How a Mermaid Can Escape Being Stewed

[Reader's Guide]

1. No angst, so dive right in. The heroine is a mermaid, and her tail appears when she gets wet.

2. The leads are each other's first and only partners. The hero is six years older than the heroine.

3. The hero grew up on the coast and is a seafood fanatic.

*

The only person who knows Shen Zhi'ai is a mermaid is her adoptive human sister, Shen Qingqing. Shen Zhi'ai once thought she could live carefree beneath her sister's wing forever.

Then her sister fell ill and passed away, and Shen Zhi'ai was sent, more or less by mistake, to a large mansion.

The man who brought her home, Gu Qiyuan, was a leading actor who had often worked with her sister.

His peach-blossom eyes make even a dog believe he's in love. Just as Shen Zhi'ai begins to think he's as gentle as her sister and starts relying on him, the dishes brought out at dinner leave her speechless.

Steamed swimming crab, sizzling Boston lobster, sea bass with scallion oil... Almost all of the dozen or so dishes are seafood?!

Shen Zhi'ai hurriedly looks Gu Qiyuan up on her phone. His profile clearly says: Hobbies: eating seafood. Dream: eat every kind of fish.

Shen Zhi'ai is instantly terrified out of her wits. She's a fish too! If he finds out she's a mermaid, he'll cook her, won't he?

So Shen Zhi'ai decides... to kick the man in front of her away! Then run!

*

After finally getting back to her old home, she remembers that her sister's dream of becoming a movie star was just one step away. To fulfill that dream for her, Shen Zhi'ai decides to make a bold entrance into the entertainment industry!

The good news: a minor actor in a production she found at random has an accident and can't show up, so she gets the part.

The bad news: Gu Qiyuan is the male lead, and he takes her back home again.

Shen Zhi'ai imagines an epic conspiracy!

Gu Qiyuan must have discovered she's a mermaid long ago, then pretended not to know and acted like a gentle big brother while taking care of her, all so he could fatten her up and cook her!

What a schemer! How despicable!

But it's too late to run. To escape being cooked, Shen Zhi'ai starts plotting revenge and constantly playing tricks on Gu Qiyuan. But he never gets angry, always smiling at her.

That only makes Shen Zhi'ai more certain: he's trying to stop the food from escaping! A gentle knife, cutting deeper with every stroke!

*

Gu Qiyuan has taken care of this troublesome girl with the utmost dedication, fulfilling his dying friend's final request.

But why is this girl always so hostile toward him? She's constantly baring her teeth at him, kicking and hitting him, and somehow she's involved in every strange thing that happens around him.

For example, the books he likes to use during media interviews get swapped for several princess dresses; his Weibo account mysteriously reposts romance novels; he wakes up to find his bed covered in mermaid dolls, with a note saying, "We're here to claim your life..."

And the most troublesome thing of all: all the seafood in the fridge disappears overnight!

Watching the girl look so pleased with herself after getting away with it, Gu Qiyuan wonders how anyone can leave their name on their own mischief. But... it's pretty cute.

Then one day, Gu Qiyuan accidentally starts drowning, and Shen Zhi'ai saves him. In his daze, he sees her legs turn into a pale purple fish tail in the water.

She's a mermaid?

Gu Qiyuan is too stunned to react, but the girl starts wailing first.

"P-please don't eat me!"

The girl's eyes turn red, and her whole body trembles.

Gu Qiyuan is about to step forward and explain, but the girl shrinks back, then suddenly dives into the water. In the blink of an eye, she's swum off somewhere.

Gu Qiyuan: Do I look like a maniac who eats mermaids?

[Bonus Scene]

Years later, a reporter asks Shen Zhi'ai, now a movie star: "Ms. Shen, some people are curious. When you were a newcomer, why did you always clash with Mr. Gu? Would you mind telling us?"

Shen Zhi'ai blushes. "Because I was afraid he'd eat me."

Yes, she was afraid he'd cook her and eat her.

But other people take it another way.

Reporter: Can we broadcast that?

Netizens: Do you mean that kind of eating or the other kind?

Theme: Sincerity will dispel any misunderstanding in the end.