TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 22

“Yeah, I’ve found them. It’s been a while now,” Chi Yanxing said over the phone, standing by the window. “A very interesting omega. Don’t worry—I know what I’m doing.”

The study door was pushed open. Chi Yanxing thought it was the butler bringing him water, so he didn’t turn around and continued speaking into the phone:

“It’s not that I’m hiding it—it’s just unnecessary. Whether people know or not, he’s still my omega. The business world is full of gossip and mess. Once his health improves, I’ll arrange a reception.”

“There’s no need to worry. Don’t believe the rumors…”

Yu Su placed the small plate on the desk, and while Chi Yanxing was on the phone, he let his eyes wander, examining the room.

Books, books, and more books. Nothing but books.

Oh, and a computer, documents, piles of A4 paper.

Even though this was a home, it felt more like a miniature office.

The thick carpet muffled the sound of the wheelchair, and Yu Su slowly slid over to the bottom of the bookshelf. All he could see were folders—pretty dull—so he backed up a bit to broaden his view.

“…Last time was an exception. I haven’t gone to the seaside since. The pheromone issue has mostly been resolved now.”

A woman’s voice came from the other end of the call:

“Even if it hasn’t happened again, you still need to be cautious. Your dad and I don’t want to end up fishing you out of the sea in the middle of the night again… It was just a pearl, for goodness’ sake. After all these years, there’s no need to get hung up on it. Maybe it was a gift from the sea, celebrating your differentiation into a natural alpha—”

Chi Yanxing responded with a soft “Mm.”

“Alright then, I’ll stop nagging. We won’t be coming back just yet, but remember to treat little Yu well. Don’t keep that cold face on all day—you’re just like your dad…”

A muffled argument came from the other end. A middle-aged man’s voice snapped, “I’m not!”

Chi Yanxing rested a hand on the window ledge. “Have fun. If anything comes up, I’ll call you myself.”

After a couple seconds, he lowered the phone and turned around. “He—Yu Su? It’s you?”

Yu Su was facing the bookshelf, silent.

Chi Yanxing frowned. “Yu Su?”

After a moment, Yu Su answered distantly, “Ah.”

“You came to bring me snacks?”

“…Yeah.”

Chi Yanxing followed his gaze. It was just the usual bookshelf—nothing worth noticing.

He stepped forward and stood behind Yu Su. “What are you looking at?”

Yu Su pulled his gaze back, seeming distracted. “N-Nothing… Chi Yanxing.”

“Mm. What is it?”

“Why do you still collect pearls?”

Chi Yanxing glanced at the glass display case at the center. “Uncle He picked that one up in the kitchen last time.”

Yu Su shook his head lightly. “I know.”

Know? Know what? Know why a pearl ended up in the kitchen?

Chi Yanxing didn’t ask out loud, instead waiting in silence for the rest of Yu Su’s thought.

“Small pearls are everywhere. I’m not really interested in them. But—” Yu Su raised a hand and pointed to the large, dazzling pearl nestled in the center slot, “But can you tell me—where did that big one come from?”

Chi Yanxing’s eyes froze slightly. He hadn’t expected Yu Su to ask about that. He didn’t know the answer himself, so he deflected, vaguely:

“That pearl was a childhood toy of mine.”

“You’re lying,” Yu Su said immediately, for the first time speaking so seriously that Chi Yanxing almost thought he’d stolen something that belonged to him.

Chi Yanxing tried to rephrase:

“But it really has been with me since I was young. I had so many toys then—there’s no way I could remember where every single one came from.”

Yu Su turned his wheelchair to face the alpha. “I get it. Your family’s rich—you had tons of toys. But a toy with an unknown origin, something you can’t even explain, is placed right in front of you every day, treated so preciously. That sounds… contradictory.”

Chi Yanxing got a bad feeling. This tone—too much like the last time he made Yu Su mad.

Though he didn’t know what had upset him this time, he still tried to explain:

“…It really was just a toy. I picked it up my first time at the beach, the same year I differentiated.”

Yu Su’s eyes suddenly reddened, and the sight gave Chi Yanxing a jolt of panic.

“If you like pearls, I’ll have people go buy some for you—the biggest, brightest, and roundest ones.” His low voice was clearly trying to comfort him.

Yu Su braced himself against the shelf, slowly stood up, and walked to the glass case where the large pearl sat.

“Can I open it?” he asked.

Chi Yanxing didn’t reply, but he stepped forward and opened the case himself.

Yu Su reached in and picked up the small pearl.

“This one,” he said, “you said Uncle He found it in the kitchen. Can I have it?”

