Chapter 28: Heart-to-Heart – She Seemed to Know a Bit Too Much Part 2

She had wronged Shen Mingjin, but she had lived up to every member of the Embracing Snow Clan.

If Ye Xi were Shen Mingjin, she definitely would have accused Si Ruoling. But she was not Shen Mingjin.

Shen Mingjin harbored no hatred toward Si Ruoling—only respect and love—because she was also a member of the Embracing Snow Clan. Her life had been exchanged for the death of Si Ruoling’s mother. In Shen Mingjin’s heart, Si Ruoling remained a merciful mother; it was just that this merciful mother did not belong to her alone, but to every member of the Embracing Snow Clan.

Shen Mingjin might even feel that demanding her foster sister, who carried the nation and its people in her heart, to love her first was a selfish act.

Ye Xi could not say anything about Shen Mingjin. She could not admire Shen Mingjin’s gentle kindness on one hand while blaming her for being too soft-hearted and caring too much about those unrelated clansmen on the other.

Those clansmen were strangers to Ye Xi, but not to Shen Mingjin.

One could tell from Shen Mingjin and Xiong Xin that the Embracing Snow Clan’s members both respected and feared Shen Mingjin. In their hearts, this Clan Leader’s little sister was the Embracing Snow Clan’s princess. Even a princess without power still deserved respect, while they were her subjects.

The kings and princesses of the Human Clan world might not recognize all their subjects, but demons had long lifespans, and there were grand elections where every demon citizen had the chance to meet the upper echelons. To Shen Mingjin, they were not cold numbers but living beings who had appeared before her eyes more than once.

In truth, it had always been not just Si Ruoling who pursued stability, but also Shen Mingjin.

Under the voting system for selecting leaders, every clansman held a vote, which practically meant the highest Clan Leader could not have any negative scandals. If Shen Mingjin had been willing to publicize the family’s secrets, Shen Minghuan could not have remained Clan Leader for so many years.

Shen Mingjin saw that Ye Xi’s face had lost its smile and now showed a rather grave contemplation. She thought Ye Xi was still dissatisfied with Si Ruoling. “Ye Xi, between one person and a million people, you would also save…”

“Sister, I’d save you.”

Ye Xi did not let Shen Mingjin finish. She blinked at Shen Mingjin twice and said, half-seriously and half-jokingly, “Sister, if I could sit on a high position, I’d be the kind of tyrant who wants beauties but not the kingdom.”

Faced with Ye Xi’s straightforward and fervent words, Shen Mingjin felt a scorching heat in her chest.

She knew Ye Xi’s words might not be entirely sincere, but her heart still shamefully stirred.

The root of Shen Mingjin’s long-standing pain was that she could understand everyone’s choices in the family, but after putting herself in their shoes, she could not make the same choices herself. She lacked Shen Minghuan’s obsession and Si Ruoling’s great love.

Perhaps because Shen Minghuan had protected her so well as a child, Shen Mingjin was more like a girl raised in a normal environment. She knew the big picture mattered, but she also hoped for her family’s favoritism.

She could understand that they did not put her first, but deep down, she hoped someone would put her first.

A lie, but a sweet one.

Shen Mingjin’s body shrank back slightly. The unusual pounding of her heart made her instinctively want to pull away from Ye Xi.

The sweeter the words, the more they made her panic.

She was terribly afraid of hurting Ye Xi.

Ye Xi noticed Shen Mingjin’s sudden timidity and realized she might have scared her. With a playful grin, she leaned closer to Shen Mingjin. “Sister, I was joking. I’m a Demon Bone Physician, after all. According to our ancestral genes, I should be a good person.”

After her secrets were laid bare, Shen Mingjin’s thoughts became easy to read.

Ye Xi, who had long hidden her true nature, knew exactly what to say to different people.

Sure enough, after she deliberately mentioned her ancestors, Shen Mingjin immediately dispelled the idea of distancing herself. The look in her eyes toward Ye Xi even held a trace of pity.

Ye Xi took in the scene and secretly resolved to burn a few extra sticks of incense for her ancestors during the ancestral rites.

She was now enjoying the blessings of her forebears.

