MASG chapter 161: Extra 1

◎ “Second, I’m not uncle! Call me brother!” ◎

 

Nuwa: [The sun is already shining on your butt!]

Jingwei: [Xia Yu, someone is looking for you.]

The dark bedroom lit up with a warm light, gradually waking the sleeping person. The first to wake up was Mo An. He raised a hand to rub his eyes, brushing aside the long hair covering his face first. The new bed he had switched to was large enough for three adults, but he occupied only a small part of it, his long, strong legs bent like a fishtail.

Because there was still someone in front of his chest.

Xia Yu’s small body was curled into a ball. His fists were slightly clenched and placed in front of his chest. His mouth was open as he breathed in the fresh air. Two months had passed, but the baby fat on his face had not faded much. His short hair made his cheeks look even more round and obedient.

In his sleep, he kicked his legs a few times and stepped on Mo An’s abdominal muscles with his little foot.

Nuwa: [Wake up!]

“…Mm, I know.” Mo An wanted to sleep a little longer, so he threw the pillow toward the camera with a hand raised.

Nuwa: [How outrageous of you, daring to throw a pillow at me?]

“I haven’t slept enough. I’m still dreaming. I’m not working today anyway. Can’t you let us sleep for two more hours?” Mo An muttered, still with his eyes closed. When he leaned close to Xia Yu, the tips of his long eyelashes brushed Xia Yu’s skin.

Nuwa: [Of course not, because Xia Yu has an appointment with someone today, don’t forget that. Also, remember to take Xia Yu for a follow-up checkup first. Professor Wang Qin asked me to remind you.]

Jingwei: [Sigh, I said you shouldn’t let Mo An take care of Xia Yu. His fish brain can’t remember anything. Xiaoxiao already had the checkup yesterday—look at Yan Xia’s execution ability.]

“I know being one day late isn’t a big deal.” Under this urging, Mo An sat up reluctantly and stretched. Perhaps the movement was a bit too vigorous because when he got up, he woke Xia Yu.

But Xia Yu only turned over and continued sleeping on the pillow, as if the AI reminder had nothing to do with him and as if no sound in the world could enter his ears anymore.

Mo An was already familiar with all this, because he knew Xia Yu’s current bodily functions were exactly those of a child, with a huge gap from adults. Whatever a five- or six-year-old child was like, that’s what Xia Yu was like—not only in height and weight, but also in energy and sleep quality.

Mo An, who had never raised a child before, finally understood how difficult it must have been to raise him as a child…unless the earth shook and mountains trembled, Xia Yu would only wake up naturally after sleeping enough.

Nuwa: [Hurry up. I’m arranging your schedule.]

“Mm mm mm, right away, right away.” Mo An kept his eyes closed and rested for another half a minute before the tear film in his eyes receded. He tentatively touched Xia Yu’s chubby little leg. “Xia Yu, wake up.”

Xia Yu didn’t hear him; in his dream, he was still swimming through the deep sea with Xiaoxiao. It was only when he suddenly felt someone pulling him that he mumbled, “I want to sleep.”

“What?” Mo An leaned closer to listen, unable to resist rubbing Xia Yu’s belly again.

“A Ni!” Xia Yu slapped away his big hand with his small one. “I want to sleep.”

“All right, all right. Sleep then. Who told you to be my brother? I don’t dare provoke you.” Afraid of making him angry, Mo An turned over, got out of bed, and went to the bathroom to tidy up. In the past, he had always been busy fighting the whole world, so he had never thought about small details, such as managing his personal appearance.

This left Meng Qingqing and Xi Ban feeling quite helpless. During breeding season, if a male fish did not tidy himself up, what was the difference between him and seaweed in the ocean? No wonder he had no mate.

But the situation was urgent at that time—when the world was about to end, who had the mind to dress up? Not only did Mo An not dress up, he also rarely saw others do so. Everyone lived in fear under the surveillance of robots, wearing nearly identical work clothes, walking hurriedly with dazed expressions.

Dressing up had never been a necessity in their lives.

But now it was different. Everyone kept themselves neat and clean. Though not exactly beautiful, life as a whole was improving. This rang an alarm for Mo An—the competitive awareness in mermaid blood was fully awakened, and he began to guard against the possibility of a “love rival” appearing nearby.

Half an hour later, Mo An left the bathroom with a high ponytail braided into three strands. He had searched for the braiding method in the information database the day before.

Jingwei: [My god… my eyes…]

Nuwa: [Bear with it, Mo An has grown up.]

Mo An ignored their comments. Not only did a male fish have to dress up, he also had to show his mate strong survival ability and reproductive strength. Since Xia Yu didn’t want to get up, Mo An displayed his housework skills. First, he tidied up the bedroom, then he took out a set of light-colored children’s clothes from the cabinet.

In the past, who used to like wearing light colors? Everyone preferred to be as low-key as possible and not be noticed.

After ironing the clothes with an electronic iron, Mo An carefully dressed Xia Yu in them. Throughout the entire process, Xia Yu did not wake up.

“Stretch your legs, stretch your legs, I’m putting your socks on.” Mo An skillfully put them on for him, then carried Xia Yu like a beautiful large doll to wash his face. Only then did Xia Yu become half awake. He looked at himself standing on the stool in the mirror, wiping his face, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

“How come I haven’t grown taller at all? Am I not eating enough?” he asked.

“Didn’t we measure your height yesterday? You grew two centimeters. Xiaoxiao grew a little faster than you; he’s three centimeters taller.” Mo An helped wipe his face and handed him the electric toothbrush. “Professor Wang said to observe your teeth. You’re almost at the stage of changing teeth.”

