Chapter 213: Belonging

Yun Jiao was fair and soft, like a little glutinous rice ball.

But the sight of her tiny body dragging such a large and heavy Manta Ray created an incredible contrast, enough to make one question reality.

Yun Jiao only walked a short distance before stopping. She was much more agile in the sea. Even for her, dragging such a massive Manta Ray on land was a struggle. In the water, she could use the buoyancy to get the fish ashore.

Yun Jiao stared with her big eyes at the family that wanted to snatch her fish.

She pursed her lips, not saying a word, but the message on her pretty little face was vivid and clear.

’That should be enough proof, right?’

The Village Chief’s mouth hung open for a long while before he recovered.

"AHEM... All right, this fish now fully proves that Yun Jiao was the one who found it first."

Seeing that the family still looked reluctant and wanted to say something, the Village Chief shut them down with a single sentence.

"Or else you can find someone, too. If anyone can move this fish, I won’t say another word."

And wouldn’t you know it, as soon as the Village Chief finished speaking, the man from their family actually stepped forward to try.

As it turned out, the Manta Ray didn’t just look heavy—it was *really* heavy!

In the end, they could only leave in disappointment.

Yun Linhai grinned from ear to ear, picked up Yun Jiao, and walked toward the Manta Ray with a goofy smile.

HEH HEH HEH HEH...

Such a huge fish, and it was theirs.

His daughter was truly amazing, so capable.

The other villagers were now truly envious and jealous of Yun Linhai’s family.

Now, no one would dare say they had picked up a burden. This wasn’t a burden at all; she was clearly a lucky star, the family’s main pillar of support!

Putting everything else aside, just her strength alone would be a huge help to the family when they went out fishing.

"Your family is so lucky. All that effort raising Jiaojiao wasn’t for nothing."

"Why wasn’t it our family that found Jiaojiao? We only have one child. If we had found her back then, we would have definitely treated her well."

"Just a bit of bad luck. Actually, when I first heard that Yun Linhai’s family had found a baby girl, I was thinking that if they couldn’t find her relatives and didn’t want her because they already had so many kids to raise, I would’ve adopted her."

"She’s only three years old and has already brought the family such a huge haul. Imagine what she’ll be capable of later! If only my family had found her back then."

This was all just talk in hindsight.

Before, they had laughed at Yun Linhai’s family, thinking they were suckers for raising someone else’s child—a girl who was destined to be married off anyway.

Now, they desperately wanted to be those suckers.

The Village Chief was envious too, but he was more philosophical about it.

Things like fate were a profound mystery.

"What are you going to do with this fish? Can Ah Wang’s side handle it?"

The fish was too big. The Village Chief went to take a look and confirmed it was still fresh. It had some wounds on its body, which looked like bites from a large sea creature.

Ah Wang was also circling the Manta Ray, his eyes shining. "Brother Lin Hai, a fish this big is definitely too much for one person to eat. I can help you contact a few buyers and see if they can buy this Manta Ray together. How they split it up will be their business."

"Okay, I’ll have to trouble you then."

Just as Yun Linhai and the others finished discussing with Ah Wang, they turned around and found that Yun Jiao was gone.

"Where’s Jiaojiao?"

"Yun Jiao!!!"

That voice, clearly filled with anger, belonged to Shen Yunlian.

It turned out that while the adults weren’t paying attention, Yun Jiao had run back into the sea.

It was because the little Manta Ray was making a fuss.

The first thing the little one saw after being born was Yun Jiao. It was also Yun Jiao who had brought it to the sea and watched it learn to swim.

It saw Yun Jiao as family, a mother-like figure.

Just a moment ago, it had been desperately trying to find Yun Jiao, flapping its way toward the shore until a wave washed it up.

If it could cry, the little fellow would definitely be wailing its heart out.

How could it be left all alone in the sea!

So, Yun Jiao had no choice but to put it back in the water.

The little Manta Ray was currently circling her and nuzzling against her, not wanting her to leave.

