My Marriage Partner is a Crazy Mermaid - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Requirements

Having read many fantasy and xianxia novels, Meng Ke’s mental image of a mermaid was generally a flowing long tail and a beautiful singing voice. In reality, this didn’t hold much attraction for her at the moment; her mind was completely occupied by the marriage alliance with Xie Yuhan. If the marriage proceeded smoothly, how was she going to protect herself and ensure the plot of the book didn’t happen to her?

Luo Miao was vividly describing the scale she had seen, but Meng Ke showed little interest.

After the meal, Wu Siyi and Meng Ke remained sober, while a flush of crimson appeared on Luo Miao’s cheeks and her eyes grew misty. She told stories and treated wine like a thirst-quenching beverage; it would be a miracle if she didn’t get drunk.

“Miaomiao, are you full?” Wu Siyi tugged at her hand. “That’s enough, time to go home.”

Luo Miao felt waves of dizziness hitting her. She leaned against the table to stand up, her voice dazed. “So, the sisters’ gathering ends here for today?”

Meng Ke hummed in agreement and stood up as well.

“Keke, have you really decided? Is this marriage alliance just going to happen?”

“There’s no other way for now. Miao, if you have time, can you help me check on the situation with my biological parents…”

Medical standards twenty years ago weren’t advanced, and searching for them was like looking for a needle in a haystack. It had taken the Meng family a year just to find Meng Yingxue, let alone ordinary people without status. This was a troublesome matter, and Meng Ke hadn’t wanted to speak up, but she couldn’t afford to get distracted looking for clues now, and she wasn’t familiar with Tan City.

Luo Miao didn’t find it troublesome at all; instead, she was very happy that Meng Ke felt comfortable enough to ask her for a favor at a time like this. Having drunk a bit much, she clamored that it was no problem, patting her chest as she shouted—radiating the aura of a rough-and-tumble ruffian, which was completely at odds with her image.

Wu Siyi pulled at her arm. “Enough, stop talking. You won’t even remember this tomorrow.”

“Keke, I’ll tell her again tomorrow. I know some people in the entertainment industry too; I’ll have them ask around.”

“Don’t you have filming in the second half of the year? If you’re too busy, don’t worry about it. It’s not an urgent matter.”

“Understood. You’re still being polite with us. I’ll take her home.”

Wu Siyi had an assistant and a driver, so sending Luo Miao back would be safer. Meng Ke felt relieved and bid them both goodbye.

Before heading home, Meng Ke stopped at the courier point at the entrance of her residential complex to pick up two packages. They contained four professional textbooks. She had been in Tan City for a while now, and her professional skills were getting a bit rusty from disuse.

Her specialty was using scientific methods to rescue endangered flora and fauna. she had always felt her profession was meaningful and didn’t want to let it go to waste.

Meng Ke pulled out a yoga mat and sat on it to unbox the packages. After checking that the books were intact, she flipped through them casually and realized there was an extra one. Inside was a Q-style bookmark with a simple sketch of a mermaid and the word “Gift.” Meng Ke raised an eyebrow; it was a very cute merchant.

Curiosity piqued, Meng Ke wanted to see what the gift was about.

The cover featured a very surreal oil painting with colors bled out into a deep blue expanse—it was hard to tell if it was the night sky or the ocean. The pages felt smooth; the quality of this gift was surprisingly refined.

As a frequent reader, Meng Ke had a high reading speed and scanned through a dozen pages in a few minutes. The content consisted of unscientific and purely anecdotal stories about mermaids. The tales resembled fairy tales rendered with exaggerated techniques. Since Luo Miao had been talking about mermaids constantly these past few days, Meng Ke found herself somewhat interested in reading it.

After washing up, Meng Ke held the book as bedtime reading and eventually drifted off. In her dream, she saw a blue mermaid with flowing blue curls and scales that shimmered with fine, sparkling light. Meng Ke wanted to reach out and touch the scales, but her consciousness was suddenly jolted awake by a ringing phone.

Her temper flared immediately. She reached out for the phone and hit answer. A split second before connecting, Meng Ke thought to herself: unless someone’s ancestral grave has been dug up, she was going to send this person into one herself.

“Meng Ke, Xie Yuhan is here. She specifically asked to see you.”

