Raising My Sweet, Well-Behaved Puppy-Snake to Be My Wife - Chapter 6

A snake should be an animal capable of moving very quickly with its body. However, Shen Zhiqi is different; he must prop up his upper body, so he cannot slither as fast as a typical snake.

Shen Zhiheng smiles and squats down, poking the little snake, whose cheeks are puffed up in anger. “Alright, alright, Brother knows he was wrong.”

He gently straightens the little snake’s shoulders, coaxing Shen Zhiqi, who had turned his head away in a huff to look at him again. “As an apology, Brother will carry you back.”

The gloom on Shen Zhiqi’s face vanishes instantly, replaced by undisguised joy. “Really? Then, then I want Brother to carry me.”

He is already very proficient at winding himself around his brother, coil by coil, starting from the waist and then wrapping around one leg. This way, it neither hinders Shen Zhiheng’s walking nor drags his own large tail on the ground for too long. He flicks his snake tongue out, having already completely forgotten his displeasure at being teased by his brother.

“Brother, that ‘plop-plop’ from earlier was so delicious.”

Shen Zhiheng pauses for a moment before realizing his younger brother has nicknamed grapes “plop-plop.”

“That is a grape, little one.” He chuckles, then adds, “However, the nickname you gave it is quite cute. Let us call it ‘plop-plop’ then.”

Under his brother’s indulgence, Shen Zhiqi forgets the original name even further. He hugs his brother’s neck and whispers, “Plop-plop, plop-plop.”

“They will all fall into Xiao Qi’s mouth,” Shen Zhiheng coaxes.

At the entrance of the villa, the mat originally used for wiping shoes has been replaced by a custom rectangular carpet. Shen Zhiheng prepared this specifically for the little snake. Shen Zhiqi no longer needs to rub his scales against a tiny mat like a small bulldozer; he can slide from the door all the way to the end in one go. Afterward, his ventral scales are wiped perfectly clean, much like a human wiping their shoes.

The exotic pet veterinarian Shen Zhiheng hired visits regularly to check on the little snake, marveling every time at the pristine scales that look polished, a clear sign that he is being well cared for. The doctor examines the previously injured spot on Shen Zhiqi’s tail and remarks, “The little snake has put on quite a bit of weight. When I saw him before, his cheeks were completely sunken.”

“He has a little meat on his cheeks now, which makes him even cuter.” Shen Zhiheng is very satisfied with the results of his child-rearing, reaching out to pinch the little snake’s cheeks, turning his mouth into a goldfish shape.

The well-behaved little snake does not dodge at all, obediently flicking his snake tongue. The tip of his tail stands up and shakes, then slaps the ground a few times, expressing his happiness just like a puppy.

“We can measure his basic data height, weight, and temperature. He is only eight, so this can help monitor his growth.”

“Okay.” Shen Zhiheng gets the tools to measure his brother’s basic statistics. However, they soon discover that the standard measuring tools for humans are entirely unsuitable for the snake. A human scale cannot accommodate a snake, especially one with such a long tail trailing behind. As for measuring height, everyone present is left wondering where “height” begins for a snake.

Shen Zhiqi looks at the doctor and then at his brother, completely failing to follow the rhythm of their discussion. He does not know what everyone is hesitant about, so he curiously slithers over to his brother’s side and tugs on his hand. “Brother, what is everyone asking about the snake?”

“Uncle Doctor wants to measure your height to see if the little snake has grown taller than the last few days,” Shen Zhiheng explains.

“Then, what is height?” The little snake’s world clearly lacks this concept, and he asks the question blankly.

Shen Zhiheng chuckles and gestures from the top of his head down to the ground. “It is the distance from the top of your head to the ground. For example, Brother’s height is 185 centimeters.”

“Oh! Top of the head to the ground.” Shen Zhiqi looks up at the ceiling, then down at the floor. “But Brother, a snake can prop itself up a little higher.”

With that, he grabs onto Shen Zhiheng’s arm and uses his snake tail to stand himself up taller, revealing the section of ventral scales beneath his abdomen.

