Chapter 77: The Center of the Fish Pond (12)
Su Mingxiu, who had been half-squatting on the floor, turned around and looked up at the mermaid standing behind her.
Before she could speak, the system, which had been dormant in her mind, suddenly said:
[Host, it is recommended that you agree to her request.]
It had watched helplessly as Suhui’s goodwill towards Su Mingxiu plummeted from a near-perfect 99 to a lonely 0. Suhui was the true female lead, hidden behind the smokescreen of Pao Tong and the others…
The other targets didn’t matter, but if she failed to capture Suhui’s affections, the Tempering System, disguised as the Culinary God System, would have failed its mission.
The system couldn’t help but feel anxious.
[Suhui’s current goodwill towards you is 0. If Host doesn’t try to salvage the situation, your ultimate mission will be considered a failure.]
Tsk.
Su Mingxiu had her own plans, intending to guide Suhui step by step towards understanding what she truly wanted. If, in the end, Suhui only wanted a suitable partner for egg-laying, she would naturally fulfill her wish.
But if Suhui wanted something else, Su Mingxiu would teach her how to express it sincerely.
Now, being interrupted by the system, she felt a surge of annoyance.
Perhaps because she had been silent for too long, the light in Suhui’s blue eyes, which had been filled with anticipation, gradually dimmed, like a sparkling ocean turning gloomy.
She turned and left silently.
Su Mingxiu heard the receding footsteps behind her. She took her hand off a gift box in her suitcase. It was one of the gifts she had just bought, a pair of candy-shaped earrings.
—It was Suhui’s gift.
Annie and the others soon received their return gifts from Su Mingxiu.
The sadness from the performance night had long been healed by a good night’s sleep. So, these gifts were a pleasant surprise for them.
Annie received a new brand of massage device, carefully chosen by Su Mingxiu based on her hidden injuries, after trying out many different models.
And Pao Tong received a cute, golden zongzi charm, which could be used as a zipper pull for her backpack. It was a limited edition collaboration between a famous brand and her hometown’s tourism industry.
After exchanging gifts, the S-rank trainees received a notification from the program team to gather for the filming of the travel variety show.
The filming wasn’t complicated. They just had to cooperate with the main guests of the show and earn their living expenses for three days by working on the cruise ship.
But Annie and the others, who had anticipated a luxurious and enjoyable trip, couldn’t help but sigh.
They should have known, there’s no such thing as a relaxing and fun job.
They quickly composed themselves and changed into their service uniforms to conceal their identities.
The black and white uniform dress had a ribbon tie on the side. After changing, Su Mingxiu bumped into Suhui outside.
Their auras were so outstanding that even in these uniforms, they looked like they were wearing high-end vintage designs from a luxury brand. The cheap fabric seemed to have become high-quality.
Suhui didn’t understand the human concept of “uniform play.” Looking at Su Mingxiu in this outfit, she felt an inexplicable heat rising within her.
Even the area that had been played with earlier felt a strange tingling sensation, making her unconsciously press her legs together.
Her eyes were filled with confusion, not understanding her own reaction. Su Mingxiu looked stunning in this outfit.
Suhui didn’t realize how blatant her gaze was. The mermaid, who didn’t know the meaning of restraint, shamelessly scanned Su Mingxiu from head to toe, looking at the ribbon on her collar, the fabric stretched taut around her waist, the legs beneath her skirt…
Then, her gaze traveled back up.
Until it landed on a ring on Su Mingxiu’s pinky finger.
It was the gift Pao Tong had given her.
At that moment, the lingering heat within Suhui’s body turned into ice, as if she had suddenly swam from the tropics to the freezing Arctic Ocean, surrounded by shards of ice.
Suhui looked away.
Su Mingxiu, who had been about to speak, feeling Suhui’s burning gaze: “…”
Forget it.
She thought, Let her look, it’s not like I’ll lose anything.
The atmosphere between them was strange. It wasn’t until Annie and the others arrived, dressed in the same uniforms, that the tension eased. They chatted and laughed as they walked out. Suhui initially followed them, but gradually, the distance between them widened.
Even though they had the opportunity to participate in the filming of this popular variety show, with their status, they wouldn’t get much screen time. After editing, they would probably only appear for ten minutes or so in the two-hour episode.
Thankfully, they were self-aware and understood the rules of the industry. They knew that being in the same frame as industry giants was already a great opportunity.
Notably, because Suhui was too quiet, she always looked like a beautiful doll in the background. They even wondered if she would have any lines in the final broadcast.
Because of this, Su Mingxiu stared at Suhui for a long time when they returned to their room that night.
She realized that even though this mermaid looked very much like a human, she still couldn’t adapt to the complex rules of human society.
