The Love-Hate and Grudges Between Me and the Mermaid - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Bu Yan fell asleep while lost in thought.

When she woke up the next day and saw Yi An beside her, an inexplicable wave of happiness surged through her heart.

Initially, Bu Yan thought the girl was simply pale, but she hadn’t realized she was so fair she practically glowed. Like fresh snow, her delicate skin revealed the faint tracings of blue veins beneath, the flowing blood tinting her skin with a layer of soft pink.

The morning sun filtered through the curtains, illuminating the small figure on the bed. A stray glance in the peripheral light was enough to make one’s heart skip a beat.

Is this what it feels like to have a wife?

Bu Yan held Yi An in her arms, looking down to see her huddled close, her hands clutching the front of Bu Yan’s clothes as if she lacked a sense of security. Bu Yan’s heart melted into a puddle.

Is this what it feels like to sleep while cuddling your wife?

This is way too much happiness!

They had both showered last night. Bu Yan always bought gardenia-scented body wash and shampoo, so the bed was now filled with that fragrance. When she lowered her head toward her wife, she could even catch a faint scent of sea salt.

Too happy. Bu Yan hugged her wife and settled back in for a peaceful morning nap.

Perhaps because she now had a wife, Bu Yan slept exceptionally soundly and even had a beautiful dream. In the dream, she was on a small boat, enjoying a feast and sunbathing with her wife. Life couldn’t be more pleasant.

In the dream, Bu Yan laughed heartily; in reality, Bu Yan grinned foolishly and then she woke Yi An up.

In her half-asleep state, Yi An felt a cool liquid on her face, sliding down like a snake. She reached out to touch it; it was somewhat viscous. Getting up to look closer, she realized it was drool.

Yi An: “…”

“Sister, get up,” she suppressed her anger, maintaining her sweet and obedient disguise as she gently nudged the person in front of her. “The sun is about to burn your butt.”

No response. Instead, the person slept even more soundly.

Seeing this, Yi An didn’t bother calling out again. She sat on the bed in a daze for a while, then got up.

[Human nature is inherently evil, hypocritical, and selfish.]

She seemed to have amnesia. She had woken up on a beach remembering nothing, with only a marriage contract in her hand. A voice had told her: If you want to survive in the human world, you must marry someone named “Bu Yan.”

And learn to disguise yourself.

[Humans love anything that is well-behaved and obedient. Beyond that, they often possess a heart of pity. The more pitiful and “good” you act, the more affection you arouse in them, and the easier it is to survive here.]

These words seemed embedded deep in her mind. Ever since she stood up from that pitch-black beach and headed toward the human world of reinforced concrete, they had been playing on a loop in her head.

Yesterday, she had played the “pitiful card” to win Bu Yan’s sympathy and successfully married her, presumably gaining some affection.

But then she had blown up the kitchen while cooking. Although Bu Yan hadn’t explicitly shown it, Yi An felt she must be angry hence the retaliatory drool on her face this morning.

She wanted to kill, but she couldn’t. She wanted to retaliate, but she wasn’t allowed to.

She still had to rely on Bu Yan to stay alive.

She had to find a way to make amends before Bu Yan woke up.

Yi An tiptoed out of the room, looked around, and fell into confusion. What should she do to coax Bu Yan and make her happy?

She paced around the room until her gaze landed on a book: 101 Ways to Coax Your Wife.

Wife equals partner equals marriage.

Yi An opened the book with hope, then saw the word “Flirtation/Kink.”

Flirtation equals seduction equals mating.

Yi An’s face turned bright red. She looked at the cover and then back at the words in disbelief. Coaxing equals mating?

With the mindset that she would die if she didn’t learn, Yi An forced herself to open the book only to be blindsided by numerous “18+” (NSFW) illustrations.

Yi An: “…” Is this book actually useful?

The book claimed the most useful, simplest, and most effective method was “Uniform Temptation,” listing several scenarios like Teacher vs. Student, Doctor vs. Patient, etc.

Looking at the increasingly explicit language, Yi An’s heart rate accelerated and her body felt hot. Enduring the urge to stop, she flipped to the last page and then rushed into the bathroom to take a cold shower.

Are humans all this open? she thought with lingering fear as she got dressed. The book even mentioned that most people liked the feeling of being imprisoned or controlled…

This was completely different from what the voice in her head said!

Yi An was deep in thought…

Bu Yan still hadn’t woken up. Yi An sat on the sofa to calm down for a while and decided to help Bu Yan clean the house.

While looking for Bu Yan previously, she had accidentally wandered into many people’s homes. Their houses weren’t much different, but there was one small distinction with Bu Yan’s:

Bu Yan’s house was very clean, including the doorway.

Everyone else’s house was filthy inside and out, with trash piled everywhere and bugs crawling around. But Bu Yan was different; it was so clean here she was almost reluctant to wear shoes.

Yi An got to work. She grabbed a broom and dustpan and started cleaning. Although it was her first time and she wasn’t very skilled, she slowly got the hang of it.

Starting from the living room, she swept through the hallway and into each room. After sweeping, she mopped everything once. By the time she finished, it was around 11:00 AM.

Bu Yan showed no signs of waking up.

Yi An pushed open the bedroom door, peeked inside cautiously, and called out in a soft voice, “Sister, it’s time to get up.”

Still no response.

Yi An sighed softly and closed the door in disappointment.

The sun was lovely today. Yi An sat on the sofa sunbathing for a while, only to accidentally discover another book: 101 Ways to Maintain Your Wife’s Body.

The first rule: Abstinence.

Yi An read it carefully and found that the viewpoints here were the exact opposite of 101 Ways to Coax Your Wife. They were two total extremes. The former told her to stay away from Bu Yan, while the latter told her to seduce her and be intimate.

