Chapter 24 - It is a snake!

Translator: DragonRider

Zhou Li, who had witnessed how Mimi committed the crime, was stunned.

It took him quite a while before he came back from the shock and ventured, with great caution, “Was it your hamster?”

Liu Yuan, overtaken by the grief, didn’t even notice that it was his ‘dream love’ talking to him. Having stared at the criminal for quite a while, he lifted the mop overhead and shouted, “I’ll finish you off!”

Zhou Li hastened to stop him, “Easy, easy. We can talk.”

Rong Yi also joined Zhou in persuading, “Yuan, please calm down. A dead person won’t...Ah...not a per...”

The bald suddenly shouted, “Why is there a snake here in the company?”

Rong Yi didn’t even have the heart to imagine how Liu Yuan felt right at this point.

This poor boy who had just lost his beloved hamster kept a blank look as he watched Zhou Li grab the black snake and stuff it into the box.

Silent, depressed, and completely at loss he was.

Zhou Li was panic-stricken. With a guilty conscience, he kept turning back to look at the poor boy as he picked up his Mimi. Then he slowly and gingerly walked to Liu Yuan before he cleared his throat, “I’m so sorry.” Daring not to meet Liu’s eyes, he glanced up then down quickly and kept licking his lips as he spoke, “I can make it up for you.”

Not until then did Liu Yuan manage to show some expression on his face. He knitted his brows, pulled a wry face, opened his mouth but still failed to utter a word. In the end he just shook his head, “Forget it. It only cost me ten Yuan. This isn’t a matter about money.”

“I...I can find you a new one? Send me a photo of the hamster and I promise I’ll get you an identical one,” Zhou Li tried to save the situation.

Liu Yuan forced an utterly awkward smile, “Don’t bother. I didn’t want to keep it. I was planning to give it to my friend anyway.”

“...”

“Your pet...is dangerous,” Liu Yuan said as he pointed at the box with the snake in it. “Better be careful when dealing with it.”

Zhou Li nodded fiercely and repeatedly.

Zhou Li then turned to Rong Yi, “I’m getting back to my office. Let me know if you need me.”

“Huh? Oh.” Rong Yi nodded, still in a daze.

Liu Yuan must be heartbroken.

Before they left the company, Rong Yi crept back to the office area and, as expected, that poor boy, Liu Yuan, head on the desk, was staring blankly at the empty box where his hamster had lived.

Behind him, Zhou Li was educating Mimi, who now had a bulgy stomach, “Haven’t I fed you enough? Now look what an awkward situation you’ve put me into!”

Mimi looked quite satisfied and stayed motionless in the box, not giving a damn to the teaching.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself since he already said let it pass,” Rong Yi comforted him. “It can’t be undone after all.”

“I feel bad,” Zhou Li said. “It would be better if he simply let me pay for it. Now I feel utterly embarrassed and guilty.”

“What about...” Rong Yi thought for a moment and advised, “You treat him a meal?”

Zhou Li was in a daze then shook his head: “I don’t want to eat with him.”

“...”

Rong Yi looked back at Liu Yuan, who was still immersed in grief.

What a miserable boy! Too miserable a boy!

Although Rong Yi still felt Mimi a bit intimidating, but after Zhou Li’s repeated guarantees, he still brought it home.

Zhou Li said that this snake would never actively attack any object larger than the mouse. Why it had eaten a small hamster was probably because he usually fed it with mice at home. It would never attack humans unless being threatened.

In the end before they parted Zhou Li even asked, “Don’t you think its round eyes cute?”

Rong Yi looked at the snake that spat its tongue out from time to time as it hissed and the large criminal evidence bulging on its body, feeling it extremely hard to acknowledge its cuteness.

Zhou Li said that he didn’t have to worry about it. Just keep it in dim place and remember to give it water every day. Since it had just had a full meal, it would not eat in the next few days.

But after Rong Yi put it in his own room, he couldn’t help but be over-sensitive. Every time he turned back, he always felt that the small eyes of the snake were staring at him. That was terrifying.

So after great struggle and hesitation, he took the box and ran to knock on Chen Keyao’s door.

Can I put it in the living room?”

Unexpectedly, Chen Keyao, after staring at Mimi quite for quite a while, suddenly gasped in fright, backed several steps into his room, and finally slammed the door without saying a word.

“Why is there such a thing at home?!” His voice quickly passed through the door. “Oh, my God!”

“...” Rong Yi looked at the closed door, total blank. “Are you so scared?”

“Please, don’t take it out, take it away,” Chen Keyao opened the door with a slit, only revealing two eyes. “I’ll promise you whatever you want, just take it away!”

“...”

Rong Yi lingered at the door for a while in bewilderment, then took Mimi back to his own room. The moment he closed door, he could no longer restrain himself and burst into laughing.

He felt that he himself was somewhat strange. Originally, he felt that this black snake was a little scared to look at, but now after he had seen Chen Keyao’s panicked reaction, he felt that this little thing looked pretty cute.

The small round eyes were really cute.

Just as he put Mimi down, there was a knock on the door.

After opening the door, he saw Chen Keyao with a nervous face standing outside. This time, he did not have the stool in his hand.

“You come out first,” he was alert. “Let’s talk, don’t bring that thing out.”

