Pampered Little Snake, Give Me a Kiss - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Goodnight

Song Keling knew very well that snakes are ectothermic animals; they are incapable of understanding human emotions. After long-term interaction, it might slowly become familiar with your scent, but that doesn’t mean it won’t attack you.

This was why, upon seeing the little snake perform a move resembling a response, Song Keling was shocked into a freeze. In that instant, her heart gave a heavy thump. After all, when she had tried to feed it at noon, Qianqian’s refusal had been quite obvious.

However, this unfamiliar palpitation didn’t last long.

In the next moment, Song Keling saw the little snake, which had its small head pressed against her fingertip through the box, open its mouth. It was quite the “bloody maw,” revealing the pink, tender flesh of its oral cavity and a row of tiny teeth.

Song Keling: “.”

Oh. It turned out it didn’t want to be close to her; it wanted to eat her. Was its appetite really that big? It had only just hunted one mouse pup and had already inflated to the point of wanting to swallow her whole?

Song Keling gave a small smile. She tapped the box with her fingertip, choosing not to argue with this ungrateful little thing that lacked human nature. She bid it goodnight, washed up, and went to bed.

Waking up early the next morning, Song Keling found Qianqian’s small body coiled in the outer area of the box. Surprisingly, the pair of supraocular scales (horn-like scales) that had disappeared after the surgery had reappeared.

This proved Song Keling’s memory hadn’t failed her. Having horn scales meant it was a viper. Looking closer, as Qianqian breathed, the pure white scales rose and fell slightly, standing up just like those of a Bush Viper (Atheris).

Bush Vipers are mostly distributed in tropical rainforest regions. The climate of Xuetai, in terms of heat and humidity, was relatively consistent with that. However, just because the environmental conditions matched didn’t mean such a snake existed domestically. Was it purchased from abroad?

Song Keling still couldn’t quite figure it out, but she didn’t need to. Because this posture—coiling with raised scales—reminded Song Keling of a Bamboo Pit Viper she had seen in the wild. At that time, the Bamboo Pit Viper had also coiled quietly and raised its scales. Her mentor said this was “scale-raising,” a behavior where the snake uses its scales to catch dew and rainwater to drink.

Some venomous snakes do not drink standing water. Song Keling looked at the pudding cup in the box; sure enough, the water level hadn’t decreased at all.

“What are you waiting for? Your little box isn’t going to rain.” After guessing the reason and seeing the white snake huddled into a prim little ball, Song Keling felt she could see a bit of anticipation and patience in that posture. She couldn’t help but want to laugh.

She then searched for a small spray bottle, emptied the liquid, washed it several times, and filled it with mineral water. The little snake was still resting, but when it felt the “pitter-patter” of rain from above, its scales immediately stood up with even more vigor!

As if feeling happy, it even flicked its tiny black tongue. Song Keling didn’t spray too much water; otherwise, the humidity would be hard to control, making the snake prone to pneumonia during its recovery phase. Furthermore, getting the wound wet wouldn’t help it heal.

Returning in the afternoon, Song Keling saw the dormitory door wide open from a distance. Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickened her pace. It turned out her roommate was back.

Xu Xinlei had just returned to the room and was exhausted from the past few days. She lay sprawled on her bed in her sun-protection jacket, playing on her phone. Hearing movement, she looked back and shouted: “Keling.”

“Mhm,” Song Keling responded as she walked into the inner room.

The box containing the white snake was sitting safely on the desk. The snake wasn’t moving, quietly huddled and staring into space, perhaps contemplating the meaning of snake-life.

Song Keling needed to find a piece of cloth. Based on the various characteristic signs known so far, the little snake she saved was likely venomous, probably a species of Bush Viper. Keeping a venomous snake in a university dorm, even for just a few days, was a bad look. Moreover, many people are afraid of snakes, her roommate included. Previously, knowing that her research involved dealing with Five-pacers all day had made Xu Xinlei rub her arms and give a thumbs-up, calling her a “god-tier person.”

Just as Song Keling found a clean T-shirt to cover the box, her roommate poked her head in without knocking and asked: “Keling, are you going out for dinner later?”

