Chapter 25: News

“I encountered a coconut crab on the way. I wanted to catch it but it ran away, so I was delayed a bit.” Jiang Yang crawled in hugging the squid. She sat by the edge of the water pool, her knees submerged in the water. Fearing the squid might die of thirst, she placed it in the pool, gripping one of its tentacles to prevent it from escaping.

Chi Mei swam to her side without any doubt, softly resting his head on Jiang Yang’s knees. His wet, heavy hair spread across her knees, the tips sliding into the water. Jiang Yang casually picked up a strand of his dark hair and played with it, wrapping the strand around her slender fingertips.

Chi Mei squinted his eyes comfortably, like a kitten being petted by its owner. He even turned over, sliding from her knees to her lower abdomen. With the movement, the merman’s silk robe was slightly lifted, faintly revealing his snow-white, taut waistline. In the dim light of the tree hollow, his tight, tender soft waist was blindingly white.

Jiang Yang felt as if her eyes had been dazzled by the finest white jade. Her hand loosened, and the squid quickly slipped away from her grasp.

“Hm?” She unconsciously made a sound.

Chi Mei opened his squinted eyes, slid down from her knees like a puddle of soft water, and dove into the pool. A few seconds later, he resurfaced, the squid once again in his hand, its tentacles tightly wrapped around his slender wrist. Chi Mei raised it towards her: “A Yang, here.”

“Let it go, or we can kill it and eat it,” she said.

“A Yang, didn’t you want to write and draw?” Chi Mei asked. The squid, as if on cue, squirted a pool of ink from its body, blackening the water.

Jiang Yang only wanted the ink to write a letter to Jiang Qingzhou. The writing and drawing were just an excuse. Now that the letter was written, the squid had lost its purpose. She leaned back, “Suddenly, I don’t feel like writing anymore.”

Chi Mei held the struggling squid, lowering his head: “…Oh.”

Seeing his disappointed look, Jiang Yang asked, “What’s wrong?”

Chi Mei said, “I wanted to see you write and draw.”

Jiang Yang said, “What’s so interesting about writing?”

“But I’ve never seen it before,” Chi Mei said, cradling the squid, his tone dejected.

“Fine, then I’ll reluctantly draw something for you to see,” Jiang Yang changed from her lazy sitting posture to a proper one. She took the squid and squeezed a pool of ink onto the rock wall. She picked up a random twig, dipped it in the squid ink, and began to draw on the rock wall.

As a member of a noble family, even if Jiang Yang wasn’t particularly skilled, she still had basic drawing abilities. Even without a brush, her technique remained. Using the pointed end of the twig as a brush tip, with a few swift strokes, a chibi version of Chi Mei appeared on the wall.

Chi Mei’s eyes widened, and he let out a “Wow!”

“Is this me?” He curiously touched it, his fingertip getting a bit of ink, smudging the fish tail.

“A Yang, how did you draw this? It looks just like me. Teach me, please.” Chi Mei tugged at her skirt, pleading.

Jiang Yang crossed her legs and said, “Drawing skills can’t be mastered in a day. I’ve practiced for over ten years. You won’t be able to learn it.”

“If you won’t teach me, I’ll draw by myself,” Chi Mei said sulkily. He picked up the twig she had discarded and started scribbling next to the small Chi Mei she had drawn. As he scribbled, he kept muttering to himself, and gradually, the muttering faded away.

Jiang Yang became curious. She sat up and asked Chi Mei’s back, “What are you drawing?”

Chi Mei turned around, trying to cover the rock wall: “Nothing, I’m done. Let’s eat.”

The more he said this, the more curious Jiang Yang became. She became more determined: “Move aside, I want to see what you’ve drawn.”

“Forget it, A Yang, let’s eat. Let’s have grilled squid on stone,” Chi Mei nervously tossed the twig aside.

Jiang Yang pushed him aside and looked at the rock wall, then burst into laughter.

Next to the small Chi Mei was a stick figure with distorted limbs and bizarre features, looking like some strange species, holding hands with the small Chi Mei. The contrast in styles was striking.

Jiang Yang held her stomach: “What kind of monster did you draw? It’s so ugly it’s sad. You’re killing me, hahaha!!”

Chi Mei: “I drew you.”

The smile on Jiang Yang’s face instantly disappeared.

“…Let’s have grilled squid for dinner after all,” Jiang Yang’s expression was indescribable.

“Okay,” Chi Mei nodded.

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After eating, Jiang Yang looked at the crooked version of herself on the rock wall. She didn’t know what the customs of the merman tribe were like. In human society, men were expected to be skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, but this merman prince seemed to be lacking in all areas. His drawing was unbearably ugly, painful to look at.

Resisting the urge to erase the ‘strange species’ that damaged her image, she asked the stupid fish resting on her lap: “Do the males in your merman tribe have any skills they must learn?”

The stupid fish blinked his eyes, confused: “What kind of skills?”

Jiang Yang said: “In our human tribe, besides being gentle and virtuous, noble men must be skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, painting, flower arranging, tea ceremony, and male crafts as basic requirements.”

“So many? The men in your human tribe are really impressive,” the stupid fish exclaimed.

“Of course, the life of a noble man is quite tiring,” Jiang Yang hadn’t even mentioned the necessary dark skill of ‘harem intrigue’.

The stupid fish was silent for a while, thinking to himself: It’s really hard to marry A Yang, no wonder she didn’t like him at first.

