Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Xing Yue asks Bu Yao to leave the Bu Residence and move with her to another city, returning only every ten or twenty years. Bu Yao immediately refuses, worried about leaving her mother, father, and grandfather.
• Xing Yue confronts Bu Yao about failing to defend her from Madam Bu’s repeated humiliations—at a high-society banquet, over Xing Yue’s age, and during family gatherings. She says Bu Yao’s love has not protected her from the harm caused by her mother’s remarks.
• Bu Yao cannot answer. Xing Yue gives up on the relationship, saying they are not right for each other. She also resents the gap between their lives and feels Bu Yao does not understand what financial hardship means to her.
• When Bu Yao gets up to return home before dawn, Xing Yue lets her go, assuming she simply cannot bear to hear criticism of her mother.
• In the storm, Bu Yao arrives at the Bu Residence barefoot and drenched, carrying bloodied pliers. Her tail is bleeding, and the pliers are covered in her Snake Scales. She tells Madam Bu she keeps saying things Xing Yue does not want to hear, then leaves the scales as a reminder.

Character developments

• Xing Yue moves from a desperate attempt to escape their unequal circumstances together to resignation and hurt. She realizes she cannot rely on Bu Yao to understand or defend her, though her concern remains evident when Bu Yao leaves in the storm.
• Bu Yao initially seems unable to grasp Xing Yue’s pain and refuses to leave her family. Her dramatic return with her scales removed suggests she has taken action to confront—or warn—her mother, even if she cannot yet explain herself to Xing Yue.
• Madam Bu is revealed as the source of repeated, subtle humiliations that have steadily undermined Xing Yue’s confidence and security.

Significant themes

• Love versus protection: Loving someone deeply is not enough if one fails to stand up for them.
• Class and power imbalance: Xing Yue feels that Bu Yao’s privileged life makes it difficult for her to understand the real cost of Xing Yue’s losses.
• Emotional harm disguised as harmless remarks: Polite or casual comments can accumulate into serious damage, especially when the injured person is dismissed as oversensitive.
• Family loyalty and difficult choices: Bu Yao’s attachment to her family clashes with Xing Yue’s need to be prioritized and defended.
• Sacrifice and communication: Bu Yao’s self-inflicted injury may be an attempt to make her mother understand, but her actions come only after Xing Yue has already given up.

Character interactions

• Xing Yue asks Bu Yao to choose a life with her, but Bu Yao’s immediate concern for her family deepens Xing Yue’s sense of rejection.
• Xing Yue directly names the ways Madam Bu has hurt her and questions why Bu Yao has not intervened; Bu Yao is left speechless.
• Bu Yao leaves after the argument, and Xing Yue allows it while still worrying about her safety.
• At home, Bu Yao confronts Madam Bu indirectly by presenting her bloodied scales as a reminder to stop hurting Xing Yue.

Key plot points

• Xing Yue wakes during a storm with her legs burning and swollen. Anxious when Bu Yao fails to say she got home, she sends and then deletes a needy message; Bu Yao replies that she is safe and misses her.
• Bu Yao floods Xing Yue’s phone with playful pleas for kisses. Worried that she may have fought with her mother, Xing Yue offers to come get her, then falls asleep before receiving an answer.
• The next day, Xing Yue discovers she has grown a striking navy-blue python tail marked with green butterflies. Frightened at first, she gradually approaches and comforts it, moved by the sight of a part of herself she has not seen for a long time. She sends photos to Bo Wuxue, who rushes over hoping to touch it, but arrives too late.
• Xing Yue finds a long series of increasingly impatient messages from Bu Yao, who had been waiting for her to come. She replies that she is on her way, and discovers she can make the tail appear or disappear through intention.
• At Bu Residence, Xing Yue assertively asks the housekeeper to bring her in, recognizing that as Bu Yao’s wife she belongs to the family and should not have to manage everything alone.
• The household is tense: Madam Bu is bedridden, and Bu Yao has been injured. Xing Yue enters Bu Yao’s room and finds her asleep beside a glass case filled with ice, where Bu Yao’s snake tail lies motionless.

Character developments

• Xing Yue reveals her vulnerability through her need for reassurance from Bu Yao, while also showing growing confidence in claiming her place within the Bu family. Her rediscovered tail prompts fear, tenderness, and a sense of reconnection with herself.
• Bu Yao expresses intense affection through teasing, needy messages, then shifts to frustration as Xing Yue fails to arrive. Her unexplained injury introduces a serious new concern.
• Bo Wuxue remains enthusiastic about Xing Yue’s snake nature, reacting to the tail with excitement and admiration.

Significant themes

• Longing and reassurance: Xing Yue’s anxiety and Bu Yao’s repeated pleas for affection show how strongly both depend on signs of closeness.
• Identity and reconnection: Xing Yue’s tail represents a lost or inaccessible part of herself; approaching it allows her to rediscover it.
• Belonging and agency: Xing Yue begins to act as a member of the Bu household rather than an outsider who must do everything herself.
• Uncertainty and foreboding: The ill Madam Bu, injured Bu Yao, frightened staff, and iced-over tail sharply shift the chapter from domestic intimacy to crisis.

Character interactions

• Xing Yue and Bu Yao exchange anxious, affectionate messages, with their mismatched expectations creating both comedy and hurt.
• Xing Yue reaches out to Bu Yao out of concern, but her sleep prevents her from keeping the promise to come.
• Xing Yue’s interaction with Housekeeper Li marks a change in how she asserts her authority and belonging.
• The chapter ends with Xing Yue finding Bu Yao, but the cause and severity of her injury remain unexplained.

