Unlike Xie Fangzhu, who was filled with frustration, Shen Yingying was thoroughly refreshed after winning the negotiation. She was so excited that she wished she could jump three feet into the air to express her delight.
Although Xie Fangzhu was utterly insane in many ways, when it came to matters of love, he was completely inexperienced.
She could keep him firmly under her control with nothing more than the slightest movement of her fingers, without even needing to use her brain.
She felt that life was full of hope, and that a bright future stretched out before her!
But life rarely went as people wished. By the middle of the night, Shen Yingying’s bright future came to an abrupt end.
At that time, she was sleeping soundly in a drowsy haze when something crawled onto her body, slithering from her arm up to her neck.
Half asleep and half awake, Shen Yingying instinctively reached out to grab it. The thing immediately coiled itself around her hand.
It was cold and slick.
Shen Yingying jolted awake, and every trace of drowsiness vanished instantly.
A snake!
The moment she realized what it was, she nearly went mad. She sprang off the bed in a single leap, screaming as she frantically shook her hand, finally flinging the snake off.
Shen Yingying had always been a courageous girl ever since she was little. The only thing she had ever truly feared in her entire life was snakes.
She still clearly remembered that when she had been living at the orphanage, before she had experienced the cruelty of society, her personality had not been particularly likable, so she had always been bullied.
The worst incident happened when someone grabbed her by the collar and forcefully stuffed two constantly writhing snakes into her clothes.
The frightened snakes struggled and slithered against her skin.
The smooth, icy sensation had been so horrifying that it had nearly made her faint.
Her fear of snakes had become deeply engraved into her very bones ever since.
The window of the wooden cabin was only slightly open, and the moonlight outside could not shine into the room. In the darkness, she had no idea where the snake she had just thrown away had gone.
Shen Yingying shrank into the corner of the bed. The composure she had always been so proud of completely collapsed at that moment, and her mind was in utter chaos.
Why was there a snake in the room?
Why had it crawled onto her bed in the middle of the night?
Was that snake still lurking beside the bed?
Was there only one, or were there several?
Cold sweat poured down her body. Hugging herself tightly, she crouched in the corner of the bed, not daring to move even the slightest bit.
Just as she was on the verge of breaking down, two knocking sounds suddenly came from the room next door, as though someone’s fingers were tapping against the wooden wall.
Immediately afterward, Xie Fangzhu’s voice came through. “Shen Yingying, what’s wrong?”
Only then did Shen Yingying remember that Xie Fangzhu was right next door. She was instantly overjoyed, as though she had grabbed hold of a lifesaving straw, and loudly called his name. “Xie Fangzhu! Xie Fangzhu!”
Her voice was filled with panic and urgency. “Come over quickly! There’s a snake! There’s a snake in the room. It just crawled all over me. I’m so scared!”
As soon as she finished speaking, she heard the creaking sound of a door opening next door. Immediately afterward, someone knocked on her door. “Shen Yingying, open the door.”
“Waaah… I don’t dare!” Shen Yingying hugged herself tightly, too frightened to move an inch, afraid that if she so much as shifted slightly, she would come into intimate contact with the snake again.
She stared pitifully toward the door, her heart lodged in her throat. “Xie Fangzhu, what should I do?”
Silence lingered outside for a moment. Then a loud crash rang out as the door was forced open, and light streamed into the room.
At that moment, in Shen Yingying’s eyes, Xie Fangzhu looked like a great hero descending through the clouds to rescue her.
Carrying a kerosene lamp, he quickly walked to the bedside. “It didn’t bite you, did it?”
“No.” She grabbed his hand anxiously, her voice trembling with panic. “But it crawled onto my neck just now… I grabbed it. Its body was so cold, and it wrapped around my hand. It was disgusting… I’m so scared…”
The hand clutching his was icy cold, as though it had just come out of an ice cellar.
Startled, Xie Fangzhu looked at her by the light of the kerosene lamp.
Fine beads of sweat covered her forehead. Every trace of color had drained from her face, leaving it deathly pale. Her body trembled uncontrollably, as though she had suffered an enormous fright.
