Actual Fairytale – Picking up a Mermaid! (23)

Jun Yu brought Jun Li back to the sea. Jun Li was about to fully mature, but during this time, Jun Li would be very sensitive and weak, with even the tiniest of things affecting his emotions. That’s why many merpeople would have vastly different tempers before and after differentiation.

Ones who were gentle and polite might become rash and impatient.

Ones who were innocent and ignorant might become insightful and scheming.

Lu Shijin didn’t know how Jun Li would turn out, but with the protection of his brother, Jun Li would definitely pass through with no difficulties.

Since Jun Yu returned to the sea, there was naturally no such person as Master Yu anymore.

But surprisingly, Shen Shao stopped coming to their appointments, seeming to have given up on curing himself.

After a couple days, Lu Shijin received a call. The caller was Shen Shao’s mother, asking if Lu Shijin could come visit Shen Shao. He had not been doing well lately.

Lu Shijin went. It was Shen Shao’s mother who came to greet him, instead of Shen Shao himself.

Apparently Shen Shao had gone around the city like a madman a couple days ago, looking for someone, but was unable to find them.

After returning, he had shut himself in his room and didn’t allow anyone to go in.

He would drink until he passed out everyday.

Shen Shao’s mother wiped away tears as she talked to Lu Shijin. Shen Shao’s father had passed away early, so it had just been the two of them. Once she knew that the disease had been passed onto her son, her worries had never ceased.

Some time ago, Shen Shao told her that his illness could be cured, so she was very happy. However, she didn’t expect Shen Shao to act like this so soon after.

Shen Shao’s condition was already poor, and with how much stress he’s putting himself through, his disease would probably only become more severe.

If it came to the point where she had to send off her own child, she would really lose all hope.

She was pretty pitiful. Lu Shijin comforted her, then said that he would figure out what happened to Shen Shao, so she shouldn’t worry.

Lu Shijin knocked on Shen Shao’s door, receiving no response. He tried the handle, which opened easily, so he simply walked into the room.

The room was filled with the smell of alcohol. Shen Shao was sprawled on the bed, several bottles of wine littering the ground. There was even a pool of wine on the bed.

Shen Shao’s shirt was full of creases, clearly having not changed in many days. He didn’t seem like what he was before.

Lu Shijin only saw a slovenly drunk.

“Shen Shao?” Lu Shijin tried calling out his name. Shen Shao did not react.

Lu Shijin got a headache from the alcohol in the air, so he went over to the window, opening it to air out the room.

The room finally seemed like a place for humans after the scent of wine dispersed a bit.

Lu Shijin couldn’t wake Shen Shao up, but the light coming from the window did.

Shen Shao frowned without opening his eyes, and said coldly, probably thinking that Lu Shijin was just some random person who forgot about his orders, “Who let you in, close the blinds and leave.”

“Eh, you’re finally awake?” Lu Shijin found a relatively clean spot on the bed and sat down. “Can you tell me why you’re doing this to yourself?”

Shen Shao heard that it was Lu Shijin’s voice, so he turned around on the bed and covered his eyes with his hand, saying hoarsely, “Why are you here, who let you come?”

“If I didn’t come, your mom would’ve died from worrying.” Lu Shijin sighed, “Your mom’s already this old, but you still make her this worried? Come on, tell me why you’re ruining yourself like this? If you really don’t want to live anymore, I would try to dissuade you. I know that you’ve suffered a lot, so it might be better to be free as soon as possible.”

Shen Shao said lightly, “You don’t need to tell me this, I know how much my body can handle, this is far from the amount that will kill me.”

“There has to be a reason, though? I’ve known you for so many years,  but I’ve never seen you like this.” Lu Shijin asked deliberately, “What, did you get your heart broken?”

Shen Shao fell silent. Lu Shijin spoke to himself, “Seems like I guessed right. Is it Jun Li? What happened with the two of you? Weren’t you doing great a while ago?”

Shen Shao slowly uncovered his eyes, staring blankly at the ceiling above him.

“I broke up with him.”

Lu Shijin pretended to be shocked. “Why?”

Shen Shao’s voice was tired and hoarse. “I originally only wanted to use him. You don’t know this, but Jun Li’s actually a merperson. His blood can cure me, so my feelings for him weren’t actually innocent.”

“Then why would you still break up with him? What about your disease?”

Shen Shao closed his eyes. He felt that he might feel better if he told someone about everything, so he slowly told Lu Shijin everything.

“Do you still remember the traditional Chinese medicine master you introduced to me before? I went to him twice and saw that he was pretty good. I planned on having him cure me, which is better than hurting Jun Li.”

“That’s clearly a good thing, why’d you break up?”

“The treatment had a catch. It would require me to cleanse myself from all worldly desires, so I can’t do anything sexual.” Shen Shao smiled bitterly, “It means that even if I’m cured, I’d have to stay alone until death. I can’t give Jun Li happiness, and I only approached him with ulterior motives at first, so I thought about it and decided to break up with him.”

Lu Shijin hummed, then said confidently, “You regret it.”

“Yes.” Shen Shao didn’t refute it. “I’ve been regretting it since the night he left. Shijin, do you know how greedy humans are? We easily accepted love and kindness, but once it’s taken away, after Jun Li left, even if I live forever, I can’t handle these bland and endless days.”

No wonder. He realized he couldn’t live without Jun Li.

Seems like Shen Shao had long fallen for the merperson, but was blinded by his goals and didn’t realize in time.

Lu Shijin didn’t expect that Shen Shao would be despairing so much even before Jun Li did anything, wasn’t he a bit too sensitive?

Once Shen Shao finished admitting everything, 711 reported with surprise to Lu Shijin that the audience satisfaction rate was rising steadily.

It wasn’t that unexpected. Everyone liked seeing a scum man regret their actions and start a ‘chasing after the wife they abandoned’ trope.

But… Lu Shijin was a bit torn. Since Jun Li was male now, was he still a wife?