The Old Man and the Mermaid

Small dried fish.

For Twilight Island, which is quiet and has little contact with the outside world, this simple and delicious food is loved by almost every island resident.However, Aigre also knows several townspeople who don't eat fish very much, which makes their daily diet a bit boring, and he doesn't quite understand how these residents who can't accept the smell of the sea live here for many years of.

Perhaps it is because of feelings and love for this small island.

The residents of Twilight Island are very family-loving. Most of the islanders who travel or work on the island will eventually return to this small island that is not so special or beautiful, and enjoy the long and warm time here.

Aigre loves it here.In fact, he himself knew very well that even if his grandfather hadn't passed away at this time, he would still return in the near future.The only difference is that he probably won't take over the lighthouse, but will do something he is interested in—such as cultural studies, which his parents have always loved.

He returned to the lighthouse with the plan, and first turned on the air conditioner.The temperature in the past few days is really uncomfortable. Although it is moistened by sea water, the sun is still too strong.

While turning on the air conditioner, Aigre recalled the state of Mr. Mermaid sitting on the beach before.This time Mr. Mermaid didn't seem to be as restless and uncomfortable as the previous few times, probably because half of his body was soaked in sea water, but next time it would be better to invite him directly to the lighthouse.

After adjusting the interior of the lighthouse to be a little more comfortable, Aigre sat on the sofa and began to read the already wrinkled proposal.This plan is printed out, but there are red marks next to many words, which carefully classifies and summarizes each link in the plan.

Aigle was a little surprised by this.He had seen Professor Nice's handwriting before, and he knew very well that the professor's handwriting should look rougher and messier.In other words, these handwritings were probably written by his alumni who were not very polite.

As a result, his speculation seems not very accurate.Aigre thought about it and continued to read, and carefully compared the handwriting, and finally found that these markings were indeed not scribbled, and they were all written by the same person.

Although he is not a student of this department, he can also see that there should be no major problems with this proposal.

He sat on the spot and read the plan several times over and over again, then looked at the current time, went to the computer and sent an email to Professor Nice.He didn't know Professor Nice's schedule during the holidays, so he didn't dare to call that gentleman directly, so as not to disturb the meetings and experiments that the school might arrange during the holidays.

But this time it wasn't a big deal. He read the plan carefully and made sure that their actions would not have much impact on Dusk Island.What's more, Professor Nice should have already negotiated with the person in charge of the island when he applied for the certificate of landing on the island, and the plan was only shown to him because he was a student of Mercier University.

In the end, he still read the plan before buying the dried fish.

Aigre sat in front of the computer and flipped through the latest information for a while, feeling itchy for a long time, and finally decided not to inquire about any information about mermaids.

...his original intention was not to learn how a human chef would cook a rare mermaid.

Omnivores shouldn't be mixed to this extent.

Aigre recalled the embarrassing scene that day with complicated emotions, and then compared that scene with his underwear, and found in despair that the two things affected him to the same extent.

In the end, he temporarily turned off the air conditioner, trotted out the door, walked all the way along the hillside to the sidewalk, and then walked slowly in the shaded area of ​​​​the dense forest, and went to the market.

Mrs. Irene's stall didn't seem to be back to normal business yet, but her expression became cheerful again.

At some point, Aigle even envied the optimistic and friendly life attitude of his neighbors.His own emotions have never fluctuated much, probably because he has long been used to treating everyone politely and gently, which instead causes him to no longer simply feel relaxed and happy because of some small things.

Especially after his grandfather passed away, he became more silent-until Mr. Mermaid broke his peaceful life in a very magical way.

...To be precise, it should be those awkward encounters that refreshed his own correct worldview that he had maintained for more than two decades in an extreme period of time.

He patted his forehead, decided not to think about the past that made him suffer from some kind of embarrassing cancer, adjusted his expression and walked into the market.

