The Little Mermaid and the Merman Hooked Up - Chapter 8

“The first rule of hunting: camouflage.”

On the ocean floor, Deng Xi sprawled across a pile of rocks, whispering to the silver-tailed merman beside him. “You have to blend in with the sea. That way, those stupid fish won’t notice us. When they swim over, we can gobble them up in one bite!”

Si Jisheng rested his tail on the rocks, standing beside Deng Xi and quietly watching his “camouflage”—which was essentially trying to shove himself into a crevice. He looked at Deng Xi’s golden hair, which was brilliant even in the dim light of the seabed, and his blue tail, which was far too long to be ignored—no, even a fish wouldn’t miss it.

For a rare moment, he fell into silence, not knowing what to do.

Deng Xi was still waving his hand. “Quick, lie down with me!”

The blue mermaid blinked, looking at him expectantly and with great enthusiasm. Si Jisheng bit his lip and shook his head. He didn’t believe that this was a viable way to catch fish.

Deng Xi’s eyes immediately dimmed. The little mermaid looked disappointed for a second, then his eyelids crinkled as he said dismissively, “But the little mute is always beside me. If you don’t camouflage, you’ll scare all the fish away.”

Si Jisheng nodded, looked around, and swam over to a nearby patch of withered coral. The silver-grey color of the dead reef allowed his silver tail to blend in perfectly.

In terms of camouflage alone, he had already surpassed his “teacher.”

Hiding in the coral, Si Jisheng watched as the unmistakably obvious Deng Xi blinked blankly on the rocks, taking a good while to even find where he was.

His stomach burned with a clamoring hunger. Yet, Si Jisheng truly stayed with Deng Xi from the afternoon until sunset.

Fish were clearly scarce in this area, especially since Deng Xi had chosen a spot where there was nothing for a school of fish to eat. They waited until now, only to see a single palm-sized fish.

The golden hair on the rocks moved slightly. Si Jisheng’s gaze sharpened; he wanted to see the true strength of this  (Jiao-man).

Under the silver merman’s watch…

The golden-haired, blue-tailed little mermaid suddenly flicked his tail and lunged forward—only to slam face-first into the rocks.

Si Jisheng’s analytical gaze froze.

Deng Xi turned his head, a lively, flapping fish clamped in his mouth. With eyes full of joy, he waved toward the withered coral. This fish had been a bit stupid—or rather, Deng Xi had been very lucky. He had caught it in one bite with only a single collision. He bit the fish to death, held it in his hand, and swam cheerfully toward where the silver tail was.

When he reached Si Jisheng, Deng Xi didn’t say a word, just looked at him expectantly.

Si Jisheng gave a tentative clap.

Having received his praise, Deng Xi shoved the fish into Si Jisheng’s hands. “Hurry and eat. Catching fish is just like this. Simple, right?”

Si Jisheng paused for a long while before nodding.

Deng Xi took the silver merman to the surface to eat.

The boundless ocean seemed to merge with the horizon. The orange-red sunset was slowly swallowed by the sea, and the sky was filled with breathtaking clouds.

Si Jisheng looked at Deng Xi, who was lying on a rock watching the sunset, appearing entirely carefree.

The blue mermaid’s world seemed very simple. He would sleep until he woke naturally. When he was about to wake up, he’d have many small movements—unconsciously flicking his tail fin to stir the water, rubbing his soft cheek against the seaweed. He’d open his eyes slowly and take a long time to fully wake before telling himself he needed to go find food.

Sometimes he’d come back quickly, sometimes very slowly.

When bored in the nest, he’d look at his collection of seashells in the corner one by one, a small dimple appearing at the corner of his mouth as he described how beautiful each shell was and how he had brought them home.

And he would swim to the surface like this, feeling the salty sea breeze, resting his chin on his hands as he watched the sun slowly set. Once it was dark, he’d swim back to the nest, curl up on the seaweed, and fall dizzily asleep.

The next day, he’d wake to another unremarkable but peaceful day. He didn’t seem at all like a member of the bloody and bellicose Jiao-man race.

A rare hint of confusion appeared in Si Jisheng’s eyes. Under the amber sunlight, he noticed a fact he hadn’t seen over the past few days.

Deng Xi’s originally fair body was covered in over a dozen green and purple bruises. Some spots even had internal bleeding that had turned completely black. The freshest injury was on his shoulder—a deep red mark where the skin had been broken, likely from slamming into the rocks while catching the fish just now.

Was it really as “easy and simple” as he claimed? Si Jisheng’s eyes darkened.

