CH 17

TL: Hua

At the end of the first lesson, Ji Mingjiang just stretched his tail, which was a little stiff because he didn’t exercise in the morning, and was ready to move on to the next lesson when he heard a sudden commotion coming from the side.

He turned his head and looked over.

The few little mermaids headed by Carl are pawing at the edge of the pool, staring at the small dried fish in the hands of their keepers. No matter how much the keepers persuade them, they are unwilling to continue learning.

Ji Mingjiang discovered that these mermaids are not as silly and sweet as he imagined, but at least they clearly know their own advantages and are good at using them.

For example, when they wanted to take a break, they’d use their sweet and soft voice to curry favor with the keepers; for example, they’d gently pull the corner of the keeper’s white coat with their slender wrist to ask for another small dried fish; for example, they’d lift up their fair and tender face to stare at the keeper without saying a word…

Ji Mingjiang was dumbfounded at the sight. Are the native mermaids here so strange? Where did you learn this? It’s outrageous!

What shocked him even more was the keeper’s nonchalant attitude and her words. Although there are limited words that can be translated, that sentence means “don’t use repeated tricks against me; it doesn’t work anymore”!

The actual fact is that they already got used to this?

While Ji Mingjiang was still in shock, the mermaids who saw that their tricks were useless simply acted like scoundrels, sank to the bottom of the water, and refused to attend class.

Seeing the helpless but tolerant expressions of several keepers, Ji Mingjiang silently buried half of his face into the water and then spat out bubbles in confusion.

He glanced at Carrie, who was also shocked, then turned around and swam towards Carl.

“Why are you all hiding at the bottom of the water? Aren’t you going to class later?” He asked strangely.

They have to take this kind of class sooner or later. If they don’t finish it, they won’t be able to graduate. And it’s just watching a video. At most, there’s a 10-minute or so final exam at the end. It’s not like in his previous life, where there were endless homework assignments and exams after the class. Why did they hate this so much?

Ji Mingjiang, who has survived a sea of books and homework, was very puzzled.

Carl also looked at him with strange eyes and said, “These classes are boring, eh, and no mermaid would enjoy them, right?”

That’s true; he had to admit that if he wasn’t eager to understand the social situation here, he wouldn’t like to take classes. But……

“Let’s not talk about whether you like it or not. If you don’t take classes, you won’t be able to graduate. How can you go out and find a job? You can’t stay here forever.” Ji Mingjiang helplessly said to the few ignorant mermaids. He felt like a persuasive high school teacher, a super-good tempered one.

Speaking of which, since he’s the youngest here at the age of 16… wouldn’t there be an adult mermaid still living here?

Thinking of this possibility, the corners of Ji Mingjiang’s mouth twitched. Unfortunately, these mermaids are completely indistinguishable by their looks as to which one is an adult and which one is not. They all look obviously much smaller than him.

Only he reported his age last night, while the other mermaids just said that they were all older than him.

Ji Mingjiang was about to ask for their age when he heard Carl ask him in a dazed and puzzled tone: “Lance, what are you talking about? What graduation and jobs? We don’t need to work.”

“?” Ji Mingjiang looked back at him with the same confusion.

“So what are we doing later?” This mermaid center doesn’t look like it’s raising pets either …… right? Is it some advanced pet-raising method in the interstellar era?

Unexpectedly, when he asked this sentence, Carl blushed again!

You’re blushing too much! ! Ji Mingjiang looked at him in horror.

Then he heard something even more frightening.

Carl said: “Lance, you don’t know? We don’t graduate from this place, but once a year, on matching day, we do spiritual matching with the people who come here. If I’m compatible with that person, I’ll go back with him. Then I’ll be responsible for helping him with spiritual counseling. Life will also be better than it is now. The only important course is actually the one that teaches us how to use our spiritual power to guide others. It doesn’t matter whether or not we learn the rest.”

“And, and I’ve heard that some mermaids will mate with the humans they are matched to… Because of the two-way selection, those people are very good-looking.”

The redness on Carl’s face became more obvious when he said this.

Now Ji Mingjiang just wants to travel back to more than 20 minutes ago and slap his old self, who was talking nonsense.

Why did you jinx it! It’s really a blind date meeting! !

“However, the class still has to be attended… Don’t you plan to go out in the future?” Ji Mingjiang was unwilling to give up and gave one last struggle.

Even if someone will take care of you in the future, if you don’t know anything, are you planning to give up communicating with other people completely?

“Why do we have to go out? I heard from those seniors who have already been matched that the only thing we need to do is provide spiritual counseling for the matched people. They will be responsible for other basic necessities in our lives. We don’t need to go out. Besides, how do we go out?”

Speaking of this, Carl shook his little black fish tail.

“Bouncing around with our tail? Impossible.”

