Chapter 54: The Mermaid Who Lost Her Voice How can the Mermaid's tears be worthless...
Just like that, the tavern had another merman waiter. Since the mermen were an extremely reclusive tribe, there were very few fish that would wander around on the shore with their scales exposed. Therefore, Ye Wan's tavern inexplicably became a check-in destination for many onlookers.
Emma was a true gossip queen. While Lorelai was away, she whispered to Ye Wan, "Back in the last century, before the Magical Creatures Protection Act, nobles would send mercenaries to kidnap mermaids and keep them in their homes. They'd then throw lavish parties and treat them like private treasures. This led to a very negative impression of mermaids towards humans."
But apart from sneering at the story of falling in love with the prince in "The Little Mermaid", Lorelai is quite friendly to the guests in the tavern. Her only purpose in going ashore is to use her proud singing voice to participate in the singing competition of the Winter Solstice Festival.
"The Sea of Misty Sea is a mysterious sea area shrouded in thick white fog all year round. It is the habitat of our tribe," Lorelai said to the guests.
The thick fog acts as both a protection and a barrier, isolating the mermaids from the human world on shore. Mermaids possess ethereal singing voices that guide sailors through the fog and soothe sea beasts.
One day, Lorelai was using her singing to guide a ship through the sea when a human girl on board complimented her, saying, "You have such a beautiful voice! You should go to the capital, Calmet, and compete in the Winter Songstress Competition."
The Diva Contest is one of the most important celebrations of the Winter Solstice, held on the darkest night of the year. More than just a musical competition, the contest carries the ancient symbolic meaning of "using bright songs to dispel the gloom of the long winter and usher in the return of spring."
Lorelai is the best singer in the entire tribe. Her voice is a gift from the goddess Utrera, but there is no such competition in the sea.
A kind-hearted human girl gave her a music score. Lorelai held the score and practiced repeatedly in the sea, dreaming of singing on a real stage.
"Won't the human race's music scores get rotten if they go into the sea?" Ye Wan listened to her while busy at the counter.
"A simple bubble magic." Lorelai ran her hand through her seaweed-like hair.
Ye Wan was very interested: "I have never seen magic before, can you show me one?"
Lorelai slumped. "Oh, after I got ashore, my magic and my voice were gone."
When the mermaids migrated to the Sea of Misty Ocean, they formed a natural, mysterious contract with the ocean. The core of this contract is that when the mermaids leave the sea and come ashore, they will temporarily lose their divinely gifted, heavenly voices until they return to the depths or complete a specific mission connected to the ocean's will.
This was the price they paid for leaving their shelter and stepping into the unknown, and it was also a protection mechanism to prevent the mermaids' identities from being exposed. Of course, that was compared to the old days. Now with the "Magical Creatures Protection Act", the train attendants were all replaced by magical creatures, and whether their identities were exposed or not was no longer a big deal.
"So, you can go ashore freely, without having to do it like in fairy tales..." Ye Wan asked.
"Are you talking about the infamous octopus sea witch in the deep sea? Because of the story of 'The Little Mermaid,' many unfortunate people have found her lair and wanted to exchange precious items for wishes. But she's a con woman and doesn't have that ability. However, the people on the shore don't know this."
Lorelai explained seriously.
"I was fooled by her too!" Kiara sat in the corner eating a large bowl of tomato pasta. "She wanted my eyes in exchange for a large piece of iron, and then a mermaid told me that thing was a liar."
She was so angry that she slammed her huge fist on the table. Ye Wan quickly said, "Don't break my imported white oak hand-polished solid wood dining table with a distressed natural color."
"I'm sorry." Kiara retracted her fist.
"It's okay, Lorelai. The winter solstice is still a few days away. I can always find a way to restore your voice." Ye Wan turned around again and comforted her, but his voice sounded insincere.
Lorelai was obviously not listening to her; she tilted her head to look at Dorothy.
Dorothy was wearing a black velvet floral dress with a huge pearl necklace today, and was concentrating on drinking her borscht.
Lorelai pointed to her eyes and said, "I could cry out that necklace too. Can I make money from it?"
"You mean mermaids can cry out pearls? Why didn't you say it earlier?" Ye Wan's eyes lit up.
Lorelai was sitting by the fireplace, holding a huge wooden basin, trying to hold back her tears. After a long while, she couldn't hold back any tears. Ye Wan was extremely enthusiastic about this "deviant" way of making money. She stopped Youan who was about to go downstairs to the counter.
"You go over later and don't interfere with our making money." She said quickly.
Youan was speechless.
Lorelai sat by the fire, her beautiful eyes sparkling in the flames, and then after five minutes she said:
"I can't cry."
"You wait." Ye Wan hurriedly put on a cloak from the clothes rack and went out. Before she could close the door, snowflakes drifted in through the crack in the door. In less than a minute, she came back carrying a huge radio.
It was a standard old-fashioned radio, with a polished, square, dark brown walnut case. Ye Wan excitedly moved it to the fireplace. "I borrowed it from Grandma Katya. Emma recommended it to me. She said there's a channel that's serializing a poignant love story. It's very touching and brings tears to my eyes."
