“Fufu, Fufu again.”
Jin Fuxiao with great effort pushed away the person clinging to her body. Although the woman had lost her memory, Peng Hu’s talents in certain areas remained extraordinarily exceptional.
For example, taking off clothes felt as though she had gained several extra hands.
After Peng Hu left, Jin Fuxiao had experienced many strange and bizarre dreams.
For instance, dreams where Peng Hu had died in some corner of the ocean, clinging to her while dripping wet, telling her that she was not allowed to look for anyone else.
Or dreams where Peng Hu suddenly turned into a monster, though not the conventional type of spirits and monsters like foxes, tigers, snakes, or carp, as those were all far too ordinary.
Instead, she would turn into a glowing light bulb, with tens of thousands of illuminated tungsten filaments becoming a binding trap that left Jin Fuxiao completely unable to move.
People always said that dreams were a reflection of reality, and Jin Fuxiao knew she simply could not let go of Peng Hu.
Peng Hu had left behind a divorce agreement as a final farewell, seemingly unconcerned if Jin Fuxiao sought someone else. That lingering entanglement in her dreams felt more like proof that Jin Fuxiao herself refused to let it end.
Turning into a tungsten light bulb spirit was also one of the rare, clear demonstrations of Peng Hu’s personal preferences.
Aside from enjoying keeping various marine creatures, Peng Hu was exceptionally fond of old-fashioned light bulbs.
When Jin Fuxiao asked her why, Peng Hu, who had simply appeared at the port out of nowhere, merely shook her head in confusion.
She could never state a reason. Her eloquence was far inferior to Jin Fuxiao’s sharp tongue, yet she was neither truly mute nor incapable of expressing herself.
Peng Hu could express her own needs, and she could also understand what Jin Fuxiao needed.
Even if she had forgotten what Jin Fuxiao looked like growing up, she could still feel the longing of the person right before her eyes.
“You are Fufu all grown up.”
This grown up was likely meant in the literal sense, but given the current situation, as the person lying on her chest kissed the faint marks on Jin Fuxiao’s chest, it took on quite a different meaning.
“Then which one do you want?”
After asking, Jin Fuxiao felt that they would never get things sorted out if they kept going back and forth like this. She simply wrapped her arms around Peng Hu’s waist and pressed her down. “Peng Hu, do you remember that you and Fufu left the fish ball factory?”
It seemed that kissing really could relieve pain, as Peng Hu no longer whimpered from the aching.
Her long hair scattered over each other like the tiny floating tentacles of a Turritopsis dohrnii in the water, looking even more like a cascading waterfall of tungsten filaments.
Her silence was her answer.
Jin Fuxiao asked again: “Then do you remember which dormitory number you lived in at the fish ball factory?”
“Dormitory Number One.”
“I am Number One.”
She raised her eyes to look at Jin Fuxiao.
Zhou Qi’s eyes looked very pure just like hers, whereas an adult woman’s eyes lacked lustre, appearing lifeless and dull.
This was indeed the twenty-year-old Peng Hu who had lived in Dormitory Number Eight at the fish ball factory, occupying six rusty iron bunk beds all by herself.
Back then, Jin Fuxiao had forcefully moved in and ultimately chose to sleep on the bed opposite Peng Hu.
Looking back now, that was her very first time living in a double room.
Even before going out to work, she had never possessed her own room in her hometown, having to squeeze together with her mother and elder sister instead.
That roommate, who was good-looking to an almost monstrous degree, acted more like a plant, waking up early every day to eat, work, take a noon break, wash clothes, continue working, eat, and sleep.
It was the exact same routine continuously. While others would always bring up fresh topics of conversation, only Peng Hu kept entirely to herself.
Even on rest days, she wore her work uniform and never stepped outside.
Jin Fuxiao had even suspected that Peng Hu received this kind of treatment because she had connections.
The fish ball factory was a family business. The factory director was a bearded man who was always running around outside doing sales, while the person managing the factory was his wife, who was also the actual boss.
It was she who had picked up Peng Hu at the port. She had even taken Peng Hu to the local police station, but there were no identity records whatsoever.
As a woman who had navigated the business world for years, the boss was also a mother who knew how dangerous it was for a girl who was beautiful, memoryless, and not particularly clever to be out on her own.
