A few days earlier, Lin Feng would wake up in the middle of the night, always feeling an itch in her tail.
She knew it meant her feet had fully healed and were eager to transform into human legs.
Without prolonged contact with water, a mermaid’s tail would dry out. Mild symptoms left the scales parched; more severe ones caused them to curl outward, and the worst led to them sloughing off entirely.
A mermaid’s form simply wasn’t suited for long-term life on land, so they relied on their unique genetics to sprout a pair of legs identical to a human’s upon coming ashore.
These legs featured skin and bones just like those of any human. Even medical scanners couldn’t detect anything amiss. Such a pair granted mermaids tremendous convenience—they could walk freely on land like people, then shift back into a tail for swimming once in the water.
Lin Feng gazed at her smooth, bare legs in the mirror. She had rarely set foot on land; she’d grown up entirely in the water. Before, her clan had sliced a chunk of flesh from her tail to keep her from venturing ashore and giving herself away.
Once a mermaid’s tail was injured, it could no longer form legs. Xu Tang knew that all too well. The first time Lin Feng had tried to flee to Zhao Shuqing, Xu Tang had blocked her path and wounded her tail.
Lin Feng tested the legs with a couple of jumps, then paced back and forth around the room.
The sensation of her feet pressing solidly against the floor felt utterly different from shuffling along with her tail.
It was all so novel. Lin Feng circled the room several more times before pulling a pair of Zhao Shuqing’s pants from the closet to try them on. She remembered how Zhao Shuqing simply slid both legs straight into the long pant legs. Lin Feng wanted to give it a shot.
But as she lifted one foot, her body tilted. With a thud, she toppled to the floor, leaving her dazed.
What happened?
Lin Feng lifted her head, staring at the pants in disbelief.
Did they strike first??
She sat on the floor, snatched up the pants, and stood again. No way was she going to let a pair of pants get the better of her.
After tumbling, scrambling up, and crashing down again in a cycle three times over, enlightenment dawned on Lin Feng.
Who said you had to be standing to put on pants??
She plopped back down on the floor, picturing how Zhao Shuqing did it, and threaded both legs into the openings. Inch by inch, she tugged them up.
When Lin Feng finally had the jeans on, her eyes sparkled. She grabbed the waistband and dashed to the mirror, spinning in delight.
The girl in the mirror wore jeans that made her legs look endlessly long, her butt perky and round. Her pale white feet hid inside the pant legs, with only her ten dainty toes peeking out.
Beautiful.
Lin Feng was thrilled with her new legs. Her tail had always been gorgeous as a mermaid, so of course her human legs would be the most stunning, too.
After trying the jeans, she hauled out all of Zhao Shuqing’s other clothes.
Zhao Shuqing didn’t have many outfits beyond her work uniforms—just simple white tees and jeans, with the occasional long skirt turning up in the pile. Lin Feng slipped one on to see how it looked.
This skirt appeared barely worn, its soft goose-yellow hue catching Lin Feng’s fancy. She fiddled with it for a good while before figuring out how to wear it properly, then admired herself in the mirror over and over, utterly pleased.
She tried the skirts and pants, along with some trench coats and jackets.
Lin Feng ended up sitting amid the heap of clothes, sorting through them and leaving the room in disarray.
Still wearing her favorite goose-yellow dress, she stared at the now-empty closet and sank into thought.
Zhao Shuqing didn’t seem to care much for dressing up. Her wardrobe was so limited…
Just then, footsteps echoed in the corridor outside, startling Lin Feng. She dove headfirst into the pile of clothes, her legs instantly reverting to that massive blue tail.
She waited ages, but the footsteps halted at the neighboring room. The door opened, and someone went inside.
Lin Feng poked her head out from the clothes and pricked up her ears. Realizing it was Gu Yao who’d returned, she relaxed with a long sigh of relief.
Good thing it wasn’t Zhao Shuqing.
Lin Feng slipped down from the bed and crept to the balcony. From the glass doors, she could see into the next room, where Gu Yao was scooping out Pumpkin’s litter box, muttering and tapping the little cat’s head as if scolding it.
Pumpkin sat nearby watching Gu Yao clean up after her, swishing her tail in boredom. Then she glanced up, spotted Lin Feng plastered against the glass opposite, and leaped with a ferocious pounce, claws digging into the screen.
Lin Feng yelped in fright and flipped head over tail in the bathtub, splashing around wildly before righting herself.
Gu Yao jumped too. Glancing up, she saw Lin Feng thrashing in the tub and realized the cat had spooked her. She yanked the yowling stinky cat down and shut her in the bathroom.
Pumpkin pawed at the door from the hallway, meowing nonstop. Gu Yao peeked out to the balcony and saw Lin Feng lying motionless in the tub. Thinking she’d been hurt in the fall, Gu Yao dropped what she was doing and hurried over. She punched in the code and burst inside.
“Lin Feng, are you okay?”
Gu Yao took in the chaotic bed and floor at a glance—Zhao Shuqing’s clothes strewn everywhere from the closet, as if burglars had hit the place. She tiptoed around the mess and reached the balcony, peering at the curled-up figure in the tub. Worry creased her face. “Did Pumpkin just scare you?”
