Do You Want a Wife or Not?

The wind rustled the leaves, and the weather got warmer day by day since spring. When the sun shone, the scholar knelt down on the boulder next to the cave and read ancient books. He saw Xuan Si rolling a bundle of firewood back with a snake’s tail to light the fire. The bundle of firewood was chopped neatly, and the scholar didn’t know which house Xuan Si went to down the mountain to get it from someone else’s woodshed.

At first, the scholar went out to collect firewood. Later, Xuan Si learned it after reading too much, so he took over the job directly. However, he came back every quarter of an hour, which puzzled the scholar, who collected firewood for several hours at a time. It wasn’t until the scholar secretly followed Xuan Si one day that he discovered Xuan Si always went to the village to “pick up” firewood.

Xuan Si not only “gathered” firewood but also “gathered” chickens and ducks to replenish his body.

“I originally thought those were pheasants you hunted yourself,” the scholar rubbed his brows helplessly. “Xuan Si, it turns out you are so lazy.”

With a “hiss” sound, the snake’s tail slapped his butt unceremoniously.

“Xuan Si!” The scholar covered his butt and cried out in annoyance.

The next moment, Xuan Si walked proudly to light a fire to cook.

A quarter of an hour a day was the longest time Xuan Si was away from him. As if knowing that the scholar would worry about him leaving, Xuan Si rarely went to other places. Even solving things like snake things popping out of scales, which were previously taboo to the scholar, he now did directly in front of him.

Every time the scholar saw Xuan Si squatting in the corner and using his hands, his head would get dizzy, not to mention that once Xuan Si started, he could stare at him for five or six hours.

“Aren’t you… tired?” Every time he asked Xuan Si cautiously, all he received were doubts from Xuan Si, as if he didn’t understand why he would feel tired. The scholar had to turn around and look away, but the hot gaze behind him made it hard to ignore anything the snake demon did, no matter where he was.

“Wife,” Xuan Si called him hoarsely from behind.

His body became a little numb, which was hard to describe.

However, such things always took a long time, and they came when they should come.

.

“Xuan Si, after dinner, I have something to give you,” the scholar said slowly, closing the ancient book in his hand.

He glanced at Xuan Si, who was roughly washing rice. Xuan Si seemed not to be afraid of the cold. He never wore clothes. His skin was wheat-coloured, and his body was very muscular. His long, slightly curly hair hung down to his waist, and though his snake scales were gone, one could still see shallow mermaid lines where they had grown, as if they were inviting people to look down.

But if he had really looked at it for a long time, something would have come out again.

The scholar silently looked away, and then the snake’s tail wrapped around his feet. “Wife, what do you want to give me?”

He raised his eyes, and Xuan Si was looking at him.

“…You’ll find out after you finish eating,” the scholar said. “You wash the rice first.”

“Hiss.” Xuan Si responded, and the snake’s tail wrapped around him unwillingly. “My wife eats rice porridge; it doesn’t taste good.”

The scholar couldn’t help the smile in his eyes. “Well, I can’t be like you and only eat chicken every day.”

Asking Xuan Si to make rice noodles and steamed buns for him was something the scholar had never thought of before. However, since he had bought a small bag of rice from the market, and later when Xuan Si brought chickens and ducks back, the snake demon knew he would eat them with rice noodles and steamed buns.

Even if Xuan Si himself didn’t like to eat these, Xuan Si would take good care of him because the snake would specially cook a pot of porridge and would not think it was troublesome to do it three meals a day.

The scholar knew Xuan Si’s intentions and accepted the treatment.

The scholar knew that, according to the time, these days were the days for Xuan Si to deal with his desire. He took out the nearly torn Book of Songs and continued to read it, but his mind was on other things. In fact, since he had already known that Xuan Si would not leave him, there were some things he didn’t have to resist anymore.

“Hiss.” Xuan Si’s snake’s tail wrapped around him again at some point, nudging him gently.

“Xuan Si!” He whispered, slapped off the snake’s tail, turned to look at Xuan Si, who didn’t feel guilty at all about scaring on others. Instead, his vertical pupils were still staring at him. After hesitating for a while, the scholar simply opened the book completely and called Xuan Si over.

“Wife,” Xuan Si threw away the rice in his hand and swam over. “What are you doing, wife?”

“That’s not how you should call me.”

“Huh?” Xuan Si tilted his head slowly and picked up the broken hair on his temples with his fingertips. Xuan Si’s hand touched his cheek, and he came closer, his golden vertical pupils staring at him unabashedly. “Then what should I say?”

“…” Xuan Si tilted his head again and looked at the scroll the scholar had placed on the boulder. After a while, he suddenly reached out and slapped the scroll away, then was about to lift him up and press him onto the boulder.

He quickly blocked Xuan Si’s approaching face and looked away.

“Xuan Si!” the scholar stopped hastily. “I want you to give me a name!”

Xuan Si’s hand paused, and after a while, he let go of him with some regret. The scholar understood almost instantly what Xuan Si had just understood, and then turned his head away in embarrassment. This obscene snake—sometimes it wasn’t wrong to scold him, especially in this season. Almost every move he made would be misunderstood by Xuan Si as that kind of thought.

“What I want to say is that the books on the ground… you here, pick two words as my name.” The scholar said. “My parents died early, and I only have a nickname, but no proper name.”

“Name.” Xuan Si read it out slowly and was a little stunned.

“Well, just like your Xuan Si, it’s what you could called me.”

“Wife.” Xuan Si replied almost without hesitation.

“…Wife is not a name,” the scholar explained, “Everyone has a wife, but each wife’s name is different, just like Zhang San’s wife is called Li Si, Wang Wu’s wife is called Zhao Liu, Xuan Si’s wife… should also have his own name.”

“Wife, do you want to have your own name?”

The scholar nodded.

He had always been indifferent to this in the past. People in the village had called him Teacher, and the elders had used a nickname. He had felt that he didn’t necessarily need a complete name to be called by others. But after being with Xuan Si, the scholar had felt for the first time that he wasn’t just a scholar or a teacher—he should have more of his own identity and life.

He felt that just like Xuan Si was called Xuan Si by him, he too should have his own name.

Xuan Si understood. He picked up the book on the ground with his fingers and looked at the scholar with his vertical pupils. “To my wife, get the word.”

“Um.”

“Xuan Si is illiterate.”

“…” The scholar paused, “Then you choose the words you think look good.”

Xuan Si picked up the book and read it for a long time, even looking a bit confused. After a while, he pointed out two words to the scholar with his finger.

The scholar leaned over to look at them. One word was “Shu” and the other word was “Ye.”

“What is your name?” Xuan Si asked him.

“Shuye.” The scholar said slowly, “Yu is my surname, and Shuye is my given name, so my name will be – Yu Shuye.”

“Shuye,” Xuan Si slowly repeated, “Zhang San’s wife is called Zhao Liu, and Xuan Si’s wife is called Yu Shuye.”

The scholar couldn’t help but laugh.

Xuan Si suddenly came closer again and called him in a low voice: “Shuye, Shuye my wife.”