Chapter 14: Touching the Fish

Lan Qian, who had been worrying, began to sincerely hope that Jiang Yang’s enthusiasm would only last for three days. After all, a fish, no matter how good-looking, was still a different species. She hoped that Jiang Yang would quickly get tired of it after satisfying her curiosity, just like the courtesans in the brothel before.

Although Jiang Yang was dissolute and prodigal, she was also known for her gentleness towards delicate flowers. With her good family background and exceptional looks, she had even enchanted many courtesans, making them take the initiative to fawn over her, crying and begging her to accept them.

But after all, Jiang Yang was the legitimate second daughter of a prestigious family. She had seen all kinds of men. She was promiscuous yet sober, just playing around. Once she put on her skirt, she wouldn’t recognize anyone. It was a pity for those courtesans who wept in front of the mirror every day, hoping that Jiang Yang would visit again, but Jiang Yang never came back.

Thinking of this, Lan Qian calmed down quite a bit and snorted coldly, “Don’t be too smug. After all, you’re just a fish. Our Second Miss is just playing with you. Maybe she’ll be tired of you before the ship even reaches the shore.”

“Shut up! Ah Yang wouldn’t treat me like that.” Chi Mei was angry and wanted to slap her, but he refrained because she was Jiang Yang’s personal maid. However, her words did remind Chi Mei.

Seeing the crew’s extremely respectful attitude towards Jiang Yang, her background must be good, probably from a noble family or something. With her good looks, gentle personality, and no family ties, even in the sea, such a female mermaid would be the object of secret admiration for countless male mermaids. Then there must be many men on the shore who had their eyes on her. That wouldn’t do!

Lan Qian saw his impotent rage and laughed loudly, “What if I shut up? This is the truth. You don’t know how many men on the shore are waiting for our lady’s favor. You’re just a plaything.”

“I’m not a plaything. Ah Yang is sincere to me.” Chi Mei said angrily.

Lan Qian sneered, “That’s what the courtesans in the brothel said when they were fighting for favor. Tsk, they really don’t know their place.”

“You–” Chi Mei’s anger swelled. He had just driven away three flirtatious men, and there would definitely be more seductive and whorish men trying to seduce Ah Yang in the future. Thinking about the future, with many flirtatious men embracing his Ah Yang, making love to her, impregnating her and having children with her, the anger in his chest seemed to surge even more.

No, he couldn’t just sit and wait for his doom.

—

Although Lan Qian disliked Chi Mei, she still followed Jiang Yang’s orders and added new tables, chairs, and stools to the room. For the convenience of lighting, she even specially picked out a lamp pillar from the Nalong Kingdom.

The pillar was made of ordinary wood, but the lampshade was made of extremely smooth and polished sea moon shells. This kind of shell only lived in the southeastern coastal area and was extremely thin and clear, like deep-sea dragon scales. The shells were pieced together by craftsmen into the shape of a lotus flower, with a special place in the center of the lotus to put candles. At night, when the candles were lit, the orange-yellow warm light would be cast on the sea moon shells, refracting a magnificent light like seven-colored glaze, looking extraordinarily gorgeous.

So much so that when Jiang Yang brought Angry Bird to see the handsome merman, her attention was immediately drawn to it. “Wow, what a glowing white lotus.”

Jiang Yang marveled at this ‘prosperous white lotus’, while Chi Mei’s eyes showed a hint of desolation. What was so good about a shell-made lampstand? There were countless such lampstands in his palace in the ocean. And there was no need for fire for lighting at all. Night pearls could be used for lighting directly, with a gentle luster that wasn’t dazzling, much better than this.

He tugged at Jiang Yang’s sleeve. “Ah Yang, what’s so good about a lamp? Look at me.”

But Jiang Yang was already immersed in it, not even glancing at him.

Chi Mei pursed his lips, feeling a little displeased. Suddenly, he felt a gaze staring straight at him. He looked up and saw a strange bird with a pair of dark, lusterless big eyes staring at him.

Chi Mei was startled. “Ah Yang, what is this?”

Jiang Yang heard the panic in Chi Mei’s voice. She took Angry Bird, who was standing on her shoulder, and held it in her hand. “I don’t know what breed of bird it is either. It was a gift from my elder sister, called Hua Xiao.”

Ever since Jiang Yang accidentally learned that Angry Bird liked deep-fried big spiders, her intimacy points with it had risen exponentially. In order to eat deep-fried big spiders, it no longer sprayed bird droppings at Jiang Yang, but instead stuck to her every day.

Jiang Yang wanted to see the handsome merman, and this strange bird had been following her all along. The world of a foodie was truly simple.

Chi Mei came to his senses and looked at Hua Xiao, saying without hesitation, “So ugly.”

Angry Bird glared, as if it was about to breathe fire.

Jiang Yang quickly took out a deep-fried big spider and gave it to the bird. “You can’t tell the truth like that. Angry Bird has a very bad temper and is a male. It cares the most about its peerless beauty and hates it when people call it ugly. If you say that to it, it will peck people.”

After eating the big spider, Angry Bird’s anger subsided a little, but its eyes were still unfriendly when it looked at Chi Mei.

Chi Mei closed his mouth in embarrassment.

“Here you go.” Jiang Yang handed him a small pair of tweezers and a box of deep-fried big spiders.

Chi Mei looked at Jiang Yang with slight surprise in his eyes.

Jiang Yang winked at him and smiled. “It’s just a foodie. If you feed it a big spider, it won’t be angry with you anymore.”

Chi Mei’s face inexplicably turned red, and his earlobes also showed a pinkish color. Jiang Yang had just given him a charming wink, making his whole body tremble.

