Chapter 46 Snakelet

Chapter 46: Snakelet

The two brand-new dads were scrambling to welcome a new life into the world. An egg that just sat in an incubator was a whole different ballgame from a curious little snake that could crawl and move around.

Luckily, the little snakelet was a total sweetheart and super easy to handle. As soon as it was near Xiang Wei and held in his hands, it would stay put and only move around in his palms. When Xiang Wei talked to it, who knows if it understood, but it sure looked like it was listening intently.

Shen Jiyue brought water over for the man and the snake, and heard Xiang Wei sitting up straight, having already finished introducing the family members, and was just about to take the little snake to its new mansion.

He casually took the cup and chugged it down in big gulps. Seeing the snakelet staring at him in awe as he chugged, Xiang Wei raised an eyebrow and asked Shen Jiyue if he'd put fresh water in the little snake's mansion. They were about to head over there to take a look.

Once he heard everything was ready, they headed over together.

That snakelet was seriously full of energy. Ever since it hatched, it had been crawling around nonstop. The two adults played with it, and it was all in, responding enthusiastically. And now they were taking it somewhere new, and it wasn't scared in the slightest.

Xiang Wei first held it up high for a bird's-eye tour of the place, then set it down.

Once on the ground, the snakelet raised itself up and peered around cautiously. It spotted the two familiar faces and stayed put. Only after some encouragement from its two dads did it start slowly crawling off to explore.

Watching the little snake crawl through the grass, scale the rockery, and sip from the stream, unlocking one area after another, Xiang Wei nodded, feeling proud. Man, he wished he could shift back into snake form and crawl around with the little guy!

Too bad he still hadn't figured out how to switch forms. The elders of his kind in his dreams and the humans hadn't taught him that. All he ever learned was human stuff. Ugh, these snakes had been learning stuff since they woke up—couldn't someone teach them a transformation spell or something?

He sat on the ground, chin resting on his hand, eyes tracking the snakelet as his mind drifted off into all sorts of dream scenarios.

Fine, forget the other dreams set in the Republic era, ancient times, or modern day with no fantasy elements—why didn't the long-haired Shen Jiyue in the Merlin dream, who could clearly fly and do magic, teach him how to switch forms?

Too bad he couldn't talk in his dreams, or he would've straight-up asked to learn that useful stuff! Once he learned it, he could teach the little guy. Wouldn't it be so cool if the baby could transform too?

Wow, then all three of them could go out in human form together, take the baby out for his favorite human foods, and hit up shooting games and bumper cars—tons of human kids loved amusement parks, so their baby should get to go too.

And if the baby could turn into human form, while he went to class on weekdays and Shen Jiyue went to work, the baby could go to kindergarten, elementary school, or some hobby class just like those human kids in the Praise Group. That way everyone would have their own thing going on—how perfect would that be?

His imagination went wild. He couldn't even switch forms himself, yet he was already mapping out the snakelet's whole life as a human kid. And honestly, he could only plan for after the snakelet turned human.

Because he was stuck in human form, the original plan he'd made before the egg hatched—to crawl around and play with the baby, teaching it hunting moves—was completely out the window.

How was he supposed to show the baby, in human form, how to catch and constrict prey, then coil up and swallow it in one gulp?

Xiang Wei sighed. When would he ever be able to talk in his dreams? He really wanted to learn how to switch forms freely, and fast.

He'd never been in a rush before, figuring his human form was fine. But now that the egg had hatched, it finally hit him—raising a kid in human form was a real pain.

Like right now, he could only sit nearby with Shen Jiyue, his big ol' human body useless, watching helplessly and wistfully as the little snake checked out its new home and unlocked new areas.

The snakelet was barely a day old, yet it was already bravely taking its first steps into the world. And the only reason was that its parents were too big in human form to crawl along with it, so they had to tearfully let go, forcing the little guy to be independent way too early.

A whole tragic melodrama and family coming-of-age saga played out in his head. Xiang Wei looked over at Shen Jiyue, who was even worse off than him, and really wanted to hold his hand and gaze at him through teary eyes.