“Mmhmm, a snake can be even taller.” The little snake mutters, climbing up Shen Zhiheng’s chest with his hands, then reaching up to rest his arms on his brother’s shoulders, trying his hardest to support himself higher.

His head can already reach Shen Zhiheng’s chin. Shen Zhiheng bows his head slightly, his hands supporting his brother to prevent him from falling. He remains silent, tilting his head to watch his brother happily fooling around.

“Snake can grow a little bit taller.” Shen Zhiqi exposes more of his ventral scales, struggling to support himself higher until he finally appears in his brother’s direct line of sight.

But the height a snake can stand is limited, and Shen Zhiqi is still just a young snake. His immature ribs cannot support his human-like upper body, and because his physique is quite weak, he begins to tremble uncontrollably before long.

“B… Brother snake, about to lose support.”

After shaking for a few seconds, Shen Zhiqi lunges forward with a soft “Ah,” burying his head in his brother’s chest. Fortunately, Shen Zhiheng reacts quickly, circling the little snake with his arms, steadying him with his tail, and pulling him securely into a hug.

Shen Zhiheng stabilizes his stance, patting the slightly panting little one in his arms with helplessness and doting affection. “Why did you decide to grow taller on the spot? Are you tired?”

The little snake tilts his head, leaning against his brother’s chest, placing his small hands on his milky-white ventral scales and rubbing them gently. “Tummy, tummy is sore.”

His voice sounds aggrieved, and his fingers keep stroking his scales, trying to alleviate the sore discomfort. He is very familiar with this acidic bloating in his abdomen; when he previously mimicked his dog-mommy by wagging his tail, that non-serpentine movement also caused his abdomen discomfort.

“Little fool, let Brother see. Where does it hurt?”

Shen Zhiqi blinks, grabbing his brother’s large hand and pressing it against his own cool, small belly. His stomach is covered in ink-green scales, with delicate skin transitioning into deep, dark scales. Human body temperature is naturally a few degrees higher than a snake’s, and the warm palm pressing against the little snake’s sore abdomen has a wonderful soothing effect.

Shen Zhiheng’s palm moves in circles over those milky, slightly yellowed, soft scales with a firm yet gentle pressure. Shen Zhiheng is very patient, watching the little one in his arms who was just aggrieved gradually narrow his round, beady eyes. Like a puppy being groomed, he obediently sprawls in his brother’s arms to enjoy it.

Such a clingy, high-demand little snake baby. Shen Zhiheng thinks to himself, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

“Brother!” The little snake makes a comfortable hissing sound, flickering his small tongue. If wagging my tail makes my tummy ache, but Brother helps me, then a snake would definitely be very willing to wag his tail! Shen Zhiqi thinks silently.

The exotic pet veterinarian on the side is amused by this warm yet funny scene, pushing up his glasses and smiling to bridge the gap: “The young master is not short; it is just that our standards of measurement are different. For a little snake, height should actually be called ‘body length’.”

“Body length?” Shen Zhiqi pokes half of his head out from his brother’s arms, blinking his tongue in confusion.

“Yes, it is the length from the top of your head to the tip of your tail.” As the doctor speaks, he takes a long measuring tape out of his medical kit. “Come, little one, lie flat and let me measure.”

His stomach no longer aches thanks to his brother’s massage, so Shen Zhiqi obediently slides out of his brother’s arms and lies flat on the cashmere rug. To help the doctor measure more accurately, he tries his absolute best to straighten the big, fat tail he usually likes to keep curled in a ball, even stretching out his two small arms as hard as he can. He looks like a long, stretching ink-green noodle.

Shen Zhiheng stands to the side, looking at that ink-green snake tail as thick as his own waist and trailing long behind and feels the immensity of his brother for the first time. It is no wonder people are scared away when they see Shen Zhiqi; that tail is thick and long, extremely rare, and always makes people imagine scenes of being constricted by a snake.

“Excellent, very standard.” The doctor laughs while measuring from head to tail. “The human upper body is about 55 centimeters, and the snake tail part ho, 2.45 meters. A total body length of 3 meters!”

