The Merman I Picked Up Is Too Delicious - Chapter 18

Had the little merman been discovered? Had the little merman been discovered? Had the little merman been discovered?!

Luo Qingyan’s hand trembled slightly as she gripped her phone. The words on the screen seemed to dance before her eyes. Her heart pounding with fear, she quickly unbuckled her seatbelt, got out of the car, and hurried home.

Honestly, if her cousin had merely discovered a man wearing a mermaid tail at home, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. She could just say he was her boyfriend, adults engaging in some role-play for fun wasn’t illegal.

Wait! Aunt Zhang had just mentioned the rumors circulating yesterday. If this came to light now, she’d be in deep trouble, unable to clear her name no matter how hard she tried. The little merman would surely draw her family’s attention!

Ugh! The most pressing concern right now was to prevent any conflict between the two!

The little merman had always been extremely cautious about hiding his mermaid identity, unwilling to let anyone but her know. Her cousin, on the other hand, was naturally curious. If her cousin noticed something unusual and things turned sour, that would be a real disaster!

Her mind in turmoil, Luo Qingyan rushed into the small courtyard. The door to the house was open. Just as she stepped inside, her cousin hurried down from the second floor.

“Sis, you scared us to death!” Tao Xingyou was holding her phone, likely in the middle of a call. “Thank goodness you’re okay.”

“I… I’m fine.” Before assessing the situation inside, Luo Qingyan decided to gauge her cousin’s reaction first. She discreetly glanced toward the bathroom, but it was too far away to make out anything.

“Sis is fine, she’s back,” Tao Xingyou said into the phone. “Okay, okay, don’t worry. I’ll call Dad first and talk to you all later.”

“Why… such a big fuss?” Luo Qingyan asked cautiously.

“Sis, why was your phone unreachable? Is it broken?” Tao Xingyou hung up and looked at Luo Qingyan. “Grandma and Mom tried calling you this morning, but your phone was out of service. They tried several times and couldn’t get through, they were so worried! Mom sent me over to check on you. When I saw you weren’t home and the neighbors didn’t know where you were, Mom even asked Dad to go out searching!”

“Huh? My… my phone did have some issues. It suddenly lost signal for no reason. I went to get it fixed, and it’s working now. I just saw your WeChat message and I… ah…” Luo Qingyan rambled, making things up as she went. It seemed the little merman hadn’t been exposed, so she’d try to brush it off for now. “Sorry for worrying you all. I didn’t expect it to turn out like this…” Her guilt was genuine.

“Let me call Dad first so he doesn’t keep searching outside,” Tao Xingyou said, picking up her phone again.

“Okay, I… I’ll go wash my hands.” Along with her guilt, Luo Qingyan was eager to check on the little merman.

If the bathroom door was open and her cousin had been too preoccupied with searching for her to look inside, that would be ideal. But the chances of that were slim, if her cousin had been looking for her around the house, she would’ve checked every room.

The bathroom door was indeed open. What about inside?

A sense of foreboding washed over Luo Qingyan, and she quickened her pace.

She reached the bathroom doorway and peered inside.

There was no sign of the little merman!

She hurried in, heading straight for the shower area.

The stool was still there, the small table was still there, the large blanket was still there, the clothes were still there, and the bathtub was still full of water, only the little merman was missing.

Where could he have gone? Surely, he couldn’t have left, right? But his body hadn’t fully recovered yet!

She had clearly made an agreement with him: if anyone else came to the house, he was to cover his tail and wait for her to return.

Was he really that unwilling? Did he dislike interacting with humans? Was he afraid of being exposed?

Had he disappeared, or had something happened to him?

“Chestnut, where is he? Where did he go?” Luo Qingyan panicked, anxiously asking the dog at her feet.

Because Luo Qingyan hadn’t petted or hugged Chestnut since returning home, the dog had been following her around. Of course, Chestnut didn’t understand her question and just wagged its tail vigorously.

Suddenly, something moving caught the corner of her eye, and Luo Qingyan’s gaze shifted toward the motion.

It was a bubble!

She reached out to pop it, but just before her finger touched it, she hesitated. Taking a deep breath, she finally poked the bubble with her finger.

“I’m in the pond in the yard.” The little merman’s calm voice echoed in the air.

