Chapter 48

After dark, Ah Wan finally packed up her things, picked up her little hoe, and headed home. But just as she reached the door, she heard bursts of laughter and merry conversation drifting out from inside.

Inside, Little Snake was no longer obediently sitting at her desk as before. She was sitting on the sofa playing on a phone with Chi Li.

“I’ll recommend a few more novels to you. I have a huge stash.”

As Chi Li spoke, she couldn’t even wait. Finding one, she immediately showed it to Little Snake, touting it extravagantly. “This one, let me tell you, is incredibly good. Pseudo-incest, forced love, tons of steamy scenes…”

“What kind of car?” Little Snake curiously leaned over to look, then frowned deeply and said, not very happily, “But there are so many words, I can’t read them all.”

“Oh right, I forgot.” Chi Li quickly covered for her. “You’re still learning Chinese.”

Then she muttered, scrolling through her phone. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she showed the phone to Little Snake. “You can understand comics, right?”

Little Snake craned her neck to look. She blinked, but the phone screen before her eyes vanished in a flash.

Chi Li instantly remembered something and urgently withdrew her recommendation. Shielding her phone, she looked at Little Snake warily and asked, “You’re an adult, right?”

“Hm?” Little Snake hummed, tilting her head curiously. “Adult?”

“I mean, are you over eighteen?” Chi Li continued explaining, pulling her body back to scrutinize Little Snake’s face. She murmured to herself, “You look like one though.”

Little Snake tried hard to understand what she meant. Pressing her lips, she replied carefully, “You mean the time since Snakey hatched from the shell?”

Chi Li laughed aloud upon hearing this. “You haven’t even got Chinese down yet, and you’ve already learned internet slang? ‘Hatch day’, you say.”

“Yeah, exactly, hatch day. How long has it been since you hatched?”

Phrased this way, it was very clear. Without hesitation, Little Snake replied loudly and proudly, “Nineteen years.”

Then she covered her mouth and thought for a moment, her voice muffled. “No, wrong. We passed the new year. It’s twenty years now.”

Chi Li was slightly shocked. Shaking her head while clicking her tongue, she muttered, “Even younger than me. My sister is literally the old house catching fire cliché.”

After saying this, she recalled that terrifying look in Ah Wan’s eyes earlier and involuntarily shuddered. It felt as if Ah Wan was standing right behind her, sending chills down her spine.

“Why’s it suddenly cold?” Chi Li looked at Little Snake beside her and asked, “Aren’t you cold?”

Little Snake was focused on reading a comic on her phone, having discovered such a wonderful thing for the first time. Once hooked, she didn’t want to pay attention to people anymore and casually dismissed her. “Not cold.”

But Chi Li wrapped her coat tighter around herself, curled up on the sofa, and said to herself, “Strange, why am I so cold?”

“Only the living feel warmth.” Ah Wan’s icy voice rang out.

Chi Li froze on the spot as if instantly turned to ice, not moving a muscle. It took a long while before she slowly turned her head to look.

Ah Wan merely tilted her head slightly and gave her a faint smile. But Chi Li, like a frightened rabbit, instantly leaped three feet high. After a scream, she bounced to the opposite sofa to sit, hugging her legs as her whole body trembled uncontrollably.

Ah Wan couldn’t be bothered with her. She lowered her eyes to look at Little Snake. The frost in her gaze met a warm spring, melting away bit by bit. Her eyes became as tender as water as she asked softly, “What did you promise me before I went out?”

“Snakey finished writing.” Little Snake clutched the phone tightly, pouted, and pleaded pitifully, “You said Snakey could play on the phone after finishing writing.”

“Did I say you could play on someone else’s?”

A flash of jealousy crossed Ah Wan’s eyes. She bent down, snatched the phone from Little Snake’s hand, and tossed it back to Chi Li across from them. Then she proactively bent lower, placed Little Snake’s arms around her own neck, and carried her away without another word.

Entering the bedroom, Ah Wan gently set Little Snake down on the edge of the bed. Because she herself had dust on her, she knelt on one knee on the floor, holding Little Snake’s waist. Expressionless, she met her gaze, her tone sounding somewhat jealous. “You talked a lot with her.”

“She was recommending comics for Snakey to read.” Little Snake explained softly.

“Just reading comics? I almost thought…” Ah Wan trailed off, laughing self-deprecatingly. After a moment’s pause, she looked up and pressed with a nearly obsessive tone, “Do you like reading comics, or do you like reading comics with her?”

“Hmm?” Little Snake, hearing this, swiveled her eyes curiously. Without even thinking, she wrapped her arms around Ah Wan’s neck, leaned in to touch foreheads, looked into her eyes, and whispered back, “Snakey likes reading comics with Human.”

Ah Wan’s eyes darkened. She spoke, her voice somewhat off. “That wasn’t an option I gave.”

“But it’s an option in Snakey’s choices.” Little Snake replied innocently. She couldn’t grasp the roundabout tests and complex emotions of humans, expressing her inner thoughts only in the most straightforward way.

Ah Wan was first stunned, then murmured somewhat incredulously, “Is that so?”

“Mm-hmm.” Little Snake nodded firmly, her eyes bright. “Like Human.”

“But she’s also a human.”

Ah Wan seemed to be getting fixated, repeating anxiously, “She’s also a human. There are many people in the world, too many to count.”

Little Snake’s head was small to begin with, and her brain even smaller. It couldn’t hold too many things. A sentence like this made her ponder for quite a while, yet she still couldn’t figure it out.

She scratched her head, a troubled expression appearing on her face. Frowning, she racked her brain for the right words to reply. “But… there are many snakes on the mountain too, yet only Snakey is by Human’s side.”

