Son of the Sea - Chapter 2

The comments:

【Sob, he’s so easy to please. The little villain was just a sweet, soft little cake when he was small.】

【Something’s wrong. Why are we suddenly getting wholesome mother-son time? Is Shen Qiuwu really not going out? Doesn’t that mean the car-crash plot has changed?】

【Not necessarily. Maybe the author is fleshing out the setup. He finally gets time with his mother, only for it to be her last act of tenderness before she runs off to meet her old flame and dies. What could break the villain’s heart more than that? Besides, that childhood friend is no saint.】

Sure enough, the moment the comment appeared.

My phone rang.

The caller ID read—Ji Yu.

The very childhood friend I was supposed to meet.

Little Lan Tang immediately paused the movie and looked over nervously.

“Qiuwu, I’m at the restaurant. Have you left yet?”

I had already messaged him.

I did not know why he was calling anyway.

“I’m sorry. Something came up today. Let’s catch up another time.”

“Is it… because Lan Jin is back? Is he stopping you from going out? Put him on. I’ll talk to him.”

He seemed to harbor a peculiar hostility toward Lan Jin.

I did not understand it, but I patiently explained that Lan Jin was abroad on a business trip.

I simply did not want to leave Lan Tang home alone.

After ending the call, I rubbed my brow and resumed the movie with Lan Tang.

Yet my thoughts drifted to Ji Yu.

Our families had been close for generations.

We had often spent time together when we were students too.

Six years ago.

I had voluntarily chosen a marriage alliance to expand my business territory.

Just as the news was about to be announced, Ji Yu abruptly left the country.

Fortunately, his parents still attended my engagement banquet on time.

Furious at his lack of loyalty, I had never contacted him again.

Until yesterday.

He had suddenly returned and said he had something to tell me.

The comments:

【The villain’s mom suddenly refuses to go. Is she still angry at her childhood friend? If he hadn’t left the country back then, the two of them definitely would’ve been the ones in the marriage alliance.】

【There seems to have been another reason he left. The original story mentioned it several times. Why else would they call him her first love?】

【Good thing she didn’t go. She escaped death, and little Lan Tang won’t have to suffer so much. My heart breaks whenever I remember how the original story tortured him until he wanted revenge on the whole world.】

【You only have morals when the pretty faces suit you. Let’s see how this ends once the villain dad’s and little villain’s identities come out.】

One comment was right.

At least for now.

I had no idea how to tell Lan Jin that I already knew they were merfolk.

Lan Jin was the marriage partner I had personally selected five years ago.

Height, looks, assets, education—he was top-tier in every respect.

His only flaw was that he was a little aloof.

But I did not like clingy partners to begin with.

That minor defect made him a perfect match for me.

At the thought, I sent Lan Jin a message.

I asked when he would return.

With the time difference, I assumed.

He had not woken up yet.

Instead, a video call came through the very next second.

Lan Jin’s face appeared on my screen.

The comments:

【Holy crap! What a face! Nobody told me the villain’s dad was this handsome!!】

【Wait, you’re telling me this cannon-fodder character, who doesn’t even survive five chapters, is the most gorgeous man in the book?】

【No way. Someone who looks like Lan Jin deserves to be called the unattainable first love. If Shen Qiuwu’s first love is really her childhood friend, then her eyes must be seriously… shrimpy.】

【Salt-cured shrimp? Sounds delicious.】

The comments made the corner of my mouth lift.

Before I could speak.

Lan Jin turned his phone in a full circle, showing me every inch of his presidential suite.

“There’s no one here.”

“I wasn’t checking up on you.”

We spoke at the same time.

Disappointment seemed to flash across Lan Jin’s face.

【Hahaha, the villain’s dad is kind of adorable. He’s actually disappointed his wife didn’t call to check up on him.】

【Um… don’t laugh yet. Am I the only one who saw what looked like a nightgown on his bed? Is he cheating?】

【No way. Merfolk are famously faithful. Otherwise the villain’s dad wouldn’t have embraced Shen Qiuwu’s corpse and cried himself to death after she died. How could he cheat?】

Embraced my corpse and cried himself to death?!

Were Lan Jin’s feelings for me really that deep?

Or were all merfolk simply that faithful?

Every time we were intimate, he acted terribly reserved.

Even Lan Tang had only been born because I insisted.

Could he have been pretending too?