Chapter 15

Zhang Jingzhu fell asleep after taking the medicine. The blanket covered her head, trapping in the heat and making her sweat profusely. Sick people can’t even sleep peacefully, their dreams are bizarre and they wake up with splitting headaches. She raised her hands to press against her temples, her body curled up in a ball. A heavy thud came from the kitchen.

She covered her ears.

So noisy…

Zhang Jingzhu belatedly realized the noise was coming from Cheng Shuinan. She dragged her tired body up, put on her slippers and walked towards the door. The floor was covered in water stains, and her brow furrowed slightly.

She followed the sound to the kitchen.

Inside the kitchen, a pot of clear soup noodles was boiling, steam rising. Cheng Shuinan stood in front of the pot, struggling to hold onto the countertop as he picked up a metal basin that had fallen to the ground. His fish tail was stretched out straight, the wide fins spread out on the floor like damp, luxurious silk. The two pectoral fins were pressed against his sides.

His black hair was curly and thick. The most common sight Zhang Jingzhu had seen of Cheng Shuinan was when he was submerged in water, his fish tail twirling behind him. Now, he was using his tail to support his upper body, his whole body suddenly raised, his black hair covering his broad back.

Zhang Jingzhu was a little uncomfortable. Especially when Cheng Shuinan, who was intently staring at the pot, had a blank expression on his face, his slightly red lips pursed, and his ear fins slightly retracted. His serious expression made him seem a bit unattainable. It was only then, without his usual gratitude and nervousness in front of her, that she suddenly realized he was a merman, a merman with sharp teeth.

Cheng Shuinan used his sharp, pointed teeth to tear open the sausage packaging, broke off half a sausage, placed it on the cutting board, and held a kitchen knife, pretending to cut it into slices. Then he put them in the steaming pot.

Zhang Jingzhu deliberately coughed twice.

Cheng Shuinan turned around abruptly.

Zhang Jingzhu smiled awkwardly. “…Did I scare you?”

Cheng Shuinan nodded, then shook his head. “Did I wake you up?”

Zhang Jingzhu pulled up a chair and sat down, resting her hands on the back of the chair, her chin resting on them. Her cheeks were still red, and her eyes were unfocused. She mumbled a vague “hmm,” lifted her eyelids, met Cheng Shuinan’s concerned gaze, her heart warmed, and she tilted her chin slightly, pointing at the bubbling pot.

“No, the noodles you made smell so good, I’m hungry.”

Cheng Shuinan turned around and turned off the stove.

He carried the steaming bowl of noodles to the table.

The noodles were cooked in a clear broth, with a few spinach leaves and sausage slices floating in it. It smelled delicious. Zhang Jingzhu hadn’t eaten much all day, and her stomach was empty. She picked up the bowl and started to eat.

Cheng Shuinan sat opposite her. “How does it taste?”

Zhang Jingzhu couldn’t speak, so she gave him a thumbs up and mumbled praise with her cheeks puffed out. “Delicious!”

Sweat beads appeared on her forehead, and her eyes became crystal clear in the rising steam from the noodles. Perhaps because she was weak, she was half-lying on the table.

Cheng Shuinan tentatively said, “Zhang Jingzhu… from now on, I’ll cook?”

He had never felt such a strong desire.

He wanted to stay.

He didn’t understand why his mother would give up the ocean she had given birth to and come to the human world. Now, he vaguely understood his mother’s persistence.

If it were Zhang Jingzhu, he would be willing to give up the ocean he longed for in his dreams.

Cheng Shuinan nervously stared at Zhang Jingzhu, his hands clasped together under the table. His fish tail, unlike him, didn’t seem as nervous. It seemed to have a mind of its own, slowly and silently approaching Zhang Jingzhu’s feet, which were stretched out on the table. The fins touched her feet subtly and then retracted.

Zhang Jingzhu: “Okay.”

Cheng Shuinan curved his lips and solemnly promised, “I’ll learn hard. Tomorrow, what do you want to eat?”

Zhang Jingzhu propped her face up with her hand. “You ask me that, I can’t think of anything right now. Just make what you know how to make,” she took a sip of the noodle broth and sincerely praised, “Is this the first time you’ve made noodles? It tastes really good!”

