Xie Shuo indeed stopped moving, as if he had been kissed into stiffness.
Even the icy finger bones that had reached out to pinch her neck curled back and drooped down.
Xie Shuo’s eyelids trembled lightly.
Xin Yi gritted her teeth and bit his lower lip, then pried open his lips.
The moment their tongue tips touched, an indescribable tingling sensation surged up from her spine, throwing her breathing into complete chaos.
At first, he didn’t know how to kiss, clumsy and raw.
But he quickly caught on, driven by the snake clan’s hunting instincts to devour, not sparing a single inch between her lips and teeth.
When Xin Yi kissed until her mind went foggy, a strange thought suddenly popped up: Does snake saliva have poison?
When those venomous snakes bit people, was it the fangs at work, or the snake’s saliva… If it was the latter, she would die miserably.
The surrounding air grew scarcer and scarcer until a lush, thick, mottled snake tail wrapped around her.
Xin Yi was already struggling to breathe. Her fingers turned white from the effort as she desperately tried to pry off the cool, slippery coils wound around her waist.
Unfortunately, it didn’t budge an inch.
Moreover, as she flailed wildly, her nails accidentally scraped against a scale on the snake tail somewhere, making the situation even worse. To her dismay, she found herself wrapped even tighter.
“Xie Shuo…”
“Let go!”
She struggled to awaken his senses because it was wrapped way too tight.
If this continued, she might not pass out from the kiss but get squeezed to death.
“Pa—”
With all her strength, she delivered a slap that made the youth pressing down on her tilt his face to the side.
Her sobbing voice finally jolted awake the Xie Shuo who had been entwining her and demanding more.
The youth seemed to regain some clarity, realizing what he was doing. Though his tongue tip still lingered reluctantly on her lips, his expression froze in shock.
Then he abruptly released the snake tail and shoved her away hard while panting.
His handsome face slowly paled.
He frowned in uncontrollable disgust, staring at her with eyes full of shock that he couldn’t accept, mixed with suspicion and hatred! As if dodging some vicious plague!
Had he just kissed Bai Xinyi?
That woman who was stupid and venomous to the bone, who out of jealousy had pushed Chu Chu off the high platform, leaving her unconscious?
She was even Xiao Cheng Ce’s wife who had gone through the wedding rites.
Not long ago, she had shamelessly vied for favor with A Jie, sneaking to the study to seduce her husband while she was unconscious.
How could he kiss a woman like that? And get lost in it, reluctant to let go.
The youth’s face alternated between green and white, growing ever more unpredictable.
Xin Yi, on the other hand, was completely caught off guard. Her elbow scraped raw, and she grunted as she fell to the ground.
Her clear and beautiful cheeks were alluringly seductive, her hair scattered across the floor, her lips kissed to a rouge color with a few bloody tooth marks on them.
Xie Shuo had bitten them.
What expression was this rotten snake making now? Clearly, he had been the one taking the initiative later, biting and kissing, yet afterward he dared to act disgusted!
She was furious.
She was just about to climb up and curse him out when her foot slipped before she could steady herself, and “thud,” she sat right on his snake tail.
Xin Yi: “…”
Xie Shuo: “…”
Xin Yi: “!!”
Get off, aaaaaah!
She wasn’t angry anymore. Right now! Immediately! Get this ugly snake tail out from under her!!
They stared at each other for a moment, and finally, a chill started creeping up the back of her head.
So the current situation was: She had discovered Xie Shuo’s secret of having a human upper body and snake tail. To save her life, she had shamelessly forced a kiss on him. And in the end, she had even complained about his poor kissing skills and slapped him with all her strength.
The youth’s skin was already fair, and now a clear, red swollen handprint appeared on his jade-like cheek.
Xin Yi swallowed dryly, trying to appear calm despite herself, but she still couldn’t resist the instinctive fear of snakes seeping from her bone marrow.
She scrambled off the snake tail with hands and feet together, retreating as far as she could.
“You’re a snake.”
“A snake demon, or Snake Clan?”
Without waiting for his answer, she lowered her clear and beautiful little face and muttered to herself.
But her words weren’t entirely illogical; they even seemed somewhat reasonable. “It should be… Snake Clan. I’ve read in ancient texts that only the Snake Clan has a human upper body and snake tail.”
