CH 86.1

Translate by [Hua]rricane

After Oddo left, the two people who were stunned by his words were still in a daze.

“Come back to your senses, Carrie; tell me about the situation here first. After all, I have been away from the Mermaid Center for a while, and I don’t know if the specific arrangements have changed.”

Ji Mingjiang had already walked over to them when they were in a daze and came to crouch down by the pool, observing the little mermaids that were looking at him curiously.

Pushing away a little guy who came over to sniff his fingertips, Ji Mingjiang said to Carrie.

“Huh? Oh… okay.”

“Then please follow me to the side first. It’s not convenient to talk here.”

Carrie shook her head and tried to regain her usual working state. After responding to Ji Mingjiang’s words, she turned to Qin Shasha and said, “Now, Shasha, please help us look after these little guys. But don’t let them choke while eating.”

Qin Shasha agreed as a matter of course.

Seeing this, Ji Mingjiang couldn’t help but twitch his mouth. Sure enough… the arrangement here was still very familiar to him, and he still couldn’t accept it. Even without asking, he could guess that there was probably no change from before he left.

After leaving the room, there’s a spacious lounge right around a corridor. Through the doors and windows, you can also see the very warm decoration inside.

“This is our usual place to rest. The layout should be quite comfortable. Let’s talk inside. Oh, by the way, have you eaten? If not, there is probably some warm food in the cafeteria. You can have someone help bring it over.” Putting her index finger on the door handle and hearing a “beep” in her ear, Carrie pushed the door open, motioned for Ji Mingjiang to go in first, and asked with some concern.

“I came with Kiro. Of course we both have eaten. Don’t still treat me like a child, Sister Carrie.”

After looking at the room for a while, Ji Mingjiang randomly chose a soft single sofa and sat down, complaining very kindly and naturally.

These words made Carrie feel a little emotional, but at the same time they quickly eliminated her tension caused by the change in their identities. She also sat down on the sofa opposite him with a face full of teasing and said, “Seriously, I was really shocked when Mr.Oddo brought you in. The first thought that went through my mind was that His Majesty had been disqualified from the match and then sent you back.”

“Why do you think so?”

Hearing this, Ji Mingjiang looked at her dumbfoundedly and said, “I thought Clarice’s behavior was quite normal recently, and he wouldn’t let you have this kind of misunderstanding again?”

“Well…” Carrie put a finger on her chin. Because of Ji Mingjiang’s relationship and because she had sent communications to Clarice’s light brain several times before, requesting to follow up, she didn’t feel much fear in her heart.

After staring at the ceiling silently and pondering for a moment, she sighed and said in annoyance, “There’s nothing I can do about it. Although I usually see your interaction with His Majesty, I also know that this is completely my stereotype, but for a while I still can’t correct it.”

She originally expected Ji Mingjiang to say something, but to Carrie’s great surprise, when she turned her eyes back again, she saw Ji Mingjiang nodding in agreement.

“?”

“Don’t look at me with such surprised eyes.” Sensing Carrie’s exposed emotions, Ji Mingjiang smiled helplessly and explained: “After all, I have seen the same reaction from the audience in my live broadcast room many times.”

Even though they had some restraint after being pointed out by him, Ji Mingjiang would still see some viewers’ discussions surrounding Clarice in the Starnet forum. Some people’s chagrin was completely similar to Carrie.

“Oh, right.” At the mention of the live broadcast, Ji Mingjiang remembered what they had come to this lounge to talk about. He felt that Carrie, who was completely unaware of the situation, should have much deeper doubts than himself, so he took the lead in using this matter as an entry point to start the conversation.

“I discussed it with Mr. Oddo last night, and he said that I can continue to broadcast live in the center, as long as I don’t reveal the deployment and patrol conditions outside. The regulations on the use of Internet-connected devices should be changed soon.”

“Eh?!” As expected, Carrie’s eyes widened in surprise after hearing what Ji Mingjiang said, and she said in disbelief, “Why did he change the rules so suddenly? I heard from my seniors that in the past few decades, countless people have expressed dissatisfaction with this regulation, but the director has always insisted on his opinion and remained unmoved.”

Ji Mingjiang nodded lightly and said, “It’s understandable. After all, Mr. Oddo was very eager to protect the mermaid before. He and the previous directors before him treated the little guys here as we treat fragile items, so they will naturally be more cautious when it comes to Internet-connected devices that may put us completely under public judgment.”

Upon hearing this, Kari’s heart suddenly beat violently in automatic alignment, her eyelashes fluttered twice, and her hand, which had been resting on her knee, curled up slightly, clenching a crease in her ironed pants.

Her intuition told her that something that would shake her outlook would come out of Ji Mingjiang’s mouth next.

