Chapter 10: Jealous Fish

In two more days, they would reach the country of Nalong. Lan Qian was very happy and specially instructed the first mate to find a few clean, dark-skinned, big-breasted handsome men to serve Jiang Yang.

Jiang Yang was currently the woman at the top of the food chain on this ship, so the first mate naturally didn’t dare to neglect her. He patted his chest and said, “Don’t worry, the men serving the Second Young Lady naturally have to be the best. Those men from small countries would be eager to climb up to our Second Young Lady and return home to live a good life. By the way, I heard the Second Young Lady has been eating vegetarian for several days in a row. Is the seafood not to her taste? We just caught a big octopus today, why don’t you ask the Second Young Lady if she wants to try it?”

Lan Qian didn’t tell the first mate that Jiang Yang, who had fallen in love, was currently abstaining from meat for love. But she was also worried that Jiang Yang might become malnourished if she didn’t eat any meat at all. So she hurriedly ran back to the room and asked, “Second Young Lady, the crew just caught a big octopus. Would you like to try it?”

“A big octopus? How big?” Jiang Yang lazily yawned while enjoying the sea breeze. Last night, she had listened to the handsome fish sing. She had only intended to listen to one song, then reward him and be done with it.

But since she couldn’t come up with anything valuable to give, the handsome fish with a kind heart not only didn’t mind, but enthusiastically sang with her for half the night, his cheeks flushed red from singing.

If Jiang Yang hadn’t been so tired, the handsome fish probably would have sung all night. She only came back to sleep in the early hours of the morning, and didn’t have any energy when she woke up early.

Lan Qian spread her arms wide, gesturing, “It’s this big, and the tentacles are as thick as my arm.”

“I don’t want it. With that size, the meat would be tough,” Jiang Yang said picky.

Lan Qian thought for a moment and said, “Well, the sailors also caught some small octopuses. Their meat is tender. Would the Second Young Lady like—”

“Yes, make it spicy and numbing,” Jiang Yang’s tastes changed frequently. When she liked something, she would eat it until she didn’t want to eat it anymore before switching to new dishes. She had grown tired of vegetables lately, so naturally wanted a change of taste.

Lan Qian’s eyes immediately lit up with joy. Heavens! The Second Young Lady was eating meat again! “Alright, I’ll tell the kitchen to prepare it right away.”

At noon, the kitchen brought up a plate of spicy and numbing small octopuses. The taste was spicy, salty, and fragrant. Jiang Yang ate them one by one, her forehead breaking out in sweat, feeling extremely comfortable.

“Second Young Lady, eat slowly. If you want more, we can ask the kitchen to make it again for dinner,” Lan Qian said, fanning her and passing her water.

Jiang Yang drank the water in one gulp, exhaling a spicy hot breath, her lips slightly swollen from the spice: “Ah~ That’s enough. I can’t even finish this plate. We can heat it up again for dinner.”

Seeing Jiang Yang eat so enthusiastically, as if she were a refugee who had escaped a disaster, Lan Qian felt both heartbroken and amused. That damned cheap fish.

Just as she was cursing that seductive fish in her heart, Jiang Yang cleared her throat, wiped her mouth, and walked out.

Lan Qian hurriedly followed: “Second Young Lady, where are you going?”

Jiang Yang gestured for her not to follow: “I’m going to see Chi Mei.”

Lan Qian stomped her foot full of resentment, but could do nothing about it.

Jiang Yang knocked on the door and walked in. The handsome fish was originally very happy to see her come, his fishtail almost wagging into an afterimage, but his expression suddenly froze, and his swaying fishtail drooped.

Hm? Why did he suddenly wilt?

Jiang Yang stepped forward and asked, “Not happy?”

Chi Mei’s expression was gloomy. When he was unhappy, his brows and eyes would press down extremely low, giving him an unpredictable aura.

After a while, when Jiang Yang’s patience was almost gone, Chi Mei finally asked in a resentful tone, “Did you touch other fish?” As soon as Jiang Yang entered the room, Chi Mei had keenly smelled the scent of other fish on her.

Why did she have the scent of other fish on her? Chi Mei’s mind buzzed, and countless terrible guesses emerged.

“Uh…” Jiang Yang was shocked. How did he know she ate fish today? Could he read minds?

Shocked as she was, Jiang Yang still told the truth: “I guess so.” Octopus should count as fish, right?

Chi Mei’s fingers tightly gripped the edge of the barrel, his hand hidden underwater squeezing the white jade bracelet so hard it was almost broken, jealousy permeating his voice: “What kind of fish do you like so much?”

“Spicy and numbing small octopus.”

Chi Mei’s jealousy flared up. He had thought it was some incredibly beautiful fish, but it turned out to be just an octopus. So ugly, even uglier than sea monsters, with disgusting tentacles. How could A’Yang fall for an octopus?

Spicy and numbing small octopus, was it a new species he hadn’t seen before? But he was the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean, yet she ignored him and didn’t keep him company, actually going to spend time with an octopus!!

And she even called it “small octopus”, how intimate! She had never called him that!

Liar! All women are liars! Just a few days ago she gave him a bracelet and courted him, and now she was being lovey-dovey with another fish. Chi Mei was about to explode with anger, feeling both angry and wronged. His whole fish wasn’t feeling good, so he simply sank to the bottom of the water and ignored Jiang Yang.

“Hey hey hey, what’s wrong with you?” Jiang Yang leaned over the edge of the barrel, reaching her hand into the water to try to fish him out.

Heaven knows how confused Jiang Yang was at this moment. Had this fish gone mad? Or was he unhappy that she ate alone?

