Chapter 2 Asking for Directions "Dad, I brought back a big fish."...
Qin Yuqi spotted a figure lying by the river from afar, with loose white hair. He initially mistook it for an old, uncouth man, but upon closer inspection, he discovered it was a young girl about his age. She was also sizing him up, and although she was squinting, Qin Yuqi could still see her golden pupils, dazzling in the sunlight. He had clearly come to ask for directions, but inexplicably, this question slipped out.
What are you looking at?
The girl seemed to have no interest in him, a stranger, and waved for him to leave.
"You're blocking my view of the clouds."
Everything about her, from her clothes to her appearance, was strange, but Qin Yuqi couldn't help but stare at her. He wanted to ask her what was so interesting about the clouds, but the attendant leading the horse behind him caught up and scolded the girl, "Hey, old man, my master is asking you a question. Is Liyue Village in this direction?"
Both of them were taken aback by these words. Qin Yuqi saw the girl's eyes narrow and his aura immediately turned cold.
The girl remained lying on the grass, neither getting up nor correcting the other person's address, but simply pointed to the dense forest across the river. "Over there."
The opposite bank was covered in dense forest, with no roads or villages in sight. Qin Yuqi glanced at it and said hesitantly, "Really? This dense forest looks completely deserted."
"If you don't believe me, why ask?" The girl seemed completely indifferent, even moving to the side as if she disliked them blocking her sunlight.
"You lowly commoner, do you know who you're talking to?" the attendant berated, his tone extremely unfriendly. Qin Yuqi did not stop him; the girl's disdainful attitude made him feel that she needed to be taught a lesson, to show her what kind of person could not be slighted.
"Okay, okay, I won't say anymore." She even covered her ears with her fingers.
It wasn't that she wasn't going to speak; she clearly didn't want to hear it. Scolding her was like scolding thin air. "How dare you! These barbarian lands are indeed full of ignorant and lowly people!" the attendant exclaimed angrily. "Young master, let this servant teach this lowly person a lesson." With that, he raised his riding whip and struck the girl.
To everyone's surprise, the lazy person on the ground was as agile as an eel, quickly rolling to one side and standing up, even faster than the whip he was wielding. However, the fish basket beside her was not so nimble; the attendant missed the first strike, and after several more lashes, the fish basket was nearly falling apart.
Xiao Jiang felt sorry for the fish and reached for the fish basket, but one of the fish was shaken out and immediately whipped into pieces.
What an outrageous person.
"Seventeen, stop!" Seeing the situation getting out of control, Qin Yuqi immediately called out to stop her. He only wanted to teach her a small lesson, not to kill her.
But the other party was clearly enraged. He stopped dodging and seized the moment when Seventeen's strength was slightly weaker. He grabbed the whip and pulled hard, and the whip was in her hand.
The attendant named Seventeen looked at his empty hands, seemingly not understanding how the whip had been taken away.
Xiao Jiang pretended to wave the captured weapons at the other side, hoping they would know better and leave quickly. But then he saw a group of people riding towards them not far behind. They must have seen the conflict and were galloping over. The men in the group were all very burly. Xiao Jiang knew when to back down; if he couldn't win, he would run.
She threw the whip back, grabbed the fish basket, and ran into the woods, throwing the broken fish to the people behind her as she ran.
"Here's an extra treat for you, you're welcome."
The dead fish, their intestines ruptured and rotten, were precisely "delivered" to Qin Yuqi and his attendants, one after another. Attendant Seventeen instinctively flinched.
*Smack!* A fish whose body was already mangled splattered across Qin Yuqi's face.
The air suddenly became quiet.
The seventeenth attendant could no longer hear the barbarian girl's cheers. He even forgot that looking directly at a nobleman's face was a grave offense. He just stared blankly with his mouth agape until fish blood mixed with broken entrails dripped down Qin Yuqi's face.
"I deserve to die!" Seventeen knelt down with a thud, his hands touching the ground and his head banging on the ground, a standard gesture of begging for mercy.
Qin Yuqi wiped her cold cheek with her hand and looked at the thing in her hand.
"ah!!!!"
Qin Yuqi finally snapped out of his shock and let out the most agonizing scream of his life. The stench of blood and fish assaulted his nostrils even more forcefully, making him nauseous and want to vomit. His face, hands, and clothes were covered in the stench of rotten fish. No longer caring about his appearance, Qin Yuqi frantically rushed into the river to clean himself, but the sticky, fishy smell clung to him stubbornly, impossible to wash away!
Qin Yuqi suppressed the urge to vomit while frantically scrubbing his face. He had been pampered since childhood and had never been treated like this before.
What a disgrace! An immense disgrace!
Seventeen reached for the clean handkerchief in his pocket, intending to offer it to Qin Yuqi for washing, but looking at the dirt on his own body, he didn't dare to approach and offer his help. Since he started following the young master, he had never seen him in such a disheveled state. The usually arrogant and domineering man had been humiliated like this by a barbaric woman. Seventeen couldn't imagine how angry he would be, and at the same time, he was even more worried about his own fate.
Seventeen soon realized that it was right not to get close to him.
The young master by the river had been washing his face for a long time, his handsome, fair face flushed red, yet he still felt it wasn't enough. He angrily threw the soap at the people around him, shouting, "Is this all you're going to use to fool me?"
The person who was hit immediately knelt down, burying their head and not daring to make a sound.
Xiao Qi saw the soap that had rolled on the ground. It was a royal product produced by the Ministry of Works specifically for the imperial family. If it were to circulate in the market, it would be enough to feed an ordinary family for a year. However, he dared not make a sound, for fear that he might accidentally offend this arrogant... prince.
