At this age, the little snake still didn’t know what marriage meant.
He knew that a child bride would grow up to become someone’s wife, but that was the extent of his knowledge. Apart from being shyer than usual when Liu Qingzhang held him, nothing else changed compared to before.
Time passed day by day, and Bai Ying soon reached school age.
The school uniform arrived early, looking no different from the standard one at first glance. But once touched, the difference in fabric quality was night and day. The little snake’s skin was as tender as water tofu, reddening at the slightest touch. Rough material could easily chafe large patches of red marks, so the big snake, who was particularly attentive to his food, clothing, housing, and daily needs, naturally wouldn’t overlook such details.
In the walk-in closet, Bai Ying looked left and right at himself in the mirror wearing the school uniform, then happily pounced into Liu Qingzhang’s arms behind him. “Does the little snake look smart?”
“Yes, the little snake is the smartest.” Liu Qingzhang lied with his eyes wide open, completely forgetting that his little snake had only learned to write his own name the day before.
Although he had hired an early education teacher for Bai Ying, some parents spoiled their children excessively, so the kids didn’t learn much.
Zhong Peide wanted to say something several times but held back. No one dared to question Liu Qingzhang’s educational methods.
Little Bai Ying clutched the hem of his gray-blue school uniform, fidgeting as he looked up at Liu Qingzhang. “Mr. Liu, on the first day of school, could you take me there?”
Liu Qingzhang rarely appeared in public, and matters concerning Bai Ying were usually handled by Zhong Peide.
Bai Ying looked at Liu Qingzhang eagerly. He knew the big snake disliked dealing with mortals, but this was his first day of school…
“Alright.” Liu Qingzhang crouched down and touched his head.
A sweet smile immediately bloomed on Bai Ying’s chubby baby face.
Not only did Liu Qingzhang take Bai Ying to school on the first day, but he also picked him up and dropped him off every single day afterward. In the mornings, he coaxed awake the Bai Ying who had fallen asleep again in the car, patted his backpack, and watched from the sedan’s back seat as Bai Ying was led by the hand by Zhong Qian through the school gates. In the evenings, he arrived precisely on time at the same spot. Little Bai Ying would return like a swallow to its nest, eagerly breaking free from Zhong Qian’s hand, climbing into the back seat, and pouncing into Liu Qingzhang’s arms.
Once in Liu Qingzhang’s arms, Bai Ying wouldn’t leave for a long time. Liu Qingzhang carried him out of the car, held him while eating dinner, and carried him to bathe. Bai Ying rarely needed to walk on his own beside Liu Qingzhang; when his feet touched the ground, it was usually on soft carpet.
“Did anything interesting happen at school?” They whispered into each other’s ears. Liu Qingzhang had sent many people to secretly protect Bai Ying, but he only learned what Bai Ying experienced from Bai Ying himself.
“I couldn’t understand the teacher’s lessons.” Bai Ying looked at him pitifully. The little snake was so dumb.
“It’s okay. If you can’t understand right away, we’ll take it slow.” Liu Qingzhang was unusually calm about Bai Ying’s studies, unlike typical parents. It was only natural for the little snake not to be very smart—most snakes were dim-witted by nature. Compared to his kin, the little snake was already quite clever.
Why not compare him to me?
Liu Qingzhang thought to himself that as a python, he was so much larger than the little snake. It was only right for him to be a bit smarter; otherwise, how could he properly care for the little snake?
“Is anyone bullying you at school?” Liu Qingzhang asked the little snake next.
Bai Ying shook his head vigorously. “All the classmates are nice!”
Bai Ying was born pretty and cute; most classmates liked him too much to bully him. Even the occasional bully backed by influence didn’t dare touch him. This wasn’t an ordinary elementary school; all the students were children of powerful families in the capital. Though most didn’t know Bai Ying was the apple of the Zhong Family and Mr. Liu’s eye, they at least knew that Zhong Qian, the Zhong Family’s eldest young master, was acting as Bai Ying’s attendant. Bai Ying was someone they couldn’t afford to provoke.
