The Old Man and the Mermaid

Aigre soon sailed to the east coast in his little wooden boat.Although the sea today is not calm, the occasional waves make the bright colors gradually rendered by the setting sun on the horizon even more charming.Aigre sat on the left side of the small joystick, turned his left hand behind his back and lightly rubbed his waist a few times, and realized that he really should start exercising again.

When he arrived on the east coast, a lot of people had gathered on the shore. Apart from the few fishermen who spotted the huge fish, the crowd also included several market bosses and people who were looking in the direction of Aigre's boat. Mrs. Erin.

After raising his hand to say hello to Mrs. Irene, Aigre turned his gaze to the huge corpse—it was about the size of a car, and for some reason, its drooping skin showed a rather strange dark blue color. , the whole body looks like a deep-sea fish, but its head is more like a squid or octopus.This guy is probably a fish, because Eigre clearly saw its gills and the huge spine that has been damaged a lot.It was dripping with blood all over its body, and its abdomen still lacked some flesh. It really looked like it had been attacked by another sea beast.

Aigre docked the boat on the shore, took another look at the creature's appearance, then walked to Mrs. Irene, and asked softly, "How did it get pulled up?"

"Shortly after I called you, friends from the security team heard the news and rushed over." Mrs. Irene explained while raising her finger and pointing to a small and medium-sized security ship parked on the other side, "They When I arrived, I helped the fishermen pull this guy up, I checked the time, and guessed that you were almost here, so I didn’t call you again.”

Aigre nodded, "It would be best if the security team helped. My small boat has insufficient horsepower, so it probably won't be of much use."

Mrs. Irene was about to say something, when she saw a man with a rough face rushing down the slope from the bank, while moving his strong body and running, he kept yelling: "Good guy! Hey!" ! Security team! Don't throw it into the sea again, I must buy this guy!"

Aigre glanced at him and remembered that this man seemed to be a businessman on the island, and most of his usual business was related to the mainland.He didn't think the security team would agree to this request. A creature like this kind of weird and never-before-seen creature would usually be handed over to the relevant personnel to study and record the information before deciding to think about it.

Over the past few years, many novel creatures have indeed been discovered in various sea areas, which is also related to the gradual deepening of human exploration of the sea.

A few seconds later, Aigre heard the unhesitating refusal from the security team as expected, and the big man started arguing with them eagerly.He shook his head, stopped paying attention to the situation over there, but continued to ask Mrs. Irene: "What do you guys at the market want to do?"

"Actually, we don't have any plans." Mrs. Irene shrugged her shoulders and said, "It looks so weird, so the fishermen didn't dare to deal with it alone, so they called it the fresh fish in the market. The fish shop owners seem to be planning to cut this guy up right away?"

Aigre: "...It's really a bold enough idea."

"I think so too." Mrs. Irene laughed softly, "This big guy looks rough and thick, and he hasn't necessarily been dead for a long time. What should I do if I eat a bad stomach?"

Aigre recalled Mr. Curly's expression of being quite healthy just now, obviously not like he had eaten his stomach, chuckled, and replied: "If a person with a healthy body and a well-developed function eats it, it probably won't spoil his stomach. .”

The commotion on the shore did not last long. Egrele knew that the cause of this huge creature’s death was Mr. Curly’s abnormal hunting, and the reason why this big man appeared near the east coast was also due to Mr. Curly’s negligence, so he also I didn't pay too much attention to it.

Anyway, Mr. Mermaid will probably teach him a lesson.

In this regard, Aigre was right.Curly is indeed not far behind Mr. Mermaid in terms of physical fitness, but the IQ difference is probably too much, so if Mr. Mermaid wants to play him, it is not a difficult task at all.

Therefore, when the curly hair was thrown by Mr. Mermaid to hang on a branch of an isolated island by a very magical method, his heart almost completely collapsed.

"Which forest do you think I'm a boa constrictor?" Curly grabbed the two branches in front of him with both hands, wrapped his tail tightly around the trunk, and carefully moved under the tree, at the same time, he did not forget to grit his teeth and stare at Mr. Mermaid .

"You still know that there are pythons in the world?" Mr. Mermaid said without any expression on his face, "I'm really surprised."

Afterwards, Mr. Mermaid directly handed over the important task of guarding Curly to the couple and their little doll who had been sitting behind him and watching.

The little one seemed to like the curly hair quite a bit. When the poor guy slowly climbed down the tree trunk, the little one was still laughing non-stop, and stretched out his hands that were almost soft into cotton to gently hug the curly hair. forearm.

Curly: "..." Although he never thought he liked children, when he saw this little guy whose fur hadn't even grown yet, he really felt his heart was about to melt.

So he couldn't help reaching out and pinching the little guy's face. After the little guy couldn't stop crying because of his indiscriminate strength, he was successfully slapped on the chest by the child's father with a fishtail. He bumped into a tree trunk and became dizzy, paying a heavy price for his abrupt actions.

