A wonderful day begins with not sleeping all night and having to get up early again. Shi Jinzhe scratched his hair, not really wanting to move, and got out of bed to find clothes for Sherhe to get ready to go out.

He took out an irregularly shaped, fitted sundress, unzipped the side, and placed it next to Shekh's pillow. "I'm going to another bathroom. Get up and wash up. If you don't want to move, wait for me to finish and I'll tidy you up."

"It can move."

Without hesitation, Shekh went straight into the bathroom of the suite and turned on the shower to wash himself.

Seeing that Shi Jinzhe wasn't going to the outer bathroom anymore, he followed her and closed the door behind him. A voice came from inside, "You become diligent when you meet someone you like."

She usually has such a hard time getting up that he can't even pull her out of bed. Except for things she's interested in, Sher is a slow riser. If he gets up early and doesn't wake her, she can stay in bed and sleep all day.

However, once she encounters something she likes, she can immediately issue an order to act.

After getting ready, the two ate a quick bite at the hotel restaurant and then went out.

As dawn broke over the horizon, scattering a soft orange light, the procession was already prepared at the entrance of the Snake King Temple.

There weren't many tourists yet; the people around him were mostly locals, with only a few young couples and parents with children. He and Shekh found a good spot where they could watch the whole tour with the group.

Lion dance, stilt walking, firecrackers, and a performance team dressed in folk costumes beat drums and gongs to clear the way for the snake king statue behind them.

The crackling firecrackers woke up the latecomers. White smoke billowed up, and the smell of gunpowder from the exploding firecrackers reminded Shi Jinzhe of watching other people celebrate the New Year many years ago.

Back then, we could still set off fireworks and firecrackers. On the way to class in the suburbs, the car would pass through residential areas, and there would be many red firecrackers on the streets. The cold winter night would freeze the festive atmosphere of New Year's Eve. The car windows would be rolled down, and the north wind would blow straight into people's faces.

But the red paper on New Year's Eve wasn't as thick as it is here. Right now, everything under his feet is red—red carpet, red firecrackers, red ribbons—the celebratory atmosphere is strong, which shows how much importance this place attaches to the festival.

Amidst the resounding clang of gongs, the palanquin bearers, each holding a stick of incense, officially began their street parade after the performance.

In addition to inviting the snake god Lian Gong, a thick, long python was also placed in a glass palanquin to parade together. The locals' Hokkien dialect left Shi Jinzhe completely bewildered, and he could only understand a few words intermittently. They said it was the snake king, but he wasn't sure if his understanding was accurate.

Shekh's eyes lit up as she stared at the large python in the middle of the road; she loved this place.

Each person has a snake wrapped around their body, a common, non-venomous snake. Visitors gently hold the snake's body and let them explore freely.

Many tourists wanted to take photos. Some readily accepted and generously took a snake to hang around their necks to pose for photos. Others just wanted to try it out, so the professionals held the snake's head and only let them touch it slowly, or grab part of the tail to take photos.

There were only gasps of surprise, no piercing screams; this harmony gave Shech a very good feeling.

The faint scent of incense wafted over, and a familiar, ethereal feeling washed over her. She could hardly stand, so she leaned against something to steady herself.

Next to her was a local man with a black-browed snake slung over his arm. When he saw Sheh turn away to avoid the direction the snake was turning, he assumed she was frightened.

The uncle took out another small snake, held its body still, and asked Shekh very enthusiastically if he wanted to try it out. "This snake is non-venomous and has a very good temperament. Do you want to touch it? You're already here, so why not give it a try?"

Shekh agreed and opened his hand toward the snake. The snake flicked its tongue, hesitating and looking on, constantly trying to discern the surrounding information at an extremely fast pace.

When it flicked its tongue like that, Shekh couldn't help but want to flick her tongue too. Her tongue was almost sticking out of her lips when she tried to push it back in.

Then the black-browed rat snake on the uncle's arm also retracted, its tongue and the whole snake turning its head and crawling away, and the uncle couldn't catch it.

Shech's hand was still outstretched in the air when Shi Jinzhe grabbed it. "The child is a bit too alert. It hasn't gotten used to your specialness yet. Your uniqueness has impacted it. But being alert to strangers is a good thing. It's quite smart."

Sheh held the bowl of water perfectly level, giving the uncle a "you know how to talk" look before withdrawing his hand amidst the uncle's flustered and bewildered expression.

Shi Jin folded his arm and half-carried her forward, like dragging a large soft pillow. There was no point of support, so she was limp and relied entirely on him to support her.

"There are other snakes ahead. Try again. The snakes in the house aren't afraid of you. That one is just too small."

Shekh: "What if the next one is afraid of me too?"

She can attract snakes, but seeing so many people who like snakes, she doesn't want to use external forces to attract other snakes.

“Then let’s hug ourselves. I’m hugging a snake right now, isn’t that what I’m doing?” Shi Jinzhe said, glancing ahead at a two-meter-long Eastern Forest King Snake, a foreign one, his own pet snake.

“There is one way, let’s go ask.”

The young woman with the Forest King was alone, with a snake as thick as her wrist hanging from her body, which was quite eye-catching.

Besides the snake's allure, snake enthusiasts recognized its value as a walking money tree and wanted to possess it, but the owner refused.

Shi Jinzhe learned that she lived in a neighboring city and brought her snake here every year to "bathe and burn incense" to absorb some of its divine power.

When Shi Jinzhe asked if she could hold the snake for Sheh, the woman looked them over and then noticed Sheh's snake ring, revealing an old wound on her arm. "I can hold it, but I have to say first, this one isn't very fierce, but it's not like it hasn't bitten people before. I'm not responsible if you get hurt."

Upon hearing this, Shi Jinzhe was not worried at all; it was better to make things clear beforehand.

"Don't worry, we also raise snakes."

He showed the woman the phone monitoring footage, explaining that the Senwang dog was well-cared for, like his own precious pet, and it was understandable that she was worried.

The woman glanced at them; the two large Burmese heads were in good condition, and it was clear they cared a lot. Reassured, she straightened her arms and escorted King Sen to Sheh.

The snake was quite aggressive, showing no lingering affection for its female owner. It slithered towards them with a憨憨 (simple and honest) expression, its forked tongue already two miles ahead of them before its body even reached them.

Shi Jinzhe said, "This snake is quite outgoing."

"It just looks imposing..."

Among the crowd of onlookers, apart from the Snake King's procession on the main road, these three people stood out the most.

Shi Jinzhe had a full head of white hair, and his outstanding height attracted a lot of attention. Shehe had a Senwang sword hanging on his body, with half a loop around his neck, which made others a little worried.

Seeing this, the woman explained, "It won't strangle you. If you're afraid, just take it off."

While Senwang's appearance alone doesn't have the same impact as the pythons in the public's perception, hers is indigo blue, and the large, alloy-like scales exude a sense of power when she swims, looking dangerous no matter how you look at it clinging to her fair and slender neck.

Besides the danger, there was also a strange sense of unease...

It's strangely beautiful.

The woman, itching to take a picture, pulled out her phone and asked Shekh, "Can I take two pictures of you and the snake?"

Sheikh: "Can you give it to me after you're done filming?"

"Okay." The woman picked out different angles to take the picture, mainly focusing on the angle from which the snake would be photographed.

As she was taking pictures, she glanced at him casually and inexplicably felt that the handsome guy's gaze towards her snake was strange.