Stop Thinking Chapter 41: Extra 4: “Little Fry” 3 (You’re Quite Skilled…)

Chapter 41: Extra 4: “Little Fry” 3 (You’re Quite Skilled…)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The last little fish clearly couldn’t make it out on its own. In this situation, intervention was necessary. If one wanted to be more straightforward, they could simply pick up the fish egg and gently tap it on a hard surface, creating cracks and then slowly peeling it away, much like peeling an egg. For a more meticulous approach, one could do as Ruan Yu did, using a pre-prepared bright light to illuminate the egg, adjusting the light intensity so that it could make the eggshell semi-transparent without harming the young fish’s vision. Then, carefully tapping with a blunt tool.

This kind of task naturally required either him or Gu Xiuhan to personally handle it. He was afraid Gu Xiuhan might be too heavy-handed, so he decided to do it himself.

Due to the fear of accidentally hurting the young fish, Ruan Yu’s eyelashes trembled nervously, his little face tense, bearing a striking resemblance to the scared little fry nestled within the eggshell, face filled with fear, curling up in self-pity.

Oh no, it felt like they would be mocked as a pair of foolish father and child. Why couldn’t Gu Xiuhan pass on his intelligence and strength to this little fry? As Ruan Yu peeled open the shell, he glanced at Gu Xiuhan with a sigh. First, Ruan Yu drilled a small hole in the eggshell to let air in, helping this obviously weaker young fish adapt to the external environment. After a while, he gently enlarged the hole.

The little fry could tell that Ruan Yu’s actions were helping them hatch, so they quickly stopped being afraid, relaxing in the eggshell, shaking their delicate tail fin towards Ruan Yu, their sweet and creamy voice calling out incessantly. However, this time, one could tell from the tone that it wasn’t out of distress but rather a cute attempt to seek comfort from kin.

Gu Xiuhan knew too well what Ruan Yu was like during his youth. Just like this little fish, sweet-talking with a mouth as sweet as honey, even if it had just learned a word, it would stickily call out to someone, instilling an infinite drive in one’s heart to endure any hardship for its care.

Naturally adept at using sweet words to enchant its caregivers, this little fry.

The hole in the eggshell was large enough, and the condition of the little fry seemed fine, showing signs of having adapted to the outside world. Ruan Yu reached out, letting this young male fry twist into his palm—just hatched mermaids could be cradled in one hand by adults, much smaller than human babies, but correspondingly, their growth rate after hatching was astonishing.

“Papa~ Papa~” Perhaps sensing the affection and joy from the people around, the little fry became more lively, rubbing its cheek against Ruan Yu’s fingertip, his soft body wriggling in Ruan Yu’s palm, as if afraid that his caregiver wouldn’t feed him milk.

Ruan Yu was overwhelmed, lifting the little fry and planting a kiss on his silver fluff atop his head.

Although this little fry, with a mental energy stronger than his siblings, didn’t understand the meaning of a kiss yet, he could sense the love overflowing from his kin, so he widened his round eyes, his little face full of joy.

Newly hatched fish were still fragile, so it was essential to make sure they drank milk and slept promptly. After bonding with the last little fry for a while, Ruan Yu placed him in the nest, arranging him beside his siblings according to the hatching order.

Three fish were now together. The upper half of the black-haired male fry resembled Gu Xiuhan, while his tail exhibited a heavy, steady, metallic blue color, a trait inherited from Ruan Yu’s father, a brave and valiant male fish.

The tail of the silver-haired female fry followed Ruan Yu’s mother, with a silver-white base adorned with crimson and gold, reminiscent of a species on ancient Earth called koi, a rare scale coloration found only in females. Coincidentally, due to its rarity, the mermaid tribe also considered such scale colors as a symbol of luck, believing that such female fry would bring good fortune to themselves and their entire family.

As for the young male fry most resembling Ruan Yu, whether it was hair, eyes, or tail, he was a perfect replica of Ruan Yu during his youth, with equally rare pink-silver scales, as dreamy as peach blossoms under the hazy moonlight. Even just hatched, he already had several fins, destined to be as beautiful as Ruan Yu when he grew up.

“Yi~” The young male fry couldn’t stay still. After being placed in the nest, he struggled to sit up and looked around. Perhaps not liking being in a corner, he wriggled his chubby tail and managed to squeeze between his siblings, nearly causing the other two to spit out milk. Once settled in the middle, he looked left and right, attempting to communicate, but seeing his siblings remaining aloof and preoccupied with brewing sleepiness, he used his chubby arms to embrace them, pulling one here and tugging another there, forcefully socializing.

Unable to withstand the little brother’s persistent antics, the other two fry nudged towards the middle, and the three white dough-like masses finally squished together into a heap. With this procedure complete, the clingy little brother finally contentedly held onto the milk bottle handed by Ruan Yu, leisurely sipping away.

This fish had a small appetite; he stopped drinking after only half of the milk in the bottle was consumed. Afraid that he wouldn’t eat enough, Ruan Yu gently touched the bottle’s mouth to his lips. The little fry dodged, his round belly twisting, gas building up in its stomach, and with a “hic,” he bumped his mouth against his brother’s pectoral fin, emitting a crisp hiccup, “Hic!”

The stern-looking male fry was startled, flapping his tail, a chubby carp-like jump, and spewed out a mouthful of milk, splattering both of his siblings.

