Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Ten years earlier, Xing Yue ended her marriage to Bu Yao despite the powerful Bu Family’s threats. Their relationship had become controlling and unhappy; Bu Yao’s final outburst included threatening to kill Xing Yue.
• At her friend Bo Wuxue’s engagement party, Xing Yue refuses to bring a gift until she knows the marriage will make Bo happy, questioning the value of a family-arranged match without love.
• Bo Wuxue mentions that Bu Yao will be at the party and has become a respected lawyer known for her work on same-sex divorce cases.
• Xing Yue insists she has no interest in seeing her ex, but at the reception she spots Bu Yao. Now composed and admired, Bu Yao meets Xing Yue’s gaze and offers a faint, calm smile.
• Xing Yue leaves the ballroom, then feels something hot wrap around her ankle upstairs. Mistaking it for Bo Wuxue, she realizes the unusually high temperature suggests it belongs to a Fire Snake—not a member of Bo’s cool-bodied Bluestone Snake family.

Character developments

• Xing Yue appears elegant, self-possessed, and wary of marriage after her painful first one. Despite claiming she feels nothing for Bu Yao, she is captivated by her changed appearance and unexpectedly misses the possessive woman she once knew.
• Bu Yao has apparently transformed from a spoiled, volatile wife into a restrained, accomplished lawyer. Her quiet smile suggests she can now face Xing Yue without the old hostility, though her true feelings remain unclear.
• Bo Wuxue is playful and candid about marriage, but Xing Yue’s refusal to offer a potentially ill-omened wedding blessing shows the depth of their friendship.

Significant themes

• The difference between marrying for love and marrying by arrangement—and how neither guarantees happiness.
• The lasting effects of emotional control and loss of dignity within a marriage.
• Change, memory, and unresolved feelings: Xing Yue’s reaction to Bu Yao complicates her belief that the past is behind her.

Character interactions

• Xing Yue and Bo Wuxue share an affectionate, teasing friendship; Bo asks Xing Yue for an engagement gift and probes her views on love.
• Xing Yue and Bu Yao have their first encounter in ten years. Their silent exchange is polite but emotionally charged, with Xing Yue’s memories clashing against Bu Yao’s composed present.
• The chapter ends with an unknown Fire Snake making contact with Xing Yue, setting up a new encounter.

Key events

• Xing Yue encounters her ex-wife, Bu Yao, after years apart. The sight of Bu Yao’s red tail stirs memories of their unequal, volatile marriage, in which Xing Yue felt constantly ordered around and humiliated.
• Bu Yao’s tail displays unmistakable courtship behavior, wrapping around Xing Yue’s leg. Bu Yao appears unable to control it, becomes embarrassed, and starts crying.
• When Bu Yao falls into Xing Yue’s arms and calls her “sis,” Xing Yue is stunned but responds with tenderness. Under the influence of Bu Yao’s scent—and her own attraction—she takes Bu Yao to a hotel.
• Xing Yue briefly tries to back out, wary of becoming involved with Bu Yao again. Bu Yao gently handles the hotel arrangements, and Xing Yue lets her.
• Once inside the room, Bu Yao urgently kisses Xing Yue. Xing Yue breaks away long enough to ask what is happening, but Bu Yao’s touch and the kiss overwhelm her before she can get an answer.

Character developments

• Xing Yue is guarded and resentful because of how Bu Yao treated her in the past, yet she remains strongly attracted to her and instinctively comforts her when she seems vulnerable. Her caution gives way to desire.
• Bu Yao is presented as far more subdued and fragile than Xing Yue remembers. Her involuntary courtship behavior, tears, affectionate address, and care with Xing Yue’s hotel details suggest a changed—or at least unexpectedly tender—side.

Significant themes

• Past hurt versus lingering attraction: Xing Yue’s memories of humiliation conflict with her physical and emotional pull toward Bu Yao.
• Loss of control and instinct: Bu Yao’s tail and scent drive the encounter, while Xing Yue struggles to keep her reason.
• Vulnerability and misreading: Xing Yue suspects manipulation, but Bu Yao’s tears and restraint make her question her old view of her.
• Unresolved history: Xing Yue wants an explanation, but the reunion turns intimate before either woman addresses their past.

Character interactions

Xing Yue and Bu Yao reunite in wary silence, with Bu Yao’s tail repeatedly reaching for Xing Yue. Bu Yao seeks closeness and calls her “sis”; Xing Yue responds with comfort despite her suspicions. At the hotel, Bu Yao takes the lead physically, while Xing Yue alternates between resisting, yielding, and trying to ask what has changed.

Key plot points and events

• Xing Yue ends her marriage to Bu Yao by leaving divorce papers, then abruptly wakes the next evening in a hotel after spending an intensely intimate night with her.
• While they dress, Xing Yue asks what Bu Yao has been doing over the past decade. Bu Yao says she has been studying, seeing a doctor, and getting certified; when pressed, she calls her illness “lovesickness.”
• Xing Yue treats the remark as a joke, says goodbye, and leaves, intending to cut contact again.
• Bu Yao truly had spent years receiving treatment for romantic delusions. She had mistaken their brief acquaintance for proof that Xing Yue loved her, and interpreted their unhappy marriage and arguments through that belief. The divorce finally shattered her fantasy.
• Xing Yue turns back after remembering Bu Yao cannot put on her own shoes, but sees another woman already helping her and leaves.
• At home, Xing Yue receives teasing messages from her friend Bo Wuxue, who also passes along Bu Yao’s contact. Bu Yao sends Xing Yue a friend request with the cryptic note, “I’m having an allergic reaction,” then clarifies that she is allergic to the latex finger cots they used at the hotel.

Character developments

• Xing Yue insists she has no desire to reconnect, but her concern for Bu Yao—and her return to check on her—reveals lingering care. She is unsettled by how easily she was drawn back into intimacy and suspects Bu Yao may have ulterior motives.
• Bu Yao is revealed as deeply vulnerable: her past conviction that Xing Yue loved her was a delusion she has since confronted. Though still attached, she approaches Xing Yue again through a practical, personal message.
• Bo Wuxue acts as a teasing confidante, calling out Xing Yue’s apparent contradiction and facilitating renewed contact between the former spouses.

