LSDWTWHA chapter 15

Chapter 15

“Stand straight.” At this moment, Qi Hanyi’s ears had already turned completely red. As he let go of his hands, he took a step back.

He was cold-tempered and usually had little interaction with people. His subordinates regarded him with more awe than closeness. Even among friends, there would never be any behavior of slinging arms or hugging. His most frequent physical contact with others was likely in martial arts training.

The feeling of being hugged just now was nearly unfamiliar to him.

But it made him involuntarily recall the slender waist, soft touch, warm body temperature, and the almost imperceptible breath between the collarbones…

Qi Hanyi’s expression grew even colder, almost rivaling the milennia-old ice on the peaks of a snowy mountain.

“Uh.” Su Su nearly stumbled again. In a moment of panic, he grabbed Qi Hanyi’s collar, barely finding his balance between his legs.

The feeling of standing was quite strange and somewhat novel. Su Su lowered his head to look at his round toes and instinctively curled them a couple of times.

“Let go.” Qi Hanyi lowered his eyes, watching Su Su clutching his collar, and the large creases that appeared in his shirt from being pulled awkwardly.

“I can’t stand.” Su Su still couldn’t completely stabilize himself. Clearly, the triangular posture was more stable. After several failed attempts to stand, Su Su simply took Qi Hanyi as his third support point and refused to let go.

Qi Hanyi’s lips tightened into a line. He didn’t argue with Su Su about the issue of his clothing. Emotionlessly, he helped Su Su remove the disheveled clothing he was wearing and put it back on him correctly, ultimately fastening all the buttons meticulously, arranging everything neatly.

“This is how you wear it.”

“Oh.” Su Su tugged at the obviously ill-fitting military jacket, fastening the glossy badge on his chest, with wonder in his eyes: “This outfit is really nice.”

Though the small skirt he wore when getting married was also beautiful, he indeed preferred the structured lines of this clothing. It had a clean and sharp aura, and it looked great when worn by Qi Hanyi.

After finishing, Su Su even grabbed the collar and sniffed: “It also smells nice, like you.”

Such behavior and words from Su Su, when placed on a human, could be considered flirtatious.

Qi Hanyi ground his teeth, but couldn’t say much. All he faced was a shark who understood nothing. The other party probably had no romantic intentions toward him and was merely speaking whatever came to mind.

“Hubby.” Su Su’s soft call pulled Qi Hanyi’s mind away.

Qi Hanyi felt someone tug at his collar and instinctively lowered his head.

At that moment, Su Su’s clothing looked quite proper, with the buttons fastened all the way to his neck, barely revealing any skin. Unfortunately, he wasn’t wearing any pants, and the area below his thighs was conspicuously bare, appearing more suggestive than if he had worn nothing at all.

The youth, who was provoking thoughts, was tugging at Qi Hanyi’s collar, his head tilted back as he pitifully spoke again: “I’m hungry.”

Qi Hanyi felt his heart flutter in annoyance, masking his strange feelings with a nearly mechanical tone: “I told you not to shout.”

Qi Hanyi glanced at the pool where the fish had been cruelly slaughtered, stripped clean of even a spine, then looked at the remnants of blood still on Su Su’s lips, and asked, puzzled: “Aren’t you full?”

“Very hungry,” Su Su pouted, his voice filled with grievance. The thing he hated the most in his life was probably being hungry.

Qi Hanyi maintained a stern expression and asked, “What do you want to eat?”

Su Su quickly said, “I want boiled fish, pickled fish, braised fish, sweet and sour fish, crucian carp tofu soup, fish head with pancakes, pan-fried cod…”

Su Su displayed impressive linguistic talent as he listed the dishes, his enunciation clear and pronunciation standard. He recited all the dishes Xiao You had taught him previously, totalling over twenty, all related to fish.

“Got it, wait here.” Qi Hanyi let go of Su Su and turned to leave, calling for the butler.

Qi Hanyi summoned Li Shu and repeated Su Su’s menu: “Prepare all these dishes and send them inside.”

“So much?” Li Shu was taken aback. The young lord had always disliked extravagance, so many dishes were clearly too much for just two people.

“Yeah.” Qi Hanyi thought of the serious matters he needed to discuss with Su Su and added: “Bring a table and two chairs in. I’ll have dinner here as well. No need for the kitchen to prepare separately.”

The butler was immediately even more surprised.

The young lord intended to eat with the mermaid?

This was unlike the attitude he had towards mermaids before.

Before Li Shu could think further, he heard Qi Hanyi continue to order: “Go prepare a few sets of clothes. Size should be for someone around 1.8 meters, slim build, comfortable and loose sportswear… and some underwear. Make it quick.”

Speaking of clothes, Li Shu finally noticed the young lord’s outfit had changed after he emerged— the jacket he had been wearing was gone, and numerous creases had formed on his clothes, with water stains on the pant hems.

Wait a moment, the clothes! Just a second ago, the butler was still immersed in the discovery of the young lord’s clothing changes, only to suddenly realize, the young lord requested a full set of clothing, which implied: the mermaid has differentiated!

This was great news. It meant the mermaid had feelings for the young lord, and looking at the young lord’s attitude now, it seemed he wasn’t entirely rejecting anymore…

Li Shu couldn’t help but let his lips curl upward. Thank heavens, after all these years, the young lord had finally emerged from the shadows of the past. Perhaps this truly was a suitable marriage.

