That ugly, sharp fin trembled slightly when kissed, seemingly about to rise sharply in arc, but Zhu Yan held back with strong self-control.
He was momentarily dazed, because her breath was too sweet, and because the sunlight was dazzling, the breath and kisses on his ear felt like sweet candy. This made him not push her away immediately, but by the time she started to kiss his Adam’s apple, his handsome Adam’s apple bobbed, and he turned his head again.
This time, the monster reached out, grabbed her chin, tilted his head to dodge her, then pressed her down to sit properly, frowning sternly at her, telling her she shouldn’t do this.
But after listening, she didn’t stay still even while pressed down on his lap.
Her hands were restrained, yet she made a gesture to rub the hem of her nightgown open.
Zhu Yan endured it, but eventually could no longer bear it.
He had no choice but to single-handedly twist her arm back, pressing her onto his lap.
But this pose became even more ambiguous.
It was almost like he was about to teach his partner a lesson in a certain way.
She noticed this too, and instead of fidgeting, she raised her head, smiling gleefully at Zhu Yan.
The kitten seemed to find her lover fascinating and worthy of exploration, much like catnip, eager to sniff and rub against him, and perhaps even take a bite.
His lips were tightly pursed.
The fierce beast approached her, issuing a threatening hiss and raising its sharp fins—warning her not to commit such offensive acts again.
When this creature became fierce, it was quite majestic, especially when it made that deep, hoarse sound.
The chief’s presence was astonishing.
Zhu Yan felt it necessary to talk to her about a few things: for instance, the nightgown wrapped around her waist; or her recent presumptuous offense.
His expression grew stern as he held her down on his knee.
He told her very seriously, “You can’t do that.”
Had it been someone else, they would have been frightened stiff, especially while being pinned down on his knee, completely at his mercy. But she wasn’t afraid; instead, she found it quite novel—that Little Rose would get angry because she kissed him.
So she looked up curiously at her now-serious lover and asked, “What can’t I do?”
Was it that she couldn’t kiss him? Or climb on top of him? Or kiss his ear?
Zhu Yan calmly said, “All of the above.”
She wriggled on his knee, and Zhu Yan continued calmly, “You can’t.”
Zhu Yan pinned her down with one hand while he started to straighten his own nightgown with the other, fixing the blue fabric she had disheveled, and frowning as he buttoned the top button.
She watched his movements curiously, maintaining her position.
He decided not to continue entangling with this sly kitten and prepared to leave her in the study and walk away.
But halfway there, as if he remembered something, he paused.
The monster expressionlessly bent down and pulled down her messy, completely ineffective nightgown, covering her exposed legs and midriff securely.
His frowning face was somewhat adorable, resembling someone adjusting the channel to the weather forecast in the Bastille.
However, she arched her back, and with one movement, the nightgown climbed up again.
The large expanse of her fair skin just touched Zhu Yan’s cold, broad palm.
His long, beautiful hand paused, and quickly, as if burned by the soft warmth, he withdrew it rapidly.
The kitten thought he would scold her again and tilted her head up to listen to what he would say.
But Zhu Yan just stared blankly for a while, then released her hand and left without a word.
Even his retreating figure looked a bit disheveled.
Shu Tang propped her chin and watched for a long time.
She hummed a little tune, letting her nightgown fall back down.
…
Zhu Yan locked himself in the study.
He decided to keep his distance from the little cat who claimed to be his lover.
But he didn’t drive her away, because the mansion was big enough—if she wished, she could live on the first or second floor, and after he left, he could gift the mansion to her.
He only needed to stay in this dim, narrow bedroom, quietly spending the rest of his time.
Zhu Yan thought she would soon grow tired of the loneliness and dullness here, and would quickly realize what a solitary and frightening monster it was. As soon as she lost interest in teasing this quirky creature, she would leave immediately.
But she didn’t.
She didn’t let him be, to let this pitiful creature have peace and leave him alone in the study like a piece of rotting wood waiting for life to end.
Instead, she moved her carpets, sofas, and cushions under the monster’s window.
Separated by a wall, she recited love poems passionately outside the window. She called the monster “Melancholic Blue Little Rose,” while she was the “Little Rose’s destined lover.”
She occasionally even improvised a line of poetry: “A fish falls in love with a cat.”
Zhu Yan listened quietly.
With a deadpan assessment:
Nonsense.
No logic.
But when he turned his head and saw the monster in the mirror with a smile on its lips, he returned to silence.
She was doing yoga outside the window, waving a watering can everywhere. Like a hyperactive little cat jumping around.
She sang loudly at the doorway.
Zhu Yan thought: It sounds terrible.
But unknowingly, he ended up sitting there, listening for an entire afternoon.
Just the addition of one person made the mansion lively.
