Tianhe District was Shen City’s economic center. Every night, it seemed as if the Milky Way from the heavens had descended to earth, with dazzling lights shining unceasingly. Massive amounts of money were spent here every evening, and nestled in the heart of it all was APHRODITE, the grandest den of extravagance, where the air was thick with the scent of decadence and indulgence.
In the club renovated from an old mansion, the goddess of love and beauty smiled down upon the men and women lost in a dreamlike haze, their desires flowing freely. Most were just playing the field, but some seemed truly enslaved by love.
Qin Yanchao looked speechlessly at Lu Changjun, who had been grinning foolishly at his phone for at least half an hour, and suddenly found his drink far more bitter than before.
“If you’re always this idiotic from now on, don’t go around telling people you know me,” Qin Yanchao said.
Lu Changjun rolled his eyes, locked his phone screen, and finally regained some composure.
When he couldn’t see his senior, he could only soothe his longing by rereading their chat history.
“Give me a drink,” Lu Changjun said, reaching out to Qin Yanchao, who indifferently poured him a glass and sat down beside him.
Time flowed on impartially, but to someone eagerly awaiting a rendezvous with their beloved, it stretched endlessly. How was he supposed to kill this excessively long night? Lu Changjun felt he wouldn’t sleep tonight and could only try to induce drowsiness with alcohol.
“Isn’t it just a date tomorrow? Is it really worth getting like this?” Qin Yanchao mocked him. Lu Changjun had never dated before, but with their family backgrounds, people had been throwing themselves at him since childhood—more than enough to grant immunity to romantic illusions. Yet here he was, acting like a lovestruck boy.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Lu Changjun shot him a glance.
“How wouldn’t I?” Qin Yanchao retorted indignantly. He’d been immersed in the world of romance since his teens, with more relationships under his belt than Lu Changjun had miles on his odometer. “Seriously, I’m your big bro by a couple years. For your first date, don’t you want some tips from me?”
Lu Changjun eyed him suspiciously. Was this guy reliable?
Seizing on Lu Changjun’s hesitation, Qin Yanchao slung an arm around his shoulders like old pals, attempting to impart wisdom. “When chasing someone, skip the fluff. Money’s where love is—if there’s no love, you can fantasize it into existence. Listen to me: throw cash at it hard. Way more effective than your senior-junior games.”
Lu Changjun confirmed it: this guy was unreliable.
“My senior isn’t like the people you’ve dated before,” Lu Changjun said with a cold laugh, shoving Qin Yanchao away. “And neither am I. You just want a toy that suits your taste—buy it if it catches your eye, toss it when you’re bored. I…”
Some words were embarrassing to say outright.
Qin Yanchao stared dumbfounded at Lu Changjun’s springtime infatuation. “I want to spend my life with my senior.”
That was why he willingly interned at that lousy company, just to be closer to his senior, pulling all-nighters together without complaint because his senior enjoyed it, diving into snake exhibitions just to understand him better.
“What’s your little wife look like anyway?” Qin Yanchao asked in shock. “To turn you into a love saint.”
Lu Changjun had seen countless beauties; looks alone wouldn’t mesmerize him. What captivated him most about Bai Ying was a certain feeling—he always thought Bai Ying wasn’t of this world, like a spirit from the wilds who had wandered into the mortal realm, immersed in the red dust yet retaining an otherworldly innocence.
He gazed at the one-way transparent glass wall. Those on the first floor could only look up at the divine; from the second floor, no matter the angle, they could strain their eyes upward and see only the smiling lips of the love goddess. Only the VIPs on the third floor could behold her full visage up close. Marble, under the sculptor’s hands, became a soft, seductive, graceful, and voluptuous statue that every guest lingered on—but Lu Changjun’s gaze always drifted away disinterestedly.
He already had his own Aphrodite.
Qin Yanchao decided this kid’s lovestruck brain was beyond saving and changed the subject. “Speaking of which, I heard my dad say my uncle’s lining up marriage prospects for my cousin who just returned from abroad. Might have a cousin-in-law in a few days.”
Qin Juanshu?
The image of Qin Juanshu’s hand on his senior’s shoulder flashed in Lu Changjun’s mind, irritating him to no end. He felt a natural hostility toward any man appearing near Bai Ying.
Qin Juanshu was getting engaged to someone else?
“That’s good news,” Lu Changjun said, hoping Qin Juanshu would mind his manners from now on—if he was getting married, he should keep his hands off other people’s spouses.
“Good my ass!” Qin Yanchao said exasperatedly, slumping powerlessly onto the sofa. No point talking to someone whose head was full of romance.
The Qin Family was enormous, with far more intricate relationships than the Lu Family. If Qin Juanshu really secured a powerful marriage alliance, the already turbulent internal dynamics of the Qin Family would shift again.
Qin Yanchao stared up at the ceiling, the crystal chandelier’s brilliant lights reflecting in his eyes. That night, someone tossed and turned sleeplessly over tomorrow’s date; someone returned home in a foul mood and hung up on a call from their biologist father; and someone else slept soundly.
