After a somewhat unclear but friendly exchange between the two, Ren Shuhan learned about his situation and shared his family background with Jiang Qingyue.
His grandfather was the famous General Lu within the Interstellar Alliance, and his father, the youngest son of the Lu family, had been greatly favored during his childhood. However, as he grew up, he became willful and tired of the family conflicts. Disenchanted with the struggles of the family, he married into an ordinary family, taking on his mother’s surname, Ren. This made General Lu furious, leading to the severance of the father-son relationship. The whole incident became a source of ridicule among the people in the interstellar community.
Ren Shuhan’s parents were both artists, engaged in adventurous activities such as exploring and developing new planets. They paid little attention to how the people of the main star viewed them and lived happily as a family. Unexpectedly, a few months ago, the couple went missing during an interstellar journey, and the entire crew on the ship disappeared without a trace.
Upon hearing this, General Lu’s first reaction was to fight for custody of Ren Shuhan, forcibly taking him from his maternal grandparents to raise him as the heir, transferring the love meant for his youngest son to his grandson.
Ren Shuhan’s uncles and older brother were naturally unhappy with this turn of events. On Ren Shuhan’s journey back to the Lu family, they conspired to abduct him, stuffing him into a small escape pod that was then sent towards the location where his parents’ ship went missing.
On the surface, it looked like Ren Shuhan, being young and naive, wanted to find his parents on his own. In reality, it was an orchestrated murder.
Fortunately, Ren Shuhan was unharmed. His escape pod miraculously passed through a spatial wormhole1Ok so apparently spatial wormholes are hypothetical structures connecting different points in the spacetime and landed deep in the sea of this unknown planet. He was discovered by little Jiang Qingyue, who brought him from the escape pod to the shore.
“You poor thing!” Little Jiang Qingyue, eyes teary, hugged him sympathetically. “Don’t cry, don’t cry.”
Ren Shuhan blushed and accepted the hug. He used his dirty little hands to wipe his clothes, clearing his eyes, “I didn’t cry; don’t cry either.”
This unnamed planet, hidden within a wormhole, hadn’t been explored by the Interstellar Alliance yet. It was in the early stages of civilization, mostly covered by seawater with scattered islands.
Mermaids were the only intelligent species here, leading a primitive life like ancient humans, without even clothes.
As for humans, they were considered a legendary species that occasionally fell from the sky like meteorites. They lived in strange black shells2They mean pods, but since they don’t know what it is, they think that they’re shells and usually arrived here when they were already close to death.
“So, there are still humans here?” Ren Shuhan asked. “Could my mom and dad be here too?”
“I haven’t heard of it,” Jiang Qingyue shook his head. “Maybe they are in the forbidden zone?”
Though the whole planet was covered by water, mermaids could dive deep into the sea. However, they preferred living near islands due to the tasty fruits available and the safety provided by the proximity to land. Therefore, the deep sea was considered their forbidden zone.
The forbidden zone was quite extensive, and they would explore it later.
At this moment, Ren Shuhan suddenly heard an electronic sound, “Host’s parents are on this planet, but at a considerable distance. Due to the host’s young age, long-distance navigation is not recommended.”
“Huh?” Young Ren Shuhan was surprised. “Did you hear any sound?”
Little Jiang Qingyue shook his head, in a gesturing that resembled playing the tambourine.
“It must be my AI,” Ren Shuhan exclaimed in joy. “So lucky! Not only am I fine, but my AI is too!”
The system didn’t explain further. After all, the host was still young, so it was better to let him think that it was the AI for now; it’s easier to understand.
“I suggest you directly invest in navigation equipment for your parents’ location. It is expected that your parents will set out to look for you within ten days.”
Can it be done like this?
Young Ren Shuhan nodded repeatedly, “Yes, yes!”
He explained the situation about his AI and parents to Jiang Qingyue. Little Jiang Qingyue lowered his head and fiddled with his fingers, “Then, when they come back, will you fly away?”
Wouldn’t it be against the teachings of the adult mermaids to keep the cute little brother he’d secretly picked up from the big shell away?
“I’ll play with you for a while before leaving, or maybe in the future, you can come with me to my home to play?”
Ren Shuhan also couldn’t bear to part with the pretty little sister.
“Well,” Jiang Qingyue nodded, “I’m afraid my mom won’t agree. Adult mermaids like to pick fruits on the islands during the day. Your spaceship damaged a large part of the reefs when it arrived, and they don’t like you.”
Ren Shuhan held his hand, saying, “I’ll go with you to see them, and I’ll plead with them.”
Jiang Qingyue shook his head, hugging his little fish tail. The hand he was holding swayed, “No, I’m afraid.”
He wasn’t afraid of being scolded by his dad and mom, because he was too cute and well-loved. However, mermaids were protective of their offspring, and they had wild instincts. He was afraid that the adult mermaids would harm little Ren Shuhan.
Ren Shuhan thought for a moment, “But I have nothing now. I need to ask the adults for food, or I might starve.”
Little Jiang Qingyue patted his smooth little chest, “I’ll help you catch food. I’ll take care of you.”
Ren Shuhan: … Little sister, you don’t even have clothes.
Jiang Qingyue saw the helplessness in his eyes and, with a leap, entered the sea. In minutes, he scooped up a bunch of small fish from the shallow waters. He magically held a handful of water in his arms and poured it onto the beach.
