Chapter 16 Disaster Strikes

“Chi Mei……” Jiang Yang walked towards him.

Chi Mei’s body was almost completely submerged in water, exuding a cold, damp vapor without any warmth. Only his slightly reddened eyes still held a hint of emotion, not yet completely empty and alarming.

His gaze lingered briefly on Jiang Yang, then he turned away, his back to her, as cold and desolate as a lonely moon.

Lan Qian tactfully closed the door and stood guard outside, but she could still faintly hear Jiang Yang speaking inside.

“Chi Mei-” Jiang Yang approached him, her palm hesitating for a moment just before touching his shoulder, then withdrawing.

Chi Mei remained silent, offering no response.

“When I gave you the bracelet before, it wasn’t to show favor to you. I only thought of it as a small trinket I could casually give away. It was my mistake to let you misunderstand and think I had feelings for you,” Jiang Yang sighed, confessing everything.

“It’s not your fault. I was just too foolish,” Chi Mei laughed softly, his tone calm, unnaturally calm for him.

His people were right; human hearts are unpredictable. He was too stupid, thinking he had found someone he could entrust his life to, but he was just a plaything in her palm, a tool to please the human queen. And then? When the queen grew tired of him, she would strip off his scales and carve out his flesh to refine into oil.

She knew his fate from the beginning, yet was still willing to play along, giving him the care he longed for. Not only did she covet his body, which humans desire, but she also toyed with his heart, manipulating him easily. How gentle yet how cruel such a person was.

Chi Mei lowered his head, a wave of desolation appearing in his slightly reddened eyes.

Jiang Yang had seen Chi Mei’s naive and innocent side before, that vivid and passionate fire that seemed to be infused with an overwhelming life force, able to infect even those around him. But now, she watched helplessly as that fire was extinguished, dimmed.

Jiang Yang felt as if her heart was stuffed with cotton, guilt and pain clogging her chest: “I’m sorry.”

A thousand words, but in the end, only an apology remained.

“What happened last night, just pretend it never happened. Don’t worry, as long as we keep our distance in the future, no one will know,” A man’s reputation was extremely important. Unable to undo past mistakes, she could only try her best to help him preserve his honor.

Chi Mei’s deep, dark pupils seemed to be viciously cut by a knife: “Did I… embarrass you?” Even his touch she was so guarded against and repulsed by.

“That’s not what I meant. After all, yesterday you-” Jiang Yang hesitated.

So it was like that after all. Chi Mei painfully covered his eyes, laughing and hurting at the same time. Tears unknowingly filled his eyes, flowing out uncontrollably.

Jiang Yang could only see Chi Mei’s slightly trembling shoulders, the ripples on the water’s surface constantly rising.

Jiang Yang was still worried about him and reached out to touch his shoulder, asking with concern: “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine! Don’t touch me!” Chi Mei brushed away her hand, the bitter taste choking in his throat, his voice tearful: “Didn’t you say you wanted to keep your distance? Then don’t touch me. Go away! Go away!”

“I don’t want to see you anymore. I hate you! I hate you more than anyone else! Go away! I never want to see you again!” He suddenly raised his voice, driving her away as if mad, his fishtail thrashing wildly, the water splashing on her seeming to carry its owner’s anger and resentment.

Jiang Yang was soaked through. She touched her face; the splash was big but didn’t hurt at all. Her lowered long lashes concealed the disappointment in her eyes: “Then… I’ll go.”

Chi Mei suddenly stopped moving, stunned for a moment, gritting his teeth in anger. He sank into the water, refusing to surface again.

The water’s surface returned to stillness, no longer showing any ripples.

Jiang Yang found herself missing how it used to be, when she would push open the door and enter, and this fish would get so excited he nearly fell out of the water bucket, chattering away and splashing water all over her. Back then, he was purely innocent, like a little mountain bird leaping among clouds, knowing nothing of sorrow.

She dejectedly pushed open the door and walked out.

Lan Qian followed behind Jiang Yang. She couldn’t hear the conversation inside clearly, but she heard Jiang Yang’s “What happened last night, just pretend it never happened,” and the merman’s tearful, resentful “Didn’t you say you wanted to keep your distance? Then don’t touch me. Go away! Go away!” very clearly.

