Love is a very unequal thing.
Shu Tang liked the mermaid very much, but besides the mermaid, she also had her parents and friends in her world, and she loved them just the same. Her affection and love were divided into several parts, giving a large share to the mermaid, but still not all; just as six months is to her 20 years of life, it is 1/40.
If they were to part, Shu Tang would be very sad, but her world was rich and colorful, and time would soon heal her.
For the kitten, this love was a mundane miracle of happiness.
But it wasn’t the same for the mermaid.
In the first three months after awakening, this monster, dazed and tormented by severe neuropathic pain, had lost its reason, and everything about Zhu Yan had been forgotten and disappeared over ten years, becoming a chaotic beast.
Had it not met Shu Tang and started taking medication to gradually stabilize, this chaotic beast would eventually become an indescribable evil god, self-destruct one day, and bring disaster to the world.
For this monster, she was everything in his barren world.
—Such love is undoubtedly deformed and unequal.
And it is precarious.
In terms of power, this monster undoubtedly possessed overwhelming strength, already a dominator at the top of the food chain.
But love, as a thing, is illogical and unreasonable.
Even the strong are as precarious as a pile of eggs.
The favored one, no matter how weak, is a tyrant in love.
Thus, in every moment of their lives, this monster was in a state of unease.
Shu Tang would say in the sea breeze to the mermaid, “I like the feeling of being with you.”
But she had many likes in a day: she liked tuna, liked roses, and when passing by a uniquely shaped pebble, she liked it too.
The mermaid thought of a word Shu Tang had taught him: “wholesale.”
Shu Tang would pull out blueprints, excitedly planning with the mermaid their future life in the forbidden area, painting a wonderful picture of their future.
The mermaid liked her plans for their nest, the fierce beast showing unprecedented patience.
But likewise, on a Friday night, Shu Tang found a turtle and then started excitedly building a turtle nest at home.
At that moment, the mermaid stood behind Shu Tang, silently watching the turtle and its nest.
If Shu Tang were a sensitive person, she might quickly notice something unusual about the mermaid.
However, if Shu Tang were an attentive person, she might have never entered this dangerous lair of beasts in the first place.
On Saturday morning, Shu Tang wanted to clean up a room in the Bastille to use as a study.
After the exams, Shu Tang received a message from her professional course instructor.
Shu Tang’s grades in theory were mediocre, but her practical course scores were outstanding.
The instructor said that her spirit was very suitable for being a therapist, and her mental strength was strong, she was naturally cut out for this profession.
The instructor believed Shu Tang was very talented and suggested she consider pursuing a graduate degree.
Coincidentally, after Shu Tang’s grades were released, Dean Qiu also sent a message inquiring about her plans for graduate study.
Shu Tang was hesitant, but since she was still on her junior year holiday, she had a whole half-year to consider. So, she was not in a rush and planned to think it over slowly.
But first, Shu Tang decided to set up a study room.
She opened a dusty room on the second floor, and Shu Tang began to clean the dust-covered items, planning to wash and air them out.
Unexpectedly, Shu Tang found a very delicate leather case, pulling an old, yellowed photograph from a crack in the cabinet.
A young man with silver-white short hair wore a black Allied forces cap, turned his head, lifted his smooth jawline, pointed to the medal of honor on his chest, and smiled.
This moment was captured and became an old, yellowed photograph.
It was the first time Shu Tang had seen the mermaid with short hair, so she stared in surprise, again and again. Captivated by the past appearance of her lover, she took the photo to the mermaid, who was preparing lunch in the kitchen.
She approached and exclaimed, “Little Rose, wow, you used to look so handsome!”
The mermaid looked down and saw the photo.
—That was Zhu Yan just after graduating from the federal military academy, his eyes still a beautiful gray-blue.
The mermaid paused for a moment, then quickly lowered his head and drew closer to her, his beautiful eyes seeming to ask: Am I not handsome now?
Then, before Shu Tang could react, a cold kiss was stamped on her cheek.
Occasionally, when he saw her kissing a flower, the mermaid felt a sharp pang of jealousy.
The monster was worried that her affection was as fleeting as her love for a flower.
In the garden, there were so many flowers; she kissed this one but would continue to admire the next.
And clearly, the mermaid had seen through it; this was a kitten who held affection for all beautiful creatures.