Xie Fangzhu was puzzled. Their house had been built halfway up the mountainside. During the summer, snakes and insects were plentiful in the mountains, and it was perfectly normal for one or two snakes to occasionally crawl into the house. He remembered that this had happened before.
Back then, Shen Yingying had also been frightened, but her reaction had been completely different from what it was now.
At that time, Shen Yingying had grabbed a broom and wildly chased after the snake, trying to beat it to death, all while cursing him nonstop for being incompetent and building the house in such a miserable place.
Why was she so terrified today? Was it because it was nighttime?
Xie Fangzhu looked around the room, remained silent for a moment, then reached out and gently drew her into his arms. Softly patting her back, he comforted her: “Don’t be afraid. There aren’t many venomous snakes on this mountain. The one that came in is probably harmless. Besides, you’re afraid of it, but it’s even more afraid of you. Normally…”
“I’m scared!!” Shen Yingying interrupted him. The tightly stretched string in her mind had already snapped, and she completely broke down. “It crawled onto my neck just now. What if it crawls inside my clothes?!”
Xie Fangzhu wanted to tell her that no snake would ever be bold enough to crawl into her clothes.
But feeling her body trembling without pause, he swallowed those words and quietly said: “I’ll go find that snake. Once I find it and beat it to death, you won’t have to be afraid anymore.”
After saying that, he picked up the lamp and prepared to search every corner of the room, but Shen Yingying held tightly onto his hand and refused to let go. Helpless, he softened his voice and coaxed her: “Be good, let go.”
“No!” Shen Yingying refused without hesitation. Struggling to her feet, she wrapped both arms around his neck. She had long since forgotten the smug satisfaction she had felt when insisting on sleeping in separate rooms. Pressing herself tightly against him, she pleaded in a trembling voice,
“I don’t want to stay here anymore. Xie Fangzhu, take me away. I want to stay with you…”
Xie Fangzhu froze. Although he clearly knew that she was only saying this because she was frightened, and that she meant nothing else by it,
he still could not stop his heart from trembling when he heard those words.
At that moment, every bit of determination he had to stand tall and every boast he had made about never letting her dominate him again was thrown completely out of his mind.
Without another thought, he picked up the kerosene lamp with one hand, slipped his other arm around her waist, lifted her effortlessly with one arm, and strode toward his own small room.
After arriving in his room, Shen Yingying continued clinging to him and refused to let go. Tears shimmered in her eyes as she asked uncertainly: “There aren’t any in here, are there?”
Xie Fangzhu placed the kerosene lamp on the cabinet beside the bed and sat down with her still in his arms. “They probably won’t dare come in here. I sprinkled realgar before going to bed. Did you forget to do it over there?”
Hearing him say that, Shen Yingying finally remembered that the original owner had sprinkled realgar throughout the room every night.
However, the original owner’s memories were simply too vast. Generally speaking, she only remembered things when she saw them, heard them, or deliberately tried to recall them.
Moreover, in the world where she had lived before, snakes never crawled into people’s homes, so the idea had never even crossed her mind. Naturally, she had never thought about sprinkling realgar.
Shen Yingying buried her face against his neck, her voice soft and tiny. “I forgot.”
“It’s all right. They won’t come here.”
Xie Fangzhu supported the back of her head and gently laid her down on the bed, just as he was about to withdraw his hand.
But Shen Yingying held onto it tightly, her voice filled with vigilance. “Where are you going?”
Xie Fangzhu lowered his head and looked at her. Under the faint glow of the kerosene lamp, her beautiful face was filled with panic, and her dependence on him was unmistakable.
Xie Fangzhu paused for a moment, involuntarily recalling the days when he had still been an ordinary miner working underground, assigned to small teams with other workers.
Whenever they encountered dangerous or unknown situations, his teammates were always terrified, placing all their hopes on him and depending on him completely. He had always hated that feeling.
But when the person relying on him became Shen Yingying, everything felt entirely different.
Although the remaining rational part of his mind constantly despised himself for it, his heart refused to obey. All he wanted was to hold her protectively in his arms and keep her safe.
He said softly: “Don’t be afraid. I’m just going to blow out the lamp.” His voice was gentler than it had ever been before.