Chapter 60: The Pearl
Shu Yao pushed open the bathroom door and walked in to see the little octopus, which had momentarily lost its grip on the edge of the wide sink and had slipped off.
She moved extremely quickly, bent down, and stretched out her arm—
Just in time to catch the little octopus in her palm.
Although it was a tough little octopus that could follow her through various dangerous areas without getting a single scratch, a fall from this height would at most result in a splat on the floor. Yet, Shu Yao still carefully lifted its tentacles one by one to check its condition.
Just a moment ago, she had been scolding it for making a mess. Now, holding it and looking at it for a long time, the woman didn’t even notice the knocked-over bottle of body lotion, only concerned with asking it:
“Didn’t I tell you to swim in the bathtub?”
“Why were you running around?”
This time, the reproach in her tone was completely gone, replaced by a soft, inquisitive whisper, as if she genuinely wanted to understand the little pet’s thoughts.
The little octopus’s ears twitched.
It curled its tentacles and stood in her palm, its three hearts still pounding with nervousness.
It vaguely remembered another scene.
The person holding it, looking at her with despair and pain, tears streaming down her face, even constantly trying to shrink back, refusing to be touched by it.
The image of Shu Yao holding its face, staring at it with fascination, and the image of her recoiling in fear, constantly intertwined, confusing the little octopus’s still-recovering main brain. It had already exhausted a great deal of effort to mimic a human form, and was then frightened by this chaotic memory and the sound of Shu Yao suddenly opening the door.
And so it had changed back into this form.
Instinct told it.
Staying by her side in this form was the safest.
Thinking of this, the little octopus slowly softened its body, lay in her palm, and stretched out two tentacles, intertwining them on the inside of her wrist. It sank the lowest of its three hearts, and through the membrane, it pressed against the pulse under the fragile skin of her wrist.
Again and again.
Finally, it made its three hearts beat at the same frequency as her pulse.
Like, don’t want to leave—
It wanted to be with this person forever, even if it could only be in this fragile form from now on.
…
Shu Yao, who was suddenly being spoiled by her pet: “!”
Seeing the octopus trying its best to spread its body, like a unique wrist guard wrapped around her wrist, trying to cling to her, a hint of helplessness appeared in her eyebrows.
The ends of her light-colored hair were still dripping with water, soaking into the soft white fluff of her bathrobe. She was too lazy to go out and blow-dry it again, so she just stayed in the bathroom with the little octopus.
“Alright,” she said. “I’ll just stay here with you, okay?”
Her concern for the pet outweighed her indulgence in its spoiling.
Shu Yao let it linger on her wrist for a while, but in the end, she still put the hand it was holding into the cool water of the bathtub and poked it to swim for a dozen or so laps. When it insisted on clinging to her wrist and refused to go down again, she took it back to the bedroom.
Ever since it had regained its vitality, this little octopus had started to be fickle.
It no longer liked to stay in the glass bottle it used to like. No matter how tightly Shu Yao closed the bedroom door at night, it always had a way to sneak in and slide down her neck, clinging to her.
Its tentacles, full of suckers, would climb over her collarbones, shoulder blades, and that large patch of thin skin.
Every time, it thought it was doing it without her knowing, but in fact, it always woke Shu Yao up in the middle of the night with its itching, and even tried to drill deeper into her collar.
At this time, Shu Yao would can’t help but reach out and pull it out, and scold it with a muffled nasal sound, “Who let you in? Get out.”
It would be quiet for a while.
Finally, it would pleasingly stop at the hollow of her collarbone, where the nerve endings were most concentrated, its eight tentacles curled at its side, for fear of being picked up and thrown out by her, its suckers sucking her skin tightly.
The cold, slippery sensation was deeply imprinted on her skin, making Shu Yao feel as if someone were burying their head in her neck, holding her collarbone and sucking and biting it hard, making her scalp tingle.
But she couldn’t bear to scold the little pet again.
She could only try her best to calm her breathing in the dark. It wasn’t until the little octopus fell asleep and unconsciously loosened its suckers, falling from her collarbone into the hollow of her pillow, that she could get a good night’s sleep.
Tonight was the same.
The little octopus thought that the hollow of her right collarbone was the only place it was allowed to stay. It very consciously climbed onto her body and stayed there without moving.
