Chapter 2: She Is Truly Kind-hearted

Jiang Yang nervously opened her eyes and rubbed Angry Bird’s feathers: “Little Hua Xiao, are you full?”

Angry Bird let out a contemptuous coo, turning its big head 360 degrees to show her its back of the head.

Jiang Yang: “……”

Fortunately, by this time, the merman had already been carried away by the crowd. After a while, Lan Qian came back, her clothes and hair all wet, as if she had just been fished out of the water. She ran excitedly to Jiang Yang’s side and said, “Second Young Miss, the merman has been tied up and the training has begun.”

Jiang Yang gave a sound of acknowledgment. Actually, her initial intention was just to save that handsome fish’s life. Although being a pet fish for the dog emperor wasn’t great, at least he would still be alive. If he wasn’t made a pet, he would have been chopped up and made into oil on the spot, which would be too pitiful.

But pity aside, she didn’t dare to risk the entire Jiang family just to save an unfamiliar fish.

She only hoped that this handsome fish could be obedient and well-behaved. Jiang Yang thought to herself.

In the evening, Jiang Yang was eating dinner. She didn’t have much appetite for meat today, so the kitchen made her a plate of cold tofu salad and stir-fried mung bean sprouts. Although these were just two ordinary vegetable dishes, in the ocean far from land, where the sailors could only eat fish and shrimp caught from the sea, vegetables were even more expensive and rare than big fish and meat.

Lan Qian, who was serving at the side, was almost crying with hunger.

Jiang Yang couldn’t bear her gaze and shared some with her: “Eat.”

“Thank you, Second Young Miss.” Lan Qian gratefully picked up a chopstick of crisp and refreshing mung bean sprouts, exclaiming: “It’s so delicious, I’ve never felt mung bean sprouts could be this good before.”

Jiang Yang, on the other hand, put down her chopsticks and leaned sideways on the soft couch, taking an apple from the fruit basket and leisurely starting to peel it.

At sea, what was even rarer and more precious than vegetables? Of course, it was fruit.

After finishing the after-dinner fruit, Jiang Yang patted her full belly contentedly and got up to take a walk on the deck to aid digestion.

“Second Young Miss, I’ll accompany you.” Lan Qian casually wiped her mouth with her sleeve and followed.

The sun was half-sunk into the sea, its melting golden light flowing into the seabed like molten gold. The gorgeous sunset dyed the entire sky and sea red. Her ship rose and fell in the waves, as if sailing into a mysterious oil painting.

“Where’s that merman?” Jiang Yang remembered the beautiful male fish.

Lan Qian said, “We locked it in a room in the wheelhouse. The sailors should be training it right now.”

“Take me to see.”

Ever since discovering the merman in the morning, Lan Qian’s seasickness had been miraculously cured, and she would get excited at the mere mention of the merman. She led Jiang Yang, huffing and puffing, towards the room in the wheelhouse.

Before they even reached the door, Jiang Yang could hear the sound of whips lashing. From inside came a woman’s harsh scolding, and difficult suppressed sounds.

“What’s going on?” Jiang Yang said in a low voice, casually pushing open the small window by the door and looking inside.

The beautiful male fish was stuffed into a very large wooden barrel, with a very heavy iron collar clamped around his fair and delicate neck. A very thick and heavy iron chain was connected to the back of the iron collar, severely restricting his movement.

Next to the wooden barrel stood a sailor Jiang Yang didn’t recognize, arrogantly wielding a whip, striking the beautiful male fish heavily. The merman was beaten until his skin split and flesh showed, and the huge wound on his waist and abdomen hadn’t been bandaged. Fresh blood was gushing out, and the water overflowing from the wooden barrel was bright red.

Illegal fish abuse is prohibited! You bunch of idiots!

The beautiful male fish leaned against the barrel wall, covered in wounds, giving off a sense of a battle-damaged beautiful man. Despite suffering such inhumane torture, there was not a hint of weakness or yielding in the merman’s eyes, only hostility towards the person before him.

Ah – what a fish with backbone!

“Hmph, let’s see how long you can hold out!” Perhaps because the merman’s tenacity had aroused the sailor’s desire for violence, the sailor raised the whip again.

The beautiful male fish didn’t dodge, or more accurately, he had nowhere to dodge. With such a thick collar on his neck, he couldn’t even run.

Jiang Yang couldn’t bear to watch anymore and kicked open the door.

“Second Young Miss??” The sailor confusedly held up the whip, then fell to her knees with a thud: “Greetings to the Second Young Miss!”

Having been here for so long, Jiang Yang was quite skilled at putting on airs in front of servants.

She put on the severity of a disciplinary teacher and said in a deep voice: “Come out with me for a moment.”

