Ch 83: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World II

Zeyuan slowly leaned toward Lu Yao, his eyelids lowered, half-shielding his mesmerizing red eyes, which shimmered like dew-laden honey persimmons hanging on a branch.

He wanted to kiss her. The thought surged like a tidal wave, as though it had already swept through his mind countless times, finally finding an opportunity to surface.

Carefully observing Lu Yao’s expression, Zeyuan’s heart pounded wildly, yet his chest felt oddly hollow, as if a small hole let the air seep through.

He had a vague sense that this might not be appropriate and tried to hold himself back, but something urged him to draw closer.

Overthinking slowed his movements.

Lu Yao, sensing his intent as he leaned in, remained calm on the surface, though her quickened heartbeat betrayed her nerves.

Yet he lingered, unmoving for a long moment.

The Sea of Tears rippled faintly in soft purple waves, the merfolk’s mournful, entangling song drifting closer and farther in turns.

Lu Yao blinked, lifting her gaze slowly. Her light brown eyes reflected the young man clearly.

He frowned slightly, his gaze tinged with restlessness, as though conflicted and unsure.

Lu Yao sighed internally, stepping forward. She pressed a hand against his chest and gently rose on her tiptoes.

For a brief moment, Zeyuan’s eyes showed confusion. Realizing her intent, a sudden wave of inexplicable joy overwhelmed him, leaving him dizzy and breathless.

Their gazes met for a few seconds before he closed his eyes slowly and obediently.

Lu Yao froze for a moment. “…?”

The sound of waves filled the air. Time seemed to stretch endlessly.

When the weight pressing against his chest vanished, Zeyuan opened his eyes in bewilderment.

…It was over?

Something felt off.

Mo Bao, perched on the table, covered its eyes with its hands but couldn’t resist peeking through its fingers. Its expression shifted dramatically.

The Lord stood there dumbfounded by the window, while Lu Yao, who had just been with him, was nowhere to be seen.

Her presence had vanished from the room. Zeyuan crouched down, noticing a faint trail of water on the floor.

Mo Bao leapt off the table, transforming into a boy. “Where’s Lu Yao?”

Zeyuan’s crimson eyes darkened. “She’s probably been taken by the merfolk.”

The boy covered his face in exasperation. The Lord was truly hopeless.

Under normal circumstances, how could a person right in front of him be snatched by a merfolk?

Unless the Lord had been so flustered and distracted that he failed to notice anything around him.

The boy stared at Zeyuan and recalled Jizhuang’s pitiful drunken state from not long ago. He felt as though his hair might turn white from worry.

The merfolk’s plaintive song lingered close to Lu Yao’s ears. Her eyelids fluttered, but she couldn’t seem to open her eyes.

The sound of water surrounded her, and the scent of saltwater—familiar yet foreign—filled her nose. She felt herself enveloped in a cool, soft embrace, submerged in the ocean’s depths, sinking steadily.

“Miss, miss, wake up.”

Lu Yao opened her eyes to a scene both strange and familiar.

She was underwater, her hands and feet bound by seaweed, housed within a transparent chamber resembling a glass bottle—or perhaps a crystal palace.

Having once visited a cozy deep-sea shop, she was no longer fazed by the deep ocean, nor did she react to the large fish gliding leisurely past the crystal palace’s windows.

Lying on her back, she stared absentmindedly at the fish above. It had been so close, just a moment ago.

On the shell bed across from her lay an elderly woman with silver hair—the one who had been calling out to her.

The old woman wasn’t bound by seaweed but seemed to have trouble with her legs, making movement difficult.

Seeing Lu Yao awake but silent, the old woman grew anxious. “Miss, are you alright?”

Lu Yao struggled to shift her body, propping herself against a column. She glanced at the elderly woman. “Madam Xie?”

The old woman’s eyes lit up. “You know me?”

Lu Yao briefly shared Ni City’s recent rumors. Since only the young master and the matriarch of the Xie family had been abducted by merfolk, identifying her wasn’t difficult.

Madam Xie, noticing Lu Yao’s tightly bound state and her cultivator attire, assumed she was a formidable figure.

After listening to Lu Yao’s analysis, the tension in Madam Xie’s face eased, and her forced smile faded into relief.

This young girl was just an ordinary person; she didn’t even know why she had been taken and couldn’t be relied on to help anyone else.

Lu Yao assumed Madam Xie was referring to her and immediately said, “I’ll figure something out. Don’t worry.”

Madam Xie slowly lay back on the bed. Her practiced movements didn’t resemble someone recently abducted, and her tone carried a strange air of resignation.

“Even if you break free and escape, where would you go? The crystal palace is surrounded by nothing but water at the bottom of the deep sea. Don’t anger the merfolk. If they’re provoked, they might just feed you to the fish. When that merfolk comes back, ask her why she brought you here. If you go along with her wishes, she might let you go.”

The scene before her was a peculiar one. Lu Yao thought for a moment, her hand reaching into her personal inventory before stopping short. “Is that merfolk really so reasonable? From the way you’re talking, it sounds like you know her.”

Madam Xie let out a long sigh. “An ill-fated entanglement. Best not to talk about it.”

The people of Ni City said the Xie family had been struck by misfortune. Six months ago, the merfolk targeted them, first taking the young master, then the old matriarch, leaving both fates unknown.

Now it seemed there were hidden truths behind the rumors, unknown to the world.

Lu Yao shifted herself into a kneeling position against the pillar, her hands working slowly behind her back. From her inventory, she retrieved a spring-loaded blade filled with crystalline core fluid, intending to cut through the seaweed binding her ankles.

Someone was coming.

