Raising My Sweet, Well-Behaved Puppy-Snake to Be My Wife - Chapter 10

At noon, the memorial ceremony on the back hill was nearing its end.

Shen Zhiqi hid behind a tree in the distance, observing the dense crowd of people. He quickly spotted his brother in the crowd, whose tall, upright figure made him particularly conspicuous.

Hiding in a cluster of shrubs on one side, he quietly moved closer toward the crowd.

Once closer, he was finally able to hear the hushed conversation of the people in the back row.

“I thought I would see Mr. Shen here, but I did not expect him to skip his own mother’s memorial.”

“Exactly. His son, Zhiheng, has learned from him, too. He has been gloomy since he was a child, and he wears a blank expression even at events like this. He really inherited his father’s cold-bloodedness.”

“That is true… This child looks lifeless and eerie.”

…

Shen Zhiqi tried hard to listen for a while, but he only understood a small part of it.

They are secretly bad-mouthing Brother! How can there be such bad people in this world!

Driven by a desire to stand up for his brother, Shen Zhiqi’s snake tail began to twitch instinctively, much like a snake’s threatening response to danger when hunting.

A part of his tail emerged from the bushes, moving slowly.

The rustling sound soon drew attention. Suddenly, a scream erupted from the crowd.

“What is that sound? What is that?”

“Damn it! A snake! Ah! There is a snake!”

“Such a huge snake! Ah, where are the sticks? How can this snake be so big?”

“Oh my god, is it a mutant?! Is it the mutant that escaped from the news report?”

“It must be a mutant! How can such a giant python exist in this world? Run! Ahhh…”

…

Shen Zhiqi was startled by the sudden screams and froze in place, unable to move.

His golden pupils instantly shrank into tiny, thin black lines from sheer terror, and his long, slender tongue flicked in and out restlessly.

Countless dirty words and suspicions fell into Shen Zhiqi’s ears. He could not understand all of them, but he could feel the sheer malice behind them.

In his short life as a snake, he was all too familiar with this kind of malice.

Because he had been so well-loved by his brother, Shen Zhiqi had almost forgotten that he was a creature that no one liked. For a time, by his brother’s side, he only remembered that he was Shen Zhiqi, his brother’s family.

Shen Zhiqi stood there in a daze, huddled in the waist-high bushes, briefly forgetting even how to cry.

A stick swung directly toward his snake tail, followed by a sharp cry of “Stop!”

But Shen Zhiqi did not react at all; he had even forgotten how to flee.

The pain did not land on Shen Zhiqi. Instead, it was replaced by Shen Zhiheng’s pained grunt.

The stick struck Shen Zhiheng’s shoulder with full force, the blow causing the qing ornament hanging from the top of the stick to fall to the ground.

Shen Zhiqi smelled a familiar scent and finally snapped back to reality, seeing his brother trembling in pain while shielding his tail.

Tears instantly flooded his eyes. He reached out, trying to scramble out of the bushes, but a large hand reached into the shrubbery and firmly pushed him back down.

Immediately after, Shen Zhiheng used all his strength to block the front, holding onto the little cold hand inside the bushes with his free hand.

The waist-high bushes completely shielded Shen Zhiqi’s thin upper body, leaving others only with a glimpse of golden pupils shining in the sun.

“Young Master, are you alright?”

Uncle Wang rushed over to support him, further concealing the bushes.

“I am fine.”

Shen Zhiheng’s face was pale, but he insisted on answering bravely.

“Everyone, do not panic. This is just a little pet I am raising.”

“I left the house early this morning and forgot to feed him. He must have come looking for me because he was famished.”

He glanced at the section of the snake tail lying outside the bushes and exhaled in relief, as if he had just survived a disaster.

Thank goodness that stick did not hit the little snake.

The attacker had used lethal force; Shen Zhiheng now felt his back and shoulder going numb from the pain. If that had landed squarely on the little snake, would it not have broken that fragile, large tail?

Shen Zhiheng was grateful that his sturdy human shoulder had taken the hit.

“Young Master, raising a snake… is that not very dangerous?”

Shen Zhiheng could not bear to hear people bad-mouthing his little snake and shot a cold, icy glare their way.

“He is very obedient. He does not bite people.”

He tilted his head and scanned his meddlesome relative, conceiving a plan.

“My snake is especially clever and recognizes his owner. Second Uncle, would you like to come and test if my baby protects his owner and whether he will bite you?”

“No, no, thank you!”

The man shook his head like a rattle. He was already terrified at the sight of the snake tail; having caught a vague glimpse of the shimmering gold in the cracks of the bushes earlier, his knees were already knocking together in fear.

“Then does Second Uncle have anything else to say?”

“Nothing at all! As long as the Young Master is happy, that is all that matters…”

Second Uncle took off his glasses and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

Shen Zhiheng raised an eyebrow slightly and scanned the others.

“And everyone else?”

A group of adults kept shaking their heads in front of this underage young master.

Who on earth would raise a python with a tail as thick as a human’s thigh?

In their eyes, a lingering fear remained. They did not know whether they were more afraid of the giant python or of Shen Zhiheng, who raised such a beast and called it “baby.”

“I can choose not to pursue the fact that you all attempted to hurt my precious little snake, which resulted in my shoulder taking a heavy blow.”

His gaze swept toward the instigator, who immediately turned away in fear.

“It is true that I forgot to feed my baby today, which caused this misunderstanding. I apologize to you all.”

“But you all frightened my baby, did you not?”

Everyone present remained silent; no one raised an objection.

