The Mermaid and Her Keeper (GL) - Chapter 47

Gu Yao felt like she could understand every single word Xu Tang said, but when put together, she had no idea what it meant.

What was this “mermaid’s double female plan”?

“What… does that even mean?” Gu Yao asked Xu Tang in shock, finally voicing the question that had been on her mind.

Xu Tang looked at her with a gentle tone and said, “The professor will explain the details of this plan at a meeting later. The research from then on will be confidential, so I can’t tell you anything for now.”

Seeing Gu Yao’s surprised expression, she reached out her hand and said, “Are you taking notes? Let me see.”

Gu Yao was stunned for two seconds before realizing what she meant and quickly handed over the file she had just recorded.

Maybe it was unintentional, but Gu Yao felt a spark when Xu Tang’s fingers brushed her hand — like an electric shock, making her heart go numb.

She quickly pulled her hand back, her ears turning red as she tightly clenched the fingers that had just touched Xu Tang’s, lowering her head.

No one noticed Gu Yao’s odd reaction. The captaineven enthusiastically explained their research results to Xu Tang, who listened calmly but kept sneaking glances at Gu Yao, noticing her flushed ears and black hair.

Fortunately, Xu Tang didn’t stay long. It seemed she just came to give a quick notice. After finishing her business, she left.

When Gu Yao saw her leave, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief, then hugged her fish tank, said goodbye, and slipped away.

Gu Yao thought she must have misunderstood. Xu Tang just accidentally touched her hand, and she was overreacting.

Yes, it was definitely her overreacting.

Still, Gu Yao felt a little sad. She really liked Xu Tang, but since she had already been rejected, Gu Yao couldn’t keep chasing her. It was better to be practical — forcing things never ended well. You have to keep your feet on the ground.

Hugging the fish tank, Gu Yao returned to the dorm. Just as she got out of the elevator, she saw Zhao Shuqing’s door open. Guessing they had come back, she hurried over with the fish tank.

“Ta-da~”

Gu Yao held the fish tank above her head and called out to those inside, “Look what I got for Lin Feng!”

Zhao Shuqing peeked out from the kitchen and frowned at the fish tank in Gu Yao’s hands. “This tank is too small. Lin Feng won’t fit in.”

Gu Yao was speechless.

She glanced at the tank, just a bit bigger than her head, and asked puzzled, “How did you think I bought this tank for Lin Feng?”

Zhao Shuqing was shocked, “Isn’t it?”

Gu Yao: “…I don’t want to argue with you. Where’s Lin Feng? I want to introduce you to a little friend.”

Lin Feng poked her head out from the bathtub on the balcony and smiled at Gu Yao, “Gu Yao.”

Gu Yao loved her so much. She ran over holding the fish tank, then plopped down on a chair and said, “Look, I got you a little friend.”

Lin Feng looked at the fish tank on her lap. Inside was a fake mountain covered with sea anemones. After a while, a small yellow-and-black striped clownfish swam out from behind the mountain, rubbing against the sea anemones as it moved around.

“A fish,” Lin Feng said in surprise.

Gu Yao smiled with eyes curved, “This is a clownfish. Its name is Nemo, and from now on, it’s your good friend. Can you understand what it’s saying?”

Lin Feng took the fish tank from Gu Yao’s arms and held it, looking at it for a while before saying, “It says it’s dizzy.”

Gu Yao’s eyes lit up, “Maybe I ran too fast just now and shook it too much.”

Lin Feng nodded, looked at the clownfish again, and said, “It says it hasn’t eaten all day.” Then she looked up at Zhao Shuqing, who had quietly come over, and asked, “Is there any food at home?”

Zhao Shuqing looked at the clownfish, which looked almost exactly like the one in the cartoon, then asked, “What does it eat?”

Gu Yao quickly pulled a pack of fish food out of her bag, saying, “The shop owner gave me this. I don’t know if it’ll like it.”

Lin Feng took the pack and sniffed it near her nose, then sprinkled a little into the bathtub. The clownfish immediately wagged its tail and ate all the fish food.

Gu Yao made a face, “Looks like it has a good appetite.”

Lin Feng fed it a little more. The clownfish finished everything, then wagged its tail and swam into the sea anemones, seemingly ready to sleep.

“So cute.” Gu Yao looked at the obedient clownfish, full of envy, and told Zhao Shuqing, “You can only keep it at your place. If it was at mine, the cat would have turned it into fish soup by now.”

Zhao Shuqing glanced at the clownfish and then at Lin Feng.

Because of her injury, Lin Feng hadn’t been in a good mood lately. She either stuck close to Zhao Shuqing or stayed in the bathtub to bask in the sun. This was the first time in days that Zhao Shuqing had seen Lin Feng show any interest.

Looks like having a fish friend was pretty nice.

“Thanks for the Nemo,” Zhao Shuqing smiled at Gu Yao and said, “Are you staying for dinner? I cooked, so the three of us can eat together.”

“Sure~” Gu Yao didn’t hesitate and stood up. “I’ll go feed the cat and take a shower first, then come over.”

“Okay.” Zhao Shuqing said, “We’ll eat in about half an hour, so hurry up.”

“No problem.”