Significant themes

• Love versus delusion: Bu Yao’s imagined devotion shaped how she understood the marriage, while Xing Yue’s memories suggest the relationship was largely hostile.
• Lingering attachment and reluctant care: Xing Yue tries to leave the past behind, yet habit and concern keep drawing her back.
• Miscommunication and uncertainty: Both women’s feelings and intentions remain unclear, leaving Xing Yue wary of what their reunion means.

Character interactions

• Xing Yue’s brisk, emotionally distant manner contrasts with Bu Yao’s repeated, hurtful-sounding calls of her name.
• Bu Yao’s “lovesickness” confession is met with Xing Yue’s disbelief, underscoring their different understandings of their history.
• Xing Yue’s instinct to help Bu Yao is interrupted when another woman is already caring for her.
• Bo Wuxue teases Xing Yue about the night together and gives her Bu Yao’s contact; Bu Yao’s allergy message becomes an awkward opening for further communication.

Key plot points and events

• After a night together, Xing Yue realizes Bu Yao is allergic to latex. She accepts Bu Yao’s repeated friend requests, sees the rash on her tail, and orders her medicine.
• Xing Yue refuses Bu Yao’s request to visit in person, but Bu Yao eventually sends her address. When Xing Yue explains how to apply the ointment, Bu Yao flirts by asking whether there will be a “next time.”
• Xing Yue says she was carried away because she’d been drinking and that they can be friends. Bu Yao is hurt by the suggestion that their night meant little.
• Upset, Bu Yao lashes out at a servant who insists she take her medication. The family butler warns the servant not to provoke her and explains Bu Yao’s unusual illness.
• A flashback reveals that Bu Yao’s condition made her misread Xing Yue’s resistance during their marriage as affection. After their divorce, Bu Yao cried for a year and, hoping Xing Yue would return, transformed herself: she left university, studied law, and became a lawyer.
• Later, Xing Yue asks her friend Bo Wuxue why Bu Yao became a lawyer rather than joining her family’s business. Bo says it was because of Xing Yue. Xing Yue concludes that Bu Yao has returned to take revenge.

Character developments

• Xing Yue tries to set boundaries and frame their night as a drunken mistake, yet she remains concerned for Bu Yao and feels guilty when Bu Yao yields. Bo’s revelation unsettles her and revives her fear that Bu Yao’s intentions are hostile.
• Bu Yao shows unexpected restraint by accepting Xing Yue’s refusal and sending her location. Beneath her flirtation, she is vulnerable and still hopes for reconciliation; her anger at the servant also shows that her temper remains volatile.
• Bo Wuxue serves as Xing Yue’s confidante and reveals that Bu Yao’s major life change was motivated by her.
• Butler Li offers a glimpse into Bu Yao’s past and the family’s long-standing efforts to accommodate her condition.

Significant themes

• Misread affection and consent: Bu Yao’s illness once caused her to interpret Xing Yue’s resistance as love, complicating their past marriage.
• Change and reconciliation: Bu Yao has worked to become someone she believes Xing Yue might accept, but whether that change can repair their relationship remains uncertain.
• Boundaries versus lingering attachment: Xing Yue insists they can only be friends while continuing to care for Bu Yao.
• Love, resentment, and misunderstanding: Both women carry hurt from their marriage and divorce, and Xing Yue’s suspicion that Bu Yao seeks revenge deepens the uncertainty between them.

Character interactions

• Xing Yue and Bu Yao exchange practical messages about treating the allergy, which quickly turn into flirtation and then emotional rejection.
• Bu Yao’s confrontation with the servant exposes her volatile side and prompts Butler Li to explain her illness and history.
• Xing Yue’s call with Bo Wuxue shifts from joking about the night together to a revelation that reframes Bu Yao’s career—and raises Xing Yue’s suspicions.

Plot points and events

• Still lonely after her encounter with Bu Yao the previous night, Xing Yue considers finding a woman in a similar situation and marrying her. First, she believes she must deal with Bu Yao.
• To avoid risking her money or car while she suspects Bu Yao might retaliate, Xing Yue takes the subway to work.
• In the crowded carriage, Xing Yue bumps into a strikingly dressed woman and initially admires her from behind—only to discover it is Bu Yao.
• Xing Yue makes awkward small talk by asking after Bu Yao’s driver, Uncle Li. Bu Yao points out that Xing Yue hasn’t asked how she is.
• Bu Yao says the ointment isn’t helping her irritation: it itches, and hot water makes it worse. Xing Yue apologizes, recognizing that her choices the night before aggravated Bu Yao’s latex allergy.
• Bu Yao leans against Xing Yue and asks her to take her to the hospital.

Character development

• Xing Yue is lonely and contemplating a more settled future, but her suspicion of Bu Yao makes her guarded. Beneath her irritation, she feels genuine remorse for hurting Bu Yao.
• Bu Yao appears more vulnerable and gentle than Xing Yue’s memories of her suggest. Rather than her former demanding outbursts, she expresses hurt softly and asks directly for help.

Character interactions

• Their subway encounter contrasts Xing Yue’s wary, formal manner with Bu Yao’s quiet bids for personal attention and closeness.
• Bu Yao straightens Xing Yue’s glasses, then speaks privately while holding her clothing, creating an unexpectedly intimate moment.
• Xing Yue’s sincere apology and Bu Yao’s request for a hospital visit bring them together, despite Xing Yue’s uncertainty about Bu Yao’s intentions.

