The Love-Hate and Grudges Between Me and the Mermaid - Chapter 33

Chapter 33

“It’s very clean outside today.”

Bu Yan pushed open the door and was stunned to see the tidy, snow-white streets. She paused for a few seconds before sighing to Yi An.

City A was built by the sea, fitting her stereotype of a coastal city perfectly.

The exposed walls were composed entirely of blue and white, uniform and orderly; some buildings even maintained Western-style spires or church designs.

It was quite beautiful.

This was the first time she had seen this small city in its entirety since she transmigrated.

Yi An nodded with a beaming smile, picking up her bag to follow: “Yes, yes! Maybe that ‘Governance through Non-action’ policy worked.”

“The environment has improved.”

Bu Yan looked at her and was about to say something when she was interrupted by a melodious, crisp whistle.

Beep beep—

A train came along the tracks. Bu Yan followed the sound; the train’s colors were very pleasing.

A mix of blue, white, and red, painted with various patterns at first glance, it looked like it had stepped out of a childhood fairy tale book.

But the only slightly peculiar thing was that two “pigtails” sprouted from the top of the train, connecting to the dense network of wires in mid-air.

It had a… retro, old-era feel.

Bu Yan’s mouth twitched. How did she remember the buses looking different before?

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Bu Yan tentatively shook the keys in her hand and asked, “Shall we drive?”

But Yi An shook her head and stepped onto the train, claiming under the guise of “driving is too fast” that she wanted to spend more time with her.

“But there’s no rush for this one moment,” Bu Yan followed helplessly, asking half-jokingly: “What, are you that afraid I’ll fall seriously ill again and, with bad luck, kick the bucket?”

As she spoke, she felt smug in her heart. Yi An truly wasn’t raised in vain; she was indeed a good wife and partner. The original owner was a lucky one.

But the next second, she heard Yi An say: “No, I’m afraid there won’t be another chance to play like this in the future.”

Bu Yan: “…”

Understood. Playing was more important than her.

As if sensing Bu Yan’s thoughts, Yi An stroked her hair and added with a shallow smile: “Of course, the prerequisite for all of this is being with Bu Yan.”

Having said that, her fair, tender fingers hooked Bu Yan’s stray hairs, tucking them behind her ear, then stroking the earlobe along the strands, gradually moving to the softness of her lips.

Lightly touching, slowly teasing…

Instantly, Bu Yan’s face turned a shade of deep red.

Yi An was being too bold.

They weren’t at home; they were outside.

Doing this to her in front of so many strangers was embarrassing to death!

She glanced at Yi An; Yi An curled her lips into a doting smile and let go.

But Yan quickly looked around. Seeing that no one was watching them, her thumping heart finally landed cautiously back in its place.

Mm… the meaning was there.

But Yan would have been happy hearing this before, but this illness seemed to have cleared her head a bit; these words sounded “off” the more she heard them.

Was there a hidden hint of complaint?

Or… regret, a farewell?

Bu Yan always felt that Yi An hadn’t finished her sentence, that something else should follow.

But after waiting a long time, Yi An didn’t speak again.

Maybe she was just overthinking it?

Bu Yan shook her head, trying to warn herself not to let her imagination run wild.

How did getting sick make her so sentimental?

The train looked large from the outside, but in reality, the seating inside was just like an ordinary bus. The front few rows were full of people.

Bu Yan sat side-by-side with Yi An in the last row. With a tilt of her head, she saw scenery different from before and no trash, clean and tidy.

In the nearby sky, a few seagulls were soaring; in the distant sea, whales leaped out of the water, and the waves beat against the sand in an orderly rhythm.

A casual glance was like a painting.

This was how the world was meant to look.

The carriage swayed forward; it was very quiet. A piece of soothing instrumental music was playing, making one feel drowsy. With Yi An there, Bu Yan didn’t restrain herself and leaned on her, falling asleep with a clear conscience.

When she woke up again, they had reached their destination.

There were only the two of them left in the carriage.

The music was still playing, but it wasn’t the same song as before.

But Yan could tell. Even she didn’t know when she had become so sensitive to music.

She got off the train. Before she could speak, Yi An hooked her arm around her neck and led her straight forward.

“Hey, Yi An, did you notice…”

Bu Yan instinctively tried to dodge, but failed. Halfway through her sentence, she suddenly realized a problem.

Yi And how did she get so much taller?

Before, the two of them were roughly the same height. Sometimes, depending on the shoes, she was even a few centimeters taller than Yi An.

But now, this person was clearly nearly ten centimeters taller than her.

The dress on her body…

A searching look flashed in Bu Yan’s eyes. It didn’t fit quite right either.

“What’s wrong?” Just then, Yi An looked down and asked her, “Are you very uncomfortable?”

“No.” Bu Yan waved her hand quickly, pretending she had just discovered something amazing, and sighed: “I just feel like you suddenly grew a lot taller. Have you been taking nutritional supplements behind my back?”

The last sentence was asked as a joke, but in reality, she wanted to test her, to see if the person in front of her was the real Yi An.

Upon hearing this, Yi An immediately became nervous, frantically explaining that she hadn’t taken anything at all.