After finishing that book and re-reading the other one, Yi An decisively made a plan: one day of seduction, one day of distance. Hot and cold, alternating back and forth!

I really am a genius. As expected of a qualified wife, won’t I have Bu Yan completely enchanted?

So, which attitude should she use today?

Yi An picked up a pair of scissors and ruthlessly cut her skirt short, tore the collar open to reveal a large patch of fair skin, and following the pictures in the book trimmed the thumb-width shoulder straps into thin strings.

Better start by acting “good” to coax her, Yi An thought expressionlessly. She had upset her wife yesterday, so today she should coax her with “seductive temptation.” Tomorrow, she would switch to being cold.

“Sister,” Yi An followed the book’s instructions strictly. She confidently held her head high, crawled onto the bed barefoot, burrowed into the blanket and into her wife’s arms. While her wife was in a dazed, half-asleep state, Yi An pulled her wife’s hand inside her dress, guiding her to touch her.

“Time to get up.” At the same time, she kissed her wife, lightly nipping her lip to leave an ambiguous mark on her.

Bu Yan was dreaming that she was secretly touching her wife like a pervert while she slept, only to be caught and scolded.

But the moment she opened her eyes, she realized she actually was touching her wife. Her soul nearly left her body in fright. She immediately snatched her hand back, hid it behind her back, and explained panickily: “Yi An, listen to me, I didn’t do it on purpose…”

She wasn’t the original owner; she was just a fake with zero memories of Yi An. Touching a girl she’d only known for two days, how was that different from being a creep?

They had slept peacefully last night without doing anything. How did it come to this in the blink of an eye?

Bu Yan couldn’t bear a guilty conscience.

However, in Yi An’s eyes, this reaction meant her attempt at “coaxing” had failed. She was being detested.

Humans love the new and loathe the old. I will be abandoned soon, and then I will die.

Yi An trembled all over, breaking into a cold sweat. She feared death; she wanted to survive in the human world.

“Sister, y-you… touch me… don’t leave, okay? Don’t throw me away…” Seeing Bu Yan’s struggle weaken, Yi An increased her strength. Her slender fingers gripped Bu Yan tightly, forcing her hand toward her most private areas.

Her eyes were red, yet not a single tear fell.

“Sigh.”

She heard Bu Yan let out a heavy sigh, a sense of disappointment erupting in the air. “Let go.”

Her tone was flat, laced with a cold sharpness.

“I…” Yi An opened her mouth. Out of cowardice, she let go, but her eyes remained stubbornly fixed on Bu Yan.

Bu Yan frowned deeply, scanned Yi An from head to toe, then pulled the quilt over to wrap her tightly. She asked in a low voice, “Why do you say I’ll throw you away?”

As she spoke, she was also thinking: Why does Yi An think this? Is it because she hadn’t given her enough security, or was it a psychological shadow from her family disaster?

Seeing that Yi An didn’t speak and only stared at her with innocent eyes, Bu Yan had to reach out and pat her head to comfort her. “Rest assured, I won’t throw you away.”

This was the wife of the original body’s owner. Since she had taken the body, she had to fulfill the original owner’s responsibilities.

“We are married. We will be together forever. We won’t be separated unless by death.”

“But…” Bu Yan’s words were fighting with the concepts in her head. Yi An’s thoughts were in a muddle. In a blur, she blurted out all her worries, including but not limited to the matter of Bu Yan’s drool dripping on her face. At the end, she added weakly: “Are you really not taking revenge on me for last night?”

Bu Yan’s face was lined with frustration. “No.”

“Then you…” Still dripped drool on my face.

Yi An didn’t dare finish the sentence because she saw Bu Yan’s face turn dark, almost green.

Okay, this time she was certain: she was truly angry.

“I was wrong,” Yi An apologized instantly.

“It’s fine,” fearing she’d give the girl more trauma, Bu Yan grit her teeth and endured it. “It’s my problem.”

It’s all because of that stupid dream!

Actually, she couldn’t quite tell what she felt for Yi An. She said she was taking care of the original owner’s wife, but for some reason, she always found herself subconsciously projecting herself into the role. Just like just now.

But Yan temporarily attributed this to the original owner’s own emotions, the emotions of this body.

“Have you eaten?” She grabbed her phone to check the time; it was already past noon. She changed the subject.

Yi An shook her head. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

Bu Yan’s anger vanished instantly. Looking at such an obedient and cute wife, she couldn’t resist lightly pinching Yi An’s slightly chubby cheek. “Hard work. Today was my fault. To make it up to you, shall we go out to eat?”

Say what you will, the environment in this world was terrible, but there was plenty of delicious food, and the hygiene in restaurants was excellent.

Bu Yan had to give credit where it was due. You couldn’t do much else outside, but you could definitely eat.

“Okay!” Yi An’s eyes were already glowing green with hunger. Hearing this, she stood up immediately, put on her shoes, and prepared to go.

But as she reached the door, she felt a tug from behind. It was Bu Yan, holding her clothes with a serious expression.

“What’s wrong?” Yi An took the initiative to question loudly. “Didn’t you say we were going out? Why won’t you let me go!”

“Do you think it’s appropriate to go out wearing that?” Bu Yan used a little force to pull the girl in front of the full-length mirror.

Yi An stared at herself in the mirror and thought she looked beautiful. She was truly a DIY genius; even a randomly cut dress looked great. She stated decisively: “It’s very appropriate.”

She then criticized Bu Yan boldly: “You should look at yourself. Your clothes are so ugly; you don’t match me at all.”

Bu Yan: “…”

Oh, so my wife thinks it’s appropriate to go out in a dress that’s barely three scraps of fabric with her thighs fully exposed?