The Old Man and the Mermaid

During the meal time that followed, Aigre was always in a very relaxed mood.He could see that Mr. Mermaid was absolutely satisfied with this dinner, so he no longer worried about whether his guests would be unhappy about certain aspects.

Mr. Mermaid still didn't speak, but after getting along with him a few times, Eigre had already gotten used to this guest's taciturnity, so he didn't mind unilaterally provoking the topic.Anyway, no matter what he is talking about, Mr. Mermaid will listen to every word of him very carefully.

This was a rare and peaceful relationship without any mistakes.

——If you ignore the question about chili at the beginning.

Aigre thought so, thinking that he might add the keyword "red" to his blacklist of future incidents.

Mr. Mermaid found Aigle very interesting more than once, but this dinner was probably the most interesting time for this young man—to be precise, Aige was no longer as cold and calm as the previous few times.

He's starting to look like a normal young human in the mermaid's mind, and at least he's starting to say funny things that don't seem so thoughtful.

So he kept the pen and paper at hand, and occasionally wrote down some questions he wanted to know the answer to when Aigre was talking.

"My name?" Aigre froze for a moment, and then said apologetically, "Sorry, we've known each other for so long, and I haven't told you your name—maybe it's because the way we met at the beginning was a bit different. , I seem to have overlooked many of the etiquettes that are required when talking to my kind."

He has been able to gradually get used to the obvious and unnegligible differences between himself and Mr. Mermaid, so he seems more relaxed when communicating.

"My name is Aigre Payer, this is a belated self-introduction - nice to meet you, Mr. Mermaid." Aigre said with a smile, "My grandfather never told me that the surname Payer is It came from somewhere, but its meaning is very interesting, so occasionally I will talk to friends about the funny things about this name. Most of us don't hear malicious words because of the name...but it doesn't rule out There will be people who will deliberately target you."

The merman knew exactly what he was talking about.Creatures living in groups produce societies, and societies naturally divide.There is a gap between people, so there will be love and abuse based on unfairness or individual differences.

Even if human beings have stood at the top of the food chain and pyramid, they still cannot escape the law of nature's law of the jungle.What's more, even in the sea, there will be some creatures that are not strong enough to rashly provoke other beings that are countless times stronger than them, and there will only be more such chaotic phenomena in a society composed of highly intelligent humans.

And it is precisely because of this chaos and noise that deeper feelings and encounters are created.

The mermaid listened to Aigre's words in silence, while thinking about the philosophical words described in some books she had read before.

"My name doesn't actually have any interesting meaning...it's an abbreviation." Aigle recalled, explaining slowly, "I also heard from my grandfather that my parents thought about it before I was born. and decided that both boys and girls could use it. It means 'every joy makes old temptations and memories new,'(Note 1) seems to be my parents from A sentence I saw in a certain book cut off the initials and made it my name."

Aigre.Mr. Mermaid guessed the way the name was spelled, and nodded in understanding.

"I actually miss them very much." Aigre said, "Although they are so vague in my memory, so blurred that I can't even remember their appearance, but I remember that I must be very happy when I have them by my side of."

After he finished speaking, he relaxed his expression again under the gaze of Mr. Mermaid, and asked, "Do you still need a glass of juice?"

The mermaid looked down at the empty can in his hand, and before he could answer, Aigre stood up and took out another can of orange juice from the refrigerator, "It's not suitable to drink ice water when the weather is hot, but no one It’s easy to deny the allure of a cold drink—especially in an air-conditioned room.”

The mermaid took the can of juice, and casually threw the empty bottle in the other hand into the trash can at the other end of the room.

"The head is so beautiful." Eigre admired sincerely, "And I probably underestimated your understanding of human society—did you use trash cans when you came into contact with humans before?"

Mermaid: "..." My friend, I am not a primitive creature or a seaweed without thinking ability.

Mr. Mermaid still didn't speak, and Eigre took it as his acquiescing to his question.

