"I have good night vision." Hai Baihe had already opened the refrigerator and found a plastic box wrapped in a small coat among a pile of frozen seafood, emitting a strong fishy smell.
She was speechless, "Dad, this is my tail. Why did you put my tail together with this stuff?"
"It's called confusing the sight." Hai Youyu leaned over as Hai Baihe unwrapped layer by layer the thick cloth that enveloped the package, revealing a fish tail that appeared neither gold nor silver.
The color was as beautiful as the mermaid's tail in fairy tales, shimmering like foam when touched by sunlight.
"Ah, a tail." Hai Baihe pressed the tail against her face, expressing sheer delight.
Hai Youyu pondered for a moment, "My dear daughter, I heard that birds eat their own shells when they hatch. How about I fry your tail and you eat it? Huh?"
"What's the difference between that and you frying and eating your own arm?" Hai Baihe cradled her tail and returned to her room, unable to comprehend her father's wild ideas. "Don't even think about touching my tail."
"But don't you always say that you miss me after a few days of not seeing each other? It's practical to have it in your belly." Hai Youyu's biggest regret was not chopping her tail into pieces and burning it to ashes when it was cut off.
If people found out that his daughter had grown a fish tail, she would undoubtedly be sent to a laboratory for dissection!
The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became. "Baihe, how about we can't just leave the tail like this."
"No." Hai Baihe refused. "When I had my medical check-up, nothing unusual was found. What if the DNA in this tail holds the secret of my origins? Or..." She squinted her eyes, suspiciously looking at him. "Are you hiding something from me?"
"How could I hide anything from you!" Hai Youyu raised both hands to show his innocence. "You are truly my biological daughter. I just don't know why you were born with a tail."
"Really?"
"True as gold!"
Only then did Hai Baihe give up. She always felt that her father was hiding something about this matter, but if he managed to keep it a secret for twenty years, she wouldn't be able to find out anytime soon.
She lay on her bed, holding her tail, and rolled around for a while. Under the sunlight, the fish scales shimmered with a rainbow-colored luster, as if it had never been frozen for twenty years.
But considering that humans couldn't possibly have fish tails, Hai Baihe decided to accept this irrational setting. She had an extraordinary reliance on her tail since childhood. According to her father, if she couldn't sleep while holding her tail, she would cry uncontrollably. Only with a tail could she find peace.
This was a part of her, holding the secret of her heritage.
"Daughter, it's time for dinner!" Hai Youyu shouted from downstairs. Hai Baihe placed her tail under the pillow and hurried downstairs, "Coming!"
Dinner was plentiful, with roasted chicken, fried fish, and pan-fried small yellow croakers. Hai Baihe's way of eating fish was extraordinary. She could devour fish without spitting out any bones. ^_^
Hai Youyu continued to unleash his imagination beyond his age, "I heard that dogs don't eat dog meat, so why do you love eating fish so much?"
"Dad, first of all, I'm not a fish. Second, big fish eat small fish, and small fish eat shrimp. That's the food chain." Hai Bai
he stuffed a small yellow croaker into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed it. "Fish bones provide calcium."