Things in the pond

Chapter 19

...

And so, after the storm, only river shrimp remained in the pond, and only Yinming remained by the pond's edge.

"..." The river shrimp looked at him, speechless.

"Miss He, I'm sorry, there's not much left." Yin Ming smiled.

"No, I don't like sweets," the river shrimp replied seriously.

Yin Ming looked around. "Suddenly, it's so quiet..." he said quietly with a smile.

"Isn't quiet good?" the river shrimp replied seriously.

"Miss He, why do I feel like you dislike me?" Yin Ming was silent for a moment before asking, "Did I do something to upset you?"

"No. You're overthinking it," the river shrimp replied seriously.

Yin Ming could only sigh. "By the way, Miss He, where's the fox?" He changed the subject.

"After listening to you, I've now gone to become a human," the river shrimp replied seriously.

"Oh?" Yin Ming laughed. "That's wonderful." He thought for a moment, then asked, "Miss He, what do you want to do in the future?"

"I'll do anything, just not be human," the river shrimp replied more seriously.

"Why?" Yin Ming's expression was smiling, but his voice contained a hint of disappointment.

"Human life is so short, and we're prone to illness; we can die in the blink of an eye. And we're so stupid. The rich are always cheating each other, and the powerful are always killing each other—how annoying!" The river shrimp replied, no longer serious, but with a hint of sarcasm.

“Yes…” Yin Ming lowered his eyelashes and sighed after hearing this.

"But there are so many fairies who want to be human. I don't know what they're thinking. They have no ambition!" River Shrimp said enthusiastically, not noticing Yin Ming's expression.

So, you're not going to do it?

"Of course. I want to cultivate myself into an immortal, free to go anywhere in the world!" the river shrimp replied earnestly.

"Isn't it possible now?"

"No. I'm a river shrimp. Even if I became a fairy, I would die if I stayed out of the water for too long." The river shrimp waved its claws. "I need to go to the sea, so I can't rely on fresh water."

“I see…” Yin Ming nodded.

"What about you? You seem to have given up on being human. Why don't you go cultivate immortality?" River Shrimp asked in a good mood after talking about his ideals.

"I don't want to be an immortal," Yin Ming said with a smile.

"So what do you want to do?"

"I don't want to do anything." Yin Ming lay on the grass. "I just thought, how wonderful it would be if I could stay like this forever, lying on the grass, looking at the blue sky and white clouds, doing nothing..."

"No ambition!" The river shrimp immediately scorned him.

“Yes, it is indeed a bit unambitious…” Yin Ming said helplessly, “But… who says a man has to be ambitious? Is it wrong to want to live like this…”

The river shrimp was stumped by the question. Indeed, most of the creatures in the pond lived such unambitious lives. Was they wrong?

"Hehe, just saying~" Yin Ming said, "I know I can't live like this forever, so I'm a little envious of you guys..."

"What's there to envy? You have no idea how arduous cultivation is!" the river shrimp scolded him.

"I see." Yin Ming suddenly asked in a very serious tone, "Miss He... if I stop coming one day, will you remember me?"

The river shrimp was dumbfounded by the question. "What do you mean by 'one day you won't come anymore'?" it asked irritably.

"I was just asking casually," Yin Ming laughed. "Will you remember?"

The shrimp suddenly felt a jolt in its heart, like being struck by lightning during a magical duel. It was enraged and shouted, "What do you mean! Even though I'm a demon, my memory isn't that bad!"

Yin Ming sat up and smiled at it, "That's enough." He took a deep breath and said, "Miss He, maybe I'm not as unambitious as you think~"

Seeing him smile, the river shrimp was dumbfounded again. Even after Yinming said goodbye and walked into the bamboo forest, disappearing from sight, it remained frozen on the rock.

After a long silence, it spoke blankly, "Can someone change the subject and help me recover?"

...

Chapter Twenty-Eight

As night fell, the demons returned to the pond, only to find the river shrimp sitting motionless on a rock.

"Shrimp? What's wrong?" Chi went over and asked.

The river shrimp replied stiffly, "No... it's just a little stiff..."

Seeing this, the catfish sighed, "Speaking of stiffness, I once..."

"Old Catfish! Don't change the subject!!!"

= =#

The catfish looked completely innocent. "I didn't, I didn't! I meant to say that there was once a woman who waited and waited for her husband until she stiffened and turned into a stone, called the Waiting-for-Husband Cliff..."

The river shrimp almost instantly transformed into a human form, stepping on the catfish!

The blackfish and carp rushed forward and grabbed it, shouting, "Don't be impulsive!!! Shrimp!!!"

The river shrimp glared fiercely at the catfish.