“…Yes.” The sailor felt even more uneasy and looked towards Lan Qian for help.

But Lan Qian also had a confused look on her face.

“Didn’t I tell you to train the merman? Why are you beating him?” Once on the deck, Jiang Yang asked.

The sailor trembled: “Second Young Miss, you don’t know how unruly that merman is. He even tried to harm people. We sisters discussed and decided to subdue him with violence first, then think about how to train him.”

Lan Qian nodded frantically beside her like a big fool: “That’s right, that’s right. That merman is really fierce. He injured several sailors.”

Jiang Yang gave the big fool a white eye and said, “This fish is meant to be presented to the emperor as a pet. With you whipping him left and right, leaving him covered in wounds, how am I supposed to present him!”

Lan Qian suddenly realized: “Oh, that’s right.”

That’s right, your grandfather! You idiot! Jiang Yang wanted to kick this fool into the Pacific Ocean.

The sailor raised her head and tentatively asked: “Then what does the Second Young Miss mean?”

“I know!” The genius Lan Qian raised her hand to answer.

Jiang Yang raised an eyebrow: “You say?”

Lan Qian proudly raised her neck: “Use love to change him!”

Change your hammer! The sailor dejectedly returned to the merman training room. After they had left earlier, another sailor had taken over watching the merman.

As soon as the two sailors met, one asked, “Hey, what did the Second Young Miss want with you just now?”

The sailor snatched the whip from her hand and threw it away, saying with great regret: “The Second Young Miss won’t let us whip the fish anymore.”

“What?!” The other person exclaimed: “Has the Second Young Miss gone mad? How are we supposed to train the merman now?”

“Sigh… anyway, we can’t beat him anymore from now on.”

The merman Chi Mei lay quietly at the bottom of the water barrel. The numerous wounds on his body made even the slightest movement unbearably painful. The conversation between the two sailors traveled through the water waves into his ears.

Second Young Miss?

Was it that human female who burst in just now? She seemed to have a lot of authority.

It seemed that she was also the one who stopped others from killing him on the deck earlier. It looks like what brother said was right, not all humans are bad people.

Chi Mei, who had already given up hope, felt a glimmer of hope for survival.

The two sailors were still talking non-stop when suddenly the door sounded, and Lan Qian walked in. Jiang Yang stood far away at the door.

The sailor who had just been complaining about Jiang Yang’s decision now fawned on Lan Qian to an astonishing degree: “Sister Lan is here! Does the Second Young Miss have any more instructions?”

Chi Mei at the bottom of the water heard that familiar title and moved his body, surfacing to lean on the edge of the barrel, looking through the window at Jiang Yang in the distance.

If he could please her, maybe she would let him go home.

Lan Qian glanced at the merman who had suddenly emerged from the water and casually threw the medicine to the sailor: “The Second Young Miss is afraid his wounds might get infected, so she specially asked me to bring this.”

“The Second Young Miss is so thoughtful!”

Lan Qian looked at the merman again and saw him staring intently at Jiang Yang. She thought to herself, “Oh no!” and quickly ran to Jiang Yang’s side: “Second Young Miss, that merman is glaring at you!”

Jiang Yang was watching the sailors on the deck catch rats. She hadn’t provoked anyone, why would he glare at her?

Lan Qian panted: “Really, I’ve been watching that merman for a long time. He’s been staring at you since just now!”

Jiang Yang looked towards the merman training room and indeed saw that beautiful male fish staring straight at her, with his tail raised behind him.

“Look! Look!” Lan Qian said excitedly: “He even raised his tail, which means he has deep hostility towards you!”

Ah, this?

“Does raising the tail mean hostility? Don’t dogs raise their tails too?” Isn’t it a sign of friendliness? Jiang Yang doubted.

Lan Qian vigilantly shielded the protagonist behind her: “Second Young Miss, you forgot, cats also raise their tails when they’re agitated! This merman’s tail is also a sharp weapon. He just injured several sailors with his tail. Now he must be harboring resentment against you, knowing you’re the mastermind behind his capture, so he wants to kill you!”

It sounded quite reasonable.

So I’ve become the bad guy?! I just helped you avoid torture, are you even human? Oh, he’s indeed not human… What an ungrateful snake-scorpion fish!

The more she looked at the merman’s pitch-black eyes, the more creepy she felt. The beautiful fish tail that once amazed her now looked like a scorpion with its tail raised, ready to sting her at any moment. It was quite eerie.

Forget it, if she couldn’t handle it, she could avoid it. Jiang Yang turned and walked upstairs.

Chi Mei saw Jiang Yang leave and disappointedly retracted his tail, sinking to the bottom of the water.

