Tidal Engagement - Chapter 2

I thought he would use force.

But Pei Tinglan just opened the door to the adjacent break room.

“Come in to talk.”

“I’m not going into a closed space.”

He nodded, stepped back, and left the door wide open.

“Then I’ll stand outside, you sit inside.”

This man is troublesome.

He doesn’t go crazy, doesn’t threaten, doesn’t lock you in.

He always leaves you a choice that seems decent, then blocks off every other path.

I walked into the break room and sat at the spot closest to the door.

Pei Tinglan stood outside, hand resting on the doorframe.

The back of his hand shimmered with faint silver scales, like tides crawling over his skin.

I placed my phone on the table.

“Talk. What is an Anchor?”

He glanced at my phone.

“Recording?”

“It’s on.”

“Fine.”

I was taken aback for a moment.

Pei Tinglan said, “The Pei Family is not ordinary people. To be precise, not entirely human.”

“Sea Monster?”

A hint of amusement flickered in his eyes.

“You accept it quite quickly.”

“Given that my father sold his daughter to pay off debts has already happened, having Sea Monsters in the world isn’t too far-fetched.”

His smile faded.

“You weren’t sold.”

“Don’t make it sound better.”

I stared at him. “Pei Tinglan, save the nonsense between smart people.”

He was silent for a few seconds.

“An Anchor is a person who lets us maintain human form.”

“A spouse?”

“Not necessarily.”

“Then why choose me?”

Pei Tinglan’s Adam’s apple bobbed.

He didn’t answer immediately.

I caught that hesitation.

“It wasn’t the Pei Family who chose. You chose.”

His scales crept another inch up his wrist.

This time, he didn’t deny it.

“Six years ago, at the Nangang Shipwreck Case, you were there.”

When Pei Tinglan said these words, my fingers instantly clenched.

The Nangang Shipwreck Case is a forbidden term in the Lin Family.

That year I was sixteen, went out to sea with my father for a trial voyage, the ship lost control midway, seven people fell overboard.

I stayed in the sea for thirteen minutes.

Everyone said I was lucky to survive.

Only I knew that something had supported me underwater.

That thing was very cold, its arms seemed covered in scales.

After waking up, I had a fever for three days, intermittently dreaming of a pair of silver eyes.

I always thought it was a near-death hallucination.

“It was you?”

Pei Tinglan looked at me.

“It was.”

“So you saved me, and now you want me to repay the favor?”

“No.”

He answered too quickly.

So fast that it seemed like he was afraid I’d misunderstand, or afraid he’d waver.

“Then why did you choose me?”

The light outside the break room door suddenly flickered.

Hurried footsteps came from the end of the corridor.

The Old Steward came with two bodyguards, his face grim.

“Young Master, the tidal line has crossed the pier.”

Pei Tinglan did not turn around.

“I know.”

The Old Steward saw me and lowered his voice even further.

“Miss Lin still hasn’t put on the Ring?”

I picked up the glass on the table; the Silver Ring clinked softly against the bottom.

“You mean this?”

The Old Steward’s face turned utterly white.

“It can’t be soaked in water!”

He lunged forward to snatch it.

Pei Tinglan’s hand suddenly blocked the doorway.

He didn’t touch the Old Steward.

But in that instant, all the glass in the hallway frosted over simultaneously.

The Old Steward froze in place.

Pei Tinglan’s voice remained calm.

“Get out.”

The Old Steward gritted his teeth: “Young Master, you’ll lose control.”

Pei Tinglan finally turned around.

His pupils had turned a very light silver.

“I said, get out.”