The noise startled the little snake. It instantly changed its coiled posture and slithered in an S-shape to hide in the farthest corner of the box. Once hidden, it flicked its thin tongue and slightly raised its head, as if using those beautiful vertical pupils to stay alert to its surroundings.

Song Keling looked back at her roommate without answering, then moved her gaze back to the snake. Having witnessed the whole process, she found it somewhat amusing. Still such a coward.

At the door, Xu Xinlei followed Song Keling’s gaze to the desk and saw the extra transparent box, recognizing it as a pet enclosure. But Song Keling was busy with studies and research every day; where would she find time to raise a small animal?

Curious, she walked closer to take a look, then gasped and jumped back two steps: “Oh my god! It’s a snake!!”

Fearing Xu Xinlei’s fussing would scare Qianqian, Song Keling quickly said: “Don’t be afraid. Its injuries are almost healed. I’ll release it back into the wild this weekend.”

Xu Xinlei paused, looked at the white snake in the box again, and widened her eyes in surprise: “This is the little snake you found in Xuetai? The one crushed by the rock? You actually saved it?”

Song Keling: “Mhm.”

Xu Xinlei looked at her with a mix of shock and admiration: “You are way too amazing!”

Song Keling: “Just doing what I can.”

Tsk-tsking in praise, Xu Xinlei returned to the desk. She wasn’t as afraid anymore and sat down to look closer: “Looking at it now, it seems much better looking than before. It has energy too. Truly cute. What kind of snake is it?”

Song Keling said honestly: “I don’t know either.”

Xu Xinlei: “Is there actually something you don’t know?”

“I’m not a professional; there are many things I don’t know.” Seeing her roommate about to reach out to turn the box to get a different angle, Song Keling immediately warned: “Don’t play with it. It’s venomous.”

Qianqian had just eaten; further scaring it would cause it to regurgitate. Upon hearing “venomous,” Xu Xinlei’s scalp went numb. She yanked her hand back as if shocked and jumped up from her chair. “Forget it, forget it, I’m out of here.”

When she reached the door, she turned back and said: “Call me for dinner later, okay?”

Song Keling: “Mhm.”

Xu Xinlei was Song Keling’s roommate and classmate, hailing from a small county in the south. Usually, her pronunciation didn’t distinguish between retroflex and dental sounds or front and back nasals, which sounded very strange in Xincheng. But she didn’t feel embarrassed at all and didn’t change it, speaking however she was used to.

She was 1.6 meters tall, weighed 45kg, had a small frame, fair skin, and phoenix eyes. When she smiled, she looked clean and pure like the “girl next door.” She was very skilled at makeup—often looking like a different person after applying it—and worked part-time as an uploader with over 200,000 followers on a certain platform.

Besides uploading celebrity transformation videos, she also collected footage to edit daily vlogs, so she often carried a selfie stick when going out. People who didn’t want to be on camera usually disliked walking with Xu Xinlei, fearing they would be discussed by strangers online.

Song Keling didn’t care much about that. However, Xu Xinlei never included Song Keling in her shots. Her fans only knew she had a roommate with a nice voice and a relaxed, easy-to-get-along-with personality, but they didn’t know what she looked like.

Xu Xinlei naturally had her own considerations. Firstly, Song Keling was beautiful; appearing on camera would certainly overshadow her. Of course, that wasn’t the main point. The important second point was that she feared Song Keling’s looks would distract the fans, leading to a loss of traffic if Song Keling didn’t appear in future videos.

Song Keling didn’t have time for such things; she was destined to shine in the field of scientific research. In the future, their paths would only diverge further; Song Keling would likely move into a dormitory with graduate students by her junior year. Thus, feeding off the traffic Song Keling brought wasn’t viable and could even lead to a “backlash.”

However, during dinner, Xu Xinlei suddenly thought: if she couldn’t film Song Keling, couldn’t she film that beautiful little snake?

