Chapter 64: Confession

So, am I your girlfriend now?

The senses in her snake tail, originally unfamiliar and sluggish, suddenly became sensitive, clearly able to feel the warmth wrapping around it.

The soft base of her snake belly pressed tightly against hers, the fine scales slightly open, curling and shrinking with comfort and ease.

Somewhere was touched, and a snake tongue seemed to sweep across the tip of the tail… The sapphire blue snake tail suddenly twitched.

Xing Yue’s grip tightened blindly around Bu Yao’s serpentine body, stopping the little fire snake from crawling wildly on her tail. “Is the Eldest Miss looking for a water source? So thirsty? Go back into the ice pile and burrow.”

Hearing this, the little fire snake finally leisurely crawled out from under the blanket. Her snake head peeked over the edge. That face, with its frosted-glass texture, looked like it had been marinated in red wine. She swayed, tipsy and intoxicated, her mouth still emitting unsatisfied “Hiss-hiss” sounds, her snake tongue flickering rapidly. She was clearly in a state of extreme excitement.

Xing Yue was actually homoiothermic. She became hot in the heat and cold in the cold.

This meant that if Xing Yue’s snake form stayed in a high-temperature environment, her body temperature would rise, and in a cool environment, her body temperature would drop.

Then, if they were twining tails together, it would just get hotter and hotter…

And her scales were still wet; the sensation was simply too wonderful.

Seeing that Bu Yao still wanted to burrow back under the blanket, Xing Yue directly scooped her up and placed her into the glass tank filled with ice.

The little fire snake, tossed back like this, raised her body in confusion, her tail smacking against the ice with pitter-patter sounds, clearly displeased.

“Don’t move,” Xing Yue tapped the little fire snake’s cheek pit with her index finger. “Big sister is going to check your body.”

Besides eyes, a nose, and a mouth, a snake’s face also has heat-sensing cheek pits around the eyes, slightly more recessed than the eye level. They have an extremely sensitive perception of temperature and scent.

The moment Xing Yue’s finger touched it, like hitting some kind of switch, the displeasedly thrashing tail of the little fire snake froze for two seconds.

She bent down again, rubbing her cheek against her.

This plunged the little fire snake into a space filled solely with Xing Yue’s scent. Her snake body went limp and docile, obediently lying on the ice, letting Xing Yue examine her body. She stopped fussing, her pale pink snake tongue lazily capturing scents in the air, behaving extremely obediently.

Xing Yue flipped over the red snake tail, exposing the belly protected by fine scales, and straightened the curled tail tip to carefully observe. The two areas where scales had been pulled—one wound was on the waist, the other on the thigh, both in places where the skin was thin.

“Where are the scales that were pulled out?” she asked.

The red snake head pushed through the ice and started digging bit by bit. “Mm. Mom put them in an ice pack and refrigerated them. A doctor will come tonight to do some kind of replantation surgery.”

She didn’t know what replantation surgery was, only what she’d overheard her parents discussing. It seemed they were bringing in the best foreign doctors specializing in this technique, so it wouldn’t be until tonight at the earliest.

Xing Yue still didn’t feel relieved. Only if every single pulled scale was accounted for, the tissue not necrotic, and the surgery perfectly successful, could the scales be replanted.

This surgery could be done domestically. Madam Bu insisted on finding a foreign doctor, likely because she had taken great care to preserve those scales. If the replantation failed, those two patches of skin would be bare, unable to grow back, leaving only exposed flesh.

Xing Yue caressed this tail, both angry and heartbroken. She’d already scolded, and now words failed her.

Bu Yao suddenly made a request. “Don’t go to work tonight. Can you stay with me? My mom is sick and probably won’t be able to come for a few days.”

Though she didn’t care much about the state of her skin, that replantation surgery sounded terrifying. Bu Yao was still a little afraid. With her mother not around, she was even more scared to face the surgery alone.

Madam Bu had been so frightened she’d convulsed. Yet, she was still calm and rational enough to order the ice pack and a whole box of ice cubes, arrange Bu Yao’s subsequent treatment, and pick up those scales one by one, refrigerating them in the ice pack. She didn’t trust the servants, afraid they might miss a scale, so she did it all herself.