Significant themes

• Loneliness and intimacy: Xing Yue’s thoughts about marriage follow the emotional emptiness she feels after their encounter.
• Guilt and responsibility: Xing Yue acknowledges that her actions caused Bu Yao’s discomfort rather than making excuses.
• Changed relationships and memory: Xing Yue struggles to reconcile the gentler Bu Yao before her with the temperamental girl she remembers from ten years earlier.
• Care and vulnerability: Bu Yao’s simple question—why Xing Yue didn’t ask how she was—reveals a desire for concern beneath their strained history.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Bu Yao asks Xing Yue to accompany her to the hospital for an allergic reaction on her snake tail. Although Xing Yue is reluctant to change her plans, Bu Yao’s unexpected consideration softens her, and Xing Yue postpones a recording session.
• Xing Yue’s manager, Qiao Rui, criticizes her for taking time off and urges her to show her face and revitalize her career. Xing Yue firmly ends the call, though the remarks deepen her existing anxiety about aging and her stalled career.
• On the way to the hospital, Bu Yao shyly asks whether Xing Yue likes considerate women. Xing Yue says she does, takes Bu Yao’s hand, and calls her cute—feeding Bu Yao’s hope that Xing Yue might still have affection for her.
• At the hospital, the staff direct them to gynecology. The doctor suspects Xing Yue has brought in an underage girl because Bu Yao cannot control her tail-to-legs transformation.
• Xing Yue explains that Bu Yao is twenty-eight and has had this problem for years, but the doctor remains suspicious. Behind the curtain, Xing Yue discovers Bu Yao cannot control her legs when Xing Yue is nearby.
• Bu Yao suggests that a kiss might help. Xing Yue reacts with disbelief, recognizing the sort of unreasonable request that used to cause arguments between them. Bu Yao insists she is not ordering her and pleads for Xing Yue to be gentle with her tail.

Character developments

• Xing Yue remains guarded about rekindling their relationship, but shows responsibility and care by putting Bu Yao’s health first. She is also exhausted by career pressure, family expectations, and worries about her age.
• Bu Yao is unusually gentle and attentive, clearly trying to win Xing Yue’s approval. Her shyness and fear of being disliked contrast with her former imperious behavior. Her feelings for Xing Yue remain strong, though she is embarrassed by how much she wants closeness.
• Qiao Rui reinforces the pressure Xing Yue faces to abandon her faceless online persona and comply with the company’s plans.

Significant themes

• Care and responsibility versus romantic reconciliation: Xing Yue helps Bu Yao because she feels responsible, while remaining uncertain about renewing their relationship.
• Vulnerability and change: Bu Yao’s considerate behavior suggests she is trying to change, while Xing Yue’s guardedness reflects the wounds and distance between them.
• Age and social pressure: Xing Yue’s career insecurity and family pressure to marry weigh heavily on her.
• Intimacy and embarrassment: Their past closeness surfaces through teasing, hand-holding, and Bu Yao’s request for a kiss, even as unresolved tension remains.

Character interactions

• Xing Yue and Bu Yao move between distance and closeness: Bu Yao follows behind, seeks reassurance, and blushes at Xing Yue’s praise; Xing Yue takes her hand but stays wary.
• Xing Yue handles the hospital staff’s questions and shields Bu Yao from embarrassment, while Bu Yao retreats behind her.
• In private, Xing Yue challenges Bu Yao’s request with familiar sarcasm. Bu Yao responds with an unusually vulnerable plea rather than her former forceful demands.

Key plot points

• At Bu Yao’s request, Xing Yue reluctantly kisses her foot, then leaves the hospital room furious and mortified by her own willingness to comply.
• In the corridor, Xing Yue enters Dr. Tan Xiang’e’s hypnosis office out of curiosity. During a session, she falls asleep and relives a childhood memory: her parents’ violent argument ends with boiling water scalding her young snake tail as it sheds. Her mother responds not with comfort but by shaking and berating her.
• Xing Yue wakes visibly shaken and physically unsteady. Dr. Tan suspects an emotional wound or stress-related trauma, but notices the equipment recorded no signals from Xing Yue’s tail nerves.
• Bu Yao arrives with a prescription. Seeing Xing Yue emerge from the hypnosis room, she mistakenly wonders whether the foot kiss traumatized her.

Character developments and interactions

• Xing Yue is outwardly composed but internally distressed, embarrassed by her reaction to Bu Yao and deeply affected by the memory uncovered in hypnosis. Her shaking and near-collapse reveal how unresolved the trauma remains.
• Bu Yao continues to provoke Xing Yue with requests, but her apparent concern is undermined by her mistaken assumption about why Xing Yue sought therapy.
• Dr. Tan Xiang’e conducts the hypnosis and identifies possible trauma. Her curiosity about the missing tail-nerve readings hints that Xing Yue’s physiology is unusual.
• The childhood scene reveals Xing Yue’s parents’ harmful dynamic: her father is emotionally indifferent, while her mother’s anger and rejection turn a frightening accident into a lasting wound.

Significant themes

• Childhood trauma and neglect: Xing Yue’s memory links family conflict, physical injury, and the absence of comfort.
• Hidden emotional pain: Her calm exterior conceals distress that surfaces under hypnosis.
• Vulnerability and humiliation: Xing Yue’s embarrassment over the foot kiss contrasts with the much deeper pain uncovered in the session.
• Mystery of identity: The unexplained lack of tail-nerve readings suggests there is more to Xing Yue than the doctor can account for.

Plot points and events

• At the hospital, Tan Xiang’e asks Bu Yao whether she and Xing Yue had “mated” the previous night. Xing Yue denies it and says Bu Yao is not her wife.
• Bu Yao worries that the denial will make her look like a woman with no morals, especially given her family’s reputation. She confronts Xing Yue as they leave.
• Xing Yue, already in a bad mood after a hypnosis test, responds with cutting remarks about Bu Yao’s concern for appearances and their one-night encounter.
• Bu Yao retorts that she only wanted to see whether Xing Yue would give in to a woman she had hated ten years earlier, and boasts that seducing her was easy.
• Their argument escalates, but Bu Yao follows Xing Yue in silence, visibly hurt. Unable to continue pushing her away, Xing Yue apologizes for embarrassing her in public and pulls her into an embrace.