The doctor records the data with admiration: “For a green python-hybrid Omega in this age group, his development is quite good, and his tail has significant weight.”

“3 meters?” Shen Zhiheng raises an eyebrow. “So Xiao Qi is this long when straightened out?”

Hearing his brother praise him for being long, the big green noodle on the rug twists happily, and the previously straightened tail immediately forms a curve on the floor.

“And the weight?” Shen Zhiheng looks at his brother, who is lying on the ground eagerly waiting for praise, and cannot help but reach out to ruffle his short hair.

“That is easy to manage.” The doctor points to the human scale nearby. “Young Master Shen, you can stand on the scale first while holding Xiao Qi to weigh the total, then weigh yourself separately. Subtracting your weight will give you Xiao Qi’s weight.”

As soon as Shen Zhiqi hears he gets to be carried by his brother again, he happily rolls up his tail and quickly crawls up from the ground. He loves being held by his brother, he does not have to drag his heavy tail along the floor, and he can have intimate contact with a comfortable “warm tree trunk.” It is a pleasure from start to finish. The little snake looks up with anticipation, the tip of his tail gently slapping the furry rug.

“Xiao Qi, come here to be held.”

Hearing his brother’s voice, Shen Zhiqi immediately stretches out his hands and props himself up taller. If he were a human child, he would certainly be jumping up and down in front of his brother right now.

Shen Zhiheng picks up the little snake, and the little one immediately and expertly hangs himself firmly onto his brother, without a trace of the clumsiness from the beginning. The exotic pet veterinarian on the side sees the brothers, who fit together as smoothly as a pre-arranged routine, and smiles kindly.

Shen Zhiheng carries this heavy sweet burden, steps onto the scale, and glances at the number. Afterward, he goes through the effort of peeling off the clingy little snake and standing on the scale again himself. He calculates the difference in his mind, a flash of surprise crossing his eyes, before he smiles and pinches the little snake’s cheeks.

“You little fat snake, you are now almost 34 kilograms.”

An ordinary seven- or eight-year-old child weighs at most 20 kilograms. Shen Zhiqi’s human upper body is scrawny and thin, actually pitifully light. All 34 kilograms are concentrated in that solid, fleshy, big snake tail. No wonder this little fool usually moves so laboriously on the ground; he is essentially dragging a sandbag much heavier than himself.

“It is all the tail’s fault that I am so heavy!” Shen Zhiqi protests, puffing out his cheeks and hissing his tongue.

Shen Zhiheng pokes his puffed-out cheeks and comforts him gently, “It is good to have more weight. You are still young, and you should grow into a white and plump little snake baby.”

Shen Zhiheng gestures slightly to Shen Zhiqi’s barely fleshed-out arms and instructs, “Your human upper body is still too thin. You must listen to Brother and eat more to grow some meat, you understand?”

Shen Zhiqi nods obediently, then purses his lips in distress. “Snakes are really so exhausting to eat.”

A snake without teeth, combined with a human throat, means Shen Zhiqi can only eat special meals the servants prepare specifically for him, the kind that makes it easy for him to swallow. Shen Zhiheng is also worried, and he specifically asks the doctor about this issue.

“Actually, my understanding of hybrid-type Omegas is not profound, but I can say that for the snake part of Zhiqi’s body, he is relatively healthy.” The doctor’s face also carries a bit of distress. “One thing is certain: an Omega’s bestial characteristics are closely related to the health of the body itself.”

“Once his body improves further and more of the bestial characteristics fade, he will have teeth.”

Shen Zhiheng nods, his gaze on the little snake filled with extra heartache.

“The snake is much better now, Brother!” Shen Zhiqi drags his tail, happily circling his brother. “Never felt this good. Snake feels so comfortable every day.”

The 3D-surround-sound sweet voice resonates around Shen Zhiheng. Listening to the little one’s innocent words, the soreness in Shen Zhiheng’s heart intensifies. He squats down, reaching out to block the little spinning top that keeps circling, pressing him into his arms and rubbing his head vigorously.

