The moment Fuyuan said the words “token of affection,” five daggers of resentment shot toward him from his rivals.
A token of affection?
Could this Dead Fish get any more shameless?
Xuan Yu, the only one who had yet to be granted a turn, silently took out his jade tablet.
When Fuyuan saw the wolf engraved on its front, his expression suddenly went blank.
So this wasn’t a token of affection meant only for him?
After showing off for a moment, Xuan Yu put the jade tablet away. “We all have one of these. Mistress would never play favorites.”
Fuyuan looked at the other rivals and found them nodding in agreement.
So everyone had one.
Fuyuan felt a little disappointed, but he still carefully put away his merfolk jade tablet.
All his former spatial devices had been destroyed, so for the moment, he placed the jade tablet in his pocket.
As soon as they arrived at the lodgings the tourism bureau had arranged for Yunyang, Fuyuan immediately ordered several wearable spatial devices. Once they were delivered, he put the jade tablet and the slip of paper bearing Yunyang’s brainwave number inside.
Whether or not it counted as a token of affection, it was still a gift from Mistress.
He would cherish it.
After putting away the things Yunyang had given him, Fuyuan went to the kitchen to help Rong Jin prepare lunch.
Before he had been taken away for human experimentation, he had received an education at an interstellar male academy. His culinary skills might not have been top-notch, but they were more than enough to rival those of restaurants outside.
The tourism bureau had provided the ingredients for lunch. Since S28 was an ocean planet, there was a generous selection of seafood.
As it happened, seafood was Fuyuan’s specialty.
Yunyang hadn’t eaten seafood in quite some time. Seeing that most of the dishes on the table were seafood, her appetite immediately stirred.
The other beastmen handled the preparation while she simply enjoyed the meal. It was an exceptionally satisfying lunch.
Since she had just arrived on S28, Yunyang took her beast-husbands for a stroll nearby after lunch, partly to help digest the meal.
The lodgings arranged by the tourism bureau were in an excellent location. A ten-minute walk took them to one of the largest oceans on S28.
It was currently peak tourist season on S28, but because the tourism bureau had limited the number of visitors, the beach wasn’t overcrowded.
Yunyang saw only one other female, who, like her, was accompanied by six beast-husbands.
They were too far apart to exchange greetings, so Yunyang simply strolled along the nearby beach.
The salty sea breeze brushed past, lifting her loose hair.
Just as Yunyang was about to push aside a few strands that had fallen across her line of sight, Fu Shiyi, who was nearest to her, beat her to it.
Qin Mo, who had also wanted to help, missed his chance.
He glanced at the sand beneath his feet, then simply scooped up a handful. “Pei Wenye, lend me your ability.”
Pei Wenye didn’t understand, but he still used his ability to wet the sand for him.
Once wet, the sand became slightly sticky. Qin Mo carefully molded it into a pair of tiny hair clips, then used his ability to turn them into metal.
Even if he kept something this small in its metallic state, it wouldn’t consume much of his ability.
He shoved aside Pei Wenye, who had just helped him, and used the pair of clips to pin up Yunyang’s stray hair.
“Mistress, this way it won’t get blown loose.”
Pei Wenye: “…”
Fine, so this was how they were competing for her favor?
He squeezed his way back in and took Yunyang’s hand. “Mistress, would you like to see the ocean?”
As a beastman of the sea, he naturally had a way to take Yunyang underwater.
Yunyang had just begun to feel tempted when Fuyuan came over as well.
“Mistress, would you like to see how merfolk weave mer-silk?”
He was the newcomer. If he didn’t take the initiative, there was no way he could compete with his five rivals.
Taking Mistress underwater? Who couldn’t do that?
Merfolk could do more than that—they could weave water into silk right before Mistress’s eyes.
It was a merfolk’s innate talent, something even that Black Flood Dragon couldn’t imitate, no matter how completely he transformed into a dragon!
Yunyang was even more tempted.
She had gone diving in her previous life, too.
But she had truly never seen anyone weave silk.
Turning transparent seawater into mer-silk of various colors was something technology simply couldn’t explain.
Yunyang made her decision at once. “Fuyuan, I want to see!”
Pei Wenye shot Fuyuan a resentful glare.
Dead Fish, don’t you know what “first come, first served” means?
Fuyuan pretended not to notice. He reached out, picked Yunyang up, and carried her toward the sea.
A few days ago, he had still been unsteady on his feet.
Yet now, he could carry Yunyang, who weighed over a hundred pounds, without the slightest wobble.
The other five beast-husbands weren’t about to give him a chance to monopolize Yunyang, so they quickly followed.
Fuyuan set Yunyang down on a reef in the shallows. Only after the others caught up did he leap into the sea.
The instant a merfolk entered the water, his legs transformed into a blue fish tail.
Fuyuan surfaced with his upper body above the water. He first placed a beautiful seashell in Yunyang’s hands, then began weaving the mer-silk.
At first, he hummed a tune no one else could understand. Then he scooped up a handful of seawater and twisted the water and sunlight together into threads.
The first strands were as translucent as seawater itself, their forms visible only under the sunlight.
But after Fuyuan found a white seashell, the strands turned milky white.
The pale threads floated weightlessly, yet the sea breeze couldn’t blow them off course.
Instead, guided by his will, they drifted toward Yunyang and quietly wound around her ring finger.
Fuyuan carefully watched Yunyang’s expression. When he saw that she wasn’t angry, he grew bolder.
He swam closer. “Mistress, could you lower your head a little?”
Yunyang did so curiously.
Fuyuan gently removed one of the hair clips, holding it in his hand as he twisted another strand of mer-silk.
This strand was a soft, pale gold. To the accompaniment of the merfolk’s song, the golden silk wove itself into a ring.
Fuyuan took Yunyang’s hand, and the ring woven from mer-silk slid onto her ring finger, resembling a golden band.
Qin Mo: “…”
That Dead Fish had actually borrowed the hair clip he had given Mistress, twisted golden mer-silk with it, and then used it to curry favor with Mistress!
He suddenly understood exactly how Pei Wenye had felt moments earlier.
Yunyang raised her hand and examined the ring woven from mer-silk on her finger.
Under the sunlight, the threads shimmered with a faint luster.
This was the first “ring” she had received in either of her two lifetimes.
The Federation had no custom of giving rings as tokens of affection. Beastmen were always simple and direct: if a male liked a female, he pursued her boldly; if a female took a fancy to a male, she branded him with her mark.
But Yunyang wasn’t a pureblooded beastwoman. Receiving a “ring” still stirred her heart.
“Fuyuan, I really like this.”
“As long as Mistress likes it.” Fuyuan smiled and continued weaving the mer-silk.
Weaving mer-silk wasn’t complicated. Under the guidance of the merfolk’s song, the strands wove themselves together.
Before long, a perfectly square piece of white mer-silk appeared in Fuyuan’s hands.
He handed it to Yunyang.
Though it had been woven from seawater, the mer-silk did not become wet when submerged.
To Yunyang, the entire process had been a visual feast.
A scene that had once existed only in legends had unfolded right before her eyes. It was difficult for her to describe what she was feeling.
Even “shocking” fell far short of expressing her emotions.
Seeing that all of Yunyang’s attention was about to be captured by Fuyuan, how could her five beast-husbands possibly sit still?
Fu Shiyi moved first, slipping an arm around Yunyang’s waist.
“Mistress, would you like to see the sea?”