Just as chaos reigned, a golden-red steed flashed by like lightning.

Qiji, slightly out of breath, said, "Master, he..."

"What's wrong with him?" River Shrimp asked dismissively.

Qi Ji looked at the demons and said, "My master's father must have listened to some nonsense and believed that my master was associating with demons, so he called a sorcerer to exorcise the demons for my master!"

"Huh? We've been discovered!!!" The blackfish and the carp exclaimed in surprise.

"It wasn't me, I've never been to Yinming's house," the crab answered honestly.

"I'm not a demon, so this shouldn't be my problem, right?" Chi innocently hugged his paws.

The catfish sighed, "That young man is naive; it's obvious someone is trying to frame him."

"Then what do we do?" the crab asked.

"It's hard to say what happens between people, so it's best if we don't interfere," the catfish said, while observing the river shrimp's expression.

The river shrimp glared at it, "You always drink their wine, but now you're so disloyal!"

The catfish stroked its whiskers. "Hey, this isn't about loyalty. He's human, and we're demons..."

The river shrimp kicked it over, then scrambled onto the horse's back. "Let's go, I'll go take a look!"

The horse galloped away. The demons looked at the catfish, whose back still bore footprints, with great pity.

The catfish struggled to its feet, sighing, "These days, being a good person comes at a price..."

"Huh? Be a good person? Who's being a good person?" Chi asked, bewildered.

"Yeah, yeah, you're not loyal at all, you're not helping Brother Yinming." Crab righteously accused.

"Old catfish, really, you're not even as loyal as a shrimp," the blackfish and carp said, looking at him.

The catfish was speechless. After thinking for a moment, it said, "Hehe, speaking of loyalty, I once..."

"Old Catfish! Don't change the subject!!!"

= =#

The river shrimp then realized how fast the steed was; in the blink of an eye, it had already arrived at the courtyard with the well.

“It’s right next door, but it’s not convenient for me to go in,” Qi Ji said.

River Shrimp dismounted, cast a spell, and entered another interconnected courtyard. The decorations there were far more impressive than this shabby villa. Pavilions, terraces, rockeries, and ponds—clearly the home of a wealthy family.

In the brightly lit hall not far away, a large group of people were gathered, chattering away. The river shrimp, with its keen hearing, overheard the commotion from the pond.

"...Those who associate with demons and monsters will find it difficult to achieve great things..."

"...moral depravity, a disgrace to the family..."

"...lacking ambition and indulging in frivolous pursuits..."

...

Sometimes, river shrimp really admire humans; they can use so many different words to describe the same thing.

The figure of a sorcerer could be vaguely seen in the hall. River Shrimp pondered for a moment, then cast a blinding spell and rushed in.

To everyone's eyes, all they saw was a colossal creature bursting through the door, stirring up gusts of eerie wind. The monster grinned sinisterly and said, "I've finally found you, Young Master Yinming. You'd better let me eat you now~"

Upon hearing this, nine out of ten people screamed in surprise, while the one who didn't scream was terrified.

The screams were nothing more than a few lines from the dialogue: "Master, Master, there's a monster!!!"

The river shrimp scoffed, reached out, grabbed Yinming, and flew away.

Unable to go to the neighboring yard or return to the pond, the river shrimp found a secluded spot to put it down.

"Miss He." Yin Ming showed no fear on his face as he greeted her with a smile.

The river shrimp rolled its eyes. "Are you human? I'm a monster! I said I'm going to eat you! Aren't you afraid?"

Yinming still smiled and said, "I told you, you can eat if you want."

The river shrimp was speechless. It sighed and drew its knife. "Alright, alright, I'm too lazy to argue with you. Let me make a few cuts to make it look more realistic."

"Do you still want me to go back?" Yin Ming asked, his tone slightly cold.

The river shrimp was stunned. "Nonsense, I'm here to prove you didn't collude with demons. Is everything alright now? I'll exchange a few blows with those sorcerers and then run away. You can just go back looking innocent, okay?"

Yinming didn't speak, he just looked at it.

The river shrimp brandished its knife, as if to say, "Stand still, don't move, or I'll regret it if I cut you in a vital spot." With that, it raised its knife and chopped down.

Yin Ming didn't flinch, but instead reached out and grabbed the blade.

"The hand injury isn't realistic enough," the river shrimp frowned.

The hand gripping the blade didn't loosen. Yin Ming smiled, "It's already very realistic..."

The river shrimp was puzzled. It looked at the man in front of it and said unhappily, "What do you mean?"

Blood slowly trickled down the blade, but Yin Ming's eyes still held a smile. "Miss He, I want to ask you something: do you still hate people?"

The river shrimp nodded without hesitation, "Ugh!"