“Here, I’m quite skilled!”
“Wow!” Ren Shuhan clapped, then mysteriously took out a sealed bag of cookies from the system store and handed it to Jiang Qingyue. “But just now, the AI told me I also have food in my space node. Try this.”
Jiang Qingyue’s pride instantly disappeared.
He couldn’t unwrap the package and, after playing with it for a while, still couldn’t open it. With Ren Shuhan’s help, he reluctantly took a small bite of the cookie and widened his eyes instantly.
“Mmm! Mmm!”
Little Jiang Qingyue held the cookie in his mouth, not swallowing it, unable to speak. Originally lying on the beach like a little seal, he suddenly raised the upper half of his body with both arms, and his fish tail flapped non-stop, like a little puppy being fed.
Too cute. Ren Shuhan pressed his heart and fed him another bite.
“Eat it all; I just discovered it. I have countless snacks in my space node. We can’t finish them even if we eat for hundreds of years.”
Jiang Qingyue swallowed it this time, his eyes sparkling. He asked, “What is this?”
“Chocolate-filled soft cookies,” Ren Shuhan said a word he couldn’t understand. “I have many others. Wait a moment.”
Ren Shuhan squatted down and took out snacks one by one. He only took one of each brand and flavor. In the end, he pulled out a small mountain.
After a while, Jiang Qingyue skillfully tore open a bag of yogurt-flavored jelly and said, “Don’t pull out anymore; we might get discovered.”
Ren Shuhan felt it too, and more importantly…
“You can’t eat anymore,” he touched Jiang Qingyue’s round little belly. “The adults say eating too many cold snacks3He doesn’t mean ice-cream or something alike, but regular snacks that don’t need to be heated up like a dish or something can upset your stomach.”
“It’s okay; I rarely eat hot food,” Jiang Qingyue also touched his own belly. “But indeed, I can’t eat anymore.”
Because it was difficult to start a fire, and for sustainable development, the plants on the island weren’t enough to keep a fire burning continuously. Therefore, the mermaids cherished fire sources. Cooked food was left for the more delicate infants to eat, and bigger mermaids often ate raw small fish and shrimp, let alone heated food.
Ren Shuhan felt sorry for him.
“Then take this,” he took out a lighter from the system store, “and give it to your adult mermaids. Just press the switch, and you can start a fire anytime.”
Little Jiang Qingyue took it and decided to go give it to the adult mermaids immediately.
“You can’t use it yourself,” Ren Shuhan pointed to his forehead, “Children can’t play with fire.”
Jiang Qingyue nodded, he knew that.
“Wait,” before he jumped back into the sea, Ren Shuhan stopped him again and said, “You look… um….”
Jiang Qingyue tilted his head at the sudden display of shyness, “?”
“Do you know what clothes are?” Ren Shuhan blushed, tugging at his dirty T-shirt, “You are a little girl, and you should wear clothes.”
Jiang Qingyue didn’t understand, “What is clothes? I thought this was your skin.”
Ren Shuhan: … That’s a bit scary.
He took out a pink dress with lace from the space node and put it on Jiang Qingyue.
“Raise your hand, stand up, yes, like this. You have to wear clothes from now on,” Ren Shuhan said, “I have many here, and you can choose any style you like.”
Jiang Qingyue was overjoyed, and the speed of his tail flapping became faster and faster. “Oh my God, why are clothes so beautiful? Do I look good?”
“… You look good.” Ren Shuhan blushed, feeling uncomfortable with his burning ears. He turned his head away but couldn’t help looking back at him. He felt both happy and distressed. “I’ll give you more; you can take them to the adult mermaids.”
If they all met without wearing clothes, that would be a bit awkward.
“No,” little Jiang Qingyue was cautious, though reluctant, his mind clear, “If I bring back one or two things, I can say I picked them up. But if there are too many, it will be too suspicious, and the adult mermaids will know.”
“Well, then,” Ren Shuhan regretfully tugged at the edge of his little skirt, “you should come back soon. I have other fun things for us to do together.”
“Okay,” Jiang Qingyue nodded heavily, “After I come back, let’s play house together.”
With so many delicious snacks, they would definitely have a lot of fun.
Ren Shuhan nodded and waved to him.
“By the way,” Jiang Qingyue twisted into the shallow water and was about to dive in, suddenly remembered something, turned back to ask him, “What do you mean by a little girl?”
“It’s just… um,” Little Ren Shuhan didn’t know how to explain, “When you grow up in the future, you’ll be a mom.”
“Oh, no,” Jiang Qingyue shook his head, then walked away after saying, “I am a male fish.”
“What!”
So cute, and he’s a younger brother? Ren Shuhan crouched down and covered his face, feeling embarrassed. He vowed to explain himself to his younger brother when he came back. Unexpectedly, he waited for a whole day until evening when Jiang Qingyue sneaked out again.
THEY ARE SO CUTE AND PURE!!
I actually didn’t think too much about it after the previous arc, but it now is clear from Ren Shuhan’s demand to the system that he’d grow up without knowing he’s a transmigrator in this arc lol, i don’t know why I was so surprised with this chapter.
But the system still is looking after him so I guess that’s alright!