"Hi, Little Iger!" Mrs. Irene turned her head to see him, and at the same time greeted him friendly, "How is today?"

"I'm fine." Aigre stepped forward and hugged her briefly, then looked at her relaxed expression and said, "You seem to be fine too."

"Don't worry, what happened to those brats is nothing at all." Mrs. Irene guessed what he wanted to express, and waved her hand quite boldly, "I didn't actually suffer much loss, Since the security team has promised to pay compensation for them, they will never go back on their word—I just hope that their mentors can teach them a proper lesson after they come to the island. As for the amount of compensation, I still have I really don’t want to take money out of the security team’s pocket.”

"From what I know of the professor, he won't leave the island without your forgiveness," said Aigle. "He's a serious man."

"Oh, no! I really didn't intend to embarrass them." Mrs. Irene quickly patted Aigre's forearm and persuaded, "I just hope that everyone can be happy and don't worry about unnecessary trivial things. It's just a quarrel... Well, forget it, let's discuss these after their mentor comes—then our dear Aigre, what are you coming to the market today for?"

"For some snacks." Aigre pointed to the other side of the market, "I want to buy some small dried fish to go back, so I can taste it when I'm bored. Do you want it? I can bring some for you."

"Then I will trouble you." Mrs. Irene said with a happy smile, "My little one will come over in a while, he likes those little snacks very much--Also, if you don't mind, please help him with his daily routine this afternoon Essay, right? I heard from my husband that he has made great progress, and he was praised by the teacher for it, which is all thanks to you."

"It's him who is smart enough and studious. Mentors always say that a child's potential lies in himself." Aigre shook his head, denied Mrs. Irene's praise, and then walked out of the booth and waved to her, "I'll be back soon .”

In the middle of the market, there is a very good shop selling dried fish. He has been there several times, but he doesn't know whether Mr. Mermaid likes to eat this kind of dried fish.

Aigre thought for a few seconds, and finally decided to buy the flavor without chili powder at all.

Probably some kind of tacit understanding has been formed. When Mr. Mermaid was swimming quickly in the sea, he happened to remember the meal with chili peppers at that time.

He had seen many columns and headlines in human newspapers or electronic news, and even once thought about what kind of sensation he would cause in the human world in a few days if he really left the world in a shameful way of choking to death.

——The secret experiment of the young lamp holder is shocking. The mermaid is not a legend, but died because of the cruel experiment method of the mad scientist.

——In the most astonishing intentional murder case of this century, the prisoner developed capsicum toxin that could destroy internal organs as soon as he left the ivory tower.

Mermaid: "..."

He felt that he might need to go to a human hospital to get some medicine for treating mental illness.

However, he really doesn't like chili peppers very much. The taste greatly irritated his mouth and gave him the illusion that he was being burned by a flame.

Mermaids move very fast in the sea, and their physical fitness is excellent. As long as they can maintain enough sleep, they can swim quickly all the time when they are awake.

He remembered where the things that recorded the mermaid script were kept, and he had even just visited them a few months ago.It's just that the Twilight Island is not too far from the mainland after all, so the mermaids almost never approach here, and at the same time they won't bring mermaid things here.

In addition to the inheritance of these languages ​​and characters, the mermaids actually have deep attainments in some alternative aspects, but they hardly know anything about technology.

Mr. Mermaid feels a little sorry for this, which is why he has been so interested in human technology all these years.

It took him nearly a week before he managed to get what he wanted and returned to the waters near Twilight Island.This was the first time he had been away for so long since meeting and becoming friends with Aigre.

It had to be said that this was the first time he had such subtle yet clear and understandable emotions.He was indeed missing that not-so-lively young man, and even looked forward to this meeting after a few days.

The mermaid approached the island with the object in his hand, but when he was about to enter the reef area, he was keenly aware of the movement not far away.He dived down quickly, hiding himself in the deeper waters, frowned slightly, and looked at the behemoth on the sea surface.