Chapter 6 Love Her a Little More Every Day

Lan Qian vigilantly gripped the scabbard, shielding Jiang Yang, ready to defend against any potential attack from the merman. Jiang Yang patted her shoulder, “Don’t be so tense.”

Lan Qian thought, this little ancestor, your heart is truly big! How could she not be tense? If this little beast hurt her, her own life wouldn’t be enough to compensate.

Jiang Yang moved a chair and sat at a safe distance, waving the plate in her hand at Chi Mei, who was looking at her eagerly, “Chi Mei, I brought you something delicious.”

Chi Mei leaned on the edge of the water barrel, water flowing down his arms onto the outside of the wooden barrel. His ink-black, wet strands of hair clung to his arms and long neck, contrasting his cool skin tone to the extreme. If not for the vivid and bright colors in his eyes, he would have looked more like the terrifying sea monster from legends that lured sailors with its eerie beauty before dragging them into the sea to devour.

“What delicious thing?” Chi Mei asked curiously, his nose lightly sniffing. It was a scent he had never perceived before, but it smelled very good and tempting.

Merpeople not only have keen hearing but also a sharp sense of smell. He had smelled Jiang Yang’s scent long ago. Compared to the nauseating scent of other human females on this ship, Jiang Yang was the only one he felt comfortable being around.

“Fried shrimp chips.”

“Fried?” Chi Mei’s pitch-black eyes blinked in confusion, “What is fried?”

Sure enough, sea creatures don’t have the concept of frying. Jiang Yang smiled slightly, “You’ll know once you taste it.”

“Alright.” Chi Mei agreed without any hesitation.

“But before eating this, you need to dry your hands first. Here.” Jiang Yang took out her personal handkerchief, rolled it into a small ball, and threw it to him.

The crispy texture is what makes shrimp chips delicious. If the beautiful fish-man’s hands were wet, the chips would become soggy at a touch, defeating the purpose of frying.

The embroidered ball traced a parabola in the air, opening at its highest point. The vibrant phoenix flower pattern seemed to burst open like sudden fireworks in midair, floating lightly into Chi Mei’s hands.

He lowered his head to look at the phoenix flower embroidered on the handkerchief, gently stroking it with his fingertips. He used the part without embroidery to dry his hands, then neatly folded the handkerchief and placed it on the edge of the water barrel. In an obedient posture, he said to Jiang Yang, “I’ve dried my hands.”

Jiang Yang stood up, intending to bring the plate over to him, but Lan Qian intervened, “Second Young Miss, you must not. Let me.”

She drew her sword, using its tip to support the bottom of the plate as she delivered it in front of Chi Mei. The cold wind blew against the chilly sword tip pointing directly at him. Chi Mei sensed the hostility and glared at her fiercely.

None of the humans on this ship were good… except for Jiang Yang.

He had been swimming happily in the sea when suddenly captured by humans. If not for Jiang Yang’s rescue, he might have already ended up like the other captured tribesmen, leaving no remains. However, last night he had already sent out a signal through his song, hoping some of his tribesmen would hear and come to rescue him.

Thinking that the day of revenge was near, Chi Mei picked up a shrimp chip from the plate and bit into it with relish. With just one bite, he was stunned. This crispy texture was something he had never experienced in all his years living under the sea. It was strange, but so delicious.

Chi Mei couldn’t help but take another piece and put it in his mouth. These days, being forced to eat those half-dead little shrimps, his stomach had long been protesting. Suddenly tasting such deliciousness, a sense of happiness made him squint his eyes.

“Is it good? I knew you would probably like this, so I specially asked the kitchen to make it,” Jiang Yang said with a light laugh, leaning on the armrest of her chair.

Chi Mei’s frantically eating hand paused.

‘Help! She really loves me so much! She truly has deep feelings for me! Even though I didn’t accept her confession last night, she still continues to show me kindness today, specially instructing the kitchen to make food to please me… But humans and merpeople cannot intermarry, I am destined to let down her love for me… But when my tribesmen come to find me, I must spare her life.’

The more Chi Mei thought about it, the more guilty he felt. He didn’t even dare to meet Jiang Yang’s gentle gaze, so he just kept eating to cover up his uneasiness.

“Lan Qian, you go out first,” Jiang Yang said, seeing Chi Mei eating very attentively.

“But Second Young Miss-” Lan Qian tried to persuade.

Jiang Yang directly took the sword from her hand, “It’s fine, you know my swordsmanship.”

“…Yes.” Lan Qian dared not argue about swordsmanship.

The Lingnan noble families naturally used top-tier resources to cultivate their daughters, and their swordsmanship teachers were among the best in the world. Although Jiang Yang wasn’t good at studying and loved to wander among flowers, her swordsmanship was even better than Lan Qian’s. If not for Jiang Yang’s own noble status, she could have opened a school and taken in disciples herself.

“Take the two guards outside away too. The merman doesn’t like the smell of those two outside,” Jiang Yang instructed in a low voice.

Although Lan Qian was puzzled, she had no choice but to comply.

With only the two of them left in the merman taming room, Jiang Yang let out a sigh of relief. Finally, she had space to maneuver.

She came to the edge of the water barrel and saw the usually very sensitive handsome fish dully stuffing shrimp chips into his mouth. She poked his puffy cheeks with her finger. Hmm, indeed very soft and moist.

