Pampered Little Snake, Give Me a Kiss - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Goodbye

On Saturdays, Song Keling usually has very little on her plate.

She spent some time in the lab tidying up the equipment, integrating the data collected throughout the week, and checking in on two sick sharp-nosed pit vipers.

When a knock came at the door, Song Keling thought it was a student from a nearby department who had lost their way and came to ask for directions; after all, if it were her senior brothers or sisters, they would have walked straight in.

Song Keling was wearing gloves and hadn’t put down her snake tongs. She stepped out just to take a look.

Standing at the door was a beautiful girl in a cinched-waist long dress. Backlit by the sun, her long curly hair fell over her shoulders, and her palm-sized face was meticulously made up. She said with a beaming smile, “Hi~ Keling.”

In contrast to the girl’s elaborate grooming, Song Keling was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, with a protective face shield and a mask still on her face. It was a wonder the girl could recognize her in such an outfit.

Song Keling was surprised that Senior Su Yili had found her here. Her voice sounded somewhat muffled behind the mask: “Senior, why are you here?”

Su Yili didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she made a slight gesture and asked with a polite smile, “May I come in?”

Song Keling: “You may. Just stay in the outer room; I’ll be done in a moment.”

“Alright.”

Song Keling washed her hands and, indeed, came out very quickly. Without the layers of protective gear, her face was revealed—perfectly proportioned and always wearing a faint, neutral expression.

She seemed completely unaware of just how beautiful she was. Or perhaps, because she knew it all too well, she chose not to apply any rouge or powder. However, even with a bare face, her aura always had a way of igniting a desire for conquest in others. It was like seeing a blank sheet of paper and wanting to doodle on it; looking at a person so calm and devoid of emotion made one want to stain her with the “fireworks of the mortal world”—to make her feel joy, anger, sorrow, and delight.

Su Yili didn’t wander around. She stood in the outer room waiting until Song Keling moved a chair to gesture for her to sit. Then, she walked over with a slight smile and said, “I heard from Qiaoqiao that you were in a bad mood, so I specially ordered a small cake to bring over.”

She placed a branded bag on the table. One look at the logo revealed that the handmade pastries from this trendy bakery were very difficult to buy.

Su Yili opened the cake box, picked up a piece, and handed it to Song Keling. “Eating dessert will make you feel better~”

She wore sparkling nail art—beautiful and stylish without being gaudy, the pinkish tones appearing sweet and lovely.

Song Keling took it, said “Thank you, Senior Su,” and added, “Actually, I wasn’t in a bad mood.”

“Is that so?” Su Yili put on the air of an understanding older sister, crossing her pale arms lightly on the table as she smiled at Song Keling. “But why did I hear from Qiaoqiao that you weren’t quite yourself all day yesterday?”

Song Keling replied, “I had classes in the morning, so I only came to the lab in the afternoon.” It wasn’t the whole day.

Su Yili’s eyes curved into crescents, and she smoothly changed her tune: “So you weren’t yourself for the whole afternoon?”

Song Keling’s lips moved, but she didn’t argue further.

Su Yili said, “Go ahead and eat. It’s still cold—it’s matcha flavored.”

“Mhm.”

After eating, Song Keling’s fingers were a bit sticky. Just as she was about to get up to wash her hands, the person across from her handed her a wet wipe. “Wipe your hands.”

Song Keling sat back down. “Thank you.”

Su Yili feigned displeasure. “I didn’t come here just to hear you say ‘thank you’ over and over. What is it? Do you still not want to tell me about what you’ve been going through lately?”

Song Keling paused. She figured that since Senior Qiao Ying was so close to Senior Su, the story must have been told.

Sure enough, a moment later, Su Yili spoke again: “Fine, I won’t ask about your business. I’ll ask about mine. Regarding our date tomorrow—will there be any changes?”

Song Keling looked at her.

Su Yili’s smile was beautiful. She propped up her chin, not angry or aggressive at all, and said, “Tell you what: if you take me to see that beautiful little snake you rescued, I might forgive you for ‘pigeoning’ (canceling on) me.”

Looking at Senior Su’s considerate and understanding smile, Song Keling couldn’t find a way to refuse.

Song Keling brought Su Yili back to the dormitory.

Xu Xinlei wasn’t there; since there were no classes on Saturday, she was likely out on a date with her boyfriend.

Su Yili walked into the dorm gracefully, her hands playfully clasped behind her back as she looked left and right, exclaiming about how nice the new dorms were. Song Keling smiled and led her into her room.

Before they even stepped inside, the little white snake in the “scumbag box” on the desk had already detected the unusual noise. It immediately abandoned its relaxed posture and slithered into a corner to coil itself up. Once its slender body was coiled, it stared at its surroundings with a pair of fiery-red vertical pupils.

