Raising My Sweet, Well-Behaved Puppy-Snake to Be My Wife - Chapter 1

Late at night, the streets were deserted. Outside a high-end KTV, a few people who were swaying from drunkenness stood by the curb trying to hail a taxi.

A lavishly dressed “rich kid” threw his arm around Shen Zhiheng’s shoulder, speaking in a slurred, incoherent manner:

“Master Shen, aren’t you going to the next venue? What time is it? You have just finished the college entrance exams; shouldn’t you celebrate with your buddies for a few more nights?”

Shen Zhiheng pushed the man’s arm away, frowning in discomfort.

“I am not going. I recently took suppressants for my pre-adult Alpha rut period, so I cannot drink. It is quite boring.”

He handed the man over to another slightly more sober friend who had caught up, declining with, “You guys go have fun; put the bill on my tab. I am heading home; my driver is coming to pick me up.”

The group muttered, “Long live Master Shen,” and walked off with their arms draped over each other, leaving Shen Zhiheng alone by the roadside.

Shen Zhiheng turned around, took a photo of the brightly lit, eye-searing KTV sign, and posted it to his WeChat Moments.

He estimated that by tomorrow morning, his father, who was far away on Planet A, would call to scold him, just like the countless times before berating him, the eldest son of a wealthy family, for idling away his time.

…Assuming his father still cared enough to do so.

Summer nights in this city often brought sudden drizzles, easing the scorching heat of early summer.

Shen Zhiheng went to a 24-hour convenience store to buy an umbrella, then stood across the road to message his driver, Uncle Wang.

He had not touched a drop of alcohol in days, yet he still felt dizzy due to his impending Alpha rut. His mood was frequently irritable for no reason.

He pressed against his aching nape and muttered a few curses under his breath.

Shen Zhiheng did not like the scent of his own pheromones; the bloody smell made him feel like a ruthless triad boss.

It was the kind that had just finished off someone.

Behind him, a rustling sound came from the bushes, sounding exceptionally clear on the quiet, late-night street.

Shen Zhiheng sobered up a bit, turning to stare at the trembling shrubbery.

From the dense bushes, a child’s head emerged. His messy, dark green short hair was covered in tiny leaves.

His eyes were a golden color that did not belong to a human, with thin, long, vertical black pupils in the center, appearing as eerie as a snake in a state of hunt.

“What the hell! What is that?”

The instinctual fear of snakes in human genes made Shen Zhiheng shout, causing him to scramble back several steps. He closed his umbrella and aimed it at the monster like a weapon.

The little creature blinked, crawling out of the roadside bushes and propping himself up with his hands.

He tried his best to open his eyes wide, straining against the glare of the streetlight to make his vertical pupils appear rounder, hoping to look less terrifying.

But this effort only made his eyes sore and painful, causing his eye sockets to turn red and tears to begin falling, drop by drop.

He looked no older than seven or eight, though his eyes were a bit frightening.

Shen Zhiheng paused, lowering the umbrella he had been pointing at the child, and tilted his head to study him.

Why was he suddenly crying? He had not even done anything yet.

“You, who are you?” Shen Zhiheng asked cautiously.

“Have… have food, smells good.Brother, do you have food?” The child asked weakly as he shed tears.

His voice was soft, childish, and sounded as if he were too weak to even stand, lacking any sense of hostility.

The child looked pitiful. Along one side of his jawline were scales that only appeared after regression, looking somewhat grimy.

He kept crying, rubbing his eyes red with his dirty hands, his lips pale and chapped.

Shen Zhiheng finally let go of some of his fear, a sense of instinctive pity for the child taking root.

He half-squatted, moving closer bit by bit with an awkward posture.

“I do not have any food on me.”

“You do not?” The child sniffled and flicked out a thin, forked snake tongue, nearly startling Shen Zhiheng into sitting on the ground again.

“But I smell something delicious on you… You do not want to give it to me? Sorry, I am just so hungry…”

Something delicious?

Shen Zhiheng sniffed his own clothes, catching only the scent of smoke and alcohol from the KTV.

He pondered silently, feeling that this child’s preferences were quite unique.

“What do you want to eat? There is a convenience store over there, I can buy it for you,” Shen Zhiheng said, pointing across the street.

“I do not know. I can eat anything, I am not a picky eater.”

The child nervously picked at the pavement, his head lowered, not daring to meet Shen Zhiheng’s gaze.

“Alright, I will go check the convenience store.”

Shen Zhiheng stood up to leave, but the moment he took a step, the child grabbed his ankle with both hands.

He stumbled, nearly falling right there on the street.

He turned back, ready to lash out with a cold demand for an explanation, but meeting the child’s teary, golden eyes, his anger faded.

“What is it?”

The child was clearly startled by his icy tone, shrinking his neck and letting go, retreating back into the bushes.

“S-sorry, I… well, Brother has a very good smell, so I just instinctively…”

The eyes that had just rounded out narrowed again, resembling a cold-blooded animal in hunting mode.

But as he muttered to himself, his speech seemed like that of a child with a disordered language system.

The more the child spoke, the less confidence he had, so he stopped explaining and continued to retreat into the bushes.

Now, Shen Zhiheng could only see the child’s head poking out.

“I mean… will you come back?” The soft voice came from the foliage.

Shen Zhiheng did not understand the child’s thought process, even doubting if the little thing was quite right in the head.