He cleared the dishes from the table and put them together in the automatic dishwasher—newly installed when he returned to the lighthouse after his grandfather died.This kind of household machine is not particularly expensive, and it does make life much more convenient. Moreover, Egret himself has no idea of ​​using housework to exercise himself, so he bought one with other small town residents who are accustomed to modern society. , It can be regarded as leaving some trouble for myself.

"I actually don't know much about these things." He said to his guests while adjusting the automatic cleaning time of the dishwasher, "Maybe in some respects I don't know them better than Mr. Mermaid .”

Aigre was right about this.The books the mermaid has read are quite professional, he just lacks practical experience.

"And things like TVs and computers, which are actually quite surprising." Aigre continued, "If you don't mind, you can try mine later."

When the mermaid heard this, she raised her eyebrows slightly, showing full and heartfelt pleasure to Aigre's invitation.

"In fact, relatively speaking, I also have a lot of things that I don't understand. I hope you can clarify for me, but since we want to be friends, I think we still have a long time to get along." Aigre simply washed his hands , turned around and asked the mermaid, "If you don't mind...can you teach me the language of the mermaids when you have free time? I can't always rely on your writing to communicate with you, even if it's not normal It’s better to be able to understand part of the language for conversation.”

For Mr. Mermaid, who has nothing to do, this is of course no problem.He was even satisfied that he would never be idle for the next period of time, and because of this, he had a little more affection for Twilight Island.

Aigre's request also reminded him of many long-term memories.For example, when he was just curious about the human world, he made the decision to understand this ethnic group.He paid a lot for this, broke the bones of his own tail, dropped countless hard scales, and was even almost captured by some shrewd humans.

And after going through all this, he became stronger and stronger, until finally, no single creature could be his opponent.And his every day in the sea has become extremely boring because of this.

He still has a strong interest in the human world, but he never had the idea of ​​approaching them proactively.

——until I met Aigre on the hot beach that day.

This young man seems to have a unique charm, so that he doesn't feel any threat or danger.He's not particularly warm, and he doesn't seem warm, but he's always as gentle as ever.

He heard Eigre talk about it at dinner, saying that the character of their family is so meek, it is difficult to be impatient in doing anything, but because of this, they have lost a lot of self-motivation.

However, Aigle personally believes that his life is very relaxed and happy, not as bad as outsiders imagine.

Although he couldn't tell the reason, Mr. Mermaid felt that he could understand him very well.

Based on Mr. Mermaid's tolerance and politeness to him during this friendly exchange, Egre became more curious about the past of his alien friend.He can reasonably suspect that Mr. Mermaid must have interacted with humans a lot in the past, but the mermaid does not look like he has been in contact with human society often - this can be seen from his curiosity about these electrical appliances. figure it out.

However, Mr. Mermaid does not seem to intend to narrate his past at this time, so Aigre thinks that he needs to reserve a certain space for his personal reasons.

They are not yet familiar enough to know everything, and they need time and more time to get along and understand.

Afterwards, Aigre and Mr. Mermaid discussed the TV together. Although Aigre was the only one talking all the time, the atmosphere was surprisingly harmonious.

It wasn't until this calm and tranquil atmosphere was broken by a faint fire and a faint noise outside the window that Aigre stopped communicating with Mr. Mermaid, turned around and walked to the window to look towards the center of the island. .

Although he was standing at the lowest end of the lighthouse, the lighthouse was originally built on a high ground, so even at this position where he was standing now, he could still see a large area in the northern part of the island.This area happened to include the market that Aigre often went to - and the place where the fire and sound were emitted happened to be this market.

"There seems to be something wrong in the town." Aigre narrowed his eyes and carefully looked at the movement in the town, and said to the mermaid in a voice that was almost talking to himself, "It doesn't look like there is a fire, but it seems to be It's not like someone is throwing a party."