“What about you?” Jiang Yang asked.

Chi Mei thought carefully and answered: “Our essential skills should be singing and hunting.”

“That’s it?” Jiang Yang was a bit surprised. It seemed the merman tribe didn’t have as many rules. No wonder they raised such an innocent and naive fish prince.

Chi Mei tried hard to think again and answered: “And giving birth to little fish.”

Jiang Yang chuckled silently.

“A Yang, why are you laughing? Giving birth to little fish is a very important matter. In our merman tribe, whoever can give birth the most is considered the most excellent merman. If such a merman becomes widowed, many female mermen would compete for them,” Chi Mei said seriously.

“Mm, yes, it’s quite important,” Jiang Yang laughed again.

Chi Mei scratched his head: “A Yang, why are you really laughing?”

Jiang Yang covered her mouth, laughing with a trembling voice: “Actually, I’ve always had a question I wanted to ask you.”

“Ask away, I’ll tell you whatever I know.”

Jiang Yang asked: “Do your merman tribe give birth through live birth or lay eggs? If it’s eggs, do you lay a whole clutch at once?”

If that was the case, Jiang Yang could already imagine the scene of Fu Yue bringing a football team of children rushing towards Jiang Qingzhou. That would be a football team of babies crying for milk, hilarious!!

“A Yang, what are you thinking!” Chi Mei blushed and said shyly: “Although we are mermen, we are half human in form. How could we possibly lay a clutch of fish eggs? If that were the case, our merman tribe wouldn’t have so few people. We also carry babies for ten months and give birth to little babies, and usually only have one or two per pregnancy. My brother only gave birth to one son back then.”

“I see,” Jiang Yang said, her tone a bit disappointed.

Mentioning Fu Yue, Chi Mei inevitably became melancholic. Resting his head on her lap and gazing at the water light reflected on the top of the rock wall, he murmured: “I wonder if my brother has found that fickle, heartless woman. I hope she hasn’t hurt my brother.”

Jiang Yang, thinking of Jiang Qingzhou’s rigid and serious demeanor, said: “It’s hard to say.”

However, if Jiang Qingzhou really had no feelings for Fu Yue, she wouldn’t have gone to be with a fish. After all, Jiang Qingzhou had always been steady and self-disciplined, unless of course, that was her particular preference.

Chi Mei tightly hugged Jiang Yang’s waist, worried and sad: “Do you think she will treat my brother like Xu San Niang treated Chun Jian? If that’s the case, my brother will surely die, and that child won’t live long either.”

Jiang Yang said diplomatically: “That probably won’t happen.”

She wasn’t sure about Jiang Qingzhou’s temperament. Perhaps she had truly liked Fu Yue before, but abandoning Fu Yue had already shown her attitude. If Fu Yue insisted on finding her to take responsibility, Jiang Qingzhou might worry about ruining the image she had always maintained and might even kill the fish to silence him. After all, Jiang Qingzhou had been quite ruthless to her own husband. One could only hope Fu Yue would fend for himself.

This merman tribe was truly unfortunate. Both Fu Yue and Chun Jian had encountered scumbag women, their sincere hearts betrayed.

Chi Mei didn’t speak, just hugged her waist, a slight dampness seeping through her waist and abdomen.

Jiang Yang didn’t know how to comfort him. After all, given her current identity, from the stupid fish’s perspective, she wasn’t much different from a scumbag woman. The only difference was that she was being blatantly scummy.

Jiang Yang sighed softly, stroking his head: “Sleep.”

“…Mm.” Chi Mei’s voice was thick with nasal tones as he fell asleep hugging her arm.

Jiang Yang, however, kept staring at the distorted strange species on the rock wall, unable to fall asleep.

The sleeping stupid fish tightly hugged her arm, constantly nuzzling against her body.

Jiang Yang tried to pry his hands off, but he only held on tighter, mumbling: “A Yang… I’m so cold.”

Jiang Yang shook her head helplessly. After all this time, his excuse was still so simple. Yet she allowed him to burrow into her body, her mind wandering. She wondered where Angry Bird had flown to now? Had it reached Lingnan? How long would it take for Jiang Qingzhou to arrive here after receiving the letter?

Before they arrived, she needed to hide the stupid fish well. She couldn’t let the rescue team find him. From then on, she would return to Lingnan, back to being the former frivolous young noble, while the stupid fish would return to the sea bottom, still the pampered merman prince, eating delicacies, living in pearl palaces and shell towers. He would no longer have to squeeze into a tiny tree hollow for her sake. Everyone would be happy.

In Lingnan, outside the military camp, fires blazed to the sky.

The deputy commander saw something faintly flying towards him in the sky. Upon closer look, it was Hua Xiao, who had been lost at sea with the Jiang family’s second young lady. There was clearly a strip of cloth tied to its foot.

The deputy commander was overjoyed. He blew a whistle, letting Hua Xiao land on his arm, and ran quickly into the main camp.

Inside the main tent, Jiang Qingzhou stood with her hands behind her back, her black-clad figure lean and powerful, her gaze sweeping coldly over the map.

The deputy commander fell to his knees with a thud: “General! General! Hua Xiao has returned! It must be news from the second young lady!”

Hearing the deputy commander’s joyful report, Jiang Qingzhou turned around unhurriedly, her expression cold, her voice like shattering ice: “Read it.”