Cub Raising Association

Mermaid cubs may shed their scales at the age of one to five years old. This is not because of illness or unhealthy reasons, but just a normal phenomenon of mermaid cubs growing up.

To use an analogy, it is a bit similar to the situation of human children changing teeth.

Generally, when the scales are about to fade, the mermaid cubs will feel it.

And in order to collect the first fallen scale, the mermaid cubs usually instinctively stay in a fixed water area when they are conscious.

In this way, after the first scale falls, it will be easier to find.

The mermaid cub will carefully put away the first scale it finds, and give it to the parent for safekeeping when it sees the parent.

The first scale dropped by the cub is of great commemorative value, so normally, parents will be very happy when they receive the small scale from the cub at home.

Although for the cubs without parents, the staff in the cub care branch is indeed equivalent to their guardians, but there is still a difference between the guardians and the parents that the cubs believe in.

For example, the mermaid cub only gave the first scale it dropped to Xie Tao, but not to other caretakers in the branch.

Hearing about the scale of the mermaid cub from other people, Xie Tao was stunned for a second, then he belatedly reached into his pocket.

His fingers touched the small piece of cub scales in his pocket that felt smooth and warm to the touch, a bit like jade flakes, Xie Tao couldn't help but take this piece of scale out of his pocket.

Under the eyes of everyone around, Xie Tao looked down at the mermaid scale, and was a little speechless for a moment.

The ice-blue scale dropped by the mermaid cub looks especially translucent and beautiful under the indoor light. Originally, Xie Tao was planning to keep this scale well. Now that he knows the significance of this scale, Xie Tao took it The movement of touching this scale was even more careful.

This little mermaid considers him a parent...?

Looking at the ice-blue scales on his hand and thinking about this question, Xie Tao suddenly felt that the small scales resting in his palm seemed to have an extra weight for no reason.

At the same time that this small piece of scale became a bit heavy, Xie Tao suddenly thought of another thing——

Because the mermaid cubs can't speak normally, the sound they can usually make is at most a very low-volume monophonic sound, which is mixed with breathing, and requires careful listening to hear it.

What Xie Tao now thinks for no reason is that the mermaid cub usually utters the syllable to him the most, and it is also the syllable that utters the clearest and hardest...

After feeding the cubs with the other three nurses, Xie Tao went back to the staff dormitory first, and put the ice-blue scales in his pocket into a wooden box.

Inside the wooden box lay a few crystal stones the size of rice grains. After Xie Tao put the scales in, he fastened the wooden box again and placed it on the head of the bed.

After carefully putting away the scales, Xie Tao went back to the indoor pool in the house again, he wanted to confirm one thing.

Hearing the familiar footsteps, the mermaid cub in the pool quickly swam to the direction of the footsteps. Because it couldn't go ashore, the mermaid cub leaned against the edge of the pool, looking at the water with its blue eyes unblinking. The human youth approaching here.

When Xie Tao really approached the pool and squatted down, his left hand was touched by the mermaid cub.

The small hand soaked in water touched the back of the young man's left hand, and the mermaid cub with short light blond hair gently grabbed one of the young man's fingers.

"a?" Looking at the young man's left hand, and then at the young man's right hand, the mermaid cub grabbed the young man's finger and shook it gently back and forth, making a weak and incomprehensible sound. gasp.

It's hard to understand just by the sound, but Xie Tao can at least understand that it's a pronunciation asking him a question, and through the cub's movements, Xie Tao probably understands what the mermaid cub is asking him.

"It's been put away, and it's put in a wooden box. I'll keep the scales for Cal." Xie Tao explained slowly, without pulling back his finger that was lightly grasped by the mermaid cub, and freed up another one. Run your hand over the cub's short, soft hair.

"a~"

The tail of the small fish covered with ice-blue scales swayed underwater, especially the tail fin moved left and right. The mermaid cub quickly made a single sound expressing happiness.

The parents accepted the first scale they dropped and said they would take good care of it, which is also something to be happy about for the mermaid cubs.

Because from this matter, the cub can feel the love of the parents for it.

And precisely because of this feeling, the mermaid cub now wants to speak out to the young man in front of him.

"Pa..."

The first sound was made by breath, and the mermaid cub stopped for a while, and after a few seconds, it opened its mouth and made a second sound.

"pa——" The blue eyes were still fixed on the young man, and the mermaid cub tried hard to make this single sound. After it finished making this sound, it quietly waited for the young man's response.

It can be heard that this sound is made more forcefully, so it is much clearer, but this seems to be the limit of what this mermaid cub can do at present.

It's not like Xie Tao hadn't thought about the meaning of this syllable before, especially when the mermaid cub made an extra effort to pronounce this single sound to him, Xie Tao had seriously thought about what the mermaid cub was expressing to him.

Because every time the cub uttered this single sound to him, it would look at him with a look of anticipation, which made Xie Tao mistakenly think that the cub wanted something. thing……

Unable to figure out what this mermaid cub wanted, Xie Tao had always been worried about this matter before today.

He was afraid that he would ignore some important need expressed by this cub, which would lead to some bad consequences.

Until now, Xie Tao finally figured it out.

"En." Nodding to the mermaid cub who was approaching the edge of the pool, Xie Tao looked down at his cub expectantly.

Hearing the response, the tail fin of the mermaid cub lurking under the water suddenly swayed more happily, and the hand holding the young man's fingers was a little stronger than before, trying to pronounce the two syllables more clearly and coherently: "pa...a ..."

It can be seen that this cub has worked very hard. Although the second syllable failed to be pronounced correctly, Xie Tao understood it now.

This mermaid cub wanted to call him "papa", and looked at him expectantly after making the sound, but actually just hoped that he would respond verbally...

"En." Wen Sheng responded, Xie Tao nodded again, and responded for the second time.

When he first realized that the mermaid cub wanted to call him "papa", Xie Tao actually felt unprepared.

But now seeing the cub trying so hard to pronounce these two syllables to him, Xie Tao's heart soon softened.

Even if the mermaid cub can only pronounce one syllable correctly when speaking coherently, he will definitely respond when he hears it.