Living Together

"You have no idea what my mom said about you!"

Back at the hotel, He Zhiwen was still shaken. She put the jeweled hairpin in her bag and set the letter on the table.

She didn't notice someone approaching from behind.

Jiang Yue had just come out of the shower. Wearing a bathrobe, she wrapped her arms around He Zhiwen and rubbed her half-damp hair against her face.

"Ah!" He Zhiwen's reaction was unusually intense. She screamed in fright.

"It's me," Jiang Yue soothed her. "What's wrong? Did things go badly with your friend?"

He Zhiwen came to her senses and forced a faint smile. Shaking her head, she said, "We had a good talk. Registration is next week. Take that recommendation letter with you."

At that, Jiang Yue let go of her and followed her gaze to the letter. She could barely contain her excitement as she picked it up. "Honey, you're amazing. Should we find time to treat your friend to dinner?"

They ought to show their appreciation, after all. Jiang Yue might have been young, but she understood that much.

He Zhiwen looked away and faltered. "Um... no need. She's pretty busy, and didn't we eat together today? Being too formal would only make things awkward."

Jiang Yue thought that made sense. With close friends, excessive politeness could be uncomfortable.

She turned the letter over in her hands. It was sealed, so she didn't open it and had no idea what it said. But the envelope's packaging and its embossed red lettering edged in gold made it clear the sender was no ordinary person.

Delighted, Jiang Yue swept He Zhiwen into her arms and tumbled onto the bed with her. Her cool lips closed around He Zhiwen's soft ear, nibbling lightly. "Sweetheart, I want you."

He Zhiwen flushed scarlet. A moment later, a white snake tail slipped out from under the covers. Its coloring was rare enough, but a closer look at its scales revealed scattered weeping-jasmine-shaped markings—a pattern unique to Spirit Snakes.

When a young snake first took shape, the markings could be faintly seen with an instrument. After hatching, they vanished until the snake reached adulthood and gained control over when they appeared. Over thousands of years, Spirit Snakes had evolved this way, step by step, to protect themselves.

Jiang Yue traced the markings with her fingertips, reluctant to let go. She chuckled. "What are you thinking about? Is it turning you on that much?"

The woman shook her head without speaking. More passionate than usual, she clung to Jiang Yue's shoulders and called softly, "A Yue..."

Morning was approaching. Rain fell from a still-gray sky, and after mating twice, the woman on the bed had fallen fast asleep.

Jiang Yue ordered several generous portions of food. They needed to eat a lot.

She stepped out onto the balcony to make a call, deliberately lowering her voice. "You can't see the markings on even one of them?"

"I checked all four. None of the snake eggs has developed far enough yet. There's no way to see the markings. August at the earliest. Don't rush."

The man's answer made Jiang Yue snap. "No kidding. Do you know how disgusting it is to sleep with a woman? How can I not be in a hurry? Will this even work? The ancient texts say there's only a three percent chance of inheriting Spirit Snake genes. If none of these eggs has them, I don't want them. Get rid of them for me."

"Yueyue, don't be like that. Even if they aren't Spirit Snakes, we can still raise the children. They're your flesh and blood..." The man was stunned by her ruthlessness. He wanted money, not murder. "If you don't like them, just leave them with He Zhiwen. What are you going to do once the baby snakes have formed?"

Jiang Yue sneered. "Are you crazy? They're children I had with He Zhiwen. Don't you know homosexuality can be inherited? What if all four hatch gay? The thought makes me sick. If you're so generous, go adopt every kid in the orphanage."

"All right, all right. Let's stop there. Calm down, and don't give yourself away. It'd be bad if He Zhiwen heard you..."

After ending the call, Jiang Yue went back inside. The covers had slipped down from the woman on the bed, revealing smooth, pale skin. Even from a distance, Jiang Yue could almost smell her soft, sweet scent.

The sight might have tempted anyone else, but Jiang Yue felt waves of nausea. Disgust flashed through her eyes, and the snake tail that had wound so tightly around her last night made her stomach churn.

She knelt on the bed and gathered He Zhiwen into her arms, covers and all. Rubbing her forehead affectionately against He Zhiwen's cheek, she said, "Honey, wake up. Time to eat~"

On their first day living together, Bu Yao had made a point of setting an alarm.

Xing Yue thought she was getting up to make breakfast for her. Instead, Bu Yao had only set the alarm so she could ask the family cook to bring food over.