Plot points and events

• Xing Yue finds Bu Yao curled in an ice-filled enclosure, using the cold to numb two badly damaged wounds in her tail. Bu Yao admits she tore out her own scales with pliers.
• Xing Yue is horrified and assumes Bu Yao harmed herself because of their argument and her conflict with her ill mother. She insists Bu Yao’s body should not be used as a way to express anger or settle family disputes.
• Bu Yao counters that Xing Yue is also using her to strike back at Madam Bu. Her innocent response exposes a contradiction in Xing Yue’s behavior and leaves Xing Yue ashamed; in anger, Xing Yue strikes the glass and injures her hand.
• Bu Yao licks Xing Yue’s bruised knuckles and asks to be held. Xing Yue carries her to bed, where Bu Yao tries to coax her into kissing her injured tail. Xing Yue eventually does, then kisses Bu Yao on the lips.
• Their intimate kiss brings out Xing Yue’s dark-blue tail. Bu Yao mistakes it for her own, bites it twice, and only then realizes she has hurt Xing Yue.
• Bu Yao worries that their contact might lead to pregnancy because she has not prepared protective gauze. Xing Yue explains that her tail emerged involuntarily and she had no intention of mating. Bu Yao shifts into snake form and explores Xing Yue’s tail, while Xing Yue asks her to stop.

Character development and interactions

• Xing Yue moves from shock and fury to guilt when Bu Yao points out that she, too, has treated Bu Yao as a means to oppose Madam Bu. Her concern is genuine, but the exchange forces her to confront her own motives. Her anger also reveals how deeply Bu Yao’s self-injury affects her.
• Bu Yao treats her severe injury casually and seeks comfort through touch and kisses. She is perceptive enough to recognize Xing Yue’s hypocrisy, yet remains trusting and affectionate. Her playful curiosity about Xing Yue’s tail turns the scene from anguish toward awkward intimacy.
• Their relationship is marked by caretaking, teasing, physical closeness, and uneven understanding. Bu Yao’s injured tail becomes the focus of Xing Yue’s worry, while Bu Yao responds to that worry by seeking affection.

Significant themes

• Bodily autonomy and instrumentalization: Xing Yue objects to Bu Yao harming herself, but Bu Yao’s challenge makes clear that Xing Yue has also used her for her own purposes.
• Pain and emotional communication: Bu Yao’s injury and repeated requests for kisses express needs she does not explain directly; Xing Yue must learn to respond with care rather than anger alone.
• Intimacy and vulnerability: In this setting, snake-tongue kisses convey intense sensation and a sense of possession. The emergence and exploration of Xing Yue’s tail deepen their physical closeness while also introducing embarrassment and uncertainty about its consequences.

Key plot points

• Little Fire Snake, Bu Yao, is excited by the warmth and closeness of Xing Yue’s body. Xing Yue puts her on ice and examines her injuries, discovering the two places where Bu Yao pulled out Snake Scales. Bu Yao says her mother preserved the scales, and an overseas specialist is due that night to attempt reattachment surgery.
• Bu Yao asks Xing Yue to stay with her because Madam Bu is ill and cannot accompany her. Madam Bu had worked through her own fear to collect and chill every scale, then collapsed with a fever.
• Xing Yue receives a call from her mother, Xing Yingnuan, who insists she has broken her leg and demands that Xing Yue come home. Though Xing Yue initially suspects another holiday-related ploy, X-rays show a genuine fracture with metal pins.
• Xing Yue decides to visit her mother, promising Bu Yao that she will return and eventually take her home. Bu Yao asks whether they are now girlfriends; Xing Yue says Bu Yao must confess first, then leaves without a definite answer.
• In their hometown, Xing Yingnuan hosts a middle-aged neighbor and a young woman, apparently preparing to introduce Xing Yue to her.

Character developments and interactions

• Xing Yue shows tenderness and concern toward Bu Yao, while also feeling responsible for her mother despite their emotionally complicated history. She struggles to balance the two relationships.
• Bu Yao is frightened of facing surgery without her mother and clings to Xing Yue rather than letting her leave. Her direct question about being Xing Yue’s girlfriend reveals her desire for a defined romantic relationship.
• Xing Yingnuan is needy and manipulative, often using dramatic threats to draw Xing Yue home. Yet this time her injury is real, prompting Xing Yue to take her seriously.
• Madam Bu is shown as devoted and capable under pressure: she ensured Bu Yao’s scales were recovered and preserved before her own health failed.

Significant themes

• Affection and emotional responsibility: Xing Yue’s care for both Bu Yao and her mother pulls her in competing directions.
• Defining intimacy: Bu Yao seeks clarity about their relationship, while Xing Yue leaves the question unresolved.
• Family, fear, and obligation: Xing Yue’s distant upbringing has not erased her concern for her mother, and Bu Yao’s injury highlights the importance of dependable care.

Key plot points

• Xing Yue returns to her hometown after selling her car to deal with a 700,000-yuan debt. During the journey, she and Bu Yao exchange affectionate, teasing messages, showing how close they have become.
• Xing Yue expects to find her mother, Xing Yingnuan, injured in hospital. Instead, her mother admits she left early and is waiting for her in town, apparently recovered.
• Xing Yingnuan offers to help with the debt and is astonished that Xing Yue worried over such a “small” sum. She reveals that Xing Yue’s estranged father has been sending the family substantial monthly support—now 230,000 yuan—and that they are far wealthier than Xing Yue realized.
• Xing Yue learns that her mother, believing Xing Yue knew about the money, assumed she worked so hard simply out of ambition. Xing Yue had likewise thought the family had little, and had supported her mother by building her an apartment building.
• Soon after arriving home, Xing Yue discovers her mother has arranged a blind date with Miss Lin. Xing Yue politely but firmly refuses, saying she already has a girlfriend and plans to spend the next day with her.
• Miss Lin, who had waited and dressed for the date, runs out upset. Xing Yingnuan pushes Xing Yue to follow and make sure she gets home safely. Xing Yue catches up and offers to treat her to a proper meal as an apology.
• Bu Yao arrives by car and sees Xing Yue trying to comfort Miss Lin. She is still partly numb from her surgery, and the chapter ends on this potentially awkward encounter.

Character developments and interactions

• Xing Yue is proud and self-reliant, reluctant to ask her mother for help. Her financial crisis prompts a rare, honest conversation that overturns her assumptions about her family. She also makes clear that she is committed to Bu Yao.
• Xing Yingnuan is loving, forceful, and protective, but her matchmaking and tendency to make decisions for Xing Yue create friction. Her anger toward Xing Yue’s father shapes how she talks about him and has helped keep the truth from her daughter.
• Bu Yao remains emotionally close to Xing Yue through constant flirtatious messages, but her arrival at the end may create tension after she sees Xing Yue with another woman.
• Miss Lin is caught in the consequences of Xing Yingnuan’s matchmaking. Xing Yue tries to be considerate, but her late, blunt disclosure understandably hurts and embarrasses her.

Significant themes

• Miscommunication within families: Xing Yue, her mother, and her grandmother have each made different assumptions about what Xing Yue knows, leaving her unaware of the family’s finances and her father’s support.
• Independence versus accepting care: Xing Yue’s determination to provide for herself and her mother is challenged by the discovery that help was available all along.
• Love expressed imperfectly: Xing Yingnuan’s care appears through money, protection, and matchmaking, yet her controlling approach can override Xing Yue’s choices.
• Honesty and commitment: Xing Yue openly acknowledges Bu Yao as her girlfriend, refusing to mislead Miss Lin despite the awkwardness.

Key plot points and events

• After undergoing surgery to reimplant patches of scales at her waist and thigh, Bu Yao arrives at Xing Yue’s home while still under local anesthetic.
• Bu Yao is angry that Xing Yue planned to have dinner with Miss Lin and insists Xing Yue carry her home and stay with her. Xing Yue complies, carefully supporting her injured back.
• Xing Yue explains that her mother arranged the blind date and that she agreed to dinner out of politeness. Bu Yao demands that she cancel it and keep her promise to spend time together.
• At home, Xing Yue’s mother, Xing Yingnuan, scolds Xing Yue for carrying Bu Yao inside and objects to their continued involvement, especially given their past divorce and conflict with Bu Yao’s family.
• Bu Yao claims she is in too much pain to sit anywhere but Xing Yue’s lap, leaving Xing Yingnuan embarrassed and exasperated.

Character developments

• Xing Yue is gentle and attentive toward Bu Yao despite their unresolved relationship and Bu Yao’s anger. She prioritizes Bu Yao’s safety, though she struggles to speak freely around her.
• Bu Yao is jealous, possessive, and demanding, but her vulnerability after surgery shows through her complaints of pain and need for Xing Yue’s care.
• Xing Yingnuan remains protective of her daughter and disapproving of Bu Yao, viewing their renewed closeness as a mistake and a threat to Xing Yue’s reputation.

Character interactions

• Bu Yao silences Xing Yue, orders her to carry her, and bites her shoulder in frustration over the planned dinner.
• Xing Yue soothes Bu Yao and carries her carefully, while Bu Yao makes her press the elevator button and refuses to let her put her down.
• Xing Yingnuan confronts Xing Yue and condemns the situation; Xing Yue pushes back when her mother speaks harshly about Bu Yao.
• Bu Yao clings to Xing Yue and asks to sit on her lap, prompting Xing Yingnuan’s embarrassed protest.

Significant themes

• Jealousy and possessiveness: Bu Yao’s anger centers on Xing Yue’s attention to another woman.
• Care and vulnerability: Bu Yao’s dependence after surgery brings the former partners physically and emotionally close.
• Family disapproval and reputation: Xing Yingnuan’s concerns reflect social judgment and her lingering resentment toward Bu Yao’s family.
• Unresolved attachment: Despite their divorce and conflict, Xing Yue continues to care for Bu Yao, and Bu Yao seeks comfort specifically from her.

• Plot: While Bu Yao recovers from surgery, Xing Yue keeps her close on the sofa, indulging her requests for comfort. Xing Yue’s mother, Xing Yingnuan, disapproves of their relationship and resents Bu Yao’s clinginess, though she still keeps Xing Yue’s favorite dinner warm. Xing Yue eventually leaves Bu Yao to eat and talk with her mother. Before she goes, the two share a heated kiss and intimate touching; afterward, Xing Yue urges Bu Yao to rest and promises to return.
• Character development: Xing Yue shows how deeply she cares for Bu Yao, even when she is drawn into their flirtation and intimacy. Xing Yingnuan’s disapproval comes from protectiveness: she fears Bu Yao will make Xing Yue unhappy, particularly given Xing Yue’s painful past marriage. Bu Yao’s affection is mixed with insecurity and jealousy. Alone, she worries that Xing Yue may stop loving her and fixates on signs that she may not be special to Xing Yue.
• Interactions: Xing Yue and Bu Yao alternate between tenderness, teasing, and physical desire. Xing Yingnuan criticizes their closeness but expresses care indirectly by preparing dinner. After Xing Yue leaves, Bu Yao checks her phone, notices Xing Yue has removed a photo of her ex but has not added a picture of Bu Yao, and changes her own contact name to “Baby” with hearts. When He Zhiwen messages about bringing homemade rice dumplings, Bu Yao replies pointedly that Xing Yue is her girlfriend and asks for the sweet kind—then feels hurt and angry.
• Themes: The chapter contrasts protective family concern with romantic autonomy, and visible affection with private insecurity. Jealousy and fear of abandonment turn Bu Yao’s playful possessiveness into resentment, while Xing Yingnuan’s resistance reflects her worry that Xing Yue may repeat past heartbreak.