Luo Qingyan immediately breathed a sigh of relief. She crouched down and patted Chestnut’s head. “No wonder you weren’t anxious. Did you already know? Why weren’t you circling the pond? Did he say something to you? You really listen to him, don’t you?”

After that, Luo Qingyan walked out of the bathroom.

“How is Uncle doing?” Luo Qingyan asked as she returned to the living room and saw Tao Xingyou just hanging up the phone. She wore an apologetic expression. “I’m sorry, I didn’t expect to cause so much trouble.”

“Dad went back to work, it’s nothing, he hasn’t been too busy lately. The main issue is Mom and Grandma.” Tao Xingyou smiled helplessly. “I told them your phone might have died and asked them not to worry. But it was such a coincidence, this morning, they heard about a case where a woman living alone was robbed in her home. They called to remind you to be careful, but then… well… they were practically ready to fly back immediately!”

“Truth is stranger than fiction,” Luo Qingyan replied with a similarly helpless smile. “Let me video call them to reassure them, so they won’t keep worrying about home and can enjoy their trip. I’m sorry for troubling you and Uncle.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” Tao Xingyou waved her hand dismissively. “Honestly, getting to leave work in the middle of the day feels pretty great!”

“You’ve worked hard!” Luo Qingyan glanced at the clock on the cabinet. “It’s almost noon, want to have lunch together?”

“Can’t do that. I have to go to the South Gate this afternoon for some business. They just called and are rushing me again. I’m just glad to confirm you’re okay. I’ll head over early now so I won’t have to come back too late tonight.”

“Alright, go ahead with your work! But make sure to eat on time, don’t go hungry. Your health is the most important thing.”

“Okay, I know. I’ll get going now!”

“Mm, be careful on the road!”

“Mm-hmm, no need to see me out, Sis. I can let myself out.”

“Alright.”

Luo Qingyan stood by the living room window, watching Tao Xingyou walk out of the small courtyard and close the gate.

Her gaze then shifted to the pond. She didn’t go out immediately, pausing for several seconds. She was afraid her cousin might suddenly return, or that if she went out right away, Chestnut would follow, barking happily and making enough noise to draw her cousin’s attention back before she had gone far.

One second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds, five seconds… She counted silently in her heart, determined to stay calm. When she reached the tenth second, she felt it was time. She quietly opened the door to the small courtyard and headed straight for the pond.

“Xiaomei! Are you there?” she couldn’t help but call out, keeping her voice as low as possible.

“I’m here,” the little merman emerged from the water, only his head visible, his eyes shining brightly. “She didn’t notice me. I stayed underwater the whole time after entering the pond, making sure no one else saw me.”

“Your face… your ears…” Luo Qingyan widened her eyes the moment she saw the little merman. The sides of his face shimmered faintly, with scales barely visible, and the shape of his ears had become slightly pointed, the tips almost transparent, like the ethereal ears of a fantasy elf.

“My body has recovered quite a bit, so I can display more merman features,” the little merman quickly explained. “Should I stay here or go back to the bathroom now?”

“Back to the bathroom!” Luo Qingyan snapped back to reality. Just as she was about to stand up to find the wheeled chair, she suddenly grew curious. “How did you get to the pond by yourself?”

“The pearl,” the little merman smiled faintly. “My body has recovered a little, so I can use the pearl for a while.”

“Oh, I see,” Luo Qingyan couldn’t help but feel delighted. “Then get back into the pearl, and I’ll take it back to the bathroom.”

“I can’t go back in right now. I haven’t fully recovered, so I need some time before I can re-enter the pearl.”

“Oh, so there’s a cooldown period. Then just wait here. I’ll go get the blanket and the sliding chair,” Luo Qingyan said, immediately standing up and heading back to the house to fetch the items.

“Alright,” the little merman replied before sinking back into the water.

…

Moving the little merman back to the bathtub was no easy task. The most challenging part was getting him from the pond onto the sliding chair. The pond was at ground level, while the sliding chair was elevated.

Luo Qingyan held the blanket, with the sliding chair beside her. She stared at the little merman, who had resurfaced, squinting thoughtfully. “How am I supposed to get you onto the chair? I probably can’t carry you, right?”