"What are you waiting for? Go and seize that lowly commoner!" The young master roared angrily.
Those kneeling on the ground felt as if they had been granted a pardon and immediately rose and rushed into the woods where the girl had disappeared. Xiao Qi always considered himself a very perceptive person. He knew that the young master was very angry at the moment, and the closer he got, the more likely he would be caught in the crossfire. So he turned into the dense forest without hesitation and followed the others to chase after the rascal girl.
But once the girl entered the forest, she vanished without a trace, like a fish entering the sea. No matter how carefully they searched, they couldn't find even a footprint. On the other hand, many of their men got lost in the forest and didn't emerge for a long time.
When Seventeen emerged from the woods, the young master's expression finally calmed down, though his face still didn't look too good.
Qin Yuqi changed into clean clothes and wiped his face with a scented silk handkerchief; the rich fragrance finally masked the nauseating fishy smell. Seeing his subordinates return empty-handed one by one, he glanced deeply into the dense forest, his still-childish face filled with anger and resentment.
"A bunch of useless bastards, can't even find a little girl." Qin Yuqi's anger surged again, his gaze sweeping across the crowd before settling on his follower Seventeen. "And you, what use are you to me? You're good for nothing but causing trouble!"
Upon seeing him, Qin Yuqi recalled the scene from earlier and became even more enraged, grabbing his riding whip to strike him.
A pair of pale and withered hands stopped him. "Young master, she is just a wild mountain woman. Why make such a fuss?"
Seventeen, cowering on the ground, secretly looked up and saw the middle-aged scholar who had been in the carriage standing next to Qin Yuqi. His hands, which looked sickly and old, were gripping the young master's whip with unusual strength.
"Young master, don't forget, we must hurry on our journey."
Qin Yuqi was still unwilling, but he also respected the scholar very much. He said bitterly, "Just wait, I will never let her go."
*
Xiao Jiang nimbly darted in and out of the dense forest, disappearing back into the village in no time. She had explored every single grove of the Liyue Village forest before; once inside, she was like a slippery eel!
No one can catch her in the mountains.
Speaking of loaches, Xiao Jiang lamented that he had only been catching fish today and hadn't thought of catching a few loaches. He was getting a little hungry.
But if he went back to the river to catch loaches now, he would probably run into those arrogant outsiders again. After hesitating for a moment, Xiao Jiang decided to head back home.
When Xiao Jiang got home, she pushed open the door. The first thing she saw wasn't the merman, but her high priest father sitting in the hall.
Her father was quite handsome; otherwise, he wouldn't have become the clan's priest. It was said that the gods favored their beautiful subjects. But at this moment, her father, who should have been at the temple, was standing at home, waiting for her. His handsome face was adorned with an excessively loving smile, a loving smile that was somewhat eerie.
Xiao Jiang shrank back, cautiously walked over, and called out, "Dad."
Dad, please stop laughing, it's scary.
Generally speaking, Jiang Liuyun's best expression is when he has no expression at all; he only shows this kind smile when she makes a mistake and is discovered.
"My dear daughter, where have you gone if you're not going to school?"
What are you carrying on your back?
"Why are you stepping back? Are you trying to prevent Father from seeing?"
"I still want Dad to guess what you brought back today?"
Jiang Liuyun pressed closer and closer, while Xiao Jiang retreated step by step, finally clinging to the door frame, almost trying to escape in panic.
Jiang Liuyun will probably never forget that night for the rest of his life.
A few days ago, after his night watch, he returned home from the temple and smelled an unusual fishy odor in the house as soon as he entered. The floor was damp. But Jiang Yuhuo's room light was off, and he didn't hear any noise, so he figured she was already asleep. He decided not to disturb her and could ask her anything tomorrow.
As he turned off the light and was about to fall asleep, he heard a rustling sound at the door. A shadowy figure was rummaging through the cabinet, and a white head was quite conspicuous in the night.
Jiang Liuyun quietly walked behind the figure. "What are you looking for? Let Daddy help you find it."
The sudden sound behind him startled Xiao Jiang, causing the medicinal herbs in the cabinet to spill all over the floor.
Jiang Liuyun lit the oil lamp and saw Jiang Yuhuo's guilty little face. But the person in front of him was only guilty for a moment, and soon his expression turned solemn, as if he had made some important decision.
Then he saw his youngest daughter puff out her chest and say heavily, "Father, I brought back a big fish."
"Hmm, so?" Jiang Liuyun chuckled, looking at her serious expression, patiently waiting for her to continue, but then he smelled a faint scent of blood on her. "You killed the fish? Were you planning to eat it all by yourself, not wanting Father to know?"
“No…no.” Jiang Yuhuo scratched his head, as if thinking about how to express himself. “It’s that the fish…failed, no, it was…injured, so I brought it back. I have to take responsibility for it.”
Jiang Liuyun chuckled. His daughter was indeed unusual, so it was understandable that she would say some strange things. He asked purely out of curiosity, "Excuse me, how do you intend to take responsibility for a fish?"
"I want to heal its wounds," Xiao Jiang blurted out without hesitation, but then glanced at him guiltily. "Anyway... you'll see when you see it."
Xiao Jiang opened her door. The room was dark, but there was still some moonlight coming through the window.
By the moonlight, Jiang Liuyun saw a creature—a human-shaped upper body and a fish tail lower body—lying on her daughter's bed!
Jiang Liuyun's breath hitched, and everything went black before his eyes.
Good, good, Jiang Yuhuo, you've really grown up! The fish you brought back... is quite a big one.
No! They're not fish, they're mermaids!
A note from the author:
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