The mermaid felt a surge of jealousy within, struggling to control the force with which he embraced her, so as not to let his burning envy consume her entirely.
However, in the end, the mermaid bowed his head.
His cold lips parted, and he gently bit her.
Yet, Shu Tang was baffled.
She thought: Why would he do that?
It wasn’t until she left the mermaid and looked down at the photograph that she suddenly realized: the mermaid was jealous.
—Because she had once said that her past lover was very handsome.
Shu Tang found this very curious.
She peeped out from the kitchen, trying to gauge the mermaid’s mood;
Peeking from behind wasn’t enough, she even snuggled into the mermaid’s embrace to look up at his jawline.
She was completely oblivious to the mermaid’s sensitivity and sharpness, and his complex inner turmoil, behaving like an overly curious kitten in front of a fierce beast, playfully treating the tiger’s whiskers as a cat teaser.
It was only when the mermaid could no longer bear it and bowed his head to pinch her face,
That Shu Tang hummed a tune, hands in her pockets, contentedly walking away.
She thought: So this is what it’s like when a mermaid gets jealous.
—This is the tragedy of Scorpio and Sagittarius being together.
Shu Tang was hardly aware of these small details.
Shu Tang once told the mermaid that maybe he would understand what love is only after “he” regained his memory.
But she was wrong.
The mermaid stood in the kitchen, eyes downcast.
Because gradually, the mermaid was recalling fragments of the past.
In those fragments, the mermaid knew that the past Zhu Yan was an orphan, without parents or relatives, closest to his secretary and subordinates, best understood by his primary doctor.
The great leader, was truly a solitary figure.
Having never experienced the feeling of being loved, naturally, he would not understand what love or affection is. Even more so than the current mermaid, the past him was even colder and more clueless about what love really means.
Both loving and feeling loved are rare capabilities, not something everyone can afford to possess.
The mermaid was learning how to love someone, yet he was very slow in “perceiving being loved.”
The gentle, sweet love seen in her eyes, from another perspective, was like a delicate illusion ready to shatter at any moment.
Until that afternoon, as Shu Tang continued to tidy up the study, an incident occurred.
…
Shu Tang had imagined various challenges that might test their love—perhaps the legendary seven-year itch, facing dangers, or the day the mermaid might remember everything. More realistically, Shu Tang had been accepted into a graduate program in Yan City, which meant starting a long-distance relationship with the mermaid.
However, she had never considered the issue of “identity.”
Shu Tang continued packing upstairs and found a box full of medals of honor.
In the afternoon, the mermaid took her hunting on the rocks.
Shu Tang washed and dried things on the rocks.
When she came across the box of medals, Shu Tang grew curious. Taking advantage of the afternoon sun, she cleaned and dried each medal. But as she did, she suddenly noticed something amiss.
She cleaned the gilded small print under the medals and held it up to the sunlight:
“Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Freedom Army, Zhu Yan.”
Shu Tang’s first thought was that the medals must be fake. She had thought it likely that the mermaid had been a high-ranking officer at the South Island base, or something similar to a special forces soldier, much like Chen Sheng.
But as she cleaned each medal, the same inscription kept appearing.
An image of the mermaid’s previous account profile popped into her mind.
She was stunned.
Just like that, Shu Tang belatedly discovered the mermaid’s past identity.
She looked at the medals she had arranged next to a scallop and quickly put them away in a box.
Shu Tang felt she had grown.
At least if it were before, intern Shu Tang would have been shocked and unable to recover for a long time, panic-stricken and at a loss.
But now, having been a full employee for a whole week, a mature, certified corporate drone, she was very composed. She first sent a text to the mermaid, then calmly and clearly left the forbidden area and went to Chen Sheng’s office, knocking on the door.
Throughout, Shu Tang remained incredibly calm, so much so that Chen Sheng couldn’t help but regard her highly.
Chen Sheng thought: It’s fitting to change the nickname of a founding hero to ‘Five Yuan Alpha.’
This conversation took place under the warm afternoon sun.
Chen Sheng even offered her a cup of hot tea.
“Yes, the founding hero’s identity must be kept secret, but if you’ve already discovered it, there’s no need to hide it anymore…”
“Right, we’ve already sent someone to protect your parents, though they are not yet aware.”