Chapter 104: Side Story: Little Jiaoren Raising Little Fish
Today was Xixi’s third shell-hatching day!
In his inherited memories, other little merman cubs would get fish cakes made by the adult mermen.
All kinds of fish slices, as thin as a butterfly’s wings and crystal clear, were stacked one on top of the other to form a small tower. Xixi’s mouth was watering just thinking about it.
He wiped his mouth with his short little hands.
It’s okay!
Although he was the last merman left in the merman clan, and he was still a cub, Xixi would make a little cake for himself!
He was already three years old!
He should learn to hunt by himself!
He could do it!
Xixi was super amazing!
The golden-haired, blue-tailed merman cub secretly cheered himself on in his heart. Learning from what his inherited memories had taught him, he found a place with a lot of fish, secretly hid under a reef, and tried to hide his small, round self in the sand.
He was waiting for a small fish to swim past him, and then he would pounce and bite it with a “chomp.”
The ideal plan was simply perfect, just waiting to be realized.
As Xixi was lying there, his little head slowly began to nod. Finally, when a small fish swam in front of him and kissed his chubby little cheek with its fish mouth, he dazedly curved his half-open blue eyes. “Hello… little fish…”
“Splat—”
The merman cub fell onto the sandy seabed and fell asleep.
By the time Xixi woke up again, the shallow beach, which had been warmed by the light, had already become cold. The sky had darkened. He flicked his short little fish tail and dazedly swam a circle in the empty seabed, as if he still couldn’t believe it.
“The fishies, they all ran away?” The merman cub swam another circle. After confirming that he hadn’t seen a single fish, after a moment, he sniffled, and his little face scrunched up in grievance. His eyes were red, and he was about to cry.
First hunt, failed.
Xixi rubbed his own eyes, and his gills trembled. He let out a string of bubbles and sniffled.
Don’t cry, don’t cry.
He could still make a cake without fishies!
The merman cub swayed his little tail and swam to a patch of edible seaweed. With his short little hands, he struggled to pull at the seaweed, one by one, and mumbled, “One, two, three!”
Xixi was too small. A clump of three stalks of seaweed was enough for him to eat. But today, he was making a shell-hatching day cake. The bottom layer of the seaweed clump had to be bigger, so he had pulled up six stalks of seaweed and kneaded them together.
He placed it at the bottom.
Then he continued to pull up seaweed.
This time, he needed five.
“One… two, three… four, five!”
He kneaded and kneaded, and the second layer was also done.
The third layer was four.
After Xixi had counted clearly on his fingers, he began to huff and puff as he pulled up the seaweed.
“One, two, three—”
The merman cub widened his blue eyes, rubbed them in disbelief, and stared blankly at the small fish that had appeared out of thin air in front of him.
The tail of this small fish was no longer moving. Its belly was white, and it was half-floating in the seawater. Its head was bleeding, and it was unknown how long it had been dead. At a glance, it was not fresh.
But for Xixi, who, after hatching, could only pick up dead, rotten fish to eat when he was lucky, this fish was already very delicious just by looking at it!
He swallowed.
Wow, a big fish that had fallen from the sky!
Xixi cautiously looked around. Seeing that there was no one else, he looked back at the small fish with some guilt, swayed his tail, and with a “chomp,” he rushed over and bit the small fish.
The teeth of a cub that had not yet fully developed could not bite through the fish meat at all. After a few more bites, only a few crooked tooth marks were left, but Xixi tasted the fish blood in his mouth.
Mmm, it seemed to be a fresh little fish that had just died not long ago.
Wow, he had struck it rich!
Was this a little fish that Mother Ocean had given him to eat because it was his shell-hatching day today?!
So amazing!
Xixi struggled to hold the fish, which was bigger than his little face, with both hands, and with his blunt, flat teeth, he struggled to bite off a small mouthful of fish meat.
Just as the merman cub was happily eating, a cold voice suddenly sounded from behind him, “Hey, that’s my fish.”
