The Old Man and the Mermaid

This should be a cargo ship.

The mermaid looked up at the bottom of the huge monster, while thinking, adjusted its position and continued to observe it.This kind of cargo ship usually carries a lot of containers, and the crew is not too many, but it is definitely not a single ship.Dusk Island doesn't have much contact with the outside world, and the cargo ship will only come once in a while, delivering some supplies to the island intermittently.

He remembered that Aigre had mentioned to him the business on the island before.There are not too many residents on Dusk Island, so the demand for various items is not too large. This is the first time he has directly encountered a cargo ship and arrived at the shore of the island.

The place where the cargo ship was unloaded was the place where the strange young people parked the speedboat last time.The ship was very quiet when it docked, and there were not many workers standing on the shore waiting to unload the goods. It seemed that it was indeed the usual style of Dusk Island.

His eyes crossed the sea, and he keenly saw the shadow of Aigre standing in the sentry box—although the shadow was very vague and his back was still facing him, he was quite sure that it was Aigre.

The mermaid watched the sea not far away for a while, and after confirming from the conversations of the workers that the cargo ship would leave immediately after counting the goods, it turned around and swam towards the lighthouse again.

His human friend seemed busy, so he decided to wait for a while.Anyway, they still have a lot of time, so there is no need to rush.

Fortunately, it was just a cargo ship.The mermaid thought.If it is a more advanced modern ship, the possibility that the detector on the ship will find him cannot be ruled out.

But the cargo ship that came this time was indeed a little different from the past.Because in addition to delivering goods, it also brought a special guest to Dusk Island.

Since Aigre bought some small dried fish from the market that day, he has been speculating on the time of Mr. Mermaid's next visit.Much to his surprise, Mr. Mermaid didn't reappear the next day as he had imagined, and for nearly a week since then, his friend has disappeared without a trace.

But this time, he wasn't too worried. He could see the trust in Mr. Mermaid's eyes, and he was confident enough to keep this friendship going.

He was just a little curious about Mr. Mermaid's whereabouts these days.The sea is so vast, if Mr. Mermaid wants to go to a certain corner of the seabed, he doesn't know how long it will take to turn back.

So after he considered it, he only left a small portion of the dried fish in the locker. If Mr. Mermaid could come back before these snacks went bad, he might still be able to taste them—not to mention that he couldn't. Go to the market to buy again.

In the past few days, the weather has finally become a little cooler. Because of the moderate rain that just fell last night, the air on the entire island seems much humid.But before the summer is completely over, it is almost impossible to feel cool.

Aigre cleaned up the lighthouse carefully and earnestly before noon, in order to welcome the arrival of Professor Nice today.

This can be regarded as the etiquette he learned from his grandfather.The kind old man always makes good preparations before anyone visits, and makes his guests as comfortable and happy as possible.

He occasionally chatted with the professor in the college. Although he didn't know his food tastes, he knew that the professor liked drinking tea very much.For this reason, Aigre went to the market yesterday and bought some tea imported from abroad for storage at home.

Not long after noon, Aigre arrived at the small port on the west side of Dusk Island ahead of time.The specific arrival time of the cargo ship would always be slightly off. He didn't mind waiting a little longer, so he simply chatted with the staff at the port.

What puzzled him a little was that he didn't see his alumni at the port.

"Hey! Isn't this the little Payer in the lighthouse?" Before Iger could think about it, the staff member standing on the shore and walking slowly in a small area saw him, and waved to him with his feet He waved his hand, "I heard that the professor who came today is your tutor in the academy, right?"

"It's not my mentor." Aigre walked over and shook his head and explained, "But he is indeed a professor in our college. Although I am not his student, he has always been very friendly to me. We often spend time together in our free time. time to chat and drink tea, so I respect him very much."

"Our little Payer is good everywhere, but he is too polite." The staff laughed and joked to the companions around him, "Isn't it, man? Don't get me wrong, little Payer, I'm not here There’s nothing wrong with being a polite person, it’s just that you’re lacking in energy, so go and have fun with your peers! Occasionally, you can ask someone to look after the lighthouse, and travel around with your friends for two or three visits It doesn't matter if you come back in a month's time."

"Thank you for your kindness." Aigre thanked him for his kind proposal, but still shook his head, "I'm still quite used to life on the island, although it may be less fun than outside, but at least it's very comfortable .”

"As soon as I heard it, I knew it was the grandson of the old Mr. Payer." The staff sighed helplessly, "The old man also thought the same as you, and spent his whole life in the tower...but he looks very happy Yes. I won't say much, as long as the young man feels happy."

Aigre smiled at him to express his approval and gratitude.

The cargo ship arrived today earlier than he expected.After the ship docked, the staff first unloaded all the goods, and then Eigre saw Professor Nice following the last batch of boxes.

Speaking of which, Eigre felt a little guilty.Because there are too few ships traveling between Dusk Island and the mainland, the only thing Professor Nice can take is this extremely slow cargo ship.

In comparison, those guys in the speedboat really didn't respect their mentor very much.

Aigle frowned slightly, and decided not to think about his alumni for the time being.

The appearance of the professor has not changed much from a few months ago. Although his temples are gray and his body is thin, his spirit looks quite good.He even smiled and waved his hands when he saw Aigre, and his voice sounded even stronger than when he was talking on the phone before.

"It's so hard that you came here to pick me up, Eigre." The professor smiled and patted Aigle's shoulder, "It's so hot, you don't have to stand and wait."

"It's okay, I've been standing in the sentry box before, and the air conditioner is installed in the sentry box now, so it's quite cool." Aigre replied, and then asked with a frown: "It's just that you didn't notify you to bring us this time." Are those students? No matter what they say, they should come to pick you up."

"I was cheating." Professor Nice blinked at him and said with a childish expression, "I told them that I will not arrive until near dusk, mainly because I want to catch everyone by surprise. What a mess they'll be when I'm not around."

Aigre nodded knowingly, looked at the professor's rarely so serious expression, and smiled, "Then shall we go directly to the east to find them?"

"Let's move the equipment I'm going to use this time to the residence first." Professor Nice looked around while talking, "The gentleman in charge of receiving me should have arrived—here, he Already here."

"Where are those instruments? Let me get them for you."

"Thank you very much." Professor Nice pointed to the cargo ship, "They are placed behind the door of the cabin, and I will go with you."

Mr. Aigre is indeed very busy. In this comparison, Mr. Mermaid seems to be quite idle.

There are no entertainment facilities in the sea, and there are very few creatures with complete thinking ability, which leads to mermaids almost completely eating and waiting to die except for looking for a partner and raising children.

...to eat and die.

It sounds like a bad Internet slang, and it doesn't seem to be inconsistent with him.

The mermaid felt a little headache.He felt that most of his previous life was probably wasted. Fortunately, he still has such a hobby as reading books, and he also met a friend like Aigre.

He now thinks that even fighting with Aigre is much more interesting than hanging out in the sea like this.

But when it comes to books, he thinks of the bookshelves placed in the lighthouse by Aigre.Aigle said that most of the books on the bookshelf were slowly accumulated by his grandfather over the years. He had read about half of them himself, and hadn't had time to read the rest.

Moreover, Aigre once seriously stated that Mr. Mermaid is welcome to enter his lighthouse at any time—whether the owner of the lighthouse is at home or not.

Mr. Mermaid continued to swim in the sea for a while, and finally decided not to reject Eigre's kindness. By the way, he could translate the information about the mermaid language in his hand before the young man came back, and write it down on paper. superior.

It was probably a big project, but he guessed that Aigre would like it.