“I don’t want to go through that again.” Mentioning that period made Xia Yu miserable because, when he was changing teeth, it didn’t hurt. Often, it was only discovered after the tooth had already fallen out. Once, he accidentally swallowed a tooth, which scared him so much that he stayed awake all night for several days, thinking he would die. At that moment, someone knocked on the door. The access control showed that the person outside was Xi Ban. Mo An nodded toward the monitor, and the door opened.

As soon as Xi Ban entered, he was stunned by Mo An’s hairstyle. “This…”

“How is it?” Mo An tilted his head proudly and raised his thick, dark brows.

Nuwa: [Xi Ban, just tell the truth, don’t force yourself to praise him.]

Jingwei: [This hairstyle is too flashy. I bet walking in the corridor will definitely attract attention.]

“This… this… this…” Xi Ban took two steps back, his gaze fixed on Mo An’s hairstyle. After a long while, he moved his lips and said, “Very good!”

Nuwa: [It’s over. It’s over. I knew it.]

Jingwei: [I was careless. I almost forgot that the more exaggerated the male fish look, the better.]

“Right? I also think it’s very good.” Mo An was very satisfied with it. “The only problem is that I can’t find suitable decorations on land. If I were in the sea, I could find crystals to use as decorations. Coral would also work. I could find some to put in the room.”

“Take it slowly. Building a nest isn’t something done in one or two days.” Xi Ban patted his shoulder. “You’ve finally figured it out!”

Before, he and Meng Qingqing had taught Mo An together. But Mo An had been too young then. He was only concerned with making Xia Yu play with him and was completely ignorant of the mermaid world. Now, he had grown up and understood it without a teacher. Soon, their bedroom would be decorated by him into a nest suitable for laying eggs.

However, even if Xia Yu returned to normal, he still wouldn’t lay eggs.

“Xia Yu, are you ready? We’re going for the checkup.” Xi Ban was a little anxious.

Xia Yu put away the toothbrush and jumped down from the small stool. “Let’s go!”

As they left the bedroom, Xia Yu clearly saw Mo An’s hairstyle for the first time and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Mo An had always been sloppy, tying his hair casually before leaving. But now, he had actually started dressing up. After dressing up, he looked like a guppy. Walking together in the corridor, Xia Yu was still being carried high up. Suddenly, he leaned on Mo An’s shoulder and sniffed, “So fragrant. What’s going on?”

“Ah? I don’t know.” Mo An pretended not to understand.

“Why do you smell so good?” Xia Yu twitched his little nose and tightly grabbed his younger brother’s clothes with his hand full of dimples. “Are you hiding something from me? Tell me quickly.”

Mo An coughed twice and deflated immediately. “It’s perfume.”

“Perfume? What’s it for?” Xia Yu blinked and asked.

“Lao Gui bought it for me. He said this one smells very good, and spraying it increases charm.” Mo An said everything at once. “Don’t underestimate this thing. Lao Gui said it’s difficult to buy now. Now that everyone is pursuing a material life beyond survival, it often goes out of stock.”

“Ah? It goes out of stock?” Xia Yu racked his brains but still couldn’t understand why perfume could increase charm. “Why do you need so much charm?”

Mo An replied as if it were perfectly natural, “I’m preparing to build a nest. If we were in the sea, then in our current life, you would see every morning the crystals I carefully selected, the fierce fish I caught, and the devil fish and sunfish I brought to amuse you. My body would be covered in sea gemstones. Our home would have natural living coral for decoration. And looking around—”

“Looking around would be beautiful shells everywhere! I knew it.” Xia Yu tapped his head. “Don’t think too much.”

Hmph! How could I not think too much? Mo An remained silent, but the resistance in his heart grew stronger. Xi Ban covered his mouth and laughed secretly. Only after Xia Yu followed Professor Wang into the examination room did he say, “Are you being too dramatic? You frightened Xia Yu.”

“Not at all. I’m getting a head start.” Mo An retorted. “Xia Yu will recover in another year. If I’m lazy now, by that time I’ll be an unqualified breeding-season male fish.”

“But there’s no need for you to spray perfume.” Xi Ban leaned closer and sniffed. “In the sea, nobody sprays anything. Everyone only smells like seawater and sea wind. I don’t think Xia Yu would dislike you for not smelling good.”

“I’m preventing love rivals.” Mo An lowered his voice as if the situation were extremely serious. “Xi Ban, do you know? I only found out about it a few days ago…”

“What thing?” Xi Ban asked curiously.

Before he could finish speaking, a group of pattering footsteps came toward them, like dozens of little ducks running together, mixed with cheerful laughter and talking. Xi Ban and Mo An looked over at the same time, only to see five or six young boys running over with their short legs pumping.

“Uncle Mo An! Uncle Mo An!” One of the boys ran the fastest. “Today, we agreed with Xia Yu to participate in an activity together. Has Xia Yu arrived yet?”

“First, Xia Yu might not be able to join your activity. He has his own plans.” Mo An’s expression turned serious in an instant, becoming stern to the point of seeming cold. “Second, I’m not Uncle! Call me brother!”

Xi Ban, sitting beside him, covered his eyes with both hands. Goodness, if Haisiruola knew Mo An was competing with children, she would be so helpless. Is this the siren all mermaids obey?

 

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[Author’s Note]

Devil fish, sunfish: Yes, yes, yes, only you know how to pamper your wife.