Her Tentacles 98

Chapter 98: Afterword 7

Shu Yao was completely captivated by the scenery of this underwater castle.

She clattered all the way down, to the front of the two closed doors, then she turned back to look at Lin Ran, her eyes filled with inquiry.

Her girlfriend nodded at her happily.

With a “creak,” as she pushed open the two doors leading to the bottom of the sea, Shu Yao for a moment couldn’t tell if she was just starting to walk into a dream castle, or if she had originally come out of the castle and was now facing a wider world.

She walked out of the door, and then looked back at this inverted castle. The ice-blue bricks were neatly stacked, like ice and snow sealed in the sea.

And in front of her were the passionate coral reefs, like the height of summer.

The two seasons that were most difficult to blend were thus blended by Lin Ran with her unique ability at the bottom of this group of islands. And in the white cottage on the sea, the patch of vegetation that had not yet bloomed could tell her of spring and autumn.

Shu Yao lingered in that coral reef, and saw that the schools of fish outside seemed to want to enter here, but were always separated by some transparent barrier—

She extended her finger.

It was about to touch the snout of one of the red tropical fish.

When the distance was infinitely close, her fingertip touched an invisible barrier, and a circle of ripples spread out.

And that fish was so scared by this movement that it turned and swam away without hesitation.

Shu Yao gently poked the screen again, as if she were worried about breaking it and letting the seawater outside pour in, and destroying this miracle that had been built.

However, Lin Ran’s palm covered hers at this moment.

She held her hand and pointed it forward with force.

Her fingertip pressed against the thin film, and a small piece bulged out, as if with a little more force, she could reach out and catch that little fish that was swimming.

…

But it didn’t matter if she couldn’t catch it.

After being led by Lin Ran to try several times, and still not having pierced this seemingly fragile but actually very strong water film, Shu Yao turned her head, wanting to say something to her girlfriend.

But she heard Lin Ran ask, “Do you want to go outside?”

“Mmm?”

She was still puzzled.

Her tentacles were already eager to try, and all of them pressed against her shoulder.

The next second.

Shu Yao was pushed forward by a huge force.

Her eyes widened, and she watched as she was pushed from this safe coral reef, which was separated from the sea, into the seawater where the schools of fish were.

She reflexively held her breath.

She was prepared to be pushed into the seawater and then swim up on her own.

However, none of this happened.

As she went from inside to outside, leaving the safe zone where the water film was, that thin film also covered her, as if it were the simplest version of a bubble-blowing toy that a child would play with.

Now, what was wrapping her was the bubble that had been pushed out of the small circle that was covered in soapy water.

And she was the princess in the little bubble.

Outside the bubble.

Was Lin Ran, who had come out with her, but did not need the oxygen protection provided by that water film, and could be completely submerged in the seawater.

Her long black hair spread out like seaweed.

Her snow-white shirt became transparent, and in the faint glow released by some unknown school of fish, she was like a silent, climbing siren.

The siren smiled at her, inviting her to a more fantastical underwater journey together.

Humans living on land, the two areas they most wanted to conquer were the sky and the ocean.

And when she was with Lin Ran, Shu Yao would always have the illusion that she had already conquered every sea area on this planet.

Under the earth.

Whether it was an area that could still be illuminated by the sun, or a completely dark, lightless zone, or even an abyss area connected to fragments of a mysterious space, she could come and go freely.

After the air in the small bubble had been exhausted, and Shu Yao needed to return to that castle, she jumped into her girlfriend’s arms, held her neck, and said this with an unfulfilled feeling.

Lin Ran held her lower back, and sensing the happy scent exuding from every pore of her body, she asked, “So happy?”

Shu Yao, who had played in the small bubble for a long time, as if she had received a secret invitation to an underwater amusement park, and had experienced the joy of attracting fish and teasing sea turtles, nodded vigorously.

She kissed Lin Ran’s cheek hard. “My girlfriend is so amazing, and the gift she prepared for me is also so great. Of course I’m happy.”

Lin Ran raised an eyebrow.

“Then it’s still Yaoyao who is the most amazing.”

Shu Yao: “?”

Lin Ran glanced at the schools of fish that were still swimming silently in the upstream sea, showing an extreme beauty, and then said to her, “I conquered the sea, and you conquered me. Aren’t you the most amazing?”

Shu Yao’s kiss moved to her lips.

Her voice was muffled as she asked, “Let me taste it. Was the ice cream you just ate sweeter than mine?” Why are you talking as if you’ve been eating honey now?

…

The little couple kissed stickily in front of the ice-blue castle.

The monster, who had always been greedy for this kind of intimacy, rarely ended this hot kiss first. She was determined to hear the most satisfactory answer from her girlfriend. “This surprise now, do you like it more than the previous ones?”

Shu Yao suppressed the little deer in her chest, which wanted to poke its head out and repeat “I like it” a hundred times.

