"Hey, did you hear? Mermaids are about to appear in the world."
"Old friend, are you kidding me? Mermaids don't exist! It's just a lie made up by those big shots! We've been at sea for so many years, when have you ever seen a mermaid with your own eyes?"
"Actually, I thought so too, but a sailor friend of mine told me last week that he saw something unusual on the sea... He saw a strange shadow in the water, the outline of which looked like a mermaid..."
"What are you daydreaming about!" A burly man slammed his fist on the table in anger.
Gu Qingqiu snapped out of her daze and realized that she had been so engrossed in listening to the conversation next to her that she had unknowingly filled the wine glass to the brim, spilling the wine onto the man's trousers.
"I'm so sorry!" Gu Qingqiu immediately put on a pitiful expression. "Sir, let me get you a cloth to wipe it."
The man was still unhappy, but Gu Qingqiu apologized softly for a long time. There were many people around, so he didn't continue to make things difficult for Gu Qingqiu. He just snorted coldly, "Be careful next time! I don't want to have to wash my pants when I get home! You have to buy me this drink! Don't expect me to pay!"
Gu Qingqiu quickly agreed.
They worked non-stop all night until the tavern's guests finally left one by one.
The shopkeeper, who had a thick beard, wiped his hands and said to Gu Qingqiu, "Miss, go home early and be careful on the road."
"Goodbye, boss." Gu Qingqiu said goodbye to the boss, pushed open the door of the tavern, and found that there was only a stone path outside. So Gu Qingqiu naturally walked on this path, silently calling out System 057 in her mind as she walked.
Gu Qingqiu: [System, background information can be transmitted now.]
System 058: [OK.]
The map of this world seems to be set in a small seaside town, and the characters' experiences are also very brief.
Before this, Gu Qingqiu was an ordinary little girl in this small town. Her mother was a seamstress and her father was a blacksmith. Her family was harmonious. Gu Qingqiu had been working as a waitress in the tavern since she was 15 years old. She had been living such a stable life for almost four years.
Life in the small town is peaceful. Here, education is not important. Everyone is thinking about starting a job as soon as possible to help support their family, and Gu Qingqiu is no exception.
Because it is a small town by the sea, the residents here make a living by fishing at sea, and their main source of income is selling the seafood they catch to other towns.
The town has been in turmoil lately because of rumors that mermaids are about to appear, but it is still unknown where these rumors originated.
However, the people of the town have always worshipped the sea god, and many of them believe in legends such as mermaids. Moreover, there have been many strange occurrences at sea recently. In just over ten days, seven or eight sailors with more than twenty years of experience at sea have fallen into the water and drowned, causing panic among the residents.
With fewer ships going out to sea, people have fewer food and economic resources, and can only drown their sorrows in alcohol.
Several of the people Gu Qingqiu met at the tavern today were sailors or crew members.
Gu Qingqiu: [System, are there really mermaids in this world?]
System 057: [Yes.]
Gu Qingqiu: [Wait...you're not going to tell me the male lead is a mermaid, are you?]
System 057: [Yes.]
Gu Qingqiu: [……]
So, she had to go into the sea to find the male lead? Gu Qingqiu felt a sense of despair. The problems she faced were quite serious. For example, how was she supposed to go into the sea? Should she go with the fishing boats? The fishing activities here were all done by young and strong men. How could a weak woman like her have a legitimate reason to get on a boat? Did she have to go swimming in the sea?
And... can mermaids talk? If so, do they speak human language or mermaid language?
A series of questions flooded Gu Qingqiu's mind.
Because the tavern didn't close until late at night, Gu Qingqiu's parents were already fast asleep when she got home. She quietly got up, wiped herself with a towel, changed into her pajamas, and lay down on the hard bed that made her back ache.
Logically, after finishing her hard work, she should be tired and want to fall asleep as soon as possible, but now she is staring blankly at the moonlight that has accidentally spilled into the room through the window.
How strange, she actually misses him a lot.
This was the first time such a situation had occurred. Even though System 057 had already purchased and administered the Forget-Me-Not Grass to her, she still couldn't help but think of Lozen and the child in the dead of night.
Has the forget-me-not lost its effectiveness? Or has she developed "resistance"? Or has she discovered some secret, making the forget-me-not no longer able to help her forget those rich emotions?
Gu Qingqiu is now eager to see the male lead, but not to complete the mission as soon as possible. She just wants to prove her guess—is it really him?
After tossing and turning until dawn, Gu Qingqiu finally closed her tired eyes.
The tavern only opens in the evening, so the daytime is Gu Qingqiu's free time. However, because she works the night shift, Gu Qingqiu usually sleeps until noon.
Her parents went out to work early in the morning, tacitly not waking Gu Qingqiu, but she still woke up naturally around noon due to her biological clock.
After eating a few bites of the baguette her parents had placed on the table, Gu Qingqiu went out.
She arrived at the port and stared blankly at the somewhat deserted coastline—there were only a few ships anchored there, and hardly any tourists to be seen. You should know that since the king began to support maritime trade, there have been quite a few tourists who came here by reputation.
If no boats go out to sea, how will Gu Qingqiu find the mermaid? She can't just swim into the sea, can she? As residents of a seaside town, everyone here can swim, but it's impossible for them to swim directly from the dock into the deep sea!
Gu Qingqiu looked at the calm blue sea with a worried expression, wondering when the rumors about the appearance of mermaids in the town would stop.
Oh wait, since there really are mermaids in this world, it can't be called "quiet".
I just don't know why the mermaid suddenly started acting strangely.
Gu Qingqiu can stay in this world for three years, which is neither a long nor a short time, but she hasn't even figured out how to contact the mermaids yet, let alone complete her mission.
Regarding the male protagonist of the world, System 057 provided very little information. The only thing Gu Qingqiu knew was that he was indeed living in the deep sea. As for his name... she didn't know if the system was speaking mermaid language or some other alien language. In any case, Gu Qingqiu couldn't imitate it and didn't remember it.
Well, we can only take it one step at a time. Things will work themselves out eventually.
However, Gu Qingqiu did not expect that she would get relevant clues that evening—after all, her workplace was a bar, where she would encounter many customers and have a high chance of hearing them chatting about everything under the sun. But this news... she didn't know how much of it was true and how much was false.
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