With trembling hands, he picked up the small tweezers, grabbed a big spider, and brought it to Angry Bird’s mouth. Angry Bird’s displeased eyes instantly turned into a deep longing for the big spider. It pecked with its sharp beak and tilted its head back, swallowing the entire big spider. Its fluffy little belly bulged, and its anger towards Chi Mei disappeared in an instant.

“Heh.” Chi Mei chuckled at Angry Bird’s simple-minded appearance while eating the big spider.

“Ah Yang, it looks so soft.” Chi Mei said softly.

Although Angry Bird looked weird and strange, its feathers were exceptionally full. Under the outermost layer of large feathers, there was also a layer of thick, small down, making its entire body appear round and plump, like a glutinous rice ball that was about to explode after rolling in coconut flakes. Just looking at it made one’s hands itch, wanting to squeeze it.

“Can I touch it?” Chi Mei couldn’t restrain himself anymore and asked.

Jiang Yang thought about the bird’s nature of being uninhibited as long as it was given deep-fried big spiders and nodded. “You can.”

Chi Mei happily fed it another deep-fried big spider, satisfying Angry Bird’s gluttony. Chi Mei then excitedly reached out his hand and carefully touched its small round head lightly.

Angry Bird frowned, turned its head 180 degrees, and stared at Chi Mei, looking a bit creepy.

Chi Mei’s hand stopped in midair, holding his breath, thinking that his rough movement had made it uncomfortable and that it was going to peck him.

But Angry Bird only glanced at him and continued to lower its head to eat the spider.

Chi Mei breathed a sigh of relief, becoming even bolder. He took Angry Bird from Jiang Yang’s hand and carefully held it in his palm. His long and slender fingers gently pinched its round and plump little belly. Under the fluffy feeling, Angry Bird’s body temperature also penetrated his palm.

“It let me touch it. It let me touch it.” Chi Mei raised the corners of his eyebrows and smiled innocently. When he looked at Jiang Yang, his inky black eyes were clear and moving with laughter.

In his excitement, the handsome merman fed Angry Bird three more big spiders. Angry Bird, who had no guard against the feeder, ate until it was full and even lay directly in the handsome merman’s palm, rubbing against it and falling asleep. Its small and soft body curled up into a ball, and the originally round and plump little bird now looked even more like a lump of glutinous rice cake.

Chi Mei laughed softly, with shallow dimples. “Ah Yang, its feathers feel so comfortable, so soft and beautiful.”

Jiang Yang propped her chin and smiled. “Your scales are also very beautiful.”

Chi Mei’s expression changed abruptly, and a blush quickly rushed from his neck to his face like a tidal wave.

He bit his lip, lowered his eyes, and whispered, “Then… then Ah Yang can touch them too.”

Jiang Yang was a little surprised. “Didn’t you not allow me to touch you before? You weren’t happy even when I poked your face.”

Chi Mei blushed. “It wasn’t allowed before, but now… Ah Yang can touch me.”

Before, although he knew that Jiang Yang deeply loved him, after all, he hadn’t had a change of heart at that time. He couldn’t be a frivolous fish. But now it was different. He and Ah Yang had mutual affection for each other. He didn’t reject her touch at all. On the contrary, he even had a hidden expectation.

Moreover, the tail of the merman clan was an extremely sensitive part. Touching the tail was a way of courtship and intimacy for the merman clan. It was rare for Ah Yang to take the initiative to ask for him. In such a wonderful time and beautiful scenery, he would not refuse.

With the previous example of those three flirtatious men, Chi Mei was eager to quickly turn the uncooked rice into cooked rice and become Ah Yang’s fish as soon as possible. This way, in the future, he could rightfully drive away those shameless flirtatious men.

Chi Mei put Angry Bird on a small table beside him. The sleeping Angry Bird was soft and milky, rolling over and curling up its small dumpling-like body, continuing to sleep peacefully.

He took a deep breath, bit his lips tightly, suppressing his heart that was about to jump out, and actively raised his tail, gently resting it on the edge of the water bucket, only an inch away from Jiang Yang, in a posture of waiting to be picked.

Jiang Yang raised her eyebrows. It seemed that this fish had gradually changed from initially rejecting humans to trusting humans and no longer resisting human physical contact.

Jiang Yang was smug in her heart. It seemed that her fish-taming technique was still very effective!

A handsome merman delivered to her doorstep, it would be a waste not to touch him. Who knew how much she coveted the fishtail of the handsome merman?

A mermaid! A handsome merman that only appeared in fairy tales! Touching a mermaid’s tail with her own hands, this transmigration journey was not in vain.

Jiang Yang’s gaze lingered back and forth on his glaze-like fishtail. It had to be said that looking at a beauty under the lamp, hazy and indistinct, was like flowing light gilded. The handsome merman’s long hair swayed in the water, his bones and skin were white and delicate like flawless beautiful jade, with a faint cherry blossom pink, and a charming flush spread from the corners of his eyes.

Jiang Yang reached out her hand and tentatively touched his fishtail lightly. The touch was delicate and cool, not as cold and lifeless as imagined, more like a beautiful jade with a lower temperature, suitable to be held in the palm and played with properly.

The moment she touched the fishtail, Chi Mei clenched his hands into fists, lowered his head in embarrassment and anticipation, his Adam’s apple rolling as if something was about to come out but was forcibly suppressed.

Jiang Yang’s fingers roamed on the fishtail. Every place they slid over seemed to feel the tense muscles under the scales, but Jiang Yang didn’t care, thinking that the fishtail of a merman was born sensitive. But this feeling was too wonderful, the smooth and delicate scales were like touching jade in the water, and the water ripples seemed to have a temperature, making people reluctant to let go.