After all, he was only temporarily stuck in human form—eventually he could shift back and crawl around happily with the snakelet. But Shen Jiyue? No such luck.

He was human, so he could never turn into a snake. From now on, he'd just have to watch longingly as the snake and snakelet happily crawled around the fancy villa and garden. Poor human.

Shen Jiyue, a die-hard materialist, obviously had no clue what kind of mind-blowing, materialism-shattering thoughts were running through Xiang Wei's head. Seeing him staring with an emotional look and teary eyes, he figured Xiang Wei was just getting all choked up over the snakelet's progress again.

He smoothly handed him a tissue, patted his back, and said soothingly: "The snakelet is very smart and full of vitality."

For any parent, the best comfort was, of course, hearing their kid get praised. Even though Shen Jiyue was also a first-time parent—literally on day one—he'd already quickly figured out what made his fellow new dad, Xiang Wei, tick.

Sure enough, hearing his kid get praised, Xiang Wei lit up with pride, his mood totally lifted. He stopped stressing about things he couldn't change and whipped out his phone to start frantically recording the snakelet.

When the little one got tired and stopped moving, Xiang Wei immediately scooped it up, watching the tiny thing sprawl out in his palm, flicking its tongue, his heart melting with affection.

Their little baby worked so hard—so awesome!

He gently stroked the snakelet's head, letting loose a nonstop flood of praise like it cost nothing. When he was done, he held the baby up to Shen Jiyue, insisting he praise it too.

Shen Jiyue, who'd always used the encouragement approach when teaching Xiang Wei and picking his tutors, happily chimed in. He bent down, gave the bold, brave little snake a gentle touch, and praised it for being super amazing—the bravest little snake in the entire world.

Dizzy from the barrage of compliments, the snakelet wriggled around, wrapped its tail around Shen Jiyue's finger, and snuggled up to him. Then, acting all shy, it buried its head and nuzzled its soft little snout against Xiang Wei's palm.

<°）m～～～∈

A smart little snake that spread the love evenly—a real pro at keeping the peace.

...

No matter how energetic, a newborn snake that had been going at it this long finally had one last moment with its parents. After Xiang Wei put it back in its "snake-only mansion," the little guy curled up into a ball, flicked its tongue in goodbye, and dozed off.

Xiang Wei and Shen Jiyue tiptoed out, then sorted through the videos they'd taken and reviewed the footage of the snakelet hatching they'd recorded all night.

There was way too much footage, so Xiang Wei just picked a few clips and sent them to the group chat. The group members all showered them with compliments. The kids who couldn't make it yesterday had gotten permission in advance and arranged to come over to the Shen place today to meet the new friend.

Xiang Wei was all for it. He prepped fruits, drinks, snacks, and desserts the kids loved, set up the space, and threw a little party to celebrate the snakelet hatching safely.

Fu Yunyan was the first to show up. Even though his whole meltdown yesterday hadn't worked, he'd still managed to score the day off today. After breakfast and getting changed, he had his driver speed him over without wasting a second.

"Brother!" Dressed in a little suit, holding a gift, and looking like a tiny grown-up, Fu Yunyan totally dropped the act the second he got out of the car, sprinting over to Xiang Wei in a few quick steps.

The extroverted little Fu, finally reunited with his long-lost Superman brother, immediately started yapping away: "I missed you so much! The snakelet is so cute—I watched the hatching video, it's like, insanely adorable! I even brought it a present—it's gonna love it for sure!"

"Right, right!" Xiang Wei happily agreed, led him inside, and filled him in on everything that happened after the snakelet hatched. The two of them chatted away, cheerfully gushing over the little black water pipe.

"It totally looks like a black water pipe," one of Fu Yunyan's classmates and a Praise Group member, who'd been quietly watching the sleeping snake with everyone else, murmured.

Someone shot back that it obviously looked like a black bracelet, way prettier than a water pipe. The room instantly split into two camps—the water pipe gang and the bracelet gang—going at it, though with Fu Yunyan keeping the peace, the argument stayed pretty low-key.

But Xiang Wei, who'd only stepped away for a sec to grab fruit, came back to find the two kid factions about to throw down. He put a stop to the brewing fight and herded them out to the garden to eat and drink.

