Shu Tang belatedly realized the identities of those people, starting to get nervous and hurriedly prepared afternoon tea and snacks to entertain them.
She fluttered around the monster at Blue Rose Manor like a butterfly, asking him:
“Should we go buy a couple of suits?”
“It’s not nice to meet guests in slippers in the morning, ah, we need to change into leather shoes.”
She would also sit atop the cleaning robot, shouting and directing the monster to push him around to clean.
The monster grew to despise these uninvited guests even more.
Because just for tomorrow’s afternoon tea, the little cat had been nagging from the evening until the next morning, even directing the monster to carry her to bake gingerbread.
When the visitors came the next day, they encountered the monster with a darkened face.
Although his eyes had returned to normal, they were devoid of emotion, coldly staring at them. His sharp fins stood erect, and his towering figure loomed ominously in the shadows behind him.
The visitors screamed in fright and scrambled away in a panic.
When she came downstairs, she saw their staggering figures, shoes flying off.
She watched from the window for a while, and when she called them to stay for lunch, they ran even faster.
She turned back to the monster, quite angry: “They are really impolite, leaving without a word of greeting.”
The monster put away his dark expression, bowed his head, and remarked: “Low quality.”
Both nodded in agreement.
Hand in hand, they went back to watch a soap opera.
Gradually, Shu Tang found that the eyes of those who visited were filled only with fear. If they showed any enthusiasm, their gazes were laced with flattery and calculation, and she disliked the way they looked towards the mermaid.
Thus, she hung a sign at the main gate of the Blue Rose Manor stating that no visitors were welcomed anymore.
After that, no one disturbed them again.
…
The numbers on the calendar grew smaller and smaller. With each page she turned, Shu Tang felt time flying by swiftly.
One morning, as Shu Tang got up and flipped the calendar again, she suddenly realized that only two pages remained.
She was stunned.
It was only then that she remembered it was already the late summer of September.
She felt a mix of anticipation and unease. Her heart had been pounding relentlessly since morning.
It wasn’t until the afternoon, when an old academician called her aside, that Shu Tang finally felt as if a boot had finally hit the ground.
She asked the mermaid to wait for her downstairs at the research institute, and then she had a brief talk with the old academician.
The old academician said:
“Cases of severe mental force outbursts like the Founder’s are rarely cured, and I am eighty percent confident I can heal the Founder, but I must inform you of something.”
“Please prepare yourself mentally.”
The old academician showed Shu Tang eight clinical cases.
After being cured of a mental force outburst, the patients felt as if they had awakened from a profound dream.
Some could recall the minutiae of the dream; others woke up having forgotten everything, as if they had lost many years of memory overnight. They woke up to find themselves having lost several years of their youth.
The old academician told Shu Tang, “Actually, this is the brain’s protective mechanism, because the pain during the mental force outburst is very intense. After recovering, some patients, to protect themselves, will have these memories automatically blocked by their brains.”
When Shu Tang left, a torrential rain had begun to fall outside.
She counted the raindrops on the window, stopping at the eleventh drop.
Shu Tang turned her head and saw the mermaid in the pouring rain.
Shu Tang knew that Little Rose must have heard everything.
Because the mermaid’s pale lips were tightly sealed, staring at her intensely, like an immovable statue.
Not until Shu Tang said, “Little Rose, let’s go home,” did he stiffly move, taking the umbrella from her hands.
The two of them slowly walked toward the manor.
Shu Tang realized that experiencing certain things truly makes one grow. For example, if she had encountered such situations before coming to Yan City, she would have been at a loss, confused, and wanting to cry. But now, she found herself much calmer than she had imagined.
Shu Tang would not call a halt at this time, nor did she want to stop Zhu Yan from recovering from his illness. She hoped that Little Rose would never suffer from neuralgia again, and never lose her life due to a surge of psychic power.
At this moment, she actually began to actively comfort the mermaid.
“Little Rose, do you believe it? Even if you don’t remember me, we would still come together.”
“Little Rose, our pheromones match well.”
“Do you know about fate?”
Finally, the mermaid lowered his head to look at her, his pale lips quivered.
Shu Tang had not believed in fate before either. She thought fate was just a legend. Even her parents had only slowly developed feelings for each other many years after they were matched.
But after meeting the mermaid, she felt that perhaps there really are miracles in this world.
One in Yan City, the other in South Island City;
One a fish in the sea, the other a cat on land.
Going in completely opposite directions, thousands of miles apart.
Shu Tang said, “Actually, if I could forget those ten years, that would be nice.”
Shu Tang: “There’s still a fifty percent chance.”
But when she turned around, she found that the mermaid hadn’t followed.
The monster remained silent.
Shu Tang went back to hold the umbrella for him and tugged at the mermaid again. But he did not want to hold the umbrella, nor did he want to follow.
He just stood there, stubbornly refusing to be pulled away.
“I don’t want to.”
He didn’t want to forget.
Shu Tang stopped.
The two stood stiffly in the rain.
After a while, when she saw the mermaid’s hair begin to drip, she had to go over, grab the mermaid’s sleeve, and pull him home.
She nuzzled the cold rainwater on the mermaid’s cheek, and finally, he loosened up and followed her home.
She was wiping his long, damp hair with a towel in the garden, just like before.
Yet the mermaid stubbornly told her, “I don’t want to.”
Shu Tang replied, “But if we don’t continue, all our efforts will have been wasted.”
The mermaid remained silent, but looked up at her and repeated, “I don’t want to.”
Shu Tang stopped.
Just as she was about to sigh, the next second, the mermaid grabbed her hand.
The monster hissed and pulled her close to his neck.
His voice became damp amidst the sound of the rain.
He said:
“Mark.”
Shu Tang, smelling the cold scent on him in his embrace, felt like crying, but she shook her head instead.
In her upbringing, this was a grievous act. Because marking someone in such a moment was unethical and exploitative.
Because as long as she marked him, whether he remembered or not, he would be uncontrollably attracted by the pheromones, falling in love with her all over again.
After a while, she caught her breath and said to the mermaid:
“Little Rose, this isn’t fair, let’s wait a few days…”
But this only infuriated the beast.
The monster let out an angry hiss, the first time he had ever interrupted her.
His eyes, filled with accusation, watched her as the rain dripped from his long hair.
This was the greatest injustice to him.
Because she was trying to take away the only light and joy in his life.
She was stunned.
They looked at each other.
Silence fell for a long while.
If he didn’t love her, he could naturally go back to being Zhu Yan.
But if he didn’t love her, he would never find joy again in his life.
At this moment, the monster looked fierce, yet his eyes were like those of a puppy, pleading with her not to abandon him.
He was begging her.
Just like he had every time before, begging her not to leave, not to abandon him.
Facing such a gaze, Shu Tang could clearly feel a corner of her heart collapsing.
Thus, just like every time before, she could not refuse such a gaze.
Even if he was asking her to become a despicable thief, to steal him away.
She was persuaded, but it was not because she had overstepped her definition of fairness in her heart, but because she was filled with pity for her lover.
So, she embraced this towering monster, their noses touching, and she said, “Okay.”
The monster then slowly relaxed, emitted a hoarse sound, lowered its head, and nearly begged his little cat:
Mark me.
Tame me.
…
On this cold night, they became accomplices in a theft.
The stolen item was the monster’s heart.
They decided to temporarily store that heart within the little cat.
It would never be lost, even at the ends of the earth.