Beauty Snake - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Xie Yin, Queen of the Snakes

In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed since Ji Yunfei brought the black snake home. During this time, she discovered that not only did the little thing understand human speech, but it was also incredibly adorable. Its favorite food was fish and shrimp; when it ate, it would half-close its eyes with its cheeks bulging like a little hamster.

Ji Yunfei began to suspect the snake was an escaped pet from someone’s house. Then again, maybe it was tossed out by its previous owner for having too many “wicked ideas”?

Regardless, Ji Yunfei wasn’t the type to abandon her “snake babies” unless they intended to stage a jailbreak themselves. Even if it was a troublemaker, it was her baby snake.

Clang! Crash!

“Xiao Fei!”

Ji Yunfei returned home from the city market as usual, her hands full of her grandmother’s favorite dishes and the fresh fish and shrimp the black snake loved. Just as her left foot crossed the threshold of the courtyard, before she could even set down the bags, she heard her grandmother’s scream mixed with the sound of things being smashed.

Her brow twitched, and her heart went cold. Dropping everything, she dashed toward her grandmother’s room.

Bang!

“Grandma! What’s—”

“…”

“?”

Ji Yunfei had kicked the door open in a panic, but the scene before her left her head full of question marks.

Her grandmother was huddled at the head of the bed, backed into the corner as far as possible. Her leg, encased in a cast, was stuck awkwardly in place, and her facial features were scrunched up in a comical expression of terror.

“A snake! There’s a snake!”

Grandmother pointed a trembling finger toward the foot of the bed, her teeth chattering as she continued to try and retreat.

Ji Yunfei followed her grandmother’s finger and saw a giant coil of black-and-yellow “mosquito incense” curled up in the corner. Hearing Ji Yunfei’s voice, the oversized coil shifted, and a small snake head popped out from the bottom.

“You little rascal, how did you get out?!”

Seeing the black snake’s “jailbreak” had terrified her grandmother, Ji Yunfei’s anger flared. A troublemaker was a troublemaker—expert at escaping and playing tricks, but never doing anything productive. Although she knew the snake wouldn’t actually hurt anyone, she couldn’t help but be furious about the escape.

“Hehe… Grandma… would you believe me if I said this isn’t an ordinary snake?”

Despite her annoyance, she still cherished the creature and couldn’t bear to truly scold it. After all, what could a harmless, cute little snake really do wrong? She scratched her head with an awkward smile while reaching out to snatch the black snake.

The moment she grabbed it, she prepared to “oil her feet” and bolt, thinking she’d lock it up first and apologize to her grandmother later. However, her grandmother had realized the snake belonged to Ji Yunfei, and her expression shifted from terror to a visible, dark rage.

Alarm bells rang in Ji Yunfei’s head: Uh-oh, I’m dead.

“Aaaah! Don’t hit me! I promise I’ll keep a better eye on it!!”

Grandmother snatched up a nearby broom to take a swing at her, but fortunately, her mobility was limited. Ji Yunfei dodged it with a quick backward hop.

“Hehe, sorry for the scare! It won’t happen again! I’ll make your favorite Five-Spice Crab for lunch as an apology!!”

Ji Yunfei grinned, apologizing with her hands pressed together while the snake hung off her, looking quite ridiculous.

After finally soothing the old woman, Ji Yunfei slunk back to her room with the snake draped around her neck.

“Get down, you. Calling you ‘Rascal’ was the right move. Why did you go to Grandma’s room and scare her like that, huh?”

Ji Yunfei tossed the black snake—which was pretending to sleep to avoid the lecture—back into its terrarium. Regardless of whether it understood, she stood with her left hand on her hip and her right index finger tapping the glass near its head.

The black snake showed no remorse. Instead, it looked as if it had suffered a great injustice. It gave Ji Yunfei a resentful glare, twisted its body, and buried its head into the rockery.

“You… did I wrong you or something?”

Ji Yunfei poked it, but seeing it was determined to ignore her, she didn’t push it. She went to the kitchen, grabbed the fish and shrimp, placed them inside the tank, and then set off to find materials to reinforce the lid.

“Hiss… hiss… Boss? Boss? The human is gone. Are you going to eat those? They smell so good. If you aren’t, can I have a taste? Hehe.”

Seeing Ji Yunfei leave, a hognose snake named Fatty began to eye Xie Yin’s meal.

“Back off. Even if the Boss throws them away, they aren’t for you. Besides, the human gave those to her. The Boss treasures them.”

The King Cobra nearby, “Brother Glasses,” shook his head at Fatty’s greed. The other snakes had seen exactly how much Xie Yin treasured Ji Yunfei.

At night, when Ji Yunfei kicked off her blankets, Xie Yin would immediately help tuck her back in—two or three times a night. When Ji Yunfei had nightmares, Xie Yin would coil beside her and flick her tongue against her cheek. Miraculously, as long as Xie Yin was there, Ji Yunfei would settle down instantly. During the day, Xie Yin would watch her with a gaze full of affection. The “victim” might not have noticed, but the other snakes certainly did!

They remembered a few days after Xie Yin arrived, when the dim-witted Fatty had tried to warn her: “Hey, Newbie, tone down that stalker gaze. Fatty-senpai is warning you—you and the Master aren’t the same species! Don’t get ideas; it’s impossible!”

Xie Yin’s response had been a cold glare and a beating that Fatty would never forget.

On that dark and windy night, after thrashing Fatty, Xie Yin shook her head and transformed into her human form. She scanned the room full of snakes and said coldly:

“Based on the fact that I am no ordinary snake, that I have cultivated for 1,500 years, and that I have searched for her for 1,300 years—am I qualified enough to want her?”

She snapped her fingers, turned back into a snake, and slithered back into her tank to rest, too lazy to deal with these uncultured, flashy juniors. From then on, Xie Yin was the undisputed Queen. Fatty never dared to speak up again.

“You guys take the food today. I have no appetite,” Xie Yin muttered from inside the rockery.

“Long live the Boss!!” The snakes cheered. They rarely got to eat such high-quality treats.

Inside the rockery, Xie Yin pursed her lips and rolled around, her tail lashing back and forth in distress. Ji Yunfei had truly wronged her. If she hadn’t gone to Grandma’s room every night to cast healing spells, how could Grandma’s leg be recovering so quickly?

Everything was going well, but she hadn’t expected to pass out from mana exhaustion this time and get caught red-handed. She really didn’t mean to scare the old woman.

Hateful Ji Yunfei. I’m going to stop liking her. All she does is point out my faults. A beautiful snake like me should be pampered and worshipped!

And yet, she’s like a block of wood even after I seduced her. She keeps misunderstanding me and even gave me a humiliating name like ‘Rascal’!!

It’s enough to kill a snake with anger!! I have a name!! Xie Yin! What a beautiful name!

But then again, Ji Yunfei was also very good to her. While the other snakes ate mice, she got fish and shrimp every meal. And even at the risk of being hit by her grandmother, Ji Yunfei had protected her during the “evacuation”…

“No, no! I won’t forgive her so easily this time!”

Xie Yin shook her head. Though she hesitated, she secretly vowed to get her revenge. At the very least, she had to get some “benefits” from Ji Yunfei before the next heat cycle!

At that thought, the corners of Xie Yin’s mouth curled up. If she weren’t currently a snake, she’d probably be jumping for joy.

“Hmph. Time to sleep. Just you wait and see how I deal with you, you bad A-Fei.”

Support