si-mexico Chapter 396 The Bride of the Sea God (63)
Chapter 396 The Bride of the Sea God (63)
The two sides reached a stalemate.
Seeing the tense atmosphere, the negotiator lowered his voice and said to Yan Zhen, "Ms. Si, isn't this a bit inappropriate...?"
"Don't speak." Yan Zhen interrupted him and continued to speak to the mermaid chieftain, "Let Nolan stay. I guarantee he will be the last and only mermaid living in human society."
Mermaid Chieftain: "..."
Yan Zhen raised his bargaining chip: "In exchange, I will do my best to push other countries to legislate to protect mermaids."
The merman chieftain's expression wavered.
Nolan noticed, flicked her tail to break free from its grasp, swam quickly to the side of the boat, and struggled to climb aboard.
Yan Zhen reached out and pulled him onto the boat.
As soon as Nolan boarded the ship, he split off his legs and hid behind Yan Zhen, only revealing his eyes to secretly peek at the clan leader.
Seeing this, the clan chief knew that Nolan was not coming back. He glared at Nolan with disappointment and said to Yan Zhen, "You said it, and you did it."
"no sooner said than done."
The clan chief said no more and turned to swim towards the merfolk.
But after swimming a few meters, it stopped and looked back at Yan Zhen: "If you don't want it, please let it come back."
"Don't worry, that day will never come."
Clan Chief: "..."
It turned and disappeared into the sea.
One by one, the merfolk in the distance also dived into the sea.
Finally, only Asya remained on the sea.
He looked at Nolan with a complicated expression: "You'll regret this."
Nolan hid behind Yan Zhen, clutching Yan Zhen's sleeves with both hands, and whispered in protest, "No."
“You’ll regret this!” Asaya said confidently. “When you come back after you’ve regretted it, they’ll laugh at you.”
"No!" Nolan couldn't help but raise his voice, "I won't regret it!"
His attitude was so firm that Asaya suddenly became angry and said in a harsh voice, "You just wait, this human will get tired of you sooner or later and kick you out! Then not only will the merfolk laugh at you, but Rasin will laugh at you too. You will become the laughing stock of the entire ocean!"
Nolan was enraged by him, stomping her foot and screaming, "No! Xiaxia won't!"
"She will! Humans are all hypocritical; they love to lie. When they're nice to you, they'll say all sorts of sweet things, but when they're not, they'll turn on you! Nolan, I'm waiting to see the day you're banished back to the ocean!"
"No, no, no!" Nolan exclaimed angrily. "Shut up!"
Asaya was about to say something more when Nolan picked up the shoes he had taken off on the boat and started throwing them at him, yelling, "Get out! Get out, get out, get out!!!"
Asaya dove into the sea and disappeared.
Exhausted, Nolan sat down on the deck, panting heavily.
Yan Zhen returned the gun to the bodyguard, took the first-aid kit handed to him, and prepared to treat Nolan's bloody leg wound.
Nolan grabbed her wrist: "Can you?"
"will not."
Nolan breathed a sigh of relief, finally feeling at ease, and leaned into her arms: "I knew you wouldn't lie to me."
The negotiation team completed its negotiation mission and returned to Shengjing.
Back on shore, Yan Zhen called out to Wei Shucheng, who was walking ahead.
"Wei Shucheng".
Wei Shucheng turned around.
My sister went abroad.
Wei Shucheng was taken aback.
"If nothing unexpected happens, she won't be coming back."
Wei Shucheng understood what she meant.
He remained silent for a while, then said "Oh," and turned to leave.
-
Two months later.
Relevant departments have introduced new regulations that classify mermaids as a Class I protected animal in China.
Anyone who illegally hunts, kills, purchases, transports, sells, or consumes mermaids shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than ten years and shall also be fined or have their property confiscated.
At the same time, all aquariums and businesses/private individuals that keep mermaids were ordered to hand over all their mermaids for release by relevant departments.
The new regulations have been met with strong resistance from companies that manufacture mermaid products using mermaids as raw materials.
But the government intervened and quickly quelled these calls for resistance.
Many mermaid owners are reluctant to release their mermaids back into the wild, and instead lead their mermaids to hide and outmaneuver the searchers.
After a year of implementation of the new regulations, all mermaids within China were finally released back into the wild.
-
In the blink of an eye, it's late autumn in Shengjing again.
At the east gate of Shengjing University, an SUV was parked outside. Nolan sat cross-legged on the hood, resting his chin on one hand, waiting idly for Yan Zhen to finish class.
Time passed by, and when get out of class ended, Nolan didn't see Yan Zhen, but instead saw Qiao Yun, whom he hadn't seen in a long time.
Qiao Yun was taken aback when she saw Nolan.
After mermaids were listed as a Class I protected animal in China, they were jokingly called "life imprisonment beasts" by netizens, and private ownership of them is prohibited in China.
Qiao Yun had assumed that Nolan had already been taken away and released by the relevant authorities.
But not only is he still here, he even appears here blatantly.
Qiao Yun stared intently at him. After hesitating for a while, he walked towards Nolan and stopped about ten meters away from him.
"Why are you still here?"
Nolan glanced at him: "What's it to you!"
“You are a protected animal, and it’s illegal to keep one privately,” Qiao Yun said. “You’ll harm Si Xia by doing this.”
Nolan: "What's it to you!"
"...Si Xia will graduate in a year. Do you want to put her in jail?"
"none of your business!"
Qiao Yun: "...Do you believe I'll report you!"
Nolan narrowed his eyes, looking Qiao Yun up and down, pondering whether to rush up and kick him or slap him.
Qiao Yun sensed that his aura had become dangerous and subconsciously took two steps back. She couldn't help but recall the time she had been locked in the basement of Si Xia's villa a year ago.
Although Si Xia had arranged for him and his bodyguards to be evacuated before the tsunami, he still felt apprehensive whenever he recalled those days.
Qiao Yun was hesitating whether to just let it go and not meddle, when Nolan suddenly turned down at the corner of his mouth. His previously dangerous expression immediately turned into a pitiful look, and he loudly accused, "What did I do to you? Why are you cursing at me!"
Qiao Yun was taken aback.
He realized something and quickly turned around.
Sure enough, Si Xia had just come out of school.
"No...no!" Qiao Yun quickly explained, "I didn't, I didn't curse him."
Nolan jumped off the hood of the car and ran to Yan Zhen's side: "He did, he called me a dead fish."
Yan Zhen frowned and pulled Nolan behind him: "Qiao Yun, don't go looking for trouble."
Qiao Yun: "...I really didn't curse him."
Nolan: "You dare to do it but not admit it? You even said you were going to report me!"
Qiao Yun: "..."
Yan Zhen's face darkened: "Qiao Yun, what do you mean?"
"..." Qiao Yun was speechless and couldn't help but say, "But China does not allow private individuals to keep mermaids. Si Xia, what you are doing is illegal."
Yan Zhen sneered, took out his wallet, and pulled out an ID card from a hidden compartment: "Make sure you see clearly, Nolan has a legitimate identity."
Qiao Yun took the ID card and looked at it over and over. The name, age, address, and ID number were all there.
His first thought was that Si Xia had created a fake ID for Nolan to evade inspection.
But when Qiao Yun took out her phone and searched for Nolan's ID number on the government affairs platform, she discovered that not only was the ID card nationally certified and legal, but Nolan had even obtained a driver's license.
"How...how did you do that?" Qiao Yun was both shocked and puzzled.
Yan Zhen snatched the ID card back from his hand: "You don't need to worry about this. Just watch your mouth and don't say things you shouldn't—Nolan, let's go."