Plot points and events

• While using Xing Yue’s WeChat, Bu Yao messages He Zhiwen, Xing Yue’s ex of seven years. He Zhiwen recognizes that the replies aren’t really from Xing Yue and initially says nothing.
• Bu Yao explores He Zhiwen’s social-media profile and is struck by her cheerful, warm personality. A new post showing milk tea from a shop whose cup sleeve says “wife” makes Bu Yao suspect He Zhiwen is deliberately provoking her.
• He Zhiwen replies with a teasing “friendship price” and Xing Yue’s payment PIN. Bu Yao successfully transfers her 200 yuan, then deletes He Zhiwen from Xing Yue’s contacts. Still furious, she asks her father to buy the milk tea shop and replace its cups.
• Bu Yao searches Xing Yue’s other accounts and finds years of traces of He Zhiwen: shared songs, old posts, saved addresses, calendar reminders, and a game in which they built a home, married, and raised a child together.
• Looking through Xing Yue’s old posts, Bu Yao finds almost no evidence of herself—no wedding pictures or marriage certificate—only a post that seems to describe her as an artwork that loses its charm once it speaks.
• Overwhelmed, Bu Yao cries, turns off the television as Xing Yue had instructed, and goes to sleep in Xing Yue’s bed.

Character developments

• Bu Yao shifts from irritation and jealousy to painful insecurity. She realizes that deleting a contact cannot remove the deep history Xing Yue shared with He Zhiwen, and fears she has no real place in Xing Yue’s life.
• He Zhiwen comes across as sunny and affectionate, but her cryptic, teasing messages and milk-tea post leave Bu Yao feeling mocked and challenged.
• Xing Yue, though absent, is revealed through her digital traces as someone who shared a rich, long-standing life with He Zhiwen. Her old remark about an “artwork” suggests a hurtful view of Bu Yao.

Significant themes

• The persistence of the past: Digital records preserve relationships long after they end, making it impossible for Bu Yao to erase He Zhiwen’s presence.
• Jealousy and insecurity: Bu Yao’s anger masks grief and fear that she cannot measure up to Xing Yue’s former relationship.
• Memory and belonging: The contrast between Xing Yue’s extensive history with He Zhiwen and the apparent absence of Bu Yao’s own traces leaves Bu Yao questioning her place in Xing Yue’s life.
• Objectification: The “artwork” metaphor implies that Bu Yao may have been valued only while silent or idealized.

Character interactions

• Bu Yao’s messages to He Zhiwen turn into a brief, pointed exchange, with He Zhiwen’s payment-PIN joke exposing Bu Yao’s unfamiliarity with Xing Yue’s personal details.
• Bu Yao vents to her father, Bu Changqin, who responds indulgently and agrees to pursue her unreasonable request about the milk-tea shop.
• Bu Yao’s final interaction with Xing Yue is indirect: she follows Xing Yue’s instruction to turn off the television and seeks comfort by sleeping in her bed.

Plot and key events

• Xing Yue’s mother, Xing Yingnuan, confronts her about getting back together with Bu Yao. She warns that Bu Yao may return to her old controlling behavior and complains about how Bu Yao’s family treated Xing Yue in the past.
• Xing Yue counters that her mother favored He Zhiwen, who had been kind and attentive to her. She also reminds her mother that He Zhiwen ended their relationship because of the hurt Xing Yingnuan caused Xing Yue when she was young. The exchange exposes an old, unresolved family wound.
• Xing Yingnuan sets out conditions for a possible remarriage: Bu Yao should behave more discreetly, her mother should stop ordering Xing Yue around, and any future child should take the birth mother’s surname. Xing Yue says it is too soon to discuss children.
• Later, Xing Yue’s legs transform into a dark-blue python tail. She bathes and smells its cedar-like scent, wondering whether Bu Yao will like it.
• In bed, Xing Yue tries to cuddle and kiss Bu Yao, but Bu Yao pushes her tail away. Xing Yue realizes Bu Yao has been crying.
• Bu Yao admits she deleted He Zhiwen from Xing Yue’s WeChat and is upset that Xing Yue still has reminders of her ex, including a game ID and old diary entries. Xing Yue explains that the diary records her own life too and tries to change the game ID, but the process becomes complicated.
• Bu Yao tells her to stop, resigned to the fact that traces of He Zhiwen remain in their surroundings. Xing Yue comforts her and offers to replace her profile pictures with photos of them together and display Bu Yao’s picture on her belongings.

Character developments and interactions

• Xing Yue is patient with others but notably sharp with her mother, whose past actions still hurt her. With Bu Yao, she responds to jealousy with reassurance rather than anger, showing how invested she is in rebuilding their relationship.
• Bu Yao reveals insecurity beneath her affectionate behavior. Her jealousy over He Zhiwen makes her cry, and she seeks visible signs that Xing Yue has chosen her.
• Xing Yingnuan is protective of Xing Yue, but her advice is colored by resentment toward the Bu family and guilt over her own past. Her affection for He Zhiwen complicates her support for Xing Yue’s reconciliation.
• The chapter contrasts Xing Yue’s tense, wounded exchanges with her mother against her intimate, teasing but tender interactions with Bu Yao.

Significant themes

• Jealousy and reassurance: Bu Yao’s distress centers on the lingering presence of an ex, while Xing Yue tries to make her commitment unmistakable.
• Unhealed family wounds: Xing Yue’s reminder about He Zhiwen exposes how past harm persists even when it goes unspoken.
• Love and fairness: Xing Yingnuan worries that Xing Yue will again be treated as subordinate in the Bu family, including in decisions about children.
• Memory and attachment: Old diary entries and everyday objects preserve parts of a shared past that cannot simply be deleted.

Plot points and events

• Bu Yao challenges Xing Yue’s claim that they are already together: Xing Yue has not properly confessed. Xing Yue agrees to confess later, but Bu Yao pushes for it to happen now.
• While checking Bu Yao’s surgically repaired leg, Xing Yue becomes visibly aroused when Bu Yao touches her sensitive, naturally damp tail. Bu Yao teases her and asks for the tail to be tied into a bow as a gift.
• Xing Yue refuses verbally, then shifts into her python form and coils around Bu Yao, tying herself into a bow around Bu Yao’s waist instead.
• Bu Yao catches and holds the python, fascinated by Xing Yue’s vividly colored scales. She tries to make Xing Yue open her mouth, but Xing Yue refuses.

