Well thrown
The palm-sized ice ball flew towards its target, pushed forward by an invisible force. But because the ability wielder did not yet have full control of his own strength, the ball lost its momentum and ultimately fell to the ground before reaching its destination.
Following the clicking sound of the ice ball hitting the floor, the ball split open and broke into two pieces.
The cub had thrown an ice ball at the adult merman. Although it had not hit him, Xie Luan was a bit shocked by his action and once he had processed what had happened, couldn’t help but laugh a little.
Even cubs had their own likes and dislikes. The cub usually expressed both his likes and dislikes very simple and direct. As a result, the mermaid cub in the pool had now very clearly shown his hostility towards the man in front of him.
But the cub was, after all, just a cub. Even if someone was shown great hostility by him, it was hard to produce any malice in response.
Since the cub did not really have any actual attack power right now, if the cub acted aggressively again there would be no danger. He only needed to report it to the old master.
He exposed his variant ability… Xie Luan did not know that the golden mark on the cub’s forehead had already exposed it, but he did not blame the cub for this.
Without changing his face, Xie Luan approached the pool and picked up the mermaid cub who still insisted on being hostile against the man behind him.
Not criticizing him for attacking the other with ice, Xie Luan first appeased the cub in his embrace by lightly patting him on his back. He then put on a normal expression as he said a standard line to the man who was passively standing on the side, showing a trace of awkwardness. “The cub is still young and ignorant.”
The mermaid cub had obediently been silent because of the youth’s gesture. Now that the cub was nestled in the safety of the youth’s arms, the cub was still very good and silent, only moving his tail fin as a response to his parent.
In an absolutely safe environment, the mermaid cub was of course more confident and glared directly at the adult merman who said that he would take him away.
Hurriedly settling his bearing, Curran also responded very quickly. He did not have any resentment over the cub throwing an ice ball at him. On the contrary, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the mermaid cub had a strong variant ice ability.
As for the fact that the youth had just now rejected his proposal, Curran was even less concerned about it.
Because to him, the other party’s refusal was taken as being for the sake of negotiating terms in order to gain more benefits.
He couldn’t tell how many times he had encountered a situation like this before. It had therefore naturally been taken into consideration before coming to Gaia and Curran was prepared for these circumstances.
“It would be good if both of us could come to an agreement as quickly as possible, so let’s cut to the chase.”
Having already confirmed the cub really possessed a variant ability, Curran did not have the patience to slowly negotiate. “The funding mentioned just now is hush money, it can also be considered as our gratitude to your club for taking care of the young master these past years. The specific amount can be determined by sir. What do you think?” Curran was not afraid to say this as he did not believe that this low-level cub raising club would dare to demand an all too high sum.
He also wanted to resolve this matter as fast as he could and bring the cub back to Haliumite as soon as possible.
Before Xie Luan could open his mouth to answer, he vaguely sensed a burst of cold air nearby. He looked down and saw the mermaid cub in his arms solidifying a small ice ball.
Xie Luan had no doubt that if he hadn’t prevented him, the mermaid cub would have thrown a second ice ball at the other.
Tossing the newly created ice crystal into the pool, Xie Luan coaxed the cub. “Be good, Gale does not have to do that.”
“Paa-“ The cub knew that he shouldn’t speak, but he still wanted to express his feelings to his parents. So after pronouncing one syllable, he snuggled into the youth’s embrace.
Xie Luan was naturally aware that the little mermaid in his arms wanted to drive the adult mermaid out, but he couldn’t just throw ice at him. The cub did not understand this.
“Not so good.”
Soothingly stroking the soft blonde hair of cub in his embrace, Xie Luan raised his gaze and without any joke, formally responded to the other’s question in a serious tone. “Our club does not want your hush money. To clarify, I will not let you take this cub away.”
Hearing the youth declare this, the few people who were eavesdropping from afar felt that they no longer needed to hide and bluntly walked over to join the confrontation.
“If sir wants to get more money, sir really doesn’t have to use this method. I just made it clear that the amount is for you to decide.”[1]
He had needed to explain it twice and to add, they weren’t even making any sense. Curran was inevitably a little angry by now.
The other did not demand money and from his harsh words, it was clear that he wouldn’t let Curran take the cub back. Wasn’t this plainly trying to offend the big family for no reason? Was the other mad?? Curran could not believe that such a person existed. The other could have anything he wanted, only a fool or a madman would be willing to lose this purely profitable opportunity.
“Sir may not understand the situation. This cub has the blood of our Houdie family. It’s only natural for me to bring him back from Gaia. Sir has no right to stop it.”
Suppressing his anger, Curran very calmly stated this. However, the expression on his face was not as friendly as before and his attitude began to get unyielding.
Since it had come to this, Xie Luan also straightforwardly put his cards on the table. ” We are a principled cub raising club, we will not hand over a cub to a family who previously deliberately abandoned him.”
