Pat the Anaconda

Teng Xiu has a childhood sweetheart, a little green snake named Xiao Qing. Snakes of her kind are frail and prone to sudden death. Whenever she sees Xiao Qing playing with other snakes, she gets so angry she vomits blood and is bedridden.

She thought she and her childhood sweetheart were in love with each other. Yet time and again, Xiao Qing stood her up and toyed with her. She would often wait all night at the foot of the mountain, while Xiao Qing never offered an explanation and acted the next day as if nothing had happened.

Teng Xiu turned around and entered a political marriage with the noble, dazzling Princess Blue Baron Snake.

Her fiancee is the world's most esteemed aristocrat, with a distinguished family, a beautiful face, and a graceful figure. But she suffers from narcissus syndrome, loves gazing at herself in the mirror, and has no desire for anyone but her own snake form, Teng Xiu included.

Her fiancee laid down three rules for her: "Don't get any funny ideas about me! Don't fantasize about any other snakes, either! And don't get tangled up with any other snakes!"

Teng Xiu had already resigned herself to a sexless marriage, and planned to treat each other with respect after the wedding.

But the wife who had set those three rules kept calling out that she was cold at night, putting her tail in Teng Xiu's arms to warm it up. She would also admire herself in the mirror, then tug Teng Xiu over and ask, "Darling, do you want to watch me pleasure myself?"

It had started as a marriage of convenience, with three rules they had agreed on. Teng Xiu only managed to keep two of them.

When little Xiao Qing waited and waited but Teng Xiu never came to see her, she finally put her pride aside and deigned to seek Teng Xiu out for once.

Teng Xiu answered her call, just as she was about to take their snake eggs for an ultrasound. "What? Go admire the flowers? I'm busy. I have eggs to incubate."

(This novel began serialization in 2023. The heroine's name has been changed, and some of the worldbuilding has been revised. Readers who saved it in 2023 are advised to reread it to avoid confusion when the later plot no longer lines up.)

[Brief title and blurb draft, pending revision]

Theme: Embrace tightly the love that gives you strength.