Becoming the Keeper of an Alluring Merfolk - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: How Is It? Do You Like It?

Half an hour later, Shui Se was draped over Song Xiu’s shoulder, panting with exhaustion. Despite the relatively cool weather, a thin layer of sweat covered them both.

“How is it? Do you like it?” Song Xiu freed a hand to gently stroke Shui Se’s now-soft waist, asking.

Shui Se buried her head deeper, too embarrassed to answer. Her rapidly opening and closing ear fins betrayed her lack of composure.

Song Xiu nudged the tip of her ear fin with her nose: “No answer means you secretly liked it. Good girl, I’ll carry you to the bath.”

After bathing, Shui Se let out a quiet sneeze. Song Xiu knew it was time to update her wife’s wardrobe; she couldn’t wear dresses all year round, could she?

Even though Shui Se didn’t particularly like thick coats or long pants, Song Xiu bought them for her. Of course, she also bought long dresses for autumn and winter, selecting the fabrics very carefully. They were mostly pure cotton and skin-friendly, with almost no synthetic fibers, as her wife’s skin was very sensitive.

Perhaps due to the earlier events, Shui Se was exceptionally well-behaved all night. Usually, she would fuss about looking at her phone before bed, or use the excuse of feeding Xiao Mi to make countless trips, anything to avoid sleeping early.

Today, her entire demeanor was subdued. She clung to Song Xiu’s arm all night, nestled softly against her, and quickly drifted off to sleep.

Seeing her wife like this, Song Xiu wasn’t as gloomy about going to work.

However, the merfolk were screaming and violently shaking their nets, demanding to eat live fish. Song Xiu had no choice but to defrost several buckets of fish from the cold storage before rushing to the lab to find Chen Mengwei, discussing whether they should go out to sea together.

Chen Mengwei was still an intern, and with surface observation paused, she didn’t have much to do all day. She was certainly willing to go out to sea; she genuinely didn’t want Xiao Hen to suffer because of something as absurd as a lack of fresh fish.

After all, her first task at the institute was to help look after Xiao Hen. Her icy blue long hair and fish tail were the spitting image of the Jiao-people she had often encountered in her childhood, making it hard for her not to feel sympathy.

“If it’s just the two of us, we’re short-handed. The longer the time stretches, the greater the risk of getting lost in the sea. We need at least one more person,” Chen Mengwei stated, almost explicitly.

“Okay, I’ll go talk to Jian Xu right now.” Song Xiu knew exactly what Chen Mengwei meant. Since the two of them were always clashing and sparking, she would have to be the one to persuade Jian Xu.

Jian Xu, who had little to do in the archives all day, spent most of her time in her dormitory. Xiao Hen’s condition was genuinely poor. She had tried every possible method, administering constant immune-boosting agents and medicated baths.

But none of it was as effective as a few meals of fresh fish.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go out and catch the fish herself. It was that she didn’t want to expose her weakness. If she wasn’t as good as Chen Mengwei, or even worse than the barely-swimming Song Xiu, she wouldn’t know where to put her face.

So, she simply sat by the fish tank, watching Xiao Hen, who, due to her weakness, spent most of her time closing her eyes to rest with a slight frown.

“Xi Hen, I’m very selfish, aren’t I?”

“Knock, knock, knock!” Before she could finish her sentence, a sudden knock on the door startled her.

“Who is it?”

“Song Xiu. Want to go out to sea together?”

Jian Xu opened the door with a heavy step: “I need to keep an eye on Xiao Hen at all times. I can’t leave.”

“Then I won’t take Shui Se or Little Coco. I’ll have them watch Xiao Hen, and you come with me.”

“You? Are you sure it’s not ‘you all’?”

Song Xiu smiled slightly, sensing the opportunity: “Yes, just me. Chen Mengwei has an appointment.”

Jian Xu breathed a sigh of relief: “Alright, I can go with you. You can watch and drag the net on the boat. I’ll dive by myself.”

“The way you talk, you’re quite proficient at diving!?”

“Stop the nonsense. If you keep talking, I won’t go.”

Song Xiu didn’t dare to delay any further. She struck while the iron was hot, taking Jian Xu to change into a diving suit and heading off the island.

This time, they switched to a slightly larger speedboat. Just as Jian Xu wondered why they needed such a large boat for two people, Chen Mengwei got on the boat a moment later.

And she sat in the driver’s seat that Song Xiu had deliberately vacated.

“Song Xiu! You dared to lie to me!”

“Huh? What did you say? The waves are too strong, I can’t hear you? Start the boat, Mengwei!”

Jian Xu’s dirty looks and curses were completely drowned out by the howling wind.

This time, Song Xiu, who wasn’t wearing a diving suit but only a life jacket, stayed on the speedboat to watch. If fog appeared or if anything strange was observed, she could quickly alert Jian Xu and Chen Mengwei, who were diving.