After watching this delightful scene, Mr. Mermaid nodded slightly to them as farewell, then directly re-entered the sea and quickly returned to Dusk Island.

After the weather became less hot, even the moment of the day has gradually shortened a lot, so even though most people are still working diligently at this time, the sky has already been completely covered with a layer of pitch black ink.

When he gently opened the window of the lighthouse and rolled over to enter, he happened to see Aigre who was naked, raised one foot and guessed on the sofa, applying some kind of ointment behind him in a very strange posture.

Mermaid: "..."

If it weren't for the fact that Aigre was completely naked now, he probably thought that this kid wanted to take the sofa as the axis and kick the dining table not far from the sofa for exercise.

Aigre heard the sound when Mr. Mermaid opened the window, and he immediately turned his head back quite cooperatively. After noticing the strange eyes of Mr. Mermaid, he opened his mouth, and finally retracted his legs with a tense expression. He glanced at the bathrobe on the side, and couldn't help laughing and said, "This should have been a very embarrassing scene...but I found that I probably have been embarrassed in front of Mr. Yu too many times, and now I'm used to it."

Mr. Mermaid smiled along with him. After drying off the sea water on his body, he moved to sit down on the sofa next to Aigre, picked up the tube of ointment that Aigre had thrown on the sofa, and took a look.

"By the way, we ordered online together when we were buying lubricants." Aigre turned his ankle slightly, as if he was a little uncomfortable with some strange feeling, "Although our preparations are not bad, and I personally I don’t feel too tired, but to be on the safe side, it’s better to do a good job of protecting after the event.”

When he said this, his tone was so serious that he seemed to be discussing a debate topic that often appeared in a certain university. Just judging from his expression, it was completely impossible to tell that he was actually talking about some very pornographic things.

After all, they both think that sex is something that deserves to be frank and can prove their relationship.This is a biological instinct and a way of expressing love to a partner, without any coyness or cover-up.

Mr. Mermaid thought of some unofficial readings on the Internet about the strange character and performance of some recipients who were as shy as girls afterward, and even unwilling to talk to their partners. He felt that Aigre was probably not shy or timid by nature. nerves in this area.

This can be seen from the fact that when he first met the merman, he chose to throw the rare creature back into the sea instead of dragging it home to study it carefully.

He is indeed the most polite and honest young man that Mr. Mermaid has seen so far among human beings. He is not only full of an elegant atmosphere that only belongs to scholars, but also possesses the domineering and wild nature of men—his The real character is actually different from the surface, he is a very aggressive man, but from the perspective of Mr. Mermaid, this difference just shows his weight in the heart of this young man.

...Although the wild ideas that he occasionally has are sometimes no different from a three-year-old child.

While thinking like this, Mr. Mermaid looked at Aigre and laughed lightly. After putting down the ointment in his hand, he asked, "Watching a movie?"

Aigre was a little surprised by Mr. Mermaid's unexpected proposal, but he quickly came back to his senses, smiled and nodded, "I'm so happy."

The big fish — or rather, the gigantic sea creature — was quickly transported to the West Coast by vigilantes.Some reporters and professional scholars in marine biology hoped to conduct research and investigation on it, so after receiving a call from their superiors, the security team quickly got in touch with the ship that came to receive the corpse, and took it Safely delivered to the ship.

When Egreel heard the news, the businessman who had yelled that he must buy it was pulling the arms of several merchants who sold various sundries in the market, and kept accusing the merchants to live on. The hardships and the atrocities of those seemingly elegant but domineering suits.

In this regard, Mrs. Irene quietly told Eigre that the big businessman was actually just feeling sorry for the fact that he had lost a transfer fee.

After listening to all the explanations from various people, Aigre left the market with a helpless smile.I have to say that his mood in the past two days is indeed surprisingly good. He can feel that the life of the residents on the island is as beautiful and peaceful as ever. The coming of the gorgeous sunrise the next day.

This made him strongly feel the joy and meaning of life.

After nearly half a year passed, he recalled the feeling when he first received the news of his grandfather's death - he gave up his chance to continue his studies because of the pain that made his chest almost split open on its own And returned to Twilight Island, and finally decided to inherit the lighthouse that his grandfather had guarded all his life, so that the light on the tower could pierce through the dense fog and rainstorm that constantly fell on the sea through his own hands.

He's not sure what the situation would be if he had made a different choice, but he knows he never regrets it.He has no ambitions, and never really hopes that he can achieve great things. He enjoys happiness and tries his best to make those around him happy all the time.

Most importantly, during this period of time, he met the most unexpected visitor in his life—and it was this sudden visitor that made him deeply relive the sense of happiness that only family members can bring.

After helping Mrs. Irene unload the goods and get off the car, Aigre glanced at the sunny sky, thinking that tonight would probably be such a fascinating weather.

He wants to invite Mr. Mermaid to visit his family members who have been sleeping in the cemetery forever.

