Spring goes and autumn comes, summer passes and the winter solstice arrives.
Jiang Mian and his mermaid wandered between the various seas. They went to the equatorial ocean where the summer was always hot. There, Jiang Mian tasted fresh coconuts that had just been picked and opened for the first time. Rapos held the hard fruit curiously and accidentally popped two shells, splashing coconut juice all over his hands, which made Jiang Mian laugh.
They had also been to the bone-chilling polar regions, where the animals on the glaciers had rich fat and fur, and the fish living there were firm, sweet and chewy. On a windless and moonless night, Jiang Mian lay on Lapers, eating fish, looking up at the aurora that filled the sky, like a magical river crossing the sky;
They drove away the storms, played thrilling games with thunder and hurricanes on the rough sea. Rapos taught him how to distinguish the weather, how to use his sense of smell to identify whether it was a time to play and have fun, or a day of rage when he needed to dive to avoid the sea...
They also punished and destroyed those daring whalers. Facing Jiang Mian, Lapers could become the most gentle and patient teacher in the world. He guided Jiang Mian to use his vocal organs correctly and told him that for mermaids, sound is one of the many miracles that can be fully displayed.
When Jiang Mian only sent out a sound wave, he successfully melted the navigation and communication system of the whaler, causing it to spin clumsily in the middle of the sea. He and Rapos listened to the increasingly panicked movement on the ship, like two children who succeeded in a prank, huddled in the coral reef and laughed together. Then, they chased each other and swam to other seas.
Jiang Mian wants to make up for his imprisoned childhood, while Lapers wants to make up for the days that he should have spent with his partner but had to regret missing. They have never said love to each other, but their bond is so deep-rooted and indestructible that every time they look into each other's eyes, this passion that never dries up deepens.
They don't quarrel, disagree, or have a cold war. In the past, Jiang Mian had listened to the people in the institute discussing what a truly healthy relationship would look like in his spare time, so he would also think about whether his relationship with Lapers was healthy. Lapers respected him, praised him, and never violated his wishes and intentions, and so did he. But it seems that in this soul-symbiotic relationship, he and Lapers were too dependent and obsessed with each other. They were so closely entangled that almost nothing else could be inserted in between.
Of course, this is not to say it is a bad thing. In fact, Jiang Mian sometimes even feels a vague fear, because what he gets is too wonderful and incredible. He can't help but doubt himself and wonder if this is a dream that he will eventually wake up from.
In response, Lapers commented: "I don't understand you, Pearl."
After thinking for a while, he switched to the more fluent mermaid language: [You are half human who was raised by humans. Although mermaids have a long lifespan, the time you spend in the sea will be dozens of times longer than the time on land, but these twenty years have turned you into a life completely different from that of a mermaid. I don't understand you, because your thinking is deep and delicate, and your ideas are infinitely varied. You can think, but some of our kind have long been spoiled by powerful forces and long lives, and have become ferocious beasts that act only on instinct.]