Sihwa lowered her head and touched the “call” icon repeatedly with her finger. However, as there was no SIM card in the phone, she could neither dial nor text.
Zhang Zian watched her loneliness in silence. Empathy and sadness filled his heart.
He knew that she was lonely. She was all by herself every day in a small room, watching the world outside from a small window. She only had some occasional interactions with Fina. He had been out a lot these days and had even barely talked to her.
She was lonely, as she was neither considered herself a human nor a fish. She might be the only mermaid in the world. There was no other of her kind.
The other elfins in the shop, whether cats or dogs, had many companions. Even Pi had companions––countless monkeys tapping keyboards all day. Sihwa was the only one without a companion, born all by herself into the world.
She yearned to be loved. That was why she became so obsessed with Korean dramas that were known for their love romances. There were other mermaids in the Korean dramas she watched. She was loved by the hero. They lived happily ever after in the end.
Who didn’t want happiness? Even if the happiness was imaginary.
She would rather believe that there was a handsome, rich young man waiting for her with a smile somewhere far away. It became her belief and obsession. Otherwise, how could she survive the countless days and nights thereafter?
Zhang Zian uttered, “You just want to make a phone call? Why don’t you just tell me?”
Sihwa lifted her head and looked at him with red eyes. “What?”
“I can help you get a phone card. Then you can make phone calls––not only phone calls, but you can also text, WeChat, and use any other communication tool you need,” Zhang Zian said.
“Really?”
She finally smiled in surprise. “Does it cost money to make phone calls? But I don’t have money…”
“Just owe it like that. Anyhow, you still owe me a cellphone, a bubble bath bomb, around seven tons of tap water, 50kwh of commercial electricity…” Zhang Zian named a few things while counting his fingers.
“…A-jeoan, you’ll never have a girlfriend if you stay this cheap!” She was totally speechless, but her sadness was gone.
“Quack! …Quack?”
Zhang Zian knew what Richard was about to say. Before it had uttered a word, he took the green basin and tossed it where the sound came from so that Richard would shut up completely.
“But even if you can make a call, you must know the number of whom you want to call. Do you know the number?” he asked.
Sihwa shook her head slowly. “I don’t know for now, but I will find out.” Her voice and tone were gentle, but full of resolution.
“Fine. After lunch, I’ll go to the closest mobile service branch and get you a phone card,” Zhang Zian said.
He could apply for a phone card online, but the mailing would take a long time. It was more convenient to drop by the mobile service branch so that he could get it right away.
“Well… Well…” She repeated the word “well” for a long time, then finally spoke in a low voice, “Thank you.”
Right after that, she looked out of the window.
If Zhang Zian remembered correctly, it was the first time she had said “thank you.” Before that, no matter what request she had made, she looked as if she took everything for granted.
He remembered Old Time Tea’s words and wanted to wash the mud-tainted lotus flower with clean water.
The two words were short, but they were solid progress.
“You are welcome,” Zhang Zian said. “By the way, you still owe me the 19 RMB monthly fee.”
“Humph! Cheap!” Sihwa turned her head back, staring at him in anger.
Zhang Zian confessed: “I have no choice! My business is small. Do you think I’m making easy money? I want to save every single penny.”
“Then you are stupid! The heros in dramas all make billions per minute! Their gift to the heroines are either houses or sports cars!” she complained.
“If you are not stupid, would you like to try making money? Not to mention one billion per minute, if you can make a few bucks per minute, you’ll be able to pay off what you owe me soon. I’ll never complain about it again.” Zhang Zian shrugged.
“If… If I want to make money, I can make a lot in an instant!” she said like an a** in a lion’s skin. “Right! Swimming is tiresome. I’ll buy a ticket to Korea, the first class cabin of a luxury cruise! I’ll also buy a lot of big and pretty diamond rings. I’ll kill that fat orange cat with jealousy!”
“Oh? How do you want to make money then? Don’t tell me you want to sell your body. You’ll have to find a buyer first,” Zhang Zian ridiculed intentionally.
“I…” Sihwa rolled her eyes with her mouth open but didn’t know what to say.
How could she possibly make money in this tiny space of a bathroom?
Pi’s typing sound traveled from outside. She heard that Pi could make money by writing novels, but she could not write novels. She could not even type. Not to mention that she could not have a computer in the bathroom.
She glanced at her phone with head down and took notice of the live broadcast app. Her eyes became bright.
“Yes! I can do live broadcast like that Snowy girl!” She lifted the phone up with full confidence. “I should be able to make money in live broadcast, right?”
“You can make money in live broadcast. Good hosts can’t make billions per minute, but I heard they can make at least a million a day!” Zhang Zian admitted. “But they have special talents. They are either good at arts or games. What’s your special talent?”
“I…” Sihwa didn’t know what to say. “I have a super long tail!”
To prove what she said, she lifted her strong, light blue tail out of the tub. Water and bubbles flew down the translucent tail fin like a waterfall.
Zhang Zian said, “…I suggest you stop it there. What’s your long tail good for? A few servings of Diced Pepper Fish Tail?”
“Humph! A-jeoan, you’re looking down on me! When I get serious, I frighten myself! That Snowy doesn’t have any special talent!” She pretended to be mean and angry. “Anyway, I want to do live broadcast! I want to make money! I want to make a million a day! I… Teach me how to do live broadcast!”
Unable to withstand her repeated begging, Zhang Zian finally downloaded the host version of the app and taught her how to do live broadcast.
To put an end to the obscenity in live broadcasts, the platforms were more and more regulated. The host identity must be verified so that nobody could do live broadcasts without authentication.
An ID and bank card were also needed for identity verification. Sihwa didn’t have either of those, and could not borrow them from anyone else. She had to use Zhang Zian’s. Even the cell number was Zhang Zian’s number.
It was almost noon and he became hungry. He finished her identity verification very quickly.
“A-jeoan, why are you so familiar with the verification procedures?” she asked in doubt.
“Well… This is none of your business!” Zhang Zian didn’t want to answer her question.
When he first got to know Snowy, he envied the gifts and rewards that Snowy received. He also thought about making money by broadcasting cat poop scooping, and had tried it seriously in secret. Of course, nobody wanted to watch that. It didn’t end very well. It became one of his old stories that he didn’t want anyone to find out.
“Quack! I think this is very suspicious!” Richard’s voice came from the outside of the bathroom. It mimicked Detective Conan’s voice and said, “Ahaha! There is only one truth!”
“I’m going downstairs for lunch, then I’ll get you a phone card. You can play with it yourself for now and familiarize yourself with the phone. If you have any questions, you can ask me after I come back.”
Zhang Zian pinched his fist to teach that smarta** grey parrot a lesson.
“Quack! Help! Someone’s killing the bird witness! Help!” Richard had foreseen the upcoming danger and fluttered its wings to fly downstairs before he came out, trying to hide from the danger.
“Aha!” Sihwa concurred half-heartedly, then lowered her head and played with the phone. Her entire mind was on the live broadcast app.
“You, freeze!”
Zhang Zian chased after Richard.
He didn’t stop Sihwa from playing with the live broadcast. He felt that for a childish mermaid like her, she might only be interested in live broadcasting for no more than three minutes. Soon, she would feel totally discouraged due to a lack of an audience, just like he did in the past.