When Mr. Mermaid went ashore before evening and saw Aigre's gratified but not very happy expression, he probably guessed some of Aigre's strange mood at this time, so he sat directly beside Aigre and gave himself A warm enough hug from his partner—even though his chest is actually cooling down to the point where his blood has stopped flowing due to the temperature of the sea.

"I'm a person who believes in uncertain factors." Egrele and Mr. Mermaid sat on the boulder on the shore together, and said slowly, "Although I don't have firm enough beliefs, if the gods really exist, I will give All the respect I can have. Also, while I don't know what happens to people after they die, if there's even a [-] in [-] chance they'll hear the voice of the world, I'll always have something to say want to tell them."

After he finished speaking, he turned his head to look at Mr. Mermaid, smiled slightly, and asked, "How about we meet on the southwest coast? More than ten years ago, my parents were buried there. And this summer, my grandfather I also slept with them."

Mr. Mermaid didn't speak, but nodded slowly. After kissing Aigre's lips and forehead, he turned over and jumped into the sea, swimming towards the southwest coast.

His speed in the sea was much faster than Aigre's on land, so he leaned against the shore and waited for a while before Aigre appeared from the shore and walked towards him as lightly as possible.

"There are not many residents on the island, but we hired a cemetery to guard the cemetery so that no one would be disrespectful to the dead." Aigre told him, "But if we want to take you with us, we have to use special normal way."

Mr. Mermaid smiled silently, and crossed a small hillside with Aigre, and stepped in from the back of the cemetery.

Aigre turned around and looked in the direction of the entrance of the cemetery. After confirming that the old gravekeeper should be asleep at this time, he turned around and came to the corner of the cemetery with Mr. Mermaid.

Mr. Mermaid watched him squatting down in front of the three tombstones in the far corner, and placed the three little flowers that he probably had prepared in his hand in front of the tombstones, and then simply sat down and smiled gently to himself. .

"My parents were a pair of scholars. I have almost no memory of them. The only reminders of their existence are a few fragments of memories that I can't possibly keep forever. All I know about them comes from my grandfather. The story I have told." He said in a low voice that was not so easy to hear, "Grandfather said that they loved each other deeply, loved him deeply, and loved me deeply, but because of their busy work, So there are very few chances to return to Twilight Island. This island gave birth to them. In their eyes, Twilight Island is the most beautiful and warm place in the world, so they entrusted me to my grandfather when I was just walking. , I hope I can grow up healthy and happy on this island.”

Following what he said, Mr. Mermaid looked at the two photos and the engraved words on the tombstone - "Erria Payer" and "Letina Ray Payer".

A man and a woman in the two photos look young and happy, and their moods when facing the camera are probably as joyful and happy as their smiles.

"I couldn't make them feel proud of me when they were still alive, and I didn't have the chance to tell them what I missed when I was young." Aigre didn't sigh, but his tone was always steady but sad, "But I know they love me, and the way they looked at me many years ago must be as loving as my grandfather's."

He was silent for a while, then turned his gaze to the tombstone on the far left, "This is my grandfather."

Mr. Mermaid followed him to look at the tombstone, on which was written "Josen Payer".The photo above the name is probably a photo of the old man when he was at his most energetic.Although his temples are gray, his eyes are as firm as a sea soldier who is willing to die for his country at all times during the war, and his figure is as tall and straight as a battle-tested knight.

He looked at the camera with eyes full of wisdom and calm.Mr. Mermaid stared at this photo silently, silently paying respects to this gentleman who was much younger than himself but already the oldest and most knowledgeable in the human world.

"I used to think that I would cry bitterly after my grandfather passed away," Egrele said, raising his hand and stroking the stone steps under the tombstone, "but when I saw my grandfather's peaceful expression and the fact that even if he was lying on the bed, he couldn't help crying." Behind the waist that never bends easily, I seem to feel the breath of my grandfather comforting my heart. At that moment, I can’t remember any words he said to me, but his voice always surrounds my ears By the way, I can't remember any expression he showed me, but even if I close my eyes, I know what his facial features look like."

"This is probably a relative." He finally said in a low voice, "We used to get along day and night. He praised, praised, criticized, and accused me. His words and deeds were engraved in my memory and penetrated into my heart. Even after his death, I can also learn from his teachings... The life of any creature in the world is so fragile, but I know that my grandfather and my parents have lived happily ever after. They left Sometimes there may be regrets, but never sorrow.”

Mr. Mermaid sat next to him, clasped fingers with Aigre, and swiped lightly in front of the three tombstones, showing his care and love to the deceased.

Afterwards, Aigre fell silent, and Mr. Mermaid stayed with him for a long time before asking, "Do you want to meet my relatives?"

Aigre was stunned for a moment, and asked: "Didn't Mr. Yu say before that you have never seen your relatives?"

"I haven't seen my parents or any family members," Mr. Mermaid explained slowly, then turned his head to meet Aigre's eyes, "but I probably know where they are buried."