Only then did Shen Yingying let him go. After the kerosene lamp went out and the room fell into darkness once again, she wrapped her arms around him again, wishing she could cling tightly to him like an octopus.
Xie Fangzhu lay flat on his back, but the position was far too uncomfortable. Helpless, he turned onto his side and pulled her into his arms.
With the clean, refreshing scent filling the tip of her nose, Shen Yingying finally felt her heart settle. She said in a muffled voice: “Xie Fangzhu, I was really scared just now.”
Holding her soft, delicate body in his arms, Xie Fangzhu’s thoughts became somewhat unsettled.
Certain beastly thoughts could not help but surface in his mind.
He silently cursed himself for having so little self-control. At a time like this, he was still thinking about that sort of thing. Wasn’t that simply beastly?
He took a deep breath, doing his best to calm himself down while gently stroking her back. “Mm, I know. It’s all right now.”
Once nerves that had been stretched to their limit finally relaxed, exhaustion came easily.
Shen Yingying was exactly like that. Besides, Xie Fangzhu’s embrace made her feel exceptionally safe. The repeated strokes across her back soon made her eyelids grow heavy, and before long, she fell asleep.
Listening to her steady breathing, the restless heart inside Xie Fangzhu finally gradually calmed down as well.
She was right there in his arms, yet in that hazy moment, Xie Fangzhu actually found it hard to believe.
Just that morning, she had still been someone he regarded like an enemy, yet now she had become the person closest to him.
Such an enormous change felt no different from a dream.
He had never been this close to another person before. The feeling was extraordinarily strange, bringing with it an indescribable sense of security.
Although he was extremely unwilling to admit it, he still could not stop himself from becoming immersed in it.
…
Shen Yingying was awakened by a nightmare.
In the dream, a giant python had coiled itself around her, opened its enormous mouth, and swallowed her whole.
Startled, she hurriedly opened her eyes, only to realize it had all been a dream. She was now in Xie Fangzhu’s room, not deep in some remote mountain forest.
After fully waking up, she could not help but think of the snake that had crawled onto her stomach the previous night. A chill immediately ran through her, and goosebumps rose all over her skin.
Subconsciously, she looked beside her. The bed was empty. Xie Fangzhu was nowhere to be seen.
Thinking about how she had coaxed and tricked Xie Fangzhu before going to sleep into agreeing that they should sleep in separate rooms, only for her to lose control in the middle of the night and cling to him like an octopus, refusing to let go, she immediately became so embarrassed that she hugged the quilt, wishing she could twist herself into a worm.
Slapping herself in the face with her own actions really did sting.
But Shen Yingying’s mentality was remarkably resilient, and she quickly convinced herself.
After all, they had already slept together once. As long as they were not divorced, sooner or later they would sleep together again. Sleeping in separate rooms actually did not mean much.
Besides, sleeping together was a two-way matter.
A man could sleep with a woman, and by the same logic, a woman could sleep with a man.
Xie Fangzhu was handsome, strong, and had an incredible physique. When he was not losing his temper, he was astonishingly pure as well. Being able to sleep with such an exceptional man was not a loss for her at all. One could even say she had come out ahead.
With that thought, her mood immediately brightened, and she got out of bed.
She opened the door, and bright daylight flooded in outside.
After stretching lazily, she went to the original owner’s room next door to get her washing supplies, only to notice that the door to the adjacent room was wide open.
Inside the room, Xie Fangzhu was crouched on his knees in front of a cabinet, poised as though ready to strike.
Suddenly, his hand shot beneath the cabinet. When it emerged again, he was gripping a snake.
The snake was very long, measuring well over a meter by sight.
Its body was covered in interwoven black and yellow markings. No one knew what it had eaten, but the middle of its slender body bulged enormously, making it look especially horrifying as it struggled weakly in Xie Fangzhu’s grasp.
Using his other hand to support the snake’s body, Xie Fangzhu wrapped it around his arm, picked up the black burlap sack beside him, gave it a shake, and tossed the snake inside.
The entire series of movements flowed as naturally as running water, and his expression remained so calm that not the slightest ripple could be seen, as though he had merely thrown away a piece of clothing.
Meanwhile, Shen Yingying, standing outside the door, had already broken out in wave after wave of goosebumps from fright.
Xie Fangzhu tied the black sack shut. His gaze fell upon Shen Yingying, who was standing frozen at the doorway, too frightened to come inside, her face filled with terror. He explained: “It’s a rat snake. It’s not venomous. This kind of snake is incredibly greedy. Last night you forgot to sprinkle the realgar again, so it took the opportunity to sneak in looking for something to eat.”
As he spoke, he looked around the room, glancing at the space that was so cluttered there was almost nowhere to stand, then looked back toward the beautiful woman outside the door, who seemed to be bathed in a layer of golden light. His brows could not help but knit together.