That evening, because Gu Yao was there, Zhao Shuqing cooked three dishes and made seaweed egg drop soup. The air conditioner blew a cool breeze, and the three of them ate to their hearts’ content.

Gu Yao’s belly was nice and full as she leaned back in her chair, patting her stomach and said, “Shuqing, were you always this good at cooking? I remember you used to be terrible at it. Back then, we could only order takeout every day.”

Zhao Shuqing said, “It’s because I never followed recipes properly before. I liked to add random things, so the food always tasted bad. But ever since I started taking care of Lin Feng, my cooking skills have slowly improved.”

Gu Yao gave a thumbs-up. “Lin Feng is more useful than a girlfriend.”

Zhao Shuqing froze for a moment, then suddenly realized what she meant. Her ears turned red as she kicked Gu Yao. “You freeloading leech, go wash the dishes!”

Gu Yao wasn’t mad at all. She just grabbed the bowls and plates and went to the small kitchen to wash up.

Lin Feng sat beside her, leaning over to put a hand on Zhao Shuqing’s knee. She leaned in close and asked, “Girlfriend?”

What’s a girlfriend?

Does Zhao Shuqing have a girlfriend?

The person being asked turned bright red. She really hated Gu Yao’s mouth but didn’t want to say anything, so she forced herself to tell Lin Feng, “No, that’s nonsense. She’s just joking.”

Joking, huh…

Lin Feng nodded and moved even closer, gently kissing Zhao Shuqing on the corner of her mouth.

Zhao Shuqing—

She was so startled she immediately turned to look at Gu Yao, who was facing away by the kitchen door washing dishes. The sound of the water running was loud, and Gu Yao was humming, probably didn’t notice what just happened.

Still, Zhao Shuqing was pretty scared and quickly pulled away, saying seriously to Lin Feng, “You can’t kiss me when other people are around.”

Lin Feng blinked and asked, “What about when no one’s here?”

That should be okay, right?

Zhao Shuqing was speechless. “Even when no one’s here… you have to ask me first.”

“Oh.” Lin Feng remembered and asked, “Can I kiss you?”

Zhao Shuqing: “… Shut up.”

Gu Yao finished washing up and came out to see Lin Feng sitting there looking all pitiful, her eyebrows drooping like she was about to cry, while Zhao Shuqing folded up the table and stood aside.

“What’s wrong?” Gu Yao curiously came over. “Did you make Lin Feng upset?”

“No.” Zhao Shuqing denied it strongly. “She always acts like this. Don’t worry, she’ll be fine soon.”

Gu Yao gave her a suspicious look, but then figured it wasn’t her business. Zhao Shuqing was Lin Feng’s researcher, and she was just a neighbor. She decided not to get involved in their “household matters.”

But then she suddenly remembered something and said to Zhao Shuqing, “Hey, your senior sister went to our lab this afternoon.”

Zhao Shuqing looked up. “My senior sister?”

“Yeah,” Gu Yao said. “She apparently made some kind of agreement with our professor about researching the mermaid’s ‘dual-female plan.’ I don’t really get what it means, but Group Leader Xu said it’s a secret project, so we’re not allowed to know the details.”

Zhao Shuqing was confused. “What’s this dual-female plan about? Is senior sister planning to use Lin Feng to reproduce mermaids?”

Gu Yao shrugged. “I’m not sure. But usually, a dual-female plan means combining two different eggs to form a viable embryo. No one’s ever tried combining two eggs from the same person before.”

Zhao Shuqing wasn’t familiar with genetics, so she didn’t understand much of it either.

Gu Yao gave an example: “There was a case where a hermaphrodite tried to fertilize themselves, but because of genetic reasons, the embryo couldn’t survive. It’s the same with two eggs from the same person; since they come from the same genes, the success rate is almost zero.”

“Then why is senior sister researching the mermaid’s dual-female plan?” Zhao Shuqing asked. “Is she planning to catch other mermaids?”

“I don’t really know,” Gu Yao said. “But just relying on Lin Feng alone, it’s impossible to have offspring unless they find another female mermaid.”

Find another one?

Zhao Shuqing looked at Lin Feng, who was lying on the table playing with a clownfish. This guess seemed the most likely.

Thinking about Lin Feng having children with another mermaid made Zhao Shuqing feel inexplicably sad, like a breath was stuck in her chest.

After that, Gu Yao got a call from the group leader and left first. Zhao Shuqing then turned her attention back to Lin Feng, accidentally making eye contact. It turned out Lin Feng had been quietly watching her the whole time. Now that she was caught, she didn’t hide it and sat up straight, looking at Zhao Shuqing.

“Can I kiss you?” Lin Feng asked again.

Zhao Shuqing’s heart trembled. She tried to control herself and slowly walked over to Lin Feng, looking down at her.

Lin Feng tilted her head back and looked up with those beautiful blue eyes, asking again, “Can I kiss you?”

Zhao Shuqing felt like Lin Feng was teasing her.

“Do you… really want me to kiss you that much?” Zhao Shuqing asked confused.

Lin Feng looked at her calmly. “Yes.”

In Lin Feng’s understanding, only humans express love by kissing. She liked Zhao Shuqing and wanted to show her love that way.

She hoped Zhao Shuqing would understand.

She hoped Zhao Shuqing would like her back.