He pointed across the road and said, “The convenience store is right there; you can even watch me the whole time.”

A weak “Oh” was almost swallowed by the rustling bushes.

Shen Zhiheng pursed his lips, took off his backpack which only contained an empty water bottle and placed it in front of the child.

“Help me watch my bag; I do not feel like carrying it around.”

A pair of hands reached out from the bushes extremely quickly, hugging the light, weightless bag to his chest.

With the sound of rustling branches, the backpack vanished from sight.

Shen Zhiheng knew that giving the child his bag to hold meant he would definitely be coming back.

Shen Zhiheng did not know what the child liked to eat, and he still did not know what species the child was.

A human? A monster? Or something else?

There was not much on the shelves, just a lonely hamburger sitting there.

Shen Zhiheng picked up the burger and bought himself a can of ice-cold cola.

He returned to the side of the mess of a bush and handed the heated fast-food burger over.

“Eat up, it is freshly heated.”

The child poked his head out, still clutching the backpack to his chest like a beloved toy, refusing to let go.

He took the warm burger and pressed his nose against the packaging to sniff it.

Then, he took a bite, packaging paper and all.

“Hey, tear off the wrapper! You cannot eat that outer layer.”

Shen Zhiheng urgently pulled the packaging from the child’s mouth and took the bitten burger from his hand.

The child stared at him with his golden eyes—bewildered, sluggish, yet obedient and flicked his snake tongue again.

Shen Zhiheng came to a realization: this kid really was a bit of a simpleton.

He helplessly tore off the wrapper and handed it back.

“It is okay now, eat.”

The child swallowed the bite in his mouth and opened his mouth to take another.

He smelled something unpleasant, paused, picked out the lettuce from inside the burger, and tossed it to the ground.

Shen Zhiheng frowned in confusion.

Who was it that said they were not a picky eater just a moment ago?

Watching the child swallow the food in small bites, Shen Zhiheng finally remembered the main issue.

He asked, “Where are your parents?”

The child stopped eating, tilted his head, and answered earnestly, “I do not have a father.”

Shen Zhiheng’s heart tightened as he continued, “Then, what about your mother?”

The child gripped the burger tighter. He lowered his eyes to think for a moment before answering, “I do not have a mother.”

Shen Zhiheng’s expression grew more complex as he asked, “What about your grandparents?”

“What are those?”

“…”

Ha… I am a real piece of work for asking these questions…

The two fell into an awkward silence though the awkwardness was only felt by Shen Zhiheng, as the child, currently busy swallowing his food, seemed completely oblivious.

“Do you have a name then?” Shen Zhiheng asked.

The child finally stopped eating his beloved food and moved a little further out.

He pulled open his ragged collar and straightened a rusty identification tag around his neck, showing the small, round metal disc to Shen Zhiheng.

“No name. I have a code. I am Number 7.”

His voice was crisp and innocent, as if he did not feel anything was wrong with that.

“Brother can call me Number 7, or Xiao Qi.”

A strange-looking child, with no parents or family, hiding alone by the side of the road.

Shen Zhiheng felt increasingly that this matter was not as simple as it seemed.

“I will call the police for you.”

“No, do not!”

Xiao Qi’s voice suddenly spiked in volume, and the unfinished burger fell to the ground.

He grabbed Shen Zhiheng’s hand, shaking his head frantically, the tears that had just stopped now streaming down his face wildly.

“Do not please, I do not want to go back.”

“I… I will go, do not call the police, I am sorry, I am sorry. I will leave now.”

He made as if to dive back into the bushes, but Shen Zhiheng caught his wrist.

“Brother, let me go. I will not eat your food, I know I was wrong. I will, I will pay you back for the food, I…”

“There is going to be a heavy downpour in a while. Come stay at my place for the night; I will not call the police.”

Shen Zhiheng interrupted Xiao Qi’s incoherent whimpering.

From the moment he met the child, he had not heard him say so much; now, upon hearing the words “call the police,” the child had broken down, crying and screaming as if experiencing a stress reaction.

The child stopped speaking, his sobs remaining like the gasps of someone who had just survived a disaster.

After a long while, he cautiously tested the waters: “Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

In the distance, two blinding headlights cut through the rain curtain, and a black mecha-car slowly stopped by the side of the road.

Shen Zhiheng reached out to shield the child’s eyes from the light, preventing his pupils which had become slightly rounder from turning back into thin, long slits.

It made him look less terrifying, almost like a pair of dull, round beads.

“Young Master, sorry for being late. This KTV is a bit far from home.”

Before he could finish, Uncle Wang saw the unknown creature beside the bushes and paused his steps.

“What, what is this?”

The child was startled by the stranger’s raised voice, but this time he did not hide in the bushes; instead, he curled up toward Shen Zhiheng.

Shen Zhiheng felt a chill on his ankle, and looking down, saw a thick mass of something coiling around his lower leg.

Uncle Wang, terrified, jumped back and shouted, “Young Master, I am calling the police right now!”

Catching the keyword, Xiao Qi was terrified again, trying to burrow into the bushes, but Shen Zhiheng grabbed his shoulder and pressed him into his arms.

The two, one large, one small were shivering in fear of each other. Uncle Wang stood by the streetlight, trembling as he prepared to call the police, while Xiao Qi hid in Shen Zhiheng’s arms, crying and repeating, “Do not call the police.”

Shen Zhiheng: “…”

I just managed to coax this kid into a calm state!