"Miss Bu, Madam Bu says that if you want to learn to be independent, you should learn to handle your own meals. Of course, if you're not used to outside food, Madam Bu can cook for you herself."

Bu Yao's face fell. "Forget it," she said sulkily.

She scrolled through her phone, found a restaurant she usually ate at, and ordered a few favorites. Then she handed the phone to Xing Yue. "Here, pick what you want."

It was the restaurant's own ordering app, not a food-delivery platform. Clearly, it catered to a particular clientele.

Xing Yue took a look. One basket of chicken feet in sauce cost seven hundred yuan, and two pieces of sushi cost twenty-six hundred. The four dishes Bu Yao had chosen came to more than five thousand yuan, and that was only for one person. Each dish was barely two or three bites.

"How much do you even earn in a month?" Xing Yue did the math for her. "Breakfast alone is five thousand a day. Add lunch and dinner, and you're looking at twenty thousand a day, at least. You'd need to earn six hundred thousand a month just to cover meals."

Selling Xing Yue's car would barely cover one month of Bu Yao's food, never mind her other expenses.

"Is six hundred thousand even worth calling money?" Bu Yao thought Xing Yue was making a fuss over nothing. "If you have money, spend it. I don't earn any."

She only took cases when she felt like it. Could her little paycheck even be called money? It wasn't worth counting.

Xing Yue flicked her forehead. "Then what was the point of moving out? You're still spending your parents' money."

Bu Yao covered her forehead. On second thought, Xing Yue had a point. How could she let her mother look down on her? Her mother was waiting for her to give up and come home.

She kissed Xing Yue. "Fine! Then we won't order from a restaurant. You can cook for me."

Besides the family cook's food and her mother's, Xing Yue's cooking was the only kind she liked.

With that, she ducked back under the covers, looking ready to go back to sleep.

Xing Yue's expression darkened, her eyes unreadable. "I shouldn't tell you not to spend your parents' money. The Bu Family has more than enough, and you shouldn't have to settle when it comes to food. You'd better go home."

She didn't want to tie Bu Yao down. If being with her meant scrimping and accounting for every penny, how could either of them be happy?

The best solution was for Bu Yao to make up with her mother and spend as she always had. Xing Yue didn't know what she and Madam Bu had fought about to make her run away from home.

Bu Yao sat up at once. "You're doing it again, aren't you? Telling me to leave?"

"Why are you so determined to run away from home?" Seeing Bu Yao bristle, Xing Yue pulled her close and stroked her soothingly. Her voice softened. "Making up with your mother won't stop you from loving me."

Bu Yao pushed Xing Yue away, tears welling in her eyes. "It will! You have no idea what my mom said about you!"

She had refused to go home for one reason: she wanted to stand up for Xing Yue. This was her way of telling her mother that she could leave the Bu Family and still live well with Xing Yue. Xing Yue wasn't nearly as bad as her mother thought!

But it turned out she wasn't living well. Even the smallest things caused arguments between her and Xing Yue.

Since leaving the Bu Family, Bu Yao, who had never given money a thought, found herself wondering for the first time how anyone could earn the six hundred thousand a month Xing Yue had mentioned.

"I want to eat what you cook. Is that not okay?" she asked.

"I can cook for you," Xing Yue said. "But I can't make you breakfast every day. Sometimes I'll be busy."

She could do it for a day or two, even a month or two. But ten years, twenty years, a lifetime of doing all the cooking? No.

She didn't feel loved. She didn't want a woman who wouldn't care about her.

At that, Bu Yao threw off the covers, climbed out of bed barefoot, and pulled Xing Yue to her feet. "Oh. Then teach me. I'll cook for you next time."

Well, well. Those were rare words from Miss Bu.

Bu Yao led Xing Yue to the kitchen. When they found little food in the fridge, they went back to get dressed, ready to shop at the market.

A fine rain fell steadily. Holding an umbrella, Xing Yue glanced at the woman beside her and felt something strange stir inside her. Someone was going to the market with her. Someone would make breakfast with her.

She had dreamed of this life countless times. And for that person to be Miss Bu... that was beyond anything she had dared to dream.

Bu Yao held Xing Yue's hand as they walked down the street, her eyes still sleepy and her thoughts a little muddled. Then she said, "Xing Yue, when something comes up, could you think of a way to fix it first and let me try? Don't tell me to leave right away, okay? Instead of telling me to go, could you tell me what you need me to do?"