But as a Jiao-man, how could he be frail to this extent? Si Jisheng had held great power in the Empire for years and had seen countless dark secrets. He lowered his eyes slightly, concealing the doubt within.

By the next day, Si Jisheng’s tail could finally swim.

Deng Xi had slept in the seashell last night. The little mute had slept on the seaweed mound where Deng Xi used to sleep.

Waking up dizzily, Deng Xi looked at the silver tail on the seaweed; the little mute wasn’t awake yet. He swam out quietly, preparing to hunt.

After Deng Xi swam out of the nest, the originally closed eyes of Si Jisheng slowly opened. He sat quietly in the dim nest for a while, thinking of the bruises all over Deng Xi’s body, a flash of conflict appearing in his eyes.

Outside the nest, Deng Xi swam forward with full motivation. Today’s goal was two fish, because the little mute had a bit of a large appetite.

The slow-witted little mermaid didn’t notice he had a tailer. Si Jisheng suppressed his aura, his translucent silver ear-fins vibrating so subtly that they were undetectable. The movement of his nearly two-meter-long silver tail was extremely light as he followed Deng Xi all the way to where they had fished yesterday.

He saw Deng Xi hesitate for a long time before choosing a spot he thought fish would pass through, hiding himself among the rocks as he had yesterday.

One hour, two hours…

He saw Deng Xi occasionally unable to stop himself from dozing off, only to force his eyes open and shake his head. To drive away the sleepiness, he’d blow bubbles to play with, his eyes crinkling as he poked them one by one with his fingertips.

So distracted while hunting.

Si Jisheng leaned against the withered coral from yesterday, resting his forehead on his hand as he watched.

Finally, a fish appeared. The blue mermaid moved in an instant, reaching out to pounce—he missed. He snapped with his mouth—he missed.

A first time, a second, a third… countless times. Until he had bruised himself all over.

Si Jisheng watched expressionlessly for a long time. When he saw Deng Xi dejectedly lower his eyelids and use his tongue to lick a small cut on his arm, the merman turned and swam away noiselessly.

This was the first time Deng Xi hadn’t caught a fish. Instead, he had made a mess of himself, swimming back to the nest dejectedly clutching a pile of seaweed.

He was too useless. To be played by a fish for so long and not be able to catch it no matter what.

Deng Xi thought of the little mute waiting for him at home, and the silver tail’s broken tailbone and startling wounds. There wasn’t a single patch of “good meat.” He couldn’t help but rub his eyes and sniffle.

He was the one who made the deal with the little mute first; he hadn’t expected that the one to break it wouldn’t be the fierce-looking silver tail, but himself.

The feeling of living with a kinsman was wonderful; every word he said was listened to and responded to, every emotion could be shared, and he had company in everything he did. In the dark, cold nest, Deng Xi no longer felt lonely.

He wanted to heal the little mute’s wounds and live together with his kinsman in the dangerous ocean, depending on each other for life. He wanted the healed little mute to help him catch many, many fish every day.

Deng Xi didn’t want to break the deal.

The nest was right before him, but Deng Xi hovered at a distance, looking back at the waters he had come from, thinking exhaustedly: If I turn back now and try a little longer, would I be in time?

But it was already very, very late. The little mute must have waited a long time, having not eaten all day; he must be looking forward to him coming home early.

Deng Xi steeled himself and swam slowly toward the entrance. As he got closer, he looked down gloomily at the coral reefs on the seabed.

It was a patch of red coral, very beautiful. Back then, Deng Xi had searched for a long, long time before choosing this spot to settle in the cave behind this reef.

In that continuous stretch of red, even a bit of green would be exceptionally obvious. Deng Xi’s eyes went wide with disbelief as he stared at a pile of green seaweed. He rubbed his eyes, then rubbed them again; confirming it wasn’t a hallucination, he immediately checked the surroundings. Seeing no other creatures, he rushed toward that obvious patch of green.

He didn’t know where this green seaweed came from, but looking at the creatures tangled within it that couldn’t escape, Deng Xi’s eyes lit up.

It was food!

Besides two red-tailed fish, there were also two big crabs—his absolute favorite! Because he was afraid of a crab’s large pincers, Deng Xi rarely had the chance to eat them. He kept digging; besides the crabs and fish, there were several edible shellfish and even an octopus!

A bountiful harvest!

Deng Xi threw away the seaweed he had picked today and gathered everything into his arms. His dejected expression turned into a beaming smile as he swam happily into the nest.

“Little mute! Look quickly!”

“These, and these, I caught them all!”