The thing Liu Qingzhang was most grateful for in his life was that one day, on a whim, he had gone to Shen City and encountered Bai Ying, who had just transformed not long before. It allowed him to give the little snake a carefree childhood.
Most parents hoped their children would succeed, after all—mortals aged and died, and no one knew if what they left behind could protect their child for life. But Liu Qingzhang was an immortal demon who didn’t age or die. He had no demands of Bai Ying; he only hoped the boy would be free of worries.
The little snake had a kind temperament. Even spoiled so much by Liu Qingzhang, he didn’t turn bad—he just became an academic slacker all the way. However, Liu Qingzhang never imagined that the little snake he raised so indulgently would, as he grew older and entered puberty, stir faint threads of worry in his heart.
Bai Ying couldn’t help but wonder: Did Mr. Liu really see him as a child bride?
It had been a joke, but the innocent and gullible little snake took it seriously.
For a long time, he still viewed Liu Qingzhang like a father. But as he reached the age when his heart began to stir with budding feelings, he could no longer interact with Liu Qingzhang as he had before.
Liu Qingzhang soon sensed something was off because Bai Ying no longer pounced into his arms.
After Bai Ying entered high school, Liu Qingzhang still picked him up and dropped him off every day without fail, just as before. Bai Ying still didn’t attend public school; private schools offered more flexibility. Liu Qingzhang couldn’t bear for Bai Ying to study too hard, so he had the school waive morning and evening self-study sessions and forbade boarding. Weekends were weekends—no matter if the sky fell, he wouldn’t allow makeup classes.
Compared to elementary school, Bai Ying’s dismissal was only an hour and a half later. But once in the car, he sat properly in the back seat, no longer clinging to Liu Qingzhang’s lap.
Liu Qingzhang, accustomed to always having the little snake in his arms, felt a sense of loss.
It must be because the child had grown up, Liu Qingzhang told himself. Even Zhong Qian stopped clinging to Zhong Peide after elementary school.
The sedan drove all the way back to Willow Mansion. When getting out, Liu Qingzhang habitually picked up Bai Ying’s backpack, but Bai Ying snatched it away. The little snake’s cheeks were a bit red as he stammered, “I-I can do it myself!”
Liu Qingzhang eyed Bai Ying’s backpack with scrutiny.
Bai Ying averted his gaze, not daring to meet his eyes, and hurriedly opened the car door to get out.
The little snake couldn’t hide things; his every move from head to toe screamed to Liu Qingzhang— the child had a secret, and it was right there in the backpack.
Liu Qingzhang respected Bai Ying’s privacy. Though he itched with curiosity to know what had happened—like a little snake wriggling endlessly in his heart—even though he could flip open the backpack without Bai Ying noticing, he still chose to ask directly.
The little snake, who after age ten no longer let Liu Qingzhang carry him while eating, sat in the seat beside Liu Qingzhang. When Liu Qingzhang probed, Bai Ying buried his face in his meal to hide his expression. “N-Nothing happened.”
This time, the little snake’s mouth was unusually tight.
Confirming he wasn’t being bullied, Liu Qingzhang tried asking, “Does the little snake want to soak in the water together tonight?”
The little snake needed to soak from time to time, every day in summer, and Liu Qingzhang had picked up the habit too. Usually, the little snake pestered him to join, but today Bai Ying hesitated for a moment before nodding.
He actually hesitated!
Something was very wrong, and Liu Qingzhang grew anxious.
That evening, after soaking with the little snake and leaving the bath to shift back to human form, he wanted to have a serious talk. Whatever troubles or questions, he could tell him— what was there that Mr. Liu couldn’t know? But Bai Ying glanced at him, and before even dressing, wrapped in a bath towel, he fled in panic.
“Mr. Liu, I-I-I… I’m going back to sleep first!” Bai Ying nearly tripped on flat ground as he ran out, dodging Liu Qingzhang’s hand reaching to support him by clinging to the doorframe.
Liu Qingzhang’s outstretched hand hung in midair for a long time without withdrawing.
What on earth was wrong with the child?
Unable to figure it out, Liu Qingzhang consulted Zhong Peide, who could barely be considered his senior in parenting.