There was a round tuning knob embedded in the side of the radio. Ye Wan began to tune the channel carefully, rotating the brass pointer to the correct scale.
The radio began to make a creaking noise. She tuned it for a long time before a clear female voice came out:
"Next, please enjoy the new winter song of the wizard singer Finiaan, "The Gospel of Our Lady to the Good Snowman Bigfoot"
Then a deep bass voice slowly flowed out from the radio. I have to say, although the title of this revolutionary song is so strange, it is actually quite nice.
When the song reached "Oh Sweet Bigfoot," Lorelai couldn't help but say, "This doesn't make me want to cry at all."
Ye Wan wiped his sweat in front of the fireplace: "Wait, there must be something wrong, I must have tuned to the wrong frequency."
She turned the knob again, and the radio played: the weather forecast reported by the Weather Fairy, the spicy barbecue pork ramen recipe shared by Hell Chef, and the fluctuations in the exchange rates of gold, silver and copper coins on the financial channel.
There is no touching love story between a princess and a knight as in the legend.
In the end, You An couldn't stand it anymore and took over the job. He changed the channel according to Ye Wan's request, and finally the radio finally tuned to the channel Ye Wan wanted.
It was a very ordinary love story of a princess and a knight. A female voice on the radio seemed to be falling asleep herself:
"Then the princess and the knight got married in an ordinary way and lived an ordinary and happy life..."
Ye Wan yawned.
Scientific studies have shown that yawning is indeed contagious, so Lorelai yawned as well.
There were many tears in her beautiful eyes. She blinked gently, and the crystal tear fell to the ground, quickly turning into a pearl and rolling under the table.
Ye Wan squatted down at lightning speed and got under the table to pick up the pearl. You An folded his arms and said sarcastically:
"If you were so proactive in opening a shop, the 1,000 silver coins debt would have been paid off long ago."
Ye Wan ignored him and went to look at the pearl happily: "Opening a shop is not like getting something for nothing."
It’s a pity that Ye Wan didn’t have a happy night.
Early the next morning, she took Pancake and Youan to the pawn shop. The Strange Birds and Beasts Pawn Shop was located on 42nd Street. It snowed a little yesterday, and there were some snow piles on the corners of the street.
Ye Wan clutched the pearls tightly in his hands, grinning from ear to ear: "With my cooperation with Lorelai, I will soon be able to join the ranks of the wealthy businessmen in the capital."
Youan remained noncommittal.
Pancake was very excited and kept shouting while lying on her shoulder.
"Don't worry, Pancake. When I become a wealthy businessman, I will buy you a three-story villa with a large room to store your clothes. I will also hire the best designer to make you a different suit every day." She said.
Pancake's eyes were full of anticipation, but Youan hesitated to speak.
Ye Wan knocked on the door of the Qi Niao Shou Pawn Shop. A mysterious scent of sandalwood filled the air. A fairy wearing thick bottle-bottom glasses greeted them: "Equivalent exchange, what do you want to exchange?"
Ye Wan couldn't wait to hand over the pearl in his hand. The fairy took the pearl and examined it carefully for five minutes:
"Mermaid's tears?"
"You know what I'm talking about." Ye Wan nodded excitedly. "These are the legendary mermaid's tears. Name your price, and we'll wait and see."
"A total of five mermaid tears, 5 star copper coins." The fairy said indifferently.
"How much?" Ye Wan couldn't believe his ears: "You must be saying 5 Golden Coins, right?"
"Just 5 star copper coins." The fairy repeated.
Ye Wan left angrily with Pearl. Pancake was also very angry, with his cheeks puffed up. He was very disappointed that the three-story villa of his dreams was gone.
"It must be a goblin trying to trick me. Wait, let's go to another one."
There were many pawn shops on this street, and they moved to a new one. This time the owner was a kind old man wearing a dark suit jacket and an antique pocket watch hanging on his chest.
Ye Wan felt that there was hope this time.
The old man took the pearl and looked at it carefully for a while. "Oh, sorry, little girl, this is too cheap. We won't accept it."
Ye Wan: “?”
She seemed to want to argue: "But these are mermaid tears. You know, mermaids are very rare creatures. Most of them live in the sea of mist..."
The old man was much more patient than the goblin. He gently explained to Ye Wan, "Mermaid tears are not pearls, but some kind of crystals. These crystals can be found in many mines."
Ye Wan was stunned at the moment.
"Of course, when mermaids are in extreme grief, their tears turn into rare purple crystals, which are very valuable. So many years ago, some merchants secretly captured mermaids and tortured them... But now we have the Magical Creatures Protection Act."
Ye Wan had no choice but to take back those crystals that looked like pearls.
You An looked at her and said, "Now you have to run the tavern seriously."
"I've made up my mind." She quickly regained her fighting spirit:
"I'm going to help Lorelai win the singing competition, and then I'm going to ask her to lend me some money."
Youan's calm face changed color for the first time: "Huh?"
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