Character developments

• Bu Yao is recovering from her injuries but is bold, playful, and insistent about getting clear affection and commitment from Xing Yue. Her curiosity extends to Xing Yue’s snake form, which she handles with affectionate teasing.
• Xing Yue is highly sensitive and easily flustered by Bu Yao’s touch, despite trying to maintain control. Her transformation into a python reveals a more instinctive, affectionate side, though she remains embarrassed by Bu Yao’s requests.

Character interactions

• Bu Yao turns Xing Yue’s request to wait for a proper confession into flirtatious pressure, teasing her tail and asking her to say she likes her.
• Xing Yue responds with kisses and wraps herself around Bu Yao, but misunderstands—or playfully reverses—Bu Yao’s request for a tail bow.
• Their closeness is affectionate and teasing: Bu Yao explores Xing Yue’s snake form while Xing Yue alternates between resisting and seeking contact.

Significant themes

• Courtship and commitment: Bu Yao wants their relationship named and affirmed, not left as an implication.
• Intimacy and vulnerability: Their teasing exposes Xing Yue’s physical sensitivity and Bu Yao’s curiosity, while the snake-form transformation heightens their closeness.
• Power and presentation: Xing Yue’s polished, dominant appearance contrasts with her sensitive, easily flustered behavior, complicating Bu Yao’s assumptions about who takes the lead.

Key plot points and events

• Bu Yao asks Xing Yue to open her mouth, then playfully touches and strokes her tongue before cuddling up for a selfie with her snake form.
• Bu Yao insists Xing Yue make their reconciliation public: update her profile picture and post an announcement, including on Weibo, where Xing Yue and her ex, He Zhiwen, still follow each other.
• While preparing the post, Xing Yue discovers she has almost no photos of Bu Yao saved. Bu Yao is hurt that Xing Yue kept thousands of photos of He Zhiwen but none of her.
• Bu Yao posts their new selfie with the caption, “Year after year, we’ll hibernate together.” Bo Wuxue comments playfully, and Bu Yao jokes that she can help with winter chores.
• Xing Yue apologizes and offers to buy a camera so they can take pictures together. Bu Yao eventually softens, but proposes an intimate way for Xing Yue to earn her forgiveness.

Character developments

• Bu Yao is playful and provocative, but her anger over the missing photos reveals lingering insecurity and comparison with Xing Yue’s long relationship with He Zhiwen. She wants reassurance that she matters just as much.
• Xing Yue is affectionate and quick to apologize. She recognizes that she failed to record memories with Bu Yao and promises to do better, though she initially struggles to understand how deeply the omission hurts.
• Bo Wuxue appears less hostile than Bu Yao expected; her teasing follows Xing Yue’s relationship rather than opposing it.

Significant themes

• Forgiveness and reassurance: Xing Yue’s apology and promises help soothe Bu Yao, who needs to feel chosen and valued.
• The past shaping the present: Bu Yao compares herself with He Zhiwen, showing how a partner’s previous relationship can fuel insecurity.
• Making shared memories: The absence of photos becomes a symbol of the difference between past and present relationships; the couple’s public post marks a fresh start.

Character interactions

• Bu Yao teases Xing Yue about her stamina and challenges her, while Xing Yue responds mildly rather than taking the bait.
• Their playful intimacy gives way to a serious disagreement when Bu Yao sees Xing Yue’s empty photo gallery.
• Xing Yue comforts Bu Yao with affection and repeated apologies; Bu Yao responds first with sulking, then with a teasing, flirtatious condition for forgiveness.

The chapter consists only of the line “We’re about to get married,” followed by a note asking the reader to log in to update the table of contents. It provides no plot events, character development, or interactions beyond announcing an upcoming marriage; the only apparent theme is commitment.

Key plot points and events

• On the run, Jiang Yue returns to find He Zhiwen and begs her to write a letter requesting leniency. She claims Feng Yi forced her to exploit He Zhiwen and says she acted only to protect them both.
• He Zhiwen asks how Feng Yi discovered she was a Spirit Snake. Jiang Yue explains that he noticed her transparent blood after an old accident. In reality, Feng Yi had only remarked on it; Jiang Yue later learned He Zhiwen’s secret herself and chose to exploit it.
• When He Zhiwen refuses to help, Jiang Yue turns violent. She drags her into a rapeseed field and assaults her, accusing her of calling out Xing Yue’s name during sex.
• Xing Yue intervenes and beats Jiang Yue, but Jiang Yue pulls a knife and wounds her. As sirens approach, Jiang Yue escapes through the fields.
• Xing Yue tells He Zhiwen she owes her nothing and asks her not to seek her out again. She collapses after thanking her for the medicine.
• At the hospital, Bo Wuxue loudly demands the best treatment and tries to keep Xing Yue alive for her experiments. Xing Yue wakes just as someone outside calls her a “bitch.”

Character developments

• Jiang Yue: Her plea for sympathy conceals a self-serving attempt to avoid punishment. The narration reveals she knowingly pursued and exploited He Zhiwen for profit, despite continuing to see herself as kind and victimized. Her resentment and possessiveness erupt into assault.
• He Zhiwen: Traumatized and physically hurt, she rejects Jiang Yue’s plea and remains frightened during the attack. Her concern for Xing Yue persists despite their strained relationship.
• Xing Yue: She risks herself to protect He Zhiwen, but makes clear she considers their connection over. Even as she collapses, she expresses gratitude for He Zhiwen’s medicine.
• Bo Wuxue: Her frantic, eccentric bedside concern shows attachment to Xing Yue, though she frames it in terms of needing her to test inventions.

Significant themes and character interactions

• Self-deception and manipulation: Jiang Yue rewrites her betrayal as coercion, but her own history shows greed and ambition drove her choices.
• Possession, resentment, and harm: Jiang Yue’s claimed devotion turns into violence when He Zhiwen refuses to help; jealousy over Xing Yue further fuels her rage.
• Severed ties and lingering care: Xing Yue insists she owes He Zhiwen nothing and asks for distance, yet protects her; He Zhiwen still worries about Xing Yue.
• Confrontation and rescue: Jiang Yue’s attack brings Xing Yue and He Zhiwen together in crisis, while the hospital scene introduces a new, hostile-sounding visitor just as Xing Yue wakes.

