That wretched vixen has disguised herself as my wife!

The closer they got to the bustling area, the denser the crowd became. Jiang Jingming stepped forward and used his shoulder to shield Aqing from the oncoming throng of people.

"Aqing, where is your hometown? How were you abducted by that human trafficker?"

He thought of his childhood days in Zhige City and suddenly became very curious about where Aqing had grown up.

Aqing looked up at him, her clear eyes reflecting the myriad lights, like a bottomless lake.

"I do not remember."

After a brief silence, she shook her head.

Jiang Jingming was stunned for a moment, and just as he was about to answer, he saw Xie Yunqi waving frantically at them from the front.

The wooden stage was surrounded by spectators, who kept throwing coins at the curtain behind it, urging the owner to start the show quickly.

The audience was noisy, and Jiang Jingming finally managed to pull Aqing to the front row.

"Hurry up and start the show!"

Miss Xie was throwing handfuls of loose change onto the stands, and the shopkeeper was bowing and scraping as he picked up the money with a copper basin, his face beaming with joy.

People around her kept their distance because of her extravagant spending, afraid of offending this wealthy young lady.

Fang Zhiyi, carrying a rabbit lantern, leaned against the railing, still smiling. But Jiang Jingming inexplicably sensed a hint of dejection in her expression.

What kind of performance is this?

Jiang Jingming took a half step closer, somewhat curious.

"Mermaids".

Fang Zhiyi raised an eyebrow slightly and answered with a smile.

"Mermaids?!"

Jiang Jingming was somewhat surprised and immediately turned to look at A Qing.

"Remember? I wanted to take you to see the merman show back then, and I never expected to run into it again today."

He realized something was wrong halfway through his sentence and quickly retracted the part about "unfortunately, Uncle He caught him and took him back."

Aqing nodded; she remembered.

Back then, the stage wasn't this big, and there weren't as many people. The boss had to carry a gong and shout around to attract customers.

"Hey, you've never seen it before? I heard that the mermaid performances in Shulan City are quite frequent. After all, they come from such a far place as Cangzhou, there's bound to be an audience who will buy tickets."

Fang Zhiyi smiled slowly.

"..."

Jiang Jingming felt that she was picking on his mistakes again, so he didn't respond.

At this moment, Xie Yunqi on the other side became extremely impatient and slammed his fist on the railing, cursing angrily.

"Are you kidding me?! Give me my money back!"

As soon as she said this, the audience around her burst into laughter.

The dashing and wealthy young lady had spoken; there was no reason not to join the group. Immediately, everyone echoed her sentiments:

"Refund!!! Refund!!!"

The boss was hit several times by rotten vegetables and potatoes that flew out of nowhere. Knowing that he would really be beaten if this continued, he finally retreated behind the scenes with a forced smile.

The heavy curtain was drawn back, and the musicians who were in charge of playing the music filed out.

Each person had a graceful figure, their face covered with a milky white veil, and they held a pipa and a guqin in their arms.

The moment the pipa strings were plucked, the noisy crowd fell silent.

The sound of the pipa was like the gentle lapping of the tide on the shore, melodious and graceful. Gradually, the guqin joined in, its lingering notes adding a touch of solitude.

"This piece of music is called 'Bright Moon Over the Sea,' and I heard it was also passed down from Cangzhou."

Fang Zhiyi tilted her head slightly and spoke very softly.

Jiang Jingming was listening intently and nodded, only belatedly noticing the faint fragrance emanating from her.

It smells like herbs, slightly bitter, yet with a calming and soothing quality.

Chapter Thirty-One: Tears Become Pearls

"It tells the story of a mermaid who fell in love with a fisherman and was willing to go home with him, even if it meant being far from the sea and living in a dirty pool."

Fang Zhiyi spoke softly in a voice that only the two of them could hear, her knuckles lightly tapping the railing in response to the music.

"and after?"

Jiang Jingming subconsciously pressed for an answer.

“The mermaid’s tears turned into pearls, which the fishermen sold for a lot of money. From then on, they no longer needed to go out to sea to fish, and the two lived happily ever after.”

Fang Zhiyi smiled.

Jiang Jingming could tell from her expression that she was talking nonsense, and that such stories usually didn't have such a happy ending.

The music from the stands suddenly changed, becoming cheerful and melodious.

The curtain was drawn back again, and this time a huge square shallow water tank appeared before everyone's eyes.

The lanterns on the platform were lit one by one, and suddenly someone slowly sat up in the vat.

She was an absolutely beautiful woman with long, flowing red hair that reached her waist. And what she was raising high in the water to the music was a fish tail that looked like crystal!

A collective gasp and cheers of amazement rose and fell from the crowd.

"OK!!"

Xie Yunqi clapped and laughed excitedly. This was a show that couldn't be seen in Beijing. She would have something to brag about when she got back.

Overjoyed, the young lady took off her gold-inlaid jade bracelet and threw it into the water vat.

Even a layman could tell that the bracelet was priceless, yet she casually gave it away as a reward.

