Chapter 40 Exposure

Chapter 40: Exposure

"See, I told you—the old-timers really know how to pick a house. The feng shui's amazing. I've been there a few times, and every time I feel refreshed, body and soul. People need to get out in nature more—when you're happy, your health follows."

Chang Hu clapped, agreeing with Shen Jiyue about the old house's great air quality. He figured the top-notch environment was a big reason for his quick recovery.

He'd been to the Shen family's old place a few times and always felt better afterward. He'd never really thought about it before, but now that he did—yeah, that was it.

"My grandparents went to some small island overseas recently. They said the views were gorgeous and the air was clean. After a week there, they felt amazing. Environment's huge," he added, using it as proof.

Xiang Wei didn't know what feng shui was, but he'd lived close to nature his whole life, before and after his transformation, so he nodded along, half getting it. It kind of made sense—his snake body had always been healthy, so maybe the environment did play a part.

Seeing everyone nod in agreement, Chang Hu smiled, looking pleased with himself. He looked at Xiang Wei, then glanced down at himself, and said enviously, "People who grow up in some scenic, blessed spot just turn out better than us city folk!"

Great face, great body, and a complexion that was flawless—no dark circles, no acne, no clogged pores. Even up close, not a single flaw. He was in the entertainment industry and had dropped a fortune on his face, yet his skin wasn't even as good as Xiang Wei's. Comparing yourself to others really does drive you nuts.

Oh right, speaking of the entertainment industry, the itch came back. Even though he knew Xiang Wei's odds of debuting were even slimmer now that he was with Shen Jiyue, he couldn't help asking, "Bro, you seriously don't want to act?"

"Huh?" Xiang Wei paused mid-sip, not expecting the topic to jump from feng shui to acting. But he still shook his head, sticking to his guns. "Nope, not interested."

Chang Hu sighed in regret. Before he could awkwardly change the subject, Xiang Wei spoke up first, asking the question he was most curious about.

"Hair?" Shen Jiyue and Chang Hu both looked at him. Chang Hu burst out laughing. "How could it not fade? I just dyed it!"

Shen Jiyue could tell Xiang Wei was confused, like he didn't get why someone would do that, so he explained, "He was filming recently. The role called for blonde hair."

Pausing, as if he'd caught Xiang Wei's earlier interest in the dye job, Shen Jiyue added, "That drama you were watching the other day—there's a supporting character played by Chang Hu. The one with the purple highlights."

"Oh, oh?" Chang Hu perked up, thrilled. "You've been watching my drama? The one about the rich family? I was just a cameo—barely any screen time, haha."

Xiang Wei didn't have much of a memory of it when Shen Jiyue first brought it up, but after recalling the character with the purple highlights, he did remember—though he hadn't connected that guy to the Chang Hu sitting in front of him.

Facing Chang Hu's beaming, proud expression, Xiang Wei couldn't bring himself to admit he hadn't recognized him in the show. He just mumbled a few responses, threw out some compliments, and said, "That hair looked good too."

Actually, it didn't look that great. The snake no longer wanted to dye his hair.

Chang Hu hadn't expected such an offbeat compliment. Usually people praised his acting or his looks—why the hairstyle?

He touched his pink hair, wondering, was this color not as nice as the purple? No way!

Shaking his head, Chang Hu was surprised Xiang Wei was a fan of his work. He chatted a bit more about fun stories from set, genuinely inviting him to drop by for a cameo or two if he was interested—no need to officially debut or anything.

Xiang Wei hummed vaguely, brushing it off, still inwardly mourning his ruined hair-dyeing plans. Why hadn't humans invented a dye that you only had to apply once and it never faded?

The conversation drifted—from injuries to feng shui to acting and TV shows to how Shen Jiyue and Xiang Wei first met—until it looped back to the snake egg.

It was then that Xiang Wei learned Chang Hu had stolen the snake egg!

The snake stared silently at the still-laughing pink-haired man, grinding his teeth. Infuriating—he was still shamelessly claiming he'd *found* the egg, when he'd clearly stolen it!

Ah, forget it, forget it. Sure, he'd done something bad, but it had worked out for the best—the egg ended up with Shen Jiyue, survived, and was about to hatch. He'd let it slide.

The egg-stealing thing could be forgiven, but because of Chang Hu's theft, the snake had wrongly thought Shen Jiyue was the thief and silently cursed him out. How was that supposed to be resolved? The snake couldn't forgive on Shen Jiyue's behalf.

Thinking for a moment, Xiang Wei smirked and, while they were talking, quietly pulled out his phone and typed something.

Shen Jiyue noticed something was off, but before he could ask, the phone on the table lit up. He turned to see Xiang Wei subtly nodding at the phone, telling him to check the message.

After a quick scan, he raised an eyebrow. He had no problem with the idea itself, but what really got him was what Xiang Wei had revealed about the egg's origin—their true first meeting.

So that's how it was! Of course!

No wonder when they first met, Xiang Wei had asked if he could have the egg back. No wonder even after passing out, he'd held Shen Jiyue's hand tightly, muttering about the egg in his sleep. No wonder after moving in, he was always hovering around it.

It all clicked. How bizarre... their connection had started with a snake egg that had ended up in his hands through a series of coincidences.

He couldn't quite put it into words, but Shen Jiyue was deeply grateful. Grateful that he'd always loved reptiles but never kept one because of work. Grateful that when he'd seen the egg Chang Hu brought after his leg injury, he'd accepted it on a whim. Grateful that when he'd met Xiang Wei, a bunch of coincidences and his own paranoid nature had made him let the guy stay.

The sheer drama of how they'd met and ended up together left Shen Jiyue with no energy to think about the little "punishment" Xiang Wei had proposed for Chang Hu's egg theft.