Summary

• Xing Yue wakes in the hospital, where Bu Yao arrives after spending a day avoiding her out of anger and worry. Xing Yue pulls Bu Yao close and kisses her, then explains that before being anesthetized she tried to text her. The unsent draft—“I love you”—softens Bu Yao, though she still reproaches Xing Yue for leaving her waiting all night.
• Bu Yao’s anger gives way to affection and jealousy. She goes to collect Xing Yue’s medicine, then returns and accuses Xing Yue of watching the nurse. Xing Yue insists she was distracted by something else, but Bu Yao remains upset about Xing Yue’s dangerous intervention to save He Zhiwen. She sarcastically suggests Xing Yue ask He Zhiwen for a commemorative banner.
• Bo Wuxue adds comic relief. She tries to find out what was in Xing Yue’s text, then gives her sexual supplies and enthusiastically describes an imagined outdoor tryst. Xing Yue is embarrassed and reminds her that Bu Yao is injured. Bo Wuxue leaves two suggestive gifts under Xing Yue’s pillow.
• Xing Yue tries to make peace and deepen their commitment. She comforts Bu Yao, jokes that their bedroom should hold a wedding photo rather than a banner, and asks for a chance to court her. Bu Yao denies agreeing to marry her, but remains close and carefully protects Xing Yue’s IV line.
• The scene ends on a teasing note: Xing Yue takes one of Bo Wuxue’s gifts from beneath her pillow and asks Bu Yao to put it on for her.

Character developments and themes

Xing Yue’s “I love you” reveals feelings she had not openly expressed, while her willingness to humble herself shows how much she values Bu Yao. Bu Yao’s sternness masks fear, affection, and jealousy; despite her complaints, she stays by Xing Yue and attends to her injuries. Bo Wuxue acts as an irreverent, meddling friend.
The chapter blends love and reconciliation with jealousy, vulnerability, and playful sexual humor. It also shows how a dangerous act—Xing Yue’s attempt to save He Zhiwen—has strained the couple, even as their affection draws them back together.

Plot points and events

• In the hospital room, Xing Yue and Bu Yao share an intimate, affectionate moment before Xing Yue’s planned discharge. Xing Yue gently coaxes the shy Bu Yao to take the initiative, praising her as “so good today.”
• Bu Yao arranges for the hospital bedding to be cleaned and discreetly tries to hide the evidence of their encounter. Xing Yue helps cover the visible marks on Bu Yao’s neck with makeup.
• Since it is Mid-Autumn Festival, the two leave early to explore the crowded night market, planning to stay at a hotel and return the next day. They share a mooncake beneath the lanterns.
• Xing Yue asks whether Bu Yao will share mooncakes with her next year. Bu Yao makes her phrase the question more openly, prompting a playful but tender exchange about Xing Yue’s reluctance to express love aloud.
• In a dark alley, Xing Yue kisses Bu Yao passionately while privately wrestling with fears that Bu Yao might leave—or that Xing Yue herself might be unfaithful when instinct takes hold.
• Bu Yao asks Xing Yue to carry her because her feet hurt. On the way, she jokes about taking charge at a hotel, then grows insecure about her lack of experience. She also worries that carrying her might aggravate Xing Yue’s injured hand.
• Xing Yue carries her out of the lane, takes the photos she had promised, and lets Bu Yao suggest a cheeky caption for posting them.

Character development

• Xing Yue is affectionate and playful, but her confidence masks vulnerability. The festival and the prospect of a shared future make her long for a lasting home with Bu Yao; she also fears losing her and doubts her own ability to remain faithful.
• Bu Yao is bashful and inexperienced in intimate situations, yet increasingly willing to take initiative. She is teasing and bold, but also jealous of Xing Yue’s experience and attentive to Xing Yue’s injuries.

Significant themes

• Intimacy and trust: Their teasing and physical closeness coexist with genuine concern and emotional uncertainty.
• Fear of abandonment and fidelity: Xing Yue longs for reassurance and permanence while questioning whether either woman can promise them.
• Home and shared traditions: For Xing Yue, sharing mooncakes at Mid-Autumn Festival represents belonging and the hope of a future together.
• Care as love: Their concern for each other’s comfort—covering marks, protecting sore feet, and checking on an injured hand—shows affection through practical gestures.

Character interactions

Xing Yue leads with gentle teasing and coaxing, while Bu Yao answers with embarrassment, stubbornness, and playful demands. Bu Yao pushes Xing Yue to voice her feelings; Xing Yue responds indirectly through a tender question about next year. Their joking continues as Xing Yue carries Bu Yao and photographs her, underscoring both their growing comfort and their mutual attentiveness.

Key plot points and events

• Bu Yao urges Xing Yue to post a suggestive photo and caption, teasing her about her past. Worried that their friend Bo Wuxue will react badly, Xing Yue hesitates but eventually posts it.
• Bo Wuxue sees the post and panics, convinced that Bu Yao must have coerced Xing Yue. She calls and quizzes Bu Yao about the couple’s sex life and a set of toys she once gave Xing Yue. Bu Yao cannot answer, and Bo hangs up feeling vindicated.
• When Xing Yue returns from the shower, she finds Bu Yao sulking over the call. Bu Yao’s jealousy surfaces as she asks about Xing Yue’s past partners.
• Xing Yue tries to reassure her by saying Bu Yao was her first when they married, but her blunt phrasing makes Bu Yao more upset. She apologizes and offers to make it up to her.
• Bu Yao declares a playful “punishment”: they will reenact their wedding night, with Bu Yao playing Xing Yue and Xing Yue playing Bu Yao. When Bu Yao begins, Xing Yue reminds her of how she acted when Bu Yao was nervous and inexperienced at eighteen.

