The Little Mermaid

Combative troublemaker × says one thing but means another

Fake siblings / childish bickering / the older brother has been plotting this for ages / unrequited love becomes mutual

Blurb 1:

During freshman military training, Mian Yijin excitedly ran up to Su Pingyan in her uniform.

"Brother, do I look cool?"

As she spoke, she snapped to attention and struck a military pose.

Su Pingyan glanced her up and down with drooping eyelids, looking lazy. He scoffed, "You look like a fake soldier in cosplay."

"..."

Grinding her teeth, she shot back indignantly, "You look like a pigskin that's been bleached!"

Su Pingyan gave her a cold look. "You look like a roast suckling pig that's been burned."

"???"

Blurb 2:

After the college entrance exams, Mian Yijin had one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.

The good news: She was dating Shang Zhou, the upperclassman she'd had a crush on in high school.

The bad news: She and Su Pingyan had fallen out.

Blurb 3:

But later, she realized the good news wasn't good news at all. It had all been one big deception: Shang Zhou didn't like her in the first place.

One evening, Mian Yijin was getting drunk alone at a bar, crying until her eyes blurred with tears.

"Look up at me." She heard someone say.

Her hand, holding the glass, stopped. Through tear-blurred eyes, she looked over and saw Su Pingyan.

But Su Pingyan didn't seem to be looking at her. Mian Yijin followed his gaze and saw what he was looking at: the matching rings she and Shang Zhou shared.

The next second, he roughly pulled the ring off her finger and tossed it into the glass she'd just taken a sip from.

The ring hit the drink like a pebble, sending ripples across the glass.

Then Su Pingyan lowered his head and kissed Mian Yijin hard on the lips.

Breathing raggedly, he gripped her neck and spoke in a hoarse voice. "Mian Yijin, I've had enough."

"If I weren't your stepbrother, would you never have looked at me?"

[Bonus scene]

One day, Mian Yijin went to Su Pingyan's study to revise her paper. He asked her to find a contract in his drawer.

Instead, she unexpectedly found an old notebook with yellowed pages. Printed on it was a poorly drawn mermaid, the one she'd painstakingly cut out and given him to win his favor when she first met him at age seven.

It said: [Brothers who play around with their little sisters are common. Brothers who are in love with their little sisters are not.]

Note: 1. The male and female leads are not on the same household register and are not related by blood in any way.

2. The female lead had a boyfriend before dating the male lead, but they were never intimate.

3. The female lead is the male lead's first love.

Theme: Pursue happiness