Xie Shuo had a speech impediment and couldn’t speak, so no matter what she said, he just stared at her darkly and fixedly.
His look seemed to say: You’ve discovered this secret, so what now?
Since entering this world, Xin Yi had never felt this tormented.
The vicious supporting female character’s persona let her act as she pleased, whether it was her usual teasing and flirting or her occasional jealous outbursts. She could handle them with ease.
But…
Xie Shuo’s snake tail was just too horrifying. She couldn’t help but be afraid, and it was hard to feel any affection.
The Melodramatic Transmigration System built up her courage beside her. “Don’t chicken out, host. We can’t judge a snake by its tail, and just looking at his face, he’s still pretty likable, right?”
She could only look at the face; everything from the waist down needed manual mosaics.
Xin Yi took a deep breath and asked him, seemingly nervously, “A Shuo, are you in your mating period?”
“You won’t speak, so I’ll take your silence as agreement.”
At a time like this, she absolutely couldn’t show too much fear of him.
She couldn’t reject him, couldn’t show disgust—nothing that might provoke him.
This was a snake in its mating period.
And his most closely guarded secret had been utterly exposed by her today.
She couldn’t fear him. Absolutely not.
After simply calming her emotions, Xin Yi approached him while her sanity drained away. Goosebumps sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain, but she still came before the youth and stood still.
She squatted down and showed him her bitten, red lips. “See clearly? You were the one who bit me first, and you were so strong I couldn’t push you away.”
“You snakes have to show some reason too. You kissed me, so you can’t kill me now. Besides, you didn’t lose anything, unlike me—a perfectly kind, cute, drop-dead gorgeous girl whose reputation you ruined.”
Xie Shuo’s gaze fell on her red lips, which had been sucked and bitten too much, like overripe cherries on the verge of rotting, exuding a seductive sweet fragrance. But her words still made his teeth itch.
Kind and cute?
What kind of kind and cute was she?
The woman ignored his gaze and reached out to stroke the side of his face. Her charming eyes rippled like waves as she coquettishly scolded, “Little snake, no biting next time.”
Her orchid-like breath puffed over, just short of teaching him mouth-to-mouth.
Hmph, not quite.
She had already taught him mouth-to-mouth once before, and quite enthusiastically at that. Perhaps she had taught others the same way, like Xiao Cheng Ce.
As Xin Yi tried hard to placate him, her hand was suddenly slapped away coldly.
From his expression, he seemed to resist being called that by her, so Xin Yi asked, “This is the pet name I gave you. Not satisfied? Or do you prefer being called big python?”
“…”
Fortunately, her proactive overtures weren’t in vain. Apart from Xie Shuo keeping a taut face and ignoring her, he showed no signs of intending to harm her further.
Of course, during this process, Xin Yi kept making guarantees that she would keep his secret.
He might have believed her, or maybe not entirely.
In the end, Xie Shuo, who could now control himself enough not to manifest his snake tail, took a light purple cocoon pupa from a box and handed it to her, meaning for her to eat it.
Xin Yi was a bit stunned. “What’s this, a deadly gu insect?”
The youth couldn’t speak, but his cold, disdainful gaze seemed to say: That’s right, you guessed it.
He pushed the light purple cocoon pupa closer, meaning he wouldn’t relax until she ate it no matter what.
The system explained to her, “Relax, host. This thing has no poison and won’t control your mind. It’s a specialty fruit from the Miao Frontier, sometimes used to feed gu insects. He was just trying to scare you.”
The moment it finished speaking, the notification sound detecting the favorability change rang in her ear.
“Ding-dong~ Congratulations, host! Xie Shuo’s favorability has risen to 20%!!”
Before she could be happy, the favorability dropped back to -200%.
Xin Yi: “…”
After learning the light purple thing wasn’t a gu insect, she no longer resisted and obediently took it and ate it.
Then that entire afternoon, she heard Xie Shuo’s favorability fluctuating wildly in her ear: up to 20%, then crashing back to -200%, up to 20%, then crashing back to -200%.
Fortunately, after endless “+++” and “—“, her favorability finally stabilized at a positive number.
It really wasn’t easy—a qualitative breakthrough.
Night deepened. Bamboo shadows swayed in the courtyard, carrying the fragrance of crape myrtle flowers.
