Chapter 29: Please Like Me

In the deep sea without sun and moon, the merpeople all swam into their rooms to rest. The sea became quietly silent, and even the night pearls were covered with a thin layer of dark shells, dimming the light.

Jiang Yang stared absent-mindedly at the long pearl curtains hanging from the beams of the palace.

“Ah Yang, what are you staring at on that long curtain?” Chi Mei, harboring a small secret joy, finished making the bed. He excitedly touched the pillow, looking forward to truly sharing a bed with Jiang Yang. When everything was ready, he looked towards Jiang Yang but didn’t see her undressing. Instead, she kept staring at an ordinary-looking long curtain, which seemed rather strange.

“I’m thinking about how to take down this long curtain to use as bedding,” Jiang Yang said.

“Bedding?”

Jiang Yang said, “Yes, although you’ve told others that you’re pregnant with my child, we haven’t actually done anything.”

“You want to sleep separately from me?” Chi Mei’s excited little hands dropped.

“Mm.” Jiang Yang nodded.

Chi Mei’s expression darkened, his fair face clouded with obvious disappointment.

Jiang Yang rolled up her sleeves, preparing to swim up to the beam to take down the curtain. The pearls at the edges of the curtain made slight clinking sounds as they collided, alerting Fu Yue outside the room. He, who had been somewhat drowsy, suddenly woke up, his shadow cast into the hall through the window.

Chi Mei lowered his head to look at Fu Yue’s flickering shadow. His eyes suddenly lit up, and he quickly swam to Jiang Yang’s side, grabbing her hand as she was about to climb up the pillar. He whispered earnestly into Jiang Yang’s ear, “Ah Yang, Fu Yue is monitoring us.”

Jiang Yang turned her head and indeed saw Fu Yue pacing outside the hall.

From her first interaction with Fu Yue, Jiang Yang had sensed his particularly unfriendly attitude towards her, full of hostility. Could he really be a spy sent by the two elders?

This was the first time Chi Mei had fabricated such a daring lie to Jiang Yang. His heart was pounding so hard it almost burst out of his chest, making his speech stutter, “If… if Fu Yue suddenly comes in at night and sees us sleeping separately, won’t our previous lie be exposed?”

Although she doubted Fu Yue’s true identity, Chi Mei’s nervous demeanor, with his ears flushed a soft red from excitement, practically wrote his true feelings all over his face. It was obvious that the words he spoke were just an excuse, like a child seriously telling an easily-seen-through lie to an adult. But it was precisely because of this simple deception that couldn’t even be considered scheming, spoken so earnestly, that it appeared more naturally gullible.

Jiang Yang smiled slightly, pretending to believe him completely, encouraging him to reveal his true thoughts: “So?”

Chi Mei swallowed, “So I think we should go all the way with the act, like sleeping in the same bed or something…”

“Oh~” Jiang Yang raised an eyebrow and smiled, “Alright then.”

“Really!” Chi Mei’s eyes lit up, as if he hadn’t expected to deceive her so easily, or perhaps shocked at his own amazing talent for lying.

Jiang Yang nodded, “Yes, don’t you want to fool Fu Yue? Hurry up and lie down on the bed.”

Chi Mei obediently flew to the bed and lay down obliquely. His smooth long hair slid from his shoulders as he propped his chin on one hand, posing like a mermaid emerging from a bath in a Stephen Chow movie. Though trying hard to be alluring, there wasn’t a hint of the decadent coyness found in brothels. Instead, he looked more like a large dog wagging its tail frantically. The dogfish was indeed still the same old dogfish.

Jiang Yang held back her laughter.

“Ah Yang, come quickly.” The silly fish’s little hands patted the bed vigorously, looking just like a seal frantically clapping in an aquarium, both comical and amusing.

Jiang Yang bit her teeth to keep from laughing out loud, “Don’t rush, I’ll undress first.” She wanted to see how far this silly fish would take the act.

After eating the mermaid pearl, Jiang Yang could breathe freely underwater and no longer felt the sea water as cold. It was as if she were on land. However, the layer of clothes, wet and clinging to her body, made her feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Chi Mei’s little hands, which had been patting almost to the point of creating afterimages, suddenly stopped. His mind seemed to have wandered to some indescribable thoughts, two vivid blushes appearing on his face. But the eagerness in his eyes couldn’t be hidden: “Right, acting… we should go all the way with the act.”

Jiang Yang unhurriedly took off her outer garment and undid the sash at her waist. When her clothes slid to the ground, she clearly heard Chi Mei’s breathing suddenly become heavier.

Jiang Yang didn’t continue undressing further, and Chi Mei sighed with considerable disappointment.

“What are you sighing about?” Jiang Yang got into bed and lowered the bed curtains. The space suddenly became private and narrow, with the distance between the two so close that they could hear each other’s breathing clearly.

“No… nothing, let’s… let’s sleep.” Chi Mei shrank back a bit, his teeth tightly biting his lower lip, the lip bud as red as blood. The mermaid silk spread on the bed was messed up by his tail fins.

“No hurry.” Jiang Yang lay beside Chi Mei, looking at him, her breath brushing against his ear. Chi Mei’s spine trembled with a shiver.

“Ah… Ah Yang, you… you…” Chi Mei was so excited he couldn’t speak clearly. This time he really bit his tongue, and with the keen sense of smell granted by the mermaid pearl, she easily detected the scent of rust in his mouth.

“Didn’t you say we should go all the way with the act?” Jiang Yang chuckled softly.

“……” Chi Mei silently looked at Jiang Yang for a long time, as if he couldn’t believe it. After the shock, came an irrepressible upward curve of his lips. With trembling hands, he started to undo his own clothes: “Alright… alright… come… come…”

This eagerness made it hard to tell who was really the woman.

Jiang Yang flicked the silly fish’s forehead hard: “Idiot, didn’t you say we were acting? I didn’t tell you to really go all the way. Just make some noise for Fu Yue to hear, casually fool that spy for a bit, and it’ll be over.”

“…Oh!” The excitement in Chi Mei’s eyes dimmed, and after the sparkle faded, his disappointment was hard to conceal.

“I thought… I thought…” Chi Mei bit his lip hard, almost to the point of breaking the skin, leaving deep teeth marks.

No matter how hard he tried, she would never look at him that way. Chi Mei didn’t know how to calm the heart that felt as if it were being squeezed tightly in his chest. He could only rely on physical pain and a facade of pure innocence to cover up the hurt in his heart. It seemed that as long as he didn’t cry, the pain of repeated rejection was just an illusion, not truly etched into his heart.

That night, Fu Yue couldn’t block out the sounds coming from Chi Mei’s room even with his ears covered, unaware that inside the hall was quiet and devoid of any hint of spring passion.

In the latter half of the night, the sounds quieted down, and Jiang Yang fell asleep under the mermaid silk.

Chi Mei leaned dejectedly against the edge of the bed, his usual carefree smile gone. He carefully touched her scattered long hair, afraid of disturbing her in her sleep. His eyes were filled with sorrow, and a bitter taste choked in his throat: “Ah Yang, why can’t you like me just once?”

Author’s Note:

Today features a depressed merman prince.

Thanks to the little angels who cast landmines or watered with nutrient solution during the period from 2022-07-11 23:24:06 to 2022-07-12 23:33:56~

Thanks to the little angels who cast landmines: Little Feather 2;

Thanks to the little angels who watered nutrient solution: Iris33 5 bottles; Cool and Indifferent, Sisyphus, Morning Light 1 bottle each;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!