Although Lan Qian couldn’t stand that cheap fish’s two-faced behavior usually, to be fair, in this matter, it was ultimately their Second Young Miss who was in the wrong.

Sleeping with someone is no big deal, what woman isn’t a bit promiscuous? But you can’t sleep with someone and then not acknowledge it. That’s a bit beastly.

Lan Qian watched the soaking wet Jiang Yang, who seemed to be carrying some heavy burden in her heart, slowly walking back to her room step by step. She sat by the window for a very long time.

In the past, Jiang Yang was most wary of the scorching sun at sea, calling it ‘ultraviolet rays’ and saying it was extremely damaging, avoiding it at all costs. But now she just sat there alone, motionless, until the setting sun melted into gold, casting a huge orange light that seemed about to melt even her shadow.

“Second Young Miss,” Lan Qian called to her.

Jiang Yang slowly came back to her senses, looked at the sky, and belatedly responded: “It’s so late already?”

Lan Qian nodded: “Yes, do you need dinner brought?”

Jiang Yang shook her head. Her face, sunburned, looked like a scar branded on her face. She said: “Have the kitchen make some shrimp chips and some spicy little octopus to send to Chi Mei. He likes to eat that.”

After sleeping with the fish and then turning her back on him, why is she now acting like a lovelorn woman, as if she were the one who had been abandoned? Lan Qian sighed as she left.

The kitchen, thinking it was for Jiang Yang to eat, quickly prepared the shrimp chips and spicy little octopus.

By the time Lan Qian carried the dishes out of the kitchen, the sky had completely darkened. The first mate was organizing the sailors to lower the sails, saying there would be a storm tonight. The waves had already started to swell, the ship rocking back and forth, making it difficult to even walk steadily.

Lan Qian barely managed to keep the dishes steady as she pushed open Chi Mei’s door. The cheap fish who usually lazily floated on the water’s surface, who would go crazy like a dog seeing its master and almost bark when he saw Jiang Yang, was for the first time so quiet and silent in the room.

He wasn’t visible on the water’s surface. Lan Qian gathered her courage and leaned closer. The bottom of the water was dark and murky, nothing could be seen clearly, only the vague outline of a fishtail was barely visible.

“Hey, come out and eat,” Lan Qian called.

Chi Mei didn’t move. Lan Qian spoke again: “This was specially made for you by the kitchen on Second Young Miss’s orders. She said you like it.”

“……” Still no response. Only the water in the bucket swayed constantly with the rocking of the ship.

Lan Qian could only place the dishes on a small table nearby and return to report. In the short quarter of an hour, the waves had become increasingly turbulent, constantly crashing against the deck. The thick black sky hung low as if about to press down. Lan Qian had to hold onto the railing just to barely make it back.

“Did he eat?” Upon returning to the room, Jiang Yang’s first words were to ask this.

Lan Qian shook her head.

“He really is……” Jiang Yang felt as if something heavy was pressing down on her, making it hard to breathe.

Lan Qian couldn’t hold back anymore: “Second Young Miss, you’re the one who did wrong. Why are you talking about that fish like this?”

“What did you say?” Jiang Yang frowned.

“Nothing,” Lan Qian pursed her lips. “I’m just someone with a bit of a sense of justice. I can’t stand your behavior. Playing with a fish is fine, but we should do it openly and honestly. That’s what a real woman does.”

Jiang Yang slammed the table as she stood up, angrily saying: “What nonsense are you spouting? I’ve told you before there’s nothing between Chi Mei and me. If you keep talking like this and ruin his reputation, I’ll cut out your tongue!”

Faced with her master’s anger for the first time, Lan Qian, who had a bit of justice but not too much, cowered weakly: “…Is, is that so? Then, then I misunderstood.”

“Get out!” Jiang Yang waved her sleeve angrily.

Lan Qian sheepishly rubbed her nose: “Yes.”

Outside the door, Lan Qian slapped herself on the mouth, full of regret: “Why can’t I control this mouth of mine!”

There was no going back to Jiang Yang’s room now. The sea winds had suddenly risen, howling wildly. Raindrops blown by the fierce wind felt like ice shards hitting the body. Lan Qian covered her face, feeling as if her face was about to be cut open by the wind, painfully stinging. She was about to go to the cabin to take shelter when she ran into a few sailors who had just come out from changing the water in the merman’s room. Unlike usual, these two were acting suspiciously today, looking furtive as if they had done something wrong.

