Transmigrated to the Interstellar Era to Raise Mermaids GL - Chapter 11
The next day at noon, Orsa arrived at the beach, where He Jia had already finished preparing the meal and was waiting for her.
After they sat down at the table, He Jia didn’t pick up her bowl to eat but instead intently watched Orsa’s movements.
The moment Orsa’s eyes lifted towards a dish, He Jia immediately picked up her chopsticks and placed that dish into Orsa’s bowl, acting extraordinarily attentive and proactive, as if she could foresee Orsa contemplating whether or not to take her on as a maid.
Orsa felt unnerved by the attention and put down her bowl to scrutinize He Jia, wondering if she also possessed some ability to control consciousness.
With her beautiful, smooth, shoulder-length black hair and small, delicate features, the moment she noticed Orsa looking at her, He Jia immediately cupped her face with her hands, putting on a sweet smile. Her pair of dark, bright eyes seemed to genuinely possess a slight ability to bewitch the soul, making Orsa momentarily distracted.
No, she did not detect any psychic power. He Jia should just be an ordinary person through and through…
“Why aren’t you eating?”
“I felt hungry while cooking just now, so I already ate beforehand!”
He Jia’s answer was remarkably quick: “Anyway, I have nothing to do, so tell me what dish you want to eat, and I’ll pick it up for you!”
She picked up a dish for Orsa, then served a bowl of soup, carefully blew away the steam, and held the spoon up to Orsa, saying, “Here, try another mouthful of the soup I simmered!”
Although she had recalled her identity, Orsa had never experienced such attentive service. It seemed that since returning to Mus Home Star, she had always been independent, and she no longer had close servants like Sam by her side.
Looking at He Jia’s expectant eyes, Orsa couldn’t help but open her mouth and let her feed her a spoonful, then immediately turned her head away and coughed in embarrassment.
“How is it? Is it good?” He Jia tried to feed her again: “Would you like some more?”
“…I’ll do it myself.” Orsa quickly reached out and took the spoon. She felt that doing it herself allowed her to better savor the taste of the food.
“Oh…” He Jia sat opposite her, idly picking at her fingers for a while, then asked with a look of determination, “Orsa, can I ask you a question?”
“Mm.” Orsa silently lowered her head to drink the soup.
After knowing she could speak, He Jia, who was curious about this world, definitely had a cartload of questions for her. But now, she had to play the ignorant role of someone who could only remember her name to lull any monitoring parties into a false sense of security.
“Well, it’s just…” He Jia’s fingers were already red from picking at them. She also lowered her head, seemingly afraid to look at Orsa’s reaction: “What do you think of Earth?”
“Earth…?” Orsa paused, then sincerely said, “I don’t know much about it.”
“I thought so too!”
As if a thousand-pound weight had been lifted from her shoulders, He Jia breathed a long sigh of relief and lamented, “It seems the Solar System doesn’t have much presence in the current universe…”
Just like those insignificant small countries on Earth during her time period.
Orsa didn’t want He Jia to ask her more questions, so she proactively threw out a question: “What kind of place is your hometown, Earth?”
“Earth is a… very beautiful place, and very suitable for living!”
He Jia quickly enthusiastically marketed it to her: “Although Earth is remotely located, the ocean coverage on Earth is also very high. It’s a very beautiful blue planet! Moreover, a star system with only one sun has a stable climate and pleasant seasons throughout the year. The other star systems in the universe are now trying to emulate Earth’s ecological environment. And there’s the most important point!”
He Jia dropped her smile and emphasized with earnest seriousness, “The Solar System successfully resisted alien invasion during the intergalactic wars. Earth has always been a sovereign planet and has joined the Interstellar Alliance. Many star system governments will protect the lives and property of Earth people!”
Orsa nodded. She understood the significance of He Jia, as a worker, emphasizing this point.
Many interstellar exiles now, having lost their mother stars, could not even guarantee their personal safety, let alone their labor rights.
As a princess of Mus Star, she would naturally provide her maid with the most generous salary and benefits, and she would definitely find a way to solve the problems of exiles left over from these years of cosmic chaos.
He Jia watched Orsa’s reaction without blinking. Those flowery phrases were all information she had read in the reading room yesterday and were being used spontaneously, making her feel quite nervous.
She had also read the Intelligent Species Protection Act newly promulgated by Her Majesty the Empress of Mus Star in recent years.
According to the Act, interstellar exiles could voluntarily sign two types of adoption agreements with citizens of a sovereign planet, after which they would receive an identity document and no longer have to worry about being displaced or safety issues.
One was a paid agreement, where the exile became the citizen’s domestic servant, and the citizen would pay the exile an agreed-upon salary.
The other was an unpaid agreement to become the citizen’s private pet, suitable for exiles who were good-looking but physically weak. The exile could completely slack off and do no work, only needing to act cute for the owner every day, and the owner did not need to pay compensation.
