I woke up to find myself as the villain's older sister.

Before the girl's parents could speak, a richly dressed man standing nearby burst into laughter.

Looking at Liang Jiao with disdain, he said, "Of course she's good. In a few days, she will become my twelfth concubine. You can rest assured that once she becomes my concubine, she will enjoy endless wealth and honor."

“Impossible!” Liang Jiao immediately retorted. Mingyue had said that she would rather be alone for the rest of her life than be a concubine.

"Why not?" the man scoffed. "She's just a lowly fisherwoman. To be my concubine is already a great honor for her. How could she possibly refuse?"

Liang Jiao paused for a moment, enduring the pain in her body, and said to the man, "Then... will you prepare the three letters and six rites for Mingyue...?"

"The three letters and six rites? Hahaha!" The man laughed as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world. "Her? A mere fisherwoman, does she deserve my betrothal letter?"

What is an employment letter? Liang Jiao didn't understand, but she felt very sad.

Having revealed his true form and been separated from the ocean for an extended period, he eventually fainted due to physical and mental pain.

As he closed his eyes, he gazed longingly at the wooden house that exuded the scent of a girl, his eyes filled with reluctance.

"Hey, he seems to have fainted. Will it affect the quality of the flesh?" The man frowned, kicked the merman beside him with disgust, and asked the cultivator next to him.

"No, young master," the cultivator said with a fawning smile. "He just fainted. As long as he's still alive, it'll be no different from killing him on the spot."

The man then relaxed his brow and said to the cultivator, "Although these merfolk are disgusting, they are incredibly valuable. Let's be careful nothing goes wrong."

Just in case, let's kill it here in this little fishing village. Then you can get some ice, freeze it, and transport it back to the county town.

But remember this: when you're killing, don't waste a single drop of blood on me. Catch every last drop!

"Yes, yes, yes." The cultivator bowed and nodded hurriedly, then ordered his men to drag the merman off the ground.

The commotion in the village was quite loud, and the villagers couldn't help but curiously peek out of their windows to see what had happened.

Some of the bolder ones even ran out of the house and watched from afar.

After the merman was dragged away, the man noticed the villagers and said loudly and cheerfully, "Everyone saw it! Today, I, this young master, captured a merman, and I am very happy."

I'm not a stingy person. Tomorrow, when we're slaughtering them, I'll give every villager who comes to support me a piece of mermaid flesh for free!

Upon hearing this, the villagers cheered. What was mermaid flesh? These villagers who lived by the sea had only ever heard of it in stories.

Mermaid flesh can prolong life.

Mermaid bones are believed to bring good fortune and ward off misfortune.

Mermaid blood can cure all diseases.

……

All sorts of miraculous effects have been passed down from the stories, and now that they can see them for themselves, how could they not be excited?

after one day.

The weather was sunny, and the girl's window was opened, letting in a gentle breeze.

Upon seeing the long-awaited light, the girl was momentarily stunned, wrinkling her eyes in discomfort, but greedily inhaling the rare fresh air.

The girl's parents walked into the house with smiles on their faces, carrying a bowl of soup.

He placed the soup on the table, carefully untied the ropes binding the girl, and took out the cloth strip that had been used to gag her.

Because she had been bound for a long time, the girl's limbs had become numb, and even after the ropes were untied, she could not move.

She looked at the porcelain bowl on the table, her voice hoarse from being unable to speak for so long, "Mother, what's that?"

With a gentle smile on her face, the woman said to the girl, "My dear Mingyue, this is a rare and highly nourishing food. Come, let me feed you."

For some reason, the girl felt a strange sense of resistance. "No, Mother, I won't drink it. Please, Mother, Liang Jiao is a mermaid, but he is really a good person. Please don't marry me off to the county magistrate's son."

"Mother, I love him, I want to be with him, please grant us your blessing."

The woman still had a gentle smile on her face as she said tenderly to the girl, "Mingyue, be good. I promise you, after you finish this bowl of soup, you will be able to meet."

"Really?" the girl asked, half-believing.

"From childhood to adulthood, when has your mother ever lied to you?"

"What kind of soup is this...?"

The woman fed the girl several sips before smiling and saying, "This is fish soup."

"Fish...soup?" Upon hearing this, the girl looked confused for a moment.

"Yes, Mingyue, come on, there's one more bite."