She asked Peng Hu if she was willing to work at her factory, and Peng Hu simply said oh.
Being beautiful meant attracting unwanted attention. Even with the boss looking out for her, whenever the boss was not around, she became a target for bullying.
Peng Hu did not care at first, but the others grew increasingly aggressive in their bullying and made up lies claiming she had some sort of improper relationship with the boss.
Newcomers were strictly forbidden from approaching her.
However, as time went on, an incident eventually occurred.
The person who targeted Peng Hu the most went outside to play on a rest day and was struck and killed by a motorcycle.
The group that bullied her quieted down for a while, until a new ringleader stepped up to continue doing the same things.
A week later, the newly chosen ringleader went out and died as well, reportedly choking to death while eating a mantou bun while walking.
That way of dying was both unlucky and dramatic. Starting from an unknown day, everyone attributed it all to Peng Hu bringing bad luck.
Although those people died outside, they were still employees of the factory, so out of humanitarian grounds, compensation had to be paid.
The boss cursed furiously and called Peng Hu in for a talk.
People in coastal areas relied on the sea for a living and would always pray to Mazu before heading out to sea, so they naturally believed in gods, ghosts, and spirits.
The boss asked Peng Hu if she knew about it.
The girl remained just as she was when they first met, her eyes lifeless as she shook her head, too lazy to speak.
In the three months she had been working, two coworkers had died. Although there was no direct connection, it was indeed quite cursed.
The boss originally intended to tell her to leave, but upon meeting that beautiful face and her completely non-aggressive temperament, along with her arm muscles that had become increasingly toned from long hours of labor, she swallowed her words back down.
Not to mention that the girl’s name was chosen by herself, and she was so extraordinarily pretty. Her own biological daughter looked like a mango, not even one-tenth as beautiful as Peng Hu.
Forget it.
Consider it an act of charity to accumulate good karma. Besides, this girl could do the work of several people all by herself while eating very little.
All of this was told to Jin Fuxiao by her coworkers after she joined the factory.
The final outcome was that no one was willing to live with Peng Hu, and rumors spread that staying near Peng Hu would cause death.
This was a different form of isolation.
Yet Peng Hu, who came from nowhere, did not care at all. She moved to Dormitory Number One and repeated the exact same life every single day.
Until Jin Fuxiao barged into her life.
“Did you hear me?”
“I am Number One.”
Seeing that Jin Fuxiao did not speak, the woman clinging to her body, who possessed the face of twenty-year-old Peng Hu, repeated herself.
“I know, Number One Peng Hu.”
Jin Fuxiao grabbed her slender fingers that were reaching out and asked the face right in front of her, “Does your head not hurt anymore?”
“If Fufu kisses me, it gets better.”
Her ethereal voice sounded excessively cute when using repeated words, a way of speaking that even a five-year-old child would not use.
Jin Fuxiao felt a bit guilty again, as if she were doing something bad while taking advantage of her wife’s memory loss.
What wife?
She snorted softly.
Just an ex-wife.
“Did you not say I am prettier than her, so I am not her?”
Jin Fuxiao lifted the bangs that covered Peng Hu’s eyes, suspecting that Zhou Qi’s bangs were also cut by Peng Hu, except Peng Hu’s had been cut a long time ago, so they did not look quite as jaggedly chewed by a dog.
“But it works as long as you kiss me.”
The woman blinked in confusion, her lips tentatively pressing against Jin Fuxiao’s collarbone to make a popping kiss sound.
“Only Fufu can make my pain go away.”
“Then just treat me as Fufu.”
Jin Fuxiao had many questions she wanted to ask, but right now there was a far more important matter that needed to be resolved.
A woman in her thirties was at the peak of her hormonal drive. Just because she had rejected so many perfect blind date candidates and debunked the rumors of devouring ten female bodyguards in a single night did not mean she lacked desire.
“Treat you as Fufu?”
“Did you not say that you are?”
The appearance of a Turritopsis dohrnii through its iterative cycles could be chosen. Back then, Peng Hu had felt the calling of her species, which meant that journey had reached its end point as well.
If she did not leave, her emotions would disappear too, so it was better to make a choice first.
She left Jin Fuxiao because she did not know whether her plan would succeed, and she also left behind a divorce agreement.
