Becoming the Keeper of an Alluring Merfolk - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Planning a Prank on Jian Xu

Over the next few days, Song Xiu tried to reach out to Jian Xu several times, but the latter deliberately avoided meeting her and only selectively replied to messages. Song Xiu even began to suspect that something had happened to Xiao Hen.

She finally managed to corner Jian Xu in the canteen, but the woman didn’t look troubled at all; instead, she seemed quite cheerful.

“Jian Xu, be honest with me, is Xiao Hen okay?” Song Xiu was genuinely worried.

“I won’t tell you.” Jian Xu held her tray, hummed a tune, and turned to sit down, being utterly infuriating.

Song Xiu sat opposite her; the more she looked at Jian Xu’s expression, the more she felt something was off.

“Jian Xu, what are you smiling about?”

“Am I smiling?”

“Yes, when I mentioned Xiao Hen. I’ve known you for this long and I’ve rarely seen you genuinely smile. Are you so happy because you’re doing some strange experiment on Xiao Hen?”

“Where did you get that idea? I may not like Jiao-people or merfolk, but I wouldn’t be so inhumane as to experiment on their bodies.” Jian Xu explained, sounding slightly annoyed.

“So you still haven’t given me an answer.”

“I slept with her.”

The moment those three words were uttered, Song Xiu froze completely. Jian Xu bit her chopsticks, smiling as she looked at her: “However… this doesn’t mean I’ve fallen in love with her. In my eyes, she still can’t compare to humans.”

After leaving the canteen, it took Song Xiu a while to recover from the earlier conversation. Jian Xu was truly terrifying. No wonder she became an A-level researcher at such a young age; her mind was simply not the same as a normal person’s.

If she couldn’t respect or be responsible for someone, she shouldn’t have casually played with their body. Didn’t she understand this basic principle?

Song Xiu had lost her appetite. After preparing a meal for Shui Se, she took the lunch box and returned to the dormitory.

Shui Se was squatting in front of Xiao Mi’s cage, watching her play with bath sand. Seeing Song Xiu return, she immediately stood up and scurried over to greet her.

“I saw Jian Xu in the canteen just now.”

“What did she say?”

“Same as before, she didn’t say anything.” Song Xiu feared that those words would only make Shui Se angrier, so she temporarily kept them a secret.

Shui Se looked disappointed. Even with her favorite Coke-glazed chicken wings, she had lost her appetite.

Song Xiu slept soundly that night because she had to work the next day. Shui Se, however, couldn’t sleep at all. She sat on the windowsill, staring blankly at the sea, which reflected the fragmented moonlight.

“Xiao Mi, do you want to look too…”

Before she could finish her sentence, there was a clatter, and Xiao Mi somehow gnawed open the lock of the cage door and escaped.

Her short legs churned quickly, and in just a few seconds, she squeezed through the gap under the door.

Shui Se, desperate to catch the mouse, quickly opened the door and followed closely behind, afraid that if she was a moment too late, Xiao Mi would be gone. She didn’t dare shout loudly late at night: “Xiao Mi, please, stop running. I can’t catch you.”

Xiao Mi paid no attention, burying her head and running fiercely.

Shui Se despaired. She had chased her halfway across the institute and was afraid she wouldn’t be able to find her way back if she kept going. Fortunately, Xiao Mi found a dead end in front of a running elevator and stopped struggling, allowing her owner to grab her and lecture her by blowing on her ears.

“The next time you escape, I’ll flick your ear. What if you really got lost and fell into the hands of that big villain, Jian Xu?”

As soon as she finished speaking, the elevator door opened with a ding.

Shui Se was startled when she saw who it was, nearly having spoken ill of her to her face. Since they had met, she didn’t want to back down.

“Jian Xu, I want to see Xiao Hen.”

“She doesn’t want to see you.” Jian Xu used her body to block the elevator door, looking coldly at the Jiao-person in front of her.

“You’re lying. She wouldn’t want to see anyone else, but she would never not want to see me.”

“So confident. Do you want to hear it yourself?”

“What do you mean?”

“Come in, I’ll take you to the lab.”

“You…”

“Forget it if you don’t want to go.”

“I’ll go.”

But Shui Se was genuinely afraid of her. She cautiously entered the elevator with Xiao Mi. She remembered Song Xiu telling her that the red button in the elevator was for emergency calls. She held Xiao Mi with one hand and kept the other on the button until the elevator descended to the underground lab level.

The lab had two doors. The first door was solid, and the second was a glass door with a fog mode. Jian Xu entered alone and blocked Shui Se at the first door, then opened the second door. This way, Shui Se couldn’t see Xiao Hen but could hear the sounds inside.

Completely unlike what she had imagined, what she heard was Xiao Hen’s surprised laughter and various sounds of joy.

Jian Xu inside the room deliberately asked: “Do you still want to see Shui Se?”

“No, I only want to be with you.”

“Really?”

“Really!”

Shui Se was furious and wanted to push the door open, but the door was automatically locked, and she couldn’t get in without a key card.

“Xiao Hen! Don’t let her brainwash you! You’ve always wanted to see me, haven’t you?!”

Xiao Hen inside the door heard Shui Se’s voice and immediately wanted to explain, but Jian Xu covered her mouth, gesturing with her eyes that she must cooperate.