“How could I secretly take supplements alone… everything I have, I only give to you, I only want to give to you alone, how could I be alone…”

As she spoke, the corners of her eyes turned red. Her deep blue eyes brimmed with tears, and as the last word left her mouth, the tears fell uncontrollably to the ground.

Fine, this was definitely and certainly Yi An.

Only Yi An would cry at the drop of a hat and act pitiful to get her to coax her.

But Bu Yan was a sucker for this; she hurriedly began to coax her in a low voice:

“Yi An, I was teasing you. Don’t cry, be good, be good. I know… don’t cry, okay? How could I not know… it was just a joke, don’t take it seriously, alright?”

What she didn’t notice was that while Yi An was crying, the world vibrated, several fine cracks appeared in the sky, and the sun looked as if it couldn’t hold on and was about to fall.

All of this returned to normal the moment Yi An stopped crying.

Bu Yan stood on her tiptoes, carefully wiping the tear stains from Yi An’s face, apologizing softly: “I really know I was wrong…”

Only then did Yi An half-reluctantly give an “mm” as an acceptance of the apology. Finally, she put on an act and issued a warning: “Bu Yan, don’t do that next time! If you do it again, I’ll make it so you can never coax me back!”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Since she was the one in the wrong first, Bu Yan treated it like handling a child and nodded obediently.

“No more crying, no more crying…”

Yi An stared at Bu Yan with teary eyes. After a few seconds, she suddenly said: “Do you like me?”

But Yan’s brain went buzzing. She was stunned.

Why did Yi An suddenly ask this again?

She thought about it, and she asked about it.

“Because, I have never heard you say those words, Bu Yan.” At this point, Yi An was no longer sad about what happened just now. Her heart was racing, her innocent eyes were full of tension, and her hands repeatedly crumpled her clothes and let go.

She waited for Bu Yan’s reply with trepidation.

But Yan couldn’t reply.

What kind of question was this!?

What did she mean, did she like her?

If she had to say one thing, it was that she didn’t.

She wasn’t the original owner. Fulfilling the duties of the body was one thing, but psychological ones too?

This was crazy.

But Yan was also a bit angry now, decisively unleashing the “Scumbag Woman’s Script”: “I thought we both knew without saying it, I didn’t think you would still want to ask me.”

“The fact that you asked this means you have never trusted me. Was the ‘I like you’ you said to me before also fake?”

“In that case, we have nothing more to say. Let’s go home. What’s the point of playing?!”

Bu Yan turned and left without a trace of lingering attachment.

Nor did she care about Yi An, who was left standing dazed in the wind.

Yi An seemed to be sulking too and didn’t pay attention to Bu Yan.

Bu Yan took a few steps and looked back once, until she could no longer see Yi An.

How did it turn out like this?

Bu Yan stopped where she was, completely baffled.

They had agreed to come out and play together; how did it turn out like this?

She crouched by the roadside, pulled out her phone, opened WeChat, and scrolled through Yi An’s profile.

After enduring for a long while, she sent a message: [Where are you?]

Followed by a “cold and aloof” emoji.

A few more seconds passed, and she sent another: [Stay where you are and don’t move. I bought strawberry cake; wait for me to come back.]

Still no reply.

But Yan’s legs were getting numb from crouching. She thumped her aching ankles and stood up.

Only to unexpectedly crash into an icy embrace.

“Where do you want to go?”

A voice as smooth as a beautiful melody played on a piano entered her ears.

But Yan was slightly startled. Looking up, she saw an exquisite, non-human face that took her breath away.

It was that mermaid.

Even though her memories had been controlled and erased by Yi An, Bu Yan had not forgotten what happened in the illusion that day.

The mermaid pulled her in.

Then discarded her, leaving her alone on the reef.

Left at the mercy of the rain and the battering waves.

“What are you doing?”

But the mermaid seemed to have long forgotten that incident. One hand supported her waist, while the other touched her hair, eyes, the bridge of her nose, and her lips.

She asked with a beaming smile: “Are you on a date?”

But Yan didn’t respond to her.

The mermaid wasn’t annoyed either. Using her strength in secret, she pulled the incredibly fragile human into her arms, hooked her arm around her shoulder, and interlaced her fingers with hers. She looked up lazily at the words at the top:

“City A… Aquarium?”

“What is an aquarium?”

After reading it, she immediately asked Bu Yan, “Is it a place where marine life is imprisoned?”

“No, it’s for observation.”

But Yan’s mouth opened uncontrollably to explain: “Appreciation, marine life, research…”

“Humans know nothing about the ocean, so they want to observe it, right?”

Without waiting for Bu Yan to finish, the mermaid asked again immediately.

“Mm…” Bu Yan nodded unconsciously.

As if her viewpoint had been validated, the mermaid’s vanity was satisfied. She suddenly became excited, pushing Bu Yan’s shoulder to lead her inside:

“In that case, let’s go browse it together!”

“No, I have an appointment.” It took Bu Yan a great deal of effort to break free from her.

She looked back, searching for Yi An’s figure.

She couldn’t find her. Hurriedly, she took out her phone to make a call.

It showed no answer.

Seeing this, the mermaid’s brow knit for a moment, then she blinked, as if she knew who the person Bu Yan had an appointment with was. A hint of jealousy inexplicably appeared in her deep blue eyes.

“So…”

“Between me and her, you like her more?”