Fina and the others were late because Fina had been searching for shells in the sand the entire way, hoping to find pearls in them. Old Time Tea was not in a hurry, either; it appreciated the scenery along the way. Snowy Lionet was just interested in flattering Fina.
To Fina’s disappointment, there were many shells hidden in the sand, but none of them had a pearl inside.
Famous was waiting for them at the cape to warn them about touching the dangerous animals.
The wet rocks didn’t bother them too much, as they had much better balance than human beings did.
If anyone were to see the mermaid floating in the water with only her head and neck out, they would think she was human. Thus, Fina and the others were astonished, indeed. With so many dangerous sea creatures about, surely nobody would be stupid enough to stay in the water.
They then noticed her dark green, curly, long hair floating on the water like seaweed. It was such a rare color and very unlike human hair.
Fina was about to ask Zhang Zian where this woman came from when the mermaid gave it an unpleasant greeting.
Fina was stunned, then looked behind it. It thought that maybe an orange cat was following it, but there was nothing behind it; the mermaid had clearly been referring to Fina.
“What did you say? Do you dare to repeat it?” Fina’s voice was not loud––almost as if it was not actually mad––but there was a chilliness creeping around in its almond-shaped eyes and its ears were tucked back like an airplane.
“Hey, is this fat orange cat yours? It can talk?” the mermaid asked Zhang Zian with a laugh.
When she turned her head, Fina could not take it anymore. It arched its back and pressed its four feet hard against the ground. Its body sprung up like an arrow, aiming towards the mermaid like a flash of lightning!
If Fina didn’t miss, her delicate face would have surely ended up with a few nasty scratches.
Old Time Tea moved its body to stop it, but paused all of a sudden. As Fina’s long coat flew in the air, its shadow only blurred slightly.
Fina suddenly realized that, if she was an ordinary human, she could not have heard it talk. Besides her rare hair color, she definitely might not be an ordinary Jane. She said those words because she had no fear.
As expected, as soon as Fina moved, the mermaid reacted.
Her wide and strong tail flew out of the water, then flapped heavily on the surface of the sea!
Flap!
The sea’s surface was dented by the flap. A meter-wide wall of water formed in front of her, rushing towards Fina’s face.
Fina didn’t think much out of rage. It thought that she was nothing but an ordinary human, but here came the surprise!
It didn’t fear water, as most cats did, but it didn’t like getting wet. A bath would have been fine, but the sea water was clearly not as clean as tap water. It had a strong, salty taste.
Then, Fina suddenly turned its body around in the air and dodged this surprising attack from an unpredictable angle. It flipped in the air and landed on another rock.
It fixated its eyes on the proud mermaid and asked while bending down, “What the heck is this thing?”
Famous and Old Time Tea were also shocked at this wave attack. This new elfin was nothing to be overlooked.
“Don’t fight yet.”
Afraid that these two would start fighting again, Zhang Zian quickly stepped between them to intervene. At the beach, the mermaid clearly had an advantage. If they had really started a fight, Fina might not be on the winning side. Zian had unintentionally noticed some giant tentacles moving beneath the water––a lot of scary creatures might be lurking under the blue water.
In the first round, the mermaid had some advantages, but she was afraid of Fina’s strike speed. It was fast like a bolt of lightning.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest and squinted at Fina, on alert.
“Hey! Ajeossi, tell me now which is the shortest way to swim to Korea. I must see Oppa right away!” she said as she raised her voice, then pointed east and west. “This way or that way?”
“Neither way is short. Both are halfway around the earth,” Zhang Zian said, then pointed downward. “If you want a shortcut, swim down. The shortest distance between two points is the straight line.”
“Really?” She was excited to hear this, then dove into the water.
A moment later, she came up from the water while crying. There was a red patch on her forehead…
“You are lying! There are rocks down there!” she said as she wept.
Zhang Zian was speechless.
What she did was so stupid that it didn’t even appear as though she had faked it. Even Fina found it funny and slowly let its guard down a little.
“Zian.” Old Time Tea lifted one front paw and waved it secretly at Zhang Zian to call him to the side.
“Grandpa Tea?” Zhang Zian followed it.
“Zian, what’s wrong with this elfin? Why can’t I understand what she’s saying? Am I too old for this?” Old Time Tea asked in confusion.
“Quack! That’s because she’s speaking broken Korean with very bad pronunciation.” Richard hid back into Zhang Zian’s hoodie while Fina and the mermaid were fighting. Now it stretched out its head and said, “This mermaid is so stupid. She somehow thinks that she’s a mermaid from Korea. Even I can tell there’s something wrong with her brain!”
Zhang Zian looked back. Fina and the mermaid were still in silent rivalry. The mermaid rubbed her forehead as if she was in pain. She wouldn’t be starting any trouble… for now.
Zian explained, “Old Time Tea, I’m guessing that this elfin is an imaginative elfin. She was like a blank piece of paper when she became an elfin, then she accidentally saw a Korean drama from a tourist at the beach. The Korean drama may have some overlap with her past. She was influenced without realizing it and picked up the Korean accent. She also picked up the outspoken and shrewd characters of most female characters in Korean dramas.”
Old Time Tea suddenly understood everything and sighed. “No wonder… As the saying goes, ‘Man on earth, good at birth.’ No matter if it’s humans or animals, they are a piece of white paper at birth. Their character depends on nurture and past experience. It’s the same with imaginative elfins.”
Zhang Zian nodded. Old Time Tea’s words were famous.
Old Time Tea murmured for a moment and continued, “Zian, do you know what follows ‘man on earth, good at birth’?”
Zhang Zian thought for awhile and then answered, “The same nature, varies on nurture. With no education, there’d be aberration. To teach well, you deeply dwell. The Mencius’ mother, chose her neighbor. At Mencius sloth, she cut the cloth…”
Human nature was good at birth. Different characters, depending on how they were nurtured, grew up to be either good or bad.
Without proper education, the good nature would turn bad. To avoid having people turn bad, the most important method was to focus on education from childhood forward.
Old Time Tea nodded with a smile, then looked at that poor mermaid and said, “Zian, from what I observed just now, this elfin isn’t bad in nature, and is not outspoken, either. She just talks like a child––just like a kid who learned some bad words from other people and then repeated them for fun. Parents can’t punish this kid, but should not ignore this, either. What do you think?”
Zhang Zian listened and learned.
In fact, the moment he recited the Trimetric Classic, he had already understood Old Time Tea.
Old Time Tea continued, “As you said, she just turned into an elfin not long ago. It’s still possible to mold her character. She might look like an adult, but in fact, she’s just a child at heart… I believe in words such as ‘growing in the mud but remain untainted.’ She’s untainted because she’s been washed by clean water. She is a beauty. I can’t watch her become corrupt like this.”
Zhang Zian admired the big empathetic heart of Old Time Tea the most in the world.
He looked sideways at the blue ocean and smiled. “I get it, Grandpa Tea. Let’s put more work in on ourselves, and be the clean water for her.”