The door leading to the balcony wasn’t completely closed. A small gap remained open, allowing the sea breeze to drift inside and lift the soft white curtains. The strands of pearls hanging by the door gently clinked together.
The room slowly filled with the damp scent of seawater.
Li Leyou had only just fallen asleep when she suddenly woke to a gaze she couldn’t ignore.
She narrowed her sleepy eyes and saw a dark figure sitting beside her bed.
Moonlight filtered in from outside, making everything hazy. She could only vaguely tell that the figure seemed to be a man.
A very large man.
Question: If a single woman wakes up in the middle of the night and discovers an unfamiliar man sitting beside her bed, staring at her from extremely close range, what would she do?
Li Leyou’s reaction was immediate.
She jolted awake, grabbed a heavy decorative object from the bedside table, and smashed it against the head of the person leaning toward her.
Thud!
The sound of metal striking a skull was painfully clear.
Judging by the noise, she had hit him pretty hard.
As Li Leyou stared wide-eyed in terror, a warm, wet liquid with a faint fishy smell splashed across her cheek.
A faint metallic scent mixed with the smell of seawater filled her nose.
Li Leyou lay frozen on the bed, still clutching the metal swan in her hand.
Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might burst out of her chest.
Amid her fear and lingering shock, she suddenly realized that the person sitting beside her bed was probably the owner of this castle—
Mr. Laoumu, the mermaid.
She really wanted to angrily lecture him about how inappropriate it was to sneak into a woman’s bedroom in the middle of the night.
But this wasn’t her law-abiding home country anymore.
And right now, she was an experimental subject with practically no rights, relying on these people’s protection just to stay alive.
Talking about personal boundaries seemed like a luxury.
So, driven by her survival instincts, Li Leyou released the metal swan and forced a smile onto her face.
She opened her mouth, ready to apologize frantically.
I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Boss! I was half-asleep and didn’t mean to hit you! If you want, you can hit me back! Just please don’t kill me!
But the man sitting beside her spoke first.
“Is it you, Li Leyou?”
“I’m sor—huh?”
Li Leyou froze.
“Yes, yes, it’s me.”
Did he actually go ask Grandma Su Wei for my name?
Is this some kind of surprise job interview?
“I’m really sorry. I just…”
As she apologized, Li Leyou tried to sit up and reach for the bedside lamp.
But before her fingers could touch the switch, another hand grabbed hers.
The hand was incredibly cold.
It completely enclosed her hand and then pulled it toward a face that was equally cold.
Li Leyou froze.
Every hair on the back of her neck stood straight up.
Her hand was trapped between Laoumu’s cheek and palm.
His face gently rubbed against her palm.
The fishy liquid continued slowly dripping down his cheek, soaking into the spaces between her fingers. With every movement, it smeared across her skin in a sticky mess.
Li Leyou could feel his smooth skin beneath her palm.
There wasn’t a single wrinkle.
The bridge of his nose and even his eyelashes brushed against her hand, while his soft breaths warmed her palm.
Ahhhhh!
What is happening?!
What is he doing?!
Li Leyou almost screamed.
Yes, yes, she had said that she was willing to do anything as long as she could stay alive.
But did he really have to start with this?!
His wound! Right! Shouldn’t we deal with his wound first?
Or maybe turn on the light?
Should I apologize first? Introduce myself? Maybe I should at least see what he actually looks like before mentally preparing myself?!
Five thousand screaming ducks seemed to be running through Li Leyou’s brain.
Her hand, arm, and fingers had all gone numb.
She leaned helplessly against the bedside table, completely frozen in place.
“You’re real,” Laoumu murmured.
“You’re breathing. Your heart is beating so fast…”
His voice trembled.
“You really came back.”
Compared to the hoarse voice with which he had called her name earlier, his voice now sounded much clearer.
Li Leyou’s leg involuntarily twitched.
She had to admit—
Mermaids definitely had a genetic advantage when it came to beautiful voices.