Xiao Hen shook her head, but Jian Xu ignored her and threatened in a low voice: “If you don’t want me to transfer out and leave you completely, then be obedient.”

Xiao Hen had no choice but to nod, and only then was her mouth released. She gathered her emotions and said: “Shui Se, I’m doing very well, and Jian Xu is very kind to me. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“I don’t believe it. If you were really doing well, why did you sneak over to find me a few days ago?”

“A few days ago, Jian Xu and I had a falling out, but we made up quickly. It’s late. Go back to sleep. There will definitely be a chance to see each other…”

Because of Jian Xu’s suddenly sharp gaze, Xiao Hen swallowed the words for “meeting” entirely.

Shui Se continued to ask, but there was no further movement from the other side. She realized she wouldn’t get any answers today and couldn’t meet her, so she could only leave this heartbreaking place with Xiao Mi.

The next morning, Song Xiu woke up and immediately noticed that Shui Se, who was squatting by her bed, was in a bad mood. She stroked the hair on her forehead: “Why are you suddenly unhappy?”

“Xiao Hen has been brainwashed by Jian Xu. She doesn’t even want to see me; she only wants to be with that… Jian Xu.”

“It must be the effect of plucking that scale. She’s overly dependent on Jian Xu.”

“I know, so I don’t blame her. I just feel so helpless. Even if we rescue her, she might still choose Jian Xu. I really don’t know what to do.”

Song Xiu pulled her onto the bed, hugged her, and stroked her slender waist to comfort her. This matter was indeed unusually tricky. After all, the plucked scale wouldn’t grow back. Unless Xiao Hen truly became disappointed in Jian Xu, a disappointment that surpassed her current love, there was truly no antidote.

When they arrived at the Jiao-person section, they also told Little Coco about the situation.

Little Coco raised one eyebrow, her bright eyes moving back and forth, shaking her head and suggesting: “That’s easy. Didn’t Sister Song Xiu say that only if Sister Xiao Hen is truly disappointed in that Jian Xu? Then just make her disappointed! But this requires Sister Shui Se’s cooperation.”

Little Coco had been looking forward to this day for a long time. She could make Jian Xu uncomfortable and rescue Sister Xiao Hen at the same time. What’s not to like?

As for the specific plan, it involved having Xiao Hen personally witness Jian Xu abusing Shui Se or Little Coco herself. The scene had to be shocking enough to leave a lasting trauma.

Song Xiu and Shui Se both felt a bit of a psychological burden because they fundamentally didn’t want to deceive Xiao Hen. If they did, it would be no different from what Jian Xu was doing.

Little Coco knew what they were worried about. She opened her mouth and pointed to the spot where she was injured last time: “We are not lying; it’s just a reenactment. After all, Jian Xu is genuinely rough with us.”

At the moment, there was no other option. They had to agree. However, the most difficult part was actually how to make Xiao Hen see it.

After much thought, Little Coco decided to sacrifice herself during the full moon period.

There were only two labs in the entire institute. The larger one was fully occupied by the sudden collective unconsciousness of the merfolk, as well as the other researchers.

Little Coco fell unconscious a little later. Under the Director’s anxious command, Jian Xu had to rush over from the archives, carry her alone to the underground lab, and place her on the examination table.

Xiao Hen and Little Coco had met several times. Because she was the only little one among that group of merfolk, and because of the guidance she provided last time, Xiao Hen had a deep impression of her. She just hadn’t expected their next meeting to be because the little merperson was sick and unconscious.

“Jian Xu, what’s wrong with the little merperson? Is she okay?”

“We still need a deep examination. I suspect it’s another tidal flow disorder. It’s strange, why is it so severe this time? And why didn’t it affect you and Shui Se?”

“I don’t know… She looks so pitiful, such a small one. She must be very uncomfortable.”

“Stop your pity. She’s neither your baby nor part of your clan. It’s normal for animals to get sick.”

“You’re too cold-blooded, Jian Xu.”

Jian Xu was unaccustomed to being lectured, especially by Xiao Hen, who was usually so eager to please her. She vented the rest of her anger on Little Coco, using very rough examination techniques.

Xiao Hen was uncomfortable watching and hid at the bottom of the fish tank, worriedly watching the little merperson being handled.

Because the exact cause remained unknown, the examination time was prolonged. Xiao Hen surfaced again and mustered the courage to remind her: “She’s been out of the water for too long. You need to put her in the water to recover.”

Jian Xu tossed Little Coco into the fish tank without a word.

Xiao Hen was truly starting to get angry. She didn’t mind the roughness toward herself, as both were adults, but being this way toward such a small merperson was simply too much.

Little Coco, held in Xiao Hen’s arms, secretly opened one eye. After a quick look, she quickly closed it again, thinking the plan was proceeding very smoothly and just waiting for Jian Xu to start the examination again.

Jian Xu washed her hands and sat on the sofa to wait. She was uncomfortable watching Xiao Hen holding Little Coco. The posture was too much like a young mother holding her child.

“Xi Hen, put her down. She’s unconscious. She doesn’t need that kind of comfort.”

“I won’t let go.”

“Xi Hen!”