“This is a spicy konjac snack. It’s unhealthy; only we humans can eat it,” Su Yi said, pulling out a tissue to wipe her mouth. “Xiangzhang, you can’t have any.”
Before her voice had even faded, Cheng Lele said excitedly, “Grandma, look! I didn’t even tell her Xiangzhang’s name, but she already knew. Xiangzhang must have told her himself. Now you believe me, right? This streamer really can communicate with animals. We’ll know soon what Xiangzhang wants to say before he goes.”
Su Yi secretly thought that was a close call—she almost exposed herself.
This was the benefit of knowing a “foreign language” that no one else understood.
She nodded without changing her expression. “Yes, Xiangzhang told me himself.”
As she spoke, she turned her gaze toward the subject of this communication.
It was a swordtail guppy, only four or five centimeters long. Its dorsal and tail fins were a riot of colors, with small blue-black circular spots resembling a peacock’s tail feathers.
It was highly ornamental and would have been beautiful swimming in the water, but at this moment, it looked like a frail old man in his twilight years, no longer able to move its body.
Although she had once been sarcastically scolded for not serving this “fish ancestor” well enough, seeing it approach the end of its life now—
“Give me a bite! Just one bite! I’m dying anyway, so just one bite and I can go on my way in peace! Oh, wait a second, did I introduce myself? I didn’t, right? Am I getting Alzheimer’s?”
The weak yet eager voice, which then turned into confusion, accompanied by a slight splash, interrupted the sentimentality of Su Yi witnessing the end of a fish’s life.
Su Yi: “…”
Outside the camera’s view, Old Lady Cheng was elegant and dignified, though her eyes were red. Seeing the situation, she furrowed her brows. “Lele, why have you started watching these so-called livestreams? Understanding animal languages is nothing but a gimmick to attract attention—marketing hype. Xiangzhang is fading; let him go peacefully. Why put him through all this trouble? Your grandfather is watching from above; if he knew his most precious fish suffered like this at the end, he would surely be unhappy.”
Seeing the fish, which had been floating quietly, begin to move uncomfortably—though it only stirred a few ripples—she felt even more distressed.
“Grandma, wait just a bit longer, it’s real!” Cheng Lele grew anxious, holding back the old lady who was about to stand up, and shouted an urge: “Xiao Su, hurry up and ask the questions!”
She was afraid that if they dawdled any longer, the fish would flip its belly and go see the Old Master.
Su Yi ignored her and asked the guppy directly, “Xiangzhang, do you have any last words you want to tell them?”
She wasn’t subtle at all. She could see that this was an open-minded fish that faced death calmly.
“Eh? Last words?” The guppy seemed a bit dazed. “I don’t have anything special to say. From the bird and flower market where I shared a bunk with other fish, to being brought back by Old Cheng to live in a luxury single room, soaking in mountain spring water changed daily and eating fresh, top-tier delicacies… my life has been one big ‘started from the bottom now we’re way, way up.’ It’s basically been a ‘carp leaping over the Dragon Gate’ story. Many humans don’t even live as well as I do, haha. This old fish hasn’t lived in vain; I die with no regrets!”
Su Yi: “…” My fragile heart has been stabbed again.
Humans are inferior to fish… truly inferior to fish.
“What did it say?” Cheng Lele urged again.
Su Yi smiled. “It says it lived a very happy life and has no regrets or anything specific to say.”
She then repeated the original words.
【Holy crap, never mind being inferior to dogs, how can we be inferior to fish? I could accept being inferior to some precious pedigree fish, but how can I be inferior to a ten-yuan fish from the bird and flower market!】
【The fish’s life is my dream… a true ‘carp leaping over the Dragon Gate.’】
【I do cosplay; I can cosplay as a little fishy. Can some rich person take me away, waaaah?】
【I thought rich people were all like my idiot boss, liking to spend hundreds of thousands on a single fish, haha.】
“Is that it?”
Cheng Lele froze for a moment, then tried to comfort the old lady. “See how happy Xiangzhang is? This is a ‘joyous funeral.’ Don’t be too sad.” However, she saw the old lady’s lips curl into a mocking smirk. “Did you really need to be told that?”
