Author: Chai JiDan
Full Etrans: Evie
Chi Cheng was just pulling away from the airport when Gangzi called.
"The snakes have been found."
Sitting in the car with his unit's leadership, Chi Cheng maintained a poker face and did not alter his position. He quietly asked, "Where?"
"Army base."
Two brief words followed by a long, long period of silence.
Chi Cheng had considered this possibility earlier because his father's second elder brother was an army officer, and the army also had a snake farm. It was in a free-range area, and there were watchmen, so the risk of detection was very low. His father and his uncle had been quietly competitive with each other for many years. His uncle did not have a son and always kept an envious eye on Chi Cheng secretly hoping he would fail. So if his father went to his uncle, hat in hand, to ask for help, he was basically forfeiting the competition. By admitting that Chi Cheng was not holding down a job, he was conceding that he did a lousy job teaching his son.
To turn matters around, Chi Yuan Duan was prepared to go for broke: he would rather lose face than let Chi Cheng continue his wild ways.
"How did you find them?" Chi Cheng asked.
Gangzi replied, "Today I went to the trading market to have a look around and saw a dealer with a glass tank full of very unusual snake hatchlings. He watched me to see if I looked like a buyer, and then told me on the sly, 'These snakes are very valuable. They were delivered by army troops.' My first thought was that your snakes laid eggs and that the army caretakers saw a chance to make a little money by smuggling a few eggs out and passing them on to the dealer."
"Okay, got it," Chi Cheng said.
Gangzi said, "Later, dude."
Chi Cheng hung up as if nothing were out of the ordinary.
Leaning back in his seat, he closed his eyes in contemplation, thinking about how to extract a large number of snakes intact from the army base. It wouldn't be an easy job. Plus, if the information he had on Chi Yuan Duan's role came to light, it was clear that there would be no way out for the snakes. So he had to come up with an absolutely fool-proof plan for getting the snakes out while playing Chi Yuan Duan as long as possible so his suspicions wouldn't be aroused. That way, hopefully, conditions would remain favorable for pulling off his plan.
Just as Gangzi left the trading market, Wu Suo Wei came in.
He entered a large greenhouse and, after strolling around for a bit, pointed to a [1] Chinese Mandarin Rat snake and asked, "What's the price this year?"
[T/N: [1] Chinese Mandarin Rat snake – nonvenomous to humans and popular as pets. Refer to the picture below.]
The boss extended two fingers. "I won't sell for anything under this amount."
"So expensive." Wu Suo Wei made a face. "Anyway, I have one place willing to sell for 150."
The boss' eyes opened wide. "The weight certainly won't be the same young man. Pick it up and heft it. My snake weighs more than three pounds. You can check as many marketplaces as you wish. I guarantee the price I give you will be the best deal."
Wu Suo Wei smiled gently and continued his stroll.
"Young man, you want a meat snake or a house pet snake? House pet snake, you come here to see, very beautiful."
Wu Suo Wei casually looked around and spied a [2] Green Tree Python, but the intensity of its hue was far inferior to Xiao Cu Bao. Although Wu Suo Wei was color blind, he was able to distinguish the luster and brightness of a snake's skin. A pure bred tree python like Xiao Cu Bao was very rare in this region.
[T/N: [2] Green tree python – a big commitment as a pet as it can reach 2 meters in length and live up to 20 years in captivity. Refer to the picture below.]
Walking to another section, some glass tanks attracted Wu Suo Wei's attention.
These tanks of hatchlings really stood out after having dealt with cheap goods and hybrids. Because of his new occupation, Wu Suo Wei spent hours browsing the internet looking at a wide variety of websites on snakes. As a result, he was able to identify almost all of these snake species as valuable ones. At the same time as he was examining these prizes, he took note of the snake dealer's simple clothes and couldn't help being surprised. Where did someone like him get all these valuable snake species?
"Young man, one look tells me you are a connoisseur. Choose any of the snake hatchlings you see here and take a close look at it. If there's one dud here you can kick me out."
Wu Suo Wei picked up a harmless snake and held it in the palm of his hand and, after examining it, looked into the eyes of the dealer.
"Where did you get these snakes?"
The dealer smiled cryptically. "You don't need to worry about that. Anyway, I am absolutely not scamming you."
"I can't buy." Wu Suo Wei put back the snake. "If by any chance it's wild and won't survive in captivity, I would have wasted too much money."
"On my children's heads, they absolutely are domesticated," the dealer swore.
Wu Suo Wei narrowed his eyes, not buying the dealer's assurances. "Who could raise so many expensive snake species? They definitely must be smuggled."
The dealer was at a loss. "Young man, are you seriously looking to buy?"
"Originally I intended to buy, but it seems like you're hiding something. It makes me a bit doubtful, so I'll pass." After he said this, he turned, intending to walk away.
Behind him, the dealer called out, "Wait a minute, you."
Wu Suo Wei stopped, revealing a trace of a subtle smile.
"You're forcing me to tell the truth, ah."
"Who forced you, ah?" Wu Suo Wei replied self-righteously. "If it was you doing the shopping, you wouldn't buy stuff of unknown provenance, especially animals that could harbor viruses. That's really dangerous, ah!"