She finished the noodles, and Cheng Shuinan quickly took the empty bowl and hopped to the sink to wash it.

Seeing his walking posture, Zhang Jingzhu’s hazy brain vaguely remembered something, like a shooting star that disappeared in a flash. She turned and walked back to the bedroom. As soon as she lay down in the bed, she remembered .

She should buy a blanket to put on the floor, a fluffy one. His fish tail wouldn’t hurt when it rested on the floor.

Then she thought: Cheng Shuinan’s cooking is really good. She hadn’t eaten home-cooked meals in a long time, and she usually ordered takeout. She thought he was a pitiful merman who needed to be cared for after being injured, but he turned out to be a “magical girl” who could do everything?

She couldn’t think anymore, her head was splitting…

On the other side, Cheng Shuinan cleaned up the kitchen. He found a thick blanket and spread it on the floor. He lay down and rolled around on the blanket a few times, absorbing all the water on his body. He touched his tail, which was still a little damp, and Cheng Shuinan pursed his lips in disappointment.

Then, he went to the bathroom, picked up the hairdryer, turned it to the highest setting, and blew it towards himself. The warm air swirled around him, drying the water on his body. For a merman, this was tantamount to self-harm. Although they wouldn’t die out of water like ordinary fish, it was very uncomfortable if they lacked water, like throwing a human into a closed, oxygen-deprived room.

However, the tightness in his chest couldn’t compare to the pain of not being able to get close to Zhang Jingzhu.

Finally, after repeatedly confirming that his body was dry, he turned off the hairdryer. He nervously went to Zhang Jingzhu’s bedroom, slowly approached her, touched her furrowed brow, replayed the video in his mind, and his pale, dry fingers touched her brow, carefully massaging it.

Sick people are very vulnerable. Zhang Jingzhu, in a daze, felt her splitting head being gently pressed, and the comfortable pressure made her unconsciously hum twice, as if she had returned to her childhood, lying in her mother’s gentle arms.

She opened her eyes, and it was indeed Cheng Shuinan.

Her eyes were filled with moisture.

Zhang Jingzhu: “Aren’t you tired of standing?”

Cheng Shuinan: “I’m not tired. You sleep… I saw online that massage is very comfortable when you’re sick.”

“It is very comfortable,” Zhang Jingzhu lifted the covers and sat up, her fingers resting on his arm. It wasn’t as cold as she imagined, it was a little dry. Without thinking, she pulled his arm towards the bed. “…Sit down, don’t stand. Your tail will hurt.”

Cheng Shuinan stumbled and fell onto the soft bed.

His cheeks flushed instantly.

Zhang Jingzhu’s burning forehead rested against his cool tail. The hard, blade-like scales were carefully pressed against her, afraid of accidentally hurting her. Her arm pressed his pectoral fins down, and he didn’t dare move.

Cheng Shuinan stiffened.

Zhang Jingzhu blinked. “Are you tired?”

Cheng Shuinan’s brain didn’t react. “…Hmm?”

Zhang Jingzhu frowned. “My head hurts. Aren’t you going to massage it?”

Cheng Shuinan quickly put his hand on her forehead. The part of his tail that was pressed against her felt like it was next to a burning stove. An unfamiliar feeling swept through his body, and a strange liquid seemed to flow into his chest. This liquid made his brain stop thinking, and he only knew how to mechanically press Zhang Jingzhu’s forehead.

Zhang Jingzhu’s brain must have been burned by the temperature, because at this moment, all she could think about was .

Finally, she could freely touch Cheng Shuinan’s scales!

She deliberately placed her palm on his tail. There was no sticky water as she imagined. It was as if the water had been dried by the wind, and without the lubrication of the water, the scales felt hard. She tentatively touched them for a while and then withdrew her hand.

She mumbled in dissatisfaction. “Cheng Shuinan, are you dehydrated…”

Cheng Shuinan bent down. “What?”

Zhang Jingzhu: “There’s no water on it, it feels uncomfortable.”

“Is it bad to have no water? It will wet your bed.”

“……So what? I like it.”