This era of logistics had entered a fully intelligent phase. After placing the order online, the merchant’s warehouse immediately selected the corresponding items and sent them off via intercity transport.

Fifteen minutes later, the goods arrived at a transport outlet less than thirty kilometers from Qi Hanyi’s residence.

A myriad of delivery drones hovered at the outlet. Once they detected the goods to be transported, the drones would pull the items into their cargo holds below. Like shooting stars streaking across the night sky, they reached the destination in just minutes.

Under Qi Hanyi’s guidance, Su Su clumsily poked his head out from the oversized hoodie, and pulled the waist of the sweatpants up above his hips, covering the black boxer shorts.

Su Su raised his head towards Qi Hanyi with a expectant look: “Is this good?”

The sportswear Li Shu bought was of decent quality, styled in the simplest base designs: a white oversized hoodie and black tapered sweatpants.

Su Su, with his slim waist and long legs, was practically a born model. Such simple clothing on him, combined with his handsome features, almost radiated light. His silver-blue hair casually tied back into a ponytail revealed his smooth forehead, making him hard to look away from.

Qi Hanyi’s gaze lingered on Su Su for a few seconds, and his Adam’s apple moved slightly: “Mm.”

As soon as Su Su changed into his new clothes, Li Shu directed a few housekeeping robots to bring in a dining table and chairs.

Upon entering, Li Shu’s attention was immediately captivated by Su Su, but after just a glance, he quickly averted his eyes.

Wow, he’s so good-looking; no wonder the young lord fell for him so quickly. Although the young lord wasn’t one to judge by appearances, beautiful beings always evoke favorable feelings.

Before long, the dishes were ready. It happened to be dinner time, so Qi Hanyi sat down with Su Su.

Su Su had been eagerly awaiting this moment. As usual, he expertly grabbed a spoon and lunged at the dishes in front of him.

However, just as the spoon reached the edge of the plate, he felt the end of a pair of chopsticks tap his hand.

“Not like that.”

“Huh?” Su Su looked up in confusion, seemingly not understanding why he had been hit for no reason.

Actually, it didn’t hurt, as Qi Hanyi had already restrained his strength, but Su Su’s newly transformed skin was still tender, and it quickly reddened, as if he’d suffered some great injustice.

In Qi Hanyi’s averted gaze, there was a flicker of guilt. He picked up a spoon, scooped some crucian carp soup into a bowl, and demonstrated: “This is how you use a spoon.”

Su Su mimicked him, adjusting his posture and copying Qi Hanyi’s movements to drink the fish soup.

Next was the chopsticks. This was more challenging; Su Su struggled a few times and, hungry as he was, he contemplated tossing the chopsticks and using his hands instead.

As a result, his hand plunged into the hot oil of the boiled fish, instantly burning red.

Su Su, with his burnt finger in his mouth, felt a bit lost, tears of discomfort forming in his eyes.

Why is the human body so fragile? When he had transformed into a mermaid before, he wasn’t afraid of heat at all.

Now, not only had he not learned how to use chopsticks, but he burned himself when trying to use his hands. Plus, his stomach felt like it was going to implode from hunger.

A small bowl filled with fish meat was handed to Su Su, containing specially picked fish, filtered of oil and spices, so he could use a spoon to eat without needing chopsticks.

Su Su received the bowl, pleasantly surprised, and looked at Qi Hanyi across the table: “Is this for me?”

Qi Hanyi maintained his indifferent demeanor: “Eat first. Fill up before you learn.”

Qi Hanyi ate his meal quickly, finishing in just a few minutes. For the next half hour, he consistently served Su Su, watching as Su Su wielded the spoon and polished off all the dishes on the table.

“Are you full?” Qi Hanyi asked.

Su Su licked his lips: “About seven or eight points full.”

Clearly, that was an abnormal amount. The dishes Su Su had ordered were enough to feed at least a dozen adult men, and he had just devoured several sizable live fish earlier.

Qi Hanyi asked: “What’s going on?”

Su Su thought for a moment: “It should be a side effect of taking the transformation pills.”

Su Su explained the capsules he had taken according to Yi Qing’s instructions.

Qi Hanyi noted that in just a few days, Su Su’s language ability had approached that of a normal person. Aside from slightly slower speech and some odd pronunciation, communication wasn’t difficult.

After hearing Su Su’s explanation, Qi Hanyi summarized: “In short, if you fail, you’ll definitely experience a side effect and gradually revert to a shark’s form over some time?”

“Exactly.”

“And this time, your side effect is heightened hunger?”

“I suppose so.” Su Su wasn’t entirely sure; last time he turned into a mermaid, the scales at the corner of his eyes seemed to have not fully fallen away.

This time he had directly become human, and the scales were nearly gone, but he had developed an unusual sense of hunger.

“The high priest said that when taking this medicine, one must wholeheartedly wish to become human for it to succeed. I think my failure and this side effect might be related to how I got distracted hearing Xiao You call for dinner when I took the medicine,” Su Su said, remaining optimistic.

“But I’ve made progress, right? At least this time, I became human. Next time, I should succeed.”

Qi Hanyi asked: “After succeeding, you will be able to switch freely between a shark, a mermaid, and a human?”

“Yeah!” Su Su proudly nodded his head. This was something even mermaids couldn’t do. He would be able to go wherever he wanted without anyone stopping him.

“Why?” Qi Hanyi didn’t understand: “Why do you want to become human?”

“I like humans,” Su Su stated matter-of-factly.