Whatever. He'd stolen someone else's egg—even if it wasn't on purpose, objectively it was theft. Just making him pay for a meal was hardly harsh.

Quid pro quo: Chang Hu owed a meal for the egg theft, but Shen Jiyue still owed him two—one for accepting the egg, and one as thanks for the actions that had led him to meet the one he loved.

Thoughts churning but face giving nothing away, Shen Jiyue clinked glasses with them, listening as Xiang Wei told Chang Hu the snake egg had grown a lot and should be hatching soon—he'd invite him to the snakelet's hatching party.

"Great, great!" Chang Hu was as happy as a bear who'd found honey, promising Xiang Wei he'd definitely be there. He was curious too—what kind of little snake would hatch from that egg?

Chatting and laughing, everyone was having a great time, when suddenly Shen Jiyue's phone rang. He answered, then told Chang Hu they had something to do and needed to head back. Telling him to take his time eating, he and Xiang Wei left.

Chang Hu didn't think much of it, waved goodbye, and kept eating. But when he finished and tried to leave, a staff member stopped him to settle the bill, and it hit him. A vein pulsed at his temple as he smiled, paid, and walked out.

Once he was somewhere private, he immediately called Shen Jiyue. "Seriously, Shen Jiyue?! Wasn't this meal supposed to be you two treating me to celebrate you getting together? And you just bailed on the bill?!"

The big-shot CEO of the Shen Group, ditching the bill? Nobody would believe it if this got out!

Speechless, he called, only to be shocked and mortified to learn that the egg he'd "found" in the mountains wasn't ownerless—it had been carefully hidden there by Xiang Wei. Chang Hu: (( ˙˙ ))

"Huh? I had no idea!" Having caused such a huge misunderstanding, Chang Hu frantically tried to recall the scene of finding the egg, and realized with despair that yes—the egg really had been well-hidden. How had his hand just happened to pick it up? Damn these hands.

The person on the other end said a few more things, and Chang Hu responded with repeated "yeah, yeah" before hanging up and wiping the sweat off his brow. He couldn't even be bothered to worry about the bill anymore—he was too stunned by how this whole thing was straight out of a TV drama or novel.

Thinking about how Xiang Wei had traveled so far to find the egg, collapsed from exhaustion at Shen Jiyue's doorstep, only to be mistaken for a spy sent by Shen Huaiping to scheme against them—Chang Hu wished he could travel back in time and slap himself twice. "Damn you and your random picking things up!"

As for why Xiang Wei would hide a snake egg deep in the mountains, and how he'd managed to precisely track it after Chang Hu accidentally picked it up, hitched a ride, and it eventually passed through multiple hands to Shen Jiyue, ending up at the Shen family's old residence—Chang Hu's deductions formed a perfect loop.

Of course! He'd wondered why Xiang Wei, as a Holy Son of Miaojiang, had headed straight for the Shen family's old residence the moment he left the mountains and settled in beside Shen Jiyue. It was because their Miaojiang sacred object (probably) was there—Xiang Wei had come for it!

Would it be strange for the Holy Son of Miaojiang to know how to locate their sacred object? He must have some mystical means, not meant for outsiders.

Chang Hu didn't just keep his deductions to himself—he shared them with Shen Jiyue. Whether Shen Jiyue believed him or not was unknown, but Chang Hu was firmly convinced.

"Remember to apologize to Xiang Wei for me!" Thinking of something, Chang Hu quickly sent Shen Jiyue a text. Then, feeling it wasn't enough, he added: "Once the egg hatches, I'll bring a hatching gift for the snakelet and an apology gift for Xiang Wei and come visit."

Unconsciously adopting Xiang Wei's habit of calling the unhatched snake "snakelet," Chang Hu was now even more fascinated by the egg.

Wow, a Miaojiang sacred object! He wondered if the snakelet that hatched from something with such an impressive title would be more spiritual than ordinary snakes—like, higher intelligence, or able to follow commands.

Chang Hu's imagination ran wild, and his anticipation for the snakelet exceeded even that of its two caretakers.

Back at home, Xiang Wei was looking at the snake egg when he heard Shen Jiyue relay Chang Hu's apology. He said generously, "No problem—he did treat us to a meal after all."

After passing along Chang Hu's apology, Shen Jiyue also offered Xiang Wei a sincere apology of his own, explaining the misunderstanding he'd had at the beginning.

The snake, upon hearing he'd been mistaken for a spy: (––) Huh? Me? A spy?

But he wasn't angry. A spy—how cool was that!

The snake put on a serious face, narrowed his eyes, pupils contracting into vertical slits, a hint of predator's killing intent showing as he fixed his gaze on Shen Jiyue, looking him up and down, inside and out, making the man nervous.

Shen Jiyue thought he had upset him—being misunderstood by someone he trusted was indeed hard to take calmly. He was about to speak and apologize again when Xiang Wei withdrew his stare and broke into a smile.

"So? Did I look like a spy just now? Did I look imposing?" the snake asked, all excited.

"...Yeah, very much so, very imposing." Shen Jiyue said gravely. His demeanor just now had indeed been frightening, as if he were about to lunge and clamp down on the prey's neck, snuffing out its life.

Xiang Wei nodded with satisfaction and told him that this time he forgave him, but next time he must not misunderstand again. Although being a spy was cool, the snake was not one, so he shouldn't go around tagging the snake with odd identities.

==========Author's Note:==========

Reactions from all parties after learning the truth about the missing snake egg:

Snake: You shameless humans! You stole my egg and said you just found it?!

Shen Jiyue: So that's the truth... Guess we really were meant to cross paths.

Chang Hu: These cursed hands! This is no ordinary snake egg—it's a sacred egg!