Chapter 54: Choice

Chapter 54: Choice

Liu Hai’s eyes widened guiltily, and for a moment he stammered, "Wh-what are you saying? Of course I’m a merperson!"

He quickly flicked his tail. "Look! This is a tail!"

"Mm-hmm." The boss nodded with a smile. "May I touch it? Then I won’t be polite."

As he stroked Liu Hai’s tail, he continued, "Oh, by the way, even if you weren’t a merperson, the treatment you’ve received so far wouldn’t change at all. And of course, the treatment of those who’ve been taking care of you won’t change either."

"Nothing bad will happen if you admit it."

Liu Hai was speechless.

He slowly withdrew his tail and hesitated before speaking, "I..."

He whispered, "I’m not."

"Oh?" The boss’s eyes curved into a smile. "So you admit it?"

"Yeah." Liu Hai nodded honestly, cautiously watching his expression. "You really won’t blame them, right?"

"They’re just a little foolish, fooled by me. They didn’t do anything wrong."

The boss looked amused. "Foolish?"

"Including Jiang Xun?"

"Of course!" Liu Hai said matter-of-factly. "Don’t you know that people who are very smart in some areas can be very foolish in others?"

"Jiang Xun is just a bit slow in these areas."

The boss pondered with a complicated expression. "Alright, we’ll leave it at that."

"Don’t worry, I won’t give them a hard time, and I won’t reveal this secret to them for now."

Liu Hai’s eyes widened. "Really?"

"Hm?" The boss chuckled. "You don’t seem that happy?"

Liu Hai fidgeted. "Because..."

"Well, actually, I’ve always wanted to tell them, but I never found the right moment..."

The boss smiled and countered, "Is that so?"

Liu Hai blinked and honestly corrected himself. "Alright, truth is, I was too scared."

"I knew I lied, and I was afraid they’d be mad at me..."

The boss nodded slightly. "Mm, I can understand that."

"Huh?" Liu Hai was shocked. "You can understand?"

"You’re... quite tolerant, aren’t you?"

"Mm-hmm." The boss nodded approvingly. "Open-mindedness is one of the essential qualities of a boss."

"Besides, humans themselves tell all kinds of lies—some to protect themselves, some to protect others."

"Liu Hai, you only lied to protect yourself at first, didn’t you?"

Liu Hai nodded obediently. "Mm..."

"But now you’re an honest, good child." The boss smiled and asked, "Why were you willing to tell me?"

"Because I felt like you already knew." Liu Hai glanced at him. "And you didn’t seem angry about it."

"And also..."

Liu Hai sighed. "I’ve been reflecting on it."

"This lie also caused me a bit of trouble."

"Haha, well, that’s up to you to fix." The boss chuckled. "I look forward to the day you gather the courage to admit it to everyone."

Liu Hai gave a glum nod.

"Mm-hmm." The boss stared at him. "Or, you could choose another approach."

"Huh?" Liu Hai looked up in confusion.

The boss grinned. "Keep this lie going forever."

"No matter whether others know the truth or not, you just... don’t admit it."

Liu Hai blinked. "Huh?"

The boss knelt beside him. "Since I know your secret now, how about I tell you a secret too, how about that?"

Liu Hai asked, "Does it need to be kept confidential?"

"Not really." The boss smirked. "After all, if someone asks me directly, I won’t admit it."

Liu Hai nodded, though he didn’t fully grasp it.

The two bodyguards voluntarily stepped back a certain distance, and the boss made a shushing gesture. "It’s... a secret about mermaids."

"Do you know the old legends about the Siren Company and mermaids?"

Liu Hai looked thoughtful. "Something about... him being saved by a mermaid?"

"Mm-hmm." The boss nodded slightly. "That would be my great-great-grandfather’s story."

"The legend says that after his first business venture failed and he was swamped in debt, his ship was wrecked, and he was rescued by a mermaid. Relying on a shell full of pearls left by the kind mythical creature, he started his business anew."

"But in fact, this story has a big discrepancy."

"He did fail in business, and then boarded a ship as a crew member to make ends meet, because the debt collectors couldn’t reach him at sea."

The boss remained smiling, not sugarcoating his ancestor’s past at all. "At the time, there were many distinguished guests on that ship."

"For example, the Third Prince of the Solait Empire, which was still a monarchy at the time, and his wife—the once famous singer, Princess Belle."

"That prince was notorious, a historically infamous playboy. Of course, that’s a softened term, as he was much worse in reality."

"My ancestor met Princess Belle on the ship. Coincidentally, they chose the same time to jump into the sea."

"They exchanged reasons for wanting to end their lives. Princess Belle said that giving up her life for such a small amount of money was simply unreasonable. She took off her pearl necklace and gave it to my ancestor, telling him to use it to repay his debts. My ancestor also said that giving up her life for that terrible man was not advisable; it wasn’t her who deserved to die, but that Third Prince."