Cheng Shuinan’s tail swayed slightly. His lips curled up uncontrollably. “Then, then I won’t blow it anymore.”

Once again, Zhang Jingzhu was grateful that she hadn’t given up on the merman out of fear. Bringing him home was the best decision she had made in her twenty-plus years of life.

She had never had anyone comfort her gently when she was sick, or specially cook a bowl of hot noodles. Even if the noodles didn’t taste good, the warmth in her heart at that moment would be enough to turn the bland noodles into the most delicious food in the world. And besides, Cheng Shuinan’s cooking was quite good.

She could still feel the aftertaste of the noodles.

Perhaps because Cheng Shuinan was there to keep her company, what was originally a trivial cold for Zhang Jingzhu turned into a “serious illness” that made her unable to even move. She lay weakly in the warm bed, her forehead resting against Cheng Shuinan’s tail.

Cheng Shuinan’s hands gradually found their rhythm, gently pressing on her temples.

Zhang Jingzhu squinted comfortably.

Cheng Shuinan’s gentle attitude made her feel like pushing her luck.

She remembered something that had made her envious, something that she had been brooding over until now.

Once, Gu Xinyi was hospitalized, and Zhao Jing was in another city and couldn’t come back. Gu Linan was on a business trip, so they asked Zhang Jingzhu to take care of Gu Xinyi. She stayed in the hospital with Gu Xinyi, accompanying her with IV drips until late at night. Suddenly, Gu Linan appeared in the ward, having flown back from his business trip.

Gu Linan repeatedly expressed his gratitude. He walked to the bedside, and Gu Xinyi, who had woken up, threw herself into Gu Linan’s arms, whining for her father.

Gu Linan, who had learned of his daughter’s illness, dropped everything and flew back to Qingcheng City. Gu Xinyi was held in Gu Linan’s arms, and the man hummed an unknown song in a gentle voice. The person in his arms was his most treasured treasure.

Zhang Jingzhu’s father had never done that.

And no one had ever treated her like their most treasured treasure.

She had only had herself from a young age.

With a hint of expectation, Zhang Jingzhu lowered her voice. “…Cheng Shuinan, sing me a song.”

Cheng Shuinan lowered his head.

Zhang Jingzhu’s eyes were filled with mist, her cheeks flushed from the fever. Her voice had always been gentle, but this was the first time he had seen her with a vulnerable, pleading expression.

Cheng Shuinan had never sung a song.

He had never heard any beautiful songs either.

But he couldn’t refuse.

The merman’s voice, like a babbling brook, played a beautiful melody. It was a melody that Zhang Jingzhu had never heard before, and it didn’t sound like any song. It felt like it touched her soul.

He hummed casually.

Zhang Jingzhu closed her eyes and listened intently.

“What song is this? I’ve never heard it.”

Cheng Shuinan shook his head. “I don’t know either. I just hummed it randomly.”

“You can hum so beautifully just randomly.”

Cheng Shuinan blushed, as if he liked hearing her praise him. He nodded modestly. “Merfolk are born singers. Although I haven’t heard any songs, it’s as if I can hear familiar melodies in the depths of my memory… Unfortunately, I can’t remember them…”

“Then just hum randomly. I like listening.”

Cheng Shuinan’s willingness to do whatever she asked greatly pleased Zhang Jingzhu, who was sick. Even the pain in her body seemed to lessen. She gradually closed her eyes in his gentle melody, sleepiness washing over her.

This was the first time she had been cared for so thoughtfully while she was sick.

No, not a person, but a merman.

The bedside lamp in the bedroom cast a warm yellow light.

Cheng Shuinan’s body was dehydrated. His dry lips were cracked, his cheeks were pale and bloodless, but his eyes held a shy smile. His tail was carefully pressed against Zhang Jingzhu’s cheek, and her shallow breaths blew on his tail.

It tickled.

The melody he hummed changed.

At this moment, he didn’t know that when merfolk matured, they would naturally hum love songs. It was a memory etched in their blood.

Cheng Shuinan hummed continuously with his young, tender voice.

The scales on his lower back had already changed, becoming darker and duller, slightly opening.

This was a sign of impending maturity.