In theory, each of them owned half of the company, but those things were meaningless to a jellyfish.
An immortal species living at the bottom of the ocean knew best how to pass the time, and also knew that everything was ultimately meaningless.
She was merely accompanying her wife to play a game in the mortal realm.
However, that game felt more like a youth mode to her, where her species had capped her entertainment time limit.
When the time came, she had to return to her homeland to remove the restriction.
Once removed, she would remember nothing.
Perhaps she would appear at some port just as she had when becoming Peng Hu, or perhaps she would spend a brand new life as a newborn jellyfish in the deep sea.
Do not forget Jin Fuxiao.
Do not forget Fuxiao.
Do not forget the world.
Peng Hu repeated it constantly, fighting against the tragic destiny of immortal cycles, and encountered Dai Buyu in the ocean, whom she had met before.
It was even harder for a hairtail fish to become human.
She was the only one of her kind in her species, so she went out to sea as a fisherman. All the fish she caught were her foolish fellow species members, and she had already become the Hairtail Queen of a remote fishing village.
“Go find Stygiomedusa.”
“The largest one. I saw her give advice to the red-tailed mermaid before.”
Peng Hu looked deep into Jin Fuxiao’s eyes, uncertain of what she was thinking, seemingly looking even more conflicted. “Doing this is not good.”
Jin Fuxiao did not care to bother with so much. Her much younger wife seemed to hold many secrets, but right now, even if the King of Heaven arrived, she still wanted to do something else.
“If I say it is good, then it is good.”
“Did you not say that a kiss from me can stop the pain?”
A familiar voice, a familiar gaze, yet Peng Hu still had not made any move.
Jin Fuxiao pressed her downward. “Hurry up.”
“It does not matter if you forgot me. Your body will tell you what you still remember.”
“Whether you treat me as her or I really am her, you can only do this kind of thing with me.”
The woman’s hair color was also close to dawn, while her body was even softer than a fish. Along with Peng Hu waking up, the pain disappeared because of her physical entanglement with Jin Fuxiao.
Instinct drove the cycling Turritopsis dohrnii to act, even if from beginning to end, all she could say was calling out Fufu.
Jin Fuxiao did not care.
She was Fufu, she was Jin Furong, and she was also Jin Fuxiao.
Nothing was more wonderful than regaining what was lost like this. At least Peng Hu was alive.
However, she had forgotten that Peng Hu had brought back a child. Just as she was about to reach the peak of joy, Zhou Qi’s voice echoed from far to near:
“Mommy! Auntie Wu Tou is on the phone!”
The ringtone on her children’s smartwatch came from some unknown cartoon, constantly looping with a continuous ringing sound that resonated with an annoying echo, driving people crazy.
Peng Hu, who was deeply immersed in passion, suddenly snapped back to her senses. “My daughter, Xiao Qi.”
She was about to lift the blanket just like that, but Jin Fuxiao swiftly pressed her back down, her voice carrying a faint resentment from being unfulfilled: “At least put on some clothes.”
The little child did not know what her mommies were doing. She only knew what kissing was, walking up to the bedside and asking, “Have you finished kissing?”
Her smartwatch was glowing, displaying an icon of a squid for the incoming call. Peng Hu, who originally wanted to get out of bed, was bitten by Jin Fuxiao, so she had no choice but to poke her head out from under the blanket. “Answer it yourself.”
“I told her you were very busy, but Auntie Wu Tou said she has something very important to tell you.”
Jin Fuxiao felt somewhat annoyed. “Why is there another auntie? Just how many aunties do you have?”
As Zhou Qi was counting on her fingers, Peng Hu spotted the mobile phone lying on the floor that had broken into two halves. “My phone is broken.”
Zhou Qi saw it as well. “What a pity. Let Auntie Hairtail repair it.”
Jin Fuxiao did not know what was worth caring about over a broken phone. “We can just buy another one.”
“Xiao Qi, you go outside first.”
Zhou Qi took off her smartwatch and handed it to Peng Hu. “Auntie Wu Tou’s phone call.”
Peng Hu’s memory was an utter mess. Although her body had been remade, the memory fragments that failed to load completely would occasionally show a certain scene.
Regarding this aspect.
