Chapter 48: Tianchi Aquarium

On this day, Mu CangZhou was busy again. Jing Man and Tian Yuan took the children to Flower Pond Road to look for the little mussel to play with. As soon as he landed, he called Lin Zhuzi and asked where they were.

The result was an apologetic female voice, “Mr. Jing, I’m sorry, we may not be able to make it. The child care class that we just showed RuanRuan came to us and told us to go do the paperwork right away. Their leaders are usually busy and not around. They just have a few hours this afternoon. I don’t know how long the delay will be… RuanRuan cannot be sent to a care center, and we can’t go out to work, it’s quite a delay. I can’t pick you up, I’m sorry… Mr. Jing, I took it upon myself to buy you VIP tickets to the aquarium, can you go somewhere to have fun? It’s a one-way ticket for all kinds of things…”

Listening to these words, Jing Man’s heart also had some bad feelings. But there was no way, there was a reason, their family really couldn’t come now. Jing Man discussed it with the children and Tian Yuan, and thought that since they were all here, they should go to the aquarium.

Upon arriving at the Tianchi Aquarium, Jing Man was amazed by the huge change in the front gate.

This visitor station alone was more magnificent than when he saw it in junior high school, covering an even larger area. The lady at the ticket office was surprised to see that the two adults with so many babies could still maintain a quiet atmosphere.

Having seen too many shouting kids, she knew how rare this image was. But after the ticketing, she quickly recovered and gently asked, “Are there any aquatics among these cute kids?”

“Yes.” Jing Man nodded, leaned down and picked up his baby Xiao Shui, who normally didn’t look like an aquatic, and introduced him, “My child is a medusa.”

“Wow! Is it really a medusa? I didn’t even notice it just now!” The little sister showed a surprised smile and handed over a bracelet, showing Jing Man to put it on the child. She then said, “This is the pass to enter the toddler experience area, only baby aquatics wearing the bracelet can go down to play. Don’t worry, it’s included in the VIP ticket.”

Xiao Shui put on the bracelet and said happily, “Thank you, sister!”

However, the ticket agent didn’t seem to hear him at all and was indifferent. Entering the aquarium, Jing Man realized that he hadn’t been here for a long time and the place had changed a lot!

In the various tanks, in addition to the beautiful, rare, or unidentifiable fish and aquatic creatures swimming around, there were also many staff members who looked like aquatic workers. They did not need to use any external tools to breathe in the water, moving around in the water was no different than walking on land.

Ignoring the fish swimming around, Jing Man found that in addition to the occasional string of bubbles, as well as the hair and clothes not controlled by gravity, it was almost impossible to see that these staff members were now in the water.

The expressions on their faces were calm and joyful, all very content with their job. Some of the mermaid sub-race staff also maintained their original forms. The upper body was human-like, while the lower part of the body was a huge fish tail trailing gracefully.

With their movements, the tail fins of various colors were like a veil of mist, beautiful beyond compare.

Jing Man also knew that this tail was not as harmless as it looked, for its killing power was huge, and the strength could crack marble. The last time he was here, it wasn’t like this. There weren’t even many aquatic staff, and the fish were not the best in terms of variety or condition, not at all comparable to what they were now.

The aquarium staff swimming in the water with all kinds of fish was a scene Jing Man couldn’t even think of at that time.

Tian Yuan was captivated by this beautiful scene as soon as he entered, and he turned on the video mode. His mouth pursed tightly, his face serious, and his eyes flashed with a weird light to record. The children were almost stunned to see so much water and a wide array of beauty when they first visited the aquarium.

Yet, when listening to the content of their words, the children had different little minds. Xiao Jin was particularly fond of the fish with shiny, eye-catching scales. After entering the jellyfish exhibition hall illuminated by purple lights, he looked at the jellyfish illuminated by colored light as if they were treasures, and he was almost dazzled.

The little golden dragon raised his little paws high and pointed to a jellyfish tank, asking coyly, “Daddy! Can we have jellyfish at home? I like those!”

Jing Man took a look and found that the jellyfish Xiao Jin had chosen had long, yarn-like tentacles, with a light blue and transparent body, which looked really beautiful. He thought that the pond in the backyard was quite large, so he could raise it. However, he took one more look at the name tag and his whole body paused.

It read, “Australian Box Jellyfish: commonly known as sea wasps, is the world’s most poisonous animal. With stinging cells that release toxins more poisonous than cobras, it can make people die within 30 seconds. Note 1” 1

Son! What’s wrong with you! There are so many jellyfish on display here, picking one of the most deadly ones immediately?

Jing Man’s scalp tingled, feeling that just by looking at this box jellyfish, he was going to be poisoned. He excused himself and fled the jellyfish exhibition hall with his stroller.

FanFan, on the other hand, acted like a superb food connoisseur, staring at the live fish as if he was about to pounce on them and cut them up alive.

Jing Man looked at him, momentarily speechless. The things in the heart of his little white tiger were divided into two kinds: those that can be eaten, and those that cannot be eaten. It seemed to be able to be eaten, none of them were spared from his little mouth-watering expression. What could not be eaten, it was difficult to get a look…

The ability to eat was a blessing. FanFan was just a little gluttonous, and did not do anything out of the ordinary.

