My Partner Is a Little Golden Python - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After moving to the city, I always wanted to bring Xu Tuan to live with me.
But my parents refused immediately-a talking, over ten-meter-long golden python would scare people to death!
I couldn’t come back often, and during New Year Xu Tuan would be in hibernation; the little time we could have together was impossible, which made me feel even worse.
So every year when I returned, I’d secretly take a scale from him. Sometimes he’d wake up and chat with me a bit.
Other times he wouldn’t wake at all, meaning another half year without seeing each other.
I’d get frustrated too: “Can you not hibernate?”
“Sis, I want to as well!” He leaned close to my neck and sighed.
“But, sis, I think I might be able to take human form again soon.”
I immediately looked at him excitedly, but it was too cold; before he could finish, instinct forced him back to sleep.
I poked him-no movement. Tch, what a lousy snake.
After this year, I secretly took Xu Tuan with me. Once I started working, I lived on my own and bought my own place.
I put his scale into a transparent box and stored it in a cabinet along with scales from previous years.
I had bought that cabinet specifically; in the twelve years I’d known Xu Tuan, besides the scales I plucked myself, it also held some of his shed skin.
I adored looking at them; each scale, from small to large, carefully sealed by me.
Pure gold and glittering, growing from small to large-I gazed for a long time before contentedly closing the cabinet door.
I converted the sunniest room in the house into a greenhouse, and now it’s home to a Bamboo Leaf Green.
The snake is named Qingzhu. My parents had rewarded me with this pet snake; though venomous, it’s very docile.
Since I came back, Qingzhu had been circling in the greenhouse.
Locked inside for days without getting out, it seemed anxious. Once I let it out and fed it, it coiled around my arm.
A tiny, well-behaved little thing. I plucked it off and told it:
“Play around the house, but don’t wander too far.”
I’d bought a detached small villa. Worried that someone might see, I waited until it was completely dark before dragging Xu Tuan out of the car.
As I dragged him, I couldn’t help but think how heavy he was! Not as easy to drag as before.
My room had the floor heating and radiators running high; the moment he entered, he stirred a little.
I sighed in relief-if he could move, he could get himself upstairs to his room. His snake tail coiled around my foot, but he still seemed not fully awake.
I poked his head: “Wake up, I built you a greenhouse.”
Xu Tuan opened his eyes and said in a slightly hoarse voice, “Sis?”
I nodded. He was freshly awake, still a bit languid. “Sis, where is this?”
“I saved up to buy this place. Big, right?”
Xu Tuan smiled faintly and obediently coiled closer. “Pretty big. Did Grandpa let you take me away?”
I’d laid a thick carpet on the floor. Dragging him had been exhausting, so I just sat down and let him coil around me.
“Like that’s possible. If he finds out, he’ll probably chase me down and beat me to death.”
He nodded. Just out of hibernation, the heat was making him restless. “Sis.”
His voice trembled, making my heart itch a little.
This was my first time seeing Xu Tuan in human form, and he looked quite good.
Not the soft, cute look I’d imagined, but rather a sharp, slightly menacing aura, his indifferent features tinged with something hard to endure.
Yet when he looked at me, his eyes were brimming with tears, not knowing what to do.
He wrapped his arms around my waist, rested his head on my shoulder, and called me “sis” softly.
Then, as if remembering something, he fought to suppress his agitation, pulled back a bit, and placed my hand against his cheek.
“I forgot to ask, sis: do you like me like this?”
He asked earnestly, those dark crimson pupils capturing my heart. His skin felt cold under my hand.
I pinched his cheek. I’d like him any way he was-if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have raised him all these years.
He leaned in and, mimicking how I used to, kissed me.
He’s grown up, I thought with a sigh. All that careful raising over so many years had been worth it.