She answered Wu Tou’s call while tapping Jin Fuxiao’s waist. Jin Fuxiao instinctively lowered her waist to accommodate Peng Hu’s movements.
“Peng Hu, why can your phone not be reached?”
The female voice on the other end was icy cold. There were many creatures in the sea, and the probability of a squid turning into a human was higher than that of a hairtail fish, but most of them looked down on humans and preferred to stay in the deep sea long term.
Wu Tou was an exception. She liked human stories and also wanted to create many stories.
“It broke.” Peng Hu’s long hair draped over her chest. On the surface, answering the phone while covered by the blanket looked like nothing unusual, but her other hand was extremely busy.
“Is your mental state definitely able to appear on my show?”
Wu Tou had been living as a human for nearly forty years, and she understood the rules of the entertainment industry very clearly.
If it were not for the fact that the originally chosen guests suddenly remarried, she would not have agreed to Dai Buyu’s request either.
A Turritopsis dohrnii was a very rare species. Such cycling, immortal creatures rarely developed consciousness, let alone being able to conceive a brand new life that did not belong to a backup under special circumstances.
Friends among the sea species had shared news about Zhou Qi with Wu Tou.
That was her true reason for agreeing.
However, Peng Hu’s mental state was far too fragile. Forcibly splitting and stripping memories, only to input memories again, was like a recurring blood bag, bound to create confusion and backlash.
Her ability to appear once again was achieved only after long periods of self-care practice, ensuring she could act like a proper human being within human society at the very least.
However, living in Dai Buyu’s sea domain, she generally would not face any danger.
“Mental state? Are you referring to my headache?”
Peng Hu lowered her eyes. Her hair color and eye color were both far too rare, unlike Dai Buyu, whose true form was at most reflected in her hobbies and name.
Last week she had met with Wu Tou, talking nonsense from her severe headache, and ultimately fainted.
Zhou Qi had cried until her eyes were nearly swollen before she finally woke up.
“What else could it be?”
“Although the show is only twenty days long, the station changed it to a live broadcast. If you suddenly turn into a jellyfish, then all of us will be completely finished.”
Peng Hu’s movements paused, and Jin Fuxiao, who was currently enjoying herself, urged her on.
Her hand had no choice but to continue, while her thoughts remained somewhat sluggish. “It will not happen.”
“Unless I suffer major harm.”
Her memories were fragmented, and she would always forget that Fufu had already become Jin Fuxiao, though instinct would guide her.
“Your show should be very safe.”
Wu Tou could not think of any accident that would make Peng Hu turn into a jellyfish on the spot either. For the sea species, that was practically equivalent to ruining the rest of one’s life, as one might never be able to turn back into a human again.
Wu Tou’s deep contemplation made Peng Hu feel uneasy.
She did not possess complete memories of making a deal with Stygiomedusa herself, but Zhou Qi had told her the whole story from start to finish.
Including the curse: if she let Jin Fuxiao know her true identity, she would turn into sea foam.
It was practically the exact same treatment as the Little Mermaid.
She could not tell Jin Fuxiao why she left and returned, nor could she tell her how Zhou Qi came to be.
Yet there were still conditions.
“When I am with Fufu, my head does not hurt.”
She thought about it and said.
“The two of you are each other’s ex-wives, so of course you are together.”
Wu Tou also felt it was troublesome, but there was no other way, as she was curious about this story as well.
The documentary back then was not filmed by her, and the person who shot it had already passed away.
She also wanted to leave a footprint in this story and witness the real ending.
“However…”
Wu Tou said, “To meet the needs of the show, they will definitely ask why you got divorced and how your relationship changed. Have you not lost your memory?”
Peng Hu gave a soft hum. “Do I need to pretend that I have not lost my memory?”
That was also very difficult, as Wu Tou knew what kind of state Peng Hu was currently in.
She thought for a moment. “Let us just leave it like this. It can be considered a highlight point as well.”
“However, you cannot reveal any of your true identity… what is that sound?”
Peng Hu looked down, saying, “It is nothing. I am hanging up.”
The phone was placed carefully to the side, and Peng Hu was about to recharge herself a bit more, but she was already pressed beneath another body.
Jin Fuxiao’s eyes were misty with desire as she bumped her body against Peng Hu’s body that she had warmed up. “If you are not doing it, then I am leaving.”