……

A few days later, the villagers of the fishing village all contracted a strange disease.

They inexplicably grew scales like fish, and even their ears gradually mutated into fin-like shapes.

The villagers were immediately gripped by panic.

"This must be the merman's revenge!"

"We ate his flesh and blood, and his soul was disturbed, so he came to take revenge on us!"

The villagers gathered together and spoke angrily.

The girl who was passing by heard these words, and a cruel truth gradually became clear to her.

She ran home and looked at her parents, who also had fish fins, and asked the question she had never dared to face: "Dad, Mom, what exactly was that bowl of soup you fed me that day?"

Seeing that her parents didn't speak, the girl whispered, "It's his, isn't it? It's Liangjiao's."

You killed him and ate his flesh and blood, and you felt guilty towards me, so you gave me his flesh and blood to eat as well.

Is it right? "

"You...you knew all along?" The girl's mother's voice trembled slightly. "I was only doing this for your own good. You're going to marry the county magistrate's son. It's said that mermaid flesh has the effect of prolonging life and beautifying the skin."

The county magistrate's son has many wives and concubines; if you don't eat them, how can you compete with them?

The girl looked coldly at her mother and realized that her mother seemed different since she grew up.

As for what was different, she couldn't say, nor did she want to delve into it. She simply said, "But Mother, in my current state, how can I possibly win the favor of the county magistrate's son?"

After saying that, the girl stroked the fish fin on her ear, looked at the woman, and smiled mockingly.

The girl's mother then noticed that her daughter had grown fins at some point, and for a moment it felt like the sky had fallen.

"Oh dear, what are we going to do!"

“The county magistrate’s son’s sedan chair will arrive in two days. How are you going to help your brother make a future if you’re like this?”

As the girl was crying and making a fuss, the woman seemed to have thought of something and said to her, "Mingyue, you must have a way, right? You must have a way to cure this fin disease, right?"

After saying that, the woman muttered to herself, "Right, that merman loves you so much, he must not want to lose you either..."

"He kept talking about you before he died. He must have wanted you to be with him. Yes... that must be it..."

Amidst her rambling, a glint of ruthlessness flashed in the woman's eyes. In any case, she couldn't let Mingyue go to the county magistrate's mansion.

If she marries someone like that, it will definitely scare the county magistrate's son. He will then hold her son accountable, and how will her son live his life?

After that day, the girl was tied up in the room again, and rumors spread outside that sacrificing the girl could cure fin disease.

The sun was blazing at the beach.

The villagers gathered together, watching the girl tied to the wooden frame and whispering among themselves.

His eyes were filled with excitement and relief.

A toddler tugged at his father's sleeve and innocently asked, "Daddy, if we offer this beautiful lady as a sacrifice to the merman, will the merman forgive us?"

The man said firmly to the child, "Yes, it will happen. This is the girl he loves most. Once the Merman gets her, he will forgive us."

Hearing her father's confirmation, the child's eyes sparkled as she looked at the girl on the shelf, a look of pity crossing her eyes. "But Daddy, this sister is so pitiful..."

The child's voice was very soft, and it sank like a stone into the sea amidst the noisy whispers; no one heard it.

The girl's parents walked up to the wooden frame with torches in hand. "Mingyue, don't blame your parents for being heartless. This matter started because of you, and it should end with you."

The girl looked at her unfamiliar parents with indifferent eyes and slowly said, "Father, Mother, if you do this, the county magistrate's son's sedan chair won't be able to pick up the person tomorrow. Aren't you afraid he'll blame you?"

Upon hearing this, the girl's parents smiled and said, "Don't worry, Mingyue, you and the county magistrate's son have never met. We've already found a girl who is even more beautiful than you."

It might not be as useful as family members, but that's just how it is; after all, your brother's future is more important.

"And even if no one else is chosen, Mingyue doesn't need to worry about us. After all, the county magistrate's son has many wives and concubines, so he probably doesn't need another woman like you."

After saying this, the girl's parents threw torches into the woodpile, and as time went on, the flames grew stronger and stronger.

The girl looked at the raging flames surrounding her, her eyes expressionless.

Indeed, the county magistrate's son didn't lack another woman, and the person who truly cared about her had already left.

She was not afraid of death; on the contrary, she had expectations, hoping that, as the villagers said, their souls would reunite after death...