Hearing her mom’s shout, Yun Jiao’s little face crumpled in distress.

’A spanking was definitely unavoidable, but the problem was what to do with this clingy little Manta Ray?’

After thinking it over, Yun Jiao came up with a great idea.

She would hand it over to the killer whales.

As for the fact that the killer whales were the ones who killed its mother... well, the little Manta Ray didn’t know that anyway.

So, after painstakingly coaxing the little Manta Ray, Yun Jiao finally came ashore.

’Who could understand? She was only a few months away from turning four, yet she was already experiencing the troubles of raising a child.’

However, Yun Jiao wasn’t opposed to raising a Manta Ray like this.

Although Merfolk were solitary creatures, they were intelligent beings, and some of their habits were a bit like humans.

They liked to live alone, but they didn’t like being too lonely.

So, aside from hunting, they often developed a special hobby.

And that was keeping pets.

The pets here, of course, were marine creatures.

In her past life, Yun Jiao had raised a sea turtle as big as a small island, and a Black Striped Tiger Shark that looked very similar to a killer whale but was dozens of times larger than the killer whales of this world.

There was also a Giant-toothed Shark that was vastly larger than a Great White Shark with numerous massive teeth, and an Abyssal Sea Monster.

The Abyssal Sea Monster was basically a super, super-sized version of an octopus.

’Wasn’t it just raising pets, or underlings? She was very experienced in this.’

As she was lost in thought, pondering how to entrust the little Manta Ray to the killer whales, she was suddenly grabbed. The next second, her bottom was smacked several times.

Yun Jiao: !!!

’Even though I was mentally prepared, and it didn’t even hurt, getting spanked is still super embarrassing, okay!’

"No hitting, no hitting..."

Seeing Yun Jiao being spanked, Yun Sui rushed over anxiously and hugged Shen Yunlian’s arm.

Yun Xiaowu and the others also grabbed Yun Jiao, hiding her behind them. Her brothers shielded her completely.

Yun Xiaowu spoke like a little adult, "If you want to talk, then talk! Why are you hitting Jiaojiao!"

Yun Xiao Liu nodded. "Yeah, Mom, you’re going too far."

Yun Xiaoqi stiffened his neck. "Auntie, Jiaojiao is still little. Don’t hit her. If you have to hit someone, hit me."

Yun Xiao Ba didn’t say anything, just stubbornly protected Yun Jiao.

Yun Xiaojiu’s eyes were brimming with tears. "Mom, sister’s hurting."

Shen Yunlian: ...

’What was with this? They’re making me out to be some unforgivable villain.’

She couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes.

Yun Jiao rubbed her little bottom, her pretty face flushed red.

"Mom, next time, can you not spank my bottom?"

Even a pretty little girl has her pride.

Shen Yunlian said irritably, "You’re already thinking about a next time!"

’Yun Jiao felt a pang of guilt. She didn’t know if there would be a "next time" for others, but for her, there definitely would be.’

"What are you still standing there for? Go change your clothes. Aren’t you worried about the seawater being cold? We’ll see how miserable you are when you catch a cold."

Saying this, she pushed aside her sons and nephews, picked up Yun Jiao, and headed home.

As soon as she was changed into dry clothes, Yun Jiao tried to dash outside again.

’The little Manta Ray is still out there.’

Granny Yun came out holding a bowl of ginger soup.

"Where are you running off to? Quick, come drink this ginger soup."

Yun Jiao ran even faster.

But she didn’t get far before Yun Linhai caught her and carried her back, looking thoroughly dejected.

"You won’t even drink ginger soup? What, you’d rather drink medicine?"

Yun Jiao flailed her arms and legs, shouting, "I won’t catch a cold! I’m perfectly healthy."

’No way I’m drinking medicine. Is that stuff even fit for human consumption?!’

"I have to go find the little Manta Ray and arrange a home for it, or it will die."

’An underling raised from a young age would definitely be useful in the future.’