The Old Man and the Mermaid

The sunlight swaying on the sea is far less dazzling than at noon, each layer of waves is rendered in bright crimson, and the original azure blue of the sea has been completely covered up, which looks quite pleasing to the eye.This time should happen to be the time when the island residents finish their day's work and pack up their things to go home. Except for the rolling waves of the waves and the chirping of birds, there is hardly any other unnecessary sound.

Aigre put his hands on the window sill, narrowed his eyes slightly to avoid being hurt by the light, and then stared carefully at the direction of the guests from the sea on the shore for a few seconds with the help of the sunlight.

That little guy was indeed a mermaid, and he looked quite young, his body was far less muscular and graceful than his parents, and the short tail curled up looked more like some kind of chubby fish.

...like a spiny fish.

Aigre laughed twice, raised his hand and gestured to the mermaid girl in response.

Mr. Mermaid leaned against the window, staring at the direction of the coast like Aigre, recalling a little bit the fight he had with the girl's husband before he went ashore to find Aigre.

The heavy rain continued until this morning. He expected that Aigre would definitely want to take a proper rest and relax, so he did not enter the lighthouse immediately after noon, but stayed in a piece of sea not far from the shore, occasionally Go find the trouble with those large creatures.

The girl found him in the afternoon.She brought her husband and their child who was completely unable to protect themselves for the time being, and hoped to visit Aigre this afternoon as scheduled, and let the little one in her husband's arms see the appearance of a human being by the way.

Mr. Mermaid didn't quite agree with this approach.After all, the mermaid race is a novel and unacceptable creature to humans. If this little ghost thinks that all humans are kind and friendly from an early age, he will probably encounter a lot of trouble in the future.

However, since the mermaid parents would never let the child stay alone in a certain place until he reached adulthood, this danger could be minimized.The child's grandparents are probably living in the sea not far from Dusk Island, and they can help them take care of the child. That's why they pulled out their hands to help when the alumni of Aigre fell into the sea last time.

After listening to the girl's explanation, Mr. Mermaid nodded and said that he would take them to see Aigre, and went ashore alone to check Aigre's situation, and only returned to the sea after seeing that he was still sleeping soundly.

The girl didn't mind waiting so long at all, and her husband followed his wife with an expressionless face, leaving the decision completely to the lively girl.

During the period of quiet waiting, Mr. Mermaid did not take the initiative to approach the little guy who was looking at him curiously.Children of this age are too fragile, and he has never had the experience of dealing with this kind of little guy. If he hurts the little guy without knowing how serious it is, the little guy's father who seems to know his cold personality probably Will fight him directly.

But while Mr. Mermaid had indeed thought of avoiding a fight, they ended up fighting anyway—the reason being a fight over prey.While swimming leisurely around, they spotted a fat prey at the same time, and grabbed both sides of the big fish's body respectively.Although Mr. Mermaid had no malice in his heart, the race's naturally aggressive blood quickly ignited them.

Their bodies are quite strong, and they tore that poor prey into pieces within a few moments. Therefore, Mr. Mermaid quickly raised the tail of the fish and collided with each other with the help of inertia. There was a soft fight.

In the end, Mr. Mermaid prevailed and ended this sudden and meaningless struggle in time to avoid accidentally injuring his fellow man.

The girl's husband is indeed a guy with super fighting power, even compared with all other members of the fish clan, he can probably be regarded as a very good and powerful existence.

However, Mr. Mermaid has lived in the sea for too long, and his fighting experience is far stronger than that of his clansman, who can be seen to be quite young, so even though they are equally powerful, this cold mermaid is still Can't beat him.

The girl had been standing aside watching with relish, rubbing the little head of the child in her arms from time to time, and giggling lightly. Although her husband lost in the end, she still looked quite proud.

—We heard about you a long time ago.

The girl looked around at her husband's physical condition and confirmed that he was not injured before explaining to Mr. Mermaid with a smile.

——You are very strong, and the elders have praised you, so he has always wanted to fight you for a try.

Mr. Mermaid glanced at her husband, who was also looking at him, and bowed his head slightly to show respect.

——I hope that my children will be strong enough to be independent in the future, do what they want to do, and live a happy and healthy life.

That's what the girl said at last.

And the little one in her arms still looked at him with wide eyes, the tiny scales on the back of the lower jaw that were not fully developed were so soft that they seemed to be a little harder than the most common seaweed.