Weren’t humans supposed to like the beautiful tails of mermen? Why did she have no reaction at all when he tried so hard to please her? It’s so difficult to please humans! How did his brother manage to charm humans?

The two sailors casually sprinkled the medicine powder Jiang Yang had sent into the water.

As the white powder’s components dissolved in the water, Chi Mei’s wounds felt a slight stinging sensation. Although he was severely injured, the merman race had pearl protection in their bodies. Even if injured heavily, as long as it wasn’t an immediately fatal wound, they could recover quickly. They didn’t need things like wound medicine at all. On the contrary, it would increase his bodily discomfort.

“I really don’t know what the Second Young Miss is thinking, not allowing us to harm this merman, and even giving him medicine,” the sailor complained after sprinkling the powder, carelessly tossing the bottle aside.

“Alright, we just follow the Second Young Miss’s orders. Who told her to have the highest status on this ship?” the other person advised. “I heard there’s wine to drink tonight. Let’s finish up quickly and go drink together!”

They weren’t worried about Chi Mei overhearing their complaints because there was a language barrier between humans and the merman race.

But what they never imagined was that Chi Mei could actually understand human language.

Hearing the sailors say that Jiang Yang gave him medicine and specially ordered not to harm him…

What a gentle human female!

Chi Mei’s disappointed heart reignited with hope. He happily swished his fish tail, and the color at the end of his tail, which had dimmed, became vivid again.

***

“I know she doesn’t love him.” (Female-dominant)

I’ve read this novel twice already. Sis, I’m highly recommending it to you!

The female lead? Not a good person.
The second male lead? Not a good person.
The male lead? Willingly plays the third party, breaking up the female and second male lead’s relationship despite all the warnings from his friends—so yeah, he’s definitely not a good person either.

Basically, nobody in this novel is simple-minded or without scheming.

The female lead starts off as the male lead’s secretary, but don’t worry—later on, she takes over the company while the male lead steps back to support her. He won’t steal her spotlight, overshadow her, or dull her shine.

I love novels where men are out here snatching wigs, tearing each other down, and going to war just to win the female lead’s affection. And this is exactly that kind of novel. Most of Hai Dai Ran’s works have this dynamic. You’ll see the male characters’ emotions being pushed to the absolute extreme.

There’s even a scene where the second male lead exposes the male lead online for being a homewrecker. The brotherhood immediately gangs up on him, dragging him through the mud. I find it compelling —it completely flips reality on its head, where usually, women are the ones fighting over a man and getting torn apart by the sisterhood.

For me, female leads in the novels I read should only struggle in their careers, not in love. But if the brainless romantics in the story are all men? I have zero complaints.

I’ve pretty much read all of Hai Dai Ran’s novels and even translated all of them—her works are just my thing. I’ll slowly upload everything here. One day, when my website is official, I hope I can invite her to join as one of the star authors.

Here’s the story synopsis:

One-line summary: She is his lifelong obsession, to the point where he was willing to be a third wheel, scorned by society, just to wedge his way into her relationship with her fiancé.

Cold-hearted and indifferent female lead + Scheming and subservient CEO male lead

Intro 1:

“I know she doesn’t love him.”

With blood trickling from his clenched fist, Rong Xiu gazed at the woman before him, his eyes clouded with anguish. Hidden in the wardrobe, he had witnessed Fan Xia – the woman he desperately loved – in an intimate embrace with her fiancé. Yet his heart still yearned for her, defying all reason.

Fan Xia, the elegant and composed assistant, carried something mysterious in her eyes whenever she looked at her fiancé, Wen Lan Sheng. Strange occurrences began to surface – secret meetings with the young Gu Jin Yi, an unexplained withdrawal of 5,000 yuan… Then suddenly, her fiancé’s sister, Wen Jing, violently attacked her.

In this matriarchal society, Rong Xiu had risen to become the chairman of a powerful healthcare conglomerate, breaking through gender prejudices. But for the first time, he willingly stepped into the shadows as the other man, disregarding his friends’ warnings to become her secret lover.

Because he had discovered the truth – Fan Xia wasn’t the pure angel everyone believed her to be. And perhaps, he was the only one capable of helping her execute her mysterious plan…

Intro 2:

Rong Xiu’s biggest regret in life was missing out on Fan Xia.

He secretly loved Fan Xia for 7 years.

Watched her go public with her boyfriend.

Watched her kiss her boyfriend at their wedding.

Until that man blissfully nestled in Fan Xia’s arms, obtaining everything he could only dream of.

The crazy jealousy stripped away his hidden secret love, layer by layer, burning like wildfire.

Fan Xia, how can I have you!

【Reading and Trigger Warning Guide】

1. Female dominant, male submissive, male pregnancy

2. Male lead schemes his way to the top, male competition

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Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.

If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.