Jing Man nudged him a little on his little head and whispered in his ear, “These fish can only be seen but not eaten, go home and let your father make you some delicious squirrel fish.”2

BaiBai was the only child who showed any displeasure. His sense of smell was so good that before he got to the aquarium, he was yelling about the fishy smell and how bad it smelled. Now that he was in, his nose couldn’t take it anymore. But he wanted to enjoy the view, and when Jing Man asked to take him out, he did not want to.

He could only hold ZhiZhi tightly and inhale the scent of flowers on his sibling’s body to continue his life. The expressions of surprise, shock and disgust were on his face in turn, which made Jing Man’s heart ache, so he had to speed up the tour.

Fortunately, ZhiZhi’s character was very mild, and also very much liked fifth brother BaiBai. Anyone else looking at the beautiful scenery would feel uncomfortable being entangled with a nuisance.

In the furthest corner of the stroller, Xiao Sang’s mouth was slightly open and his eyes rolled around, looking left and right, enjoying it very much. After staying with this child for a long time, Jing Man was gradually able to read his micro-expressions.

This child liked new, curious and previously unseen things, and had a novel way of measuring value. Give him a few stacks of common hundred dollar bills, and he would treat it as just a waste of paper. Whereas never-before-seen, small, broken shells with peculiar patterns were treasures to clutch over and over all day.

This was his first time at Tianchi Aquarium, so he was curious about everything, and his mood was particularly good. The only little aquatic friend – Xiao Shui – was in a mood to go to heaven with excitement.

This was still the most water this inland child has seen since he was born. His blue hair flew higher than usual, and his little hands clutched the edge of the stroller, his knuckles all pinched and white. He might be fantasizing about how happy he would be to enter such a wide expanse of water.

As they walked around, they finally arrived at the toddler experience area. Jing Man took a look and found that it was a great, big pool.

The pool was divided into several sections, which were respectively set up with a variety of different water ecological environments, with corresponding seaweed and fish placed. Inside, he could see a lot of aquatic children, who had not yet turned into human beings, maintaining their original forms while soaking and playing.

There were also some who kept human form and wore cute children’s swimsuits, but based on the excessively long breath-holding time, it could be concluded that they were aquatic toddlers.

The pool was not deep and the staff around looked reliable.

Jing Man opened his arms towards Xiao Shui, and Xiao Shui’s eyes lit up in the next second, hugging Daddy with his hands and hair. Xiao Shui originally thought that Daddy would not let him go into the water. Although he had brought the bracelet issued by the ticketor on his wrist, he did not have much hope.

Daddy actually agreed to play with him here! Daddy is so nice!

Not knowing the complex psychological activities of the child in his arms, Jing Man kissed his son on the top of his hair, urged him not to swim far away and not to remove the rope attached to his hand.

That’s right, so far he had not found a solution to this frequent state of invisibility. At home in a small area is fine, but out of the house, he must use the parent-child rope connected to Jing Man. Xiao Shui looked at the surface of the pool, his face full of happiness. After looking back at his family, he dove into the water and started swimming.

As soon as he entered the water, his hair seemed to come to life, and the shine was brighter than ever. The rare aquatic bloodline was also revealed, and the fish intentionally or unintentionally swam straight to his side, going so far as to boldly shuttle though his living hair. His hair sometimes changed into the appearance of the fish swimming around him, and sometimes teased those large fish, playing happily.

Jing Man’s camera followed Xiao Shui and recorded the scene faithfully. Humans were herd animals, and so were humanoid children. After staying in the water for a while, Xiao Shui’s divine quality of seclusion suddenly collapsed.

As an afterthought, people realized that there was a rare and beautiful medusa hiding here! He immediately became the most eye-catching child in the pool. Other aquatic children also swam towards him like little fish, and Xiao Shui soon made many new friends.

This was a precious experience he had never experienced on land.

The siblings each had their own sparkle, while he could only put away his sharpness at first because of his petrifying eyes, and later turned into a transparent attribute, like a dull dot around the Big Dipper.

Xiao Shui had so much fun here that he accidentally lost track of time.

It was not until the staff began to broadcast the closing announcement that he said goodbye to his new friends and hurriedly swam towards the shore.

He was quietly relieved to see Daddy, Uncle Tian Yuan and his siblings waiting for him while having smoothies.

Jing Man also saw Xiao Shui so happy for the first time, so he let him go.

The water quality here is perhaps a little better because the children are going to play, and BaiBai’s nose is not uncomfortable.

Looking at his own son climbing out of the water, with all his hair sticking to his body and water flowing wetly down, but his eyes looking at himself without blinking, Jing Man’s heart softened a bit. He lifted the prepared bath towel, wrapped Xiao Shui into a baby silkworm and stuffed him into the stroller.

On the way home, Jing Man discussed with Xiao Shui, “When you’re a little older, why don’t we get an annual pass to the aquarium?”

Xiao Shui nodded, his cheeks curled up into pear-shaped nests, and his hair involuntarily reached out to wrap around Daddy’s wrist.

Translator Notes: