Snake Species

"How'd you end up with a genetic mutation?"

After getting nowhere with Lan Qianqian, Jiang Yue turned to the woman beside her and draped an arm over her shoulders. "What do you think, Mi Ning?"

Mi Ning's shoulders flinched. It took her several seconds to recover before she gave a strained laugh. "It does seem a little unfair to the senior contestants..."

She was simply going along with Jiang Yue.

They had only met yesterday, and anyone with eyes could see how much Mi Ning despised Jiang Yue. She had even kept as far away from her as possible when they lined up. That disgust came from her bones. There was no way she had been faking it.

Yet in a single night, Mi Ning's attitude had done a complete reversal. She had even swapped the hit song she had picked last night with Jiang Yue. Now she sat right beside her and let Jiang Yue put an arm around her shoulders. Where had yesterday's arrogance gone?

She had kept her head down all day, her face pale, as though something terrified her.

"Are you hot?" Luo Zhi asked, noticing that she looked unwell. "Why are you sweating so much?"

The air conditioner was on. It couldn't be that hot.

Mi Ning stammered when Luo Zhi addressed her. "N-no..."

Luo Zhi frowned but didn't press her. She brushed the matter aside. "The scripts were written by company professionals. They researched the market, checked traffic for different topics, and used the data to create buzz. All you have to do is follow the script."

Besides, the company controlled everything from the production team to the final vote tally and results. It wasn't as if the contestants had any say.

Ever since learning who Xing Yue was, Jiang Yue had stopped trying to get close to her. Whenever the two got too near each other, awkwardness seemed to gather between them.

They still had to keep up appearances. Apart from a little distance, outsiders wouldn't notice anything.

That evening, Jiang Yue browsed teaser videos for the show online. As she scrolled, she came across a promotional clip filmed by Xing Yue's Studio.

The clip showed Xing Yue playing piano and recording vocals. It was short, yet it had already drawn over fifty thousand comments. This was her first appearance online, released as part of the show's official announcement.

The top comments were full of screaming fans: [AHHHH her voice matches her face perfectly. A beautiful, gentle, melancholy older sister!]

[Is she really thirty-seven? I thought she was twenty-five or twenty-six at most. She's so gorgeous! I've been a fan for years. I can die happy now, waaah.]

[Look at me, sis, look at me! I know why you never showed your face. You were afraid fans of your music would become fans of your looks, right? I'm not like that, I swear—pick me, please!]

Jiang Yue scrolled through the comments with a snort. She switched between two accounts to post: [She obviously looks forty. Delusional fans will praise anything. Nobody cares about your middle-aged fave.]

[Maybe she secretly married a man and her kid's already old enough to run errands. And you're all begging for a chance with her. You lesbians are scary. (vomit emoji)]

She switched accounts and posted several more snide comments, but the video had probably gone viral. New comments kept pouring in. Even when she tried to pick a fight with a few fans, nobody noticed her.

Still unwilling to give up, Jiang Yue suddenly had an idea and changed tack: [Like the piano? Of course you do. The poster's ex-girlfriend taught her how to play. Spent seven years teaching her, too.]

It worked. Once she brought up someone's private love life, plenty of fans focused on it. The comment was soon pushed to the top.

[Whoa, so she really is a lesbian?]

[Who's the ex-girlfriend? Is this real? Why did they break up after so many years together?]

[...]

Seeing so many replies appear in a single minute only encouraged Jiang Yue. She posted another suggestive comment: [The poster dated her ex for seven years and broke up with her when she joined the show. I'd better not say why, but you know how it is. Not just anyone gets to share a stage with the big shots, get it? Besides, the show never required contestants to be single. So what does it tell you that she dumped her girlfriend as soon as she entered? (smiling emoji)]

She hadn't said it outright, but her meaning was clear: Xing Yue had found herself a wealthy backer, dumped her girlfriend of seven years to please them, and secured her chance to enter the industry.

The explosive claim set off a fierce argument in the replies.

Jiang Yue was about to add fuel to the fire when He Zhiwen suddenly appeared on her computer screen. She snapped the laptop shut, then sat there calmly as though nothing had happened.

He Zhiwen didn't notice. Carrying an armful of herbs, she approached Jiang Yue with a gentle expression. "Yueyue, Xing Yue seemed to have a bit of a fever last night. She might be having trouble adjusting to the new environment. A bath with these herbs should help. Could you take them to her later?"

It wouldn't be appropriate for He Zhiwen to deliver them herself, but there was nothing unusual about Jiang Yue checking on a colleague.

Besides, she wanted Jiang Yue to earn a little goodwill. It never hurt to get along with people when you were away from home.

"It's all right if you don't want to," He Zhiwen added, not wanting to force her.

She set the herbs on the table, found a small basin, and gathered the leaves and roots into bundles. She tied them together one at a time, slowly and gently.

Jiang Yue didn't answer. She casually flipped through the script she had brought back and complained, "The way I see it, Xing Yue's bound to win. There's no suspense at all."

He Zhiwen smiled and tried to comfort her. "Well, Xing Yue is with Miss Bu. This show was created to promote her. You happened to get a place on it, so just do your best. This is only your first step."

Jiang Yue was still so young. She could build some popularity now and prepare for her next opportunity. There was no need to take winning or losing too seriously.

But He Zhiwen's attempt at comfort stung. Jiang Yue raised an eyebrow, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. "Honey, are you saying I should be grateful I get to appear on camera and maybe gain a few fans thanks to her? That I shouldn't complain about her?"

She said it with a smile, her tone intimate, as though she were joking. But the barbs in her words were unmistakable.

He Zhiwen heard them, and her expression stiffened. "That's not what I meant."

Seeing that Jiang Yue was upset, she changed the subject. "Do you want to see the babies? Mom took a few photos today..."

Jiang Yue had no interest in the babies He Zhiwen mentioned. She didn't want to look at the unhatched Snake Eggs, either.

She went over, picked up the bundled herbs, and tossed them straight into the trash. "Why are you so nice to Xing Yue? If you get too close and she finds out you're a Spirit Snake, what then? She could skin you in a heartbeat."

Before He Zhiwen could retrieve the herbs, she stood up and objected. "She wouldn't. Xing Yue isn't that kind of person. She told me Spirit Snakes are her own kind. She couldn't bring herself to drink their blood or eat their scales."

Jiang Yue pulled her into her arms and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. "Sweetheart, you're too easy to fool. Xing Yue only says that because she hasn't met one. Anyone can make promises. If she actually came across a Spirit Snake, her eyes might light up and she might cut you apart on the spot. Silly woman. You believe everything she says."

She tightened her hold around He Zhiwen's soft waist and put on a worried look. "So don't tell anyone your secret, all right? You trust people so easily, I'm starting to worry whenever you're out of my sight."

What a joke. Every extra person who knew was another person who might compete with her for the Spirit Snake.

He Zhiwen was such a fool. All she thought about was romance and babies, babies, babies. Those Snake Eggs looked the same every day. What was there to see?

"A Yue, she..." He Zhiwen's voice cut off, and she said no more.

She took Jiang Yue's words as concern for her safety and felt a sweetness in her heart. Taking out her phone, she showed Jiang Yue the photos she had saved that day. Her eyes shone, soft with affection. "Look, isn't this end a little pointier? When the babies are ready to hatch, we'll cut it open from this side..."

Snake Eggs were soft. When the little snakes were about to hatch, they needed help cutting through the shells. Otherwise, they could remain trapped too long and risk brain damage.

He Zhiwen had laid all four eggs. If they weren't kept in an incubator, she would have to incubate them herself.

Jiang Yue was forced into a little parent-and-child time. She was only in her early twenties, practically a child herself. She didn't feel remotely like a mother.

"Honey, I'll take the herbs to Xing Yue," she said, seizing an excuse to escape. She picked up the basin and headed out. "A fever's worse than a little cold. It must be pretty uncomfortable. You've already tied the herbs up, anyway. I shouldn't let your effort go to waste."

With that perfect excuse, she finally left the bedroom.

Thinking of the four Snake Eggs and the strong chance they had inherited He Zhiwen's attraction to women, Jiang Yue broke out in goose bumps. They had better give her what she wanted. Otherwise, she wouldn't go soft on them.

Xing Yue was undergoing a procedure in her room. Afraid the smell of blood would draw attention, she had deliberately filled the room with several pots of roses.

This was the second time, and Tan Xiang'e was clearly much more practiced. She checked the instruments. "How'd you end up with a genetic mutation? What Snake Species are your parents?"

The pattern and color shown in the readings for her snake-tail pheromones were extremely rare. Tan Xiang'e couldn't find them in the Genetic Compendium. There was only one possibility: Xing Yue's Snake Species had mutated rather than being inherited.

There was an eighty percent chance a baby snake would inherit one parent's genes. The remaining twenty percent covered a mixture of both parents' genes or traits inherited from an earlier generation.

Xing Yue's case matched neither parent's genes on their own, nor a mixture of the two. It was rare even among rare cases.

Thinking of her father, a stranger to her, Xing Yue's eyes dimmed. "My father's a Green Tree Python. My mother's a Bamboo Viper."

"Ooh, a Green Tree Python. Old nobility, then." Tan Xiang'e sounded teasing, but she was a little surprised.

Green Tree Pythons were a rare Snake Species. A couple of centuries ago, they had been nobility among snakes, complete with titles. To preserve their bloodline, they had neither married out nor taken outsiders as spouses, mating only with other Green Tree Pythons.

Times had changed, and no one ranked people by bloodline anymore. Still, Green Tree Pythons were so beautiful that many people wanted one as a partner.

Since Xing Yue's snake-tail pheromones weren't in the Genetic Compendium, her Green Tree Python genes must have mutated. She was still the same Snake Species; only her coloring hadn't been inherited. She might be albino, pink, or blue.

There wasn't enough to see yet, so Tan Xiang'e couldn't make out the color. Just knowing Xing Yue was a Green Tree Python was exciting enough. "Tsk, tsk. Miss Bu is one lucky woman. She must be beside herself when you two mate."