Chapter 256: Different Songs

No one in the family had any objections to Yun Jiao buying a little car for herself.

The little car had a rather unique look to it.

Most importantly, it had three wheels, so there was no worry of it being unstable and her falling off.

That evening, Yun Jiao rode her little car, following behind her dad and mom as they strolled around the village.

This made all the children in the village scream with envy, throwing tantrums on the ground and wailing that they wanted the exact same car.

That night, the sounds of children wailing and adults roaring in anger filled the village. Of course, there was no shortage of complaints behind closed doors, either.

Meanwhile, the culprit, Little Yun Jiao, was sleeping blissfully while hugging Cat Boss.

She woke up very early the next day.

Because her dad and Little Uncle were going out to sea.

Yun Jiao was still thinking about the pair of Jadeite bracelets she hadn’t managed to buy. Even though her wrists were far too slender to wear them now, that didn’t stop her from wanting to collect and admire them.

As for buying them as gifts for her mom or Little Aunt, Yun Jiao figured, ’If they like them, I’ll just buy another pair.’

She was the one who had her eye on *that* pair.

The sky had yet to fully brighten. Yun Jiao, followed by two dogs, was already on the boat, where her cat was waiting.

"Dad, take me to the county town this afternoon."

When she was wandering around there before, she’d heard people say it was much livelier at night than during the day, with more things for sale.

So it was fine to go a bit later.

"What for? Didn’t you just get back from Elder Xu’s yesterday?"

Yun Jiao’s eyes sparkled. "To buy two beautiful bracelets. They cost one hundred thousand, so I need you to come with me, Dad."

’If a child like me tried to withdraw and transfer that much money, the bank would probably call the police.’

"What?!"

Hearing her say "one hundred thousand," the two brothers, Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe, who were rowing the boat, were so shocked they almost tipped it over.

The two grown men stared at her in utter disbelief.

"How much did you say they cost?!"

Surely, their ears were playing tricks on them. They couldn’t have heard that right!

Yun Jiao held up two plump, pale little hands.

"One hundred thousand."

HISS...

The two brothers drew in a sharp, exaggerated breath.

"One hundred thousand! What kind of bracelets are that expensive? Even a golden bracelet doesn’t cost that much!"

They generally didn’t meddle with how Yun Jiao spent her money. The allowance they gave her was usually enough, and it wasn’t a big deal if she spent it all.

But this was a huge sum out of nowhere. How could they not be worked up?

That was more expensive than their house!

What kind of bracelets cost so much more than a house?!

Yun Linhai asked, "Jiaojiao, have you been scammed?"

Yun Linhe nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Who sells bracelets for that much? One hundred thousand! I’d think ten thousand was too expensive."

Even bracelets made of solid gold weren’t that expensive.

"But I really, really like them," Yun Jiao whined. "They’re super beautiful."

Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe exchanged a look. This was the first time they had ever seen Jiaojiao want something so badly.

Yun Linhe said, "Alright, how about this: we’ll go with you this afternoon and take a look."

’We’ll see just what kind of swindler is audacious enough to cheat a child.’

’Pah! The shameless bastard!’

"Okay!" Yun Jiao nodded.

With this weighing on their minds, neither of the men was very enthusiastic about their fishing.

Yun Jiao, thinking of the killer whales, told her dad and Little Uncle she was going for a dip and jumped into the sea.

The two dogs on the boat started yelping.

They clearly wanted to jump in after her.

"Stay on the boat," said Yun Jiao. "Lots of the fish in this sea could eat you. You can’t follow me."

With that, she plunged into the sea and vanished from sight.

She swam to the waters where the killer whales usually played, and her song began to spread through the sea.

The special sound waves traveled a great distance.

A school of beautiful, multicolored little fish swam behind her, forming a strangely beautiful and magnificent spectacle.

Yun Jiao tilted her head in confusion.

’Hm? Can my song now attract these little fish that don’t have much intelligence?’

These little fish were highly ornamental, but they probably didn’t taste good—or might not even be edible. Besides, they weren’t very big, so Yun Jiao had no interest in catching them.

Wherever she swam, schools of these brightly colored little fish followed her.

A mischievous glint appeared in Yun Jiao’s eyes. Taking the huge school of fish with her, she swam back toward her family’s boat.

"What’s that commotion?"

The people and animals on the boat were stunned to see all sorts of fish rising from the depths and circling them.

"Whoa, aren’t those deep-sea fish?"

"Why have they all come to the surface? And... they’re circling our boat."

The whole scene was bizarre.

It wasn’t that they had never seen a school of fish before. But those were always schools of a single species. They had never witnessed a gathering like this, one with countless different varieties, most of which were small, inedible sea fish.

"Dad, Little Uncle~"

Yun Jiao’s head popped out of the water beside the boat.

"Hahaha... Pretty, isn’t it?"

Yun Linhe’s eyes widened. "These fish... it was you."

Yun Jiao nodded.

"I just sang a song."

’It must be because of the song,’ she thought.

The Merfolk possessed an innate inherited knowledge. Even if one left its parents at a young age to survive alone in the deep sea, as a Merfolk grew older, more and more of this legacy would awaken.

And this legacy consisted entirely of songs.

Different songs had different effects.

These were divided into the War Sound, the Illusionary Sound, the Summoning Sound, and the relatively gentle Healing Sound, which was particularly attractive to marine creatures.

The songs she had sung for the killer whales before were mostly the Summoning Sound.

That type of song was only effective on familiar marine creatures that possessed a certain degree of sentience.

In her past life, she had used the first three types the most. The first two were for combat and hunting, while the third was for summoning the ’pets’ she kept.

As for the fourth type, she rarely sang it.

She had sung one on a whim today. She wanted to see if other songs could call the killer whales and what difference there was without the amplification of her Merfolk essence. She never expected to attract so many little fish.

Yun Jiao sat on the gunwale of the boat. Her lips parted slightly as she switched to a different song.

’These little fish are pretty, but I’d rather see the killer whales. And I wonder how those two sea turtles are doing now.’

Yun Jiao didn’t have to wait long before the killer whales swam over from the far-off ocean.

Their powerful, black-and-white bodies glided across the surface, calling out in response to Yun Jiao.

From their calls, Yun Jiao could hear surprise and elation.

She rubbed her nose, feeling a bit sheepish. She had been back for days but was only just now coming to see them.

With the arrival of the killer whales, the beautiful, colorful little fish that had been swimming around the boat scattered in a flash.

’Human, human, you’re back.’

’Long time no see, long time no see.’

’Missed you, missed you.’

’Happy, happy~’

The killer whales were very direct in expressing their emotions.

As they got closer, the killer whales kept leaping from the water, trying to splash Yun Jiao playfully.

Yun Linhai yelled in terror, "The boat’s going to capsize!"

Yun Jiao had no choice but to jump into the sea to prevent their little wooden boat from actually being capsized by the huge creatures.

"Let’s go, take me out to play."

The killer whales circled around Yun Jiao, and one of them swam directly beneath her, lifting her onto its back and carrying her off toward the deep ocean.