Character developments

• Xing Yue is irritable and defensive, using coldness and cruelty to mask complicated feelings. Despite insisting she dislikes Bu Yao, she remains attentive to Bu Yao’s reputation and ultimately comforts her.
• Bu Yao tries to save face with a provocative, self-assured retort, but her composure gives way when Xing Yue’s hostility feels genuine. Her silent distress reveals that she is no longer able to interpret cruelty as proof of love.
• The assistant watches the sudden shift from conflict to tenderness with astonishment.

Significant themes

• Pride and vulnerability: Both women use sharp words to protect themselves, while Bu Yao’s tears expose the hurt beneath her bravado.
• Public reputation and intimacy: Bu Yao fears the social judgment attached to an unmarried woman’s sexual relationship, while Xing Yue resents what she sees as the Bu family’s emphasis on respectability.
• Contradictory feelings: Xing Yue’s actions—protecting Bu Yao’s privacy, apologizing, and embracing her—clash with her claims of dislike.

Character interactions

• The chapter centers on a tense exchange in which each woman tries to wound the other, drawing on their shared history and unresolved resentment. The confrontation shifts when Bu Yao stops arguing and simply follows Xing Yue; Xing Yue responds not by driving her away but by apologizing and holding her.

Plot points and events

• Xing Yue’s friend Bo Wuxue confronts her about staying with Bu Yao, kissing her foot, apologizing, and hugging her after Bu Yao admitted she was stringing Xing Yue along. Xing Yue explains that she kissed Bu Yao’s foot to make her reveal her snake tail to a doctor who suspected Xing Yue of abducting a minor.
• Xing Yue admits that Bu Yao’s occasional tears and gentler behavior make her difficult to refuse, even though Xing Yue does not believe she is in love with her.
• Bo Wuxue visits partly to check on Xing Yue’s secret first original song, which she is writing with Bo’s help, and mainly to urge her to continue hypnosis treatment with Doctor Tan Xiang’e. Xing Yue is frightened by the painful session and distrusts the hypnotist, but agrees to try again because her tail’s nerves are deteriorating and she risks losing the use of her legs.
• Bo asks whether Xing Yue wants to reunite with Bu Yao. Xing Yue denies wanting a relationship, describing their recent encounter as attraction and pressure rather than love. Bo jokingly accuses her of using Bu Yao for sex, then suggests Bu Yao may simply be seeking revenge—a remark that feeds Xing Yue’s doubts about Bu Yao’s motives.
• After working late at the studio, Xing Yue finds a car waiting outside. Uncle Li, Bu Yao’s longtime driver, opens the door, revealing Bu Yao dressed elegantly in the back seat.

Character developments

• Xing Yue is conflicted: she insists she does not love Bu Yao, yet is vulnerable to her softened manner and struggles to refuse her. She also remains afraid of confronting childhood trauma through hypnosis, despite recognizing the serious danger to her health.
• Bo Wuxue shifts from sarcastic teasing to genuine concern for Xing Yue’s condition. Her sheltered background and limited experience with personal choice also show in her blunt, humorous interpretation of Xing Yue’s relationship.
• Bu Yao is absent for most of the chapter, but Xing Yue perceives her as somewhat less commanding and more affectionate than before. Her true feelings remain uncertain.

Significant themes

• Desire versus love: Xing Yue separates physical attraction and compatibility from genuine affection, while her actions suggest unresolved attachment.
• Trauma and avoidance: Xing Yue fears hypnosis because it makes her relive childhood suffering, but avoiding treatment could leave her permanently disabled.
• Self-doubt and unequal status: Xing Yue’s belief that Bu Yao would never care for someone “ordinary” reflects her insecurity about Bu Yao’s privilege and power.
• Choice and agency: Bo’s life has been planned by others, contrasting with Xing Yue’s complicated efforts to make her own decisions.

Character interactions

• Xing Yue and Bo Wuxue trade sharp jokes, drawing on years of friendship and Bo’s history of hearing Xing Yue complain about her marriage to Bu Yao.
• Their banter gives way to earnest concern when Bo presses Xing Yue to resume treatment.
• Bo’s teasing about Bu Yao’s motives leaves Xing Yue questioning whether Bu Yao’s renewed attention is affection or revenge.
• The chapter ends with Bu Yao’s unexpected arrival, setting up a new encounter between the former spouses.

Key plot points and events

• Xing Yue, who has been living with the Bu Family, resents how Bu Yao’s household has treated her. The servants routinely expect her to accommodate Bu Yao, and Xing Yue feels controlled and disrespected.
• Bu Yao arrives to pick Xing Yue up from work. Xing Yue refuses to get in the car and tells Bu Yao to stop issuing orders and start asking politely.
• When Housekeeper Li criticizes Xing Yue, she confronts him about how he enabled Bu Yao’s behavior—including expecting Xing Yue to carry Bu Yao’s shoes—and reminds him that she is not his employer’s servant.
• Bu Yao listens, realizing that actions she considered playful had deeply hurt Xing Yue. She asks, “May I?” before offering her a ride, but Xing Yue refuses.
• Bu Yao takes Xing Yue’s hand and leans against her, crying quietly. Her red snake tail curls around Xing Yue’s ankle, apparently trying to win her over. Though Xing Yue suspects the tears are an act, she relents and tells Bu Yao to get in.

Character development

• Xing Yue finally voices long-held resentment and asserts her independence, refusing to yield as she usually has. Even so, her instinctive tenderness toward Bu Yao remains, complicating her resolve.
• Bu Yao appears to recognize, perhaps for the first time, the harm caused by her entitled behavior. She tries asking permission, though her tears and physical closeness make Xing Yue question whether she is being sincere or manipulative.
• Housekeeper Li continues to side with Bu Yao, reinforcing Xing Yue’s sense that the household has never treated her as an equal.

Significant themes

• Respect and autonomy: Xing Yue demands to be asked rather than ordered around.
• Accumulated resentment: Small acts of entitlement and the servants’ complicity have damaged the relationship over time.
• Sincerity versus manipulation: Bu Yao’s apology-like request and visible distress may be genuine, but Xing Yue distrusts them.
• Affection and vulnerability: Despite her anger, Xing Yue’s habitual care for Bu Yao resurfaces.