Old Lady Cheng didn’t consider herself a sharp-tongued person; she was usually gentle with others. Even toward the petty daughter brought by her son-in-law, she never showed a cold face—at most, she ignored her. But at this moment, she couldn’t help but mock a young girl she had never even met through a screen.
It was simply because her mood was terrible, and this was essentially nonsense. One didn’t need a brain to know that a fish in a household like theirs couldn’t possibly be unhappy. Therefore, this little streamer was just pretending to be a medium to scam people.
“Lele, you are too naive. Don’t watch these kinds of streams in the future, lest you be deceived by some nonsensical person.” Old Lady Cheng’s blunt mockery made Su Yi, who had intended to end the connection quickly, change her mind.
High-society households have the best gossip.
She gave a wicked smile, pretending not to hear the old lady’s disparagement, and asked curiously, “Xiangzhang, you have a great memory to still remember the bird and flower market. I’m a bit curious… you’re a guppy, and—uh, not that I’m discriminating against fish breeds, but I’m genuinely curious—”
“Curious how a fish that only sells for ten yuan could catch a rich man’s eye and be brought back to be pampered, right? Hmph, young human, haven’t you heard of the saying, ‘Are kings and nobles born to their status?’ So what if I’m cheap? I may be cheap, but my ‘added value’ is high, understand?” The guppy struggled to wag its tail.
Su Yi played along: “Wow, what kind of added value? Is it because you’re beautiful?”
The guppy huffed twice. “Vulgar. I am beautiful, of course, but there are plenty of fish more beautiful than me. Why was I chosen? Naturally, it’s because…”
It dragged out its tone, wanting to see her reaction, but suddenly jumped in fright. “Why do you, young human, look like an alien? I was wondering how a human could understand what I’m saying—turns out you’re an alien.”
At this point, Cheng Lele could no longer contain herself. “What riddles are you two talking about?! Explain it clearly!”
She was truly anxious. On one hand, she could barely stop the old lady from leaving; on the other, she had a vague guess about what the streamer hadn’t finished saying, and her old curiosity about why the Old Master treated a cheap fish as a treasure was being revived.
And Old Lady Cheng, naturally understanding the implication of the unfinished sentence, paused her movement to stand up.
Su Yi gave two emotionless laughs. “We’re talking about why Miss Windchime Melody’s grandfather liked it so much. Xiangzhang, if you tell me, I’ll have someone give you a spicy konjac snack—”
“It’s a deal!” the guppy interrupted her again. Whether it was the thought of the snack or a final surge of energy before death, its voice became loud and clear.
“I won’t hide it anyway; Old Cheng is dead. You know the ‘Substitute for the Beloved’ trope, right? I, this old fish, am the ‘Substitute.’ That ‘Beloved’ was the token of love between Old Cheng and his first love. They each raised a guppy. Not to criticize him, but shouldn’t a token of love normally be a male and a female? These two both raised males. Pure madness. That was an unlucky omen from the start; being torn apart was practically inevitable.”
“The older he got, the more he missed his first love. Sadly, she was long gone, so he could only ‘see the fish and think of the person’ and use the fish to express his feelings… Every other day, he’d reminisce with me about the past. He even fell in love with audiobooks—all those romance novels where the male lead is reborn to chase his love!”
The guppy spoke with theatrical sighs, like a performer in an opera.
Su Yi’s eyebrows shot up, and she couldn’t help but let out a “Wow.”
What happened to the story that Old Lady Cheng and the Old Master were a devoted couple, each other’s first and only love?
This time, without waiting for Cheng Lele to urge her, she dutifully relayed the words exactly.
“Impossible!”
The aged voice was filled with disbelief and rage.
Old Lady Cheng was beyond furious. “What nonsense are you talking! Lele, what kind of person have you found?”
Her chest heaved violently with anger. Even if it was just through a screen, even if the other party was just an insignificant charlatan, she would absolutely not allow anyone to defile and trample upon the perfect love that she and her husband were admired for!
“You… what are you talking about?!” Cheng Lele was dumbfounded, blurting out, “Where did a first love come from? My grandmother was my grandfather’s first love!”