No, there were snakes too.
The little snake coiled into a ball, nestled in the blankets, and slept deeply. The previous job had ended, the troublesome client gone, and tomorrow was a rare day off. What would the wildlife protection base housing the snake exhibition be like? The little snake, itself a wild creature, had never visited such places. In his dreams, the base turned into an amusement park, filled with colorful balloons and fluffy cotton candy.
Bai Ying slept for twelve straight hours, as if making up for all his lost sleep. The nap was exceptionally restful, and when he woke, his body felt light and refreshed.
He drew back the curtains to find brilliant sunshine outside and temperatures warming up—it finally felt like spring. Bai Ying fried himself an egg, heated some milk, and enjoyed his breakfast-cum-lunch on the sun-drenched balcony.
After tossing the pots, plates, and cups into the dishwasher, Bai Ying changed out of his pajamas and headed out right on time. As soon as he left the complex, he spotted Lu Changjun waiting outside, unaware that Lu Changjun had arrived a full hour early for their appointment.
He awaited Bai Ying’s appearance like Romeo waiting for Juliet to open her window. Finally, that soul-stirring figure appeared. Bai Ying wore a beige wool coat with caramel-colored horn buttons, which unconsciously reminded Lu Changjun of snowman cotton candy.
Bai Ying reached the car and lightly tapped the window—like a knock on his heart. He said, “Let’s head out!”
Everything unfolding before his eyes was ten thousand times better than Lu Changjun’s fantasies from the night before.
***
“…So this is the snake exhibition?” An hour later, Bai Ying stood at the exhibition site and asked softly.
He didn’t dare speak too loudly, hoping it was an illusion.
The snake exhibition was held in a temporary venue at Yishan Wildlife Protection Base. This base in Shen City was one of the wealthiest in the country, giving the venue a low-key luxurious feel with a high-tech vibe. Behind the transparent glass, lush greenery thrived under ideal temperature and humidity, with abundant vegetation simulating the snakes’ natural habitats. Each exhibited snake had its own space—some coiled in balls, others wrapped around branches. As Bai Ying approached, they all reared up their upper bodies in unison.
“Yeah, this seems to be the first dedicated King Cobra exhibition in the country,” Lu Changjun said. He’d crammed snake trivia before the date, determined not to reveal he’d been a snake newbie not long ago. “I heard it’s because the King Cobra was recently split into four species, so Yishan held a special exhibition featuring only King Cobras.”
With ample funding, Yishan Wildlife Protection Base showcased over thirty King Cobras from around the world, covering all four types. Lu Changjun immediately pulled Bai Ying to the prime viewing spot, surrounded by snakes on all sides.
The Northern King Cobra with its yellow banded body perched on a branch, its eye shape stern, exuding regal majesty!
The khaki Sunda King Cobra from Sumatra coiled its body, lazily swaying its tail tip, displaying royal indolence!
The Western Ghats King Cobra from high altitudes trailed its black, patternless lower body, embodying profound regality!
The yellowish-green Luzon King Cobra lifted its pale head, its relatively slender frame giving it an approachable kingly air!
But slender or not, they were all King Cobras—adults here measured nearly three meters or more…
Lu Changjun’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Bai Ying, like a kid showing off his homework. Pushing from his own perspective, who wouldn’t love the King Cobra, the hexagon warrior of snakes?
His senior must love them too, right? His senior seemed too thrilled to speak.
Lu Changjun was wrong.
Bai Ying wasn’t just speechless—he could barely move.
When the King Cobras behind the glass all turned toward him, Bai Ying’s hackles rose, as if his fate’s seven-inch vulnerability had been seized. A primal fear of facing natural predators froze him in place—King Cobras had a special trait: they ate almost exclusively other snakes.
Poisonous or not, small or large pythons, even their own kind—King Cobras devoured them all. Why else keep them in separate glass enclosures? To prevent them from gobbling each other up.
Even the world’s second-largest snake, the Reticulated Python, had several documented cases of being swallowed by King Cobras. For someone Bai Ying’s size, he’d probably just be dessert.
The exhibited King Cobras seemed to catch the scent of a little snack and all oriented toward Bai Ying.
Lu Changjun grinned foolishly. “Senior, they seem to really like you!”
Bai Ying replied stiffly, “…Haha, really?”
Bai Ying felt their “like” too—but not the kind he wanted.
Even knowing the glass barrier held them back, Bai Ying remained gripped by the terror of being prey. It was instinct for a little snake facing king snakes. His thoughts wandered: if Xiao Lu adopted him and one day brought home a King Cobra…
No way—he didn’t want to be emergency rations!
Bai Ying decisively crossed Xiao Lu’s name off his mental list of potential keepers: Xiao Lu, you’d make a good owner, but we’re not a match!
He looked at Lu Changjun and smiled weakly. “Xiao Lu, let’s go see some other animals instead.”