Song Keling introduced: “It used to have a good temperament, very docile, but lately it’s been a bit moody.”

Hearing the familiar movements, the little white snake’s coiled body showed signs of relaxing slightly. However, before it could relax completely, it heard a strange voice—

“Does it get angry and bite?”

Instantly, it coiled itself tight again, and its scales stood on end all over its body.

Song Keling paused for half a second before saying, “I haven’t let it out yet.”

Su Yili: “I heard that if pet snakes aren’t well-behaved, you just have to pick them up and handle them a bit.”

Song Keling remained silent. That applied to non-venomous pet snakes. Venomous snakes were different. You don’t handle venomous snakes if you want to keep them, and you don’t keep them if you’re going to handle them. Because a snake can fail to kill you ten thousand times, but you only have to fail once to end up in the hospital—or lose your life.

Judging by the toxins Qianqian left on the mice, it didn’t seem too dangerous, but that might have been because the venom dosage was low last time. If it were higher… with an unknown toxin like this, if you got bitten, the hospital wouldn’t even have an antivenom.

“Wow! Is this the one?!”

The stranger’s voice came closer.

The little white snake’s scales stood up like thorns, and the moment the box was picked up, its coiled body arched into an ‘S’ shape! In the next instant, the “hissing” sound of scales rapidly rubbing together filled the entire dorm.

Song Keling’s heart skipped a beat. She immediately took the box from Su Yili’s hands and said, “Don’t hold it like that. It just ate, so it has a bad temper and is very aggressive.”

She looked at Qianqian in the box, who was already flying into a rage, bristling like a hedgehog. Song Keling was shocked, feeling a complex mix of emotions she couldn’t name. She suddenly wondered if, much like women have periods, snakes like Qianqian have special sensitive periods. During these times, anyone who approached would be perceived as a danger.

Judging by Qianqian’s reaction to Senior Su today… her “attacks” on Song Keling over the past few days had clearly been very restrained and controlled.

Su Yili was also genuinely frightened. She instinctively leaned toward Song Keling, her expression revealing panic. “What kind of snake is this? I’ve never seen a pet snake like this!” Even the fiercest pet snakes weren’t like this.

“It’s not a pet snake,” Song Keling explained as she put the box down. “It’s wild. Senior Qiao misidentified it before.”

Su Yili only had a superficial understanding of snakes; she had crammed some knowledge overnight just to have something to talk about with Song Keling today. She looked at the strange little white snake in the box and asked, “Is… is it venomous?”

“Based on what I see now, most likely yes,” Song Keling said, then added, “It’s fine as long as you don’t touch it with your hands.”

Su Yili patted her chest, still shaken. She looked at Song Keling, her eyes glistening with tears. “Keling, that really just scared me to death…”

“I’m sorry, Senior,” Song Keling apologized. She felt very guilty because she was the one keeping Qianqian in the dorm; if Qianqian scared someone, it was her fault. Song Keling reached out and patted Su Yili’s back to comfort her. “Now that you’ve seen it, let’s go outside.”

Su Yili didn’t leave. Instead, she took the opportunity to nestle into Song Keling’s embrace, leaning her thin shoulders against hers. When she looked up, her eyes were red and her voice choked with sobs: “Ugh…”

Seeing her this scared, Song Keling’s guilt intensified. She stroked her back and soothed, “Don’t be afraid.”

Su Yili immediately wrapped her arms around Song Keling’s waist.

The sudden hug startled Song Keling, who had been focused on comforting her. That absurd dream suddenly flooded back into her mind. She couldn’t see the figure in the dream, but she vaguely remembered a delicate, slightly cool temperature like jade.

Recalling what the other party had said in the dream when they were in this position, Song Keling’s brow twitched. She showed a hint of reluctance but firmly gripped Su Yili’s shoulders and gently pushed her away.

Su Yili looked at her; although she looked like a “pear blossom bathed in rain,” she hadn’t let her expensive makeup run—her eyes were just slightly red and pitiful.

Song Keling felt very guilty and self-reproachful at the sight. However, she couldn’t control herself from turning her head to look at the box on the desk. Inside the box, the little snake that had been fully armed in an attack stance just moments ago had now loosened its body. It raised its neck slightly, its crimson vertical pupils staring straight ahead, watching them while remaining perfectly still.

Song Keling felt a surge of guilt, as if she were a bad influence on a child. She used her palm to block its view and said, “Don’t look.”

Su Yili was bowing her head to wipe her tears. Thinking Song Keling was talking to her, she looked up: “What?”

“Nothing.” Song Keling pulled out a tissue and handed it to her. “I’m flying back tomorrow afternoon. If I can’t make it in time, let’s reschedule our date for another day, Senior.”

