The Accusation

Xing Yue hated this!

The Recording Studio was small to begin with. A few pieces of equipment made it even more cramped, leaving barely enough room for two people to turn around. There was even a narrow bed inside, making the space feel visibly oppressive.

Yet this was where Xing Yue could relax. She was under so much pressure that she had fought hard to get the company to furnish the Studio to her specifications.

Bo Wuxue had nowhere to put her tail, so she reluctantly turned it back into legs. She frowned in disbelief. "You got a hotel room with Bu Yao because the Finger Sleeves gave you an allergic reaction? And you kissed her foot? Worst of all, she said she was stringing you along, and you apologized to her?"

Any one of those things would have shocked her. Back then, Bu Yao had been an expert at humiliating people. It was one of the reasons Xing Yue had finally divorced her.

So what was going on now? Had Xing Yue been humiliated so thoroughly that she'd become a masochist? She couldn't stand it ten years ago, but ten years later she was into it? Was Xing Yue a fucking masochist?

Xing Yue sat in a chair, tipped her head back, and sighed, her glasses in her hand. "Let me say it again. That doctor thought I'd abducted an underage girl. To avoid unnecessary trouble, I kissed her foot to help her show her snake tail. Do you understand the context? Do you?"

Just saying it made her face burn. Xing Yue was speechless herself. Who could have known Bu Yao had a problem like that? She was the victim here, okay?

Bo Wuxue dressed in a gothic lolita style. Today's outfit was particularly dark, and her voluminous black-and-red skirt left her nowhere to sit.

"Then how do you explain apologizing? She outright said she was stringing you along. She humiliated you so badly she might as well have called you her lapdog, and you hugged her anyway? Tsk, tsk, tsk... Ms. Xing, you're such a suck-up. I never knew you had it in you."

It was no wonder Bo Wuxue was so sharp-tongued. She had been the second victim of Xing Yue's marriage.

My wife has such a temper. She orders me around. My wife is so helpless she can't even put on her own shoes. My wife is such a picky eater; her tomatoes have to be three parts sweet. My wife is so mean she won't let me sleep in the bed. My wife is such a pain; she gives me an eight o'clock curfew.

After getting married, Xing Yue had complained to her about all of it, pouring out enough misery to fill an ocean. Bo Wuxue had cursed Bu Yao right alongside her plenty of times.

And now Xing Yue had gone and slept with her.

"I don't want to be like this either." Xing Yue shifted the mixing console to make room for Bo Wuxue's skirt. "But when she... When she cries, I just..."

Xing Yue couldn't put it into words. Bu Yao seemed different. It might have been an act, but her temper really had improved a tiny bit. She seemed to respect Xing Yue a tiny bit more, too. Instead of giving orders, she made requests.

It almost felt as though... as though Bu Yao was acting spoiled with her.

The frightening part was that even if Bu Yao was faking it, Xing Yue couldn't refuse her. It was terrifying.

Xing Yue looked at the skirt, which wouldn't settle no matter how she arranged it, and patted its rounded shape. "Can't you take off the petticoat?"

Bo Wuxue lifted her skirt. "Do you hear yourself?"

A moment later, a blue-green snake tail slipped out from under it. Mossy stone patterns covered its scales in varying shades of green, making it look cool to the touch.

A snake's head emerged with it. Flicking her Snake Tongue, Bo Wuxue slithered onto the narrow bed and finally found a place to settle.

Xing Yue pulled the white mesh petticoat out of the skirt, folded it, and set it aside.

Without the petticoat, the little dress looked less ornate and more suited to everyday wear. She tossed it onto the bed, covering Bluestone Snake's eyes.

"Stop coming to my Recording Studio. I have to clear space for you every time. Just email me the lyrics when they're done," Xing Yue said disdainfully.

A snake's head poked out from beneath the dress. Bo Wuxue snorted. "Nope. It's your first original song, and I want to see how it's coming along."

The company had no plans for Xing Yue to write original songs. Covers were her specialty, and the company had spent a lot of money buying the rights.

If Xing Yue's original flopped, returning to covers might not bring back her current popularity. There were plenty of online celebrities and talented performers out there. Who knew whether fans would still support her if she went back to what she used to do?

This time, Xing Yue was working in secret.

But that wasn't the main reason Bo Wuxue had come today. She slithered onto the bedside table, intending to drink some water. Just as she lowered her head toward the cup, her pupils widened in shock.

Reflected in the water was a huge blue-green python head. So beautiful! Beautiful enough to make everyone else's feelings irrelevant!

She tilted her head in a daze and touched the reflection with her Snake Tongue. The instant its sensitive tip met the water's surface, it was as if an arrow struck her heart. Her gaze grew even more entranced.

Xing Yue: "..."

She picked up the dress and covered Bo Wuxue's eyes again. Her best friend had a serious problem: if she caught sight of her own python head, she fell in love with her reflection and couldn't tear herself away from its beauty.

Xing Yue wrapped the dress around her head and rubbed hard. "Don't start this here. Go back to your own place."

When Bo Wuxue got lost in that self-obsession, she could even get intimate with herself. The sight was far too much for Xing Yue.

Bluestone Snake burrowed into the dress. Her features gradually took shape as she turned human again, and her eyes cleared. At last, she remembered why she had come.

