The Love-Hate and Grudges Between Me and the Mermaid - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

[Saw a little strawberry cake on the way.]

But Yan initiated the food temptation, sending the picture and text in one smooth motion.

Five seconds later, a video call came in again.

“Sister, eat.”

With that, the call hung up once more.

Bu Yan: “…”

Fine, three words this time; at least there’s progress no matter what. Bu Yan forced a smile, comforting herself.

She bought the cake and continued rushing home.

The trash on the streets had just been cleaned yesterday, but today it was strewn everywhere again. Bu Yan pretended not to see it and walked straight ahead.

The phone in her bag chimed from time to time; she didn’t need to look to know it was from her “dog” boss.

But Yan ignored it. Off-duty means off-duty; don’t even think about making her do an extra bit of work. Besides, she had shamelessly returned to duty today only to be met with a round of cold mockery and sarcasm, and was intentionally assigned a mountain of tasks.

So much that she even brought her laptop home, prepared to work overtime.

Dragging her exhausted body through the door, Bu Yan changed her shoes at the entryway. Feeling that the house was excessively quiet, she instinctively called out. After a few seconds, a voice came from the direction of the sofa: “Sister, you’re back…”

Yi An was kneeling on the sofa, revealing a pair of misty eyes. She opened her mouth as if wanting to pour something out, but in the end, nothing came out.

But Yan felt something was wrong. She hung her bag on the rack and rushed over: “What’s happened?”

“Nothing.” Tears shimmered in Yi An’s eyes. Her raised hands lifted and then fell, finally hiding behind her back.

But Yan’s brows knit tightly. She sat on the edge of the sofa and pulled the girl toward her, pinning her shoulders to stop her from escaping, speaking almost commandingly: “Speak.”

Ever since Yi An said yesterday that she was afraid of being abandoned, Bu Yan had secretly hired someone to investigate Yi An’s background and the “family disaster” she mentioned.

The answer was: nothing. In recent months, no events involving the annihilation of a family had occurred in the East.

However, ten days ago, a large ship had suddenly vanished in the ocean.

Investigations found that except for a blue-haired girl whose whereabouts were unknown, everyone else on board had died.

[Sis,] San Qi’s words echoed in her mind, [Although I can’t find out who exactly was on that ship, I’m certain that Sister-in-law must have been frightened on the ship and developed amnesia.]

[Since you were able to get married, her identity must be fine. The Empire is incompetent at everything else, but you can trust them in this area…]

“It’s just…”

A broken sob pulled Bu Yan’s thoughts back. She watched Yi An, who was crying so hard she could barely catch her breath. Bu Yan helplessly softened her voice and gently hugged the trembling body. “Only if you tell me will I know how to help you. Rest assured, I won’t hurt you, nor will I abandon you.”

Yi An’s thin arms followed the momentum to wrap around Bu Yan’s neck. She buried her head in Bu Yan’s chest, her eyelashes trembling. With difficulty, she endured her sobs and said: “I’m bleeding… down there…”

Yi An hugged Bu Yan tightly, letting out a loud cry as if giving up all hope, “There’s blood, so much blood, it keeps flowing…”

But Yan was stunned for a moment. “Are you injured?”

“Probably not…” As if suddenly realizing something, Yi An pushed Bu Yan away and scrambled toward the other end of the sofa, curling into a corner and sobbing in a low voice, “There’s just blood, I’m a little scared…”

Out of the corner of her eye, Bu Yan glimpsed the bloodstains on the girl’s dress. An answer was ready to burst forth in her mind: “It’s okay.”

She gave an understanding smile. “This is a normal phenomenon. These few days, be careful not to eat cold things.”

“Is it really okay?”

“Mm,” Bu Yan stepped forward and rubbed Yi An’s somewhat messy hair. “It’s fine.”

Yi An looked up and asked blankly: “Then will I die?”

“No. This is a privilege unique to us; it can protect us.”

“Protect?”

“Mm.” Bu Yan took Yi An’s hand and led her into the bathroom. She took a sanitary pad out of the drawer. “We need to use this.”

“If I use this, I won’t die?” Yi An asked, pointing at the object in her hand.

“We weren’t going to die in the first place.”

But Yan demonstrated how to use it, and only after making her explain it back did she feel at ease leaving the bathroom.

Can amnesia make someone forget normal physiological issues?

But Yan’s fingers moved slightly as she messaged San Qi: [She doesn’t know about menstruation. At her age, it’s impossible not to know.]