“We are roommates. You are renting my house, right?” Chen Keyao could hardly keep his cool and paced anxiously in the living room, panic-stricken. “Then shouldn’t you at least ask for my permission to raise this kind of thing??”

“No, I didn’t raise it,” Rong Yi waved his hands to deny it. “It’s Zhou Li’s pet. I’m only helping him take care of it for two days. I’ll return it to him on Monday.”

Chen Keyao heaved a long sigh of relief upon hearing that.

“You’re so scared of snake?” Rong Yi couldn’t help but repeat Zhou Li’s words, “The snake won’t attack humans nor will it bite…”

“That’s not the point,” Chen Keyao waved his hand. “Good gracious! It’s snake!”

“…”

“Oh, my god! I get goose bumps all over at the mere thought of it!”

Rong Yi was a bit confused. He felt that Chen Keyao at the moment might be a bit like the parents of those kids who reported him for frightening their children with that scar. And Mimi was the victim just like Chen Keyao who was being falsely reported.

“It is wrong to judge a person by appearance,” Rong Yi educated.

“It is not a ‘person’!” Chen Keyao was agitated. “It is a snake! Heavens! There is a snake in my house!”

Communication failed.

Rong Yi asked out of confusion, “Did you have any psychological shadow towards snake?”

Chen Keyao swallowed hard upon the question, “I was bitten by a snake when I was young.”

Just as Rong Yi was about to exclaim ‘That explains it,’ he saw the guy suddenly open the zipper of his jacket. And he even began to lift his shirt after taking off the jacket and hoodie.

The single, virgin, Omega boy, Rong Yi was panicky, “What are you doing!”

“Look,” Chen Keyao turned around to show Rong Yi a scar by the waist. “A snake’s doing. It’s still there after twenty years.”

Rong Yi blinked his eyes blankly, touched his nose and blushed.

‘He’s hot!”

The muscles were beautifully lined, tight not exaggerated, making people feel excited and flustered.

Rong Yi’s eyes couldn’t help but drift to other parts of Chen’s back as he replied perfunctorily, “Ah…that must be a painful memory.”

“More than that!” Chen Keyao put his clothes back on. “I would have been dead already if I were a minute late to the hospital. That’s why I’m so scared. I just can’t help it.”

Rong Yi was still recollecting the charming ‘scenery’ he had seen, so he only gave a perfunctory nod, “Of course you should.”

“Only two days should…but don’t take it out!” Chen Keyao then added after pondering for quite a while with knitted brows, “Can you put some black cloth to cover the box it stays?”

“Of course, Zhou Li has prepared it in advance,” Rong Yi promised in great sincerity. “Rest assured. I won’t let it appear in front of you.”

Rong Yi could barely sense the little Mimi after covering its box with the piece of cloth. And he had planned to let Chen Keyao check it himself, but the guy didn’t even dare to approach his room.

Though he had expressed his sympathy for Chen’s poor childhood experience, he just found this an excellent opportunity to retaliate after being mocked for so many times. Scaring Chen with the snake would be too much, so he decided to just throw the guy some ridicule. Therefore, in great mood, he went to chat with Chen Keyao.

“I didn’t expect you, such a grown up, to be so timid.”

Chen Keyao defended himself with a frown, “There is an old saying: A burnt child dreads the fire. I believe that is the wisdom of the ancients.”

“You got a point,” Rong Yi nodded as he tried to hold back his laugh. Then he added, “You see that scar remains after all these years, did it ever occur to you that you might have a body that is susceptible to leave scars?”

“…” Chen Keyao simply stared at him, not uttering a word.

Rong Yi then pointed a place on his own face where Chen Keyao had a scar, “I’m not optimistic about that.”

“…”

“I’m afraid kids might be too afraid to befriend you.”

“Are you cursing me?” Chen Keyao asked.

“That’s all right,” Rong Yi patted Chen Keyao on the shoulder. “You can still…”

Have a baby of your own.

Rong Yi then swallowed back the unfinished words. Though he really wanted to tease this guy, it would be too much to add salt to his wounds. Ever since he had browsed the forum and found the difficulty that Chen Keyao had to go through as a guy who could only accept Alpha-Alpha relationship, Rong Yi felt it too malicious to crack a joke about this matter.

“You can still wear a mask when teaching. Just imagine you yourself as a superhero,” Rong Yi tried hard to make amends.

*

Rong Yi got a phone call from Zhou Li after dinner.

“Is Mimi okay? I hope he didn’t bring you any trouble.”

“Everything is fine…It’s just Chen Keyao doesn’t like it. So do remember to take it back on Monday.”

“Will do,” Zhou Li said. “My grandma will leave this Sunday afternoon. I’ll go get it home the moment I see her off. Ah, don’t forget to give it some water.”

Rong Yi actually forgot all about that. So he held a cup of water as he talked on the phone and his mind went blank the moment he lifted the piece of cloth that covered the box.

“Emmm…I’ve thought about it. Could you buy Chen Keyao a meal? I’ll reimburse you for…”

“Zhou Li!” Rong Yi cut him off all of a sudden. “Mimi is missing!”

“…what?”

“Is there a hole in your box?” Rong Yi shouted.

The author has something to say:

You ever wondered if animals also had second gender in the ABO world? Mimi is a male Omega while Lightening is a female hamster….something like that.