It was a female merfolk, with long, algae-like hair and bright, delicate features. Her upper body was bare, with half of her inky black hair spilling over her chest. A pale pink fish tail extended behind her, and a string of jade merfolk pearls jingled softly at her waist as she moved.

Lu Yao had seen mermaids on the continent of Alexandria, but merfolk were similar yet distinctly different.

The merfolk had a more overtly demonic presence. The shimmering scales of her tail sent a shiver down Lu Yao’s spine, an inexplicable and suffocating fear taking hold.

The merfolk carried a jade tray, seemingly holding food, which she casually placed beside Madam Xie’s bed. She turned to look at Lu Yao. “You woke up quickly.”

Lu Yao exhaled slowly and tried to communicate. “Why did you bring me here?”

The merfolk replied, “The box. You carry the scent of the box.”

Lu Yao’s brows eased. As expected, it was about that box.

She gestured slightly and retrieved the box from her inventory. “This one?”

The merfolk’s eyes lit up the moment she saw it. “I knew it was in your hands. This is my treasure. No one else can have it.”

Lu Yao said, “You can have the box back, but the makeup inside stays with me.”

The merfolk raised her head, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. “Did that man give these to you?”

Lu Yao: “…”

The merfolk took a box of lip balm from the makeup case, opened it, dipped her fingertip in, and spread it on the back of her hand. “I saw it all. You two were standing by the window, just one step away.”

“….” Lu Yao lowered her gaze. What a creep.

Seeing that Lu Yao didn’t react, the merfolk lost interest. She dumped all the makeup from the box onto the ground by Lu Yao’s feet.

“I understand your feelings. This treasured box of mine was also made by my beloved, with his own hands, during a moment of deep affection. But a man’s heart is like the sand by the shore—not worth anything.”

Lu Yao said, “If I return the box to you, does that mean I can leave?”

The merfolk leaned in closer. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

Lu Yao: “…I believe you.”

The merfolk suddenly became agitated. “You’re lying. You’re just like the others, laughing at me!”

Lu Yao: “…I’m not lying.”

The merfolk was convinced Lu Yao was lying and refused to continue speaking with her. She took the box but left Lu Yao tied up.

The merfolk came and went in a whirlwind, paying no attention to Madam Xie lying on the other side of the room.

As silence returned, Lu Yao pulled out the small crystalline core blade again and effortlessly cut through the seaweed binding her hands and feet.

Standing up, she shook off the remnants of seaweed and crouched to collect the scattered porcelain jars from the floor, placing them one by one back into her inventory.

Madam Xie, who had been about to fall asleep, opened her eyes at the sound and saw Lu Yao’s fluid and precise movements. “Are you a cultivator?”

Lu Yao shook her head. “Just a mortal.”

Madam Xie clearly didn’t believe her and propped herself up on the bed with her hands.

Lu Yao had a feeling that the “ill-fated entanglement” Madam Xie had mentioned earlier was about to resurface.

Madam Xie looked at Lu Yao and said, “This old body doesn’t have long to live. Whether I’m imprisoned here or not doesn’t matter. But my grandson, who is only seventeen and with such great potential, shouldn’t be wasting his time at the bottom of the sea. Young lady, if you manage to escape, I have a request. No matter what it takes, please bring my grandson with you.”

Lu Yao was surprised. “The young master Xie is here too?”

The Xie family’s young master, Xie Zili, had been abducted by the merfolk half a year ago. The outside world assumed he was dead, essentially considering him a lost soul of the sea.

Madam Xie vaguely nodded. “Yes.”

Lu Yao: “Why did the merfolk abduct both you and the young master?”

The merfolk’s name was Jiao Niang.

About twenty years ago, she was washed ashore by a wave and lost her memory. Nearby fishermen rescued her.

As a merfolk, Jiao Niang’s tail transformed into human legs upon reaching land.

Her beauty captivated everyone in the area. Men from neighboring villages couldn’t help but stop and stare when they saw her.

The village women, envious and resentful, drove her out of the village in secret while the men were away fishing.

Jiao Niang, a stunning but amnesiac young woman, had no means of survival outside the village.

Predictably, she was tricked and sold to a brothel.

Jiao Niang’s extraordinary beauty made her a prized possession. The brothel madam treated her as a rare treasure.

One night, the eldest young master of the Xie family, drunk and coaxed by friends, visited the brothel and fell in love with Jiao Niang at first sight.

Not long after, Jiao Niang was taken into the Xie household as his concubine.

At the time, the eldest young master was unmarried and insisted on bringing her home.

He genuinely cared for her back then, willing to risk his future and reputation to be with her.

Three years passed peacefully, and Jiao Niang became pregnant.

What should have been a joyous occasion took a turn when her body began to change as her pregnancy advanced. Scales occasionally appeared behind her ears and under her chin, and small fins grew on her arms.

One day, while bathing, her legs transformed back into a mermaid’s tail, filling the entire tub. The maid screamed in terror.

The eldest young master fainted at the sight.

Jiao Niang was a demon.

No matter how beautiful, gentle, and harmless she was, the eldest young master couldn’t accept her true nature.

He locked himself in his room for three days. When he emerged, he coldly ordered her to be moved out of the main courtyard.

On the night Jiao Niang gave birth, the eldest young master married his proper wife.

Madam Xie’s expression darkened. “Jiao Niang gave birth to a boy. He was fair and clean, with no visible scales. We thought he hadn’t inherited her bloodline.”

But the child’s half-demon blood eventually awakened.

Lu Yao couldn’t help but say, “…Jiao Niang didn’t do anything wrong.”

Madam Xie shook her head. “She’s a demon. If it were your partner, wouldn’t you feel fear and unease?”

Lu Yao thought seriously for a moment and then shook her head. “If it’s someone I chose, I think I could accept them no matter what they’re like.”

Madam Xie: “…”

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