After all this, she fainted, burning with a high fever that wouldn’t break.

She’d been feverish for a day and a night. The fever had just subsided, but she was still half-conscious. It would take at least half a month before she could get out of bed.

Xing Yue had no heart for work right now. She piled the ice Bu Yao had dug out onto the two scale-less wounds, covering them neatly. Just as she was about to speak, her phone suddenly rang.

Seeing the screen, a trace of helplessness flickered in her eyes.

This was already the twenty-eighth call from Xing Yingnuan this month.

In the past, her mother would call often, but if she didn’t answer, she wouldn’t call repeatedly. Recently, for some reason, she’d been calling several times almost every day.

Though Xing Yue was annoyed, she was also worried something had happened to her mother in her hometown, so she answered.

“Mom.”

After over twenty calls, the call finally connected. Xing Yingnuan immediately lost control and complained, “Do you still see me as your mother? You might as well consider me dead! Come back home, wear mourning clothes, and prepare a coffin for me.”

Perhaps because of her age, Xing Yingnuan had been very afraid of Xing Yue ignoring her these past few years.

Every time Xing Yue didn’t answer a call, she’d throw a fit. This time, Xing Yue had refused to answer for so long that she hadn’t even had a chance to act up.

Xing Yue’s feelings toward her mother were complex. To say her mother raised her in a hands-off way wasn’t entirely true; she wasn’t completely neglectful.

She regularly sent money to her maternal grandmother, provided living expenses and tuition for Xing Yue, and bought her clothes for spring, summer, autumn, and winter. But after her parents divorced during her childhood, she rarely lived with Xing Yingnuan.

Furthermore, she looked very much like her father, and Xing Yingnuan didn’t like seeing her. She worked from dawn to dusk every day and, during winter and summer breaks, sent her to the countryside. It wasn’t abuse, nor was it outright disdain, just a mix of sporadic coldness and a sudden desire to be close.

As Xing Yingnuan aged, she began to crave familial affection from her only daughter.

Even though Xing Yue had been sending her money every month since she started working, built her a small house to retire in, and spent money on various cosmetic procedures for her, Xing Yingnuan still threw tantrums. If Xing Yue ignored her, she’d threaten suicide, terrified that Xing Yue would abandon her.

“Mom, why are you saying this again?” Xing Yue frowned and took her phone out to the balcony.

Xing Yingnuan launched into a scathing accusation. “You didn’t even tell me about such a big thing happening to you! Do you see me as your mother? You don’t answer your phone. I could’ve broken my leg, and you wouldn’t even know.”

Hearing this, Xing Yue’s heart remained untouched. This wasn’t the first time her mother claimed to have broken a leg. Last time, it was a broken back. Otherwise, it was heart problems, stomach problems—all sorts of excuses to trick her into coming home.

Without exception, every time she lied and clamored for her to return, it was near a holiday. Wasn’t it almost Dragon Boat Festival again?

Xing Yue didn’t expose her lie, just asked, “Is it a bad break? Did you go to the hospital?”

“Bad. I can’t walk at all. I’m calling you from the hospital bed.”

“Then I’ll come home to see you in a couple of days,” she said compliantly.

Xing Yingnuan paused on the other end, wanting Xing Yue to come back today. “Didn’t you terminate your contract with the company? Why wait two days? Come back today. I’ll go to the bank to withdraw money for you. Do you still owe the company money? How much more do you need?”

At her age, how could she understand these things? She’d seen it all online.

Xing Yue’s singing videos hadn’t been updated. Some fans commented that the account had probably been reclaimed and that Xing Yue had to pay a lot of money.

Lately, she’d been wanting to talk to Xing Yue about it, but Xing Yue refused to answer the phone. She wanted to come to Mo City to find Xing Yue, but she was afraid of upsetting her. She knew Xing Yue was rather proud and probably didn’t want her to come and see her in such a difficult situation.

“Let’s talk about it when I get back,” Xing Yue didn’t refuse her mother’s kindness, but going back today was indeed not possible. “I’ve found a new job. I don’t have any days off these two days, and taking leave takes time.”

