Chapter 7: The Viper

I heard that Xiaofeng’s wound became inflamed. Is he all right?

Gu Yu looked her over from side to side and, seeing no sign of anything wrong, finally let his heart settle. “He’s already taken his medicine. He’s fine.”

“Why are you barefoot? Isn’t it cold?”

With obvious concern, Gu Yu swept her up into his arms. “Be good. Go back and sleep.”

Tang Xi was truly exhausted, so she rested her head against his chest. “Mm.”

—

Tang Xi drove to pick Song Xining up from the hospital.

Song Xining had grown up in an orphanage and had no family, so she hired a hospital caregiver to look after her at home.

Tang Xi put the food she had bought into the refrigerator one item at a time.

“Has Gu Yu still not made up his mind to send his sister away?” Song Xining asked while eating cake, her broken leg propped up in a cast.

Tang Xi shook her head.

She had tried asking him a few times as well, but Gu Yu seemed not to have considered the issue at all.

Before, when he came back from the company, he would cook for her. Now it was the servants who entered the kitchen, and after meals he would either tutor Xiaofeng or take him out running to lose weight.

On several occasions, she had lain in bed waiting for him, only to fall asleep before he returned.

What had once been the warm, intimate world of the two of them now seemed to be slowly being devoured, inch by inch.

That feeling often left her inexplicably uneasy, unable to sleep through the night.

“Gu Yu is going too far,” Song Xining said indignantly. “Even if she is his sister, he should still consider your feelings. And since they’re not blood-related, there are boundaries between men and women. You’re just too indulgent with him.”

—

Gu Yu had not failed to think of her. On the contrary, he had always been testing the waters cautiously, afraid she might get angry and refuse to speak to him.

He treated her better than before, with even greater consideration.

But she did not want to live with that mother and son, while he needed to personally care for his own family. It seemed to create a dead loop that could not be untangled.

Tang Xi felt so tired, yet she did not know what to do.

When she got home, Gu Yu had taken Gu Warm and Xiaofeng out for a walk.

The house was empty.

A servant was washing dishes in the kitchen. Seeing her, the woman seemed taken aback. “Madam, haven’t you eaten yet? Shall I make something for you now?”

“No need. I’m not hungry.”

The three of them had finished eating first, as though she were the outsider in this home.

Tang Xi forced herself not to think too much and went back to the bedroom to shower.

Steam hazed the room. She reached for the showerhead, only to touch something long and cold.

When she focused her eyes, she let out a piercing scream at once.

What she had just touched was a snake coiled around the showerhead.

It was hissing, its tongue darting out at her.

In her panic, Tang Xi stumbled backward a few steps, only to step into a patch of water on the floor and topple over.

“Help!” she cried out desperately before she fell.

Not long after, hurried footsteps sounded outside, and Gu Yu pushed open the bathroom door and rushed in.

“Wife.” He scooped Tang Xi up. “What happened?”

Tang Xi hastily clutched his arm with all her strength, her face drained white.

Trembling from fear, her whole body shook.

A little head peeked out from behind Gu Yu’s back. Where he could not see, it made a face at Tang Xi, then pursed its lips and mimed a venomous snake flicking out its tongue.

“It was him. He’s the one behind this.” Tang Xi raised her hand in fury and pointed at Xiaofeng.

She had not even said what had happened, yet Xiaofeng already knew she had seen a snake. How could that be such a coincidence?

“What?” Gu Yu frowned, puzzled.

Tang Xi said anxiously, “A snake. There was a snake in the bathroom, and I even touched it.”

Gu Yu fetched a bath towel to wrap around her, then carefully searched the bathroom, but after looking everywhere, he found nothing.

“Wife, maybe you’ve been too tired lately and mistook the shower hose for a snake.”

“No, I really saw it. It was alive, and it was hissing at me.” Tang Xi pointed toward the drain at the side. “It must have escaped through here.”

“It was you. You did it.” Tang Xi suddenly pointed at Xiaofeng. “You put the snake in the bathroom and opened the drain cover.”