Hearing that name, Meng Ke’s sleepiness vanished instantly. She sat bolt upright. “What?”

“Don’t ask so many questions, just hurry up.”

Ruan Yalan’s voice was trembling, and she didn’t even want to say anything extra. Meng Ke sensed that things might be a bit troublesome.

“Give me ten minutes.”

Meng Ke got up, did a quick wash, grabbed her coat, and ran out.

Twenty minutes later, Meng Ke stood once again before the Meng family’s front door. Two rows of black-clad bodyguards stood like a dark cloud on either side of the entrance. As she approached, their gazes didn’t waver for a second. With this kind of posturing, it was no wonder Ruan Yalan was so scared she couldn’t speak straight.

Auntie Chen led her inside, her expression also looking quite grim.

In the first-floor living room, Xie Yuhan had switched back to her somewhat luxurious wheelchair. From Meng Ke’s angle, she could see a computer mounted to the back of the chair.

There was no one else in the entire living room. Ruan Yalan and Meng Yingxue were standing sneakily by the kitchen door in the corner. Even Meng Chengliang, the head of the Meng household, wasn’t standing opposite Xie Yuhan; he was positioned in a corner of the room.

Disregarding her image, Meng Ke wiped the sweat from her forehead and sat down boldly opposite Xie Yuhan, even helping herself to the freshly brewed high-quality tea sitting in front of the other woman.

Ruan Yalan and Meng Yingxue stood there watching like guilty dogs. Seeing Meng Ke’s actions, their breath hitched in terror—was she trying to lose her life?

It was Friday, and Meng Chengliang had returned from a business trip. Ruan Yalan had intended to discuss having Meng Ke act as the substitute bride with him, but before she could open her mouth, Xie Yuhan had arrived.

The Meng family had status in Tan City, but this was the first time Ruan Yalan had seen such a “bandit-style” visit. Intending to become in-laws, she didn’t dare be negligent and forced a standard smile. “Miss Xie, why have you come? I…”

“Don’t talk to me. Stay away from me.” Xie Yuhan pushed her wheelchair into the house. “Have Meng Ke come out to see me.”

Hearing that name made Ruan Yalan’s headache. “I’m sorry, Miss Xie, she isn’t here right now.”

“Not here?” Xie Yuhan’s tone rose, sounding both suspicious and incredulous. “Then where did you take her after the welcome banquet? If I recall correctly, didn’t you say at the party that you were taking her back to the old residence to live? Isn’t this the old residence? Have I gone to the wrong place?”

Xie Yuhan’s voice wasn’t loud, but the string of questions and her commanding aura as someone in power terrified Ruan Yalan into silence. She had no way to explain why Meng Ke wasn’t there. Facing Xie Yuhan, her brain couldn’t function; Ruan Yalan didn’t dare try to lie her way out of it.

“I’ll go call her.”

The commotion alerted Meng Chengliang, who had just returned to his study. He threw on a coat and hurried downstairs. Seeing the person in charge of the Xie family, his legs nearly gave out; he only managed to move down by bracing himself against the staircase railing.

“Miss Xie, why have you come? If there’s anything you need, just say the word and I can come to you anytime.”

Meng Chengliang disliked Xie Yuhan’s way of doing things, but everyone had heard of her fearsome reputation. No one dared to lightly test their luck by crossing the Xie family.

“You stay away from me, too.”

Xie Yuhan spoke airily.

Meng Chengliang scurried to one side, looking at Ruan Yalan across the room. Ruan Yalan explained the situation to him via phone. Meng Chengliang had been on a business trip in Qingcheng for the past half-month; if he had known Ruan Yalan was pulling these schemes, he never would have agreed. Ruan Yalan still hadn’t truly walked through the business circles and didn’t understand Xie Yuhan’s current power and status. How could the Xie family be something they could plot against? Since things had reached this point, they could only see what Xie Yuhan wanted.

Meng Ke drank a cup of tea to moisten her throat and looked around. The living room felt like a scene from a slaughterhouse; the air pressure was so low they didn’t even need air conditioning. Looking at Xie Yuhan’s authoritative face, Meng Ke didn’t feel intimidated at all.

“Miss Xie, what did you call me here for?”

“To discuss the marriage alliance.”

“Do I have the right to choose?”