The mermaid heard what he said, didn't ask any more questions, and didn't intend to interfere with the conversation between him and other residents of the island, so she moved to the bed and planned to return directly to the sea.

"Wait a minute, sir." Aigre stopped him before he climbed out of the window, trotted to the side cabinet and took out something and handed it to him, "Please accept this, it's what you gave me before I use it One of the corals was polished and made. I kept one for myself."

The mermaid took a second look at the thing in his hand.This is a necklace. Although the rope used to hang the small piece of coral is very simple and doesn't even look very strong, it unexpectedly matches this small piece of red coral very well.

He did not reject the gift that Aigre gave him back, but held it in the palm of his hand, nodded slightly to Aigre, and left the lighthouse.

He decided that next time he had the chance, he would bring a bigger one to Eigre—the kind that people couldn't make a necklace around their necks.

Aigre watched him leave as he did several times before, and then simply tidied up the room, went upstairs to confirm the situation of the lighthouse and the weather tonight, and then took out his mobile phone and went out.

There are almost no disputes on Dusk Island, let alone wanton provocations or theft and beatings, so the work of the security team here is almost the most leisurely on the entire island.Every night, the island will become extremely quiet. Even if the residents on the island have not fallen asleep, they must be sitting at home with their families or doing some things on their own. Everyone on the island is invited to the party.

Aigre was quite sure that there was absolutely no party going on tonight, so the movement that even the lighthouse at the far north could notice was definitely not a trivial matter.

As soon as he approached the market, Aigre saw those dancing sparks and a large group of town residents surrounding the entrance of the market.

He confirmed the intensity of the fire, and found that it was not houses that were actually burning, but some wooden benches and boxes. Then he was relieved. He walked around these residents and came to the front. Mrs. Irene, who saw the fruit stand, was staring angrily. Looking at the few people in front of him.

"You guys are going too far!" Mrs. Irene said in a high-pitched voice, "I have already reminded you not to smoke while unloading, you have already promised me, why would you go against what you promised? ?”

It is rare for Egrele to see Mrs. Irene, who has always been good-tempered, so angry. He is really surprised who can entrust her. After averting his eyes, he found that the person standing in front of Mrs. Irene was exactly the one he had seen on the beach before. Those few foreigners.

The guy in the lead was the only man he ever talked to.The man was looking at Mrs. Irene impatiently, probably because he had been arguing with her for a long time, that's why he was so irritable.

"Madam, you didn't tell us clearly that what was unloaded from the train was fireworks, how could we know that it could be ignited so easily? And in such a market, wouldn't it be good to take fire prevention measures? Should it be your shopkeeper's responsibility?" The man frowned and retorted.

What he said at this time was like a three-year-old boy who was making trouble for no reason. He was blaming his parents for not hiding those lollipops for stealing lollipops against his parents. He was looking for a very lame reason, unwilling to admit even a little bit own fault.

"Young man, let's not say that the woman standing in front of you is a lady, just discussing the incident itself, you burned a large box of her goods and half of her fruit stand because of different advice, shouldn't you recognize her as a woman?" Is it wrong?" The old fisherman who sold the cod to Aigre last time also stood aside, and when he heard the man say this, he shook his head and criticized him, "Who made the mistake of starting the fire this time, everyone has seen it It’s clear, why are young people so inept?”

After saying this, the old man sighed. He probably saw that no one was injured, so he didn't intend to get involved in the disputes among the young people. He turned around to avoid the crowd, and quickly left the area.

Seeing the old fisherman walking so simply, the man didn't have time to refute. He suppressed his anger and could only continue to vent on other people, "Your store was burned down because you didn't hold the box securely." , woman, my friend can't completely compensate for everything, right?"

Aigre frowned, and after listening to the neighbors explain the reason, he walked out of the crowd and stopped in front of Mrs. Irene.

