Since birth, Yu Xiangwan has never seen her parents. The things she has been in contact with most are animals wearing white coats, the smell of disinfectant, and all sorts of strange things. Every once in a while, she has to have her blood drawn and some scales scraped off.
She didn't know what she was, and no one had ever told her. She only knew that she was different from them.
Those animals have two legs and can walk around, but she only has a chubby tail and can only stay in the water, or be carried to a table covered with a white cloth, have her body wiped clean, and then have thin tubes inserted into her arms.
Their daily food consists of various small fish, shrimp, and seaweed fed in the water, and occasionally they can be pushed outside to bask in the sun.
She tried hard to communicate with them, but no one understood her.
Her daily pleasure lies in observing the animals walking around, listening to their quiet conversations, and watching them do all sorts of things.
Later, she understood that those who could walk were humans, and she was a mermaid. Mermaids cannot be exposed to air for long periods of time. Although she has lungs, her tail will dry out and her scales will fall off if it is out of water for too long, and she will get sick.
This was her personal experience of climbing out of the fish tank on one of their occasional lapses in attention. That attempt nearly killed her.
The fish tank walls were raised again and a protective net was installed, so Yu Xiangwan could no longer escape.
Through day after day of observation and imitation, Yu Xiangwan gradually developed her own consciousness. She knew that she should be free and should not be locked up here.
So, whenever the staff left, she would begin her own plan.
In the dead of night, she would try to make a sound.
When she first spoke, she discovered that her voice could shatter the glass outside, and then she thought that she might be able to shatter the fish tank.
However, she miscalculated. The aquarium walls were at least 10 centimeters thick, and even if she screamed at the top of her lungs, she would only shatter the external instruments and still not escape.
The next day, those people replaced everything, and even added a thick layer of glass to the outside of the fish tank.
After that, Yu Xiangwan stopped trying. When she discovered that she could understand what they were saying, she learned to listen.
One day, a little boy came to the lab and kept circling around her fish tank. The little boy had clear eyes and fair skin.
She heard those people call him Han Yu and wanted him to try communicating with her.
Han Yu looked at her with great curiosity and would tell her some strange things, such as that mermaids should live in the sea.
Since realizing she couldn't escape, Yu Xiangwan gradually learned to hide her true self. She could understand what they were saying and even imitate them, but she never showed it to them.
Han Yu comes every day, bringing small toys or books, telling her stories from the books, and telling her about things outside.
The long period of solitude did not destroy Yu Xiangwan's love for freedom.
When Han Yu noticed that she would listen quietly to his stories, he began to choose one to tell her each day. Although she tried to pretend she didn't understand, Han Yu still noticed the changes in her eyes.
I don’t know when it started, but most of the stories Han Yu tells are about the ocean and other fish.
The daily meetings became Yu Xiangwan's most anticipated event, and she persisted in this for ten years. The little boy named Han Yu had grown into a handsome young man, and Yu Xiangwan had also come of age.
When Han Yu accompanied her to sunbathe in the private pool, Han Yu, backlit by the light, suddenly made Yu Xiangwan's heart flutter. Then, she found that her lower abdomen began to heat up, gradually spreading towards her tail.
A tingling, itchy sensation spread throughout her body, and then a crack began to appear at her tail and gradually extended upwards. As she reached her peak of heat, a pair of smooth legs appeared, and she transformed into a human!
Overjoyed and excited, she wanted to share it with Han Yu. But when she looked up, she saw Han Yu stumbling backward, a hint of unease swirling in his eyes.
Yu Xiangwan sensed that something was wrong with Han Yu, but he quickly came to his senses. Han Yu reached out to her, trying to pull her out of the water.
Hesitantly placing her hand in Han Yu's palm, the warmth made her want to back away. But Han Yu didn't give her another chance to retreat. He clenched his fist, pulled her up forcefully, and dragged her to the edge of the pool. Looking at her legs, he reached out to touch them.
A strange feeling washed over her, and Yu Xiangwan blushed all over. Han Yu continued to stroke her, making sounds of amazement.
Yu Xiangwan thought that by conjuring up human legs, she could be with Han Yu. But what happened next was a nightmare for the rest of her life.
A group of people in white coats surrounded her, busy taking her temperature, measuring her legs, and extracting muscle tissue from them. Han Yu, on the other hand, stepped back from the crowd, watching helplessly as she was surrounded and taken away by them, without uttering a single word.
Yu Xiangwan was locked up again. Unlike before, this time, someone inserted a long tube into her body. She watched as white fish eggs were pulled out of the tube and placed into a can filled with white smoke.
Once all the fish eggs were drained, Yu Xiangwan reverted to her mermaid form. During this time, Han Yu never visited her again, not even once, until his death.
If they had never spent time together, Yu Xiangwan would have had no expectations. When expectations are worn down by repeated disappointments, what remains is endless darkness and resentment.
She desperately wanted to ask Han Yu what the purpose of his ten years of waiting and companionship was. She thought Han Yu loved her, so when they could finally be together after transforming into human form, why did she only see him leave without saying goodbye?
She had tried to defend him in her heart countless times, thinking that he might have other things to do and couldn't come. But as the days went by and there was still no news from him, Yu Xiangwan finally snapped.
She screamed and roared desperately, using the only weapon she could use to shatter all the instruments in the laboratory, while the humans remained unharmed.
She was once again surrounded by heavy glass, this time with an electrified steel mesh. Without someone to rescue her, there was no way she could escape.
In despair, she tried to smash her head against the glass, but was always drugged and became unconscious, to the point that she eventually became somewhat delirious.
Five years later, when I saw Han Yu again, he was with a beautiful young woman.
Yu Xiangwan had forgotten everything, except for Han Yu.
When she saw him again, her eyes lit up, but his first words were: "Look, this is the mermaid I told you about."
"Oh, it doesn't look very good. It's a wonder you can tell her stories every day. Don't you find it disgusting?"
“Xiaoxiao, you’re right. At first, I was indeed unwilling. But my dad told me that if I could see the day when the mermaids turned into humans, I could choose the life I wanted. You know, I’ve been rebellious since I was little. To win my dad’s respect, this matter isn’t actually that boring.”
"Then, if those little mermaids are successfully raised, you must save one for me. I love watching these things the most."
"good!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