She keenly caught the key words of Ji Mingjiang’s passage, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, “Why would you use the word ‘before’ to describe Mr. Oddo and ‘treat’ mermaids as fragile or something? Aren’t those little guys…..”

Are they not?

If Carrie may not have had such a deep understanding of mermaids before, then when she sent away Ji Mingjiang and took over a newly assigned little mermaid, Ji Mingjiang’s differences became more and more prominent. At the same time, the almost identical characteristics of other little mermaids were also exhibited in front of her.

—a creature that is fragile, delicate, spoiled, and must be cared for at all times in order to survive.

It’s a completely different existence from Ji Mingjiang. Sometimes she even thinks that if a vote is launched on Starnet with the theme of “Are Ji Mingjiang and the mermaid in public perception the same race?”, then the “not the same race” option will definitely be far ahead of the other option.

“They…theoretically speaking, this really shouldn’t be the case.”

The voice from the other side pulled Carrie’s suddenly wandering thoughts back to the warm room.

Ji Mingjiang helped Carrie complete the whole process from collapse to reconstruction of her worldview in a plain but extremely convincing tone. The keeper who had just graduated from college had a better and faster ability to accept new things than others, specifically referring to Oddo here. Ji Mingjiang picked up the sweet and rich hot cocoa on the table and took two sips. When the rich and mellow chocolate aroma was still lingering in his mouth, Carrie, who had just listened to his words and had a dull look on the opposite side, reacted.

The young keeper, who had matured a lot due to the hardships of work and family illness in the past two months, suddenly slapped her thigh and looked up at Ji Mingjiang with a determined gaze.

After taking a deep breath, Carrie looked at the calm Ji Mingjiang and said loudly, “Don’t worry, Mingjiang, I will help you get those little guys back on track!”

Carrie, who originally thought she would be satisfied with a stable job as a keeper after graduation, came to a realization after listening to Ji Mingjiang’s words. Although watching those little mermaids act coquettishly every day would make people feel… pleasurable, guiding those children to find true self-realization and growth is even more fulfilling!

“Okay, good?”

Not knowing why the person opposite him became so excited all of a sudden, Ji Mingjiang’s hand holding the cup trembled slightly before he said it hesitantly.

***

After Ji Mingjiang finished the cup of hot cocoa in one gulp, the two of them left the lounge. When the door was closed, the light brain on Carrie’s wrist beeped twice. She looked down and exclaimed in a low voice: “Ah! It’s a notice from Director Oddo, saying that we have to go to the conference room for a short meeting in half an hour.”

Not long after she finished speaking, Ji Mingjiang also received news from Oddo.

“Oddo: There will be a meeting in half an hour to inform the keepers about the changes in relevant regulations. Do you want to come?”

After Ji Mingjiang thought for a moment, he moved his fingers slightly and typed a few words without avoiding Carrie’s gaze.

“Ji Mingjiang: I’ll go there with Carrie, Qin Shasha, and the others later.”

“Let’s go.” After putting away the light brain screen, Ji Mingjiang tilted his head towards Carrie and said, “Just now, Oddo also sent me a message; he asked me if I wanted to go to the meeting together, and I said that I would go over there with you guys in a while; after all, it’s not like I know the way.”

After hearing that Ji Mingjiang wanted to attend the internal staff meeting of the mermaid foster center with them, Carrie realized that the little mermaid she had brought out was about to become her boss in just a few months. After shaking her head to get rid of the complicated emotions in her heart, she raised a gentle smile, feeling sincerely happy and proud of Ji Mingjiang.

After all, this means that Mr. Oddo really wants Ji Mingjiang to take over his position, instead of giving Ji Mingjiang a sinecure for the sake of His Majesty or someone else.

“Then after the meeting is over, if Director Oddo has no other arrangements, I will take you to familiarize yourself with the environment here.” After a brief chat just now, the gap between the two people caused by not meeting offline for a long time had almost dissipated. Carrie’s tone became more relaxed at this time, and she said while showing Ji Mingjiang the way.

Ji Mingjiang, who had been staying in the mermaid room before and had hardly observed the surrounding environment except the day he came in and left, naturally nodded without any objection.

When they returned, Qin Shasha was collecting the plates from a few little mermaids who had finished eating. A gentle voice came from the room that opened a crack.

“Okay, okay, everyone, be good and give me the plate quickly. Be careful that you will get hurt if you hold it in your hands…”

The helpless persuasion kept pushing into the ears. It was very familiar. Even after almost two months, it was still unacceptable. Ji Mingjiang waved his two ear fins in the air twice in disgust, and then just folded it down.

His fingers warmed by the hot cocoa, pressed hard against his overly active ear fins, and then he unfolded the curled-up little things, sticking them to the side of his hair and raising them up.

Don’t make trouble; I’m still working outside.