After these young people left the commercial street, they planned to visit the market.At the beginning, there were no problems. Although their attitude was not particularly good, they did not cause trouble.The shopkeepers in the bazaar are all very talkative people, they don't care at all about their not very friendly way of speaking and behavior, and even show equal enthusiasm towards them.

But after the night fell completely, these young people stood at the entrance of the market, intending to smoke a few cigarettes to ease their mood.It's just that they just took out the cigarettes when they were stopped by Mrs. Irene who arrived at the entrance of the market with the truck.Mrs. Irene originally just kindly reminded them that this batch of goods is easy to burn. For the sake of everyone's safety, she hoped that they could change their place to smoke.Several young people agreed, but did not cooperate in action. Mrs. Irene thought they had left, so she carelessly hugged the box and turned around and walked towards the stall. The man who happened to light a match turned his head and walked towards the entrance of the market Hit him sideways.

Mrs. Irene's goods came out of her hands and were ignited by the match. The soaring fireworks rushed out of the cargo box in an instant and hit Madam Irene's fruit stand directly.Fortunately, no one was standing in that area at that time, otherwise he would have suffered serious injuries.

Originally, if it was just an accident, Mrs. Irene was actually not very obsessed with whether these outsiders would pay compensation, but the man who seemed to be the youngest of them outsiders was a little sparked because of the fabric on his arm. He burned a small piece and cursed directly, and even kicked Mrs. Irene's fruit stall directly, making the whole stall full of smoke.If it weren't for a few other companions who stopped him, this grumpy young man would probably have done a lot of excessive things out of anger.

Mrs. Irene was flushed with anger, so she couldn't help arguing with him directly.

When he heard this, Aigre glanced at the man who was talking face-to-face with Mrs. Irene, and unexpectedly learned that this guy was actually the most tempered among the group.

But this didn't change his impression of these guys, so he stood between that man and Mrs. Irene, guarding against the rude behavior that the other party might make at any time.

"Are you...the one from before?" The man gave him a surprised look, then waved his hands irritably, and continued, "Please get out of the way, this matter is already annoying enough, don't let anyone get involved most."

Aigre shook his head, did not speak to him directly, but turned to Mrs. Irene and asked, "Where are your husband and children?"

"He took our little one to visit the teacher at the school in the west, and he won't be back for a while." Mrs. Irene was still full of anger, but she still held back her emotions when dealing with Aigre, and her tone was gentle Shao, "Don't worry, even without my man, I wouldn't just let it go - that guy really scolded me so badly!"

"My friend did this wrong, but it's not enough for him to pay for everything, right?" The man continued to argue with a frown, "Which person nowadays doesn't yell at any time because of emotions? Can you guarantee that you will be able to do so at any time?" Can you control your emotions and vent your anger without cursing?"

"Please don't generalize everyone, sir." Aigre asked Mrs. Irene to stand back a little, and calmly said to the man in front of him, "The cause of the matter determines who is at fault, if your friend needs it If it is responsible for the compensation, although this lady is not short of the repair fee, she should not suffer in vain."

The man was about to say something when he was interrupted by Aigre directly: "What's more, the fruits at the fruit stand are probably less than a fraction of your clothes. Since you can afford a private boat, then you shouldn't mind it. A little compensation?"

"Whether we can afford the boat or whether we are willing to pay compensation are two different things." The man suppressed his anger, but his tone involuntarily became sharper, and the words he said were finally completely unkind, "It is the woman herself. Why should we be responsible for the fire caused by careless looking at the road? Anyway, we will never pay the money, and you people who can only stay on the island all day long, what can you do with us?"

Aigre was planning to speak calmly to him one last time, and if he didn't listen to persuasion, he would stop using gentle methods.But this time the security team came very quickly, and there was no chance for Eigre to directly use force to subdue these guys.

"What's the matter?" The captain frowned and approached them last time, waved his hand to let a few team members who were wearing the same uniform as him step up and pull them away, and then asked, "They all want to sit with us How about drinking tea for a few days?"