She pretended to be reserved and pondered for two seconds.

Then she held Lin Ran’s cheeks with both hands and answered seriously, “I like this birthday trip. I really like the little house I just saw. I super, super like this exclusive castle under the little house, and the underwater trip in the bubble—”

“But, I like the girlfriend who is giving me these gifts now the most, most, most!”

Then.

Like a chick pecking at rice, she let her love, which could not be expressed in words, fall, and randomly kissed Lin Ran’s cheeks.

In the middle, there were even tentacles that had become so jealous of their master’s treatment that they brazenly came over and, from Shu Yao’s spring-rain-like kisses, tricked one or two to land on themselves.

Seeing her so joyful.

Lin Ran’s several hearts also seemed to be stained with human temperature, and they began to accelerate. Especially the newborn fourth heart, which was only filled with love for Shu Yao, at this moment, it was beating in sync with the other through her chest.

Her eyes were filled with overflowing love. She said to Shu Yao, “Whether it’s these gifts, or me, they will always belong to you.”

From the time Shu Yao had embarked on this birthday journey.

From the time she had set foot on this island.

Everything here had been written with her name, and would forever belong to her.

This was the gift that Lin Ran had been planning to give her before, although there had been some small twists and turns in the middle.

For example, when she had found an uninhabited island with such beautiful scenery, and had wanted to buy it and register it under Shu Yao’s name, it had been quite troublesome. Fortunately, Situ Jin had also taken a fancy to this group of islands, so the two had cooperated and had prepared this surprise together.

A while ago, her occasional absent-mindedness at home was also because she was hiding it from her girlfriend, and had secretly sent out one of her tentacles to diligently build this underwater ice-blue castle, and had also incidentally had Xuan Zhu prepare that large water-film bubble.

And the design inevitably had some features of Atlantis.

Later.

When Situ Jin saw the special little building on this island, she remembered the regret that Shu Yao had not been able to play at on her previous cruise trip, so she had someone build a water park.

This was their joint birthday gift to her.

They hoped that from this day on, she could bid farewell to all the hardships and tribulations of the first half of her life, and leave all the bitterness of the past with that cruise ship, and cut it off in that sea area.

And the rest of her life would be filled with happiness.

Shu Yao held Lin Ran’s hand and followed her up the spiral staircase, temporarily leaving this underwater paradise. Hearing her talk about the creative ideas her friends had added to this birthday gift, her eyes welled up with heat several times.

She wanted to look at the wall next to her, but found that because this road to the bottom of the sea was too long, in order to prevent the walls on both sides from giving people an endless sense of oppression, they had been framed with many, many photos, with shells and bright colors.

Every one of them was their story.

Shu Yao even saw the photo that she had once thought was a problem with the camera lens, or that the sea breeze had just blown some unknown creature, which had caused the picture to be blurry, and Lin Ran’s expression was vague, but the suckers of the transparent tentacles were very clear.

Looking at it now.

This was her girlfriend’s most beautiful, most real photo.

She stared at the photos next to the stairs without blinking, one after another, recalling her mood at that time. As she walked up the last step of the stairs—

Her blurry eyes could no longer hold the mist inside.

A tear fell.

But it was interrupted by a very cheerful voice. “Yo, we’re not even all here yet, and Director Lin has already made you cry with emotion?”

Shu Yao blinked.

She saw Situ Jin and Xuan Zhu appear with a cake.

Situ Jin looked back at the wall clock hanging in the living room, took out a lighter from her pocket, and lit the candles on it one by one.

And the mermaid holding the cake was staring intently, as if she were carrying out a major, not-to-be-neglected project. Her face was serious, and she was overcoming her instinctive fear of fire, and was always diligently holding the cake.

Lin Ran, who was standing next to her, had her tentacles bring over a birthday hat for the birthday star. The small golden crown was placed crookedly on Shu Yao’s head.

Just as the clock hand pointed to twelve o’clock.

“Bang!”

In the park outside the villa, there were fireworks that Situ Jin had had someone arrange in advance, and they were just being set off.

Clusters of fireworks, like a giant silver tree growing in the night sky, its branches extending endlessly forward, until they just reached the front of this villa, and turned into four large characters:

“Happy Birthday!”

By Shu Yao’s ear.

Lin Ran, Situ Jin, and Xuan Zhu said this blessing in unison.

On the birthday cake, the candles were still burning. Situ Jin repeatedly urged Shu Yao to hurry and make a wish. Since her current girlfriend was so amazing, she could make a bigger wish.

Before Shu Yao closed her eyes.

The corners of her lips had already curved up.

She saw that the fireworks were still blooming persistently. After the blessing words constructed of gorgeous colors such as gold and silver had fallen, they had faded into clusters of colored smoke that still lingered in the air, red, blue, green…

Like eternally blooming flowers.

Like the rest of her life.

Brilliant and splendid.