Xia Qi and the other members who were at the scene had remained quiet from the start. But it was obvious that they had a supportive attitude towards the youth who was speaking on their behalf.
This included the absent president who had earlier nodded in approval of this choice.
If the Houdie family had not abandoned the cub, Xie Luan would have been happy that Gale had found his family. But this not being the case, Xie Luan felt that it was best for the cub to continue staying at their club.
At the youth’s words, Curran’s expression changed slightly. But he still did his utmost to maintain his normal bearing.
Just like drawing blood on the first prick[2], he had unexpectedly been jabbed in a sore spot and Curran lost his imposing manner for a split second. However, he quickly regained his calm and opened his mouth. “The reason why the cub was stranded here is more complex. There is no need for me to explain this to you, you can not use this baseless accusation to prevent the cub from returning home to his family.”
How could a nursing club refuse to let a family member, who was related to the cub, take the cub home?
Curran really did not understand why the club let go of this purely profitable opportunity and insisted on going against him at every turn.
But he still wanted to properly resolve the matter and as long as he could persuade the other side to cooperate, then he could save himself a lot of time.
“Needless to say, we won’t look at any relevant proof you bring out.”
Xie Luan directly blocked all the other man’s words. He had no desire to listen when it came to the other’s hard and soft words. “We are not going to give the cub to you. You may leave.”
Not listening to the bastard’s prayers and pursuing this attitude, Xie Luan’s intent of refusing and seeing the visitor off was very obvious. [3]
Xia Qi quickly caught on. How could she have let this person in earlier? She now took the lead in throwing him out.
Having wanted to be the one to go to this branch, he really hadn’t expected this outcome. Curran, who had been confident that he would easily be able to bring the cub back, was now at a loss.
His complexion changed again and again. Curran was now certain that it would be impossible to take the cub back by using money or persuasion.
He had wanted the other side to cooperate so that the matter could be settled quickly, but this result told him that this road was not going to lead him where he wanted.
What’s to be done if they could not take the convenient road? From Curran’s point of view, the other side had no proper reason to refuse his claim and stop him from taking the cub away. But as the other was inexplicably determined to do so, they could only take corresponding measures on this side in response.
However, without further instructions from the family head, Curran did not dare to bring up legal measures.
He hadn’t been able to complete the assigned task well. If the matter because noisy by going to court, he would definitely reduce his value in the family head’s eyes.
Because he didn’t want that to happen, Curran was very reluctant to give up and had repeatedly tried to negotiate and convince the other person.
However, after standing in place for several seconds, Curran could feel the unanimous hostile attitude of the people around him. Unwillingly giving up, he took one last glance at the mermaid cub held in the youth’s arms and then finally left with a black face.
“Well thrown.”
Once the other left, Xie Luan opened his mouth to praise the mermaid cub in his arms. However after the words left his lips, he felt that it was not good for him to say that and added, “But don’t do it again, Gale.”
Reasonably, Xie Luan didn’t think that it was wrong of the mermaid cub to throw an ice ball at that man. But he couldn’t educate his cub like that.
“Papa~” Now that he was allowed to speak again, the first thing this little mermaid cub did was to immediately call out to his parent.
That villain had been driven away by his parent. The mermaid cub gently swayed his tail, no matter if it was his voice or his movements, they all showed just how happy and satisfied he was.
The cub was happy and Xie Luan would of course not destroy his mood. However, he knew that the matter was far from over. Next was the other’s move.
After leaving Yunbao Branch with a bad complexion, Curran reported the unexpected pleasant development he had encountered on Gaia as well as the status of his mission to the old master.
Soon, Curran received the anticipated instructions.
It did not matter if he needed to use legal measures, even if he had to go to the Supreme Court of the Star Alliance. The only thing that mattered right now was bringing that cub back from Gaia to Haliumite. Any means necessary.
______________
Translator’s note:
Gale is so adorable, I can just picture him in Xie Luan’s arms with his small eyebrows scrunched, ready to throw another ice ball at that insolent man… Too cute!! XD
I would so love to have a drawing of that…. (pictures it once more —> dies of cuteness)
Many thanks to Jessie and a mysterious spirit for the coffees~ 💕💕
By the way, Orphire, my editor, will be gone for a month as she needs to focus on her exams. Wishing her good luck! (^з^)-☆
[1] – Curran uses gé xià (阁下) when he addresses Xia Luan, it can mean “your distinguished self”, “sire”, “your excellency”, “your majesty”, “lordship”, etc. I presume it’s a way to be respectful, but they are a bit weird in English so I went with sir. (Btw, the last “you” is in plural and is referring to the whole club)
[2] – “Drawing blood on the first prick” is an idiom and is similar to “hitting the nail on the head”.
[3] – 不听不听王八念经, “To not listen to wang ba’s prayers/chanting”, thanks to Nopenopenope I now know that wang ba is a derogatory term and means bastard… Ah, my innocence! (jk)