Xixi was stunned for a moment, and his biting action immediately froze.
It was over. He had picked up someone else’s fish and had even eaten it.
And he had been caught red-handed.
The merman cub reluctantly swallowed the fish meat in his mouth, slowly turned his back, and the corners of his mouth were still stained with the fish blood that had been smudged into a smoky pink by the seawater. He lowered his eyelids. “S-sorry. I thought no one wanted it, so I ate it.”
The cub’s speech was a little slurred. He guiltily held up the small fish that he had bitten into a mess, preparing to return it. “Xixi didn’t do it on purpose.”
“I’m sorry.”
Wait!
Xixi raised his blue eyes in a daze and stared blankly at the small silver fish in front of him, which was about the same size as him but had a much longer fish tail.
It could talk, and its upper body was not a fish.
He seemed to have found his kinsman!
The merman cub’s eyes widened in pleasant surprise. “You, you can talk!” He flicked his fish tail and clumsily swam forward. “Are you my kinsman?”
The Jiaoren cub with the silver fish tail had a cold face and no expression. His silver hair behind him had been tied up crookedly with seaweed because he found it troublesome. “Give me back the fish.”
Xixi was a little intimidated. “Here, here you go.”
The Jiaoren cub looked at the small fish that had been gnawed into a mess with some disgust. He thought for a moment. This was a fish he had worked so hard to hunt. He still held his nose and took it.
He ignored the Xixi behind him and found a reef, sat on it, and began to eat.
Not long after he had eaten, a soft and sticky cub’s voice suddenly sounded from behind him, “I, I have a cake. Do you want to eat it?”
The Jiaoren cub turned his head.
His silver eyes reflected a simple, three-layered seaweed clump, and he frowned in confusion.
A Jiaoren, eating grass?
The golden-haired, blue-tailed merman cub foolishly pushed out his seaweed clump cake. “Today is my shell-hatching day~”
Xixi smiled very happily. “This is the shell-hatching day cake I made. Please eat it!”
Seeing that the silver-tailed cub was not moving, he said a little clumsily, “I fell asleep today and didn’t catch any fishies, so I couldn’t make a fishie cake. I only, only have this.”
He tried his best to sell it. “It’s very delicious. I’ve been eating it for a long, long time!”
The silver Jiaoren cub paused for a moment, did not speak for a long time, pursed his lips, and with a cold face, handed over the fish in his hand. “I’ll trade this with you.”
Xixi tilted his head and pointed at his own nose. “For me?”
The silver Jiaoren cub nodded coldly.
The merman cub was stunned for a moment, a little in disbelief. “Really!”
The silver Jiaoren cub, who was being looked at with admiration by Xixi, the tips of his ears turned red. He snorted coldly and stuffed the fish into the other’s hand. “Hurry up and eat.”
He took the seaweed cake from the merman cub’s hand, frowned, and took a bite with some disgust.
He couldn’t believe how the other had been eating this for so long.
The cubs were sitting side by side on the reef, one with a wooden face, the other happily eating. The fresh fish blood was scattered in the seawater.
Xixi let out a small burp, and many bubbles came out. He couldn’t eat anymore. He wanted to give the unfinished fish in his hand to the silver-tail to eat. “I’m full.”
He turned around and handed it over. Then, his peripheral vision suddenly saw something. He looked back in a daze and tugged at the small hand of the silver Jiaoren cub beside him. “Wow, what a big fish.”
The silver Jiaoren cub also looked back after hearing this, and his face instantly became extremely ugly.
Behind them was a great white shark that had been attracted by the fish blood. A single eyeball was bigger than their entire body.
Before Xixi could react, he felt a strong force pulling at his small arm. He was suddenly pulled out by the silver Jiaoren cub, and the speed was so fast he was about to fly.
The unfinished fish in his hand had all fallen.
The merman cub said in a daze, “I, I’m flying.”
