Yi Qing was a little tempted, but hesitant: "How do we exchange?"
Su Su said: "I will wear your skirt and stay here for you. You can pretend to be me and sneak out. It's still more than ten hours before dark, which is enough time for you to say goodbye to Pang Pang."
Yi Qing gestured between the two of them: "But you are a male, taller than me, and we don't look alike..."
Su Su blinked slyly: [The height is easy to deal with. I will wear a longer skirt to cover my fishtail. As long as I don't stand up, they won't notice. As for the appearance, as long as no one can see the face, it doesn't matter whether it looks like me or not.]
Yi Qing was silent for a while. Su Su's idea was indeed bold, but it was feasible. With Su Su here to help her attract the guards' attention, and combined with her many years of experience in running away from home, it would not be difficult for her to leave.
Su Su and Yi Qing made some plans, and asked Yi Qing to send someone to find a soft armor made of shark shield scales. They removed some of the shark scales and glued them to the mermaid's face and exposed skin until her appearance was completely unrecognizable.
Before leaving, Yi Qing recalled what the high priest had said before. She felt a little complicated and said to Su Su, "You are really strange. Aren't you afraid that I will never come back? Helping me escape from marriage is a serious crime. Have you thought about the consequences?"
Su Su didn't take it seriously.
Death is the most common thing in nature. He has faced life-and-death crises almost every day in these short eighteen years. Compared with endless hunger and predators who try to eat him as food, this risk is almost negligible.
The little mermaid helped him realize his wish of becoming a mermaid, so that he could go to the human world in the future and no longer have to go hungry. He also regarded her as a friend. The textbook says that friends can go through fire and water for each other.
Su Su felt that although she was not as loyal as someone who would stab someone in the back, it was still okay for her to wear a skirt.
Su Su jokingly replied: [Then I will have no choice but to sacrifice myself to them and marry someone for you.]
Yi Qing followed Su Su's instructions, entered the model, and with the help of her maid, she was transported to her private shuttle. The shuttle followed the track and took her all the way to the fortress gate.
"Get out of the car and check." The guard at the gate stopped the shuttle boat that was about to leave the Mermaid Kingdom as per routine.
Several maids got off the car one by one, leaving the princess, who was lying on a chair pretending to be asleep with scales all over her face, in the shuttle.
One of the maids said to the guards, "This is our highness' friend Su Su, who just took the mermaid medicine and is in the differentiation period. The princess is going to marry soon and has no time to take care of him, so let us send him back."
The guard took a look through the car door and saw only a sleeping mermaid in the car. The mermaid was curled up with his eyes closed, and there were some shark scales on his face and body. Apart from that, there was really no space in the car to hide anyone.
The naive mermaid guard didn't think much about it and just waved his hand to let the man go.
After sending Yi Qing away from the fortress, the four maids immediately returned to the palace to reunite with Su Su and continued to cover for him. Anyone who came to the palace was kept outside on the pretext that the princess was in a bad mood.
The guards who were ordered by the king to watch the princess's residence did not dare to watch too closely, and only looked in from outside through a window.
The figure in the princess dress sat at the table with her head bowed, sobbing quietly, obviously sad about the early arrival of the royal family.
Yi Qing, who managed to sneak out of the city, tore off the scales stuck to her body.
As the sun was setting, we hurried to the agreed meeting place.
The killer whale arrived earlier than her, and when it saw her, it happily rubbed its nose against her.
"Chubby..." Yi Qing hugged her beloved killer whale, her voice choked in her throat, as if she was filled with reluctance and grievance.
Tiger Whale noticed that his sweetheart seemed to be in a bad mood today, so he tilted his head to the side and stared at Yiqing intently with his big eyes.
Yi Qing wanted to cry again, but she tried hard to hold back her tears: "I am here to say goodbye to you. I am going to marry someone, to the human world, and I will never come back."
Yi Qing became more and more sad as she spoke. Her tears finally turned into pearls and rolled down one after another. Yi Qing continued incoherently, "I'm sorry. It's all my fault. Don't come here to see me again. Forget about me. Find a beautiful female killer whale and just... just pretend that you've never known me."
After Yi Qing finished speaking, she seemed to be afraid of the killer whale's reaction, so she pushed him away and swam towards the direction of the Mermaid Kingdom without looking back.
But the killer whale refused to give up. It kept purring and acting coquettishly, following Shang Yiqing closely and even wanted to use the tip of its nose to hold her on its body, like they did when they used to play.
"Don't follow me!" Seeing the ignorant and clinging look of the killer whale, Yi Qing felt even sadder. She really wanted to stay and become a killer whale, and be with Pang Pang forever, but she was the princess of the mermaid kingdom, she couldn't...
Suddenly, a heat surged up in her body, and Yi Qing's swimming speed slowed down involuntarily. It felt like every bone in her body was getting hot and soft, and her head was dizzy.
Yi Qing initially thought she was just too sad and felt uncomfortable, and she didn't notice any discomfort in her body. But as the feeling became stronger, she finally realized the problem.
How could this happen? The doctor had clearly said that her body was not yet mature and that she would still have at least a year to go before the differentiation period. If she hadn't received such a guarantee, she would never have come out to see her beloved killer whale again and again.