They didn't make any other moves after that, and waited quietly until dusk.

"The heavy rain has just ended. People in the town probably don't want to wander around in such a humid environment. The beach should not be dangerous." Aigre said while picking up the water glass on the table and filling it. Taking a few mouthfuls to moisten his throat, he exhaled lightly and rummaged in the drawer that came out of the closet: "I remember I bought a gift, it was pretty, although mermaids might not like it... but I also You can’t welcome guests empty-handed.”

Gift?Mr. Mermaid raised his eyebrows, and looked sideways into the drawer.

"It was when one of my mentors was pregnant, and I originally prepared it for her child." Aigre took out a gift box from the drawer and handed it to Mr. Mermaid. "It's a pity that her child was not born smoothly, so This gift was brought back with me when I returned to the island."

Mr. Mermaid had also learned about the habit of giving gifts to each other in human society, so after being rescued by Eigre, he thought of bringing him those gadgets that could only be found in the ocean as thanks.

He nodded, without asking what was in the gift box, he returned it directly to Aigre, then turned around and pulled out the lighthouse from the window.After Aigre locked the gate of the lighthouse, he followed him out of the lighthouse—this was the first time he followed Mr. Mermaid to open the window, and it felt as subtle as climbing the iron railings when he was a child.

After stepping on the beach that was extremely wet due to the heavy rain, Aigre finally saw the girl's family clearly.The girl still had a friendly and lovely smile on her face. When she saw Aigle coming, she straightened her body and grabbed Aige's hands and shook them a few times.

Aigre was a little surprised.In his thinking, the mermaids should not have such etiquette for meeting and shaking hands.While greeting the girl with a smile, he looked at Mr. Mermaid at the side, and he probably guessed that Mr. Mermaid should have done some science popularization to her.

While he was saying his greeting, Mr. Mermaid also said a few words to the girl.Judging from the girl's expression, Mr. Mermaid should be translating for him.

After a brief conversation, Aigre turned his attention to the girl's husband.This seemed to be another cold guy, perhaps even less communicative than Mr. Mermaid.

Aigre also nodded to the girl's husband, and greeted him gently, before finally looking at the little guy lying on the beach, staring at him with a pair of surprisingly big eyes.

...this little one really does look like a porcupine fish.It's not because of how fat he is, but because his short and fat little tail is really far from Mr. Mermaid.In Aigre's opinion, the little mermaid's tail is like the mermaid tail described in human fairy tale books.

Aigre looked at the little guy's mother, and after obtaining consent, he stretched out a finger and shook it in front of the little guy.

This little guy is really too small. The scales on the tail and waist are not fully developed. The skin on the upper body and face is so white and tender that it can be pierced with a light poke. It is so fragile that it is completely unimaginable. When he grows up, he will become a strong and beautiful creature like Mr. Mermaid.

The little guy's hair was not long either, it hung softly on the sides of his face and neck, and some strands of hair were wrapped around the tiny scales behind his shoulders.His face was covered with fine sand stuck to his skin from rolling on the beach before, and he looked messy, no different from a mischievous human child.

Aigre laughed twice, stretched out his hand and poked the little guy's face.

He remembered some interesting little videos that had been circulated on the Internet before, saying that the tragic consequences would be caused by men raising children.Moreover, he had never been in contact with a child before, so he didn't dare to stretch out his hands to hug him. He could only support the upper body of the little guy with his palms to prevent him from falling directly on the beach.

The little guy's body was as soft as a shrimp, and he slid back and forth when he was supported by Aigre, almost completely uncontrollable.

The mermaid girl laughed out of breath.

Aigre felt a little embarrassed.He had nothing to do with this little guy, he could only hold the little guy's upper body and the top part of his tail with both hands.

However, when he just held onto the tail under the little boy's stomach, Aigre couldn't help being stunned for a moment.

The soft and weak touch under his hand definitely does not belong to scales or fishtail skin.

Aigre maintained a calm expression, silently withdrew his hand, and continued to support the little guy's back as if nothing had happened.

However, when he withdrew his hand, he saw Mr. Mermaid staring at him with a smile that was not a smile, with a very happy expression.

Aigre: "..."

... If you expose me, I will take down the pillar in the lighthouse and fight you.

He stared at Mr. Mermaid expressionlessly, and silently warned with serious eyes.