After hearing Liu Qingzhang detail Bai Ying’s recent odd behavior, Zhong Peide had a guess he hesitated to voice. After much wavering, he cautiously said, “Could the Little Young Master be… in love?”
Kids in puppy love indeed didn’t dare face their parents, and the backpack he wouldn’t let Liu Qingzhang touch might contain a passionate love letter.
Liu Qingzhang was silent for a long time.
Zhong Peide boldly looked up and found Mr. Liu’s face ashen with anger at the mere thought.
Bai Ying ran back to his own room in a panic.
Until elementary school graduation, he had shared a bed with Liu Qingzhang. As he grew taller, transitioning from child to teenager with increasingly delicate features, Liu Qingzhang felt it improper to sleep together anymore and arranged a separate room for him.
But for a few nights, he still quietly came over to tuck in the covers, confirming Bai Ying slept soundly alone—mostly in snake form—before stopping.
The bath towel dropped onto the carpet as Bai Ying slipped under the covers.
He rolled around in the bed, but after a while, his cheeks still wouldn’t cool down.
Once still, he recalled the scene from moments ago—Liu Qingzhang, fresh from soaking and shifting back to human form, casually donning a robe and emerging from behind the screen. His collar hung open, revealing defined chest and abs, with droplets of water trailing down the contours.
The collar never fully closed because Liu Qingzhang noticed Bai Ying exiting the bath and half-knelt to lift him out. The robe’s sleeves slid down, exposing toned, muscular forearms. Pythons were muscular, and Liu Qingzhang’s human form was exceptionally robust, though usually hidden by clothes. Bai Ying had loved sitting on those forearms as a child; he had no doubt that even grown up, Liu Qingzhang could lift him effortlessly with one arm.
Once, he only felt Mr. Liu’s embrace reliable and warm. But now he had grown up…
“Wu.” Bai Ying let out a small animal-like whimper, burying his face in the soft pillow.
The teenager’s bare back was exposed outside the covers, his snow-white skin flushing pink from shyness. Only after a long while did he lift his head from the pillow, face beet red—not sure if from lack of air or something else.
Bai Ying rummaged in the backpack by the bed and pulled out a thin booklet—the secret he didn’t want Liu Qingzhang to discover.
Not a love letter, but a doujinshi borrowed from his deskmate.
During a break chat, Bai Ying learned he and his female deskmate were chasing the same novel lately—a supernatural tale by the author “Wu Ming” that had gone viral online. Equally popular was the CP of the male lead and second male lead.
“The burly Taoist gong and frail scholar shou CP is so shippable!” His deskmate’s eyes sparkled.
After her explanation, Bai Ying understood gong and shou. He whispered, “Why… does the weaker one have to be the shou… Couldn’t he be the gong?”
Uncontrollably, Bai Ying thought of himself and Mr. Liu.
If he really was Mr. Liu’s child bride, would they do such things later? His build probably would never catch up to Mr. Liu’s. He didn’t dare be on the bottom; it felt like it would hurt a lot.
The rebellious deskmate tried flipping it. Her eyes lit up. “Holy crap, even better!”
After first period that day, the deskmate sneakily shoved the doujinshi into Bai Ying’s hands. “I bought an extra one just for you—no need to thank me! Didn’t expect such a niche CP to have a book!”
Bai Ying flipped one page at school and didn’t dare continue. The whole day, the doujinshi sat in his backpack like a hot potato.
Only now, deep into the night with no one around, did Bai Ying dare open it again.
One look, and he turned into a shrimp steaming red in a pot, arching his body and clamping his legs tight. The doujinshi was thin, just over ten pages, but dived straight into the theme on the first. Bai Ying couldn’t help wondering: Would Mr. Liu do this to him? But Mr. Liu wasn’t crude; would he be gentler than in the comic? Or completely different from usual…
Bai Ying stuffed the doujinshi haphazardly under the pillow. The soft bedding wrapped around him—not as hard as Liu Qingzhang’s body—but he began to miss Mr. Liu’s embrace.
Bai Ying couldn’t help thinking: Mr. Liu said he was his child bride, and he was growing up now. Why didn’t the gentleman bring it up anymore?