Outside was deathly quiet, with only the closed vermilion-lacquered wooden door separating the inside of the room from the outside world.
Xin Yi hadn’t slept yet. Dressed in thin moon-white undergarments as if afraid of the heat, she sprawled on the soft, thickly padded floor mat.
Her dark hair was messily braided and tied back with a narrow red silk ribbon, a few stray strands falling along her fair cheek.
For the past few days, she had been sleeping in Xie Shuo’s room, though not on the same bed.
At first, he had resisted vehemently, but later he got used to it and could ignore her presence.
Thus, Xin Yi came and went even more freely.
Beyond the room owner’s passive acquiescence, part of the reason was her awkward position in the general’s manor. On the surface, it meant she was completely out of favor.
So her rundown courtyard had only Xiang Lan, no other servants attending her. And though Xiang Lan was timid, she often actively or passively went along with her schemes.
As long as Xin Yi nonchalantly said something like “So what if someone finds out I’m cheating?”, Xiang Lan would help cover for her even if she couldn’t persuade her otherwise.
Xie Shuo was reclusive by nature, couldn’t speak, and kept a courtyard full of terrifying venomous snakes and gu insects, so naturally no one dared come near.
Thus, even if she snuck into Xie Shuo’s courtyard to sleep every night, no one would discover it.
Tonight was the same. She sprawled on the bedding, playing with the overly clingy Bamboo Leaf Green.
The little all-green guy coiled around her fair wrist, behaving impeccably under her palm’s caress, as if it wanted to twist itself into a heart-shaped knot for her.
Xin Yi found it adorable and couldn’t resist kissing its glowing green little head.
Then she enviously asked, “How did you grow up so cute? Way better looking than A Shuo.”
The youth not far away looked up at her words, his gaze icy cold.
But she didn’t hold back. She unwound the Bamboo Leaf Green from her fair wrist, placed it on the soft bedding, and reached to fiddle with its scales, muttering, “Your master’s in his mating period. Do you go into one too? Show me…”
The next second, the Bamboo Leaf Green was snatched from her hand.
Xie Shuo’s ink-black eyes gleamed with chilling fury under the candlelight, silently condemning her shameless behavior just now.
Xin Yi laughed instead, her eyes rippling with charm, her brows and eyes full of allure.
She knelt up, propped on her arms to meet his gaze, leaned closer—her charming almond eyes sparkling. “Are you jealous? I only kissed it, not you~”
Only a woman like her could say such a shameless thing!
The youth was just about to rise coldly and leave when she pouted her soft red lips and kissed his cheek. “Muah—”
His pupils trembled violently, and he failed to grip the Bamboo Leaf Green, dropping it to the ground.
His chest heaved as he retreated in disbelief, treating her like a flood beast.
He should have felt disgusted—if not for his heart pounding so fast.
Xie Shuo’s gaze fell on her gorgeous red lips, uncontrollably recalling the sensation of their lips and teeth intertwining.
He had thought he would despise Bai Xinyi, feel humiliated.
Only now did he strangely realize it wasn’t that bad… even… likable.
After teasing him, Xin Yi noticed Xie Shuo remained in a daze.
She wasn’t in a hurry. She planned to take it slow, gradually breaking through his psychological defenses. So she burrowed into the bedding for a good sleep, but then heard, “Ding-dong~ Congratulations, host! Xie Shuo’s favorability has risen to 30%. Keep it up!!”
Xin Yi opened her eyes in surprise, propped herself up on her arm, and looked toward the youth by the bed.
She happened to meet those pitch-black, cold, deep eyes fixed on her.
Xie Shuo still regarded her with disdain.
She found it amusing, so she pouted her lips and blew him a kiss with a squinting smile.
The teased youth’s expression suddenly stiffened, followed by clear humiliation and annoyance. In the end, he could only grit his teeth and turn his face away, his ear roots silently turning a patch of red.
Xin Yi blinked her eyes and watched him for a moment.
Then she buried her face in the quilt, suppressing her laughter until her thin shoulders trembled.
Alright.
Tonight’s Xie Shuo was as cute as that Bamboo Leaf Green.
The next day dawned clear, within the study.
The charming beautiful woman from the Miao Frontier set down her teacup and walked to the desk, accompanying Xiao Cheng Ce as he admired the painting he had just bought at great expense.