Aigre didn't speak, and Mrs. Irene described what happened to the security team.

The captain turned his body and glanced at the wood chips that were still burning. He didn't make a decision immediately, but stretched out his hand to the man, "Please show me your boarding pass."

The man's expression became a little awkward when he heard this sentence, but after hesitating for a few seconds, he was probably still a little afraid of the electric shock baton and the gun on his waist held by the security guards, and took them out of the backpack beside him. got a pass.

"Mokel University... you shouldn't be here until next month?" The captain looked at him suspiciously, "That Professor Nice contacted us before and said that he would bring some of his students with him. It should be you, right?"

Hearing what the captain said, even Egrele was a little surprised.

He himself is a graduate of Mokel University, and although that Professor Nice has never taught him, in his impression he has always been a kind and gentle mentor, and they even often drink afternoon tea together in their spare time .

"The professor will come back next month. We think we can come here to inspect the terrain first, which will be helpful for the next research topic, so we took the pass." The man turned his face and said, "And the person in charge of your port Didn't you let us land on the island smoothly?"

"The pass in your hand has not expired, of course the guy at the port will let you in. But you just did this kind of thing, isn't it too embarrassing for your school?" The captain said and pointed Aigre, "Little Payer is also the one who came out of college, but he is much better than you."

The man glanced at Aigre. Although there was surprise in his eyes, he obviously didn't intend to speak to him.

"I'm sorry, this guest from Mokall University. Although I won't ask for compensation for Mrs. Irene, since Twilight Island is a special territory protected by the government, since you have already disturbed the lives of the residents in the town, And insulted the ladies in the town with extremely ugly words, I can't let you stay here." The captain said and returned the pass to the man, "Based on our cooperation with Mokall University this time, If Mrs. Irene agrees, we will pay for her repairs, but in the same way, please follow me to live in the south of the island for a few days, and don’t come to the east of this area until your mentor arrives gone."

After this short period of silence, Mrs. Irene's anger has subsided a lot. At this time, she probably doesn't want to have anything to do with these unreasonable guys anymore, so she nodded quite simply to express her agreement.

"Then let's put this matter aside for the time being and wait for Professor Nice to come." The captain also nodded, obviously not wanting this incident to affect the lives of other residents on the island, and continued to explain.

The man snorted a few times, probably because he didn't need to make any compensation in the end, so he didn't continue to entangle, and waved to his companions who had been standing not far away to appease the irritable young man. , and they came together.

After explaining a few words again, the captain of the security team left the market with those young people, leaving some people behind to clean up the messy stalls for Mrs. Irene before leaving.

"Are those guys really students from the same college as you?" However, Mrs. Irene still seemed a little dissatisfied, and she couldn't help complaining as soon as they left, "It's really rude, how can you speak without saying anything?" How about insulting a lady like that?"

"...I don't know either." Eigre also felt a little puzzled, and after comforting Mrs. Irene, he paused and said, "Professor Nice is a professor of the Department of Natural Sciences in our college, and his students must be like this." It’s in the department. It’s just that I don’t know anything about the research topic they’re here for, and Professor Nice probably doesn’t know that I’m from Twilight Island.”

"That's right." Mrs. Irene curled her lips and said nothing more.

"If they want to conduct research on the project, it is estimated that they will focus on some simple investigation and analysis of the sunset island itself and the nearby waters. If only a professor leads a few students, it will not affect the residents of the island too much." Aigre continued. "This time, it is estimated that those students took Professor Nice's pass and came here ahead of time... In my impression, Professor Nice should not allow students to move ahead of time. I will try to contact him tomorrow morning Bar."

"If you can get in touch with that professor, you must ask him carefully." Mrs. Irene was still a little angry, and her words were not too polite, "Those young boys have been wandering in the nearby sea for several days. That flamboyant speedboat played some nondescript songs and scared away all the fish in the vicinity, so that people who fished in their spare time couldn't calm down."