Character interactions

• Xing Yue directly confronts both Bu Yao and Housekeeper Li, making clear that she will no longer accept their expectations.
• Bu Yao listens, asks permission to take Xing Yue home, then uses closeness and tears to appeal to her.
• Xing Yue resists at first but ultimately gives in, revealing that her emotional attachment to Bu Yao persists beneath her cold exterior.

Plot points and events

• In the car, Xing Yue tries to keep her distance from Bu Yao, but Bu Yao’s sensitive red snake tail keeps curling against her. Xing Yue asks whether Bu Yao has treated her allergy, then strokes and squeezes the tail until Bu Yao, embarrassed and flustered, pulls it away.
• Bu Yao follows Xing Yue into her modest suburban villa, bringing the prescribed medicine for her allergy. Xing Yue complains that Bu Yao should have warned her she couldn’t use latex Finger Sleeves, but Bu Yao explains she only discovered the allergy after trying them.
• Bu Yao asks whether Xing Yue dated another woman after their divorce. Xing Yue confirms it indirectly, says the woman was wonderful, and explains that they broke up because she “wasn’t good enough.”
• Jealous and upset, Bu Yao asks what Xing Yue told her former girlfriend about their marriage. Xing Yue says she described Bu Yao as beautiful—someone easy to fall for at first sight.
• Bu Yao becomes tearful and retreats to the bathroom. Her distress unsettles Xing Yue, who is reminded of past shouting and crying, and seems shaken by the memory.
• When Bu Yao comes out, she hugs Xing Yue. Xing Yue does not return or reject the embrace, but says she may not have much patience. Bu Yao then asks whether Xing Yue wants a “snake kiss,” promising they will do nothing else. Xing Yue declines, citing work the next day.

Character development

• Xing Yue continues to hide concern behind irritation and sarcasm. She protects Bu Yao from public embarrassment, takes responsibility for her allergy, and struggles with unexpected tenderness and unease as Bu Yao becomes more vulnerable.
• Bu Yao shows a softer, less imperious side. Her jealousy and tears reveal lingering attachment, while her hug and invitation to kiss suggest she is trying to reconnect—though she still approaches intimacy indirectly.

Character interactions

• Their relationship remains charged with teasing, resentment, attraction, and unresolved hurt. Xing Yue’s playful handling of Bu Yao’s tail contrasts with Bu Yao’s embarrassment.
• The conversation about past relationships exposes Bu Yao’s jealousy and Xing Yue’s refusal to give her a clear emotional answer.
• Bu Yao’s hug reverses their former power dynamic: the once-proud heiress seeks closeness, while Xing Yue remains guarded and uncertain.

Significant themes

• Lingering love after divorce: Both women appear affected by their shared past, despite their separation and unresolved grievances.
• Power and vulnerability: Bu Yao’s pride gives way to emotional dependence, while Xing Yue’s apparent control is undermined by compassion and painful memories.
• Unspoken feelings and miscommunication: Neither woman openly explains what she wants, leaving their attempts at closeness tangled with jealousy, defensiveness, and uncertainty.

Key events

• Though Xing Yue had said she would refuse, she gives in to her desire for another intimate encounter with Bu Yao.
• She playfully offers Bu Yao revealing sleepwear, then prepares and applies the hospital-prescribed medicine to Bu Yao’s emerging snake tail.
• Bu Yao’s tail appears as she lies facedown, and Xing Yue teases her about being spoiled and needing help.
• Their teasing turns into a quarrel over how Bu Yao will manage shoes without outside help. Bu Yao splashes water at Xing Yue in frustration.
• Xing Yue restrains Bu Yao’s tail, pulls her onto the bed, and kisses her passionately. She ends by teasing Bu Yao for throwing a tantrum rather than learning to put on shoes.

Character developments

• Xing Yue remains torn between her resolve and her attraction, but shows affection through caretaking and teasing. Her confidence masks a playful, increasingly assertive side.
• Bu Yao is embarrassed by the provocative clothing and dependent on Xing Yue’s help, yet becomes more openly sulky and playful. Her tail and scent reveal her desire, while her difficulty with shoes remains a source of frustration.

Significant themes

• Desire versus restraint: Xing Yue’s stated resolve gives way to intimacy.
• Care mixed with teasing: Practical assistance with Bu Yao’s medicine becomes part of their flirtation.
• Vulnerability and independence: Bu Yao’s physical limitations make her rely on Xing Yue, creating both tenderness and conflict.
• Growing ease between them: Their playful quarrel and bold kiss suggest increasing comfort and closeness.

Character interactions

Xing Yue tends to Bu Yao’s tail while provoking her with affectionate nicknames and pointed jokes. Bu Yao responds with embarrassment, confusion, and splashes of defiance. The exchange culminates in Xing Yue taking control of the moment with a forceful kiss, then turning the encounter back into playful teasing.

Plot points and events

• Xing Yue recalls how, during their marriage, Bu Yao repeatedly demanded that she put on her shoes and waited on her in other ways. Bu Yao insisted she genuinely didn’t know how to manage basic tasks, a claim Xing Yue found both baffling and infuriating.
• In the present, Bu Yao asks whether Xing Yue hates her. Xing Yue avoids a direct answer and asks why Bu Yao came back after ten years apart. At night, Bu Yao apologizes and says she has changed; their teasing becomes intimate.
• Xing Yue asks whether Bu Yao wants to marry her again. When Bu Yao nervously asks whether Xing Yue wants that too, Xing Yue refuses, saying their marriage made her unhappy.
• Xing Yue explains that Bu Yao treated her like a servant—making her handle chores, transport, and care, while punishing her for disobedience. She also recalls feeling unwelcome and looked down on by Bu Yao’s family, while Bu Yao dismissed her concerns.
• Bu Yao insists that such service is normal in relationships and asks Xing Yue to teach her how to do things. Xing Yue doubts her sincerity and believes Bu Yao’s tenderness may be another attempt to draw her back into the Bu family.
• Their argument escalates into insults and physical teasing. Bu Yao calls Xing Yue shallow and throws a pillow at her; Xing Yue catches her and pins her down. Bu Yao bites Xing Yue to stop her from finishing an embarrassing remark. The scene ends with Xing Yue teasingly asking whether Bu Yao wants a kiss.

