Chapter 45 Hatching

Chapter 45: Hatching

Xiang Wei was startled awake.

His mind was still foggy, still echoing with that gentle voice: "Study hard."

So scary for a snake—in reality, Shen Jiyue checked on his homework every day, and even in dreams, Shen Jiyue was telling him to study. God, it felt like two Shen Jiyues were pushing him to study day and night. What a freaking nightmare.

He instinctively checked his phone and saw it was only a little past six in the morning. Xiang Wei lay back down, lying there to recover.

He shouldn't have leaned in to listen to him. When he was listening to him talk, he had looked at him so gently, occasionally patting his head, without saying a word. Why'd he have to scare the snake right as he was waking up and about to leave?

His heart was pounding. Xiang Wei scrolled through a couple videos before calming down. Fortunately, it was the weekend and there were no classes today—otherwise, he'd be sitting in class all spaced out.

Actually, he only thought he was tired. If anyone came in and saw his face, they'd see a snake who'd slept well looking even more lively than the egg he kept talking about.

First the scare woke him up, then the videos got him even more wired. Not wanting to go back to sleep, Xiang Wei turned over, sat up, and decided to wash up, eat breakfast, and then go mess with Shen Jiyue.

Heh, daring to scare me in a dream? This grudge-holding snake is gonna get even, one by one!

He washed up all smug, opened his bedroom door, and then remembered that the long-haired Shen Jiyue had said one more thing at the end. He just missed it because he'd been so freaked out by the "study hard" comment and wanted to wake up quickly.

Now that he thought about it, from reading his lips, it seemed like he'd said "about to hatch"? Was that for real? Did he know the snakelet was about to hatch!

Xiang Wei instantly forgot about going to give Shen Jiyue a hard time. He didn't even eat breakfast and ran to the living room. Seeing the incubator was still there and the egg hadn't cracked, he let out a sigh of relief.

He was gonna be the first to see the hatch and cheer on his kid like a devoted dad!

All hyped up from what long-haired Shen Jiyue said, Xiang Wei even brought the incubator to the dining table while eating, worried the egg might hatch while he was eating.

He decided he'd camp out by the incubator all day—no way he'd miss the hatch!

Shen Jiyue finished his workout and came to the living room, surprised to see the guy who never got up early on weekends already done eating and watching TV. He was curious and went over to ask if he hadn't slept well.

He'd barely gotten the words out when he saw how bright-eyed he looked—clearly he'd slept very well. That made him even more curious why he was up so early.

"Early to bed, early to rise!" Xiang Wei replied, then told him the wonderful news that the egg was about to hatch. Lucky for them, Shen Jiyue didn't have work today either, so they could witness the hatching together.

That way, the moment the hatchling emerged, it would see both of its caretakers right away. What a happy little family they were.

Shen Jiyue was caught off guard by his certainty, thinking there was no way he could predict the hatching day, but he didn't question it much and went to eat.

After eating, the two moved the egg to the garden. The scenery was nicer there. Surely the hatchling would be happier seeing a nice view when it came out.

Shen Jiyue adjusted the camera, started recording, shot a quick behind-the-scenes clip, then focused on the egg and started the long recording.

Once they sat down, Shen Jiyue finally asked how he knew the egg would hatch today.

"You told me," Xiang Wei answered without looking up, eyes glued to the egg.

"?" Shen Jiyue was confused. Since when could he predict hatching dates? And when did he tell him? When he pressed further, he found out it was in a dream.

Shen Jiyue: ...?

He started to wonder if he'd lost his mind for actually believing Xiang Wei. But he didn't leave, didn't turn off the camera, and just sat there humoring him.

By the time the sun was high overhead, they'd finished lunch and taken turns taking a quick nap, and the egg still showed no signs of movement. Xiang Wei wasn't worried though—he was dead sure the egg would hatch. There was still half the day left.

He wasn't anxious, so Shen Jiyue was even more relaxed. He sat nearby reading, chatting with him every now and then.

Suddenly, a hand on the table grabbed his arm tightly. Shen Jiyue looked up, about to ask what was wrong, when he saw him shushing and pointing at the incubator.

Xiang Wei was practically vibrating with excitement. He leaned in close to Shen Jiyue's ear and whispered, barely able to contain himself, "I heard a sound!!!"

His warm breath hit Shen Jiyue's ear. Shen Jiyue leaned back slightly, stared at the snake egg, and saw no movement. He strained his ears but heard nothing either. Still, he didn't doubt him—he took his hand and wrote on his palm.

"Mm!" Xiang Wei nodded, confirming it was true—the hatchling was about to emerge!

The two leaned over the incubator, silently watching the egg's movements. Occasionally, they could see the little snake pushing against the shell from inside, looking like it was working hard to break free.

At this moment, Xiang Wei actually calmed down—much calmer than when he'd first heard the faint sound and wanted to help the hatchling break out. He silently cheered the little one on.

An hour passed. They did nothing but watch for a full hour. The hatchling seemed tired, and the egg went quiet again. Shen Jiyue and Xiang Wei had checked multiple times during that hour and taken the chance to drink some water.

"By the way, do you want to tell Chang Hu that the egg is about to hatch and invite him over?" Xiang Wei said to Shen Jiyue. He remembered Chang Hu had really wanted to see it last time and had expressed regret when he got a gig that required traveling. He wondered if he was still in Linyang.

Shen Jiyue sent Chang Hu a message to ask. Xiang Wei also picked up his phone and shared the good news with the Praise Group members, asking if anyone was free and could come over.

The group members were incredibly excited, sending congratulations and emoji spam one after another. They all desperately wanted to come watch the snake hatch, but with various extracurricular classes weighing them down, taking sudden leave wasn't realistic. They could only tearfully ask Xiang Wei to record videos and post them to the group.

