Chapter 84

Gu Yao had been in a foul mood lately. At the laboratory, she could at least bury herself in work, but once she clocked out, she started missing Xu Tang like crazy—yet she forced herself not to reach out.

Ever since their last spat, Xu Tang hadn’t come looking for her at all.

It had always been Gu Yao chasing after her before, with Xu Tang responding with her usual indifference. Now that Gu Yao wasn’t making the first move, Xu Tang might never even remember she had a “girlfriend.”

After getting home from work, Gu Yao scooped up Pumpkin, who had come to greet her, and sat dazed in a chair for a long while. Only then did she hear the sound of the neighboring door opening.

Zhao Shuqing was apparently heading out. She instructed Lin Feng, “Don’t run around the house while I’m gone. I’ll head to the nursing home, take care of some business, and be right back.”

Zhao Shuqing planned to take on that Marine Charity speech, so she had carved out this time off specifically to discuss it properly with Teacher Shen Qingming. After giving Lin Feng her instructions, she noticed a gap in the door of the apartment next door—it wasn’t fully closed.

“Hm?”

Zhao Shuqing assumed Gu Yao had forgotten to lock up when she left. As she approached, however, she realized someone was inside.

“You’re home?” Zhao Shuqing pushed the door open and looked at Gu Yao, who was silently hugging her cat. Puzzled, she asked, “When did you get back? You weren’t here last night.”

Gu Yao looked up, rubbed her head, and said, “I pulled an all-nighter at the lab yesterday and crashed there. I only just got home.” Spotting Zhao Shuqing’s outfit, she asked, “Are you heading out?”

“Yeah.” Zhao Shuqing explained, “I need to talk some things over with Teacher. I’m not comfortable leaving Lin Feng alone at home, but since you’re here, could you keep an eye on her for me? Just make sure she doesn’t go outside.”

Gu Yao tugged at the corner of her mouth in a smile. “Lin Feng’s such a good girl. She’s never gone out on her own. You still don’t trust her?”

Zhao Shuqing gave a wry smile. “I know, but I still don’t feel right about leaving her by herself.”

Seeing the exhaustion etched on Gu Yao’s face, Zhao Shuqing stepped inside, sat down beside her, and probed gently, “Didn’t your experiment succeed? Why the overtime? What have you all been working on?”

What worried Zhao Shuqing now was that the lab folks might suddenly decide to run a live body experiment on Lin Feng. Ever since she’d stormed out in a huff last time, progress seemed to have halted. Xu Tang hadn’t come by either. Zhao Shuqing had asked her former colleagues, and they’d said there was no advancement at all.

She wasn’t part of the group anymore, so all she could do was ask Gu Yao and see if she knew the inside story.

“The experiment did succeed,” Gu Yao told her, “but we still need to cultivate more samples.” She continued, “The successful one has been frozen and preserved. Once we get another, we’ll do a comparative analysis. That’s what we’ve been busy with lately. Why? Is something wrong?”

Hearing they needed another one made Zhao Shuqing tense up. “Another one? Why so many?”

Gu Yao gave her an odd look. “For the comparison, obviously. And no one can guarantee just one will survive—you need at least two, minimum.”

It was basic knowledge.

Zhao Shuqing coughed awkwardly. Whenever anything involving Lin Feng came up, she got overly anxious and asked foolish questions. No wonder Gu Yao was staring at her like she was an idiot.

“It’s been ages since I did any experiments,” Zhao Shuqing sighed. “Stuck at the oceanarium all day, my brain’s turning to mush. Who knows when I’ll get back to the lab.”

Gu Yao reassured her. “It’s fine. Work’s work, right? Lin Feng relies on you a lot now. Your main job is taking care of her.”

Zhao Shuqing nodded, conceding the point. “I get it. I’m meeting Teacher today to discuss some things. If it goes smoothly, I might head overseas next month. I haven’t told Lin Feng yet, so please don’t mention it to her. I’ll break the news myself once it’s confirmed.”

“You’re going overseas?” Gu Yao exclaimed in surprise. “Next month? But that’s… your birthday month, isn’t it?”

Zhao Shuqing glanced at her. “How do you know my birthday’s next month?”

Gu Yao stammered, “Uh… well, we’ve been friends for years. I remember it’s next month. Right?”

“Spot on.” Zhao Shuqing lowered her gaze. “But I don’t celebrate my birthday.”

Zhao Shuqing had never been one for birthdays growing up. They were for kids and families, but she had no family, so birthdays held no importance. She’d never celebrated one in all these years and had no intention of starting now.

“Why not?” Gu Yao couldn’t help asking. “It’s only once a year. It’d be such a shame to skip it.”

Zhao Shuqing shot her a puzzled look and smiled. “What’s there to regret? I’ve gotten by just fine without them all these years.”

“But that’s exactly why,” Gu Yao insisted. “No one’s ever celebrated with you before, so you don’t like it. This year can be different. We can celebrate with you.”

“We?” Zhao Shuqing latched onto the word. “Who’s ‘we’?”