A faint warning is sent by the brain and transmitted to the ear fins with strong self-awareness.

After feeling that the hair around his ears had finally stopped moving around in the windless environment, Ji Mingjiang retracted his hand, glanced at Carrie calmly, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the behavior just now was not noticed; otherwise, a mermaid who appears to be perfect in all aspects can’t even control his own ears… It would be too damaging to his image!

Ji Mingjiang secretly grinded his teeth.

Fortunately, these dishonest ear fins haven’t caused him any trouble or brought him down at the moment; otherwise, even if he himself would have been in pain, he would have had to pull them up and down several times.

“Knock knock——”

Ji Mingjiang knocked on the door, made some noises to remind the people inside that he was coming in, and then pushed open the ajar door.

After seeing the scene inside, he couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows.

Although Qin Shasha seemed to have encountered some difficult situations from what she said just now, Ji Mingjiang really didn’t expect that the scene would be so difficult to describe.

“What is he doing?” Ji Mingjiang asked in disbelief, his tone slightly higher due to surprise.

The words were directed at a little mermaid who was holding a plate in his mouth with both hands and was caught in a confrontational state with Qin Shasha.

This is obviously a juvenile mermaid.

Of course, the infancy here refers to the real infancy in Ji Mingjiang’s cognition, not the infancy in which youth is forcibly described as infancy after adding various filters.

The mermaid with big watery eyes, who was locked in a stalemate with Qin Shasha, was two times smaller than the other underdeveloped mermaids. His rounded facial features were still very childish. Of course, what most convinced Ji Mingjiang that this was a baby mermaid and not some malnourished teenage mermaid was…

The few white teeth exposed when he was holding the plate in his mouth looked very small. This is probably the reason why Qin Shasha could only try to persuade him but didn’t dare to directly pull the plate.

If the little guy’s teeth fell out because she exerted too much force, it would be a real pain in the flesh and a pain in the heart, and a punishment would be inevitable afterward.

“Good boy, Xiao Ning, quickly loosen your mouth. You haven’t had time to grind your teeth yet. If you haven’t eaten enough, your sister will bring you a tube of nutritious cream later.”

Because all the attention was on the mermaid in front of her, even though she heard the door open behind her and knew in her heart that it was Carrie and Ji Mingjiang who were back, Qin Shasha didn’t bother to turn around and say hello to them.

She was still squatting by the pool with a sad look on her face, trying to persuade the little mermaid in every possible way.

Should she feel grateful that even though this little guy was very stubborn, he didn’t lose his temper and drag her down?

Ji Mingjiang looked at the scene in front of him thoughtfully. He walked quickly to Qin Shasha’s side and pinched the edge of the plate with his long and strong fingers. Seeing the person and the fish looking up at him simultaneously, he said, “I’ll do it.”

“Ah…ok.”

Thinking that it would be easier for Ji Mingjiang, who was also a mermaid, to communicate with this little guy, Qin Shasha hesitated for two seconds, and finally the idea of not wanting to waste time prevailed. She stood up decisively and stepped aside.

Although she felt that the Ji Mingjiang she saw today was a bit awkward to talk to, this should be the illusion brought to her by the black coat. Jiang Jiang should be gentler towards his own kind… right?

…That’s weird!

Qin Shasha walked to the nearby stool and began pounding her legs, which were slightly numb due to poor blood circulation. Then she inadvertently raised her eyes and saw Ji Mingjiang with an inquiring look, pulling hard. He pulled the plate and the mermaid behind the plate in his direction.

“…”

Just now, Qin Shasha, who was thinking that Ji Mingjiang would be gentler to his own kind and cubs, had her eyes darkened. She immediately planned to get up and stop Ji Mingjiang’s somewhat indiscreet behavior. Before she could stand up, she saw her best friend, who had just disappeared for a few moments and then suddenly became high-spirited, blocking in front of her.

Looking at Carrie, who was standing in front of her and casting a shadow in front of her eyes, Qin Shasha looked up with confusion and said, “Carrie, why are you blocking me? Get out of the way. Jiang Jiang will definitely not be accustomed to taking care of the mermaids for the first time; we’ll have to go and teach him.”

After saying that, Qin Shasha stood up, stamped her feet, and planned to push Carrie aside. Unexpectedly, Carrie, who was always worried about injuring mermaids, stood in front of her with a serious and resolute expression, then shook her head.

Qin Shasha: “?”

“Don’t go there. Jiang Jiang has his own ideas. By the way, although the director will talk about it in a meeting later, I’d better tell you first. Jiang Jiang told me in the lounge just now…”

After Carrie thought for a moment, she pulled Qin Shasha, who had been paying attention to the situation over there, aside and summarized what Ji Mingjiang had just said to her.