It completely didn’t notice that the person under it had stopped breathing, and her palm had instantly wrinkled the silk bedsheet.
After a long time.
Shu Yao forced herself to relax and said to the little pet in a very light tone, “Sleep now. Good night.”
The next day, Shu Yao was woken up by the commotion outside.
She opened her eyes, casually scooped up the little octopus that had fallen by her pillow, opened the door and walked out, just in time to see a maid rushing through the corridor toward her. “What’s wrong?”
“Miss Shu, you’re up just in time. Please go down to the basement level and have a look—”
“That mermaid has gone crazy. She’s trying to eat people. She’s so fierce!”
Shu Yao turned her head and went downstairs.
Because the guest room she was staying in was on the second floor, and it was close to the basement level, when Shu Yao went down the stairs, she happened to arrive near the swimming pool at the same time as Situ Jin, who had taken the elevator down.
The pool water was a faint red with a strong fishy smell, and there were some broken, lusterless scales floating at the bottom of the pool. It was easy to guess what kind of story had been re-enacted here last night.
“Miss.”
Among the crowd holding mops, brooms, and gardener’s tools, showing their wariness toward the mermaid, an aunt with a bandaged hand, who seemed to have been scratched, came over this way and said in a hurry, “Miss, you can’t get close to her. She’s gone crazy.”
“Auntie Wang, are you injured?”
Situ Jin turned her head and ordered the butler who had come with her to deal with the matter, “Uncle Liu, you take Auntie Wang to the hospital to treat her wound first. See if she needs a tetanus shot and a special vaccine. Put the bill under my name. We’ll talk about other things later.”
“Yes.”
Uncle Liu immediately led the aunt, who had a grateful look in her eyes and tears welling up, out.
And the silver-haired mermaid, who had been afraid of human presence in the pool yesterday and had been hiding at the bottom of the water, was now trying to get closer to the shore again and again, her brows furrowed, her expression fierce, and she even showed a pair of somewhat sharp canine teeth.
Shu Yao pushed through the crowd and walked toward her, her light-colored pupils looking straight at her:
【Quiet.】
…
As if a drop of water had fallen into a calm lake, invisible ripples spread in the air.
The silver-haired mermaid’s deep blue eyes, full of hostility, were struck by this wave of spiritual power, and a moment of confusion appeared.
Even her movements stopped.
There was a person holding a steel fork nearby, and he quickly wanted to take this opportunity to press her back into the pool. Just as he was about to move, the wooden handle was grabbed by Shu Yao.
She glanced at him faintly. “Leave this to me.”
“Y-yes, Miss Shu.”
That gardener was inexplicably out of breath and took two steps back.
Then, Shu Yao slowly squatted down by the side of the pool. Because she had come out in a hurry and wasn’t wearing gloves, after meeting the beautiful face that could make one speechless for a moment, she could only raise her hand and hold her cheek. As she leaned in, she slowly guided her with her spiritual power:
【Relax.】
【Don’t be afraid. Tell me what happened. I can help you.】
The little octopus, which had just climbed onto her shoulder and sat down, its eyes widened.
Seeing this fish get so close to Shu Yao, it instantly raised a tentacle, its tip becoming extremely sharp, like a steel needle, wanting to pierce this annoying fish.
This killing intent startled the mermaid, who was about to enter a hypnotic state, for a moment.
Her fishtail swung powerfully in the pool for a moment. If it weren’t for Shu Yao’s sufficient arm strength now, she would have almost let her slip away—
“Tsk.”
She let out a very light, displeased sound, reminding her little pet not to cause trouble.
At the same time, she pressed her forehead close to the mermaid’s forehead, as if she couldn’t feel the coldness. She once again applied her spiritual power:
【Shh, it’s okay.】
【Don’t be nervous. I won’t hurt you. Tell me slowly, okay?】
The mermaid’s beautiful eyes fell into a dazed state.
And the others surrounding the pool, at Situ Jin’s gesture, also slowly retreated from this area, leaving the professional matters to the professional Miss Shu.
Half a minute later.
