Becoming the Keeper of an Alluring Merfolk - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Good Wife

“Can I take it now?”

“Can you stay with me for one night? Just one night.” Although Xiao Hen knew it was unlikely, she still wanted to ask. What if it worked?

“Yes, the condition is that this month’s pseudo-spawning period ends here. Can you guarantee that?”

“Mm! I can guarantee it!”

Jian Xu placed the egg on a nearby side table. In the dry air, it would quickly disappear.

She picked Xiao Hen up from the fish tank: “Transform your legs. You sleep on the sofa, and I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“Okay!” Xiao Hen was very happy. She lay sideways on the sofa, quietly watching Jian Xu make the bed on the floor. “Will it be cold, Jian Xu?”

“One night doesn’t matter.”

“Let’s switch.”

“No switching.”

“Then can we share one blanket…”

“Shush, go to sleep.”

Jian Xu turned off the light; only the light at the bottom of the fish tank was still on. How could Xiao Hen sleep when she was so excited? It was the first time Jian Xu had been so gentle with her.

While Jian Xu was asleep, Xiao Hen initially wanted to sneak into the blanket, but she really missed Shui Se. After planting a kiss on Jian Xu’s cheek, she secretly took the key card from under her pillow, put on the white coat hanging by the door, and slipped away without a sound.

At first, she thought Shui Se would be in the Jiao-person section. When she arrived, she didn’t see her but instead saw the uninvited guest, Zheng Zheng.

The two stared at each other. Although not a word was said, the hostility between them was almost overflowing.

Besides them, there was also a little merperson sitting by the pool playing a game console instead of sleeping late at night.

After asking the little merperson, she learned that Shui Se was staying in Song Xiu’s staff dormitory. Guided by the merperson, she successfully found the room.

Just as she was about to reach out and knock on the door, Jian Xu’s figure suddenly appeared at the end of the corridor.

Jian Xu smirked and approached step by step. The sensor light flickered on and off. Every time it went dark and then lit up again, she had moved one step forward, like a ghost from a horror movie that could teleport.

“Xi Hen, you’re just acting, aren’t you? Saying you care about me, saying you want to have a baby with me, saying a hug is enough, but now it’s all just a lie to see Shui Se.”

“Jian Xu… you’re scaring me.” Xiao Hen pressed her back against the door. She was afraid that knocking would anger Jian Xu, but also afraid of never seeing Shui Se again.

After much hesitation, she still chose not to knock.

Inside the room, Song Xiu and Shui Se were sleeping soundly, nestled together. Because they were used to sleeping with the window open, they could sleep through the loudest ocean waves. However, this habit now became an obstacle to being rescued.

Xiao Hen slid down the door panel onto the floor, closing her eyes, afraid to look directly at Jian Xu who was squatting in front of her.

Jian Xu grabbed her waist, hoisted her onto her shoulder, and carried her back.

Passing the Jiao-person section, Jian Xu deliberately diverted. She immediately spotted Little Coco hiding at the bottom of the pool: “If you guide people randomly again, I will lock you back in the cage. I mean it.”

Little Coco glared at her unhappily until Jian Xu’s back was completely out of sight before she returned to the surface.

When she saw Zheng Zheng’s gloating smile, Little Coco seemed to understand something.

“No wonder…”

On the other side, Xiao Hen initially thought she would be roughly thrown into the fish tank, but instead, Jian Xu stuffed her into the blanket on the floor, forcefully making her sleep.

“But I can’t sleep.”

“What did you promise me?”

“If… if you think I did something wrong, just tell me off like you used to. I don’t understand you now, and I’m scared.”

“If you don’t sleep, I’m leaving.”

“Sleep, I’ll sleep.”

Xiao Hen pulled the blanket over her head, but Jian Xu pulled it back down.

She had no choice but to close her eyes and pretend to sleep. Even when daylight arrived, she secretly opened her eyes several times. Jian Xu had been sitting against the wall, scrolling through her phone, keeping her company.

Jian Xu only changed clothes and went to the archives when it was time for work.

Xiao Hen tilted her head, not understanding.

When Song Xiu left for work, she picked up a pearl outside the door. She thought it belonged to Shui Se, but she didn’t remember her wife crying at the door.

“Shui Se, did you drop this?”

“Huh?”

Shui Se rubbed her eyes and lazily got out of bed. When she saw the pearl, her eyes instantly widened. She took it and placed it in her palm, carefully sensing the other person’s emotions.

“It’s Xiao Hen’s. It has her lingering scent, and it’s filled with fear and anxiety.”

“Fear? Are you saying she was crying outside our door last night?”

“Yes! What should we do, Song Xiu? I’m so worried about her.” Shui Se was practically in tears. The person she longed for day and night had been missed just like that.

Seeing her wife so distressed, Song Xiu also felt uncomfortable. She still remembered Xiao Hen’s haggard appearance from that day: “I’m going to ask the Director for authorization now, so I can open the underground laboratory door while Jian Xu is away. I’ll rely on you to feed the merfolk.”

“Okay…”

“Good wife.” Song Xiu hugged Shui Se tightly, her fingers tracing through her hair, and left a kiss mark on her neck.

“Song Xiu, I’ll wait for you to come back. If it’s too much trouble, don’t force… yourself…”

“I must do what I promised you. I can’t talk anymore, I have to go.”

Shui Se watched her receding back with worry, then went to the storage room to get fresh fish, and carried the small blue bucket to the Jiao-person section by the pool.

Little Coco surfaced in surprise, splashing water and gripping the edge of the pool, asking: “Why is it Sister Shui Se? Where is Sister Song Xiu?”

“She has something to do.”

“She’s not sick, is she?”

“Don’t worry, she’s not. She’ll be back soon. Come, I’ll cut the fish for you to eat.”

“I want to eat the whole thing; it tastes better that way.”

“Eating half is better. You’re too small. What if you choke or can’t digest it?”

“Sister, lean closer, I’ll tell you a secret.”

Shui Se squatted down and listened to Little Coco. Only then did she piece together roughly what had happened last night. She regretted not realizing it sooner. If she had, she definitely wouldn’t have let Jian Xu succeed.

She didn’t forget Zheng Zheng during the subsequent feeding. Even though there were personal grudges, she wouldn’t be malicious when it came to food and drink. However, Zheng Zheng didn’t seem to appreciate the gesture.

“I heard you’ve been eating human food?” Zheng Zheng smiled meaningfully.

“Does that concern you?”

Shui Se didn’t want to argue with her and continued with the work Song Xiu usually did every day.

Little Coco blocked the space between Zheng Zheng and Shui Se. “If you’re mean to Sister Shui Se again, I will definitely eat you.” She hadn’t bared her teeth in a long time, but she opened her mouth wide again.

Zheng Zheng flipped her slightly faded long hair: “You little thing, can you even eat me?”

Little Coco folded her arms and smiled slightly, signaling her to look behind. Underwater, a dozen merfolk with gaping, blood-red mouths were visible in the cage. If Little Coco gave the command, Zheng Zheng’s days would not be easy.

After all, there were long-standing legends among the Jiao-people that merfolk would consume them.

“That’s enough, Little Coco.”

“Got it, Sister Shui Se.”