Occasionally, someone would glance at the thick, shimmering snake tail in the sunlight and quickly avert their gaze, terrified.

Raising exotic pets was not uncommon on this planet, and there were many owners who had been bitten by their own pets. But this was all a matter of personal freedom. No one had the qualification to criticize the wealthy Shen family’s eldest son for raising an exotic pet.

Yet, everyone gained a deeper understanding of the gloomy, unpredictable Shen Zhiheng.

“My little baby has been frightened by you all, so I must go and coax him. Everyone, I will not see you out.”

Shen Zhiheng tilted his head slightly, signaling Uncle Wang.

The crowd retreated rapidly, exiting through the iron gates in no time.

The surroundings fell silent, leaving only the brother and the little snake.

Only when Shen Zhiheng was certain everyone had left did he gently tug at the little snake’s hand, whispering softly:

“Baby, do not be afraid. They have all left. Come out; there is only Brother here.”

The rustling sound returned to the bushes.

Soon, the little guy with messy hair poked his head out from the thicket.

His hair was covered in leaves, and his eyes were brimming with tears. He looked up at Shen Zhiheng pitifully, just as he had when they first met.

That miserable, frightened expression instantly ignited Shen Zhiheng’s protective instincts.

He endured the pain to lift his arm, gently stroking the little snake’s tear-stained cheeks.

“Baby, do not be afraid. Brother has chased all the bad people away. No one will hurt you.”

Shen Zhiqi lowered his head, his shoulders trembling with his sobs.

He wiped his face with the back of his hand, his tearful voice shaking uncontrollably.

“It hurts… woo… it hurts so much…”

Tears dripped onto the ground, and no matter how he tried, he could not wipe the tear streaks from his face clean.

Shen Zhiheng’s nerves tightened. He held the little snake’s shoulders, tilting his head to look him over, his gaze scanning the little snake’s body like an X-ray.

He could not find any visible wounds and asked nervously, “Where does it hurt? Are you injured somewhere?”

Shen Zhiqi hung his head, his hands gripping the crumpled drawing paper tightly.

His extra tail curled upward, the small tip bending into an arc and poking his own chest.

“It hurts here…”

The soft, springy tail tip poked his small chest a few more times.

“Brother… the snake hurts here…”

“Is your heart hurting?”

Shen Zhiheng watched as the little snake’s tail tip curled over to poke his chest, and his nerves grew even more frayed. He placed his palm over the tail tip, feeling the heavy heartbeat through the chest wall.

Shen Zhiheng’s voice became exceptionally urgent.

“Were you frightened that badly? Do not be afraid. Does it hurt that much? Tell Brother, what is wrong?”

The little snake shook his head very hard, making himself dizzy and causing his entire upright upper body to sway.

“The snake made Brother get hurt, so… it hurts so much here…”

With tearful eyes looking at his brother, the sharp little tail bent over and poked his heart again.

Shen Zhiheng finally understood: the little guy meant that seeing his brother receive such a serious injury made his heart ache.

Shen Zhiheng confirmed that the little snake was truly uninjured. His tense nerves relaxed, replaced by a feeling of being so charmed by the little guy’s action of poking his own heart with his tail that he did not know what to say.

But the little snake was clearly unaware of this, still immersed in his own little world.

He cried while wiping his face hard with the back of his hand.

“I do not want to be a snake anymore… it is all the snake’s fault, woo woo… Brother, I do not want to be a little snake anymore… the snake is such a bad, bad thing…”

Shen Zhiqi cried, turning to lunge at the big tail he had accidentally left outside the bushes.

He lifted his hands to beat that thick, dark green tail forcefully. Both his knuckles and the wriggling tail felt the pain.

But he did not feel relieved in the slightest, lunging to grab the wooden stick that had been thrown on the ground.

“Shen Zhiqi! What are you doing! Stop!”

A powerful hand firmly gripped Shen Zhiqi’s wrist, easily snatching the stick from his hand.

It was rare to hear his brother call him by his full name; this was the first time he had heard it since being given the name.

The tear-drenched little guy looked at his brother’s pained, pale face, finally dropped his defenses, let go of his strength, and lunged into his brother’s arms, sobbing loudly.

He had developed an unprecedented, extreme resistance and hatred toward his own nature as a snake.

It was not as if 07 had never hated being a snake before—back when others cast fearful and hostile glances at him, and when all the other children of his age avoided him. When he realized that all of this was innate, and he was destined to be disliked from birth, he had longed to become a puppy that everyone liked, just like the Golden Retriever mother.

But now, having experienced his brother’s love and care, and then being pushed back into the abyss that had always belonged to him because of his identity as a snake, he hated his own existence even more.

He never, ever wanted to be a snake again.

Shen Zhiqi cried loudly in his brother’s arms, his voice gradually growing hoarse, pouring out all the past and present grievances without reservation.

He knew he was being as noisy as the most troublesome child in the hospital, but he could not control himself at all.

Fortunately, for the first time, he faced his own fragility so directly; for the first time, he vented his distress without reservation, and he was not pushed away by the only person who embraced him.

“Woo… Brother, I am so sad… why am I so sad… why, why do I want to cry… what should I do, to… not be noisy…”

Shen Zhiqi sobbed, his interrupted syllables laden with a thick, tearful tone.

The snake’s tiny brain simply could not process such a flood of emotions.

“Then just have a good cry, baby.”

Shen Zhiheng looked at the messy, sobbing little snake in his arms with a heart full of pain, for the countless-th time gently wiping away his tears and stroking his messy hair.

“Brother is with you. Have a good cry here with Brother; it is alright.”