What Ya Qin hadn't expected was that the next time the tide came in, at almost the exact same spot, she found another bottle. She couldn't wait to get to the shore, uncork the bottle, and pull out the letter, overjoyed to discover it was indeed a reply from the person who went by the pen name Ye Yin Shang.

In her previous response, Ya Qin had simply told Ye Yin Shang that she was indeed a mermaid, her pen name was Dian Dian, and she implored him to keep their secret safe, as promised.

Therefore, in Ye Yin Shang's second letter, Ya Qin could sense his surprise and excitement. In the letter, Ye Yin Shang vowed to her that he would absolutely take this secret to his grave and expressed his hope to become friends with Ya Qin, friends who couldn't meet but could share their innermost feelings with each other.

With a joyful heart, Ya Qin replied to Ye Yin Shang's second letter. She agreed to be the kind of friends who couldn't see each other but could confide in one another. Then, as the tide went out, she tossed her reply back into the sea.

However, by the time Ya Qin received Ye Yin Shang's third letter, three months had passed, just when she had nearly given up hope. From the contents of the letter, Ya Qin learned that Ye Yin Shang had written to her four times in a row, his words filled with disappointment and sorrow.

So, Ya Qin immediately replied to Ye Yin Shang, telling him in her letter that she had not received his messages, and she suggested that he attach an extra bottle when sending future letters, so that she could actively reach out to him if she didn't receive any communication.

Fortunately, when the next high tide arrived, Ya Qin received a reply from Ye Yin Shang. He had indeed, as she instructed in her letter, attached two additional bottles. In his letter, Ye Yin Shang expressed the joy and excitement he felt at receiving her letter once more and began describing the world he lived in to her.

..

Later, in his seventh letter, Ye Yin Shang shared his troubles with Ya Qin, and in her reply, Ya Qin confided her own concerns to him.

Two years later, in the sixteenth letter from Ye Yin Shang, Ya Qin received a photograph. The sight of that bright, sunny smile on the photo made Ya Qin's heart flutter; she felt that Ye Yin Shang looked much like she had imagined. That night, Ya Qin suffered from insomnia, with Ye Yin Shang's smiling face occupying her mind.

Unfortunately, mermaids didn't have cameras in their world, and all she could do was ask her sister, Huang Yue, to paint a portrait for her that didn't quite resemble her, and sent it to Ye Yin Shang.

Another year passed, and in the twenty-sixth letter, Ye Yin Shang told Ya Qin that his parents had found him a marriage prospect, a very cute girl, and he was considering whether or not to pursue her. Upon reading this letter, Ya Qin felt very saddened and did not reply to Ye Yin Shang.

It wasn't until over forty days later that she received three consecutive letters from Ye Yin Shang. In the first letter, Ye Yin Shang asked whether the tides had once again swept her letter away to some other place; in the second letter, he asked if Ya Qin did not wish for him to look for a marriage partner; in the third letter, he straightforwardly confessed his love for Ya Qin, stating that even if he couldn't meet her, he would not marry another girl in this lifetime.

Upon reading these three letters, Ya Qin cried her heart out, venting all of the frustrations and longing she had kept bottled up inside for over a month.

After much consideration, she replied to Ye Yin Shang, asking if his affection for her was genuine, and if so, she would seek him out, willing to hide at the bottom of the well from which he cast his message bottles, to meet with him in the stillness of the night, until his old age.

With an anxious heart, Ya Qin finally received a letter from Ye Yin Shang half a month later, in which he wrote just one line—"In this life, I wait only for Ya Qin!"

As the tide receded, Ya Qin left without saying goodbye and secretly followed the drifting bottle on the quest to find Ye Yin Shang.

However, three days later, the merpeople found Ya Qin hundreds of kilometers away in the sea, gravely injured from being hit by a human torpedo. By the time Ya Qin was brought back home, she was on her last breath. Before she died, she told her sister Huang Yue about the incident, hoping Huang Yue would meet Ye Yin Shang for her and tell him not to wait anymore.

Moreover, in her final moments, Ya Qin used the last of her merpeople's power to seal her visage within her mermaid tears, also hoping that Ye Yin Shang would be able to see her face.

After Ya Qin passed away, Huang Yue wanted to search for Ye Yin Shang herself, but was stopped by the merpeople's leader and her parents. She tried to send a letter back to Ye Yin Shang in Ya Qin's voice, but it was discovered by the tribe and rejected; and the letters that Ye Yin Shang sent were intercepted by the tribe and never reached her hands.

Thus, it wasn't until years ago, when an oil spill contaminated the merpeople's homeland and they were forced to lead a life of displacement, that Huang Yue finally had the chance to fulfill her sister's wish. After years of arduous searching, she found the well from which Ye Yin Shang had once cast his drifting bottles, over a month ago.

She initially wanted to emerge from the well and ask the villagers about Ye Yin Shang's whereabouts, but was mistaken for a ghost by the villagers. Later, an Onmyoji accidentally released a Yin Soul that had been sealed at the bottom of the well for many years.

"So that's all that happened?" Huang Yue said to Xie Xiaofeng, tears of blue translucent sadness falling from her face as she thought of her sister, Ya Qin.

Xie Xiaofeng blinked, then said hoarsely, "That's so moving!"

"I'm also very moved!" At that moment, Chen Hao's sorrowful voice suddenly echoed inside the cave, followed by a whistling gust of wind, as he landed next to Xie Xiaofeng with Ye Yuqiao. He had arrived just as Huang Yue began to recount the tale from forty years ago to Xie Xiaofeng, hiding nearby. He had only meant to observe the situation, but ended up hearing such a touching story.

Seeing Chen Hao and Ye Yuqiao, hostility flashed across Huang Yue's face.

"Huang Yue!" Xie Xiaofeng, panicked, slipped and once again "plunked" into the water. "They are my companions, don't worry, they are good people and won't harm you."

Huang Yue stared fixedly at Xie Xiaofeng with furrowed brows. After a long while, she said, "Fine, I will choose to trust you once more."

Xie Xiaofeng smiled.

"Your name is Huang Yue, right? Don't worry, we'll definitely help you find the man named Ye Yin Shang, and even if he's dead, we will summon his Yin Soul from the Netherworld," Chen Hao said. Worrying that Ye Yuqiao might become jealous and angry, he could only gaze at the opposite stone wall.

Huang Yue looked skeptically at Xie Xiaofeng, who was shivering beside her.

Xie Xiaofeng nodded at Huang Yue, shivering as he said, "Trust him, he really has the ability to do it."

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