Ye Xi wanted to say more to Shen Mingjin when her phone suddenly rang.

It was a call from Ye Tan.

Ye Xi had just been debating whether to call Ye Tan when Ye Tan called her first.

As soon as Ye Xi picked up, Ye Tan’s voice rang out. “Xiao Xi, You Nian reported your situation to me. You know that snake across the hall, and you have a good relationship with her? Is that true?”

As expected from that loose-lipped rabbit.

Ye Tan’s mood seemed quite bad; she wasted no words and went straight to the interrogation.

Ye Xi could have kept lying—she was confident she could brush it off. She had always spoken to Ye Tan in half-truths and had plenty of experience fooling her teacher. But there was no need.

She glanced at Shen Mingjin beside her and told the truth. “Grandma, I do know the sister next door. She’s a good person, not…”

Ye Xi had not finished when Ye Tan interrupted her. “Nothing good has ever come from their family!”

Ye Tan had always been an open-minded guardian; she had never interrupted Ye Xi before. This was the first time she half-shouted at her.

Shen Mingjin sat close to Ye Xi, and Ye Xi had not moved away to take the call. Shen Mingjin heard their conversation, and her expression dimmed for a moment. She silently accepted Ye Tan’s judgment on her family’s genes.

It was almost a fact.

Ye Xi rarely argued with Ye Tan, but she still spoke up for Shen Mingjin. “Grandma, Sister is actually pretty good. She’s not like the other snakes in her family—I might not even be as good as her.”

Shen Mingjin looked at Ye Xi in disbelief and shook her head silently at her. She felt Ye Xi had no need to belittle herself just to speak up for her.

What she did not know was that this time, the usually dishonest Ye Xi was telling the truth.

Not only did Shen Mingjin refute her, but so did the fuming Ye Tan. “Don’t talk nonsense. Our Xiao Xi is the best girl in the world. Our Ye Clan has never produced any bad people generation after generation, unlike their Shen family—they have a notorious reputation, and…”

Before Ye Tan finished, another female voice rang out. “Ye Tan, I’ve put up with you for a long time!”

This female voice…

Ye Xi remembered hearing it last time she called Ye Tan. Without a doubt, the owner of this voice was the one who had impersonated Ye Tan to message her.

Perhaps because she already knew the truth, Ye Tan no longer hid the woman’s voice and even cursed her directly. “Shen Shuyun, you had better shut your mouth. Don’t make me slap you while I’m on the phone with my granddaughter.”

Shen Shuyun.

Shen Mingjin’s aunt.

Ye Xi instinctively glanced at Shen Mingjin. Shen Mingjin had already leaned over when she heard Shen Shuyun’s voice, as if trying to confirm she had not misheard. When Ye Xi suddenly looked over, she shrank back guiltily, tugging at the stray hairs by her ear to cover her reddened ear tips.

Ye Xi watched Shen Mingjin’s little gestures and chuckled inwardly. She generously turned on the speakerphone, sharing the argument from the other end with Shen Mingjin.

Shen Shuyun seemed unable to outargue Ye Tan; only a weak voice came through. “You can’t beat me anyway.”

“Can’t beat you?” Ye Tan sneered twice. “Then I’ll stab you to death with a needle. Don’t forget I still have that clay effigy stained with your blood essence here.”

The refined old lady in Ye Xi’s memory seemed to have changed—not just talking about fighting and killing, but also being aggressive. It seemed Ye Tan and Shen Shuyun really did have a grudge.

Shen Shuyun did not bother arguing with Ye Tan and cut in to speak directly to Ye Xi. “Ye Xi, since you already know everything, from now on, you need to follow the training path arranged by the General Bureau for every Demon Bone Physician to improve yourself. Someone will come to Half-Mountain Spirit Garden tomorrow to pick you up. Go with her.”

Her voice paused, then she let out a low chuckle. “If you’re scared, you can bring Mingjin along.”

Shen Shuyun’s laughter sounded a bit sly.

Ye Xi suddenly worried that Ye Tan might suffer losses dealing with her at the General Bureau on a daily basis.