Su Yili took the tissue and agreed with a soft sob.

Song Keling saw Su Yili downstairs and walked her all the way back to the old dormitory building, which was quite a distance away.

The sun was bright and a gentle breeze was blowing. This was likely the most beautiful season for the New University, and the timing was perfect too. Very few people were coming and going.

When they reached the dorm building, Su Yili looked up at Song Keling. Her eyes held expectation, yet also a hint of “playing hard to get.” She said suggestively, “Want to come up and sit for a while? My roommates are all out; it’s quite lonely by myself.”

Song Keling refused. She was taking the little snake back to Xuetai to release it tomorrow, and she needed to process what had happened in the dorm today. She didn’t want to continue misunderstanding that the little thing couldn’t be tamed and feel sad about it before they parted.

“Another time, when there’s a chance,” Song Keling said.

“Alright then,” Su Yili replied with a trace of regret. She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and smiled at Song Keling. “Next time for sure, okay?”

Song Keling looked at her, thought for a moment, and gave a hesitant nod.

Su Yili smiled brilliantly. “Bye-bye then~”

Song Keling watched Su Yili go upstairs, then turned and left. She ran all the way back to her dorm.

Inside the box, the little snake seemed slightly agitated, slithering back and forth. Even when Song Keling sat down at her desk, it didn’t come out of that state.

“Hey.” Song Keling tapped the box to make a noise and get its attention.

As expected, the agitated little thing instantly coiled up and struck an attack pose toward Song Keling’s finger. But this reaction was far milder than when it faced Su Yili earlier.

A single sample isn’t enough to prove anything; perhaps she could ask Xu Xinlei to try too. But seeing the little thing with its scales bristling, looking so wary and on guard, Song Keling felt pained that it had to live in such constant fear and trembling. If it got so scared that it regurgitated its food, that would be terrible.

So… Song Keling chose to unilaterally reconcile with the little white snake.

“Alright, I forgive you.” Song Keling withdrew her finger and looked at the little snake as it slowly relaxed. She spoke in a very soft, gentle tone: “You forgive me too, okay?”

If Su Yili had been there to see Song Keling like this, she would have been utterly shocked—the person she was pursuing so painstakingly was actually showing such a tender expression to a cold-blooded animal?!

With the misunderstanding cleared, Song Keling had a good night’s sleep.

The next day, she woke up early and set off as planned, taking the “little friend” onto the high-speed train.

After a few hours’ journey, Song Keling took a taxi to the foot of the mountain. Looking at the mountain ahead and then at the time, she felt lucky that Senior Su had visited her yesterday; otherwise, she really wouldn’t have been able to make it back in time today.

Song Keling was wearing jeans today; the legs were a bit wide and rolled up a few times, revealing a pair of beautiful, strong ankles. She carried her backpack and spent an hour climbing to the summit. Following her memory, she found the fallen rock she had moved that day.

Seeing it, she suddenly remembered something. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and muttered to herself with a mix of laughter and tears: “I’m so stupid. Why didn’t I take the cable car up from the other side?”

She looked down again: “What do you think?”

The little snake in the box raised its head at the sound, its upper body swaying slightly. It looked as if it were agreeing with her.

Song Keling took out her snake hook. Despite having spent many days with this little creature and developing some affection for it, reality was cruel. A snake wouldn’t care about affection.

Song Keling gave the box a little shake to topple the coiled snake. Only then did she open the box and use the hook to lift its slender, beautiful body. After many days, the person and the snake were finally facing each other without any obstacles. Without the transparent plastic box in the way, the indescribable beauty of the little snake made Song Keling’s heart throb. It remained motionless, as if treating the snake hook like a branch, coiling itself steadily and gracefully with its upper body raised.

Those crimson vertical pupils were even more vivid than before, as bright red as a blooming peony. With its breathing, the slightly raised scales rose and fell—a white that rivaled snow and frost. The two extreme colors under the sunlight created an ultimate visual impact.

It took immense self-control for Song Keling not to reach out and stroke it dangerously. She knew that this chance encounter would ultimately be nothing more than an irreplaceable, beautiful experience in her memory. Once the little thing returned to the forest, it wouldn’t remember her.

It would weave through the bright green grass or the lush branches. It would prey on small lizards and mice and drink clean dew or rainwater. When winter came, it would find a warm, dry burrow for a long sleep, and when spring arrived, it would shake its scales and slither out slowly to bask in the sun.

In its memory, there wouldn’t be a human who saved it. There wouldn’t be a period of time spent together.

“Go home now, Qianqian.” Song Keling finally placed the snake hook gently on the grass. As the little snake slithered onto the ground, she withdrew the hook. Looking at its tiny body, she spoke with a forced sense of relief and lightness: “Goodbye.”

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