The view out there was nice and open, and they could be as loud as they wanted without worrying about waking the little snake napping in the living room. By the time everyone finished a round of snacks, the snakelet would be up, and they could all see it moving around.

The plan was solid. Xiang Wei, like a mama hen, led a bunch of chirping, happy little chicks out to the garden, assigned them seats, and got them settled in to eat and play games.

Shen Jiyue only showed up at the start and once in the middle. The second he showed up, the rowdy kids would freeze like they'd been hit with a spell, turning into total quails, quietly eating without a peep.

So he didn't stick around long—just dropped off some stuff for Xiang Wei and left, letting them play freely.

The second he left, the kids got loud again, dragging Xiang Wei over to ask if he thought the snakelet looked more like a little black water pipe or a little black bracelet. Fu Yunyan was Team Water Pipe, and he argued his case hard: "I saw the video of the snakelet drinking by the stream—it really does look like a little water pipe!"

Hearing that, Xiang Wei remembered the little snake crawling up to the water and copying him by chugging away. He nodded—yeah, it really did look like a little water pipe.

Team Bracelet wasn't having it. The kid who'd come up with that comparison stepped up and said: "I also saw the video of the snakelet wrapped around Brother Xiang Wei's hand—it looks exactly like the bracelet my mom wears!"

At that, Xiang Wei had to admit it made sense too. Yeah, actually—the little snake coiled around his hand really did look like a cool, smooth jade bracelet.

The snake was such a fence-sitter, agreeing with whichever side spoke last and trying to play peacemaker. He thought both comparisons worked! The kids who came up with these comparisons had sharp eyes and great imaginations—they deserved a round of applause!

The kids weren't totally convinced, but the moment they heard the snakelet was awake and they could go see it, they cheered. Their moods flipped in a flash, and they held hands as they headed to the living room.

"Whoa! It lifted its head, it lifted its head! It's looking at us!!!"

"It's flicking its tongue—is it thirsty? Should we get it some water?"

"It's coming over, it's coming over! Wow, it's so quick!"

The little snake caught a familiar scent and, with all these people around, wasn't scared at all. It raised its head to check them out, looking confused about why these folks were in its home, and stretched its neck out.

"So cute! It's still flicking its tongue—can I touch it, big brother, just one little pat?" Fu Yunyan held up one finger, looking eager.

Xiang Wei recalled promising he could touch the snakelet once it hatched, so he nodded and agreed. He reached out, picked up the snakelet, and warned him, "Only one touch, okay?"

The little snake was held up to the kid, flicking its tongue in confusion, maybe wondering who this was, when it got a pat on the head. Before it could even react, the hand was gone.

The snakelet's little black bead-like eyes looked totally bewildered. Something just touched it out of nowhere—so scary! It shrank back a little, then turned and crawled onto Xiang Wei's arm, snuggling up tight to the familiar big snake.

"Cold and slippery!" Fu Yunyan, who'd worked up the nerve to touch the little snake, let out the breath he'd been holding. He checked his hand, then the snakelet, and cheerfully reported how it felt.

The surrounding children also snapped out of their nervous excitement, gazing at him as if he were a hero. After he finished speaking, they let out a "wow" and looked at the snakelet eagerly, wanting to touch it too.

Feeling the burning looks, the snakelet crawled back a bit further. There was a group of strange humans—the snake was getting out of there.

Xiang Wei petted the snakelet's long body and held off the eager kids, saying it was just one touch each, and the little guy was a bit shy.

Because of the exclusive touching privilege, Fu Yunyan, the lucky one who had touched the snake, was surrounded by the others, who enviously asked him what else it felt like.

The little one stayed glued to Xiang Wei, poking its head out to check out these strangers who'd barged into its home. It looked around, trying to find another familiar scent, with no clue that these folks were here to celebrate its hatching—and all wanted a feel.

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

Snake (proudly) (kissing the snakelet): My little one is the—!

Shen Jiyue (nodding in agreement): The bravest little snake in the whole world.

The snake and the human are the two best parents at praising their child.

*The snakelet will not turn into a human in the main story.