"When are you going back to Doctor Tan?" She had heard Xing Yue talk about the hypnosis and was worried about her. Chatting on WeChat hadn't been enough, so she had come to the company.

Xing Yue hadn't shown her tail in years. Just as a person's leg muscles would waste away from disuse, Xing Yue's tail was nearly dead.

It was serious, but Xing Yue wouldn't take it seriously. The instruments couldn't even detect neural activity in her tail. Bo Wuxue feared that if she delayed treatment any longer, Xing Yue would become disabled for good.

"Wuxue, do you really think hypnosis will help?" Xing Yue still felt shaken by what had happened at the hospital. "The way that hypnotist looked at me, it was like she wanted to drag me off for research. She didn't look like someone who'd treat me properly."

And the process had been agonizingly real. She had felt as though she were a child again. She truly didn't want to go through it a second time.

Other people didn't know, but Bo Wuxue knew everything. They had grown up together, and Xing Yue's childhood had been hell on earth.

But avoiding it wasn't a solution. In a few more years, Xing Yue might not even be able to use her legs. She would be in a wheelchair before she turned forty.

"Just give it a try." Her teasing expression vanished, replaced by unease. "I've heard Tan Xiang'e is really good. Will you please try? You're already a few years older than me, and I'm scared you'll die before I do. Stop putting yourself through this."

Xing Yue flicked her forehead with the back of her hand. "Fine, fine, fine. Stop pestering me. Go home and let me work."

Her mission accomplished, Bo Wuxue promptly left. Before she went, she couldn't resist asking, "Do you actually want to get back together with Bu Yao?"

Even after all their years of friendship, she couldn't figure out what Xing Yue was thinking.

She had thought Xing Yue didn't like Bu Yao, but they had married in a flash. Then she had thought Xing Yue loved Bu Yao, but they divorced. She had thought Xing Yue was heartbroken, yet before long she had a new girlfriend. Just when Bo Wuxue was sure Xing Yue had no feelings left for Bu Yao, the two met again and got tangled up with each other.

Xing Yue hesitated, unsure how to explain it. "Just because we're compatible doesn't mean we're in love. You could say I've been under too much pressure, and Bu Yao happened to show up. Her scent got to me, and I lost my head a little."

Put simply, she wasn't in love and didn't want to get back together with Bu Yao. She simply hadn't managed to turn down their one-night stand. If she had another chance, she definitely wouldn't do it again.

Even when they had married on impulse ten years ago, Xing Yue had only been attracted to Bu Yao's looks. They'd had no foundation for a relationship, and their marriage had been too messy to build one.

Bo Wuxue was rather sheltered. Apart from Xing Yue, everyone around her followed the path laid out for them. They listened to their parents about which school to attend, which hobbies to pursue, what subject to major in, and even whom to marry...

She had never had a choice. Her life had been planned for her since birth, so even simple things about human nature took her a long time to grasp.

"I understand." Bo Wuxue nodded solemnly. "You're using Bu Yao for her body."

"..."

Xing Yue was stunned. Then she shot back, "Do you think Bu Yao likes me? If she came back because she misses me, loves me, and wants to remarry me, then I'll admit I'm guilty of what you said."

Xing Yue couldn't answer that question herself. Bu Yao had humiliated her so often that she couldn't believe treating someone that way was an expression of love.

Besides, something Bu Yao had said still rang in her ears—

[Two female snakes can't be together!]

At the time, Xing Yue had wondered whether Bu Yao didn't actually like women. Perhaps she had simply been too young to understand herself, and marrying Xing Yue had made her realize it. How else could she have said something like that?

Bo Wuxue burst out laughing. "Hahaha! Dream on. Bu Yao is Miss Bu. What woman could possibly stay on her mind? Getting revenge on you sounds more like it."

Little Greenstone left after teasing her, but Xing Yue took those few casual words to heart.

Of course. Bu Yao was heaven's favorite. She had always gotten whatever she wanted. The Bu Family stood at the top of high society, yet Bu Yao held the highest position in her own household. Even her parents and grandfather came after her.

Why would a Red Camellia princess raised in a home like that spare a thought for an ordinary person like Xing Yue?

Sometimes Xing Yue even found herself absurdly jealous of Bu Yao...

By the time Xing Yue finished recording that day's song, it was dark. She waited until everyone else had left the Studio, then started trying out the new lyrics Bo Wuxue had written. Another three or four hours slipped by.

She hadn't driven over that day and almost never took the subway, so she didn't know whether it was still running. She decided to hail a taxi home.

Xing Yue was trying to flag down a car outside the company when a sedan stopped in front of her. Though she hadn't seen the driver in years, she recognized him at once.

"Miss Xing, it's been a long time." Uncle Li got out and opened the rear door for Xing Yue as naturally as he had back then.

A woman sat in the back seat. She wore a black strapless gown slit to the thigh, with stretches of porcelain-white skin half-hidden by the night. She looked mysterious and magnificent. Red curls spilled down her back like a waterfall, and her cool beauty had the stillness of a work of art. Xing Yue almost held her breath.

Bu Yao wasn't even as tall as she was, yet her legs went on forever.

Xing Yue hated this!