"Since she had the courage to commit suicide, she might as well have kicked that idiotic prince into the sea directly."

Liu Hai’s eyes widened in shock. "What?"

"Of course, Princess Belle didn’t actually do that," the boss said with a gentle smile. "But she seemed to have made up her mind—she decided to divorce the Third Prince."

"Leaving the royal family wasn’t easy. The princess probably went through five years of lawsuits for it, and during that time, some old matters resurfaced."

"The pearl necklace she once gave my ancestor was presented in court as evidence of her supposed affair."

Liu Hai listened intently, eyes wide. "Huh? What happened then?"

"My ancestor took the stand," the boss chuckled. "By then, the jury was already on the princess’s side. If my ancestor had simply explained the truth, they would have recognized her innocence."

"But instead, my ancestor... told a tale in court about being saved by a mermaid on a rainy night."

"He claimed the pearls were a gift from the mermaid princess."

"Wait, wait a minute!" Liu Hai was even more stunned. "Did they believe him?"

"Didn’t I say?" The boss smirked. "You can just stick to your story and refuse to admit anything."

"That’s exactly what my ancestor did."

"Anyway, this mermaid story spread throughout the world, and my ancestor publicly expressed his support for the princess’s groundbreaking pursuit of freedom."

"Finally, in the fifth year, everything settled. The princess walked out of the courtroom, and my ancestor waited at the door with a huge bouquet of roses."

Liu Hai lit up. "Oh, I know this! Roses mean love!"

"Very smart, that’s exactly it," the boss chuckled. "He congratulated the princess on her victory and then hoped to pursue her."

Liu Hai’s eyes shone. "So they lived happily ever after?"

"No, they didn’t." The boss shrugged regretfully. "He was rejected by the princess."

"Clearly, he had terrible timing."

"The princess had just regained her freedom and wasn’t willing to enter another marriage. Moreover, she believed that if she got together with my ancestor, the innocence she had just proven would become meaningless."

"The world wouldn’t believe their feelings had grown during their struggle; they would only assume they had been colluding all along."

"She said, 'Let the mermaid story forever be true, let this lie continue forever.'"

Liu Hai was stunned. "So... that’s how it ended."

The boss smiled at him. "Yes."

"That was her choice."

"So, you see, very few people actually believed the mermaid story, but it didn’t matter."

"Because at the time, people wanted the princess to be free. Because by then, the Siren Company had gradually prospered, its financial power even enough to buy the gradually declining Solait Empire. So, people were willing to uphold this lie and make it real."

He didn’t explicitly explain everything.

In fact, few people would truly believe Liu Hai was a mermaid; it was simply that people were willing to indulge this small lie, allowing it to become reality.

The boss looked at Liu Hai with a smile, but it might take some time for him to understand this truth.

"Alright," the boss’s gaze suddenly shifted past Liu Hai, looking behind him. "It seems I’ve kept you too long. Your guardian is here."

Liu Hai turned around blankly and saw Jiang Xun standing there.

"Don’t misunderstand. You can still chat for a while," Jiang Xun said calmly. "I just came to see her."

He pointed inside the window.

"Oh, really?" the boss deliberately said. "But why do I find nothing inside?"

Jiang Xun’s gaze froze. At some point, the girl was no longer in the ward.

"Ah, I see," the boss smirked. "Dr. Jiang Xun must not have been talking about that girl, but my brand-new proton therapy machine, right?"

Jiang Xun: "..."

He remained silent.

Liu Hai chuckled. "Just say you missed me!"

"Exactly," the boss chimed in. "Dr. Jiang Xun, just say it if you missed him. If you care too much about what others think, you might miss out on many years."

He added meaningfully, "Just like in the legend."

Jiang Xun looked at Liu Hai. "...Legend? What were you two talking about?"

Liu Hai asked the boss, "Can I tell him?"

"Sure," the boss said indifferently. "After all, I did say you could..."

Liu Hai nodded, indicating he understood. "You can refuse to admit it!"

"Right!" The boss nodded happily, turning to leave. "Well, I should head back too. I had a great time today; you’re an interesting kid."

"Goodbye."

Liu Hai also waved goodbye, his expression somewhat complex.

He watched the boss walk away and said to Jiang Xun, "Jiang Xun, don’t you think..."

Jiang Xun snapped back to attention. "What?"

Liu Hai pointed in the direction the boss had left. "He talks a bit like an old man."

"He’s not that old, right? Why does he always have that benevolent expression?"

Jiang Xun: "..."

"Oh, right!" Liu Hai pulled out a red envelope and excitedly stuffed it into Jiang Xun’s pocket. "I got a red envelope! I’ll buy you mint chocolate!"

Author’s Note:

Boss: When you’re rich, you can do whatever you want. [sunglasses emoticon]