Shu Yao let go of her hand. Before she retreated, she didn’t forget to let the mermaid calm down from her frantic state just now. So she hadn’t walked a few steps when there was a plop sound behind her. It was the sound of the other person slipping back to the bottom of the water and hiding.
Situ Jin came over and looked behind her with a half-believing, half-doubting look. “How is it? What’s wrong with her?”
Shu Yao, who was not good at solving cases and was even more annoyed by the matter of monsters being involved with humans, wanted to raise her hand and press her temples, but found that her hand was full of sticky liquid.
She looked down.
The little octopus had jumped down from her shoulder at some point, and was angrily using its tentacles as an eraser, trying to wipe away the scent of another fish that had been stained on Shu Yao’s palm—
It smeared, it smeared, it smeared, smeared, smeared!
Then Shu Yao picked it up. “Don’t cause trouble.”
“Slap.”
The answer was the sound of the little octopus breaking free from her action and sticking itself to her forehead like a cooling patch.
Shu Yao, while pulling it, took the time to answer Situ Jin’s question. “Oh, it’s that auntie who was injured just now. She stole this mermaid’s pearl.”
Situ Jin looked at her with a subtle expression as she let this octopus crawl all over her body. She took a step back, and only then did she react to what she had said:
“Huh?”
“Her pearl?”
“What pearl? The kind that turns into pearls when she cries?”
In Shu Yao’s calm nodding motion, Situ Jin took a sharp breath, and found that since this mermaid had come to her house, she had never seen her shed a single little pearl!
She immediately walked to the side of the pool and apologized to the mermaid, who had once again sealed her emotions and was showing a wary look like the first day, across the water:
“I’m sorry. I’ll investigate this matter clearly. I’m sorry, I almost wronged you just now.”
…
The matter was investigated quickly.
That Auntie Wang had just been treated for her wound at the hospital when she was sent back by the butler. Situ Jin had initially politely asked her if she could go to her room to look for her lost jewelry, as the other rooms had already been searched while she was away—
Auntie Wang had just nodded when she frantically shook her head, making the excuse that her room was very messy and she had to clean it up first.
Shu Yao was on the side, wiping the mucus that the little octopus had smeared on her hand with a wet wipe, and at the same time, she scooped up the little octopus and wiped it too, and then watched this high-society drama of catching a thief with great interest.
In less than half an hour.
A box of full-colored, crystal-clear pearls was found in Auntie Wang’s room. There were about a dozen of them in good condition, and the ones with a slightly worse shape were also in the unique teardrop shape. There were also some with a pinkish hue, as if they had been formed when they were stained with blood.
Situ Jin: “Tsk.”
She looked at the box of pearls and said casually, “Auntie Wang, you’re too much of a stranger to me. Your pearls are of a better quality than the designer ones I bought abroad for over a hundred thousand. If you had told me you had this channel, I would have just bought them from you.”
After saying that, she closed the box and looked at Auntie Wang with a smile. “So, can you tell me where these pearls were sourced from? I remember your hometown is not by the sea.”
Auntie Wang went through the routine of being stubborn.
By the time Situ Jin had the butler take her away, and after settling her salary and calling the police, she finally went weak at the knees and began to admit her mistake with tears of pain.
Situ Jin walked up to her and leaned into her ear.
“If it were just stealing, it would be fine—”
“I heard that in order to force her to shed more tears, you always took on the cleaning task, came over early every day, and scratched her skin and scales. Is that right?”
Auntie Wang shook her head vigorously. “Miss, you have to believe me. It’s just a fish. I’ve been working here for ten years…”
“Even if she’s just an ordinary fish,” Situ Jin said, “she’s still my fish.”
She stood up again and looked down at her. “I will definitely not let you go. You’d better pray that you can stay in jail for a longer time.”
By the time the butler and the security guards had taken the person away.
Situ Jin took the box of pearls again, changed them into a more beautiful and exquisite box, and walked back to the side of the pool.
She put it down.
“Do you want to come up and count how many are missing?” she asked with a smile. “If you’re still short, I’ll have to think about how to compensate you.”
The mermaid blew a small string of bubbles from under the water.
She had also seen what had just happened and understood that this person had good intentions toward her.
But she stayed at the bottom of the pool without moving, just looking at Situ Jin.
Like a cat with an overly strong sense of vigilance.