Ji Mingjiang felt that there was something indescribably strange about this statement, but he couldn’t think of what was strange for a moment. Yet looking at the tails of Carl and several other small mermaids, he had to agree with this statement.

Even if mermaids can really bounce forward with their tails, their too-skinny tails won’t last more than a few steps.

“Okay, then I’ll go up first.” Facing the absurd gazes of Carl and the other mermaids, Ji Mingjiang waved at them.

But didn’t the system say that his tail could be turned into a human leg?

After Ji Mingjiang gave up his persuasion, he went upstream, thinking about this question….he scratched his head—it’s been too long, and the system seemed to have said a lot at that time, so he can’t remember too well.

But it doesn’t matter anyway; even if it can be changed, he doesn’t know how to do it now, so let’s take it one step at a time.

The most important thing for him now is…

Ji Mingjiang poked his head out of the water, shook his wet hair, and looked at the worried Carrie, saying, “If they don’t come up, can I continue?”

However, Carrie didn’t answer the call immediately. Like Qin Shasha and the others, she was frozen in place for a while.

Ji Mingjiang has now determined that this is probably the function of the so-called spiritual counseling. But…he just said something? Doesn’t serious spiritual counseling involve singing some special healing songs?

“Carrie?” Seeing the keepers, who hadn’t moved for a long time, Ji Mingjiang softly called her name again.

“Huh? Ah, yes, you can control the screen yourself.” After recovering her senses, Carrie patted Qin Shasha and the others awake, and walked to a place that didn’t obstruct her view.

After being pulled aside, Qin Shasha realized what had just happened. She looked at Carrie in surprise and repeatedly confirmed: “Did I hear it correctly just now? Did Lance take the initiative to talk to us? And by the way, help us with spiritual counseling?”

Her bestialization direction is sika deer. When she isn’t working, she usually likes to go to some tourist planets with grassland and forest as her main projects to relax. However, due to her busy work recently, she has not gone out for a long time.

And at the moment when Lance spoke just now, she seemed to smell the moist smell of the soil after the rain, and there seemed to be a scene of raindrops slowly sliding down the tip of the grass before her eyes.

“I feel that my mind is much clearer now.” Qin Shasha sighed, “Lance’s ability is really strong. I don’t know what kind of person he will choose on the matching day next month.”

“Ah!” Carrie covered her mouth and let out a soft cry when Qin Shasha mentioned the matching day next month. She sheepishly looked at the few people who had cast their eyes at her and said, “I suddenly remember that I don’t seem to have told Lance about this. But Lance is not yet an adult, and he has just come here; will he also participate in the matching?”

Qin Shasha couldn’t help but feel a little helpless when she heard her words, but after all, she was an intern who had just become a full-time employee, so it was understandable that she made some minor mistakes on the first mermaid she took care of.

As for her question just now, after all, Qin Shasha has never been responsible for underage mermaids, so she had to turn her attention to other colleagues for help.

One of them happens to be a very experienced keeper who has taken care of many mermaids.

After seeing the curiosity on the faces of these young keepers, Song Li smiled gently and gestured for them to go to the door to speak, so as not to disturb Lance, who was enjoying his lesson.

“Regarding Carrie’s question, underage mermaids can indeed participate in matching, but the conditions are relatively strict. For example, there will be some additional learning requirements for minor mermaids, and the examination of the match will be more comprehensive and detailed. The observation and return periods will be extended.”

“If it’s Lance…” Song Li looked back at the mermaid, who was too good in every respect, and nodded at them, saying, “Lance can participate in the matching day, and there will definitely be no problem. Carrie, you’ll have to observe his match a bit more when the time comes.”

“Ah…I understand.” Hearing this, Carrie couldn’t help but feel some melancholy. She had only taken care of him for a little over a week, but she was going to send Lance to someone else soon.

“Okay, Carrie, the matching day is next month. Instead of fretting about it, why not think about how you can fully convey your meaning to Lance in the limited translated words and sentences.”

Qin Shasha could see through Carrie’s emotions at a glance. After all, when she first entrusted the little mermaid she had taken care of for a long time to others, she was also worried and reluctant. She would call the match person’s home almost every day to request a video call.

However, as the number of mermaids she has taken care of gradually increased and there was more trust in the selection criteria set by Mr. Oddo and in the character of those who were matched, this sentiment weakened quite a bit.

“I see.” Carrie nodded and took the initiative to change the subject, asking, “Is it really okay for Carl and the others to play by themselves underwater? I mean, no classes or something…” How come her colleagues all seem to look like they’re used to it.

The remaining few keepers glanced at each other, then looked at Carrie, who knew nothing about the nature of most mermaids, and said sympathetically, “You’ll see later that it’s perfectly normal for them to behave like this, even among mermaids.”

“?” Carrie, whose perception has been led astray by Ji Mingjiang, had a puzzled look on her face.