…
That night, Zhu Yan slept directly in the study. He heard her footsteps outside, seemingly going upstairs to sleep, and then he finally returned to the silence.
The monster thought: This is good.
The bed in the study was very narrow, because of the fish tail that had emerged, he had to sleep sitting up in a dark corner.
He heard someone say, “Little Rose, you’re going to get a herniated disc!”
Turning his head, he saw her clutching a pillow outside his window. Then, she climbed up to his window and fell with a thud below it, where he instinctively caught her.
He frowned at the sleepless little cat and wanted to ask what she was doing here.
But she had already patted the pillow and pulled over the blanket. She complained that the mansion was too big, the rooms too empty, and she was very scared sleeping alone, always feeling like there were footsteps outside the window.
So, the monster swallowed back his question.
He wanted to say this was not good, but she had already found a comfortable position and quickly fell asleep.
Her breathing was very even, like a curled-up cat sleeping sweetly.
The monster was stiff all over, feeling her slowly moving closer to him, her head shifted, and then rested on his shoulder.
So, he slowly and carefully relaxed his body, not to be so stiff. He slightly tilted his head, moved his sharp fins, and repositioned his fishtail to avoid scratching the little cat’s skin.
But she kept getting closer.
Her soft, warm body pressed tightly against the mermaid’s cold, fit torso. Her breath was sweet and warm by his ear. She turned over in his arms, and her full, plump buttocks pressed against his tight, explosively strong abdomen. The cold fishtail was extremely stiff, carefully trying to retract, but the narrow bed left no room to hide. This nearly two-meter-tall giant monster, squeezed by the little cat, could only curl up his fishtail; yet even so, their breaths mingled, and her soft lips brushed against his cheek.
The tall monster’s cold breath paused, his handsome throat bobbed.
The monster knew: she was awake. Because her eyelashes were still trembling.
He endured for a moment, but eventually couldn’t bear it any longer.
The monster, dressed in blue pajamas, lifted her from the bed and mercilessly threw her out of the door.
The pale monster’s blue eyes scrutinized her, angrily watching her.
So, she immediately admitted her mistake.
He gave her a cold look and closed the door.
In the darkness, the monster expressionlessly swallowed two glasses of water.
He thought she had finally left.
Thus, the monster could sleep a long sleep as usual, enduring an exceedingly lonely night.
But soon, Zhu Yan heard rustling noises.
It was like a little mouse fumbling outside the door.
Quietly, she wrapped herself in a blanket, brought over a comforter, and slept at his room’s doorway.
She moved stealthily, seemingly lowering her voice intentionally, but the monster’s hearing was so sharp.
She lay directly on the floor with the blanket.
The monster sitting on the sofa in the room opened his eyes.
—Even though she was driven out, she still wouldn’t leave, choosing to sleep at his doorstep instead.
After a long silence inside, the monster opened the door.
He looked at the person on the floor and asked in a low voice, “What do you want?”
He wasn’t her lover.
Nor was he the “little rose” she spoke of.
He was merely a dreadful monster, a dying man waiting for twilight in this empty mansion.
What exactly did she want from him?
He was just a boring, withered monster.
But as he spoke, suddenly, a cat slipped onto the bed.
She feared he would throw her out, so she clutched the blanket tightly around the railing.
She said, “I just want to sleep with you!”
And so, Zhu Yan tacitly allowed her to sleep in his territory.
But because of his question, she made a request the next day.
She asked him, “Can I ask for anything?”
Zhu Yan across from her paused for a moment, then gestured for her to speak.
He wanted to tell her that after his death, he could give her this property. Considering her young age and the few days she’d spent here without contacting her family, she must be living alone in Yan City. He could entrust his subordinates to look after her a bit, if she didn’t have enough money to live…
But she simply smiled and said, “I want to go shopping with you.”
Zhu Yan fell silent for a moment—
He had originally planned to leave in the afternoon.
The departure had already been delayed by a day.
But as he watched her pacing around the house, Zhu Yan stayed silent for a while and then agreed to stay.
He wanted to pick a black hat to cover the fins behind his ears, to avoid the frightened stares of others; the monster had long grown accustomed to those looks, but he thought of her. The monster didn’t want to spoil her mood for shopping.
But then a pair of cat ears appeared in the mirror.
She wriggled out of his embrace and gestured for him to look at the ears.
The tall monster lowered his blue eyes, looking slightly stunned at the pair of cat ears.
He could clearly hear his own downfall. It sounded like ice cracking, then melting under the spring sun.
She noticed his distraction and quietly tiptoed up to try and kiss his cheek.
—This time, he did not dodge.
He indulged and consented to her kiss.
Shu Tang knew that Zhu Yan, whom she knew from her diary, hadn’t been out for a long time. So they went to see a movie, ate ice cream, and fed ducks in the park.