“If you’re really her, why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Ah, I…”
Li Leyou desperately tried to think.
What am I supposed to say?
Beg for my life? Introduce myself?
While the human struggled to come up with an answer, the mermaid speaking softly against her palm suddenly changed his tone.
“You’re a liar…”
“You liar. You promised me.”
“You promised me, and you lied to me…”
“I thought you were lying to me.”
“Why didn’t you lie to me?”
“You came back…”
“But why did you come back so late?”
Li Leyou didn’t dare say a word.
The mermaid’s way of speaking was… strange.
His words seemed to contradict one another, and the logic kept going in circles.
“You’re a liar.”
“I hate you.”
His voice gradually became more unstable.
Then he started crying.
“I’ll never love you again.”
“I don’t love you anymore.”
“I’ve already forgotten you.”
Li Leyou’s hand was still pressed against his face.
She felt warm liquid spilling from the corners of his eyes.
This time, the tears were hot, washing away some of the sticky sensation of blood on her palm.
Li Leyou almost started crying with him.
How am I supposed to act now?
Is this the replacement-lover stage?
Do I immediately start pretending we have some tragic love story?
“Y-You don’t have to cry,” Li Leyou pleaded.
The mermaid, who had been murmuring about how much he hated her, buried his face in her hand.
Then he suddenly let out a tearful laugh.
“Are you afraid?”
“Are you frightened by the way I look?”
Li Leyou hesitated.
“Well… I actually haven’t seen what you look like very clearly.”
“Then tell me. Do you still remember what I look like?”
If he really looked like the mermaid statue in the garden, then she probably could remember him.
“I… think so.”
Li Leyou answered guiltily.
The mermaid gave another sorrowful laugh.
“You’re really a liar.”
“You don’t remember me.”
“If you did, why didn’t you come looking for me?”
Li Leyou: “……”
She remembered watching dramas where lovers would argue and endlessly repeat the same pointless things over and over, going around in circles as though their brains had malfunctioned.
Apparently, that kind of thing really did come from real life.
“Li Leyou, why didn’t you come see me?”
“Didn’t you know I was waiting for you?”
Li Leyou was genuinely suffering.
Boss, aren’t you supposed to be doing the replacement-lover storyline right now?
When you’re looking at the face of your deceased lover, you really shouldn’t call the actress by her real name!
It’s impossible to stay in character like this!
Still, remembering that her life was precious, she forced herself to continue.
“I-I was a little scared.”
She gave an awkward laugh.
“Heh… haha.”
The moment she finished, she wanted to slap herself.
Why did I laugh?!
Who laughs at a moment like this?!
Finally, the mermaid released her hand.
It was completely covered in blood and tears.
Li Leyou wanted to pull it back beneath the blanket, but she was afraid of smearing blood all over the sheets.
Laoumu moved even closer.
When he leaned toward her, Li Leyou almost felt as if his entire body was enveloping her.
She instinctively retreated until her back sank into the pillows.
Laoumu merely raised a hand and gently wiped the last few drops of blood from her cheek.
His broken sobbing finally stopped.
When he spoke again, his voice was as soft as the waves outside.
“Did I really frighten you?”
“A little,” Li Leyou answered politely, shrinking her neck.
“That’s good.”
“You should be afraid.”
“You should be frightened enough to cry, frightened enough to call my name, and then…”
Then I’ll forgive you.
I’ll hold you gently in my arms and tell you how much I’ve missed you, just like we used to.
Li Leyou could feel his fingers brushing against her cheek.
Sometimes the touch was gentle.
Sometimes it was slightly rough.
Just like his voice—sometimes tender, sometimes filled with hatred.
It was the perfect embodiment of love and resentment intertwined.
Li Leyou was genuinely starting to get scared.
Mermaids don’t eat people, right?
She regretted not asking Grandma Su Wei more about mermaids during the day.
The pressure was so overwhelming that she didn’t even realize tears had begun streaming down her face.