Situ Jin could only sigh and push the small box into the water. “If it’s something very precious, then keep it all in this box in the future. Don’t worry, no one will come and steal your treasure again.”
The box was made of sinking agarwood. Even if it sank, it wouldn’t break. The quality was very good.
After she finished speaking, she wanted to leave enough quiet space for the mermaid, as she had before, lest the other person be stimulated again and hide in a stress response.
But this time.
After Situ Jin turned around, she heard the sound of water rippling behind her.
She turned her head and saw that the box had been placed back on the shore.
“?”
In her puzzled gaze, thinking that the mermaid didn’t like this box, a hand quietly reached out from the pool, and its fingertips pushed the box in her direction again.
Situ Jin could only look at Shu Yao. “What does that mean? Does she want me to keep it for her?”
Shu Yao looked at the mermaid under the water lazily. “Come up and say it yourself.”
Half a minute later.
Under Situ Jin’s patient waiting, the silver-haired mermaid’s head popped out of the pool. Thinking of what she had heard just now, that she had spent a lot of money but still couldn’t buy this kind of pearl.
Her deep blue, almost black eyes still held a faint red tint from the rush of emotion. She shyly met Situ Jin’s gaze for a second, then looked away.
After a long while, she opened her mouth and slowly spat out two words in a hoarse voice:
“For… you.”
Then she slipped back to the bottom of the water.
Situ Jin: “!”
She looked at the faint glow of the lustrous pearls in the opened box, took a sharp breath, and touched her heart with one hand, and held Shu Yao’s arm with the other:
“To be suddenly moved by the fish I’m keeping, is this normal?”
Shu Yao thought for a moment, changed the words the other person had teased her with last time, and returned them: “You’re welcome to share with me later—”
“Did she make you feel particularly good?”
…
This time, Shu Yao was sent away by Situ Jin with a laugh and a curse.
When she left the Situ family, she was still stuffed with a pile of small cookies that Auntie Situ had personally baked. Shu Yao also had a smile on her face and didn’t forget to say to her friend:
“I’ll have the flower fish come over later to see if he can teach her to slowly control her form and walk back to the shore. If you have this kind of troublesome but not urgent matter again, just send me a message if you can’t get through to my phone. Don’t scare me for no reason.”
Situ Jin pinched her cheek through the car window. “I know. You should have your three meals normally. Don’t just run around outside and not eat.”
Shu Yao nodded “Mmm, mmm,” and was sent back to her community by her family’s driver.
Today happened to be a half-day off for the special department.
She wanted to visit Uncle Zhou’s family to see if Auntie Zhou’s condition had improved, but she had already had lunch at the Situ family, and the time she returned was Auntie Zhou’s daily nap time.
Shu Yao had no choice but to go home after buying a gift, set an alarm, and also take a nap for a while, and then go out again in the afternoon.
She didn’t know if it was because she hadn’t gotten used to the bed last night and hadn’t slept well, and had been woken up again this morning, but Shu Yao had originally only planned to take a short nap. But it seemed that the pillow was particularly comfortable, and she had inexplicably fallen asleep.
She slept very soundly.
It wasn’t until she was sure that she wouldn’t wake up halfway through that the little octopus, which had been pretending to be nestled at the side of her neck, quietly opened its eyes and retracted the tentacles that had just secretly secreted a paralyzing component.
The entire morning.
Her mind was only filled with the image of Shu Yao and that fish being intimate.
That should clearly be hers!
The little octopus started to get angry again.
Not long after.
The autumn sun, which had rained all night and had finally seen the light of day, shone in from outside, illuminating the two figures who were tightly embracing in the bed, making them look particularly intimate.
The dark-haired woman raised her hand and pulled the person into her arms, like a human holding a life-sized doll to sleep. But she still felt it wasn’t enough, and her black and red tentacles, which had been released from their mimicry, also wrapped around her, coiling around Shu Yao’s waist and thighs.
Then.
The person holding Shu Yao finally closed her eyes with satisfaction.
And at the same time, she planted a kiss on her forehead.
Learning from her words last night, she said very lightly, her voice gentle and lingering, “Good afternoon.”
Good afternoon, my Yaoyao.
Yayyyyyyyyy