The Little Mermaid Raising Project

Chapter 2

Dark lines. Right now, Tian Ling’s face was covered in them. A gloomy aura seemed to radiate from his handsome features, making his brother, the other Tian Ling, shiver beside him.

The younger Tian Ling’s proposal wasn’t anything outrageous. He had simply told his older brother that he’d found a high-paying, low-difficulty job—one that his brother was absolutely perfect for. Hearing this, the elder Tian Ling had readily agreed. But when the younger Tian Ling brought him to the workplace, the elder Tian Ling instantly snapped...

No wonder. No wonder his brother had insisted on going out without concealing his looks. No wonder his brother had demanded he show his real face, too. This place certainly was a low-difficulty, high-paying job…

Except—as the elder Tian Ling stared at the name of the establishment, the images conjured in his mind sent him into a full-blown rage.

It was a very large café. It was a very lavish café. Most importantly, it was a maid cafe! Several charming maids in gorgeous outfits drifted through the café, and right before Tian Ling’s eyes was a recruitment notice:

Requirements: Female, height over 160cm, age 16 and up…

There were many lines of text, but the entire job posting could be summed up in two words: Beautiful Women!

"Little brother." The elder Tian Ling placed both hands on his brother's shoulders, his grim expression unchanging. If anything, his head drooped even lower. From the younger Tian Ling's perspective, his brother’s entire face was shrouded in shadow.

"Yes," the younger Tian Ling replied, facing his brother. He seemed to have a perfect grasp of the situation. Although his older brother was radiating gloom, the younger one didn't show the slightest hint of discomfort.

"How did you find out about this?" The voice was dark and sullen. The younger Tian Ling felt his brother's grip tighten, his hands emitting a faint *creak*, like the grinding of bones.

"Oh, uh, that..." The younger Tian Ling scratched the back of his head and gave a couple of dry chuckles, "Hehe." A faint blush crept onto his cheeks. His stunningly delicate expression made several passersby blush and turn away. He leaned in close to his brother's ear and whispered, "Actually... I'm a regular here..."

*Creek.* An immense pressure suddenly bore down on the younger Tian Ling's shoulders. His brother's face was now bowed so low it was completely hidden. The elder Tian Ling had only meant to ask how his brother found the ad, but he never expected him to be a regular. In a flash, Tian Ling understood the source of their financial crisis. The younger brother saw countless black flames ignite behind his brother as his lowered head began to lift, slowly, bit by bit.

"What... did... you... say...?" The elder Tian Ling's voice wasn't loud, but it was heavy. The younger one felt his brother's hands lock onto his shoulders. He was quite certain that if his brother wished it, he could be sent flying to discuss aeronautics with the birds at any moment.

"Uhh... exactly what it sounds like." The younger Tian Ling was still chuckling, "Hehe," but now countless beads of sweat were popping out on his forehead, streaming down his face with the force of the Yellow River bursting its banks.

"And... you... think... this... is... suitable... for... me?" Each word was enunciated with painstaking clarity, every syllable stressed, especially the final "me," which was roared with such force it nearly made the younger Tian Ling's heart leap out of his chest. His brother looked at him as if he owed him a massive debt.

"Uhh... aside from the gender part, you meet all the requirements, big brother." The younger Tian Ling wiped the sweat from his brow and continued, "You're a master of housework, so this stuff would be a breeze for you. The hours aren't long, the pay is good, and most importantly..." This time, it was the younger Tian Ling who drew out his words.

"What is it?" The elder Tian Ling didn't look up, but when his brother reached this part, his own feeble curiosity was piqued. For him, whatever interested his brother usually interested him as well.

"Do you really want me to say it?" the younger Tian Ling asked, not answering directly.

"Yes!" the elder Tian Ling replied firmly.

"You're sure you want to hear it?" the younger one asked again.

"I'm sure!" The elder nodded emphatically.

"You promise not to hit me!"

"Fine!"

"Then I'll say it..."

"Just say it..."

"I'm really saying it now..."

*Smack!* A sharp rap. The younger Tian Ling's head and the elder Tian Ling's fist had another physical exchange. The younger one looked innocently at his brother's fist and mumbled, "You promised not to hit me..." Of course, his brother ignored him, clenched his teeth, and said menacingly, "Are you going to say it or not!"

"You really promise not to hit me, okay..." the younger Tian Ling reiterated.

"Okay."

"And if you do, don't hit my head! It'll make me dumber!" The younger one nodded seriously. But seeing his brother's fist about to fly again, he quickly cleared his throat. His eyes suddenly began to sparkle with a golden light. Before the words even came out, he was already staring at his brother's face, lost in a wild fantasy.

*Thump-thump-thump-thump...* A flurry of punches. The younger Tian Ling's infinite reverie was cut short by his brother's sudden attack. He clutched his head and grumbled, "I didn't even say anything..."

"I know what you were going to say!" the elder Tian Ling stated with certainty.

"What?"

"You were definitely going to say, 'I want to see my big brother dressed up as a pretty maid, with his skirt fluttering in the wind...'"

"Bingo! You're amazing, big brother! How did you guess?"