"I will contact the professor as soon as possible." Aigre promised.

Only then did Mrs. Irene calm down completely. She stood on her tiptoes and patted Aigre's head, saying, "Although it's still early, you still have to take care of the situation at the lighthouse, right? There are two men in my family, one big and one small. I will be back soon, and there are other people in the market to help, so you should go back first."

Aigre nodded, and after greeting the residents of other towns around him, he walked along the path towards the lighthouse.

If those young people simply came to play in advance, Eigre would not need to contact Professor Nice in such a hurry, but if they really want to conduct research on the surrounding ocean, then he has to confirm in advance.

He didn't want anyone else to find Mr. Mermaid's trace. If the purpose of their visit this time was indeed in the surrounding waters, he had to remind Mr. Mermaid in advance so that he would always pay attention during those people's visits.

He couldn't immediately recall Professor Nice's contact information, so he decided to go home and look through the address book for the time being. If it didn't work, he would ask his roommate Royce or a few other friends.

And Mr. Mermaid, who was being worried by Eigre, was still wandering in the sea near the lighthouse.He didn't know what was released in the town, but when he left the lighthouse, he didn't smell too much flames, and he didn't feel the danger, so he thought that Aigre should be able to handle it by himself.

And the result was exactly as he expected. Aigre did not go out for too long before returning to the lighthouse.The mermaid didn't go back to look for him immediately, but lay flat on the bottom of the sea and carefully looked at the necklace that Aigre had given him before.

Humans love to polish these delicate things until they are smooth and smooth.Although this kind of craftsmanship has existed since a long time ago, mermaids sometimes do the same, but after personally touching the craftsmanship of human polishing craftsmen, he also has to admit that after processing, these things will indeed become more beautiful.

It is no wonder that so many people pursue beautiful jewelry, because they are indeed rare and precious, and after simple embellishment and modification, they can become extremely dazzling.

This made him think of some philosophical sentences.For example, people's life needs to be polished like jewelry, or inspirational words about how to face beauty without experiencing pain-it sounds terrible, but it does help a large number of people regain hope.

These are all Mr. Mermaid has seen in various books before.He always believes that human culture is very interesting, even if there are fundamental differences in race and living environment, it is still worth learning from.

He leaned on the most comfortable seabed for a while, but still didn't feel sleepy, so he simply got up and headed towards the sea surface, and returned to the beach after a few movements that weren't too big.

When he entered the lighthouse again, he was a little surprised.Because the entire lower floor of the lighthouse was filled with mist at this time, the air smelled a bit stuffy, which was not particularly comfortable, but fortunately, with the adjustment of the air conditioner, the mermaid didn't feel too uncomfortable.

He looked around, even though he knew where Aigre was at the moment, he first checked to see if there were any other changes in the room.

Probably in the bathroom.

The mermaid thought so.

Human beings are different from them. Although they cannot contact water for a long time, they are always in urgent need of it in daily life.Such as drinking water, or bath water at this time.

Take a bath, or bathe.

When the mermaid saw this kind of vocabulary for the first time in a book, it took a long time to figure out its meaning, and he was puzzled by it—until he saw a certain word in a certain book. The difference between a person who does not take a bath for a month and after taking a bath is the same as the vast majority of human beings, who sincerely hope that everyone can pay attention to hygiene and clean regularly.

To the fish's surprise, Aigre didn't close the bathroom door.

——So when Aigre stepped out of the bathroom before he had time to put on his clothes, Mr. Mermaid's undisguised gaze gave him a thorough look.

Aigre: "..."

But probably because he has become a habit of embarrassment in front of this Mr. Mermaid, Egreel quickly pulled a bath towel on the side and wrapped it around his waist expressionlessly, and then greeted very calmly: "Good evening."

Mermaid: "..."

Aigre: "..."

Mr. Mermaid couldn't help but look at his loveless expression, and at the same time turned his head kindly.

……good body.