Xie Yuhan smiled, asking a question she already knew the answer to: “You do. I gave you a choice that day.”

Meng Ke gave a light laugh, remembering. Voluntarily willing or passively willing?

Xie Yuhan saw her expression and knew she remembered. “Have you chosen?”

“Passively willing.”

Meng Ke answered without hesitation. From any perspective, it didn’t seem like she was voluntarily willing. The conversation between the two sounded like an encrypted exchange; no one around them understood a word.

Turning to the other three people, Xie Yuhan frowned and let out a soft sigh. “You three, come here.”

Meng Chengliang walked over with the air of a man facing execution. Ruan Yalan saw him go and dragged Meng Yingxue along too. However, the three of them seemed to have suddenly been fitted with GPS; they knew their positions perfectly and didn’t dare sit down.

“This time, I won’t hold your behind-the-scenes actions against you. Whatever your reasons or goals for this marriage, I don’t want to care, and I’m too lazy to care.” Because she had solved her physical issue, Xie Yuhan was in a fairly good mood. “Since the superficial work is done, let’s make the inner work passable as well.”

“We won’t be holding a wedding ceremony or anything like that. I find it too troublesome.” At the thought of places where so many people gathered, Xie Yuhan frowned in disgust.

“But whatever her fanfare is, whatever her dowry is, Meng Ke wants exactly the same. Otherwise, I’ll take it myself,” Xie Yuhan said, pointing at Meng Yingxue.

Meng Ke was still holding the teacup. The warm tea sent heat through her fingers to her whole body. She had thought Xie Yuhan was here to cause trouble today; she never expected her to drop a line like that. From childhood to adulthood, she hadn’t received much familial love as the “true daughter,” and after becoming the “fake daughter,” she was cursed at and bullied. No one had ever protected her before. Although she didn’t know Xie Yuhan’s specific goal, her heart felt warm.

“What?!”

Meng Yingxue shouted in shock. Who was Meng Ke, and what was her status? How could her dowry be mentioned in the same breath as hers? Their family had no other children; everything in the future was supposed to be Meng Yingxue’s. Ruan Yalan had said that when she married in the future, the entire Meng family would be her dowry.

“Why? From your tone, it sounds like the second Miss Meng is unwilling?” Xie Yuhan countered. “You were calling her ‘Sister, Sister’ so sweetly yesterday. What’s wrong today?”

Meng Yingxue wasn’t like Ruan Yalan or Meng Chengliang; she had been pampered to the point of arrogance. Even Ruan Yalan pulling at her frantically from below couldn’t stop her mouth.

“No, I mean my sister doesn’t care about those things.”

“I care.”

Meng Ke interjected immediately. Turning down money—was she crazy?

Meng Yingxue gritted her teeth and glared at Meng Ke. Her eyes seemed to say: You want something? You don’t deserve it.

“Then should we switch and have the second Miss Meng marry instead?”

“That’s not impossible.”

Meng Yingxue was going for broke; she simply didn’t want Meng Ke to have a good life. If she got a dowry, Meng Ke would get a dowry. Even just to save face, the Meng family would have to give quite a lot, and she wasn’t willing.

Xie Yuhan snorted coldly. “That won’t do. Not just any random cat or dog can marry me.”

Random cat or dog?!

In all her years, Meng Yingxue had never met anyone who dared to describe her like that.

Meng Ke watched the drama from the side. Seeing Meng Yingxue’s neck flush thick with rage, she wanted to laugh but forced herself to hold it in. Ruan Yalan hurried to pull the girl behind her, completely shielding Meng Yingxue’s face. Meng Yingxue cried out unwillingly, “Mom!”

Ruan Yalan turned and snapped at her, “Shut your mouth.”

She then turned back to Xie Yuhan. “Regardless of what Miss Xie thinks, the reason I didn’t want to marry Yingxue to you was exactly this. I’ve spoiled this child; I didn’t dare let her disturb you.”

Xie Yuhan didn’t care to probe how much truth was in Ruan Yalan’s words.

“Fine. This is my only requirement. I ask the Meng family to proceed as quickly as possible.” Xie Yuhan waved her hand. “The company has business.”

Before leaving, Xie Yuhan handed Meng Ke a business card. “Move here tomorrow.”