*Thump-thump-thump-thump...* His only answer was another flurry of punches.

"You promised not to hit my head! It'll make me dumber..."

Tian Ling was on the verge of exploding. Looking at her younger brother's innocent eyes, she desperately wanted to dismember the coffee shop in front of them. Helpless, Tian Ling said to her brother, "You don't really want us to work here, do you?"

"Yep, yep!" Nodding his head as furiously as a chicken pecking at grain, Tian Ling was the very picture of diligence and sincerity. In a flash, his innocent eyes began to sparkle, as if radiating countless dazzling beams of light that poured down upon Tian Ling.

Seeing her brother like this, Tian Ling felt a headache coming on. Her hands clenched into fists again, but this time, she managed to resist the urge to punch him. "Are you sure we're a good fit for this?" she asked, fuming.

"Yep, yep, yep!" Tian Ling's head bobbed even more eagerly, his eyes shining with a magnificent light. His little face instantly flushed beet red, and in the next moment, a certain devious femboy sank into a world of wild fantasies. The change was so abrupt it nearly choked Tian Ling, who had just been trying to swallow her anger.

"Go yourself if you want to!" Tian Ling snapped fiercely. If they weren't on a public street, she suspected she wouldn't have been able to stop herself from beating her brother's butt raw.

"Are you sure?" Glistening tears began to well up in his eyes.

"I'm sure!" Tian Ling made a token fist.

"Wuuu..." A single tear rolled down his cheek.

"Playing cute won't work!"

"Sis?" Tian Ling wiped his eyes, suddenly letting slip a word that nearly made Tian Ling stumble and fall.

"Er..." For a moment, Tian Ling didn't know how to react. It was as if her brother's word had instantly turned her to stone.

By the time Tian Ling snapped out of her petrification, a sobbing voice was trailing back from the distance. "Sis, I hate you!" Then, in front of Tian Ling, a cloud of dust billowed up, and the figure who had been right before her had vanished from sight.

"Huh?" Tian Ling stared after her brother's retreating figure, her mind thrown into utter chaos.

...

"Look, what a cruel older sister, making her little sister go work as a maid all by herself." This came from a passerby not far from Tian Ling. He had witnessed the whole thing and was now pointing fingers. Making such an adorable little sister work at a maid cafe? In his eyes, that was simply unforgivable! That little sister was just so cute...

"I know, right! What kind of older sister is she? Doesn't she care about her little sister at all!" This was an indignant young woman, originally drawn over by Tian Ling's cute appearance. However, she had only heard the last few lines of their conversation and naturally assumed that the older Tian Ling was forcing the younger one to get a part-time job.

"Just now, that sister even hit her little sister!" another bystander added.

"Oh my god, how could she bear to hit such a cute little sister? If I had a sister that adorable, I'd dote on her endlessly! She's so blessed and doesn't even know it."

"Is that any way for a sister to act?"

...

In an instant, the idle gossip flooded into Tian Ling's mind like a river bursting its banks. But she was in such a daze that her brain filtered out every word, leaving only one: "Sis."

*I'm a sister?* Without a doubt, Tian Ling's sensitivity to those two words far surpassed anything else. From a time she could barely remember, she and Tian Ling had always been mistaken for sisters, and the title "older sister" was a constant source of agony for her. To prevent being called that again, Tian Ling had worked hard to learn makeup. By the time they started middle school, her skills, while not yet divine, were good enough to disguise her and her brother's exquisite features as those of ordinary boys. It had been years since she'd been called "sister." And yet, today, she was once again being mistaken for Tian Ling's older sister! They were being mistaken for sisters again! How could she not be going crazy? In a sense, the word "sister" was a taboo for Tian Ling.

But today, everyone on the street thought she was a sister!

*I'm a boy!* At that moment, Tian Ling wanted to scream it, but the words wouldn't come out. She just didn't have the nerve to yell that in public!

Silence. Tian Ling stared at the crowd, then, with a sudden burst of energy from god-knows-where, she squeezed her way out at an incredible speed. *When my little sis—oh, no, my little brother gets back, I'm going to beat his butt raw!*

Little did Tian Ling know that although her makeup skills were excellent, as she and her brother grew older, their features became more and more feminine by the day. While her technique was good, it couldn't cover every detail. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't hard to spot the soft lines of Tian Ling's face. Besides, she still had long hair, didn't she? Even though it was their mother who had forbidden them from cutting it, there was no way to completely hide the feminine gentleness that came with long hair! Because of all this, plus the final "Sis!" that the younger Tian Ling had cried out, it would have been stranger if the crowd *hadn't* mistaken her for his sister!

You had to understand, the younger Tian Ling hadn't concealed his own face at all, and he had attracted quite a crowd on his way there. So naturally, there were many onlookers, and that tearful dash had shaken every one of them to their core—it was such a moving moment! It would have been bizarre if no one had stood up to speak for him!

As he watched himself tearfully run away, a pair of bright eyes glinted with a hint of triumph. Who could imagine that the owner of these eyes had just been bawling a moment ago? The younger Tian Ling had achieved exactly the effect he was aiming for.