Chapter 15 Forming a Pact "The book says that fish have short memories, and mermaids..."
Qingdai was unwilling to accept this.
She had served the temple diligently for so many years, practically treating it as her home in her quest to become a qualified priestess. Mortals are supposed to be humble and insignificant before the gods, as small and equal as ants, aren't they? But why did this person receive divine favor the moment she arrived? She hadn't even done anything, just knelt before the statue, yet she was able to invoke divine intervention.
That's not fair!
This makes all her efforts over the years seem ridiculous.
Unable to contain her growing jealousy, the priestess looked up at the statue high above, her anger almost overflowing from her eyes.
Why? Why such favoritism?
...
The blessing ceremony was very short. After the chanting ended, the shamans opened their eyes and saw nothing unusual, except that the smoke seemed to linger longer than usual.
After finishing her chanting, the young female TCM doctor, who had been lying on the ground, finally regained some strength and stood up to go outside. She desperately needed to find a place to cool down.
When Qingdai saw Xiaojiang approaching, she coldly avoided her outstretched hand.
"Qingdai..."
Xiao Jiang's whole body was red, even her hands turned red, and her originally bright red lips turned pale. "Is there any water? Can I have a sip?"
Qingdai ignored her, her face still cold, and snorted, "Want more water? Didn't you say you didn't want to live in the temple? What are you still doing here?"
Xiao Jiang's hand missed its target, and she was confused by Qingdai's sudden change of expression. Had she done something wrong?
On the way home, Xiao Jiang still couldn't figure out what she had done to offend Qing Dai. Recalling Qing Dai's eyes when they said goodbye, it wasn't even the usual look of disdain, but more like hatred.
But why hate her? Just a moment ago, Qingdai was considering her arrangements, almost making her believe that Qingdai really wanted to take care of her.
She tried to stop thinking about things she couldn't understand, but being treated like this still hurt Xiao Jiang. Fortunately, the further she got from the temple, the faster her fever subsided; she just had to endure it a little longer.
The Jiang family's door was closed, just as it had been before she left.
Xiao Jiang pushed open the door and went inside. Apart from the creaking of the door, there was no other sound in the room. There was no movement behind the screen either. The whole room was eerily quiet, as if there were no living things.
Suddenly, a sense of unease began to creep into my heart—had Xiao Hai left too?
Xiao Jiang quickly rushed behind the screen. In the bathtub, the merman lay quietly, eyes closed, her face serene as water.
The merman slowly opened his eyes, his azure eyes cold and sinister. The moment he saw the person in front of him, his pupils suddenly contracted, like the surface of the sea brewing a storm.
He had actually heard her footsteps as soon as she entered the courtyard; he knew she had returned. However, an inexplicable emotion swirled within him, making him unwilling to give her a kind look. He felt uneasy, irritable, angry… even a little bit of hatred.
He hated that she had left him alone in the room for three whole days.
She rushed to the bucket. "Xiao Hai, I'm back. You must be feeling unwell from not having the water changed for days. I'm sorry, something came up at home, so I couldn't come back until today. But don't worry, I'll take good care of you from now on."
The merman pretended not to hear.
After greeting everyone, Xiao Jiang started working: fetching water, changing the water, cleaning the tub... After going through the whole fish-raising process, Xiao Jiang felt that she could rebuild some of the daily order that had been destroyed by her father's disappearance from these trivial matters. It seemed that if she could continue to raise a mermaid like this, she could still get through her life. Moreover, she discovered that, perhaps due to the special constitution of mermaids, her fever would be greatly relieved whenever she was with Xiao Hai.
But Xiao Hai seemed unusually cold to her today, and didn't respond to her words at all, just like when he had just rescued her.
He hasn't forgotten her in a few days, has he? Oh no.
Xiao Jiang put the merman back into the bathtub filled with fresh water, when suddenly he heard a question, "Xiao Hai, don't you remember me?"
The girl's eyes were filled with confusion. Seeing that he didn't respond for a long time, she lowered her head and pondered for a while, then began to mutter to herself, "The book says that fish have short memories, and mermaids are also fish, so mermaids..."
Xiao Jiang slapped his forehead and muttered to himself, "It's all over, all my work over the past few days has been for nothing."
These muttered words reached the merman's ears without a single misspelling. Living with her sometimes made him hate his naturally acute hearing. If he hadn't heard those silly things, he could have continued to calmly play the role of a beautiful pet, but now he was struggling to restrain himself from the urge to tap her on the head.
It's the goldfish that has a bad memory, what does that have to do with other mermaids!
In her heart, was he the same as a goldfish?
So you can just abandon him without a word and leave him to wait alone in the same spot.
Is that so? River, fishing, fire.
The merman gazed at her silently, trying to discern something from her expression. But the girl leaned closer, her gentle golden eyes meeting his. She lightly brushed aside a strand of damp hair clinging to his face. "But it's alright. Xiao Hai, as long as you're still here, we can start over."
"As long as I still remember you, that's enough."
The gentle touch was fleeting, like a feather brushing against the face.