This unpaid agreement resembled a form of legalized keeping of a mistress, which He Jia scoffed at when she read it. It was definitely not suitable for her and Orsa.
But having Orsa work as her servant…
A quick flash in He Jia’s mind showed Orsa in a maid’s outfit calling her to wake up. She quickly covered her nose with a tissue and firmly dismissed the idea.
As a person from the 21st century CE, she truly could not accept unequal class relations between people. She decided to first help Orsa escape the plight of an exile through adoption.
Orsa was extraordinarily intelligent and quick-witted. Once she entered society, she would surely achieve great success and obtain citizenship.
But all of this depended on Orsa agreeing to live on Earth with her. Therefore, it was crucial to simultaneously boost her favorable opinion of both her and Earth in front of Orsa.
Seeing Orsa look very interested in Earth, He Jia’s spirits lifted.
Compared to other star systems, Earth held no advantage in terms of economy or military. She would focus on recommending the aspects she was familiar with, which also allowed her Chinese as a Foreign Language major knowledge to be put to good use!
He Jia’s educational philosophy was “to teach through fun.” In class, she always prepared many little historical stories about Chinese characters, allowing foreigners to fully appreciate the profoundness of Chinese culture.
Now, facing an alien, it was essentially the same, just replacing China in the stories with Earth.
He Jia tentatively asked, “Earth’s civilization has continued for tens of thousands of years, and many, many interesting stories have happened. Shall I tell you a few?”
Tell stories?
Orsa found this word very novel. She seemed to have never heard anyone tell stories. She rested her chin on her hand, posing in a listening posture.
Seeing Orsa so engaged, He Jia’s long-suppressed desire to teach surged with excitement. She began a continuous narration, starting from the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of ancient times, painting a long historical scroll of ancient history for Orsa through one small story after another.
He Jia worried that Orsa might not adapt well to the stories of Earth, so she used simple and clear language, like she would with a child, and her expressions were vivid and lively. Orsa felt that even without listening to the stories, just looking at He Jia’s glittering eyes was enough to sense how exciting and interesting her narration was.
Moreover, under He Jia’s adaptation, the stories of ancient Chinese emperors, generals, and ministers were given Western terminology, which surprisingly fit perfectly with the current monarchical system of Mus Star. Orsa not only felt no discomfort but also listened with great concentration.
“…Later, during the warring period, every state was afraid of being annihilated by others and tried to find ways to quickly become strong. One king decided to implement new laws, but his prince deliberately broke the law, wanting to force the king to abolish it. The king refused the pleas of his relatives and still punished the prince according to the new law. The new law was immediately widely implemented, and this state rapidly became very powerful.”
Seeing Orsa listening with rapt attention, her pair of azure eyes fixed firmly on her, He Jia momentarily forgot herself, closed her eyes, and recited the classical Chinese phrase, “This is the story of ‘Even a prince is subject to the same law as common people.'”
Oops, she only realized after speaking that she was making things difficult for the translator and the alien!
He Jia annoyedly hit her forehead. She didn’t see Orsa silently repeating “Even a prince is subject to the same law as common people” in a thoughtful manner, her mouth shape exactly matching the standard Earth language.
He Jia looked up and noticed that the sky had darkened. The sunset behind Orsa had slowly moved below the horizon.
“It’s already this late!” He Jia asked, “Don’t you need to go back to the sea?”
For the past half-month, Orsa had almost always left at a fixed time. He Jia thought this was her biological habit, but she hadn’t expected her to stay on shore for so long today.
“Mm, I should go.” Orsa was still savoring the story. Only then did she realize that she didn’t feel tired at all, which showed that her stamina had also improved after yesterday’s meditation.
When she could spend the night on shore, she definitely had to make He Jia tell her stories until she fell asleep.
“Oh, right, I have one more thing to ask you!” Seeing Orsa preparing to turn and leave, He Jia quickly grabbed her arm.
Orsa’s relaxed demeanor suddenly tensed up again.
If only He Jia’s curiosity could be a little less, she would be a perfect maid…
“I wanted to ask… how do you manage your dinner every day?”
Plop, Orsa mentally stamped a big red “Pass” on He Jia in her heart.
“I don’t eat dinner.” She always went back to her shell and slept until the next day.
Wow, no wonder her figure was so good. It was all the result of self-discipline! She had to try to emulate her!
Seeing He Jia’s eyes sparkling brightly, like a child waiting for praise, Orsa raised her hand and patted her head as encouragement: “I like your stories. Continue tomorrow.”
After watching Orsa leap into the ocean, He Jia couldn’t help but happily spin around and around on the beach: “Yay! She said she likes my stories! Roughly speaking, that means she likes Earth, which means…”
She suddenly fell silent, reaching out to touch her hair. She could still feel the lingering warmth of Orsa’s hand. This feeling of being patted on the head by a “pet” was indeed a bit strange, so novel that her heart raced and she couldn’t calm down for a long time.