The handsome fish suddenly reacted, splashing about in the water, water flying everywhere, until he retreated against the barrel wall. His cheeks were flushed red, his eyes confused and evasive, not daring to look at her as he faintly asked, “What- what do you want to do?”

Jiang Yang smiled shamelessly, “Nothing, I saw you were in a daze, so I just wanted to poke you.”

The handsome fish pursed his lips, his evasive gaze even showing a hint of coyness to Jiang Yang, “You- you can’t do this again next time.”

He was the prince of the merman tribe, and the most beautiful merman in the group. How could he be casually touched on the face? It was too frivolous. Although countless females pursued him, Jiang Yang was the first to dare to treat him like this.

Jiang Yang clasped her hands together in apology, “Alright, next time I’ll stay far away from you and never touch you again, okay?”

The apologetic attitude was acceptable. Chi Mei bashfully said, “Mm.”

“Back to the main topic, I came to see you today because I wanted to discuss something with you,” Jiang Yang said in a low voice, her expression becoming serious.

Chi Mei asked, “What is it?”

“Since you can understand human speech, you should know by now that I’m the boss on this ship, right?”

Chi Mei nodded.

Jiang Yang continued, “Although I’m currently the boss on this ship, the real owner is someone else.”

“Who is it?”

“…A mysterious person.” Who else could it be but that old bastard emperor! Although the Lingnan noble family status sounded impressive, under heaven all land belongs to the king. As long as that old bastard emperor was still around, he could confiscate the Jiang family’s property at any time.

“Anyway, I take orders from her, and the people on this ship truly obey her. I’ve borne all the pressure of dissatisfaction and outside criticism, trying every means to spare your life. But in just a few short days, you’ve injured four crew members. The others already have complaints about you. If you don’t rein in your temper, I won’t be able to protect you when the time comes.”

Jiang Yang shook her head and sighed, her acting skills on full display. With an expression of ‘I don’t want this either, but I’ve tried my best, if you want to blame someone, blame others, not me, it has nothing to do with me, I’m powerless’, she thoroughly shocked Chi Mei.

The naive handsome fish, inexperienced in the ways of the world, was moved by Jiang Yang’s ‘dedication’. So she had silently endured so much behind the scenes to protect him.

“I understand. I’ll listen to you. I’ll do whatever you say.”

Jiang Yang inwardly made a victory sign. This stupid fish was too easy to fool.

“Ahem-” She shamelessly pressed her advantage, “Actually, I’m not asking you to do anything excessive. Just stay quiet and don’t hurt anyone. If the crew does something unsatisfactory that displeases you, just tell them directly. They won’t force you.”

“But I don’t like talking to those people.”

Those people’s eyes were filled with ugly desires, making their already unattractive faces even more hideous. When he was with those people, it felt like a heavy, suffocating black fog was pressing on his heart. Only Jiang Yang’s eyes were clear of everything, clean and pure. Being with her was the most relaxing.

“Then just tell me, and I’ll go teach them a lesson. I’ll come to see you often from now on,” Jiang Yang said.

“Okay.” Chi Mei agreed immediately. Compared to staying with those disgusting people, being with Jiang Yang was the best.

“Then it’s settled. Don’t lose your temper or hit anyone later,” Jiang Yang said, her eyes bright and cheerful like the wind.

Chi Mei looked at her eyes and brows, nodding solemnly, “Alright.”

She had already done so much for him; he didn’t want to cause her any more trouble. Although his tribesmen would arrive soon, he also wanted to repay Jiang Yang as much as possible during this time.

Being rejected when confessing her love, even though Jiang Yang was putting on a strong front, Chi Mei could see that she was very hurt inside. If he caused her more trouble, it would be too pitiful for Jiang Yang.

“Good, then I’m leaving. Enjoy your meal,” Jiang Yang prepared to leave.

Chi Mei suddenly grabbed her sleeve, then shyly withdrew his hand.

“What’s wrong?”

Chi Mei timidly said, “Um, the water in here has been stagnant for too long. Can it be changed?”

Jiang Yang smiled, thinking it was some big issue, “No problem. I’ll have them change the water for you once a day, okay?”

“…Can it be changed every half day?” Chi Mei lowered his head, his face flushed. Would she think he was asking for too much? But he used to swim freely in the sea, enjoying clean seawater, while the water in this barrel was all stagnant, turning bad after half a day.

Jiang Yang nodded, “Of course.”

“Really?” Chi Mei looked up in delight.

“Of course it’s true.” After all, she wasn’t the one changing the water.

“This handkerchief is yours now too. You seem to like it very much.” Jiang Yang smiled as she left, the sea breeze making her clothes flutter. Until the door slammed shut, Chi Mei was surprised to realize.

How did she notice?

Chi Mei picked up the neatly folded handkerchief on the edge of the water barrel. He really liked the vibrant phoenix flowers on it, but he couldn’t go ashore. Every season when the phoenix flowers bloomed, he would swim to the edge of the sea island and lie on the reef to watch the phoenix flowers blooming on the beach. If lucky, one or two fallen flowers would be carried into the sea by the tide, which he would treasure and take away. But the flowers would quickly rot in the sea, and then the cycle of waiting for new fallen flowers would begin again.

But now he had a phoenix flower that would never wither. Chi Mei lay back in the water, his beautifully colored and gorgeous fish tail swaying contentedly as he stroked the delicate embroidery of the phoenix flower, happily giving it a kiss.

Author’s Note:

Chi Mei: Every day I discover new merits of Ah Yang.