Of course, she did not refuse Shen Shuyun’s suggestion. But Ye Tan’s voice grew sharper. “Shen Shuyun, you had better…”

Ye Xi did not hear what Ye Tan said next because the call ended. It was unlikely Ye Tan, who still wanted to talk to her, had hung up, so it must have been Shen Shuyun.

Shen Shuyun did not seem very reasonable either.

Ye Xi worried even more that Ye Tan would suffer.

Ye Xi hurriedly made several calls back, but none connected. Unable to hold back, she asked Shen Mingjin, “Sister, has my grandma always had such a bad relationship with your aunt? What’s it about?”

Shen Mingjin shook her head. “I don’t know why either, but everyone says they have a grudge, so they probably do.”

“Sister…”

Ye Xi wanted to ask more about Shen Shuyun but suddenly remembered that Shen Mingjin probably had not interacted much with her either—not much as a child, and after going to her aunt’s side, the bone-digging incident happened, so their contact would not be close.

Given Shen Mingjin’s grateful nature, much of her bond with Shen Shuyun stemmed from her aunt having taken the three of them away from the Embracing Snow Clan and saved their lives.

Asking Shen Mingjin was not as good as asking Ye Tan directly.

Ye Xi sent Ye Tan several messages in a row, but they sank like stones into the sea with no reply.

Ye Xi gripped her phone tightly, just starting to worry about Ye Tan’s safety, when a voice message from Ye Tan came through. “Xiao Xi, I’ve always not wanted you to enter this line of work, but now that you know everything, I can’t keep hiding it. Tomorrow, I’ll have someone bring you everything you’ll need. Next, you’ll face an assessment. Until the assessment ends, we can’t meet, so you must be careful. It’s okay if you can’t heal the demons—just don’t die at their hands.”

The usually refined Ye Tan seemed to have become short-tempered around demons. Without waiting for Ye Xi to ask what the assessment was, she sent another voice message. “If you insist on associating with that snake, I won’t stop you, but their snake kind has Heat Periods, which are troublesome. Be mentally prepared and make sure you can withstand the temptation!”

Ye Xi had not expected Ye Tan to suddenly tell her this. Her eyes darted around as she looked toward Shen Mingjin.

Shen Mingjin’s cheeks flushed faintly; she kept her head down without a word.

Ye Xi touched her own face and felt no heat.

Was her skin too thick? Or was Shen Mingjin’s too thin?

Ye Xi pondered darkly and absentmindedly replied to Ye Tan via voice message. “Grandma, do all snakes have Heat Periods?”

She sent the message and immediately felt it was a stupid question. Just as she thought to withdraw it, Ye Tan smashed back a message laced with anger. “Shen Shuyun hasn’t had a Heat Period in over a thousand years.”

“Why?”

Shen Mingjin and Ye Xi’s voices sounded simultaneously in the living room. Ye Xi looked at Shen Mingjin in disbelief. “Sister, you didn’t know either?”

Shen Mingjin nodded docilely.

It seemed the aunt and niece were even less close than Ye Xi had imagined. In Shen Mingjin’s family photo, only Shen Shuyun sat, possibly not even because she was the eldest by seniority or age.

Ye Xi thought that if they knew why Shen Shuyun had no Heat Period, they might find a way to help Shen Mingjin avoid losing control of her body. She typed out both her and Shen Mingjin’s questions and sent them to Ye Tan.

Ye Tan’s reply came quickly, her voice laced with two cold laughs. “A pregnant snake demon naturally has no Heat Period.”

What? Pregnant?

Whose?

Shen Mingjin was as shocked as Ye Xi. “This… how is that possible? Aunt doesn’t even have a partner…”

Seeing the equally stunned Shen Mingjin, Ye Xi suddenly felt she knew a bit too much. But Shen Shuyun had gone a thousand years without a Heat Period—what was she carrying in her belly?

Did snake demons take this long to lay eggs?

Ye Xi could not help glancing at Shen Mingjin, her gaze unconsciously dropping to Shen Mingjin’s abdomen.

Shen Mingjin first followed Ye Xi’s gaze to her own abdomen. Feeling Ye Xi’s stare too intense, she shyly and timidly lowered her arms to cover it…