Zhu Yan looked at the vibrant world outside with some unfamiliarity, then Shu Tang stuffed some food in his hand to feed the ducks.
It was the Big Boss’s first time feeding ducks; he frowned at these quacking creatures but obediently fed them, then got nipped at his hand twice.
“Zhu Yan!”
He turned his head and saw across from him a cat holding an ice cream, bouncing up and down and waving, like a window-cleaning cat.
She handed him an ice cream and they walked forward, shoulder to shoulder.
The ice cream was very sweet.
Just then, a rainbow appeared right above her head, spanning the entire sky.
She wanted to sit on his shoulder. She said that was how they used to walk, and so she swiftly climbed onto Zhu Yan’s shoulder; he instinctively held her waist, wanting to scold her, saying it was too dangerous.
But she muttered, “If I fall, you’ll catch me, then it won’t be dangerous.”
Like the broken window theory, once a principle was breached once, it could no longer hold.
The monster fell silent for a moment, but still firmly held her waist, not saying anything more.
Along the way, Shu Tang told Zhu Yan a lot about the past.
Zhu Yan silently listened.
He thought: Little liar.
He knew well that he could not be her little rose.
How could a monster, whose heart was barren and who had long imprisoned himself in that manor, go with her to see the sea or the begonias?
The monster wanted to tell her this harsh truth.
But everything she said sounded so beautiful, like an illusion.
So he followed her description and also indulged in a beautiful dream.
…
But when he returned to the manor, hearing her cheer “Little Rose” and feeling her kisses on his cheek, the monster realized that he was deeply jealous of that “Little Rose”.
He envied the lively, wholehearted love and the boundlessly splendid life that “Little Rose” had.
For a moment, he became “Little Rose” and thus glimpsed another side of life, another possibility in life.
But he realized that he couldn’t go on like this. It was like clearly seeing a cliff just before falling.
He knew his days were numbered, he could no longer afford to dally and waste time.
So, that night, when she climbed through the window again, he stopped the little cat.
He carried her to another room.
The monster fell silent for a while, then said, “I am not.”
He wanted to tell her that he was not Little Rose.
He was just a terrible monster, a dying man waiting for dusk in this empty manor, not her lover.
The monster believed that by telling her this, she would no longer cling to him.
Thus, he could quietly wait for death’s arrival. Life would return to calm.
But Shu Tang responded, “If you are not, then why do you have my pheromones on you?”
She even ran back to rummage through her bag, pulling out washed photos, placing them in front of him, along with their bus tickets, movie tickets they watched together…
She wanted to prove to him: he was Little Rose.
But now, the mermaid believed he was living ten years in the past, in that year when he had not left the manor.
Yet those laid-out evidences seemed so real, described by her as a blissful dream that was untouchable, making the monster feel a sharp sting of jealousy.
Because he once again felt that kind of possibility of life belonging to “Little Rose.”
It was like a mirage blossoming in front of him.
He even had the thought of wanting to destroy these things.
Zhu Yan mocked his own ugliness coldly in his heart.
For the first time, he interrupted her.
He told her again: He was not her Little Rose.
Seeing her stunned expression, the monster thought:
Now, she must realize what a quirky, reclusive, and unlikable existence he was.
After saying this, the monster no longer looked at her. He turned and walked away.
But actually, Shu Tang was holding a photo, stunned for a long time.
She knew every expression of the mermaid, and thus she was surprised to find that her lover was jealous of his future self and was angry about it.
He also sharply refused to admit that he was Little Rose.
—Because he thought she loved someone else.
The kitten was not only not angry about this but was slightly proud because she realized that the mermaid loved her more than she had imagined.
She began to pack her things, as the start of her senior year was approaching, and she still had a thesis to write.
Moreover, they still had an important matter unfinished.
She decided to pack up and then go to cajole her Little Rose.
…
The monster gradually calmed down in the study.
He heard her starting to pack.
She was preparing to leave.
Zhu Yan lowered his eyes, issuing a cold mockery to himself.
His blue eyes dimmed like the darkening sky.
He sat in the dark corner of the manor, watching the last hint of twilight slowly fade from the window.
After she left, it would become very quiet here.
He would call his secretary before losing his sanity, step into that prison; then quietly await the end of his life.
In the dark corner, the monster waited expressionlessly for that moment to arrive.
He heard some noise, thinking she was about to close the door and leave.
But the footsteps were heading toward the study.
She knocked on his door again.
This reclusive creature did not want to hear her goodbye, so he hid in the darkness, silent.
But the door was already open.
She was carrying a suitcase, holding two train tickets in her hand.
She said:
“Zhu Yan, do you want to go with me?”
After a long time, so long that she almost thought he wouldn’t answer—
From the dark corner of the study, a hoarse, strange voice came:
“Where to?”
She said with a smile:
“To get married.”