Chapter 73

The next morning, Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er, after getting up and finishing breakfast, began preparing the items needed for setting up a stall. After they were ready, Fei Er and Mo De also came over with their prepared goods. Thus the four of them again set off together and went to the gathering.

When Zhang Fan's and Fei Er's families arrived at their stalls at the gathering, they saw that the stall next to theirs, which had always been empty, was now packed with people. Both Zhang Fan and Fei Er were curious; Zhang Fan thought about it but couldn't figure it out, so he curiously looked up at Ba Ke Er and asked, "Ba Ke Er, what tribe is the neighboring stall from? Can you smell it?" Seeing Zhang Fan's curiosity, Fei Er also stared at Mo De with big eyes, hoping Mo De would give him an answer.

Ba Ke Er, seeing his beloved so eager to know, didn't keep them in suspense; he sniffed the air and discovered, besides the usual tribal scents he often smelled, there was also a faint fishy odor coming from the ocean. Although the smell was light, his keen nose still caught it. Mo De also smelled it, but the two males were both puzzled—there had never been such a scent before; could a new tribe have arrived?

Before Ba Ke Er and Mo De could answer their beloved's question, they saw Mi Ya Luo squeeze out from the crowd, holding a piece of colorful dragon silk in her hand. Mi Ya Luo also saw Zhang Fan's group, so she immediately stepped forward to greet everyone.

"Hi! Zhang Fan, Fei Er, how are you? You've finally come out to set up a stall again! Great! By the way, do you still have those accessories you sold before? I bought some earlier, and Am liked them a lot, so I want to buy some more to bring back as gifts for Am!"

Seeing business coming his way, Zhang Fan, even though he was still curious about the neighboring stall, could only set his curiosity aside for now.

"Of course there are still some! Fei Er and I had prepared plenty of accessories earlier. By the way, we forgot to bring out some headpieces last time to sell, but we brought them today. You can take a look at them later; they might suit you." Mi Ya Luo heard this and became even happier.

"Really? That's great! I just bought some dragon silk from the Mermaid Tribe, and when I get back I can use the dragon silk to make beautiful clothes and then match them with those lovely accessories!"

Zhang Fan, Fei Er, and their group heard Mi Ya Luo mention the Mermaid Tribe and dragon silk, and only then did Ba Ke Er and Mo De understand. They calmly thought to themselves: So it's the Mermaid Tribe! No wonder there's a fishy smell. Zhang Fan and Fei Er reacted differently, thinking: Wow! The Mermaid Tribe! I have to go see them! And there's precious dragon silk to buy! How wonderful!

Thinking this, Zhang Fan and Fei Er lost interest in selling, and directly handed the selling task over to the two male Beastmen, Ba Ke Er and Mo De. Carrying a large bag of shell coins, they ran to the neighboring stall, and upon reaching its edge they began desperately squeezing inside, fearing that if they were slow the merfolk would leave.

After the two of them exerted tremendous effort, they finally managed to squeeze inside. Once in, Zhang Fan and Fei Er saw the so-called Mermaid Tribe. Zhang Fan saw that inside the stall there were two mermen with tails and two individuals with long legs. He was puzzled: weren't they supposed to be merfolk? Why were there humans? Could they be like Beastmen, where males can shapeshift and females cannot?

Zhang Fan, still confused, turned to the native of the Beastman Planet, Fei Er, for an explanation. But although Fei Er was a native, he too had never seen merfolk before and didn't know about them.

At that moment, a beautiful merperson approached on foot using their tail, chuckling as they began to explain to the two:

"Actually, our Mermaid Tribe is different from your Beastman Tribe, even though we are a branch of the Beastmen, we are distinct from the Beastman Tribe. Our Mermaid Tribe is unlike your Beastmen, where females cannot shapeshift. All of our merfolk can shapeshift, but the division of male and female differs from yours: only those merfolk who can shapeshift into a full human form are considered male, while those who can only transform their upper body into a human form are female."

After hearing this merperson's explanation, Zhang Fan and Fei Er both understood and said in unison:

"I see! So that means you're female, right?"

"Yes! You're here to buy dragon silk, right? Perfect, I still have a few bolts; would you like to take a look?"

Hearing that dragon silk was still available for purchase, Zhang Fan and Fei Er became even more delighted, nodding eagerly. They then followed the merperson behind them to select dragon silk. Zhang Fan and Fei Er took a long time to choose the dragon silk that suited them, because each bolt of dragon silk was exquisitely beautiful and sheer, feeling equally light in hand. However, the merperson said their Mermaid Tribe has a rule: each person can buy only one section of dragon silk at a time; they won't sell more. So the two looked over and over, selected and reselected, until they each chose a bolt that suited them better.

Zhang Fan chose a bolt of sky-blue dragon silk, that pure blue like the color of sea and sky without a speck of dust. Fei Er, on the other hand, chose a bolt of fire-red dragon silk, whose vivid hue like blazing fire made him unable to put it down.

After deciding, Zhang Fan and Fei Er paid the shell coins for the dragon silk to the merperson. Seeing they had come together to buy, the merperson appropriately waived the change. Zhang Fan and Fei Er became even happier; especially Fei Er, who then introduced the merperson to their own stall.

"Let's get acquainted—I'm Fei Er, and this is Zhang Fan. We're both females of the Heaven Lion Tribe, and our families have stalls at the gathering right next to yours. If you have time, come visit us! Also, you can bring your friends, and we can hang out together."

The merperson heard Fei Er's words and was also delighted, smiling and saying: "I'm Ou Ya, and that over there is my friend Ban Ban. The other two male merpeople are our partners. I'm very glad to have met you! When I have time, I will definitely go with Ban Ban to visit you."

"That's great, it's settled! Well, we two should head back now—bye for now!"

"Goodbye!"

After saying goodbye to the merperson Ou Ya, Zhang Fan and Fei Er, just as they had come, began desperately squeezing outward. Only when they emerged did they each hold a beautiful bolt of dragon silk. With difficulty they exited the Mermaid Tribe's stall, and Zhang Fan and Fei Er saw that their own stall was now also surrounded wall-to-wall, leaving them feeling helpless. Zhang Fan lamented:

"Good heavens! How did it get so crowded in just a moment? We've just squeezed out of the neighboring stall, and now to get back to our own we have to squeeze again—it's enough!"

"Right! What should we do? Fan Fan, should we squeeze?"

But before the two could decide whether to squeeze, they saw their own stall's interior begin to part, actually opening a path. It turned out that Ba Ke Er had come out to meet them. So the two followed Ba Ke Er back to the stall and began selling goods together with their own male.