Chapter 2: She Is Truly Kind-hearted
Jiang Yang nervously opened her eyes and rubbed Angry Bird's feathers: "Little Hua Xiao, are you full?"
Angry Bird let out a contemptuous coo, turning its big head 360 degrees to show her its back of the head.
Jiang Yang: "..."
Fortunately, by this time, the merman had already been carried away by the crowd. After a while, Lan Qian came back, her clothes and hair all wet, as if she had just been fished out of the water. She ran excitedly to Jiang Yang's side and said, "Second Young Miss, the merman has been tied up and the training has begun."
Jiang Yang gave a sound of acknowledgment. Actually, her initial intention was just to save that handsome fish's life. Although being a pet fish for the dog emperor wasn't great, at least he would still be alive. If he wasn't made a pet, he would have been chopped up and made into oil on the spot, which would be too pitiful.
But pity aside, she didn't dare to risk the entire Jiang family just to save an unfamiliar fish.
She only hoped that this handsome fish could be obedient and well-behaved. Jiang Yang thought to herself.
In the evening, Jiang Yang was eating dinner. She didn't have much appetite for meat today, so the kitchen made her a plate of cold tofu salad and stir-fried mung bean sprouts. Although these were just two ordinary vegetable dishes, in the ocean far from land, where the sailors could only eat fish and shrimp caught from the sea, vegetables were even more expensive and rare than big fish and meat.
Lan Qian, who was serving at the side, was almost crying with hunger.
Jiang Yang couldn't bear her gaze and shared some with her: "Eat."
"Thank you, Second Young Miss." Lan Qian gratefully picked up a chopstick of crisp and refreshing mung bean sprouts, exclaiming: "It's so delicious, I've never felt mung bean sprouts could be this good before."
Jiang Yang, on the other hand, put down her chopsticks and leaned sideways on the soft couch, taking an apple from the fruit basket and leisurely starting to peel it.
At sea, what was even rarer and more precious than vegetables? Of course, it was fruit.
After finishing the after-dinner fruit, Jiang Yang patted her full belly contentedly and got up to take a walk on the deck to aid digestion.
"Second Young Miss, I'll accompany you." Lan Qian casually wiped her mouth with her sleeve and followed.
The sun was half-sunk into the sea, its melting golden light flowing into the seabed like molten gold. The gorgeous sunset dyed the entire sky and sea red. Her ship rose and fell in the waves, as if sailing into a mysterious oil painting.
"Where's that merman?" Jiang Yang remembered the beautiful male fish.
Lan Qian said, "We locked it in a room in the wheelhouse. The sailors should be training it right now."
"Take me to see."
Ever since discovering the merman in the morning, Lan Qian's seasickness had been miraculously cured, and she would get excited at the mere mention of the merman. She led Jiang Yang, huffing and puffing, towards the room in the wheelhouse.
Before they even reached the door, Jiang Yang could hear the sound of whips lashing. From inside came a woman's harsh scolding, and difficult suppressed sounds.
"What's going on?" Jiang Yang said in a low voice, casually pushing open the small window by the door and looking inside.
The beautiful male fish was stuffed into a very large wooden barrel, with a very heavy iron collar clamped around his fair and delicate neck. A very thick and heavy iron chain was connected to the back of the iron collar, severely restricting his movement.
Next to the wooden barrel stood a sailor Jiang Yang didn't recognize, arrogantly wielding a whip, striking the beautiful male fish heavily. The merman was beaten until his skin split and flesh showed, and the huge wound on his waist and abdomen hadn't been bandaged. Fresh blood was gushing out, and the water overflowing from the wooden barrel was bright red.
Illegal fish abuse is prohibited! You bunch of idiots!
The beautiful male fish leaned against the barrel wall, covered in wounds, giving off a sense of a battle-damaged beautiful man. Despite suffering such inhumane torture, there was not a hint of weakness or yielding in the merman's eyes, only hostility towards the person before him.
Ah - what a fish with backbone!
"Hmph, let's see how long you can hold out!" Perhaps because the merman's tenacity had aroused the sailor's desire for violence, the sailor raised the whip again.
The beautiful male fish didn't dodge, or more accurately, he had nowhere to dodge. With such a thick collar on his neck, he couldn't even run.
Jiang Yang couldn't bear to watch anymore and kicked open the door.
"Second Young Miss??" The sailor confusedly held up the whip, then fell to her knees with a thud: "Greetings to the Second Young Miss!"
Having been here for so long, Jiang Yang was quite skilled at putting on airs in front of servants.
She put on the severity of a disciplinary teacher and said in a deep voice: "Come out with me for a moment."
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