A Little Snake with a Naughty Streak — Chapter 5

That wasn’t right.

Xie Qingye and Jiang Cong hadn’t seemed surprised at all. I’d assumed humans had encountered creatures like me before.

That was why I’d been so comfortable showing my true self in front of Ha Qing.

Ha Qing steadied his breathing, trying not to cry.

“What do you want to do to me?”

At last, he’d asked.

“Take me with you.”

He was surprised.

“Why?”

Because I wanted to leave the Xie residence, but I didn’t want to walk there myself, and I didn’t know the way. It would be better to have someone I knew show me around.

I only told him one of my reasons.

“Xie Qingye won’t do. I think he has a private medical condition.”

Ha Qing said he had an urgent matter and didn’t even stay for dinner.

“Wait.”

Xie Qingye untied his apron and came over.

The atmosphere suddenly grew tense.

He gave a strained smile.

“What’s going on?”

Just as we were wondering whether our plan had been discovered, Xie Qingye said something utterly heartless.

“You should come over more often from now on.”

“Xiao Xie likes scaring you. Spend more time here keeping her company.”

Ha Qing glared at him.

“Try being human!”

Sitting in the sports car, getting farther and farther from the Xie residence, I was a little excited.

Ha Qing tossed me a dress.

“It’s new. My sister couldn’t fit into it, so she left it here.”

I thanked him and took it.

He gritted his teeth.

“You can be polite?”

I’ll remember that. I’ll remember that.

Ha Qing quickly glanced at the bathrobe I was wearing and stammered, “That’s not suitable for you. It could slip off.”

Oh. Oh.

The car pulled over in the middle of the road.

I went to the back seat to change.

Ha Qing got out to give me privacy.

He crouched irritably by the roadside.

He pulled a lollipop from his pocket and crunched on it, annoyed.

Someone tapped on the car window.

From inside, I gave him an innocent look.

“I don’t know how to use the zipper.”

He froze for a few seconds, then hurriedly came to his senses, rubbed his face, and stood.

“Turn around.”

I asked Ha Qing where there were lots of men.

He frowned.

“Don’t pick up bad habits.”

If a man didn’t listen, you just had to bite him a few times.

Ha Qing yelped in pain and had to give in.

“You really did that!”

The place he took me was called a bar.

I was about to copy the other people and order a drink when he quickly stopped me and told the server:

“Give her a can of Wangzai milk.”

I tilted my head.

“What’s Wangzai?”

He blinked.

“It’s a really strong kind of liquor. Perfect for you.”

Wow.

Ha Qing really was dependable. There were so many men here.

I stared at the shirtless men dancing at the next table.

I envied them so much.

I immediately grabbed Ha Qing, who was drinking.

“I want to do that, too.”

The man choked and pulled his hand away.

When he’d wiped his mouth, he refused outright.

“No!”

“If Xie Qingye finds out, he’ll chop me into pieces!”

I pouted.

He narrowed his eyes and pinched my cheek.

“Don’t get any funny ideas!”

“If you cause trouble, I’m calling Xie Qingye right away!”

Was I really that easy to read?

They hadn’t been there long when Ha Qing got a call from Xie Qingye.

He was about to decline it.

The other man sent him a text.

“Sure you’re not answering?”

A clear threat.

Ha Qing was miserable.

He had far too many weaknesses in Xie Qingye’s hands.

He warned me, “Sit still. Don’t go anywhere!”

“There are all sorts of bad people here who bully girls!”

I nodded while eating the sunflower seeds he shelled for me.

I still had to be good and listen.

Someone patted my head.

A voice held a trace of delight.

“Why are you here?”

I smiled.

“Jiang Cong.”

The man held his suit jacket in one hand. His face was so handsome it didn’t seem real, his manner lazy, and the cuffs carried a faint, clean scent.

He sat down beside me.

“Did Xie Qingye bring you?”

I shook my head and pointed toward the restroom.

“Ha Qing did.”

He wiped my mouth for me and smiled softly.