“We… well, me and Little Tang Sis.” Gu Yao scrambled for an excuse, then grinned and hoisted up Pumpkin. “And her too. We’ll all celebrate your birthday together. Sound good?”

Zhao Shuqing chuckled and stood. “Nah, too much hassle. We’ll see. I need to head out and meet Teacher now.”

As Zhao Shuqing left, Gu Yao called after her, “Think about it on the way! We really do want to celebrate with you!”

Zhao Shuqing waved it off, signaling she’d heard.

Once Zhao Shuqing had entered the elevator, Gu Yao slipped quietly out of her apartment. She knocked lightly on Zhao Shuqing’s door next door, then punched in the code and let herself in.

Lin Feng was soaking in the bathtub. Hearing the door, she assumed it was Zhao Shuqing and poked her head over the edge. “Forget something? …Oh?”

Gu Yao approached with a smile and waved. “Hey, Lin Feng. I came to see you.”

“Gu Yao.” Lin Feng eyed her curiously. “What brings you here?”

“Last time, you asked me to help pick a birthday gift. I found a few options, but I’m not sure if you’ll like them. Shuqing’s out, so I figured I’d swing by and we could chat about it.”

They’d been folding laundry and chatting last time. Lin Feng didn’t know many humans on land—just Zhao Shuqing, Gu Yao, and Wen Xiaoying, really.

Lin Feng said, “I saw in your human TV shows that people celebrate birthdays. I want to throw one for Shuqing.”

Gu Yao had asked, “When’s Shuqing’s birthday?”

Lin Feng gave the date, and Gu Yao had been shocked: “Isn’t that next month?”

“Yeah.” Lin Feng nodded, clutching Zhao Shuqing’s clothes and sniffing them—the strong lemon scent of detergent mixed with Shuqing’s pleasant personal aroma. Hugging the clothes, she told Gu Yao, “I want to buy her a birthday gift.”

During hotpot last time, Gu Yao had promised to help Lin Feng with something, and now she was making good on it.

Gu Yao pulled up a chair, opened her phone’s photo gallery, and handed it over. “I picked these out. What do you think?”

Lin Feng perked up, leaning out of the tub to grab the phone and scroll through.

“This one’s no good.”

“This one’s no good either.”

“I don’t like this one.”

“Don’t like this one either.”

…

Gu Yao had curated over twenty gifts, but Lin Feng shot them all down. Staring at her selections in frustration, Gu Yao wondered aloud, “Bags and watches are so practical. And you just bought a car— this custom figurine would be perfect for it. I thought these were great. What’s wrong with them?”

Lin Feng couldn’t quite articulate it. They just didn’t feel right.

Shuqing lived simply and had little interest in material things. Luxury bags and watches seemed expensive and impractical—Lin Feng was sure she wouldn’t like them.

“They’re not good enough,” Lin Feng said, draping herself over the tub’s edge with her arms as a pillow. She looked at Gu Yao. “I want to give her the very best.”

But what was the very best?

It had to be something Shuqing didn’t have—something she truly wanted.

What could it be?

Lin Feng frowned in distress.

Seeing Lin Feng’s troubled expression, Gu Yao racked her brain too before asking, “Do mermaids have any gifts with special meaning? Maybe Shuqing would love something like that.”

Lin Feng furrowed her brow. “A gift with special meaning…?”

Mermaids didn’t celebrate birthdays.

But… there was something like that.

In a mermaid’s long life, there were three major events: birth, death, and—in the witness of their homeland—forming a lifelong bond with a mate.

With male mermaids dwindling in the clan, pairings had become a thing of distant memory. Lin Feng had never witnessed one, but she’d heard from others that the key part of the ceremony was exchanging fresh scales peeled straight from the body. If the partner’s scale took root and grew on one’s tail, it meant their homeland blessed the union—they were fated lovers, bound forever.

Even if it didn’t grow, it didn’t matter. Their homeland was forgiving and would bless any sincere pair with safety and smooth sailing.

But Shuqing wasn’t a mermaid. How could her own scale grow on Shuqing?

Lin Feng felt a pang of sadness. She was convinced their love wouldn’t receive that blessing.

Unaware of what she’d stirred up, Gu Yao worriedly asked, “You okay? Did I say something wrong?”

Lin Feng shook her head and extended her tail from the water. Cradling her large blue tail, she looked up at Gu Yao. “Help me look—which scale is the prettiest?”

“Huh?” Gu Yao blinked, staring at Lin Feng’s massive, gorgeous tail. The scales shimmered with rainbow iridescence, like dazzling diamonds.

But…

“Aren’t they all pretty much the same?” Gu Yao asked, baffled. “What’s the difference?”

“Of course there’s a difference.” Lin Feng examined her scales one by one, even trying to teach Gu Yao how to distinguish them.

Sadly, to Gu Yao, they all looked identical—stunning, but identical.

Lin Feng’s heart sank.

She figured humans probably couldn’t tell her scales apart.

But that was okay.

Lin Feng was determined to pick the most beautiful one from her tail and give it to Shuqing.