“?” The little female fry furrowed her brow, scrutinizing the foolish males for a moment. With a decisive turn of her shiny black eyes, she firmly set her sights on the remaining half bottle of milk, swiftly grabbing the rubber nipple with her chubby hands and pulling the bottle towards her chest. “Do you want it or not? If not, it’s mine.”

“Baby, you can’t drink anymore. What if your stomach gets upset?” Gu Xiuhan, on the other side, was wiping the fish fry while Ruan Yu gently tried to take the bottle from the little female fry’s hand. However, fearing that he might hurt her, he could only exert minimal force. As a result, Ruan Yu ended up lifting both the bottle and the little gluttonous girl.

The sensation of being lifted off the ground excited the little female fry, thinking that Ruan Yu was playing with her. She wagged her tail and giggled, but as soon as Ruan Yu put her back in the nest, she threw a tantrum, “Yi-yi-yi.”

In short, it was chaos.

The room was filled with the delicate cries and calls of the fry, one after another.

Fortunately, with multiple fry, they soon tired themselves out and fell asleep soundly, one by one, until they were all curled up like a bundle of dough. The bottle in the little female fry’s hand remained unclaimed until the end. Luckily, she was too tired to care about drinking, so Ruan Yu let her sleep while holding the bottle, planning to quietly take it away once she was asleep.

As a species capable of adapting to both ocean and land environments, the original habit of mermaids was to bring newly hatched fragile fry to nests on islands or reefs for a period of nurturing. Because the marine environment of Ruan Yu’s home planet was much more dangerous than the land, with turbulent currents, lower water temperatures, and various predators in the ocean, it could lead to the premature death of fry.

The AI butler kept the humidity of the entire bedroom within an appropriate range, and the three fry were all satisfied with the current environment, sleeping warmly under their small blankets, smelling fragrant.

Gu Xiuhan lifted the basket containing the three fry and placed it beside the large bed where he and Ruan Yu slept, fearing that the fry might need care during the night, so he deliberately placed it on his side.

Young mermaids had a high demand for emotional needs, even those just hatched. Caregivers not only had to ensure they ate and slept well but also to provide them with ample companionship and emotional communication from their kin. These tasks couldn’t be delegated to anyone outside the family or artificial intelligence, as it could lead to developmental issues in the fry’s mental state… Overall, it was more challenging than caring for human babies.

When it came to childcare, especially for little fish babies, no one in the Gu Family was more experienced than Gu Xiuhan—just by watching him change diapers and clean fish tails with such skillful ease, one could tell who had taken care of Ruan Yu during his youth.

“You’re quite skilled…” Ruan Yu couldn’t help but sigh.

Gu Xiuhan remained impassive, just faintly grunting in response as he folded the wet diaper and tossed it into the trash. But his thoughts were…[Because Ruan Ruan wet the bed until he was four.]

“How come I don’t remember?” Ruan Yu furrowed his brows. He wasn’t being stubborn; he genuinely didn’t recall much. So even if he did wet the bed occasionally, it must have been very rare. Did Gu Xiuhan fabricate it with his thick eyebrows and big eyes?

A slight smirk tugged at the corner of Gu Xiuhan’s lips, neither confirming nor denying.

During that period, the Iceberg Cool Guy, who constantly topped the mecha combat power rankings, had a waterproof pad on his bed year-round, for two whole years. Gu Xiuhan often woke up in the middle of the night feeling a chilly, damp sensation beside him, knowing without even looking that little Ruan Yu had drawn star charts on the bed again.

At the age of fifteen or sixteen, acting as a “daddy,” not many teenagers could endure it, but Gu Xiuhan was different from ordinary youths. He never furrowed his brow, calmly grabbing a towel, wrapping up the shivering, sniffling little Ruan Yu, who had wriggled to the edge of the bed and replacing the soiled pad with a new one. He cleaned up little Ruan Yu, wiped his runny nose with a tissue, and then hugged him back to sleep.

Little Ruan Yu often slept through the whole process and woke up with a clean bed underneath him, of course, not remembering a thing.

As he read through these memories, undeniable evidence mountain-like, Ruan Yu’s face turned crimson rapidly. He could only lower his head and admire the sleeping positions of the fry, pretending not to have received the information.

In conclusion, with Gu Xiuhan around, there weren’t many opportunities for Ruan Yu to take care of things personally.

Gu Xiuhan not only took care of the fry’s daily life, feeding them, putting them to sleep, massaging them with his fingertips to help them relax into tiny fish cakes, but also patiently played with them, scratching their tender bellies with his fingers covered in thin calluses.

The little fish babies giggled, first curling up into chubby balls, then the two determined ones would stand up with their tails high, trying to catch Gu Xiuhan’s hand, even though their tender palms were too small to grasp even one of Gu Xiuhan’s fingers. The other one, who resembled Ruan Yu, mainly played defensively, holding his belly with his tail, and as soon as he didn’t want to play anymore, he would sweetly call “Papa” to surrender, without resisting at all.

And Ruan Yu mainly focused on bonding with the little fish, occasionally picking them up and kissing their little heads.

When the smaller two were kissed on the head, they would express their joy by rubbing against Ruan Yu’s chin. Only the young male fry, naturally reserved in temperament, wouldn’t easily rub against him or wag his tail at people; he would just blush happily every time and raise his tail when he saw Ruan Yu, making himself taller than his younger siblings.

Wanting to be the first one to receive a kiss. The seriousness in the young male fry’s little round face was unmistakable.

 

 

 

 

 

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