The person touching her face noticed her tears first.
Laoumu fell silent.
The moment he felt the wetness, he suddenly became as still as a dark reef in the night.
Li Leyou choked back a sob.
“I’m sorry. I’ll apologize, okay?”
I’m really afraid of dying!
Please don’t scare me!
I’m a modern university student. I’m fragile! I could literally die from fright!
The hand on her face wiped away her tears firmly.
Then it moved behind her neck.
With surprising ease, he lifted her entire body as though he were picking up a delicate flower.
Li Leyou was desperately trying not to lose control of her nose and start crying even more when her cheek was suddenly pressed against Laoumu’s chest.
He held her in his arms.
His arm wrapped securely around her.
When he lowered his head and kissed the top of her hair, his cool, damp hair brushed against her ear.
“Mi la tuo nuo ya… wushu me…”
He spoke a long string of words she couldn’t understand.
Yet even without understanding them, Li Leyou could feel the overwhelming tenderness in his voice.
His palm gently patted her back.
It reminded her strangely of how her mother used to hold her and soothe her to sleep when she was little.
Li Leyou suspected that there might be sleeping pills hidden in the mysterious mermaid language.
Because after hearing only a few sentences, an irresistible wave of drowsiness washed over her.
She hadn’t felt this sleepy since her high-school days.
Her tears were still clinging to her eyelashes when her head tilted to the side.
She fell asleep.
Her dream suddenly transformed into an ocean.
The waves became her cradle.
A distant, ethereal song drifted up from beneath the surface.
A pair of pale arms wrapped around her from behind like the tentacles of a jellyfish, pulling her deeper and deeper into the water.
She fell into a gigantic colorful conch shell.
The shell gradually became transparent.
A magnificent fish tail, shimmering with colors like a peacock’s feathers, slowly swam past it…
……
“Was what happened last night really just a dream?”
Li Leyou sat blankly on the bed.
She glanced at the brilliant sunlight outside, then repeatedly examined her hands.
They were completely clean.
There wasn’t even a trace of blood beneath her fingernails.
The sheets and pillows were still white and fluffy.
The metal swan on the bedside table stood exactly where it had been, gleaming brightly.
If she had really hit Laoumu here last night, there should at least be some evidence.
It should look like a crime scene.
It couldn’t possibly be this spotless.
Suspicious, Li Leyou looked around the room.
Then she suddenly dropped to the floor and reached underneath the bed.
Not even in this notoriously difficult-to-clean area was there a trace of blood.
There wasn’t even any dust.
“Hmm…”
“Was I really dreaming?”
“But it felt so real.”
Muttering to herself, she hurriedly freshened up.
She was still wearing the vintage-style dress and slippers Grandma Su Wei had given her.
She opened the door and headed downstairs.
As she held onto the railing and walked down the stairs, she continued thinking about the previous night.
When she reached the first floor and was about to cross the small living room toward the kitchen as she had done over the past two days, something caught her eye.
The living room seemed… different.
She turned her head.
The previously empty living room now contained a living, breathing person.
A man was sitting on a three-meter-long dark green sofa.
Before noticing him, everything had been normal.
But once she saw him, her gaze seemed to lock onto him automatically.
She couldn’t look away.
He wore a white shirt and fitted dress pants.
The simple, clean-cut style perfectly emphasized his flawless figure.
His profile looked even more unreal than the mermaid statue in the garden.
His dark blue-green hair was tied back with a deep emerald ribbon, giving his already breathtaking appearance an elegant, almost vintage sophistication.
There was also something strangely alluring and mysterious about him.
Li Leyou stared blankly at the man.
Then her eyes landed on the conspicuous wound on his forehead.
That isn’t a dream.
I really did hit him.
The handsome man, who looked as though he had stepped straight out of a classical oil painting, walked toward her.
“Did you sleep well?”
“You’re almost late for breakfast. Come eat something first.”