The GORGEOUS Mermaid Who Lands in the Eighties: Nine Brothers and Endless Pampering! - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Waking Up as a Baby
“Don’t blame me. You should blame yourself for being born to that awful woman. Now, just hurry up and die so you can get a better next life.”
The words drifted into Yun Jiao’s hazy awareness, immediately followed by a terrifying, stomach-dropping sense of freefall.
“Splash…”
In an instant, she was swallowed by the cold sea.
Yun Jiao instinctively flapped her hands and tail, only to quickly realise… her tail was gone.
If anyone had been watching in the dead of night, they would have been horrified. The thing tossed into the ocean was a baby.
A normal infant would have drowned in seconds, but a powerful soul—that of a Deep-Sea Jiao (Merperson) from another world—had just taken residence inside this tiny body.
The seawater wasn’t a danger; it felt like a comforting embrace. She didn’t struggle or feel the slightest discomfort as the waves washed over her face.
After what felt like an age, exhaustion finally claimed Yun Jiao, and she closed her eyes, her small body floating aimlessly with the tides.
Curious fish discovered the strange little creature. They swam up to inspect her, but rather than harming her, they simply circled the baby gently.
Then, a truly enormous sea turtle swam into view.
The massive turtle circled the sleeping infant twice. It then firmly gripped a corner of the baby’s damp clothes in its beak and swam off in a definite direction.
Morning Breaks…
The light was just beginning to filter through, the sky still murky, but enough to make out the details on the beach.
In the 1980s, life was hard, especially in small fishing villages. To put food on the table, folks had to comb the beach daily. If they were lucky, they might find valuable seafood to sell for a bit of money.
The tide was out. The villagers, ever punctual, headed to the shore with buckets, their eyes bleary with sleep, ready to start their ‘tide-picking’.
Yun Xiaowu noticed the growing crowds and veered toward his usual secret spot.
Heh. He had a hidden corner where he always found the best bits, and it was entirely his own.
“Ooh, a big one!”
In the distance, he spotted something huge moving among the reef flats and bolted towards it.
But when he got close, he nearly jumped out of his skin.
It was a giant sea turtle!
“Good heavens, why is this thing so big?”
His excitement immediately deflated.
He had expected a massive fish, not a turtle.
He’d have been thrilled to find a turtle egg, but a turtle itself? Nope.
Local lore dictated that the sea turtle was the Dragon King’s Prime Minister; hurting or eating one meant certain misfortune.
The seaside folk were deeply superstitious.
Yun Xiaowu walked over and patted the turtle’s shell: “Prime Minister Turtle, what are you doing ashore? Get back to the sea!”
The turtle shifted its heavy body, twisted its head, and dropped something right at Yun Xiaowu’s feet.
Yun Xiaowu looked down and let out a sound like a terrified kettle-whistle.
A baby! It was a baby!
His face went white. He thought the poor thing was dead.
The sea turtle gave him a look that clearly called him an idiot.
It nudged the sleeping Yun Jiao closer to him again.
Yun Xiaowu eventually snapped out of his shock and started a shaky, detailed inspection.
He saw that while the baby’s clothes were soaked, her face was pink, and she was breathing.
He quickly lifted the tiny infant. The sea turtle, its task accomplished, immediately dumped the child and scrambled back into the ocean.
Yun Xiaowu was visibly panicking: “Hold on, Prime Minister Turtle! Don’t just leave!”
It was pointless; the Prime Minister Turtle was already gone.
Yun Xiaowu: “…………”
Well, great. Came out for a fish, ended up with a kid.
He agonised over it, but he couldn’t just leave her there. He carefully clutched the baby in his arms and ran back toward the village.
Looking closely at her, she really was a beautiful child.
“What did you say? You brought what back?!” A furious roar shook the Yun family’s shabby house bright and early.
The roar woke Yun Jiao.
She opened her eyes and instinctively made a little whimpering sound.
Instantly, every single eye in the rundown room fixed on the baby Yun Xiaowu was holding.
Yun Jiao wiggled her arms and legs, feeling restricted. Her tiny face wrinkled in a fierce struggle.
But after fighting for ages, it did no good. Yun Jiao got angry, and the noise she made turned into a high-pitched, childish “Ah-ah!”
Yun Jiao: ???
Yun Jiao: !!!
What on earth have I turned into?!
“Quick, get some dry clothes on the child.”
The Yun family erupted into action. While Yun Xiaowu’s mum was changing the little infant’s nappy, she let out a delighted yelp.
“Mum and Dad, it’s a girl!”
Yun Jiao widened her eyes at the face leaning over her. A girl?
A little girl! The men in the house were instantly buzzing with excitement.
“Stand back, let the old woman see.”
Old Madam Yun elbowed her son aside, looked down, and a huge grin spread across her face.
“It truly is a little girl, and a beautiful one at that! Look at those pale, plump arms and legs, all dimpled! Oh, those big eyes—they look so clever! Her face is lovely, simply beautiful, like a little sprite from a fairy tale.”
Several heads immediately crowded in for a closer look.
Everyone babbled at once: “She’s gorgeous! Is she really a little sister?”
“Xiaowu, where did you find her?”
“Dad, can’t we just keep her?”
Seeing everyone doting on the adorable little baby, Yun Xiaowu puffed out his chest and lost his guilt.
He said in a hushed, mysterious tone: “You won’t believe me, but the Dragon King sent her to me.”
Before he could finish, his dad clipped him round the ear.
“Talk properly, you little terror, or I’ll smack you senseless!”
Yun Xiaowu protested: “It’s true! I didn’t see the Dragon King, but I saw the Prime Minister Turtle! It was enormous! That turtle delivered this baby to me.”
Seeing he wasn’t lying, the Yun family stared in disbelief.
Old Master Yun took a couple of draws on his pipe.
“I’ll go talk to the village head, see if any nearby villages have lost a child. If not…”
He looked at the fair, delicate little girl and his heart softened: “Then we’ll raise her as our own!”
Their delight wasn’t just about the baby’s beauty. The honest truth was… their family was heavily weighted towards men (Yang) and desperately lacked women (Yin).
Out of over a dozen people in the entire household, only the three elders were women; the younger generation were all boys.
Nine children—all boys.
Other people envied their many sons, but only the family knew how exhausting it was to feed so many hungry mouths.
As a result, they were currently the poorest family in the entire Bailong Village.
It wasn’t that Old Man Yun and his wife wanted a huge family; it was just that back then, especially in the countryside, there wasn’t reliable birth control. Once a woman was pregnant, they couldn’t bring themselves to abort the baby, so they had to deliver.
Only after their ninth son was born did they learn that women could have IUDs fitted. The two daughters-in-law went straight away, knowing they’d starve if they had any more.
“Are we actually going to keep her? But how can our family afford another child in our situation?”
Another woman’s voice cut in.
Hearing this, Yun Xiaowu immediately hugged the baby close, protective like a young cub.
“If the little uncle and aunt won’t keep her, our part of the family will. I found her; she’s my little sister.”
The Little Aunt put her hands on her hips: “You little scamp, do you think raising a child is as easy as keeping a stray cat? She’s tiny! She needs milk. Where are we going to get milk from?”
“Then I’ll carry my little sister and go ask to borrow some.”
(End of Chapter)