“Just cover me so no one else can see. I can get up by myself,” the little merman floated a bit higher, his shoulders now above the water. “I’ll sit on the edge of the pond first, then move to the chair.”

“That’s great!” Luo Qingyan beamed, immediately unfolding the blanket in her hands and doing her best to shield the little merman.

The little merman extended his hands, gripping the edge of the pond, and quickly pushed himself up, effortlessly seating himself on the pond’s edge. Then, with one hand holding the sliding chair’s armrest and the other pressing against the seat, he used both his arms and body to propel himself upward, momentarily hovering in the air before landing steadily on the chair.

Luo Qingyan focused intently, following the little merman’s movements, but she hadn’t expected him to move so swiftly. She struggled to keep up, worried she might not cover him properly, and for a moment, she was flustered. As the little merman settled into the chair, she turned too abruptly, lost her balance, and stumbled forward.

“Be careful!” The little merman reacted instantly. Already seated securely, he immediately freed one hand to grab Luo Qingyan’s arm, steadying her.

When losing balance, the natural reaction is to avoid falling, and Luo Qingyan was no exception. With someone holding her, she instinctively leaned toward him.

With that lean, she tumbled into the boy merman’s embrace. However, her reflexes weren’t bad, she managed to grab the armrests of the wheelchair and steady herself, avoiding a complete fall into his arms.

A large blanket enveloped both of them, the pale-yellow fabric spreading around like warm sunlight.

Luo Qingyan’s fingers brushed against the boy merman’s, their faces mere centimeters apart. The boy merman was clearly flustered, wanting to retreat, but his back was against the wheelchair, there was nowhere to go.

In the past, Luo Qingyan had always scoffed at the contrived physical contact between male and female leads in TV dramas, finding it childish and awkward rather than sweet. But at this moment, she had to admit her heart was racing.

Some things could only be truly understood through personal experience. And this feeling was so wondrous it was almost…

No! She couldn’t let her heart keep pounding like this!

“The scales on your face are beautiful,” Luo Qingyan said with a light laugh, then pulled away from the boy merman. She reached up to remove the blanket from her head and straightened her posture.

“Thank you,” the boy merman murmured, lowering his gaze, his body still tense.

He really was easy to fluster. As Luo Qingyan adjusted the blanket to cover him properly, she changed the subject to lighten the mood: “You have scales on your upper body too. So, do mermaids have an aesthetic preference closer to fish?”

With a new topic to focus on, the boy merman relaxed slightly. He glanced up and said, “Not exactly closer to fish. Don’t you think scales are beautiful? They’re shiny and iridescent. I remember humans like shiny things too, right?”

Luo Qingyan studied his face, a smile touching the corners of her eyes. “Yes, they’re beautiful, more dazzling than gold, silver, or jewels, like decorations!”

“Right. Humans wear crowns, necklaces, rings, earrings, and so on, all shiny things.” The boy merman tightened the blanket around himself, leaving only his face exposed, and blinked. “Do you like gemstones? There are gemstones in the sea.”

“Are you going to give me gemstones?” Luo Qingyan gripped the back of the wheelchair, adjusted its direction, and began pushing it toward the house.

“Yes,” the boy merman nodded. “If you’d like them.”

Luo Qingyan wanted to say that gemstones held no appeal for her now, but she held back. She didn’t want to ruin the moment or spoil the pleasant atmosphere. Tilting her head back, she took a deep breath and said, “Let’s talk about it another time!”

“Okay.” This “okay” was different from the previous one, both in tone and emotion.

Luo Qingyan noticed the difference but didn’t want to dwell on it. They should keep things light and cheerful. Gripping the wheelchair handles a little tighter, she grinned and asked, “Hey, were you blushing just now?”

“No.”

“So sure? I only said ‘just now’ without specifying when. Are you denying it to hide your embarrassment?”

“‘Just now’ means just now. What else could it mean?” The boy merman lowered his head slightly.

“Really?”

“Anyway, it’s not the same kind of shyness humans feel.”

“Oh, I see, mermaid shyness.” Luo Qingyan’s smile softened, and she chuckled. “It’s still shyness. No need to explain, I get it.”

The little merman’s head drooped even lower. He didn’t respond immediately, only speaking slowly after a few seconds: “Whatever you say it is, then it is.”

His voice could be described as obedient, yet also carried a certain warmth.