Several people stood behind Jiang Cong.

Someone urged him, “Mr. Jiang, Mr. Chen is waiting…”

The man lowered his voice to coax me.

“Want to go have some fun with me?”

I was afraid he hadn’t heard, so I leaned close to his ear and asked:

“Do you want to kiss me?”

Jiang Cong gave me a light kiss on the lips.

“Yes.”

He was more of a seducer than I was.

He was so good at flirting.

I thought about it, but in the end I still refused.

“Ha Qing told me to wait for him here.”

A monster shouldn’t make a promise and then break it.

Jiang Cong nodded slightly.

“All right.”

“I’ll come find you when I’m done.”

That worked out. I’d also wanted to ask him whether any of his friends would like to keep a snake.

My standards weren’t high.

Rich.
Good-looking.
And handsome.

I was almost done with the sunflower seeds, but Ha Qing still hadn’t come back.

I was bored, bored, bored.

A woman at the next table came over to chat.

“Little sis, you’ve looked at our table a few times. If you like one of them, just say the word. I’ll give him to you!”

She was generous.

Still, I asked, “Are they rich?”

The woman propped her chin on her hand and thought.

“Anyway, they’re not as rich as me.”

My eyes lit up. I took her hand.

“Do you like keeping snakes?”

She looked awkward and quietly withdrew her hand.

“Little sis, could we find another topic we both like?”

After I scared her off, I was bored again.

So bored that I stared at a man who was harassing a pretty girl in front of us.

He kept touching her chest and bottom.

The girl punched him.

“Stop it.”

“No.”

“God, you’re so annoying.”

Ha Qing had been right. There really were a lot of bad people here.

The man leered and grabbed her hand, trying to pull her upstairs to a private room.

The girl kept fighting him off.

“I don’t want to.”

“You’re so annoying.”

I suddenly remembered that in TV dramas, this was when a hero was supposed to step in and rescue the beauty.

I looked at the people around me. Every one of them acted like it had nothing to do with them.

How could they?

I would be that hero!

I took an unopened can of Wangzai milk and followed them.

Just as the man was about to push the girl into a private room, I shouted:

“Stop!”

Ha Qing hadn’t been waiting long by the door.

Xie Qingye arrived with a frigid, forbidding air.

“Where is she?”

Ha Qing silently pointed behind him.

“She’s sitting right there.”

But when they got there—

“Damn it!”

“Where is she?”

Ha Qing even turned over the sofa, looking underneath.

Not so much as a piece of snake skin.

Xie Qingye’s gaze was calm.

He told Ha Qing to find the bar manager.

Then he went upstairs and checked the private rooms one by one.

By coincidence, he ran into Jiang Cong’s group.

“President Xie, what brings you here?”

Xie Qingye said nothing. He looked around, saw no one, and turned to leave.

The conversation had been interrupted. Everyone watched Jiang Cong’s expression.

The man seemed to realize something.

So panicked…

Could it be—

Jiang Cong stood, his expression turning cold.

I poked the man lying on the floor.

“Hey?”

Had I scared him to death?

Here’s what happened: my shout just now scared both of them senseless.

“Let her go!”

The pretty girl immediately shoved the man away, yelled, covered her face, and ran off.

I’d done a good deed. Happy, I started to leave.

The man grabbed me.

“You ruined my fun.”

“Pretty girl, don’t I deserve a little compensation?”

“You’re gorgeous. Do you have a boyfriend?”

I honestly shook my head.

“No.”

He smiled.

“Then perfect. I’ll be your boyfriend. Want to have some fun with me?”

I struggled.

“No.”

His hand reached for me.

“Stop pretending. You just want me to sleep with you, don’t you? Playing hard to get, too.”

Suddenly I didn’t want to leave anymore. I tilted my head a little.

“Sure.”

The man locked the door. When he turned around, there was no one there.

“Pretty girl?”

Suddenly, he felt something coil around his leg.

He looked down.

A long, pure-white snake was flicking its tongue at him.

I opened my mouth, showing him my fangs.