“It will get more and more comfortable every day from now on.” Shen Zhiheng’s voice is very soft, as if he is making a solemn vow. “Brother promises, when you grow your little teeth, Brother will take you to eat all the delicious food in the world.”

“Yay! Eat delicious food!”

The little snake cannot understand his brother’s heartache and suffering. He cheers and rubs his slightly cool cheek against the hollow of his brother’s neck happily.

The doctor gives a healthy rating to Shen Zhiqi’s current physical state, also affirming Shen Zhiheng’s success in child-rearing. He explains that the scars on Shen Zhiqi’s snake tail will come off with his skin during the next molting.

Noticing the doctor’s assessment, Shen Zhiqi feels he has rested enough. His body has recovered well, and never in his snake-life has he been this full. He has the strength to do important things now; he must start looking for his dog-mommy.

The dog-mommy was just an ordinary hybrid-type Omega at the hospital, a teenager in his teens who had a robust physique far different from other Omegas because of his Golden Retriever genes, and who had been unable to leave the factory for a very long time. But he was gentle by nature, had immense patience for children, and possessed a beautiful, large golden dog tail that looked like a toy, making him deeply loved by the children.

Because of this, he secured a job there caring for children, helping the staff with daily work. When all adults and children were afraid of Shen Zhiqi, only the dog-mommy was willing to get close to him, giving him food, supplies, and applying medicine to his injured snake tail. Shen Zhiqi knew the dog-mommy was not his mother alone; he was the mother to all the hybrid-type Omegas. But to the young Shen Zhiqi at the time, the dog-mommy was his only mother.

Shen Zhiqi knew the dog-mommy would eventually leave. No Omega would like that dark and damp place; as long as there was an opportunity, the dog-mommy would definitely leave. The dog-mommy did not have the ability to take him away, so the little snake never blamed him from start to finish. He knew that after the dog-mommy left, there would be no one to give him food or clothes; he could only catch rats to eat. No one would stand in front of him to speak up for his clumsy self. When he was injured, no one would care; even if someone stepped on his tail and broke it, no one would pay attention.

Even though the dog-mommy secretly stuffed all his food under his bed and promised that next spring he would come back with a whole year’s worth of food, find a way to take him away, and find a kind family, the little snake knew that staying in that place, he had no next spring. Escaping from there cost him a lot of energy; he was covered in injuries and was so weak he lost his legs, leaving only a big tail.

His skill at catching pinky mice was useless in the city; his human upper body could not crawl into the sewers, so he had nothing to eat and could only pick up scraps and chew on leaves. He dared not seek help from any human because he knew he was a snake, and all humans in this world feared snakes. In his short eight-year life, he had never encountered a human who treated him kindly.

While he was gasping for his last breath on a rainy night, he smelled the aroma of food. That fresh, bloody scent appeared out of nowhere in the little snake’s world like a piece of delicious, fatty meat. The instinct for survival made him unable to resist approaching the human. Dazed and unable to see the world before him, he instinctively leaned toward Shen Zhiheng, who was radiating a bloody-scented Alpha pheromone due to his rut.

The little snake at death’s door wagered his life on a human’s kindness. He just felt it could not get any worse; if he were to be hurt again, he would just wag his tail and say goodbye to the world. The only regret was not being able to see the dog-mommy again.

The little Shen Zhiqi did not know how he could see the dog-mommy. The outside world was too big, with unfamiliar streets and tall buildings; he did not know where to look for him. The little snake also did not know what he should do after finding him. Could he live with the dog-mommy? Back when he was 07, the answer to that question was that he could live in a small corner near his mother, a place where he would not disturb anyone, as long as he could see his mother often.

But now, he was not 07 anymore; he had a name: Shen Zhiqi. He could not leave his brother; he had to go find the dog-mommy with his brother. The innocent and kind Xiao Qi thought he would tell the dog-mommy properly how wonderful this manor was. If only the dog-mommy could live with them. Even if he could not, it did not matter; Shen Zhiqi wanted to tell him not to worry about the snake, as the snake was now fat and long, and had the best brother in the world.