Even though she could sing and dance exceptionally well, in a variety show where personality and character were crucial… she had her shortcomings.
As she watched, she couldn’t help but wonder—
Knowing that this fish is so foolish, what am I even worried about?
Thinking of this, Su Mingxiu suddenly called out to her: “Suhui.”
The silver-haired mermaid, who had been lying on the other bed with her eyes closed, opened her eyes and turned her beautiful face slightly, her noble aura naturally emanating.
“Do you still want a gift?”
She heard Su Mingxiu ask.
The woman’s sincere words made her eyelashes tremble slightly.
Actually, Suhui wanted to ask, Did you not get what you wanted from those people, so you thought of me again?
But what was the point now? Suhui thought angrily, If another mermaid treated her like this, making her feel like a backup option, she wouldn’t agree to be with them!
Suhui knew she should refuse.
She didn’t want to be the last choice.
She didn’t want the leftovers from Su Mingxiu’s suitcase after everyone else had chosen their gifts.
So she said angrily: “Yes!”
As Su Mingxiu took out the gift box containing the candy-shaped earrings, she instinctively looked at Suhui’s ears.
When they fell into the sea earlier, she had already learned that the mermaid’s beautiful earrings were just transformations of their translucent fins.
So, before giving the gift, she asked cautiously: “Do you have pierced ears?”
If not, she had another gift as a replacement.
But the mermaid only looked at the candy-shaped earrings in the box, then reached out and took one.
The beautiful black lotus that had been on her ear disappeared. She pressed the sharp end of the earring into her snow-white earlobe—
A drop of blood oozed out.
Su Mingxiu was completely stunned by her actions, too late to stop her.
Just as Suhui reached for the other earring in the box, Su Mingxiu instinctively closed the lid and pulled her hand back.
Suhui looked up, meeting her gaze. There wasn’t a trace of surprise in her eyes, only a calm question: “Did you change your mind? You don’t want to give it to me anymore?”
Of course not.
Before Su Mingxiu could say this, she saw the goodwill rating above Suhui’s head plummet:
From 0…
To -10.
Su Mingxiu: “…”
Su Mingxiu: “?”
Could this thing even go negative?
But, having agreed to accept her gift, what was this foolish fish thinking to cause such a drastic change in her goodwill?
After a moment of confusion, she couldn’t help but ask: “Do you… not like this gift?”
If Suhui didn’t like it, she could just give her something else.
Suhui: “I like it.”
She was the one who asked for a gift, and now that Su Mingxiu had given her one, she should be happy. Suhui tried to convince herself.
But she found that her current mood was even worse than when she had eaten that cold, leftover fried prawn earlier.
Perhaps it was because, back then, she knew that the prawn was specifically for her. But now, with these earrings, she didn’t know who had seen them, or why they hadn’t been given away before.
The merfolk princess, who had the entire ocean to choose from, now, on land, realized that courtship and egg-laying could be so complicated.
Su Mingxiu still held her hand, preventing her from taking the other earring. She said seriously: “Earrings are just everyday accessories, you can change them according to your mood, you don’t have to hurt yourself to wear them—”
“But I don’t want to change them.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, they both froze.
Suhui stared at the woman before her, her icy blue eyes like glass, reflecting Su Mingxiu’s beautiful face.
She suddenly realized that she had never truly taken her eyes off this person, even though Su Mingxiu refused to bear her eggs.
Suhui thought, But I still want to choose Su Mingxiu, what should I do?
All her unhappiness now had an answer. It turned out that she had wanted to possess this person all along. That’s why she had never liked those rivals.
But…
Su Mingxiu’s choice wasn’t limited to her.
Humans were fickle, changeable, and cunning. Even these shiny, beautiful trinkets, who knew how long they could hold their interest? They would change them on a whim…
Suhui thought, Does Su Mingxiu treat them like earrings, changing them according to her mood?
Silence fell over the room again.
Su Mingxiu could only watch helplessly as Suhui took the other earring and put it on her ear in the same way.
The next morning.
Su Mingxiu was awakened by a strange sensation on her neck.
Before she even opened her eyes, her fingertips reached out and touched something cold, hard, and rough against her skin.
She sat up and walked to the small bathroom in the cabin. In the mirror, she saw a new accessory on her neck—
A necklace made of thin red coral branches.
The red coral was the color of pigeon blood, its delicate, irregular branches intertwined, a beautiful design. But…
Against Su Mingxiu’s fair skin, and the way it clung to her neck, it looked more like a shackle than an ornament.
She gently touched the sharp tip of a red coral branch, tracing it with her fingertip. Guessing who was behind this, a smile appeared in her eyes.
—So this is the consequence of -10 goodwill?
Leave a Reply