Chapter 102: The Vanishing Mysterious Big Fish
“It rained heavily for several days then, and it only cleared up slowly on the seventh day. His father couldn’t wait. As soon as the rain stopped, he went out to sea. But strangely, he came back! And he brought back a strange big fish.”
When the elder spoke of the big fish, a look of terror was evident on his face. Sang Chu asked, “What kind of big fish was it?”
“A golden fish, about the size of a child of seven or eight. It had a beautiful face, with small eyes and willow-leaf eyebrows. Just one glance made you feel she was as beautiful as a celestial being, but it was a fish!”
The elder trembled all over, as if recalling something terrifying. Sang Chu could only comfort him softly, “It’s alright, Grandmother. She’s not here now. Don’t be afraid. What happened next? What happened after that?”
The elder took a deep breath and slowly said, “At first, Xiao Liu’s father could still maintain his sanity and wanted to send the fish back to the sea. But the villagers were all as if bewitched. Anyone who approached the fish would be beaten and driven away. Xiao Liu’s father had no choice but to discuss with his wife about stealing the fish out at night when everyone was asleep and sending it back to the sea. But who knew…”
Sang Chu said softly, “It’s easier to invite a god than to send one away?”
The elder looked up at Sang Chu and nodded. “Just as Old Liu was about to act, the fish spoke. Old Liu’s wife told me that the fish spoke in a soft, tender voice that made your bones melt just by hearing it. Let alone Old Liu, even she, a woman, couldn’t stand it.”
Sang Chu: “What did she say?”
The elder shook his head. “Old Liu’s wife didn’t say, but from then on, the couple never thought of sending the fish away again. Even Old Liu joined the ranks of those men. Every night, the room where the fish was kept was never quiet.”
The room was never quiet?
Sang Chu and Tu You exchanged glances. What had they just heard? A fish, my goodness!
Sang Chu was speechless for a moment, and asked with gossip, “Grandmother, but, that was a, fish, right?”
“It was a fish, a mermaid. I don’t know when she changed. Her tail was very beautiful, her hands were boneless and delicate, and her skin was very tender and white, just like a peeled egg. Every day, someone would carry her to the big rocks by the seaside to bask in the sun. At that time, the men in the village, one by one, were like lost souls, circling around her. My son, who had just gotten married not long ago, was also bewitched. Every day, he only knew how to circle around the mermaid. At home, only I, this old woman, my husband, and my daughter-in-law were left.”
Sang Chu: “Then, that child?”
She didn’t want to ask this, as it was clearly rubbing salt in the wound, but she still had to clarify the matter, otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to piece together the whole story.
The elder lowered his head and said in a low voice, “It was my son’s. At that time, his father was furious. He scolded him fiercely and went to drag him back. He even begged the mermaid. My old man begged, saying, ‘Fish immortal, please spare my son! He just got married, and only a lame old man like me and a nearly blind old mother are left at home. He just got married, please show mercy and let him go home.’”
Sang Chu: “Did the mermaid agree to let him go?”
The elder nodded. “My husband brought him back. I asked him the same thing. He said the mermaid only asked him one question: why had he never seen him among these men? My husband said that his leg was injured in a shipwreck when he went out to sea, and he became lame. Since then, he had been staying at home, losing interest in everything. If it weren’t for his son not coming home, he wouldn’t have gone to that place.”
Sang Chu: “The mermaid probably wanted to ask the old man why he wasn’t tempted.”
“That’s right. My husband came back and told me that the mermaid’s voice was very pleasant and made people feel possessive, but he was already half-dead. This temptation was nothing. He just wanted to bring his son back. But his son did come back, yet he was very strange.”
Sang Chu: “What do you mean?”
The elder’s gaze drifted towards Sang Chu, and he slowly said, “After my son returned home, he started to like eating internal organs. He never ate internal organs before; he thought they were very dirty and could never be washed clean. But after he returned from the mermaid, he started to like eating internal organs. This was very strange, but we couldn’t do anything about it, until, A Mei’s family had an accident.”
“Aunt Mei?”
“Yes, A Mei has an only son. Although they doted on him, her son was a good person and capable. He worked hard to get into a university in the city. A Mei knew about the strange things happening in the village, but she couldn’t stop it. She just wanted to prevent her son from coming back, for fear that he would also be tempted by the mermaid.
But who knew, the message was too late. He returned to the village with his classmates ahead of schedule. A Mei was terrified, fearing for her only son’s safety. She rushed to town overnight to try to stop them from returning home. But fate is unpredictable. They had already returned home, and even fell in love with the mermaid at first sight.”
Sang Chu blinked, feeling that the incident the elder spoke of was not as simple as it seemed.
“What happened next?”
The elder said, “Those college students insisted that the villagers had imprisoned and insulted her, and they wanted to rescue her. Those men had already reached a consensus and would not allow outsiders to interfere in their affairs. As soon as they disagreed, those college students and the villagers started fighting. No one could mediate. In the end, some died and some were injured. When A Mei returned, she saw her son lying on the ground, dead.”
“She was furious and turned to go into the kitchen to get a cleaver, intending to chop the mermaid. She thought the mermaid was the culprit, but she was stopped by her husband, who almost killed her. It was the mermaid who saved her.”
Hearing this, Sang Chu was shocked. “The mermaid saved her?”
The elder nodded. “The mermaid said she didn’t like people who killed. Since A Mei didn’t like her, she could just throw her out. Also, the dead couldn’t stay in the village. Those men treated her words as imperial decrees and would never disobey. He directly threw out the half-dead A Mei, and even threw out his own son’s corpse outside, abandoning them without care.”
The more Sang Chu listened, the more she felt something was wrong. Why was this mermaid so different from the fish tribe demons she knew?
“Then how did Aunt Mei return? And what about these Demon-Quelling Banners?”
The elder said, “After A Mei, all the women and children in the village were driven out. But one day, A Mei returned, and she brought a master wearing lama robes. That master said that we had encountered a Fish Haunt, and she needed to absorb human vitality to be born. Once she escaped the physical body of the Fish Haunt, she would turn into a terrifying monster, and then everyone would die by her hand.”