Shen Yingying had always been very protective of her private space. Ever since they had started living separately, she had kept her room locked and refused to let Xie Fangzhu enter.
Xie Fangzhu had never been interested in her room either and had never tried to pry into it.
Last night had been the first time he had entered her room since they started sleeping separately.
However, because the kerosene lamp provided only limited light, and all of his attention had been focused on Shen Yingying, he had not paid much attention to the room itself. He had only felt that there was a lot of stuff inside.
Yet when he entered it that morning, the terrible condition of the room left him utterly dumbfounded.
For the first time in his life, he experienced a suffocating sense of numb disbelief.
He simply could not connect this chaotic, messy room with the beautiful and impeccably clean-looking Shen Yingying.
A man who had always marched unwaveringly toward his goals for the first time found himself wanting to retreat.
But when he remembered the devastated look on her deathly pale face, he eventually steeled himself and began rummaging through every cabinet and drawer.
Standing outside the door, Shen Yingying had no idea what he was thinking. She was still shaken by the experience.
Thinking of the enormous bulge on the snake’s belly, her scalp tightened immediately, and she could not help asking Xie Fangzhu: “What did it come in here to eat?”
Xie Fangzhu hesitated for a moment before replying: “Rats. The rats’ nest in your room was probably completely wiped out by it.”
As he spoke, he picked up the coal tongs beside him and crouched down again.
He used the tongs to poke around beneath the cabinet. Very quickly, he pulled out a dead rat.
The rat’s body was soaked and covered in sticky slime. Its large body was twisted into a grotesque shape, as though every bone in it had been broken.
Xie Fangzhu said: “See? The snake was so full that it couldn’t eat anymore, so it vomited the rat back up.”
Shen Yingying had not even recovered from the fright of seeing the snake when she was confronted with this revolting sight. Seeing it in such a state immediately made her stomach churn. “That’s disgusting. I’ve never seen such a huge rat before!”
Looking up, she suddenly noticed Xie Fangzhu staring at her with an expression that suggested he wanted to say something but was holding back.
She paused for a moment before asking instinctively: “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve never seen a snake eat so many rats inside a house that it ended up vomiting them back out either.” He coughed awkwardly twice before finally saying tactfully: “Shen Yingying, you should pay more attention to hygiene.”
What he really meant was: Shen Yingying, you’re incredible. You’ve practically raised eighteen generations of the rats’ ancestors.
Shen Yingying: “…”
After disposing of the rat, Xie Fangzhu had Shen Yingying scoop water from the water jar. He washed his hands over and over several times before finally stopping.
He worked the day shift, starting at eight o’clock in the morning.
However, with breakfast and the rest of his preparations included, he usually had to leave home before seven.
Catching the snake had delayed him quite a bit that morning, and it was already seven o’clock. He still had to lead the workers in the morning meeting, so he needed to leave quickly.
He picked up the black sack containing the snake from the doorway and tossed it into the basket of his bicycle before saying to Shen Yingying: “I’m leaving.”
“All right, be careful on the way.” Shen Yingying nodded, not forgetting to remind him thoughtfully: “Be careful down in the mine too. I’ll be waiting for you at home.”
As soon as she finished speaking, her gaze fell upon the black sack that was still writhing inside the bicycle basket. After pausing for a moment, she could not help asking: “Where are you taking it?”
Xie Fangzhu said: “I’m giving it to Uncle Chen. His family eats snakes. I don’t know how to deal with this thing, so I might as well give it away.”
Shen Yingying knew the “Uncle Chen” he was referring to. His full name was Chen Wenxing. He was Xie Fangzhu’s immediate superior and also the Squad Leader of their team. Xie Fangzhu had been personally promoted by him.
She nodded. She did not want to keep chatting with him any longer. With her brows gently furrowed in a delicate, pitiful expression, she said coquettishly: “That’s true. I wouldn’t know how to deal with it either. Just seeing a snake nearly scared me to death. It would be better to let Uncle Chen have it.”
Xie Fangzhu glanced at her affected display. His lips pressed together, and a complicated look appeared in his eyes.
The look made Shen Yingying feel somewhat uneasy, and she thought to herself, Why isn’t this man leaving yet?
Is he going to work or not?
Just as the expression she was pretending to wear was about to freeze on her face, Xie Fangzhu finally withdrew his gaze. “I’m leaving.”
Watching him push his bicycle farther down the slope, Shen Yingying finally let out a sigh of relief. Once he was gone, she could finally let herself be completely at ease.
Unexpectedly, she had barely relaxed when he suddenly stopped, turned around to look at her, and unexpectedly asked: “Do you want to go to the canteen together for breakfast?”