5 The Awkward Interactions

Mei Ling prepared a generous and big feast. The dining table was filled with scrumptious food. Han, Jin, Lin, San, and Rin stared at the delectable sight.

Jin gulped down at the sight. As a mer whose expertise is in cooking, he could tell just from the smell if the food is delicious, and if his nose is telling him right, the food at the dining table is a feast that no person could resist.

Suddenly, in Jin's eyes, the approaching Mei Ling has a golden halo behind her.

Mei Ling, seeing her silent 'husbands', gestured to the dining table.

"I'm pretty sure that the five of you are famished. Help yourself with the food." Mei Ling then distributed the bowls and chopsticks to each of her spouses.

Since both her brothers and their wives visit Mei Ling once in a while, there were a lot of spare chairs to be sat upon in the dining room.

The five mers obediently sat around the chairs, and as if they had talked about it, they sat in an order of oldest to youngest.

Seeing her husbands waiting for her to lift her chopsticks, Mei Ling acted quickly. The lunch then proceeded with silence as Mei Ling felt awkward starting a conversation. In a day, she suddenly gained five husbands. It's probably awkward for the 'newlywed' husbands too.

While silently eating, Mei Ling had a sudden realization that she just escape singledom and is now in the category of a 'married' person.

'Now that I thought about it, I wonder what my comrades' reactions would be to the news of my marriage if they ever heard?' Mei Ling thought of her fellow Farrow Federal comrades in the 2nd Corps.

All the people in the 2nd Corps are bachelors and bachelorettes. If they have heard of Mei Ling's (who's voted as the last person to get married if ever) abrupt wedding, how would they react?

'It's gonna be funny.' Mei Ling concluded as she ate the last piece of meat in her bowl.

She stood up to wash her bowl when she noticed that her spouses had stopped eating. It was then that she realized her spouses are abiding by the 'etiquette of this ancient world. And that was to start eating when the family head starts and stop when the family head stops.

"The five of you can continue eating, I'm going to wash my plate." Mei Ling softly said but was met with resistance from her spouses.

"No! Eating after the family head is finished is against etiquette. We can wash your plate too. You already cooked for us, and that is enough." Han reasoned. Growing up under strict rules and etiquette, he cannot allow his wife to do anything further for their service. Even San, the most grumpy one, knows and follows the etiquette as such, and therefore, did not grumble a complaint.

Mei Ling frowned. She doesn't like this ancient etiquette and customs. They are so hassling and inefficient.

"I have wedded spouses, not acquired servants. The five of you do not need to cook, wash the dishes, or do any of my laundry here. I have my own two hands to do that. Now, continue eating. I reckon that the five of you had not eaten much this morning and such a small quantity of food that all of you had just eaten is not enough to stave off hunger. Eat." After reprimanding her spouses, Mei Ling carried her bowl to wash in the sink in another room.

The dining table became quiet. The Mers were stunned silent by the reprimand from their wife.

The weird silence was interrupted by a dreamy sigh.

"You know what? I just think I've fallen in love right here and then." Jin cupped his reddened cheeks, his golden eyes twinkling.

"Me too," Lin responded, bunching his silver hair to cover his face.

"A-aren't the two of you too easy?!" San stuttered a reply.

"Talk for yourself! Why are you suddenly stuttering and blushing?!" Rin countered San for the two.

Han watched the four quarrel and hid his reddened ears behind his blue hair.