Perhaps neither wanted to lose. This dive lasted the same amount of time as the last one, but the haul was several times larger.

Combined with the fish in the drag net, the harvest was plentiful, enough to feed the Jiao-person section for three days if portioned correctly.

The only issue was that Jian Xu was nearly sick from exhaustion. Having not dived for a long time, she couldn’t withstand the water pressure. Even so, she didn’t forget to ask Song Xiu whose haul was greater.

This put Song Xiu on the spot. To keep this temperamental help, and while Chen Mengwei wasn’t looking, she could only say Jian Xu’s was larger. In truth, Chen Mengwei’s quality was slightly better, but the quantity didn’t look drastically different to the naked eye.

Jian Xu, having received the false answer, finally felt at ease. The discomfort caused by her nausea immediately vanished.

After returning to the institute, Song Xiu initially wanted to keep the fish, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers in the Jiao-person pool, but she was afraid Little Coco might release the merfolk, who would devour everything overnight. Seeing this, Jian Xu unexpectedly offered the underground laboratory, helping her and Chen Mengwei roughly sort the fish with isolation nets and place them in the tank.

It wasn’t until Chen Mengwei left that Jian Xu dared to ask Song Xiu how best to feed Xiao Hen. If she followed her old habits, it definitely wouldn’t work, as she had indeed done a poor job of caring for Xiao Hen.

Song Xiu was prepared: “Xiao Hen can’t eat too much right now; it will put a burden on her body. Once in the morning and once in the evening is enough. For breakfast, one sea fish, gutted and cut into pieces, followed by one sea urchin and one sea cucumber each. At noon, you can give her a few shellfish or some seaweed as a snack. For dinner, half a sea fish cut into pieces, and two sea urchins.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

“Hahaha, you certainly should thank me. If it weren’t for my Shui Se, I wouldn’t bother with you.” Song Xiu said the truth in a half-joking manner.

Jian Xu’s lips twitched. For the first time, she didn’t retort and returned to her dormitory with Xiao Hen’s dinner.

Xiao Hen had been waiting for her for a long time. Shui Se, who was watching over her, lost her smile abruptly when she saw Jian Xu return. After touching foreheads with Xiao Hen to say goodbye, she walked straight out as if Jian Xu wasn’t there.

“Jian Xu, don’t be mad at Shui Se.”

“Why would I care about her? I only care about you right now. I brought you dinner. Do you want to eat now?”

“Yes.” Xiao Hen struggled to sit up from the bathtub. Jian Xu quickly put down the things, walked over, and crouched down, helping her sit up and lean against the side of the tub.

“Why don’t you give it to me?”

“Wait a moment. I need to prepare it for you.”

“Prepare it?” Xiao Hen clearly didn’t understand, staring at her with wide, innocent eyes.

Jian Xu avoided her gaze and got up to find the scissors: “Just like Song Xiu does.”

Cutting the fish was fine, but opening the sea urchins was a bit troublesome. Sea urchin shells were truly spiky. Even though she wore thick rubber gloves, one or two spines still pierced her fingers. Afraid Xiao Hen would notice, she only tried to deal with them herself, feeling a little distressed, after Xiao Hen had finished eating.

“Did they prick you? Let me help.” Xiao Hen, having eaten the fish, had regained some strength. She transformed her legs, climbed out of the bathtub, and slowly approached Jian Xu, who was sitting on the bed with her back to her, trying to remove the spines.

“No, they didn’t. I just have some hangnails and was trimming them with the nail clippers.”

“Don’t lie. You were clearly pricked.”

Xiao Hen sat beside Jian Xu, took her hand, and brought it to her lips: “It might hurt a little. Bear with it.”

Jian Xu’s expression was already somewhat hazy: “I’m not afraid of pain.”

“Don’t lie. You look like you’re the most afraid of pain, even more delicate than Little Coco.”

“Why are you so… Hiss… obsessed with Little Coco?”

“Because she’s very endearing. She’s clear about right and wrong. If you’re kind to her, she’ll be kind to you. She might be mischievous, but her innocence is true.”

Xiao Hen took Jian Xu’s finger into her mouth, using her sharp teeth to squeeze the wound. It took a while to get the spine out and spit it away.

“Did it prick your tongue?”

“It did.” Xiao Hen stuck out the tip of her tongue, and indeed there was a bead of bright red blood.

“I’ll get you medicine to stop the bleeding!”

“I’m tricking you. That’s your blood. I used to help Shui Se remove spines like this all the time. How could I prick myself?”

“Help Shui Se? You’re not allowed to anymore. No one, absolutely no one. You can only do this for me, understood?”

“But Shui Se… Mmm…” Before Xiao Hen could finish her sentence, Jian Xu grabbed her chin and sealed her lips.