself being picked up. He struggled to open his heavy eyelids and saw only a messy white head under the moonlight, but he was too weak to struggle.
He didn't know how much time had passed when he woke up again in a bathtub filled with herbs he didn't recognize. While he lay weakly in the tub, unable to move, the white-haired little girl would add new herbs to the tub every day. He knew these things should be effective, because even the deepest wounds on his body were rapidly healing, though the smell was extremely pungent and unpleasant.
In the last few days, he gradually regained his strength, and she changed the water in the bucket to clean water. But he could not forget the first day when she changed the water, when the little girl with white hair enthusiastically took a loofah to brush his scales.
His face flushed red. Since entering adolescence, no one had ever touched his body, let alone a mortal. He was filled with resistance, and in his struggle, he bit her hand in desperation. As the taste of blood filled his mouth, his thoughts suddenly faltered. Looking at the loofah sponge thrown into the bucket, he realized that she seemed angry with him.
But he later discovered that her anger always dissipated quickly, and she still came to see him and talk to him as usual.
A noise came from outside the tub. Hearing the commotion, the merman raised his head from the water, only to be met with a blinding light. He instinctively closed his eyes. The intense light made him, who was already weak, dizzy for a moment.
Then he saw the screen that had been moved aside and the small river beside it.
"How is it? Isn't it more comfortable in the sunshine?"
"..."
Looking at the mortal's innocent smile, the merman gritted his teeth. If only he hadn't lost all his spiritual power...
"You must be hungry. I caught some fish for you." Xiao Jiang carried the biggest and fattest fish and handed it to the merman with an expectant look on his face. "Do you like it raw or cooked? I know you can't talk. If it's raw, just nod once, and if it's cooked, nod twice."
The merman turned her head away, completely ignoring Xiao Jiang and the fish in her hand.
Don't you like any of them?
After a long silence, the merman heard her say something in a very low voice.
"Or maybe you just don't like... what I gave you."
The merman felt a stiffness in his neck, but still didn't turn his head. A grayish-blue patch floated on the water's surface—the hair she had braided for him that morning.
He didn't like eating fish, and besides, his cultivation level had long since passed the stage where he needed to eat to sustain his life. But just now, in that one glance, he seemed to see that her eyes were red, and she was much quieter than usual today.
This has nothing to do with him; he is indeed grateful to her for saving him. But once his spiritual power is restored, he will leave this place and return to his original world. As a reward to the family that saved him, he can bestow upon them everything that mortals desire: wealth, power, health… even a partner.
As for the memories of this period, they shouldn't exist; merfolk and mortals should never cross paths. Before leaving, he will erase them one by one. He will get what he wants and forget what shouldn't exist. For a mortal, this will be the best arrangement.
"Suckling, suckling..."
From one side came the teasing calls of a girl.
Upon hearing the sound, the mermaid's pupils constricted, and she looked incredulously at the source of the sound—she was facing away from him, waving a fish at the little black dog by the door.
The little black dog, who had been lying on the ground listlessly, rushed over upon hearing the sound, took the fish from the girl's hand, and smacked its lips while wagging its tail happily.
The merman let out a barely perceptible sigh; he must have been truly exhausted, for he almost thought it was a call to him.
Thank goodness...
The merman sank back into the water, somewhat helplessly twitching his index finger, but still received no response. Having lost his spiritual power, he was no different from an ordinary fish.
But staying here, he felt like a plant one moment and a dog the next.
"Xiaohai, Xiaohai, Xiaohai..."
Seeing that he remained submerged in the water, she called out the mermaid's name while tapping on the side of the tub.
He grew impatient with her noise and suddenly jumped out of the water, splashing her face with water.
But the girl wasn't angry at all. On the contrary, seeing that he was willing to come out, she immediately smiled happily, as if she wasn't affected by the merman's cold attitude at all. Just like many times before.
"Xiao Hai, are you in a bad mood? You don't hate me, you just hate being stuck in the bathtub all the time, right?" She leaned over the edge of the tub, looking at him. "You used to live in the sea, but now you're stuck in a bathtub. I was thinking, if I were locked in a room all the time, I'd be sullen too..."
"If only I could take you to the sea."
As Xiao Jiang rambled on, analyzing him, the merman inwardly scoffed, but then he heard her last sentence. If they could return to the sea, although there was a risk of being discovered by their people, it would be better than being trapped in this bathtub. Right now, he was as immobile as an ordinary fish, and the only one who could take him back to the sea was this naive, almost foolish girl before him.
He chuckled softly and nodded slightly.
A note from the author:
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