Character developments

• Bu Yao is confident and teasing in public, but her jealousy and insecurity about Xing Yue’s past are evident. Her attempt to bluff Bo Wuxue also exposes how little she knows about the toys.
• Xing Yue is attentive and patient with Bu Yao’s jealousy. She prefers to soothe her rather than criticize her, and the wedding-night memory reveals her gentleness and care.
• Bo Wuxue is intensely invested in her image of Xing Yue as an ideal, dominant lover. Her dramatic reaction is comic, but it also shows how strongly she idolizes her friend.

Significant themes

• Jealousy and reassurance: Bu Yao’s questions reveal a need for reassurance, while Xing Yue responds with affection and patience.
• Public persona versus private vulnerability: Bu Yao acts bold but becomes flustered and insecure; Bo Wuxue’s idealized image of Xing Yue clashes with the couple’s reality.
• Memory and intimacy: The role-play turns their wedding-night recollection into a way to revisit their early trust and tenderness.

Character interactions

• Bu Yao pushes Xing Yue to post the photo, while Xing Yue worries about upsetting Bo Wuxue.
• Bo Wuxue interrogates Bu Yao, whose silence allows her to maintain her mistaken belief that Xing Yue remains the dominant partner.
• Bu Yao’s jealousy sparks an argument with Xing Yue, but Xing Yue responds by embracing her and apologizing.
• Their playful role-play brings up a shared memory of Xing Yue comforting a frightened, inexperienced Bu Yao.

Key plot points and events

• Bu Yao is shy about taking the lead in bed, so Xing Yue teases and guides her. Bu Yao eventually agrees to try, and Xing Yue watches and instructs her throughout the night.
• As they fall asleep, Bu Yao’s legs transform into her red snake tail. Xing Yue notices her wounds, gently tends to them, and tucks her tail beneath the covers.
• Half-asleep, Bu Yao asks if Xing Yue wants to mate. Xing Yue is aroused by Bu Yao’s pheromones but hesitates because Bu Yao’s wounds have not healed.
• They settle for touching tails. The contact awakens both of them, and Bu Yao asks whether Xing Yue might seek another partner if she goes into heat while Bu Yao is still injured.
• Xing Yue says plainly that cheating would mean she did not love Bu Yao, not that heat forced her to do it. When she raises the possibility that heat might be uncontrollable, Bu Yao angrily rejects the excuse and threatens to tie Xing Yue and any rival together and drown them in a pond.

Character developments

• Bu Yao moves past her shyness and tries to please Xing Yue, though she remains playful and possessive. Her threat reflects how seriously she takes fidelity.
• Xing Yue is teasing and confident in their intimacy, but also attentive and protective: she cares for Bu Yao’s wounds and holds back when they might be hurt. Her uncertainty about heat reveals vulnerability beneath her usual assurance.

Significant themes

• Intimacy and trust: Their playful sexual exchange is paired with tenderness and care.
• Choice, instinct, and fidelity: Xing Yue insists that infidelity would be a matter of love and personal choice, not merely biology; Bu Yao refuses to accept instinct as an excuse.
• Vulnerability and protection: Bu Yao’s healing wounds and Xing Yue’s caution show affection expressed through restraint as well as desire.

Character interactions

• Xing Yue teases Bu Yao into taking the lead, then patiently coaches her.
• Bu Yao’s affectionate advances prompt Xing Yue to care for her and protect her from further strain.
• Their conversation about heat and cheating shifts from tender closeness to mock-serious possessiveness, ending with Bu Yao’s exaggerated threat.

Chapter Summary

• The night after their argument about fidelity, Xing Yue reassures Bu Yao that she will not cheat and will accept Bu Yao’s punishment if she ever does. Their playful threats turn affectionate, though Xing Yue’s restless, scent-responsive tail betrays her desire for intimacy. Bu Yao chooses to sleep, and Xing Yue settles behind her, comforted by holding her.
• The next day, Housekeeper Li tells Bu Yao that her mother, Ji Wenyan, is awake and has invited her home for dinner. Bu Yao hurries back, worried that her mother has been waiting for her. Xing Yue recognizes that Ji Wenyan has persuaded her without pressure: she simply arranged for Bu Yao to imagine her mother waiting hungry.
• Before entering the Bu residence, Xing Yue goes to a supermarket and asks her mother, Xing Yingnuan, to lend her 700,000 yuan so she can repay money owed to New Shadow Entertainment. She wants to stop feeling financially beholden to the Bu family and be able to stand up to Ji Wenyan. Xing Yingnuan agrees to arrange the transfer, but criticizes Xing Yue for keeping her at a distance and warns her not to tolerate insults from the Bu family just because she is dating Bu Yao.
• At dinner, Ji Wenyan brings up the milk-tea business and shows Xing Yue its new packaging, renamed “Bu Ni.” She explains that the company’s successful marketing now presents the shop as a father’s gift to his beloved daughter. Xing Yue offers little input, prompting Ji Wenyan to tell her to learn about business. Ji Wenyan, concerned about who will support Bu Yao in managing the family enterprise, then urges Xing Yue to leave her bar job and learn at the company, especially since the couple plans to remarry. Xing Yue replies that she likes singing, and Ji Wenyan’s brief warmth vanishes.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Xing Yue and Bu Yao: Their relationship remains affectionate and teasing. Bu Yao demands reassurance about fidelity, while Xing Yue comforts her; later, Bu Yao shows tenderness by sharing a strawberry she has tasted. Xing Yue’s instinctive, possessive physical affection also hints at her loneliness and need for closeness.
• Xing Yue and Xing Yingnuan: Xing Yue is more willing to ask her mother for money, but their emotional distance remains. Xing Yingnuan’s anger is mixed with concern: she supports her daughter financially and urges her to protect her dignity.
• Xing Yue and Ji Wenyan: Their tension sharpens over Xing Yue’s financial dependence and lack of interest in the family business. Ji Wenyan offers her a role in the company, but Xing Yue’s preference for singing clashes with Ji Wenyan’s expectations.
• Bu Yao and Ji Wenyan: Ji Wenyan gets Bu Yao home through a gentle invitation rather than force, showing how well she understands her daughter.