The mermaid swam back smoothly, wagging its tail, and picked up the jade bracelet with its mouth. Then it nodded to her in thanks, revealing a row of pearl-like teeth when it smiled.

"There really are merfolk."

Jiang Jingming couldn't help but sigh.

Before seeing it with his own eyes, he wondered if it was just a publicity stunt, since the legend of merfolk has probably been around for thousands of years.

However, judging from the natural expression of the mermaid swimming on the platform, one can tell that the fish tail is indeed part of her body.

but......

Jiang Jingming suddenly paused, as if struck by a sudden realization.

If the fish's tail is still there, what about its gills?

The mermaid continued to swim in the tank, smiling and thanking the viewers who gave her tips. Her skin from behind her ears to her neck was smooth as jade, without any organs that resembled gills.

There was no webbing between his fingers, and even his eyes were more like the amber color of ordinary people, not the deep blue of the sea as in legends.

"You guessed right."

Fang Zhiyi's voice suddenly rang out again.

Jiang Jingming turned around, and her eyes curved into a smile.

"This mermaid is fake."

"..."

Jiang Jingming remained silent for a long while, then frowned slightly.

"But her tail doesn't look fake."

"When she is young, all you need to do is cut off her legs, attach a fish tail, and use medication to stop the bleeding and heal her. Over time, her upper body will grow together with the fish tail."

Fang Zhiyi uttered an extremely shocking statement in a straightforward manner.

Jiang Jingming suppressed his disbelief and instead began to question.

"Does such bizarre magic really exist in this world?"

"If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes today, you would hardly imagine what kind of poison could make a person lose their mind and go berserk, yet also harden their bones like bronze, eat flesh and blood, and be contagious through wounds?"

Fang Zhiyi tilted her head and asked in return.

Jiang Jingming paused, unable to find a reason to refute.

At this moment, the mermaid lay on the edge of the water tank, panting softly, seemingly tired from swimming for too long, but was soon scolded by the boss.

Miss Xie couldn't stand seeing such an unscrupulous boss bullying his employees, so she immediately rolled up her sleeves, slammed her fist on the railing, and angrily cursed.

"Hey! Are you treating people like donkeys pulling a millstone? If you can't wait, go swim up yourself!"

Knowing he couldn't afford to offend her, the boss could only smile obsequiously and apologize.

"However, with this technique, perhaps only one in a hundred people can adapt to the fish tail and thus survive."

Fang Zhiyi continued in the same storytelling tone as before, even with a gentle laugh at the end of her sentence.

As the final section of "The Moon Shines Over the Vast Sea" was played on stage, the mermaid lay on the water's surface, covering her face with her hands, her shoulders trembling slightly.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for the legendary sight of tears turning into pearls.

“There was a hidden compartment at the bottom of the water jar. She had just taken the pearl and hidden it between her fingers, then pretended it was formed from her tears.”

Fang Zhiyi explained leisurely.

"How do you know everything?"

Jiang Jingming felt a sense of helplessness, as if the truth about the magic trick had been revealed in advance.

There was a hint of cunning in Fang Zhiyi's smile.

"Because I saw it when I first arrived in Shulan City a few days ago."

"OK!!!"

The audience below the stage let out a surprised shout, because the mermaid threw out a handful of pearls like water, causing a scramble to grab them.

Aqing caught a pellet that flew towards her and handed it to Jiang Jingming.

Its luster was dull and its texture was rough; it was nothing like the legendary pearls that would be produced when mermaids wept.

Jiang Jingming finally believed Fang Zhiyi's explanation.

"True mermaids only shed tears when they are extremely sad or happy. The pearls formed from their tears have a cold light like moonlight. If they are made into luminous pearls, they will not dim for thousands of years."

Fang Zhiyi took the pearl from his hand, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"A real merman?"

Jiang Jingming raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I only said that what's on stage is fake, not that there's no such thing as real in the world."

Fang Zhiyi shrugged.

"They are just fierce and ugly, with scales covering their skin and bared fangs. They kill lost travelers, not some beautiful blonde, red-haired, blue-eyed girl."

"How can such an ugly creature have a beautiful legend of weeping tears that turn into pearls and weaving water into silk?"

As the music faded, leaving only a lingering echo, Jiang Jingming gazed at the coral-like red hair reflected in the water vat.

"But mermaids are creatures of deep affection. Once they fall in love with someone, they will never change, even if they can only live in a water tank for people to tease and watch."

Fang Zhiyi leaned against the railing and closed her eyes slightly. The wind brushed past her from behind, and her white clothes fluttered like snow.

"But didn't you say she was a fake?"

"But she didn't know that."

Fang Zhiyi kept her eyes closed, only offering a faint smile.

"She thought that the fish tail was naturally growing on her body, and that she was a mermaid rescued by fishermen, so no one would teach her to speak. She only knew that she loved that person and was willing to earn those glittering gold, silver and jade for him."

Her voice drifted on the wind, audible only to the two people facing each other.

"Even if she ages prematurely because of this miraculous technique of connecting with mermaids, and has at most only thirty years to live... that's the story I just told you. Do you know the ending?"

Fang Zhiyi opened her eyes.