Character developments

• Xing Yue is more openly assertive about the harm in their marriage. She distinguishes affection from the one-sided labor Bu Yao demanded and refuses to remarry without evidence of change, though she remains physically and emotionally drawn to Bu Yao.
• Bu Yao shows vulnerability and says she has changed, but falls back on defensiveness, anger, and the claim that she cannot perform basic tasks. Her request to be taught may signal willingness to change, but Xing Yue does not trust it yet.

Significant themes

• Unequal care and entitlement: acts that might be loving when mutual become servitude when demanded by only one partner.
• Class and belonging: Xing Yue’s unhappiness was compounded by the Bu family’s disdain and Bu Yao’s failure to support her.
• Trust and accountability: intimacy remains, but it cannot erase past mistreatment; reconciliation would require more than apologies.
• Love mixed with resentment: the pair’s attraction persists alongside unresolved anger and hurt.

Character interactions

Xing Yue and Bu Yao move between tenderness, accusation, humor, and hostility. Bu Yao seeks reassurance and closeness; Xing Yue challenges her claims and refuses to accept her old behavior as normal. Their physical teasing and near-kiss show continued attraction, while Bu Yao’s sulking and Xing Yue’s final question leave the tension unresolved.

Plot points and events

• Xing Yue recalls years of feeling pressured to yield to Bu Yao and her family, who expected her to be patient and accommodating. She still resents her mother-in-law’s dismissive remark about keeping Xing Yue out of public view.
• After Bu Yao initiates a kiss, Xing Yue responds passionately, then tells her to sleep—an early sign that her anger and attraction coexist.
• The next morning, Bu Yao seeks Xing Yue’s attention through small, affectionate gestures. Xing Yue helps her into her expensive custom shoes despite insisting that she is done giving in.
• Xing Yue says she has sold the villa and will move to a small rented place, warning Bu Yao not to follow. She also taunts Bu Yao for being pampered, calling her a “giant baby.”
• Hurt, Bu Yao admits that she likes Xing Yue and asks whether Xing Yue truly hates her. Xing Yue falters and says she does not hate her that much.

Character development

• Xing Yue remains resentful of the imbalance in their marriage, but her actions—kissing Bu Yao, caring for her, and struggling to resist her vulnerability—show that her affection has not disappeared. She tries to set boundaries, yet repeatedly softens.
• Bu Yao shifts from quiet affection to openly expressing her feelings. Though proud and accustomed to being indulged, she is vulnerable to Xing Yue’s rejection and appears to be trying to win her over without their old confrontational pattern.

Significant themes

• Resentment and unresolved marital hurt: Past grievances shape Xing Yue’s present reactions.
• Affection versus self-protection: Xing Yue wants distance but cannot fully deny her feelings.
• Power and accommodation: Xing Yue resents being expected to yield, while Bu Yao has long been sheltered and indulged.
• Vulnerability and reconciliation: Bu Yao’s candid confession begins to break through Xing Yue’s defensive coldness.

Character interactions

Xing Yue and Bu Yao move between teasing, caretaking, accusation, and tenderness. Xing Yue’s sarcastic remarks wound Bu Yao, who responds by revealing how much she cares. Bu Yao’s direct question—whether Xing Yue hates her—forces Xing Yue to acknowledge that her feelings are more complicated than resentment.

Key plot points and events

• Moved by Bu Yao’s vulnerable behavior, Xing Yue agrees to consider marrying her again—but only if Bu Yao proves her feelings through practical actions.
• Xing Yue gives Bu Yao a list of skills to learn, including doing laundry, driving, washing hair, cooking, and putting on her own shoes. She frames these requests as a way for them to care for each other, not as a demand that Bu Yao become her servant.
• Their discussion of laundry brings up a painful memory from ten years earlier: Bu Yao had insisted Xing Yue wash a new, larger-sized pair of underwear. Bu Yao explains she was embarrassed that others might notice her body was still developing and that her old underwear had become uncomfortable.
• Xing Yue and Bu Yao flirt as they leave the studio. Bu Yao asks Xing Yue to remain single and flirt only with her. Xing Yue teases her, but is clearly attracted to her.
• Their moment is interrupted when a car arrives carrying Bu Yao’s mother.

Character developments

• Xing Yue softens toward Bu Yao but remains cautious about remarriage. Her conditions reflect a desire for mutual effort and companionship rather than repeating their old, unequal dynamic.
• Bu Yao shows greater openness and willingness to change: she explains a vulnerable memory she had kept secret and carefully writes down every task Xing Yue gives her. Her possessiveness also surfaces, though she tries to express it as a request rather than an order.
• Their relationship shifts from discussing a possible remarriage to openly flirting, with affection and attraction returning alongside unresolved caution.

Significant themes

• Trust and vulnerability: Bu Yao’s private explanation helps Xing Yue understand the meaning behind an old conflict.
• Mutual care and equality: Xing Yue wants both partners to look after one another, rather than one serving the other.
• Communication and change: Their flirtation and candid conversation suggest a chance to rebuild the relationship, though remarriage remains conditional.
• Intimacy through ordinary gestures: Practical tasks and small acts of affection become ways to show love.

Character interactions

• Xing Yue gently coaxes Bu Yao into revealing why she needed the underwear washed immediately, then responds with both understanding and teasing.
• Bu Yao accepts Xing Yue’s list without protest, signaling commitment to making an effort.
• The two share a playful, charged exchange about being “fiancées,” which Xing Yue calls “flirting.” Bu Yao asks for exclusive attention, and Xing Yue teases her about how suggestive she sounds.
• Bu Yao greets her mother when the woman arrives, bringing their private moment to an abrupt halt.