Hearing this, a look of disbelief crossed Ah Wan’s face. She gazed at her deeply for a long moment before lowering her head and sighing. Then, touching foreheads with her, she said very, very softly, “It was my fault.”

With that, she took out her own phone, unlocked it, and downloaded an app specifically for reading comics.

“The money is loaded. Search for whatever you want to read. If you can’t type, use the voice input on the keyboard.”

As she spoke, Ah Wan even tapped the button to demonstrate, then rubbed her head and coaxed her gently. “From now on, I’ll watch with you. No need for anyone else.”

“Mm!”

Holding the phone, Little Snake was utterly delighted. She nodded firmly and smiled sweetly at Ah Wan.

“I’ll shower first, then make dinner for you. What do you want for dinner?”

“I want…” Little Snake was studying the phone carefully, not even lifting her head as she replied, “Barbecue.”

Ah Wan stood up and looked down at her. Seeing no sign of her looking up, she could only sigh helplessly and turn to enter the bathroom.

An hour later, Ah Wan pushed the bathroom door open and walked out. Hearing the sound, Little Snake instinctively looked up but suddenly froze.

Ah Wan was tall and naturally had a model’s figure, but she usually didn’t fuss over her dress and appearance. After showering, she’d come out in old pajamas, her hair casually loose, never really styled.

But today was noticeably different. She wasn’t wearing those baggy old pajamas anymore. Instead, she wore a pure white shirt that just barely covered her rear.

The collar was slightly open, revealing exquisite, defined collarbones and the faint trace of water sliding down her chest into unseen places.

Little Snake stared blankly, forgetting to even blink.

Ah Wan casually brushed back her half-damp hair ends. Her face remained expressionless, but that hint of red at the corner of her eyes was inexplicably alluring, making one’s throat involuntarily tighten.

“Human,” Little Snake breathed slightly, her gaze staring fixedly, looking utterly tempted. “Your hair, when it’s a little wet, looks better than fully dry.”

“Is that so?”

A sly smile flashed in Ah Wan’s eyes. She lowered her gaze to touch her hair ends and replied nonchalantly, “I didn’t notice. I was only thinking about coming out to cook for you. Was in a bit of a hurry, so I didn’t have time to dry it completely.”

“It looks good,” Little Snake hurriedly expressed. She tossed the phone aside and walked straight over, first glancing at Ah Wan’s collar, then letting her gaze slowly travel downwards. She praised bluntly, “Not wearing pants looks good too.”

Hearing this, Ah Wan smiled proudly and flicked her a finger flick on the forehead.

“Little lecherous snake.”

“Oof,” Little Snake cried out softly, covering her forehead and glancing at Ah Wan. But she still couldn’t resist, as if soul-snatched, dazedly stepping closer again. Raising her head, she said, cravingly, “Human, want to date you.”

“Hmm?” Ah Wan thought she’d misheard.

“Want to date you.” Little Snake puckered her lips as she spoke. “Mwah mwah.”

Saying it, she even felt a bit shy.

Ah Wan frowned, reached out and cupped her face, gently squeezing her cheek flesh. She asked, “Who taught you that?”

“Chi Li,” Little Snake ratted out her teammate very quickly, without blinking. “She said dating is doing the mwah mwah, and doing the mwah mwah is dating.”

As her words fell, Little Snake eagerly wrapped her arms around Ah Wan’s neck, stood on tiptoe, and whined, “Give Snakey a mwah.”

Ah Wan took a deep breath, the expression on her face displeased. She deliberately lifted her chin, refusing her kiss, and asked sternly, “Do you even know what dating is?”

“It’s just mwah mwah! Chi Li taught Snakey!” Little Snake clung to Ah Wan, her chest pressing against her as she bounced and jumped, cheering joyfully, “Snakey wants to mwah Human’s lips to a pulp too.”

The shirt was already thin, and with some moisture still clinging to it, being rubbed against by Little Snake like this made Ah Wan feel as if she were burning. That sentence only added fuel to the fire.

She hesitated no longer. Reaching out to wrap an arm around Little Snake’s waist, she said not a single word, directly lowering her head to press her mouth against hers in a kiss. Then she easily parted her teeth and swept her tongue inside, wrapping around the wet, slippery snake tongue with a licking motion, deliberately making sucking noises.

Little Snake gradually quieted down, her arms weakly looping around Ah Wan’s neck, nestling in her embrace. From time to time, soft, fragmented hums escaped her.

When kissed too hard, she would frown slightly and reach out to push at Ah Wan’s shoulder, only to be kissed even more fiercely.

Ah Wan had one hand supporting her back and the other cupping her bottom, kissing her wantonly. Her agile tongue plundered everything in her mouth wildly, reaching depths that nearly touched her throat. It stirred Little Snake into a pool of spring water, her body limp and powerless in her palm.

“How can you be so sensitive?” Ah Wan finally released her, planting two light pecks on her swollen, red lips. She chuckled softly by her ear, speaking deliberately slow, “And with just this, you want to kiss my lips to a pulp?”

“Can’t handle it.”

“Soaked through.”

Little Snake couldn’t bear such teasing. Bullied so badly, she could only weakly cling to her neck, leaning on her shoulder. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, her body involuntarily trembling as she whimpered softly.

Ah Wan rubbed her damp fingertips together and held the human in her arms even tighter. Through a layer of fabric, she slowly kneaded and teased Little Snake. “Has the little lecherous snake only learned that dating means kissing my lips to a pulp?”

“There are many things you can do when dating. The lips aren’t the only thing you can kiss to a pulp.”

“Want to try, little lecherous snake?”