The merman swiftly grabbed the hand that was about to return, and she froze, motionless. Very well.
He looked into her eyes and slowly bit down on her little finger. With a slight pressure, his sharp teeth easily pierced her skin, releasing the unique scent of the merman into her bloodstream. It was a spiritual pact, and a blood pact.
"hiss……"
A stinging pain, like being pricked with needles.
Xiao Jiang pulled back her poor hand; there was a tiny blood hole on both the front and back of her little finger.
"Xiao Hai!" Xiao Jiang frowned deeply, held up his little finger in front of it, and pretended to be angry, wanting it to see what bad things it had done.
A slight smile appeared in the mermaid's azure eyes. He also raised one hand in front of Xiao Jiang, extended his little finger, and bent it twice.
Xiao Jiang's little finger also twitched twice at the same frequency.
What's going on? Xiao Jiang's eyes widened immediately, and he quickly moved his little finger several times. Each time, the merman's little finger made the same reaction.
How amazing!
"What kind of magic is this?"
The merman simply looked at her; he wouldn't tell her that this was his mark, a symbol of his power that allowed his aura to flow into her body through her blood. No matter where she went, the merman could find her through that aura. The contract was tied on her little finger, and any movement there would trigger a connection between them.
It's just a very simple spell, but only those of the merfolk possess this ability. The process of forming the bond is also simple, requiring only a small wound. The reason I bit two wounds is...
The merman silently pursed his lips.
One is forming a bond, the other is punishment.
*
Several days passed, and Jiang Liuyun still hadn't returned.
Xiao Jiang searched everywhere Jiang Liuyun might have gone, but to no avail. She even called the birds to help her search, but even the birds couldn't find any trace of Jiang Liuyun.
Rumors began to circulate in the village that the high priest had been captured by a spirit from the deep forest. Some villagers had gotten lost in the forest before; some returned, others never did. The deepest part of the forest remained a tacitly forbidden area.
Xiao Jiang didn't believe the legends of the dense forest, and Jiang Liuyun, unlike her, didn't like going to the mountains and forests.
He clearly went into the mine to rescue people, so why did he disappear at the end? Did he leave the mine? Or did he never come out at all? The mine is newly opened and not very deep yet; you can almost see the end at a glance. No deeper space was discovered during the mine's cleanup that day.
She needed to see him alive or dead. She couldn't believe Jiang Liuyun would abandon her without a word; something must have happened.
If you have no clue, then you can only eliminate all possibilities one by one.
Xiao Jiang quickly ate a mouthful of rice to fill her stomach, then washed the dishes and took them to Granny Fang next door. These past few days, Jiang Liuyun hadn't been around, and Granny Fang, worried that Xiao Jiang might be hungry, would always prepare an extra portion of food for her at each meal. Grateful for Granny Fang's kindness, Xiao Jiang reciprocated by giving her the catch from fishing and hunting every day.
"You child, bringing so many ingredients to an old woman like me every day is such a waste." When Grandma Fang, who was tidying up in the kitchen, saw Xiao Jiang carrying a large pile of things over again, she quickly dried her hands and went to help her. "Don't work too hard, you're just a child, you don't need to do so much work."
"It's not hard work." Xiao Jiang just smiled and quickly disappeared.
Watching the departing figure, the old man couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, "What a good child, how pitiful."
She lost her mother at a young age, and now her father is gone too. A once happy family is now reduced to just the little girl alone.
She was one of the few people in the village who had seen Xiao Jiang's mother.
She was a very unique woman. No one knew where she came from. Suddenly one day, she was already in the priest's house.
The woman was young, with golden eyes that shone brightly on everyone. Back then, the high priest, still a junior sorceress, would always blush in her presence, gazing longingly from afar, yet unable to meet her gaze when she got close. The woman, however, often amused the high priest, who would eventually have to coax her back. The priest's house and Fang Po's house were very close, and during the years the woman lived there, Fang Po could always hear laughter and chatter from next door, which even made this widowed old woman feel lively. Later, when Xiao Yu Huo was born, the child's noise increased, but the couple's relationship became even more harmonious, especially the high priest, who was almost always by the woman's side.
However, the woman disappeared, just as suddenly as she appeared, without any warning.
If it weren't for the child left behind, one would almost think it was all a dream.
Every time Fang Po recalls the priest from that time, she feels a pang of sadness.
She remembered him frantically searching the mountains and fields for her, disappearing for an unknown amount of time before returning covered in wounds. Little Jiang, then just a child, was being cared for by Granny Fang. The child would burst into tears the moment he saw his father return, crying heartbrokenly. Perhaps it was this crying that moved him; he stopped going into the mountains and forests, staying in their little hut with the child, never venturing out, staying up all night. Every time Granny Fang got up at night, she would see a candle still burning next door; she knew he was waiting for that woman to return. Later, perhaps finally letting go, he became the high priest, devoting himself to the temple's affairs, spending more time there than at home. The neighboring courtyard was so quiet that it was almost impossible to recall its former liveliness.
So many years have passed, and many people have forgotten that woman.
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