The other party replied almost instantly: [Sis, my dear Sis! Amnesia knowing nothing. Some even think they are three-year-olds and need people to take care of their eating, drinking, and bathroom needs…]

[Can’t you just drop your suspicions and live your life with your sister-in-law? You two being well is better than anything else; stop tossing me around.]

Bu Yan: […] [I’m the one paying to hire you (smile).]

San Qi: [I know, so what?]

Bu Yan took a deep breath. No one else was this humble while being a “gold sponsor” (client), but despite that, she still gave a kind and serious warning:

[Stay safe in the coming months. If you encounter any little things that look different from how they used to, kill them if you can, and run if you can’t.]

San Qi: […Okay?]

But Yan didn’t explain further and darkened her phone screen. At the same time, the door lock behind her turned. The moment she turned around, she caught a flustered Yi An, who was breaking out in a cold sweat.

“I hate blood,” Yi An muttered in a small voice while leaning against her. “It doesn’t smell good at all.”

“Mm, it’s fine, be good,” Bu Yan patted the girl’s shoulder soothingly and carried her back to the sofa. “Have some cake and rest; I’ll go make dinner.”

“Okay~” Yi An put a spoonful of cake into her mouth and smiled sweetly.

Before leaving, Bu Yan casually turned on the TV.

After entering the kitchen, she took out her phone and began searching for “One Hundred Plans for Healthy Weight Gain.” While searching, a snail with two heads appeared in the corner of the wall. Bu Yan lifted her foot, grabbed her slipper, and—smack.

The sound wasn’t heavy. Bu Yan tilted her head to glance outside the door; seeing no movement, she cautiously moved the slipper away.

The snail’s shell was shattered; it was dead.

But Yan put her shoe back on, cleaned the wall, and continued cooking according to the recipe.

Yi An inconspicuously withdrew her gaze from the kitchen and continued eating her cake.

The fruit on top of the cake was a strawberry. The moment she stuffed it into her mouth and her sharp teeth bit through the skin, a sense of immense satisfaction rushed to her heart.

Let’s not be cold toward my wife today, Yi An thought happily while lounging on the sofa in a new position. After all, she was very good to her today not only was she not angry about her attitude, but she also bought her a little cake…

She would temporarily discard the “one extra word per chat” method.

Besides… her wife was very gentle today.

Menstruation this name was also quite well-chosen.

Except for the part where she smacked the snail that part made her not very satisfied.

But it didn’t matter; it was just a small problem.

From time to time, the sound of chopping vegetables and meat came from the kitchen. Yi An, fearing a repeat of last night’s disastrous kitchen fire that might involve her, observed secretly for a while. Feeling that everything was on the right track, she felt at ease eating cake and watching TV.

It was 8:00 PM, and the Imperial News was being reported. In this time slot, things were seemingly unified; no matter which channel she switched to, it was the news. She gave up and fished out her phone.

From the nearby kitchen, her wife asked if she liked spicy food.

She didn’t understand what that was, but thinking that her wife asking meant her wife wanted to eat it, she followed along and replied “Okay.”

She opened her phone; the screen was still on the chat page with Bu Yan. She scrolled up and, as if she had just seen Bu Yan’s message [Miss me?], her lips curled upward uncontrollably.

Stuffing the last bit of cake into her mouth, Yi An held the spoon in her teeth and, with a mischievous heart, replied to those three words: [That’s right, is Sister not allowing it?]

She added a naughty emoji sticking its tongue out.

Truly perfect!

Looking at her phone, which was about to emit pink bubbles of ambiguous atmosphere, Yi An once again felt she was a genius at both disguising and controlling the emotional changes of humans!

From the moment she woke up on the beach, she knew she wasn’t human, and that she wanted to kill.

This thought had accompanied her until she found Bu Yan, but now the urge to kill had been controlled and transformed by her into being close and kind. She had also disguised herself as an innocent girl who knew nothing…

According to the words on human phones, she should be a “Silly-Sweet.”

Although she still wanted to kill, her subconscious felt it wasn’t time yet. The perfect opportunity required slow waiting and patience…

Just then, accompanied by a startled cry, a flash of fire erupted from the kitchen.

Yi An snapped back to reality and glanced at the kitchen. Through the fire, a busy figure appeared in her sight:

But Yan had a spatula in one hand and a pot lid in the other. The lid was barely suppressing the tongues of flame while the spatula stir-fried within the fire.

Yi An: “…”

Countdown to Kitchen Explosion 2.0.

As expected, the moment her feet touched the floor, a cloud of thick smoke billowed out.

Fortunately, the scale of the explosion didn’t match yesterday’s; the human walked out holding the pot, completely unscathed.