【?? Family, get ready—the tea is served!】
【The fish world has its own ‘Substitute for the Beloved.’ Poor fishy.】
【What’s so poor about the fish? It lives more comfortably than 99% of people. The one who’s poor is this old lady, right? It looks like she had no idea about her husband’s true first love.】
【Wait a minute. Didn’t Miss Windchime Melody say earlier that this was her grandmother’s favorite fish? But the info just now says the fish was actually the Old Master’s most precious treasure before he died. So the old lady loved it because he loved it, ‘seeing the fish and thinking of the person’? Only for the fish to be a vessel for the old man’s pining for his first love??】
【Men truly only behave once they’re hanging on a wall as a portrait.】
Su Yi was about to seriously correct them—that she was telling the truth without any artistic embellishment—when she saw Cheng Lele, with her cartoon-effect face, pounce toward the camera and panic-order: “No more streaming! Cut it off immediately! I’ll contact you privately!”
“I’m afraid that won’t do, Miss Windchime Melody. If you and your family don’t wish to continue the stream, you may hang up the connection yourselves. My livestream cannot be interrupted; I must be responsible to my ‘family’ of viewers.” She refused with a smile.
Cheng Lele was exasperated. “You!”
A fatal oversight—she only remembered to use the filters and voice changer, but forgot that Xiangzhang’s name had been exposed! And, and during her last connection, the name Yun Duo was also… anyone who knew them would know exactly who they were—
“Continue. You continue. What else?” The old lady’s strangely calm voice suddenly rang out.
Cheng Lele swallowed hard. “Grandma—”
Old Lady Cheng raised her hand to stop her granddaughter.
Her rage was temporarily suppressed. She knew she should leave immediately, or even have someone teach this ignorant, fabricating little streamer a lesson, but a mysterious emotion overrode her logic.
This fish was simply too cheap. Why on earth was it worth her husband’s devotion… she wanted to see what kind of stories could still be spun.
Su Yi smiled and was about to ask more when she heard the fish say indignantly, “Don’t believe me, eh? Fine. I’ll break it down for you piece by piece, explain it till it’s crushed into powder.”
The guppy didn’t think they were accusing the “young human” of lying; she was just relaying its words. To say she was lying, wasn’t that a ‘point at the mulberry and curse the locust’ way of saying the fish was lying?
This old fish was not the type to speak without evidence!
“Old Cheng didn’t just have a first love because of whom he fished me out to be pampered; he even had a son born to that first love.”
“Back then, they met under a camphor tree. It was love at first sight. Under the flowers and the moon, they were deeply in love; he would marry no one else, and she would wed no one else. They even bought a pair of fish as a token of love… side note: maybe they just liked the look, but they bought a pair of males. Pure madness.”
“Unfortunately, their family backgrounds were worlds apart. One was a noble son from a wealthy family, the other a flower-selling girl from the countryside. They were forcibly torn apart like ‘beating the mandarin ducks’—truly pitiful, truly lamentable! Old Cheng was in agony. Finally, under pressure from his parents, he agreed to a family alliance and married ‘Sister-in-law.’ Oh, Sister-in-law is Old Cheng’s wife. I call her Sister-in-law. Three years for me is a lifetime for humans; converted, I’m an elder too. It’s not too much to call her Sister-in-law, is it?”
“Anyway, five years after they got married, when my ‘oldest nephew’ was old enough for kindergarten, the first love showed up with a child. She said the kid had… what was it… leu-leukemia, and begged Old Cheng to save his life. Old Cheng was a mix of grief and joy, saving his son in secret from the family.”
Su Yi: Wow, wow, wow, wow!
While her mind was a sea of “wows,” she translated every single word without missing a beat. At the same time, she thought to herself that those audiobooks hadn’t been listened to in vain—just look at that vocabulary!
“No, impossible! You… you are talking utter nonsense!” Old Lady Cheng’s voice was trembling.
Cheng Lele had been dazed for a long time, failing for a while to follow up with an angry rebuke.
Su Yi spread her hands, her tone helpless. ” I haven’t changed a single word.”
At this moment, the guppy, who was in the middle of its exciting tale, seemed to read the atmosphere. It hesitated for a moment, then its tone rose again: “Don’t be angry, I haven’t told you the good news yet—he didn’t save the kid. The child died, and the first love followed him that very same day!”
How is that good news?
Su Yi thought for a second. For the Cheng family, it was indeed good news.
“Grandma! Someone, come here! Why are you all standing behind me?!”