Lan Qian grew suspicious and called out from behind them: “Stop right there!”

The two sailors immediately trembled all over, hunching their shoulders as they turned around: “Sister Lan, the wind and waves are so strong, why aren’t you back in your room taking shelter?”

Lan Qian looked dubiously at the two who were obviously panicking: “What are you hiding in your clothes? Take it out.”

“No-nothing, it’s just so cold today, we’re just wrapping our clothes tighter,” The two sailors instantly pulled their clothes even tighter.

Lan Qian’s hand was already on her sword hilt: “Everything on this ship belongs to the Second Young Miss. What did you two steal from the merman’s room? Take it out immediately or I’ll cut off your hands.”

The two sailors fell to their knees with a thud, bowing and begging for mercy: “Sister Lan, please spare us. We really didn’t steal anything.”

Lan Qian narrowed her eyes. Even with her threats, these two still wouldn’t confess. It must be something of extremely high value.

Just as she was about to draw her sword, suddenly there was a tremendous roar from the sky. Terrifying lightning split the pitch-black night sky. At the edge of the horizon, a giant wave that blotted out the sky came crashing down. Even the large hull of the ocean-going ship seemed incredibly small before it. The ship suddenly tilted to one side, and everyone on board was instantly thrown into chaos.

Lan Qian quickly hugged the railing, but those two sailors weren’t so lucky. They fell straight from the upper deck to the main deck, and at the same time, the things in their arms rolled out, glowing with a brilliant, ethereal light in the thick darkness of night.

“These are… these are merman tears?!”

“What? Merman tears?!”

“Where are the merman tears?”

The sailors who had barely survived the giant wave, upon hearing “merman tears,” were like sharks that had smelled blood. They swarmed towards the deck, fighting to grab them.

“Merman tears are formed from the tears shed by merpeople in their most desperate and sorrowful moments. Even the Phoenix Empress’s crown has only one. A single merman tear is worth thousands in gold, yet there are so many here,” An older sailor marveled, holding a merman tear.

“Old fool, this merman tear is mine! With something so valuable, I’ll be rich when we reach shore, hahaha!”

“You- how can you steal? Give it back to me.”

“Get lost!”

Countless sailors, stimulated by this rare and enormous profit, had already lost their humanity. They frantically fought over the legendary merman tears. Lan Qian watched this scene on the deck in shock.

“What’s going on? What are they fighting over?” Jiang Yang, irritated by the violently rocking ship, opened the door to see people on the deck frantically grabbing at something.

“Second Young Miss, they’re fighting over- Second Young Miss, watch out!” Lan Qian’s face suddenly changed dramatically.

Jiang Yang looked behind her. A towering wave from the sea surface came crashing down towards the stern of Jiang Yang’s ship with earth-shattering force. Before she could react, she was hit by tons of seawater. Water rushed into her mouth, nose, and ears, surrounded completely by seawater.

Jiang Yang held her breath, struggling in the sea. She opened her eyes with difficulty. Dim light filtered down from above. The ocean-going ship was constantly sinking into the seabed. All around were the surviving crew members desperately trying to swim up to the surface.

Suddenly, a dark shadow quickly darted past a crew member, moving with extreme speed. That was……

Jiang Yang’s eyes widened. Human upper body with a fish tail, it was clearly a merman. Before the crew member could react, he was grabbed by the leg and dragged into the deep sea. At such a rapid descent, before even reaching the seafloor, the person would die from bleeding from all orifices due to water pressure. Soon, in the blink of an eye, the surrounding crew members were dragged one by one into the deep sea by mermen who had appeared out of nowhere.

A cold touch gripped Jiang Yang’s ankle. She looked down to see an unfamiliar merman’s hateful gaze meeting hers. It’s over.

In an instant, Jiang Yang felt as if her body was tied to a huge rock, plummeting at a speed of dozens of meters per second. The water pressure ruptured her eardrums. Her mouth filled with a salty sweetness. Her vision gradually blurred, no longer able to see the faint light from the sea surface.

Author’s note:

The prince’s rescue team arrives.