Significant Themes

• Love, trust, and reassurance: Bu Yao wants a firm promise rather than rationalizations; affection and playful teasing help ease her insecurity.
• Independence and self-respect: Xing Yue seeks to repay her debt so she will not feel she must defer to the Bu family.
• Family power and belonging: Ji Wenyan’s invitation to join the company implies that marriage may carry expectations of family duty and business involvement.
• Personal choice versus obligation: Xing Yue’s desire to sing conflicts with Ji Wenyan’s vision of what Bu Yao’s partner should contribute.
• Different forms of persuasion: Ji Wenyan’s restrained invitation proves more effective with Bu Yao than Xing Yingnuan’s emotional appeals are with Xing Yue.

Key events

• At dinner, Ji Wenyan pressures Xing Yue to join the family business, arguing that she and Bu Yao will need to share responsibility for it if they remarry.
• Xing Yue refuses, saying Ji’s supposed “training” would expose her to ridicule rather than teach her. Ji threatens to find someone more capable and warns that Bu Yao will choose the Bu family over Xing Yue.
• Xing Yue leaves. Bu Yao follows, concerned about her, but urges her to accept the position and offers to accompany her to work.
• Xing Yue insists she cannot learn properly—or establish herself independently—if she is seen as benefiting from Bu Yao’s family connections. Their argument deepens when Bu Yao interprets her refusal as a lack of love and suggests she would not care if Bu Yao married someone else.
• Xing Yue hears Bu Yao crying but leaves anyway. At home, she tells Bo Wuxue what happened, then admits she plans to accept the job the next day because Bu Yao wants them to manage the family business together.
• After an anxious, sleepless night, Xing Yue goes to the Bu Residence. The housekeeper tells her Bu Yao is out with Third Miss Guan and does not know when she will return.

Character development and relationships

• Xing Yue asserts herself against Ji Wenyan, rejecting a role that recalls past humiliation. Yet her devotion to Bu Yao leads her to reconsider almost immediately. She is torn between protecting her dignity and making the sacrifices she believes their future together requires.
• Bu Yao tries to draw Xing Yue into the family business, but her concern becomes pressure. She struggles to distinguish Xing Yue’s resistance to Ji’s treatment from rejection of her personally, and jealousy surfaces in her fear that Xing Yue can now find someone else.
• Ji Wenyan remains forceful and contemptuous, treating Xing Yue’s participation in the business as an obligation and using Bu Yao’s loyalty to the family as leverage.
• Bo Wuxue supports Xing Yue’s defiance and teases her when she learns Xing Yue may give in, highlighting how quickly love softens Xing Yue’s resolve.

Themes

• Love versus self-respect: Xing Yue wants Bu Yao, but joining the business may mean accepting humiliation and compromising her independence.
• Family duty and power: The Bu family’s business—and control over Bu Yao’s future—shapes the couple’s choices.
• Communication and misinterpretation: Xing Yue sees the job as a threat to her dignity; Bu Yao reads her refusal as a lack of commitment.
• Jealousy and insecurity: Bu Yao’s reference to Xing Yue’s healed tail reflects anxiety that she is no longer uniquely needed or desired.

Plot points

• Xing Yue discovers that Bu Yao has gone sightseeing with Guan Shuxian, the marriage prospect Bu Yao’s family chose for her. Hurt and furious, Xing Yue blocks Bu Yao, hides their affectionate posts, and tells Bo Wuxue that they have broken up.
• Bo Wuxue condemns Bu Yao’s trip as a betrayal. After repeatedly trying and failing to reach Bu Yao, Xing Yue blocks her phone number too and forces herself to sleep.
• Xing Yue returns to work at the bar. Bai Yulun worries that Xing Yue’s revealing outfit may attract harassment, but her comments upset Xing Yue. Bai then presses Xing Yue to consider dating her; Xing Yue rejects her, saying she sees her as a little sister.
• Xing Yue throws herself into singing and songwriting to keep busy. At the bar, she sees Bu Yao arrive with Guan Shuxian. Bu Yao asks the server to have Xing Yue name a price to sing “Step by Step.” Guan Shuxian expresses surprise that Bu Yao’s girlfriend sings at the bar and remarks that she understands why Madam Bu disapproves. A glass slams onto the table, spilling red liquor.

Character developments and interactions

• Xing Yue tries to turn anger into a firm breakup, but her blocked calls and lingering distress reveal that she is still deeply affected. She focuses on work and her first original song, yet seeing Bu Yao with Guan Shuxian nearly breaks her composure.
• Bu Yao remains distant and difficult to reach. Her request for a song from Xing Yue—rather than a direct conversation—makes the encounter feel provocative and emotionally charged.
• Bai Yulun reveals romantic interest and becomes frustrated when Xing Yue rejects her. Xing Yue makes clear that gratitude and friendship do not mean romantic interest.
• Bo Wuxue acts as Xing Yue’s outspoken confidante, validating her anger and urging her not to tolerate what she sees as cheating.
• Guan Shuxian appears courteous but makes a cutting judgment about Xing Yue’s bar work and the Bu family’s disapproval.

Significant themes

• Trust and betrayal: Bu Yao’s trip with a marriage prospect is enough for Xing Yue to regard the relationship as over, even without knowing what happened between them.
• Family pressure versus personal relationships: Bu Yao’s family’s matchmaking casts doubt on how seriously she will stand by Xing Yue.
• Boundaries and self-respect: Xing Yue rejects both Bu Yao’s silence and Bai Yulun’s unwanted advances, though her feelings remain unresolved.
• Distraction and emotional pain: Work and songwriting help Xing Yue cope, but seeing Bu Yao again exposes how fragile that coping strategy is.