As for Fu Yuncen, who didn't have classes to attend—after being subtly put in his place by Shen Jiyue last time—he was still running nonstop on his project, so busy he didn't even have time to open the group chat. He didn't know about this, so of course he couldn't come.

Fu Yunyan, on the other hand, tried his usual bratty tantrum routine again, but that trick had been used too many times and had lost its effectiveness. He was firmly suppressed instead.

Xiang Wei didn't feel disappointed, though. Instead, he felt a strong sense of responsibility, promising them he'd definitely record plenty of videos and post them to the group so they wouldn't be sad.

Fulfilling his duty as group admin, Xiang Wei put down his phone, looked at Shen Jiyue, and asked how things were with Chang Hu. Learning that Chang Hu was still out of town recording a show and couldn't make it, he felt three seconds of pity for him.

After contacting their friends, the two chatted for a while until they saw the rested snakelet starting to prepare for hatching again. They immediately snapped to attention.

The snakelet worked hard at breaking through, but also knew how to balance work and rest—working in bursts with breaks in between. Another hour or so passed. In addition to the camera, Xiang Wei timed it and also turned on his phone's recording.

"I feel like the shell is about to crack," Xiang Wei whispered to Shen Jiyue, holding his breath.

A few seconds after his words faded, the crack on the egg widened, and not long after, a tiny black head poked out.

"Ahhhh—" Xiang Wei cheered with joy, though he remembered to keep his voice low so as not to startle the newborn. He grabbed Shen Jiyue's arm, eyes locked on that little head without blinking.

So cute, so cute, so cute, so cute!!! His baby was so cute!

That round little head, those round little eyes, that tiny pink tongue, wiggling around, curiously looking up at them—oh heavens, the cutest little snake in the world!

Xiang Wei felt like he was about to be overwhelmed by cuteness! He even forgot to take photos, forgot to focus his phone's recording, and just stared straight at the little one struggling to squeeze out. Adorable!

The two parents watched the hatchling emerge, not even noticing it had gotten dark. Only after their stomachs growled several times did they reluctantly bring their food out to the garden, eating while watching the little one's efforts.

When his biological clock kicked in and his body felt sleepy, Xiang Wei stubbornly tried to stay up all night.

It was Shen Jiyue who persuaded him, saying that if they didn't rest, the snakelet needed rest too, and hovering there staring at it would be scary for the snake. Only then did Xiang Wei agree to go wash up and sleep.

Newborn snakelets were very timid—Xiang Wei had learned that in his research. He didn't want to scare the little one. Unsteady with exhaustion, he said goodnight and see-you-tomorrow to the snakelet, then stumbled back with Shen Jiyue supporting him.

"By the time you wake up, you'll see the fully hatched snakelet tomorrow," Shen Jiyue urged him to sleep quickly. Close your eyes, open them, and there it'll be.

"Okay, goodnight to you too, see you tomorrow." Xiang Wei leaned against his shoulder, nuzzled, murmured, and the moment his eyelids closed, he was completely asleep.

A dreamless night. Before dawn, Xiang Wei opened his eyes. No lingering in bed—he got up promptly.

Baby snake, baby snake, baby snake!!!

He tore downstairs, sprinted over to the incubator—the snakelet had already crawled out! But Xiang Wei still didn't dare open the box, worried something might hurt the little guy, running around in a panic, then raced back upstairs to knock on Shen Jiyue's door.

"Knock, knock, knock." Hey, wake up, the baby's out, hurry and come see!

After getting him settled in bed last night, Shen Jiyue had gone back down to check on the little snake, setting the camera to night vision to make sure the nighttime hatching was fully recorded, before heading back to his room to wash up.

When he finally lay in bed, the shower had left him feeling a bit more awake, and he tossed and turned a bit before finally drifting off. Now, the knocking at the door roused Shen Jiyue.

He opened the door to see Xiang Wei buzzing with excitement, knew right away what was up, and followed him to check on the snakelet, finding it already crawling around, exploring. When they walked over, it even slithered up to check them out.

"You can open it."

As soon as Shen Jiyue spoke, Xiang Wei immediately opened the incubator and took out the snakelet.

"It's cold!" Xiang Wei stroked the snakelet's body, smooth as black jade, and said happily to Shen Jiyue, "It's so good! It won't stop staring at me!"

The little snake was thin and slender, and even when picked up, it didn't struggle, slowly crawling across his palm. The scales scraping and muscles flexing tickled Xiang Wei's hand, and it flicked its tongue rapidly, locking eyes with him, its dark, shiny eyes like it was checking out the giant creature in front of it.

Xiang Wei leaned in a little, holding up his hand to get a closer look at the snakelet, gently stroking its little head and praising it, "Our little baby is so awesome!"

The little snake wrapped around his finger, rubbing against it like it was answering him.

Shen Jiyue stood off to the side, smiling and snapping photos. Xiang Wei didn't need to pose—he looked great in every shot—and the snakelet was photogenic too, coiled around his hand like some mystical gem bracelet.

Then, Xiang Wei put the snakelet in his hand, and it was such a good little snake, staying chill in its new spot and letting him pet it.

"Baby, this is your other caretaker. He bought you a really big house."

Shen Jiyue listened to his introduction of the snakelet, smiled softly, and met the confused little snake's gaze, greeting it.

"Hey there, little snake baby."

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

Snake: Ahhhh!!! Everyone, come check out our snakelet! Super cute, super cool, and ridiculously well-behaved and adorable!!!

Shen Jiyue: Click, click, click, snapping away like a maniac.