Chi Yanxing nodded.

Yu Su tucked the small pearl into his pocket, then reached out and gently touched the large one.

Smooth and lustrous—such pearls were rare treasures in the human world, but in the deep sea, they were commonplace. He’d seen at least eight or ten just like it. As for why he’d asked—

Yu Su closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He had asked because this pearl was clearly a mermaid’s accompanying artifact. Even after all these years, it still held a faint trace of its kind’s aura—proof that it had once been dearly cherished by some mermaid, kept close every day and night.

Chi Yanxing had lied to him.

Sharing a bed with sea fish might have been a petty joke he could swallow, but this—this was the real shock hiding in the villa.

Yu Su withdrew his hand, trying to hold back a surge of inexplicable grievance and anger that had no outlet.

So… Chi Yanxing had already met another mermaid thirteen years ago. Long, long before he ever met him.

Yu Su clenched his fingers, didn’t even bother sitting back down in his wheelchair, and turned to stagger toward the door.

Chi Yanxing hadn’t expected such a strong reaction. His expression changed sharply:

“Yu Su!”

Uncle He was still tidying up downstairs. He had just been thinking about how to help the omega quickly warm up to his young master when suddenly someone came running out of the study upstairs.

Startled, he widened his eyes. “Mr. Yu… what’s going on?”

“Yu Su, stop!” Chi Yanxing’s voice followed closely behind, but Yu Su didn’t pay him any attention. He didn’t even bother pressing the elevator button—just gripped the railing and made straight for the spiral staircase.

Butler He reacted so quickly he nearly dropped the tea tray in his hands. “Mr. Yu—”

What happened? Wasn’t everything fine just moments ago?!

Yu Su’s lips were tightly pressed together, his heart filled with an ache and confusion he couldn’t even explain to himself.

He had gone to great lengths to conceal his identity in the human world, but Chi Yanxing had already encountered another mermaid long ago. He had even accepted that person’s token and preserved it carefully for all these years. Even his fondness for raising fish—he brought that back with him from the seaside.

And that messy, hole-riddled contract—what if he just swapped in another fish? Would Chi Yanxing also “make do” and take a bite?

This human… was not the person he thought he was at all.

Yu Su clutched the railing, gripping so hard his knuckles turned pale. If he had fingernails, there would’ve been deep gouges in the polished wood.

He didn’t stop walking—he was about to go downstairs, but just as he stepped down, he almost missed a step, still unsteady on his newly-learned legs.

Butler He rushed forward in alarm—but someone else moved faster.

Chi Yanxing grabbed Yu Su’s arm tightly from behind and stopped him right at the edge of the stairs.

“…Yu Su, what’s wrong with you?”

Yu Su didn’t speak and couldn’t shake free either. But a few seconds later, in the still and tense silence, a new sound suddenly broke out—something small hit the floor.

Clack clack clack.

Crisp and clear against the wooden stairs.

Uncle He froze downstairs.

Chi Yanxing’s gaze slowly shifted and saw small, white pearls rolling down the dark spiral staircase.

Yu Su’s shoulders trembled slightly, and his pale golden hair covered his entire face.

Time seemed to stop. After a long pause, Chi Yanxing spoke, his voice slow and thick: “Yu Su, you…”

Yu Su suddenly shook off his hand and turned to stare straight at Chi Yanxing. His nose was red, his eyes rimmed with tears, and the moisture gathering in those beautiful sea-blue eyes finally fell at that very moment—

Turning into perfectly round pearls.

Just like the ones already scattered on the floor.

Chi Yanxing’s pupils contracted sharply.

“Chi Yanxing,” Yu Su said, his voice full of pain, “you already met another mermaid long ago. You should go find the one you made your promise with—not drag me out of the sea and use me as a stand-in.”

The pearls hadn’t stopped falling since just now.

Chi Yanxing’s brows were furrowed, his expression extremely complicated. Yu Su’s words, along with past suspicions and a few strange terms he hadn’t understood before, all crashed together in his mind.

So this was the reason behind all of Yu Su’s strange behavior…

Why he had no knowledge of human common sense, no concept of gender, and acted nothing like a typical omega…

This was the truth.

Chi Yanxing suddenly remembered what Yu Su had said when they first met on the beach:

“I-I’m Yu Su. ‘Yu’ like in Yu Mei Ren (the beauty Yu), and ‘Su’ like in retrospect. What’s your name?”

“Yu… like Yu Mei Ren. Yu Mei Ren… beauty… fish.”

So from the very beginning, the one he had brought back wasn’t some amnesiac, disabled omega—

But a beached, newly-formed mermaid.

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