Xing Yue wasn’t someone accustomed to lying and touched her nose unnaturally.

Unfortunately, she underestimated how well Xing Yingnuan knew her.

“Don’t give me that. You better not be with that girl from the Bu family again. She’ll be the death of you. You come back tonight. If you don’t come back, I won’t sleep. I’ll just sit in the hospital until dawn. When I die suddenly, you prepare a coffin for me. I like pink ones, and carnations. Every year when you burn incense, also burn two Ferraris for me. When I see your damned grandparents in the afterlife, I’ll run them over with one kick!”

“Mom…”

After two small tantrums, seeing that her daughter still showed no sign of coming home tonight, her anger subsided. She wilted completely. “You really can’t come back? My leg is broken. Every day, I just want to see you as much as I can. You don’t want the building at home for collecting rent. I offered to set up a small pub for you to sing, you didn’t want that either. Forget it. I have no hopes left. I won’t see a grandchild or my daughter. I might as well be dead.”

This tactic had never failed Xing Yingnuan. Although Xing Yue found it annoying, she feared her mother might actually become suicidal. The “crying wolf” scenario wouldn’t happen; she knew Xing Yue was soft-hearted and truly feared losing her family, so she never dared to test it by ignoring her.

After hanging up, Xing Yingnuan even sent several photos of a broken bone.

Xing Yue examined these photos again and again. It was clearly a real break, with steel pins holding the bones together…

Returning from the balcony, her face was filled with anxiety. “It seems like my mom really did break her leg. I need to go to the hospital to check on her. I’ll come back to see you tomorrow.”

Bu Yao knew this call wasn’t good news. She tilted her head back against the glass tank and let out a soft scoff. “How many times has it been? Auntie is definitely faking it.”

Part of the reason Xing Yingnuan disliked Bu Yao was that Bu Yao never fell for her antics. Every time she started acting up, Bu Yao would expose her right in front of Xing Yue.

“This time, it doesn’t seem like it,” Xing Yue showed Bu Yao the X-ray photos. “She’s broken it badly enough for steel pins. People her age fear falls the most. I wouldn’t feel at ease if I didn’t go check.”

After all, Xing Yue didn’t have much family. She still cared deeply about her mother’s health.

Bu Yao wouldn’t let her go. “Can’t you go back tomorrow? I just want you to stay with me for one night.”

Her eyes were red-rimmed, unwilling to let Xing Yue leave. Both her hands clung to Xing Yue’s thigh, her forehead pressing against Xing Yue’s knee.

Xing Yue didn’t want to go either, but the Bu residence had so many people who could care for Bu Yao. Her mother was all alone in their hometown. Even if she just went back to hire a caregiver, she wouldn’t feel easy otherwise.

“Sorry,” Xing Yue crouched down and kissed Bu Yao’s cheek. “Just this once. From now on, I’ll always be with you. Even when I go home, I’ll bring you along. Cheer up.”

Bu Yao felt a flutter of anticipation. “Really?”

Her eyes lit up brightly. Then she pressed, “So, am I your girlfriend now? You have to answer this question before you can leave.”

Xing Yue chuckled softly, kissing her several more times until her cheeks were flushed. “You have to confess first before I can be your girlfriend.”

Time was pressing. In the end, Xing Yue didn’t give a definitive answer. Bu Yao was left alone in the room. Sullen, she burrowed her head into the ice, her entire snake body disappearing, not a scale to be seen.

At that moment, back in her hometown, Xing Yingnuan had prepared a table full of dishes to entertain a middle-aged woman, accompanied by a young and pretty girl.

She was all smiles, radiating satisfaction no matter how she looked at them.

“A’Yue will be back soon. Sorry to keep you waiting so long.”

“Don’t say that, Mama Xing. We’re all neighbors here. Who doesn’t know your daughter? She’s good-natured, kind-hearted, filial, and hardworking. I saw her last year, and she’s even more beautiful in person than in photos. The moment you mentioned you wanted to introduce a girl to A’Yue, several families came to me asking about her.”