She had filmed a vlog on her trip to Xuetai, and the snake was a point that could hook the fans’ curiosity and attention. Besides, she had even captured the initial footage of the snake being crushed under the rock. Nowadays, many influencers fabricated personas for traffic. But she had Song Keling, a ready-made genius, right here. She didn’t even have to make anything up; she could just use the real story.

Xu Xinlei immediately sought Song Keling’s opinion. Song Keling paused for half a second and refused. She knew Xu Xinlei was an uploader on “Site B,” but excessive online attention wouldn’t be good for Qianqian. What if, right after she released it, netizens gathered to scour the mountain in Xuetai to find the snake?

Seeing that Song Keling hadn’t agreed, Xu Xinlei was a bit disappointed but not surprised.

After dinner, she still smiled at the recording lens and said: “By the way, here’s a little easter egg. Remember the little white snake we found crushed by a rock on the first day of field practice? The injuries were severe, and our teacher said it probably wouldn’t survive. But my roommate brought it back to school for surgery, and now it’s actually recovering great!”

“That’s right, I’m just a commoner, but my genius roommate has ‘magic.’ Hahahaha~!”

Song Keling didn’t go back to the dorm with Xu Xinlei. After dinner, she went to the lab. Her seniors were there, everyone completing their tasks as scheduled. By the time she returned to the dorm, it was almost lights-out.

Xu Xinlei was sitting at her computer editing video, wearing a camisole and hot pants with large blue-light glasses. One foot was tucked onto her chair, and she was hunched over like a thin little shrimp.

Song Keling didn’t disturb her and went to the inner room. The moment the light came on, the snake in the box moved. Seeing this, Song Keling unconsciously smiled and bent over to greet Qianqian.

The white snake slowly and leisurely emerged from the inner part of the box, came to the outer edge, and craned its neck. After a moment, it pressed its raised head back down and slithered back with a very “Zen” and idle pace. It seemed it was merely startled by the sudden light.

Song Keling observed it, confirming its movement was unhindered and its recovery was going well. Relieved, she put down her bag and went to the bathroom to shower.

Song Keling didn’t see it, but after she turned to leave, the little snake turned its head again. It unhurriedly wound its way outward, its body climbing bit by bit up the plastic box, holding its slender little torso high. Then, its head and vertical pupils pressed against the small ventilation hole of the box, as if peeking out curiously.

While showering, Song Keling also washed her hair. Emerging from the bathroom, she had changed into a large, comfortable cotton T-shirt. With a neutral expression, she used a towel to dry her wet hair.

She found the hair dryer just as a “beep-beep, beep-beep” sound echoed outside. Song Keling glanced at the small clock on her desk; sure enough, there were five minutes left before the dorm’s internet and power were cut. This was Xu Xinlei’s alarm to prevent the power from cutting out mid-edit.

Five minutes was enough for Song Keling to dry her hair. The hair dryer was quiet, but Song Keling still moved away from the desk where the box was. Only after her hair was dry did she return to the desk.

The little snake clearly lacked patience. It had been pressed against the ventilation hole trying to “peek” earlier, but now it was flicking its long, thin black tongue, playing a solo game of “Snake” inside the box. Its snow-white body stretched out into a long line. As it slithered around the box, its head didn’t touch its tail, and no part of its body overlapped.

Song Keling found it amusing and recorded a short video on her phone.

Finally, while still recording, Song Keling placed her index finger on the box and said jokingly: “Come on, Qianqian, take a bite.”

The little snake slithered two or three laps on its own before realizing the “owner” was right there. It turned its head toward Song Keling, its small body freezing slightly, as if analyzing her—or perhaps digesting her intent. After a moment, it flicked its tongue and leaned toward her.

However, in the next instant, the brightness in the room vanished, plunging into darkness.

Song Keling: “…”

Great. The dorm auntie is truly diligent, pulling the switch right on time.

Song Keling looked at the box again. Qianqian’s crimson eyes glowed with a faint green light in the darkness—a residual reflection from the light just now. Judging by those fixed green eyes, it wasn’t coming toward her anymore.

“Sigh, alright then.” Song Keling sighed softly, withdrew her finger from the box, and said quietly: “Goodnight, little one.”

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