“Fountain? What nonsense is this man talking about? That fountain has to be 500 meters1 away, how can the mother go there?”
“Yes, don’t you see the electric hazard posted above? The fountain can’t even keep fish, let alone the newborn baby mussel.”
“And the water quality of the fountain cannot be guaranteed, I think it’s best to wait a while.”
“I don’t think we can wait. Listen to the little mussel person again in the eggshell knock on the middle area. The crack was just mended and it cannot last long.”
“It’s better to have hope than no hope at all, the little mussel person has already spit out half of the water in the last wave, I don’t know how long it will last…”
“Forget about the fountain. Dr. Mu, I just went to ask around. Nearby snack bars do not have fish and turtles, so I borrowed a wash basin.”
Jing Man’s sentence startled a thousand waves, the onlookers as well as several midwives argued, each holding their own views. The basin borrowed by the passerby was not big enough for the tattered aquatic egg to be hatched.
Mu CangZhou lowered his eyes in contemplation and finally calmly made a decision, “Let’s go to the fountain, that is live water, the water quality is still guaranteed. The egg wants to be born with a strong desire. The desire is very strong, we can’t wait any longer.”
The main backbone spoke, and the crowd regained confidence.
They picked up the wash basin with the hatchling egg and started moving. The mussel woman Lin Zhuzi gritted her teeth and tried, but found that she still could not take human form.
The large mussel shell that had been given to her for protection became a burden that she could not shake off. She clearly knew that her child going with the midwives to the fountain side was the best choice.
In particular, Dr. Mu, the action of repairing the eggshell was not slow in the slightest, and he seemed to be an experienced old midwife on a regular basis.
Giving the child to them, she was a hundred times more at ease. Yet, the thought of missing the birth of her child because she was frightened and unable to move, Lin Zhuzi’s heart was like being poked hard with a knife, a lot of pain.
She looked at the egg of the child and could not stop the tears rolling down her cheeks, whimpering and sobbing pitifully.
Water content of aquatic people was extremely high, so she couldn’t stop crying.
Jing Man saw that most of the people were focused on the dying egg, and would not miss him, so he thought of taking care of the mussel mother. So, he went to Mu CangZhou’s side. Borrowing the blockage of Xiao Jin in his arms, quietly handed ZhiZhi to him. His eyes were like a drop of stained ink, a wet gaze toward Mu CangZhou.
Jing Man said, “Brother Mu, ZhiZhi cannot leave you, you take them to save the little mussel person. I’ll stay here with the mussel mother.”
Mu CangZhou, of course, could not agree.
The fountain was at least five hundred meters away, the blood ties had long tied the two dads and the child, none of the three of them could be far away from one another.
Coughing softly, he raised his hand to attract the attention of the onlookers –
“We all don’t want the little mussel to lose sight of its parents as soon as it is born, right? May I ask if any of our friends with a robust enough original form can help this lady move?”
Right, it can still be like that.
Although it’s accepted that people don’t show their original forms in public, this was an emergency, so of course they couldn’t generalize! Immediately a number of people came forward and said they were wolf sub-race, tiger sub-race, bear sub-race… all strong and fierce.
They finally selected four kind-hearted people of similar height to carry Lin Zhuzi. To Jing Man’s surprise, Li Gu was one of them. The mussel woman never thought in her life that she would one day sit on a beast person palanquin. She was so moved that she cried again, but this time it was tears of joy and gratitude.
On the way, she kept thanking them, “Thank you all, thank you so much…”
A group of people hustled towards the fountain, attracting a lot of attention.
In the midst of the downtown, four tall beasts as robust as a carriage carried a crying mussel female. This was a rare sight to see in eight hundred years. Pedestrians on the road saw this scene and took the initiative to give way, and many people began to watch and eat melon, joining the ranks of loving little babies.
When they reached the fountain, they were in a difficult position.
There was a center with four large streams of water, surrounded by another circle of small springs, and the medium-sized fountain was 5 meters in diameter2. In terms of size and water storage alone, it was more than enough to be used as a temporary incubation pool for the little mussel.
However… At this moment, the fountain was operating.
The water was being sprayed out against gravity, looking pleasing to the eye and extraordinarily elegant, bringing coolness to the hot summer.
But, at the same time, it also represented a heavy danger, the spout was electrified. In case of leakage, everyone would be shocked.
Also, it spurted a lot of water, so it was very painful when hitting the body. Mussel people were a very soft race, and simply could not bear the pressure.
Some people looked for the staff responsible for maintaining the fountain, while some people looked for ways to turn off the fountain on the star network, and some people began to contact the leaders of the snack street…
Ordinary people tried to contribute to the poor mussel mother and child.
A bit of light leapt into Mu CangZhou’s mind, the snack street was attached to Tianhu District’s Egg Breeding Base. He immediately contacted the egg breeding base’s terminal, the Tian Yuan robot, with a call.
In a flash, the fountain spurted out smaller and smaller. It finally gurgled a few bubbles and the water completely subsided.
Next, it was time for the midwives to do their thing.
They carried the hatchling egg into the fountain. The first step was to open the hole that had been artificially filled, and then they began to assist in breaking the shell of the little mussel. After a short period of time, the aquamarine hatchling egg was completely broken open.
The little mussel was a circle larger than the palm of a hand and her shell color was the same as her mother, a beautiful silver-gray, slightly shiny like a pearl. The shell was open, and a soft mass lay shrunken in the shell.
It was a girl, the lower part of her was still pink and white mussel flesh, the upper part of her body was a person, with her breathing body slightly undulating.
All was moved to the fountain. Lin Zhuzi watched the entire process and she lovingly looked at the little mussel in the water, her mood excited.
Lin Zhuzi let out a trembling voice, “My baby… Great, you finally came out…”
Seeing that the child was fine, everyone’s high heart also relaxed, and congratulated the woman on her newborn daughter. Many people turned their cameras to themselves, began to end the video recording and spoke some uplifting closing remarks.
Jing Man was also relieved as he walked up to Mu CangZhou and patted him on the shoulder. He complimented, “Brother Mu, it’s great. Being a midwife can help people in a personal way.”
Mu CangZhou only nodded slightly, his gaze still fixed on the little mussel lying in her shell, sleeping.
He felt… things were not as simple as they seemed.
At this moment, ZhiZhi peeked out a small head from Jing Man’s pocket, eyes not blinking while looking at the fountain pool. Suddenly, their pupils tightened and they ruthlessly pulled off the peach blossom branch in their hand, and handed it to Daddy in front of his eyes.