Plot points

• Xing Yue encounters Ji Wenyan, Bu Yao’s mother, who is outwardly warm and attentive but whom Xing Yue remembers as a cruel, controlling former mother-in-law.
• In the car, Ji Wenyan reads Bu Yao’s notebook, filled with plans to learn domestic skills and care for a future wife. She hides her reaction and tells Bu Yao she is proud of her.
• At work, Xing Yue waits for a late voice-acting collaborator, Jiang Li, while her manager Qiao Rui and friend Bo Wuxue complain. Xing Yue admits she has just seen Ji Wenyan and regrets having told Bu Yao she might consider marrying again.
• Ji Wenyan arrives at the studio with breakfast and announces that the Bu Family’s entertainment company will fund Xing Yue’s singing career. She has arranged it without Xing Yue’s knowledge, making clear that she can override the principles Xing Yue has defended for years.
• Ji Wenyan then cruelly invokes Xing Yue’s age and asks who will wash her clothes when she can no longer menstruate. The remark devastates Xing Yue and leaves her friend furious on her behalf.

Character developments and interactions

• Ji Wenyan presents herself as a loving, indulgent mother to Bu Yao, supporting her choices without question. With Xing Yue, however, her courtesy masks calculated hostility: she uses wealth, influence, and personal remarks to assert control.
• Bu Yao trusts her mother completely and is reassured that Ji Wenyan will not be angry about her plans for a future wife. Her devotion to Xing Yue is reflected in the notebook’s practical, caring intentions.
• Xing Yue remains guarded and resentful toward Ji Wenyan. Though she had tentatively considered remarrying Bu Yao, this encounter revives her doubts and exposes how vulnerable she still feels to Ji Wenyan’s attacks.
• Qiao Rui shifts abruptly from angrily condemning Jiang Li’s lateness to fawning over Ji Wenyan, revealing the latter’s status and influence.
• Bo Wuxue / Little Green Stone Snake acts as Xing Yue’s outspoken confidante, urging her to resist Ji Wenyan and reacting with anger when Xing Yue is humiliated.

Significant themes

• Power disguised as kindness: Ji Wenyan’s generosity and concern can serve as instruments of control.
• Contrasting perspectives on family: Bu Yao experiences her mother as wholly loving, while Xing Yue sees the cruelty beneath that affection.
• Love expressed through care: Bu Yao’s notebook shows her desire to learn how to look after Xing Yue, even as Ji Wenyan weaponizes the same domestic subject.
• Vulnerability, age, and dignity: Ji Wenyan’s remark attacks Xing Yue’s age and personal worth, turning a practical detail into a deliberate humiliation.

Key events

• Madam Bu visits Xing Yue and criticizes her for being quick to find a new girlfriend after divorcing Bu Yao. Xing Yue rejects the pressure to remarry and tells Madam Bu to blame Bu Yao for choosing to do chores for her.
• After Madam Bu leaves, Bo Wuxue angrily fantasizes about Xing Yue taking revenge on the Bu family. The outburst briefly lifts Xing Yue’s mood, but she abandons work early.
• At the office, Qiao Rui retaliates against late collaborator Jiang Li by having security remove her.
• Xing Yue drinks alone at a lesbian bar, brooding over her remaining four-year work contract, career uncertainty, age, and strained romantic past.
• A call from her mother, who wants to arrange more blind dates, pushes Xing Yue into a breakdown. She explains that her lack of a snake tail makes her feel unable to give another snake the intimacy and relief they need, and she fears causing another woman pain. She smashes her phone and walks home through the rain.
• Exhausted, drunk, and struggling with her legs, Xing Yue collapses outside her home. Bu Yao finds her, shelters her with an umbrella, and helps her inside.
• In the candlelit house, Xing Yue clings to Bu Yao for warmth and comfort. Bu Yao admits, through a nod, that she was worried. Xing Yue asks her to say it aloud.

Character developments and interactions

• Xing Yue tries to appear firm and self-sufficient, but the day’s insults and pressures expose deep shame, loneliness, and fear about her disability, age, career, and future. Her physical vulnerability becomes unmistakable when she collapses.
• Bu Yao is absent for much of the chapter but remains emotionally central. She searches for Xing Yue and responds with care; their closeness resurfaces as Xing Yue seeks comfort and reassurance.
• Bo Wuxue fiercely defends Xing Yue, turning her anger at Madam Bu into extravagant revenge fantasies.
• Madam Bu uses calm, pointed remarks to shame Xing Yue while protecting her daughter’s interests. Xing Yue’s mother adds to her distress by focusing on marriage rather than asking how she is doing.
• Qiao Rui shows loyalty to Xing Yue through her blunt handling of the tardy collaborator.

Significant themes

• Disability and self-worth: Xing Yue’s missing tail shapes her sense of desirability and her belief that she might hurt a partner.
• Care versus pressure: Xing Yue longs for simple concern, but receives criticism and demands about marriage; Bu Yao’s quiet search offers a contrast.
• Loneliness and vulnerability: Beneath Xing Yue’s pride and sharp retorts are fear, exhaustion, and a need for comfort.
• Old love and compatibility: Despite their history and the divide between their families, Xing Yue and Bu Yao share a rare physical and emotional compatibility that draws them back together.