The dealer reluctantly sighed, "Okay, come here."
Wu Suo Wei came in close.
The dealer repeated to Wu Suo Wei what he told Gangzi.
Returning to the clinic, Wu Suo Wei could barely contain his excitement as he told Jiang Xiaoshuai.
Jiang Xiaoshuai listened in surprise. "You mean, those snakes can be traced?"
He nodded vigorously.
"I see. So all the other stuff you did was useless," Jiang Xiaoshuai said.
Wu Suo Wei frowned. "Why?"
"Because now all you have to do is call Chi Cheng and tell him about this. Let him figure out himself how to get the snakes back, and it's over with. Since he's only using Yue Yue as part of his campaign to get his father to return his snakes, he won't need her any more once he finds the snakes on his own. He'll dump Yue Yue, and your plan will be successful."
Wu Suo Wei's complexion did not look good.
"That's not the way to handle this matter."
Jiang Xiaoshuai, playing with some pills that he had in his hand, cut to the chase.
"What do you want to do?"
Wu Suo Wei, after careful consideration, quietly said, "If I tell him the truth, he certainly will find a way to get the snakes back. But then the next time he and his dad have a falling out, there is no guarantee that the snakes won't be killed. I think I should secretly help him to get the snakes out, but also make sure it gets blamed on his father in order to prevent future trouble.
The pills in Jiang Xiaoshuai's hand made a whooshing sound as they sailed through the air and smashed into Wu Suo Wei's forehead.
"Ask yourself honestly, do you want them to break up ah, or do you want to be with together with him ah."
Wu Suo Wei's heart thumped. Only his superb acting skills kept him from betraying the slightest hesitation.
"For them to break up, of course."
Jiang Xiaoshuai challenged his words. "Then why are you worried about those snakes, and why do you want to take on problems, especially future problems, of someone unconnected to you ah?"
Wu Suo Wei sat up straight to make his case. "It's a matter of one good turn deserving another. Before, I was always plotting against him, and now I finally have a chance to make up for it. If I can do something to help, I should do it ah."
Jiang Xiaoshuai changed the subject for the time being and brought up another crucial point.
"Yue Yue's side of the plan still stalled, isn't it."
Wu Suo Wei raised his eyebrows and answer glibly.
"The reason they haven't broken up is because that girl is always able to get Chi Cheng's mother to intercede for her. To cut off that escape route, Chi Cheng must be made to detest her."
Jiang Xiaoshuai was seriously suspecting that Wu Suo Wei's love and his love rival had switched places a while ago.
"I am going to speak in practical terms now." Jiang Xiaoshuai rapped his knuckles on the desktop. "You're just an ordinary guy. You don't know even a buck private in the army, so how are you going to figure out how to get those snakes out of a military zone."
Wu Suo Wei crooked his finger, gesturing for Jiang Xiaoshuai to come closer.
"If all those hatchlings could leave the base with no problem, why wouldn't a snake be able to leave?"
Listening to Wu Suo Wei, Jiang Xiaoshuai began to think.
And so the two bros began to secretly plan.
Chi Cheng and Yue Yue had taken different flights. Finally arriving at the destination, Yue Yue checked into the hotel. Chi Cheng had been accompanying the leadership all day, but when he was finished, he met up with Yu Yue.
After dinner, the couple took a walk into town.
"Your mother said that our parents should meet one of these days to settle things between the two of us."
A cigarette dangled from the corner of Chi Cheng's mouth, and his strong-willed brow was surrounded by a cold aura.
"We'll talk another time. I'm going back."
He threw away the cigarette butt and turned back toward the hotel.
Lying in the comfortable jacuzzi, enjoying the fragrance of the bath gel gliding smoothly over her skin, Yue Yue looked forward to a night that belonged to two people alone with no annoying Xiao Cu Bao. It was all so romantic and intoxicating.
"Chi Cheng, come in and help me with my nightgown," she called out the door.
No one answered. Yue Yue's passionate eyes glowed in the soft light. She stepped out of the tub and wrapped herself in a towel in a way that revealed half of her silky breasts and covered only a small section of her legs. With a sexy swing in her butt, she walked out into the room.
"Chi Cheng, didn't you hear—"
She never finished her sentence but stood, rooted to the spot, staring blankly.
At that moment, Chi Cheng was gazing down intently, full of serious responsibility, as his hands stroked his somewhat agitated [3] Er Bao, Lord Cu.
[T/N: [3] In this sentence, it could be viewed as a 'second precious thing' or 'second child' instead of the nickname given to it. Hence, 'Lord Cu' followed afterward.]
"Didn't you come without it?
"It had to be checked as luggage. Pets aren't allowed in the main cabin. It just got here."
So saying, he turned toward Cu Bao's small pointed beak and kissed it, unabashedly comforting it and showering it with love.
At the end of her rope, Yue Yue became enraged. To maintain her image and avoid revealing how much she loathed snakes, she swallowed her feelings and returned to the bathroom.
[1] Chinese Mandarin Rat Snake
[2] Green Tree Python
Please note that some part might be incorrect as we don't know how to translate the slangs and idioms to English and translators might rely on the pinyin. Mistakes are bound to happen and corrections are very welcome.