After Teasing the Crazy Mermaid, He Actually Deceived Me into Marriage - Chapter 29

The night grew deeper. The ship floated on the sea, but in an instant, a heavy rain began to fall. Situated by the porthole, Si Tang gazed at the dark, turbulent ocean. No one knew the intense anxiety gripping her heart, fearing that the omnipotent deity might suddenly appear.

Yet, she had a faint premonition the cracked scale might signify that he had encountered some kind of predicament.

A god. surely couldn’t die, could she?

As Si Tang absentmindedly rubbed the fish scale in her palm, a clear, gentle male voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts.

“Miss Si, what are you looking at?”

The expedition team leader, Ling Xubai, was deeply curious about her experience. He couldn’t fathom how a delicate young woman had survived three months unscathed on a perilous deserted island. When they found her, she was remarkably clean, dressed in simple attire, and he had no idea where she had obtained a change of clothes according to her, she had “found” them.

Moreover, there wasn’t a single scratch on her body, nor any signs of exposure or hardship.

It was as if a celestial being had mistakenly descended into the mortal world.

“Nothing,” Si Tang withdrew her gaze and turned to the young man beside her.

The man appeared to be around twenty-five or twenty-six, with fair skin, handsome features, and a refined, scholarly demeanor. However, Si Tang noticed that he wasn’t in the best health, occasionally coughing into a handkerchief, though it didn’t make him seem effeminate.

“We contacted your family during the day. They’ve dispatched many people to come and fetch you,” he said with a warm smile. “Coincidentally, they were hosting a yacht party in the Atlantic. Your father expressed great concern and is rushing here to pick you up.”

A cold sneer flickered in Si Tang’s eyes, though she offered no comment.

Bringing a crowd of guests to retrieve a stranded heiress was it genuine worry, or simply a disregard for her dignity?

Ling Xubai sensed that the relationship between this father and daughter wasn’t as harmonious as it appeared to outsiders. Recalling the sudden appearance of another young lady in the Si family two months prior, he tactfully refrained from probing further.

After a brief exchange, Ling Xubai politely took his leave.

Si Tang remained seated by the window, quietly watching the sea until the wall clock chimed.

Midnight.

Seven days had completely passed.

The fish scale in her palm, as if tarnished by leaden ash, reflected its cracks, looking worn and dusty. Though riddled with fissures, it remained intact.

She had lost the bet.

Si Tang calmly raised her eyes and noticed a blaze of lights suddenly appearing on the sea.

The Si family had come for her.

The 20-story luxury yacht was resplendent and opulent, with the Si family emblem visible everywhere. Bodyguards escorted Si Tang aboard.

Inside, the yacht was a scene of lavish revelry, exceptionally grand.

A middle-aged man strode toward her, exuding confidence and vigor. Dressed in a Zhongshan suit, with an emerald ring on his thumb, he carried an air of steady, paternal affection, yet his presence commanded authority. This was Si Tang’s father, Si Chenfeng, the head of the Si family.

Following closely beside him was a woman of striking elegance. Her navy-blue qipao was embroidered with pearlescent white pearls, her posture graceful and alluring. At first glance, she resembled a seductive young girl, her face bearing the marks of meticulous upkeep, still appearing remarkably youthful.

“Xiao Tang, your father was worried sick about you,” Si Chenfeng exclaimed with feigned emotion, stepping forward to embrace her as if he were deeply concerned.

A mocking smile curled on Si Tang’s lips as she lowered her gaze and gently patted his back while in his arms. Playing the part of a devoted daughter.

Everything seemed no different from three months ago, but Si Tang knew clearly that after seeing her own fate line, she had to redefine the relationship with her father.

“These past three months, how have you been my precious daughter has truly suffered.” As he spoke, he was on the verge of tears.

Si Tang absentmindedly brushed him off, her gaze passing over his shoulder to the woman not far away, clearly seeing a trace of resentment, unwillingness, and venom in the other’s eyes.

Standing beside the woman was a young girl with similar features the so-called Second Miss of the Si family, who had just been added to the family registry. Her half-sister, Si Xi.