When the scroll unfurled, surprise inevitably appeared in her eyes. “No wonder it costs a fortune. This painting is truly extraordinary.”
Towering jade palaces, heavenly halls.
Unprecedented scenery that could only be glimpsed in dreams, brimming with such majestic immortal aura.
Beside it, a few words were inscribed in wildly freehand style.
——《Heavenly White Jade Capital》
Xiao Cheng Ce shared her sentiments, his gaze lingering on the scroll’s finer details, finding praise worthy in every stroke. “Indeed, so mystical and expansive. One can imagine the temperament and realm of its creator—a rare marvel in this world. It’s a pity we have no chance to meet.”
From the first glance at this painting, he had decided to buy it, even yearning to share wine and become sworn friends with its creator on the spot.
Unfortunately, the painting had been consigned for sale at the Treasure Pavilion, and its owner remained mysteriously elusive, unwilling to show their face.
Though Xiao Cheng Ce expressed understanding, he couldn’t help feeling some regret deep down.
It truly was a pity. To miss meeting such an intriguing person, to never hear their innermost thoughts and insights.
Seeing his regretful expression, Chu Chu couldn’t help wanting to laugh. The general was heroic and awe-inspiring on the battlefield, but privately he still had a childlike innocence—and that was precisely his charm.
She pondered silently for a moment, then casually brought up that woman in an awkward position within the general’s mansion. “Shi Bi, are you going to let Miss Bai keep living in that rundown courtyard? Since you’ve already repudiated her, isn’t it inappropriate to let her continue languishing in the mansion like this?”
As expected, the moment she finished speaking, Xiao Cheng Ce’s face darkened, as if his pent-up anger hadn’t fully dissipated.
Thinking of Bai Xinyi, who gave him not just headaches but stomachaches too, he snorted coldly. “Ignore her. Letting her suffer a bit won’t hurt. She’s always stirring up trouble and fighting jealously. It’s time she learned a hard lesson—otherwise, she’ll never wise up!”
Chu Chu naturally understood what he meant.
Seeing that he still had no intention of sending Bai Xinyi out of the general’s mansion, she could only lower her eyes and smile silently, concealing the resentment and disappointment hidden in their depths.
Meanwhile, the streets of Prosperous Capital bustled with activity.
A carriage that appeared rather low-key and simple stopped at the mouth of a quiet alley.
Inside the Treasure Pavilion, Xie Shuo stood outside the screen with a stern face, his dark eyes icy.
He watched the woman not far away, her eyes brimming with seductive charm as she flirted shamelessly with the Pavilion’s boss. Especially after the man handed her the prepared silver notes, the smile on her lips deepened even more.
As if she couldn’t wait to lean in and kiss him.
Xie Shuo felt an inexplicable surge of irritability.
He wasn’t sure if it was the shameless woman flirting everywhere that annoyed him, or the middle-aged boss who was so bewitched he looked dazed, drool practically dripping from his mouth.
Thus, when Xin Yi finished settling the silver and emerged, she saw the youth’s handsome face covered in frost.
She felt utterly baffled. He had been fine when they left the mansion, so in this short time, which passerby had offended him?
But today she had earned a substantial sum for real, and with it, she could finally escape the destitute life of recent days. Her mood was truly excellent.
So she didn’t stint on coaxing him. With a squinting smile, she took his hand, her tone soft and alluring. “What’s wrong? Why the long face? Later, I’ll take you to a restaurant for some pastries, alright?”
Unexpectedly, Xie Shuo not only didn’t cheer up—his expression soured even further. He stared at the woman beside him and clenched his jaw again.
Very irritable.
Irritable enough to want to wrap her tightly in his snake tail.
Was seducing men her innate talent? Or just her daily hobby?
Why did she have to flirt and tease every man she saw? Why did she have to entice them all to fawn over her?
First Xiao Cheng Ce, then him, and now this Treasure Pavilion boss…
Wasn’t one or two enough?
Just how many more men did she plan to provoke?
With these thoughts, he angrily and coldly shook off her arm, showing no intention whatsoever of acknowledging or waiting for her.
The red cord and silver bell entwined in the youth’s black hair jingled with the shake. In mere moments, the handsome and sullen youth had vanished from her sight.
Xin Yi: “……”
Psycho.