Besides, when we met before, he was in good health, so why did he do that this time...
Perhaps it was because she felt so reluctant to leave, or perhaps it was the killer whale's undisguised love that ignited her deep-seated desire.
Just as the king feared, she split apart and was about to take on the form of a killer whale, which meant that she would never be able to grow legs, marry, or become a human partner.
"Oh no, I can't go back... What should I do about the marriage? Su Su is still in the room..."
This was Yiqing’s last thought before she lost consciousness.
There is no fixed time for differentiation, but the general rule is that the greater the difference from the current body, the longer it will take to differentiate.
It might take a mermaid only a few hours to grow legs when she transforms into a human, but it would take several days to complete the transformation into a killer whale.
During this time, Yiqing's consciousness will fall into a complete sleep, and the genes in her body will quietly change. At the same time, her body will slowly turn into the appearance of a killer whale.
Su Su waited from sunset till late at night. The agreed time had long passed, but Yi Qing had not returned yet.
Near midnight, the maid Yiqing brought the wedding dress, which was a gorgeous long dress with a train, a veil and a ribbon. The veil would cover the part below the bridge of the nose, and the ribbon would go around the eyes to cover them.
This is a unique custom for mermaids who marry humans. The original intention is that the nobles regard mermaid partners as private property, and the beauty of mermaids must be appreciated by their partners first. At the same time, the first person a mermaid sees must also be her partner.
When the partner unties the ribbon by hand, if the mermaid shows differentiation reaction and grows legs, it means that it is full of love for its partner and their marriage has been blessed by the gods.
If differentiation does not occur, the mermaid will be locked up in a solitary space and can only see its future partner every day until the mermaid differentiates.
At this moment, facing this set of wedding clothes, Su Su and the four maids looked at each other in surprise.
Several maids were so anxious that they were running around in circles: "What should we do? The people who are coming to pick up the bride have already arrived and are waiting for the princess to change her clothes."
"But where is the princess now? She hasn't come back yet at this hour. Has she met with any misfortune?"
"The princess has a strong mental strength and a very moving singing voice. Besides, she has the killer whale to protect her, so she shouldn't be in danger..."
"You think it's a coincidence that she split up at this critical moment?"
"Pah, pah, pah, what nonsense are you talking about? Isn't it too early for the split... It's not like they are really splitting, right?"
Several maids fell silent. Apart from that, they could not think of any reason why the princess had not returned yet.
[What is differentiation?] Su Su, who was sitting calmly at the side, raised his head and asked.
"When mermaids grow up, they will look for mates. When a mermaid falls in love with any person or marine creature, it may lead to differentiation and completely become the other race." The maid explained to Su Su.
"Once the differentiation direction is chosen, it can no longer be changed. If the princess differentiates into a killer whale, she can only change between the killer whale and mermaid forms in the future. She will no longer be able to participate in the marriage. In addition, after differentiation, there will be a coma period of up to three days for the reconstruction and repair of genes."
"Anyway, the princess would never go back on her word and abandon us. She hasn't come back yet, so it's very likely that they have split up."
There was a knock on the door, and the guard urged: "Haven't you changed your clothes yet? It's time to leave."
The maids became even more anxious. If they were found to have shielded the mermaid princess from escaping during the marriage, it would be a serious crime. Not only would they be punished, but their families would also be implicated. As the main culprit, Su Su would surely be killed.
[Well, it seems that I have to go to marry on her behalf.] Su Su said.
"How can this be replaced?" The maids looked at each other.
Su Su took the scarf and put it on his face, and then he started to tie the ribbon: [With so many things on my face, those people outside probably won’t be able to recognize me.]
The maid hesitated. It was indeed not easy to be discovered on the way to the marriage. Mermaid marriages were not publicized, and usually left quietly in the middle of the night. And the people who came to pick her up were not mermaid servants from the palace, but humans.
"But once the effect of the drug wears off, you'll turn into a shark. If you're discovered, you'll be dead, right? Besides, your gender isn't right. People marry mermaids to have offspring. Even if you turn into a mermaid, you'll still be male and can't have children."
[Of course I won’t go to the human world like this.] Su Su pulled the ribbon with his hand, and an eye appeared from the gap.
[You guys go and deliver the letter later. Let the killer whale take Yiqing to meet me on the road. We will try to create chaos. I will take advantage of the chaos to leave and exchange clothes with Yiqing. If the humans in charge of escorting us come after us, you can say that a school of sharks attacked the shuttle, and a kind killer whale passing by saved Yiqing, and Yiqing couldn't help but be moved.]
Su Su's story became smoother and smoother, and he clapped his hands excitedly: [Yes, it makes sense, that's it! ]
The four maids looked at each other. Although this plan was crude, they couldn't think of a better solution at the moment.
Su Su changed her clothes. The gorgeous skirt wrapped her entire fishtail, and there was a gorgeous train behind her. The misty gauze covered the lower half of her body, and the red ribbon covered her eyes.
Under layer upon layer of covering, the original face can no longer be distinguished, and one can only vaguely judge from the outline that she is a beauty.
Before leaving, Su Su did not forget to hide the medicine box given to her by the high priest under her skirt, and walked out of the room under the guidance of the maid.