My Boss Is a Mermaid

[Blurb for my next novel, The Dragon King Insists I Raise Him, below]

After finishing a badly concluded novel, Xie Jingci angrily writes a thousand-character negative review. Then he wakes up to find himself inside the book.

The good news: he's an anonymous extra who doesn't even deserve a name, so he won't have to take part in the deadly plot where the male and female leads chase and flee, and she can't escape even if she has wings.

The bad news: he's become a servant in the home of the devoted second male lead, whose ending is to fall into the sea and feed the fish.

Xie Jingci feels this is a little dangerous and plans to pack up and run.

But...

A monthly salary of fifty thousand, meals and accommodation included, full benefits, and red envelopes for every holiday.

Xie Jingci: A thunderous voice rings across the sky, and your loyal old servant makes his dazzling entrance!

But earning money is hard and the job is a pain. The little estate is full of rules, but for the sake of the RMB, Xie Jingci puts up with them all.

The rule he finds most baffling is that he must not go near the swimming pool behind the estate on rainy days. It's like some kind of rule-based horror story.

One day, just after Xie Jingci takes the cat house behind the estate to be repaired, a torrential downpour begins.

Worried the cats won't have anywhere to shelter, he thinks it over and finally sneaks around to the back of the estate.

As he passes the pool, the water is empty. Xie Jingci has just breathed a sigh of relief when a splash suddenly hits him in the face.

A mermaid with a silver tail leaps out of the water, its lustrous scales reflecting dazzling light.

Xie Jingci: !?

*

Merfolk go into heat once a year. To address their species' dwindling population, they have evolved a strange mechanism.

Before finding a partner, a merperson in heat becomes extremely confused, allowing them to reproduce multiple times.

Chi Feiyu has nothing but contempt for this. Anyone controlled by instinct is a worthless fool.

After one of Chi Feiyu's heats ends, he discovers his room in disarray and strange marks all over his body.

Most importantly, a large patch of the fin veil on his tail is missing, leaving it bare like a plucked chicken.

Chi Feiyu's face turns dark on the spot.

Xie Jingci guiltily looks away.

It's not like he wanted it. The little mermaid insisted on giving it to him!

Still... for safety's sake, he'll take this secret to his grave.

Little scene:

Xie Jingci has loved this kind of fantastical character since he was little.

After uncovering the second male lead's mermaid identity, Xie Jingci feels sorry for him, since he is always in a wheelchair, and can't help taking care of him.

The little mermaid must be in too much pain to walk!

Xie Jingci: "I've learned massage. Let me massage your legs. It might help with the pain."

Chi Feiyu: "My legs don't hurt."

Xie Jingci: "Then why are you in a wheelchair?"

Chi Feiyu: "I can't be bothered to walk."

Xie Jingci: "..."

The plot reaches the point where the heroine and the second male lead are both captured by the villain, who forces the male lead to choose whether to save his friend or the woman. Whoever he leaves behind will be thrown into the sea.

But something goes wrong, and Xie Jingci becomes the one who has to choose.

Without hesitation, he points at Chi Feiyu. "Throw him! Hurry up and throw him!"

Chi Feiyu: "..."

Xie Jingci: I just want the little mermaid to return to the sea. Clasped-paw.jpg

* Modern setting, merman seme x male servant uke

* The two characters do not have sex during the heat described in the blurb

* The seme and the heroine have no romantic storyline

* In chapter 28, I meant to express that the seme can't accept the female supporting character, but is fine with cuddling up to the uke (which happens in the next chapter). It seems I didn't make this clear, and my writing caused a bad reading experience. I'm very sorry. If you'd like a subscription refund, you can contact me by leaving a comment in chapter one.

* Chapter comments are enabled

Blurb for my new novel

After working himself into the hospital, Tao Qingguan decides to use all the vacation days he's saved up and take a proper break.

As it happens, his grandfather in the countryside needs to go away for a while. Not wanting the ancestral home to sit empty, he asks Tao Qingguan if he'd like to stay there. Tao Qingguan agrees and heads to the countryside with his luggage, ready to enjoy his vacation.

Everything about country life is great, except the neighbors are far too enthusiastic. They bring things to his house every day, and not only for him: they insist on bringing food for the fish inside, too. No matter how much Tao Qingguan protests, it does no good.

He can't see anything special about the fish. Maybe it's just unusually affectionate. Even after he scares it off again and again, it still comes close.

Its tail fin swishes around, and it's rather pretty. Best of all, it's quiet, making it the perfect pet.

Tao Qingguan spends a happy stretch of time in the countryside with his pet fish. When his vacation ends, he packs his bags and returns to the city to throw himself into his busy job. He feels a little reluctant to leave.

One day, after working all day, he gets home and collapses onto his bed, exhausted. Then someone pounds on his front door as if they're about to tear it down.

Tao Qingguan gets up with a look of resentment and opens the door. When he sees who's standing there, he freezes.

In the narrow stairwell, his grandfather looks deeply distressed, with four or five burly men behind him.

Grandpa Tao lets out a long sigh and says, exasperated, "You're the only one in the Tao family without the talent to summon rain. Why would the Dragon King pick you of all people? Pack your things. You're coming with me."

Tao Qingguan: !?

Yan Jiu is the new Dragon King. According to the regulations established after the founding of the nation, he must choose a human as his contract partner to maintain the balance between their two sides.

But nearly all the candidates provided by the human government are elderly, wrinkled up like prunes. The few younger ones aren't to his taste either.

Just as Yan Jiu is about to resign himself to his fate, a handsome, well-built young man shows up. He's not only good-looking, but has a nice voice, too, and keeps wandering around in front of him every day.

Aside from liking to bother him for no reason, wandering around without a shirt, teasing him with his fingers now and then, and occasionally trying to act like his dad, he's pretty good.

Yan Jiu had only half-heartedly come out to find some amusement, but now he doesn't need to look for it. He's become the amusement himself.

Yan Jiu: )

But the rules prevent him from doing anything to the young man. With the day for selecting a contract partner approaching, Yan Jiu waits for the Special Administration Bureau to show up and finalize the selection. But the young man suddenly runs away, and the bureau tells him that the man wasn't even on the candidate list.

How could Yan Jiu accept that? He'd put up with him for over a month, only to be told the guy was just passing through!?

The Dragon King refuses to cooperate, throwing the entire Special Administration Bureau into chaos. The higher-ups are losing handfuls of hair by the day.

Grandpa Tao, the one responsible for this mess, steps forward with a pained expression and, after much soul-searching, sells out his beloved grandson.

* The seme has only just become the Dragon King, but he has lived for a very long time.

* The uke may lack talent, but he has a dragon. He can even bring the dead back to life.

Theme: Seeing isn't always believing.