The grass in the factory should be plucked

In order to prevent her "heavenly voice" from scaring passing ships, Jiang Li contacted Xiaoou, who was serving in the Fujian Navy, through a contract.

She asked Xiaoou to tell Yuan Shouhe that if a warship passed by the East China Sea and heard singing in the middle of the night, he should not be afraid or careless, as she and Xie Changan were "performing official duties" there and no one was allowed to approach.

"Yes, Master!"

Although Xiaoou was a little puzzled, he still relayed Jiang Li's orders to Yuan Shouhe verbatim.

Yuan Shouhe couldn't help but widen his eyes as he looked at the flag signal that Xiaoou had spent a long time to piece together.

"Midnight Song"? What the hell is this?!

It's really difficult for Xiaoou. When the navy designed the flag signals, where was the option of "midnight singing"?

Fortunately, Yuan Shouhe and Xiaoou had been together for such a long time that they had a certain tacit understanding with each other. After some guessing, he finally figured out what it meant.

I wonder what secret mission those two are carrying out? It's weird.

Yuan Shouhe muttered, summoned the messenger, and issued the military order:

"Prince Jing'an and Duke Dingguo are on duty in the East China Sea. If you hear 'midnight singing' coming from the sea, do not spy or disturb them!"

When the generals received the order, they were also completely confused. What were those two doing?

Han Xiang, who had traveled with Jiang Li and Xie Changan, was quite calm.

"The prince and the duke have great powers. How can mortals like us spy on what they are going to do?"

Deputy General Zhao was surprised, "Are they going to capture mermaids? Legend has it that there are mermaids in the East China Sea, and their tears turn into pearls! The lamp oil refined by mermaids will not go out for ten thousand years. I heard that the eternal lamps in the imperial mausoleum are made of this kind of lamp oil!"

I have to say, he guessed half right.

Jiang Li didn't want to catch mermaids to make lamp oil, she just wanted to lure them out. It would be even better if she could find Dandan's little childhood sweetheart Pearl.

The personal soldiers under Vice General Zhao were even more curious: "Why would there be singing in the middle of the night when the prince and the duke are catching mermaids?"

"Do you want to sing a song to lure those mermaids out?"

Deputy General Zhao slapped his thigh and said, "You don't understand this, do you? Legend has it that mermaids will use their singing to confuse passing ships, lure people over and eat them! Your Majesty, you are trying to get rid of this evil for the people!"

"Ah..." All the soldiers were very impressed.

They had also worked with those two and witnessed them coming on dragons. In their eyes, Prince Jing'an and Duke Dingguo were the banished immortals who had come to the earth. Isn't it normal for them to go to the sea to catch mermaids?

"I heard that mermaids have fish tails and human bodies, and female mermaids are even more stunningly beautiful. I wonder if we will have a chance to feast our eyes on them?"

All the soldiers had longing looks on their faces, and they couldn't wait to join in the fun.

For three consecutive nights, Jiang Li sat in the pavilion floating on the sea and sang to the moon, but failed to attract the mermaid to appear. Instead, the legend of the "Siren" spread along the coast of the East China Sea.

The merchant ship that heard the sirens' song with its own ears still has lingering fears in its hearts.

The merchant ship was carrying ten boxes of Damascus rose water. The owner of the goods was in a hurry, so the captain gritted his teeth and decided to rush back to Quanzhou Port overnight - this rose water is easy to evaporate when exposed to heat, and every day of delay would result in a loss of several hundred taels of silver.

The sea was as black as ink at midnight, but fortunately the weather was fine and the sea was calm.

Suddenly, the captain's hand holding the rudder trembled violently.

"Did you hear anything?"

The sailors all looked towards the dark sea.

At this moment, they all heard it, a burst of extremely shrill singing piercing the night, like millions of steel needles piercing the eardrums at the same time!

Everyone's expression changed.

"Who is singing?" The old sailor Li Erzhu's knuckles turned white as he gripped the rope. He had been at sea for twenty years and had never heard such a mournful song!

Especially in the pitch-black sea, how could there be singing? And how could it be so scary?

Xiao Shunzi, who was at the stern of the boat, slumped down on the deck, his teeth chattering, "Could it be... a water ghost claiming my life?"

"Bullshit!" The captain spat, but couldn't hide his trembling voice, "It must be the mermaids who are causing trouble! I heard that mermaids are good at using their singing to seduce people..."

"I heard from the old people in the village that the singing voices of mermaids are extremely beautiful. This... I'm afraid it's a sea monster like Yaksha?"

No matter whether it was a mermaid or a siren, everyone was terrified.

Everyone's face turned pale and they huddled in the cabin, not daring to move. They let the ship drift on the sea and were forced to listen to the "Song of the Sirens" all night.

The singing did not stop until the sky turned pale in the east.

Upon hearing that a "sea monster" had appeared in the East China Sea, local officials hurriedly reported the matter to the Fujian Navy and asked them to send a warship to check out whether it was a human or a monster, or whether it was pirates.

The fleet of Longmen Trading Company has also started to engage in maritime trade. If their merchant ships are hijacked by pirates, the local officials will be in big trouble!

Yuan Shouhe smiled at the clerk who delivered the letter and said, "Tell your master to appease the people and not to panic."

He lowered his voice, with a mysterious look on his face, "I have received a message from Prince Jing'an that she and Duke Dingguo are on official business in the East China Sea. If you hear midnight singing coming from the sea, just avoid it."

The clerk went back to report with a puzzled look on his face.

Thus, among the merchant ships and fishermen out at sea, the following news began to spread:

"There is a man-eating sea monster haunting the East China Sea. Anyone who hears her singing will be frightened to death on the spot! But everyone, don't be afraid. Prince Jing'an and Duke Dingguo have been ordered to catch the sea monster. With the God of War, they will definitely be able to eradicate the sea monster and restore peace to the East China Sea!"

If everyone finally found out that the scary "sea monster" was Prince Jing'an himself, what would they think?

Jiang Li had no idea about these rumors and she was worried.

He sang for six whole nights until his voice became hoarse. Not only the mermaids, but all the creatures in this sea area ran away!

“Hahahaha…” Longdan laughed so hard that he fell backwards.

Jiang Li was furious: "Who am I doing this for? If I didn't want to help you find your little pearl, I would have walked away long ago!"

Longdan was deeply moved: "Sister..."

Xie Changan said: "Little Li Nu, don't force yourself, your health is more important."

"Okay, okay, let's try again tonight. If we can't find it, we'll go back."

That night, Jiang Li sat in the white marble pavilion again, facing the sparkling sea, cleared his throat, and began to sing: "This beautiful night, let's not waste it..."

At this time, a very pleasant voice was heard, "Oh, it turns out that it is you who is ruining the reputation of us mermaids!"

Jiang Li and Xie Changan were both shocked.

The moonlight was just right at this time, and the silver-plate-like moon cast a layer of cold light on the sea surface.

Amid the surging waves, a figure broke out of the water, and its scales glowed like pearls in the moonlight.

A mermaid came walking on the waves, her wet black hair hanging down like seaweed, her blue tail fin swaying gracefully, splashing bits of moonlight.

Jiang Li took a closer look and saw that the mermaid was extremely beautiful, with a pair of deep blue eyes that shone like stars, and thin red lips that were slightly raised under her high nose bridge. Her voice was clear, but with an ethereal echo.

"My name is Mingzhu, what's yours?"