Just then, someone came to deliver Chi Mei’s lunch. Jiang Yang immediately took the food box and opened it to see that it was filled with the freshest and tenderest fish belly meat.

“Chi Mei, come out and eat. Today it’s your favorite Neptune grouper,” Jiang Yang gently patted the water surface, causing ripples that reflected her beautiful and clear face.

Chi Mei was still sulking, flicking his tail in protest.

Jiang Yang didn’t give up and continued to coax him: “Come on, don’t sulk anymore. Good Chi Mei, little ancestor, come out and eat.”

Chi Mei chuckled lightly underwater, his anger half dissipated, but some fire still remained. He emerged from the water like a sullen water ghost.

Jiang Yang picked up a piece of pre-cut meat with chopsticks and held it to his mouth. Chi Mei had originally been maintaining his anger and was about to lash out and question her, but this chopstick move made him lose his temper. He opened his mouth and ate it.

Just as Jiang Yang was about to feed him a second time, Chi Mei grabbed her hand. This was the first time he had initiated skin contact with her. Jiang Yang didn’t think much of it, but Chi Mei’s entire reaction was unusually sensitive, his earlobes as red as blood.

“Why did you stop eating?” Jiang Yang asked.

Chi Mei looked up at her, his eyelashes dripping with water droplets as if he had been crying. His voice also contained a choke: “Call him out, let’s meet.”

Jiang Yang’s hand holding the chopsticks awkwardly stopped in mid-air: “Huh? Who?”

“Your little octopus,” Chi Mei said in a haughty tone.

“……” Jiang Yang lowered her head in difficulty, looking at the bulge under her robe… but he’s in my stomach.

Seeing her troubled expression, Chi Mei’s subsided anger and jealousy flared up even more intensely than before.

She was silent! She actually fell silent! She was protecting that wild fish outside!

An indescribable sense of grievance spread in Chi Mei’s heart. Do women’s hearts change so quickly?

Chi Mei sadly held the white jade bracelet. Jade is naturally cold, and in the cold seawater, it was as cold as ice. He needed to hold it tightly every day, using his own not-so-high temperature to warm it, in order to give this jade bracelet some warmth. Now he felt that his heart had become as cold as this piece of jade, dead.

He sank to the bottom of the water again, and this time no matter how Jiang Yang coaxed him, she couldn’t coax him out.

At the bottom of the water, not knowing day from night, not knowing the passage of time, he just lay there staring at that white jade bracelet, examining it carefully over and over again, but still couldn’t make up his mind to smash it.

“Chi Mei, come out quickly.” Jiang Yang’s gentle and soft call came from the water’s surface again.

Chi Mei was still immersed in the pain of betrayal and didn’t want to respond to her, but Jiang Yang directly reached into the barrel, her arm scooping up the entire fish.

Chi Mei quickly wiped his eyes, his tone resentful: “What are you doing?”

“For you.” The hot fragrance rushed into Chi Mei’s sensitive nostrils. Jiang Yang placed a plate of freshly cooked spicy and numbing small octopus in front of him: “The spicy and numbing small octopus you wanted.”

Chi Mei’s eyes were blank. It took him a long time to react, blinking slowly: “This is the little octopus you were talking about?”

“What else?”

“…Nothing.” Chi Mei broke into a smile, his tearful eyes instantly overflowing with joy.

“Feed me,” Chi Mei said, somewhat spoiled.

“Alright,” Jiang Yang said helplessly.

The dead fish heart revived. Chi Mei ate a large plate with a smile. He knew it, she still loved him very much.

“Holy shit!” In the evening, when the sailor came to change Chi Mei’s water, she saw a full layer of pearls spread out in the drained barrel, utterly shocked.

Someone next to her nudged her and said in a low voice, “What are you standing there for? Quickly pack them up.”

The slow-reacting sailor nodded and frantically stuffed the pearls into her bosom.

“We’ve hit the jackpot this time. There must be at least a hundred pearls here, right?” the two sailors said excitedly after leaving the room.

“Indeed. Although they can’t compare to merman tears, these pearls are all round and lustrous. They can fetch a good price even casually sold.”

“We’ve made it, we’ve made it. But why did that merman cry?”

The sailor, immersed in joy, hardly cared about Chi Mei and casually said, “He must have been sad. But as long as we make money, why bother about that?”

The sailor nodded, “That’s true.”

Chi Mei floated happily on the water. Tonight, his happiness had exploded, his entire heart about to burst. This was a joy Chi Mei had never experienced before.

Thinking of how Jiang Yang had even taken the initiative to feed him today, Chi Mei bit his lip, his face turning completely red. Playing with the white jade bracelet, his slender fingers circled the inner ring of the bracelet again and again. Finally, he made up his mind to wear the white jade bracelet on his hand. It fit perfectly with his flesh and bone, flawless as white jade. The corners of his eyes quickly reddened, and his tail fin rose unusually.

−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−

“Has anyone contacted the prince?” In the deep sea, an older female merman asked among a group of mermen.

Other young mermen anxiously answered, “No.” “No.” “No.”

“None of you? How can none of you have contacted him? Didn’t the prince actively send us messages a few days ago?” the older merman said angrily.

Suddenly, a young little merman in the group timidly said, “I think I just contacted the prince.”

The older merman angrily said, “If you contacted him, why didn’t you say so earlier?”

The young merman had a strange expression: “Because, because I felt it might not be the prince. The voice was indeed the prince’s voice, but what he said made no sense to me.”

“What?” The older merman frowned: “What did the prince say?”

The young merman’s expression turned ugly: “The prince said… he said to tell us not to come looking for him anymore.”