Lin Feng surfaced from the water, her hair dripping wet, gazing up at Gu Yao with reddened eyes. She truly looked terrified.
Gu Yao glanced toward her own balcony, where faint meows still drifted from the bathroom. For a cat-fearing mermaid like Lin Feng, it must have been terrifying indeed.
“Sorry about that. Next time, I’ll remember to close the curtains,” Gu Yao said, squatting by the tub in apology. “Really sorry for scaring you.”
“It’s fine…” Lin Feng rubbed her eyes, forgiving her.
Gu Yao knew Lin Feng hated being touched, so despite her urge to pet the adorable mermaid, she held back. Hugging her knees, she asked, “Where’s Shuqing? How come you’re home alone? Where’d she go?”
Lin Feng straightened in the tub and wrung out her sodden skirt. “She said she had to run to the laboratory for something. She’ll be back soon and told me not to wander off.”
Gu Yao’s eyes widened slightly. She fell silent for a long moment before murmuring, “I see. I didn’t run into her—probably headed to the Marine Group.”
Ever since that dinner with the four of them, when Gu Yao had blurted out her question to Xu Tang at the restaurant door, Xu Tang hadn’t initiated a conversation with her in ages.
Gu Yao still wasn’t sure what had possessed her to voice her doubts so directly. Xu Tang had stared at her in shock, her expression swiftly darkening.
“What do you mean by that?” Xu Tang had demanded, face stormy. “You think there’s something between me and Zhao Shuqing?”
Gu Yao knew she’d put her foot in it and apologized at once. “No, I was just wondering offhand… because of the way you look at her…”
Xu Tang had cut her off coldly. “Whatever’s between me and Zhao Shuqing is none of your business.”
Gu Yao had opened her mouth, her chest aching painfully. Head down, she’d turned to leave, only for Xu Tang to grab her arm and stop her.
Xu Tang’s tone softened, losing its edge. “Shuqing and I are just senior sisters from the same master—you know that. We’re like family.”
Gu Yao said nothing as Xu Tang held her there, wiping at her damp eyes.
Xu Tang drew closer, gripping her wrist. “Don’t cry. If I’m dating you, there’s no room in my heart for anyone else. Shuqing and I are close, sure, but I’ll never like her that way.”
Gu Yao had looked up into her face, unsure how much to believe.
Afterward, Xu Tang had taken her back to the office to wrap up work, and they’d gone home together.
Now, hearing that Zhao Shuqing had gone to the laboratory, Lin Feng was surely off to see Xu Tang.
Was Xu Tang… telling the truth, after all?
Gu Yao’s mood sank. Lin Feng wrung out her skirt and eyed her a few times before reaching out to poke the soft flesh of her arm. Tilting her head, she asked, “You promised to help me with something before.”
Gu Yao rubbed her sore shoulder, puzzled. “What do you need help with?”
Lin Feng sat up straight, gazing at her obediently. “I want to get a birthday present for Zhao Shuqing. Do you know what she’d like?”
Gu Yao blinked. “…?”
Zhao Shuqing’s birthday was coming up???
Meanwhile, the utterly oblivious Zhao Shuqing had headed to the Marine Group to run some instrumental tests on data. Her colleagues there were old collaborators, and while instrument use required logging, who would stop someone of Zhao Shuqing’s stature?
After more than an hour of spectral analysis, she had her first set of results.
“Shuqing, what are you testing this for?” a colleague asked curiously, peering at the printed sheet.
“I’m comparing the similarity between mermaid scales and carp scales, along with detailed data analysis.” Zhao Shuqing still couldn’t shake the carp scale she’d seen in Shen Qingming’s hospital room. She figured, why not make use of her free time to study the differences between mermaid scales and those of other fish species?
It could even serve as the topic for her next paper.
The colleagues clustered around Zhao Shuqing, chattering excitedly about her and the mermaid.
“How’s Lin Feng doing? I keep seeing her on short videos—she’s way prettier now than she was on the research vessel.”
“I wanted to take my daughter to the oceanarium the other day, but tickets were sold out. Can you snag us one? We won’t freeload—whatever it costs.”
“Shuqing, when are you going to experiment with us again?”
Hearing that reminded Zhao Shuqing of Xu Tang barring her from the group. With a helpless smile, she replied, “Getting into the oceanarium is easy via the employee passage. As for experiments… not right now. Maybe once the Genome Group’s project succeeds, I can join you all.”
“Didn’t they say the Genome Group’s experiment was making progress? Still not done?”
“The Human Dual-Female Plan succeeded for humans, but mermaids are different. Word is they’re hitting a bottleneck—unsure if this batch of eggs will work.”
“If it fails again, doesn’t that mean another surgery for you, Shuqing?”
“That procedure takes a toll on the body. Why not skip it and just use the gene bank? So much easier.”
Zhao Shuqing shook her head gently. “It’s okay. My body’s holding up fine for now. If it gets too much, we’ll look at other options.”
No sooner had she spoken than a nearby colleague piped up, as if remembering something. “Hey, I ran into Group Leader Liu from Genome yesterday. She mentioned one egg succeeded—still in observation.”