• Plot: During a storm and power outage, Xing Yue returns home soaked and muddy to find Bu Yao waiting. Bu Yao admits she was worried when Xing Yue didn’t come home or answer her phone, and she went searching barefoot. Their reunion turns into an argument when Xing Yue, reminded of her controlling upbringing, challenges Bu Yao’s right to question her. In the bathroom, Xing Yue mentions that Madam Bu plans to make her famous and jokingly says she’ll leave Bu Yao for someone prettier and more attractive. Bu Yao reacts with tears and anger, but Xing Yue catches her raised hand, pulls her close, and the candle goes out. They share an intimate, teasing encounter before Xing Yue thanks Bu Yao for worrying about her.
• Character development: Xing Yue’s envy of Bu Yao’s affectionate, approving upbringing reveals her own history of harsh criticism and helps explain why Bu Yao’s questions trigger resentment. Though she acts provocative and independent, she notices Bu Yao’s barefoot search and recognizes her concern. Bu Yao’s anger masks anxiety and attachment; she struggles to manage her feelings, even fighting her own tail when it coils around Xing Yue.
• Character interactions: Bu Yao confronts Xing Yue about disappearing, while Xing Yue pushes back against what she sees as Bu Yao’s possessiveness. Their quarrel shifts into flirtatious provocation: Xing Yue threatens to find another woman, and Bu Yao responds with jealousy, tears, and a threat to poke out Xing Yue’s eyes. Xing Yue teases her, then tenderly acknowledges her worry.
• Themes: The chapter explores the lingering effects of childhood approval and neglect, the tension between independence and intimacy, and how jealousy and anger can conceal fear and affection. Teasing serves both as a way for Xing Yue to provoke Bu Yao and as a means of expressing closeness.

Plot points and events

• Early in the morning, Bu Yao finds Xing Yue’s bag and phone broken after the previous night’s power outage. She puts Xing Yue’s SIM cards into an old phone.
• The old phone’s lock screen shows Xing Yue with a beautiful former girlfriend. Bu Yao discovers thousands of photos documenting their seven-year relationship, including an intimate image of Xing Yue washing the woman’s feet.
• Xing Yue wakes and takes a call from Jiang Li, who apologizes for missing their meeting, saying a younger family member was hospitalized. Xing Yue arranges to meet her that afternoon and asks her assistant to verify the story.
• Seeing the old lock screen, Bu Yao accuses Xing Yue of still loving her ex and asks why Xing Yue slept with her. Xing Yue says she was under pressure and Bu Yao happened to be there.
• Hurt and furious, Bu Yao slaps Xing Yue, knocks items from her dressing table, and angrily calls herself a paid stress reliever. Xing Yue tells her to find someone else.
• After Bu Yao leaves, Xing Yue curls under the blanket and privately resolves to stay single, believing she is unsuitable for Bu Yao. Bu Yao then returns, pulls the blanket away, and asks if Xing Yue is secretly crying.

Character developments

• Bu Yao is consumed by jealousy and pain after seeing evidence of Xing Yue’s past devotion. Her anger exposes how much she wants to matter to Xing Yue, though she expresses that hurt through accusations and violence.
• Xing Yue remains outwardly detached, responding to Bu Yao with cutting honesty rather than reassurance. Beneath that composure, she is distressed, self-critical, and convinced she cannot be with Bu Yao.
• Jiang Li enters the chapter through her apology and becomes a possible source of tension, as Xing Yue is unsure whether her explanation is genuine.

Significant themes

• Jealousy and comparison: Bu Yao measures herself against the woman who received years of Xing Yue’s affection.
• Emotional vulnerability hidden by hostility: Both women turn hurt into sharp remarks, while Xing Yue conceals her pain.
• Past relationships and present intimacy: Xing Yue’s history complicates her recent closeness with Bu Yao, who interprets it as evidence of lingering love.
• Self-worth and incompatibility: Xing Yue believes she is not good enough for the heiress, reinforcing the distance between them.

Character interactions

The chapter centers on Bu Yao and Xing Yue’s volatile exchange: Bu Yao demands an explanation for their intimacy, while Xing Yue refuses to offer comfort and tells her to leave. Their fight ends in apparent separation, but Bu Yao’s return suggests she is still concerned about Xing Yue’s feelings.

Plot points

• After Bu Yao slaps Xing Yue, Bu Yao returns and finds her crying. She comforts Xing Yue by licking her swollen cheek, then quietly admits that she is serious about her and wishes Xing Yue would like her more.
• Bu Yao begins gathering the makeup and skincare products she broke during her tantrum, while Xing Yue helps clean up and gently wipes away her tears.
• Xing Yue reassures Bu Yao that she is keeping her promise not to contact her ex-girlfriends or pursue anyone else. She asks whether Bu Yao has been learning to cook; Bu Yao proudly reports that she can now tell two kinds of cabbage apart.
• Bu Yao brings ice for Xing Yue’s face. Xing Yue asks her to seek help through her mother’s connections for her inability to bring out her tail—a sensitive disability she has long kept private. She explains that pursuing fame will expose it, and presents Bu Yao as the person who can help her.
• Bu Yao worries that Xing Yue will leave her once she becomes famous and asks whether Xing Yue will try to fall in love with her. Xing Yue kisses her and says loving her comes naturally.

Character developments

• Bu Yao remains deeply hurt by Xing Yue’s earlier cruelty, but continues caring for her and tries to soothe herself rather than demand an immediate answer. Her offer to help with Xing Yue’s disability shows growing investment in their relationship.
• Xing Yue lets her guardedness soften: she comforts Bu Yao, uses her old nickname, and asks for her help with a vulnerability she has hidden. At the same time, she resolves to use the entertainment career imposed on her to advance her own interests and prove herself to Madam Bu.

Themes

• Love and reciprocity: Xing Yue wants Bu Yao to contribute emotionally and practically, not merely receive her care; Bu Yao’s central wish is to be loved in return.
• Vulnerability and trust: Xing Yue’s request for help with her tail signals a rare willingness to let Bu Yao—and potentially others—know about her disability.
• Power and self-determination: Though pressured into fame by Madam Bu, Xing Yue plans to turn that pressure into an opportunity.
• Care amid conflict: Their tenderness persists despite hurtful words, a slap, and a broken room.

Character interactions

Their exchanges mix affection and teasing: Xing Yue jokes about Bu Yao’s cooking progress, while Bu Yao tends Xing Yue’s injury. Beneath the banter, Bu Yao seeks reassurance that Xing Yue will stay and reciprocate her love; Xing Yue answers with a kiss and an emphatic declaration of attraction.