I Found a Miniature Mermaid

The green bamboo Xie Shu had recently picked up seemed to have mutated. There was the sound of splashing water inside it. Curiosity got the better of her, and Xie Shu knocked on a bamboo joint. A little window opened, and a round, miniature mermaid baby poked its head out. The mermaid baby was only as long as the first joint of her index finger. It was delicate and tender, with a beautiful, gem-bright tail that had been injured. Luckily, Xie Shu’s spirit form was water-based, which happened to have a soothing, healing effect on it. So Xie Shu began a life of treating the little mermaid and feeding it at the same time. At first, the mermaid baby was wary of Xie Shu. But soon, it was rubbing against her finger, begging to be fed. As the feeding went on, Xie Shu found herself entering a strange dream every so often. In the dream was a man whose spirit form was a mermaid. He was mysterious, fragile, and beautiful, with long, slightly wavy silver hair. The man’s spirit form was weak, so he was often bullied, humiliated, and punished. He was frequently left hungry, with nothing to eat. Xie Shu offered him the little biscuit she had been feeding the mermaid. At first, it was a small biscuit. Later, it was a warm piece of clothing, then a cake. Eventually, a beautiful fish tail coiled around the water lily. Currents surged beneath the surface, and they became hopelessly entangled. … The mermaid baby was delicate, sensitive, and insecure, so Xie Shu sometimes secretly brought it with her to the hospital where she worked. One day, while on duty, Xie Shu quietly opened the little window in the bamboo and reached in to gently tease the little mermaid’s tail with her finger. At the elevator, the Crown Prince, the most revered person in the entire Federation, whose purge had plunged it into a reign of terror, suddenly blushed. A broken sound escaped his lips. … Qin Yi was injured during an interstellar conflict and spent a year unconscious in bed. His spirit form was also shattered by the severe damage, and one of the fragments had gone missing. But he could feel it: the water lily was bringing down the long-awaited rain, and the stranded mermaid had finally found its master. His spirit form was somewhere in the Federation, happy and content. (A second short story under 200,000 words. The entire novel is finished and ready to post.) Theme: Building a harmonious society