Yet, Si Xi was only two months younger than her. Undoubtedly the product of Si Chenfeng’s affair, Si Chenfeng had deceived Si Tang, claiming it was just a drunken accident.

Si Tang had once believed her father had genuine feelings for her, only that he had poor judgment, marrying Chen Yue as his second wife after her mother’s death, unable to see the vicious ambitions of this mother-daughter pair.

But after seeing her fate line, Si Tang realized that Si Chenfeng had always played the role of a good father not out of any affection for her, but because he feared her maternal family, the Yun family.

After all, the Si family had built their fortune relying on the Yun family of Haicheng.

“It’s fine, Father, I’ve been doing well,” she said lightly, her demeanor elegant and poised, showing no signs of having just returned from a deserted island.

This made Chen Yue even more resentful.

Chen Yue had originally wanted to see what a miserable state Si Tang would be in, even if she had survived and returned.

But what did she see?

What had this little wretch eaten and drunk on the island to make her even more stunning than before she disappeared? Her fair, delicate skin didn’t look like it had been exposed to sun and rain at all. She had rushed over with Si Chenfeng late at night just to witness the wretch’s wretchedness firsthand, only to be utterly disappointed.

As Chen Yue seethed with resentment, her fox like eyes shifted, and she suddenly lowered her head as if distressed. “Little Tang has had such a hard time, but thankfully luck was on her side, surviving on that deserted island. She doesn’t seem to have starved or frozen, but I heard that island Oh, it must be just rumors.”

“What about the island?” Si Chenfeng immediately turned to ask.

Chen Yue put on a hesitant expression, stammering, “Well, I heard there’s a tribe of savages on that island, all men. They say they don’t even spare female gorillas.”

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present gasped, sighing in pity.

For a moment, all sorts of strange and speculative gazes fell upon Si Tang, though no one dared to comment out of respect for the Si family.

“Oh my, Sister,” Si Xi, like a delicate white flower, covered her lips with an innocent, pitiable expression and asked naively, “Are you alright? I heard those savages are filthy, smelly, and incredibly rough. Sister, you should you go to the hospital for a check-up?”

The surrounding gazes grew even more complex some pitying, some disdainful. The once lofty eldest daughter of the Si family had ended up among savages. How pitiable and lamentable.

Si Chenfeng’s face instantly flushed with anger, his eyes widening. The various stares directed at him made him feel a rare sense of humiliation.

For a moment, he even thought, why didn’t Si Tang just die out there instead of coming back to embarrass him like this!

Si Tang looked at her coldly. How truly vicious.

“Aunt Chen, that’s quite an interesting remark. Where did you hear such baseless rumors? In reality, it wasn’t a deserted island at all, there were wild fruits and fresh water sources, no wild beasts roaming about, and the climate was rather pleasant. If I hadn’t been stranded there, I’d almost think I was on vacation.”

Si Tang described her three months of being trapped with such nonchalance that one couldn’t help but believe the island was truly a hidden paradise.

If she had really been assaulted by savages, how could she remain so composed and sane, utterly unfazed?

Chen Yue gritted her teeth in frustration. How did this little wretch become so sharp-tongued? Why wasn’t she disheveled, broken, or even crying?

Of course, Si Tang knew exactly what she was thinking. In the original course of events, she had been rescued after just one week of being stranded, but by then, she was already in a pitiful state. An 18-year-old girl, terrified to the core, had broken down in tears the moment she returned home. With this mother-daughter pair fanning the flames, rumors spread like wildfire that she had been violated by savages.

Such gossip haunted her until the day she died.

“Enough! Si Tang has just returned, and you’re already spouting these unfounded tales. Do you want to make the Si family a laughingstock?” Si Chenfeng rebuked Chen Yue without hesitation.

When it came to his reputation, even his usual gentleness toward Chen Yue could instantly vanish. Turning to Si Tang, he resumed his doting fatherly demeanor.

“Si Tang, go rest in your room for now. I’ll immediately order the ship to turn back and dock.”

Chen Yue wisely fell silent, though her resentful gaze still secretly followed Si Tang as she left, surrounded by bodyguards.