This is the little mermaid's home
Luo Lian walked up the narrow stone steps to the small hill, and came to the wooden house in front. The door was not locked, Luo Lian gently grasped the rusty doorknob, which had turned a uniform yellow, and slowly opened the door. Inside the house was silent, with only the faint sound of wind chimes and the winter sea breeze drifting out. Whale King followed her in, and saw that all the furniture in the room was woven from rattan: a large square cabinet, a round table, several small stools, and a long chair, all covered in a thick layer of dust, but unable to conceal the exquisite craftsmanship. Who had such skilled and deft hands? And who had enjoyed the warmth of those skilled hands? Luo Lian's heart was trembling slightly.
On the wall to the side, there were two doors. Lu Lian pushed open one of them, and it was a bedroom with beds made of woven rattan. Lu Lian then pushed open the other door, and before her eyes appeared layer upon layer of paintings. The stories in the paintings depicted a happy island life for a family of three, and Lu Lian was immediately drawn into the world of the paintings: "Isn't this just the fairy tale I've been dreaming about all these years? Who is it that has painted out all the worlds I've imagined in my heart?" A beautiful wife, a robust husband - this man looked just like him. Lu Lian called out happily, "And there's an adorable child, this child..." Lu Lian suddenly changed color, and her eyes widened in shock: the child's image had left her stunned. She was so similar to Lu Lian herself, especially with her blue eyes and golden red hair!
"Whale?" The Whale King whispered softly behind him, and even he felt that something was off.
Luo Lian replied softly: "I wish I were her... but how could I possibly be her? I just coincidentally mispronounced her name."
"So, can you tell me about your growth story?"
"My growth story? There is no story, I don't remember anything before going to school. After I started remembering things, it was all about going to school, from elementary school to junior high school, from junior high school to senior high school, and after graduating from senior high school, isn't it just going to university? From childhood to adulthood, there is nothing special about me compared to others, my growth has been smooth but dull. Everything in my life has been like plain water, except for the university that I came to, which seems like a beautiful dream to me."
"Where are your father and mother?"
"I don't have a father, other kids all have their father's surname, but I have my mother's surname. Why I don't have a father, my mother won't answer, when I grew up, one day I suddenly found out that my mother was only 18 years old when she gave birth to me, so I thought my father must be a bad person, that's why she doesn't talk about it, and I never asked again."
Lian walked up the stairs to the small attic on the upper floor. The entrance was small and the ceiling was low, but the area was spacious, equivalent to the combined area of the living room, bedroom, and painting room downstairs. On the attic, there was a large window with a beautiful bed made of wooden boards. It was very simple, just a mattress covered with several soft quilts and dusty sheets. A bamboo frame supported a faded canopy that had lost its pattern over time, and some shiny ribbons and beads were hung on it. Against the wall, there were layer upon layer of square frames made of long wooden boards, round tree trunks, bamboo strips, and ropes tied together, resembling an interchange bridge. On these frames, countless extremely beautiful shells, snail shells, starfish, and corals were displayed.
"At least, the little mermaid lived happily ever after." Lianlian murmured to herself in deep thought, her mind filled with fragmented and chaotic images - there was Mingwan Liya, there was Mermaid Island, there was Fairy Bay, there was this small wooden house, and also this attic that seemed like a fairy tale world.