Shen Zhiqi could not write; he did not even know how to write the dog-mommy’s name, only that it was pronounced “Feng You.” Relying on his memory, he drew a dog on a piece of white paper and went to find his brother with a drawing that had no recognizable shape.

“Brother, could you take a look at this?” The little snake showed his brother the drawing he had meticulously created.

Shen Zhiheng looked at the ink blot on the paper that had no identifiable breed and laughed, raising an eyebrow: “What masterpiece did the little snake draw today?”

“This is a puppy.” Shen Zhiqi was anxious; he held the pen and pointed to the small oval strip behind the circular shape. “This is the tail, fluffy, a large golden tail, this shape.”

Shen Zhiheng was accustomed to the little snake nattering on every day about being a puppy and played along: “So it is a puppy. Hmm… is this what Xiao Qi will look like in the future? A puppy wagging a big, fluffy tail?”

He was briefly puzzled about why Shen Zhiqi said the puppy’s tail was golden, as according to the little snake’s current scale color, should he not be a puppy with a green, fluffy tail? But he guessed there were no green puppies in this world. Perhaps the little snake had only seen puppies with golden tails, a Golden Retriever, perhaps?

“I will be a puppy in the future, of course. No, wait, I am not drawing myself; I am drawing the puppy.” Shen Zhiqi was almost derailed by his brother’s topic and urgently dragged it back.

But the child’s incoherent babbling did not attract Shen Zhiheng’s attention. He even picked up a pen and drew a puppy under the childish drawing. If it were a golden puppy, it should be a Golden Retriever, with a curved tail and two thick, floppy ears hanging by its head.

“Is it like this?” Shen Zhiheng easily drew a lifelike sketch on the paper a stick figure, but with two floppy dog ears and a slightly curved, upward-pointing dog tail.

The little snake’s eyes instantly opened wide and round, and he happily took the drawing paper from Shen Zhiheng’s hand. “It is just like this!”

Shen Zhiheng smiled gently and dotingly, ruffling the little snake’s head. “Does the little snake want to turn into a golden puppy in the future?”

“Mm! Snake will turn into a golden puppy in the future!” Shen Zhiqi answered happily, his eyes fixed intently on the puppy in the picture. He wanted to draw many puppies and post them in many places so that the dog-mommy could find him!

Shen Zhiqi sprawled on the table beside the window, earnestly holding a pen to draw puppies on the paper. One was a golden stick-figure dog, one was a green long-tailed puppy, and another was a black stick figure. His hand holding the pen was trembling, and the lines he drew were jagged.

But the little snake did not understand these things; he earnestly traced his brother’s strokes, imitating his brother’s handwriting to draw puppies over and over again. His persistence was completely incomprehensible to Shen Zhiheng; Shen Zhiheng did not know why the little snake had to draw three blobs of things that he could not identify.

Shen Zhiheng walked behind the snake and leaned out to see what kind of mess the little thing was drawing. Shen Zhiqi’s upper body, as a small human, was completely confined when being encircled in Shen Zhiheng’s arms. His keen perception as a snake was ineffective against his brother, and even with his brother’s warm, human chest pressed against his back, he had completely adapted to it. The little snake coiled his large tail into a mosquito-coil shape, huddling his whole body into a small lump to use as a chair.

“Xiao Qi, are you still drawing puppies?”

Hearing the voice, Shen Zhiqi raised his head. His brother’s upside-down face appeared in his field of vision, and he could not help but be amused, revealing a sweet smile. “Yes, Brother, I am drawing puppies.”

“Why do you like puppies so much?”

Shen Zhiqi’s eyes were bright. He stared at his brother’s gentle gaze for a long time, his little brain frantically pondering his brother’s words. The only people who had been good to him in his life were the dog-mommy and his brother, so he liked puppies.

“I like them! Does Brother like puppies?”

Shen Zhiheng looked at the little snake’s round, beady eyes blinking and blinking, his wet eyes looking at him expectantly. He remembered the little snake saying that he would become a puppy in the future. Brother touched the little snake’s head and answered:

“I like puppies.”