When Xiaoqi was telling a story, Sanqiansui took advantage of her unpreparedness and jumped onto the end of the bed.

It stole the mattress with its front paws for a long time, and only felt that the quilt under its feet had been stepped on, so it yawned and lay down again.

Xiaoqi was concerned about telling stories, but she didn't even bother to chase the fox. She pressed her feet on the 3,000-year-old fluffy belly and told Feng Yan about Hai's daughter.

At the deepest point of the sea, there is a palace of Neptune, where six beautiful mermaid princesses live.

Their father was a widower.

On weekdays, a smart and noble grandmother is taking care of their daily life.

Whenever a mermaid princess is fifteen years old, her grandmother will allow them to float to the sea to see the huge ships in the world pass by the coast, to see the forests on the land and the city with lights on earth.

The youngest princess yearns for the deepest part of the world, but she can only float to the water at the latest.

The little mermaid grew up in the story of her sisters to the world. Until her fifteenth birthday, she finally saw the fireworks, ships, dinners and handsome boys.

But that night the storm overturned the big ship. She saved the prince in the wind and waves and sent him to the snow-white, velvet-like fine stone beach.

A young girl passed by and rescued the prince who was sleeping on the beach, but no one found that all this was the credit of the little mermaid.

The mermaid princess had to return to the deep palace under the sea alone, but began to slowly yearn for the world on land.

So the little mermaid asked her grandmother, "Will people on land die like us?"

"Yes," replied grandmother, "their lifespan is very short, unlike us, who can live to three hundred years. It's just that when our lives are over, even a grave cannot be left to our beloved--for we don't have an immortal soul."

"Why can't we have an immortal soul? If we can become human, I would rather give up my life for hundreds of years!"

Grandma was worried, "You must never have such dangerous thoughts!"

"Then I will only turn into bubbles after I die. Can't I get an immortal soul?"

"No!" Grandmother scolded, "Only when a person loves you more than himself, and only when he opens all his love and thoughts to you, and gives all his loyalty to your present and future, will his soul fire spread to you-but this kind of thing... will never happen!"

The sad little mermaid went to the deep seabed and asked the witch for help.

She exchanged medicine to the witch with her most beautiful voice that could split the fish tail into two, but every step back seemed to be walking on the tip of a knife.

The witch warned her that once she obtained the human form, she would never be able to become a mermaid. If she could not get the prince's love, then on the morning of the first day of the prince's wedding, her heart would be broken and her whole person would turn into bubbles on the sea.

The little mermaid lost her wonderful singing voice and finally came to the prince as she wished.

But in the end, the prince got engaged to the princess of the neighboring country. He regarded the young girl who happened to pass by the sea that day as his savior. The little beauty who could not speak could not tell the prince the truth, nor could she make the prince fall in love with her.

The night before it was about to turn into bubbles, the five sisters of the little mermaid floated on the sea. They exchanged their long hair for a dagger for the witch. As long as the little mermaid inserted the dagger into the prince's heart before the sun rose, letting his blood pour on his toes, she could get the fish tail again and return to the depths of the sea.

The little mermaid, carrying a dagger, lifted the prince's violet bed curtain and saw the beautiful bride leaning her head resting on the prince's shoulder. The two fell asleep quietly.

She leaned over and kissed the prince's pretty eyebrows, and then threw the knife into the sea with determination.

The sun rose in the distance, and the soft and warm sunlight shone on the cold and broken foam on the sea surface. The little mermaid raised her shiny arm towards the sun, waiting for the nothingness of death.

However, she slowly rose in the light, and she became the daughter of the sky - because she once fought wholeheartedly to obtain an immortal soul, she endured the pain and persevered, so as long as she kept sowing good deeds to the world, then three hundred years later...

She will obtain an immortal soul created by herself.

...

At the end of the story, Xiaoqi let out a sigh of relief.

She felt her eyes were a little wet. No matter how long it took, the story of the little mermaid could still easily arouse her tears.

Feng Yan nearby is very quiet.

"Sister?" Xiaoqi shouted in a low voice - she suddenly felt a little worried whether her sister was already asleep.

Feng Yan's response with a nasal sound came from the darkness.

Xiaoqi raised his hand hesitantly, trying to touch his sister's cheek, but Feng Yan avoided it.

Feng Yan wiped away the tears from her face and buried half of her face in the pillow.

A widowed father and a grandmother who cares for grandchildren.

A little daughter who yearns for the world the most but can only float to the water at the latest.

A dagger wedged into the heart of a lover.

And the banshee who is willing to turn into bubbles forever for the sake of her sweetheart...

Every sentence of Xiaoqi's story is like an elusive metaphor. A person's destiny is intertwined on different characters, casting a specious shadow.

About the present, about the future.

"Ah... shouldn't I tell this story before going to bed?" Xiaoqi asked in a low voice, "Sister is crying?"

Feng Yan shook her head.

"Xiao Qi." Feng Yan suddenly spoke.

"Um."

"If one day, if one day you encounter the same encounter as the mermaid in the story, what would you choose?"

"...I don't know." Xiaoqi thought for a long time, "If it were me, I might not have made that deal with the witch from the beginning, what about my sister?"

"I won't go to make that deal, either." Feng Yan replied.

"Why?"

"Being taken away by a witch means losing the ability to speak. However, before people have words, this is almost our most special ability.

"There is a force that cannot be despised in human words - the so-called oaths and curses are all carried out through words.

"Exchanging legs with voice is to exchange human nature for human body shape. Having human form but losing human reality. When she did this, the hope of going to the world... was shattered.

"So in the whole story that followed, she could only keep losing, losing... until nothing could be lost, and there would be no miracle that would change the prince's mind."

Feng Yan raised her head and stared at the void.
Chapter completed!