On my birthday, my husband gifted me a pristine, snow-white snake. I immediately took it to an apothecary in Chinatown and had it drowned in a jar of high-proof medicinal liquor. Because this time, I woke up with my memory intact. I was reborn. In my past life, I pampered this snake like royalty. She ate the finest delicacies and slept in a custom, heated jade terrarium that cost me a small fortune. Yet, out of everyone, she only ever chose to bite me. At first, it was just a nightly habit. She would wind around my wrist, drawing a few drops of blood. But eventually, she began slithering under my duvet, sinking her fangs into my throat, draining me day by day until my face was a ghostly, hollow white. I begged my husband to get rid of her, but he only sneered and called me petty. “Bibi is my anniversary gift to you,” Denis said. “Can’t you even tolerate a harmless little snake?” Our daughter, Ruby, would stand in front of the terrarium, crying and shielding it. “Mommy is mean! Bibi is way sweeter than you!” On our wedding anniversary, I was finally drained of my life force, dying a quiet, agonizing death on the bathroom floor. After I died, my soul lingered. I watched as the white snake slithered off my cold corpse, her scales splitting apart to reveal a delicate, fragile woman who threw herself into my husband’s arms. With tear-brimming eyes, Denis kissed her. “Bianca, my love. I’m so sorry you had to pretend to be a snake for all these months. Now that you’ve drained her essence, you’re finally human again.” And Ruby clung to her, joyfully calling her “Mommy.” That was when the truth finally shattered my heart. That white snake wasn’t a pet. She was Bianca—Denis’s tragic first love, the one that got away. And I was nothing but a biological blood bag they kept alive just long enough to feed her. 1 On the morning of my birthday, Denis presented me with a pristine, snow-white snake. His voice was laced with that familiar, honeyed warmth. “Linda, I searched everywhere for this rare spirit snake. They only appear once in a lifetime. She’s incredibly intuitive—keeping her close will soothe your nerves, preserve your youth, and protect our home. Do you love her?” Our seven-year-old daughter, Ruby, was already pressed against the glass, her eyes sparkling. “Mommy, I already named her! I’m calling her Bibi. Isn’t it pretty?” I looked down. Inside the custom terrarium, the small white snake was curled into a perfect spiral. Her scales were a blinding, porcelain white, but her beady eyes gleamed with a chilling, intelligent blackness. “Touch her, Mommy! She’s so good.” I forced a polite smile and reached my hand in. In a flash, the snake lunged, sinking her fangs deep into my fingertip. A bright bead of blood welled up instantly. Ruby let out a sharp gasp, but her panic wasn’t for me. She threw her arms around the glass tank, scowling up at me. “Mommy, stop moving! You scared Bibi!” Denis rushed over, grabbing my wrist. His eyes darted first to the snake, inspecting her for any harm, before casting a brief, dismissive glance at my bleeding finger. He let out a visible sigh of relief. “It’s nothing. A snake’s way of bonding. The fact that Bibi bit you means she’s drawn to you. She likes you.” I stared at him. She likes me? In my past life, he said the exact same thing. And like a fool, I had believed him. I was terrified of reptiles. But back then, desperately wanting to be a good wife and to keep my daughter happy, I swallowed my revulsion and poured my heart into caring for her. I fed her the most expensive organic delicacies. She slept in a heated, custom-cut jade terrarium that had cost me a six-figure sum at an auction. I even used warm silk cloths to gently polish every single one of her pristine scales. Yet, she chose only to bite me. At first, it was just a subtle pressure around my wrist in the dead of night, followed by a sharp prick as she took a few drops of my blood. I foolishly thought she was just hungry. Then, she began slipping beneath the covers, sinking her teeth into the hollow of my throat. Eventually, she stayed coiled around me all night. Her cold, heavy body would constrict around my waist, her fangs buried deep in my flesh, slowly draining my life force until I was perpetually dizzy and pale. I begged Denis to rehome her. But his face would harden into a mask of disgust. “Linda, Bibi is my anniversary present to you. Can’t you tolerate a single pet without making a dramatic scene?” Ruby would throw herself in front of the tank, sobbing. “Mommy is mean! Bibi is way better than you!” The torment left me with chronic insomnia and severe vertigo; I could barely walk down the hallway without leaning against the wall for support. The doctors couldn’t find a medical cause. Denis used that to gaslight me, claiming I was paranoid and fabricating an illness for attention. Until our anniversary. I had stayed home, wanting to surprise him with a quiet dinner. But by the time he walked through the door, I was already collapsed on the cold bathroom tile, my body freezing, my neck covered in a constellation of tiny, neat puncture wounds. My spirit hovered over the room, unable to leave. I watched the little white snake slowly slither off my lifeless chest. Her pristine skin began to split and peel away. Following a flash of ethereal light, a woman in a delicate white dress materialized and threw herself into Denis’s waiting arms. Denis kissed her passionately, tears streaming down his face. “Bianca, my darling. I’m so sorry I made you play the snake for all these months. Now that she’s drained dry, your soul is finally anchored. You’re human again.” Even Ruby rushed forward, hugging her waist. “Mommy Bianca! You’re finally back!” That was the exact moment I realized the grotesque truth. The “spirit snake” was actually the vessel housing Bianca, the dead woman Denis had mourned for a decade. And I, his devoted wife, was nothing more than a biological incubator—a walking blood bag raised to nourish her transition back to life. But I have been given a second chance. And this time, I will not let them step over my corpse to build their twisted family portrait. I watched Denis act the part of a caring husband, dabbing a cotton swab over my finger. In her green jade terrarium, the white snake swayed slightly, her pink tongue flicking. The smug, human triumph in her beady eyes was barely concealed. I pulled my hand back and slowly wiped away the remaining blood. “Since she’s so prone to biting, we should get rid of her.” The living room fell into a dead silence. Denis froze. Ruby immediately threw herself over the glass tank, her voice rising to a frantic shriek. “No! You can’t!” Denis swallowed hard, masking his sudden panic with a rehearsed, gentle tone. “Linda, sweetheart, she’s just stressed from the move. Give her a few days to adjust. Besides, Ruby and I spent weeks looking for her. You wouldn’t want to break our daughter’s heart, would you?” I looked down at them. My husband. My daughter. Both of them were hyperventilating over a reptile. It was almost comical. It was as if I weren’t threatening to rehome a pet, but rather banishing their true wife and mother. After a long moment, I let out a soft laugh. “You’re right. Since it’s a gift from the two of you, I’ll make sure to take very, very good care of her.” Both Denis and Ruby exhaled, their faces relaxing into matching smiles. Only the white snake in the terrarium raised her head slowly, her tongue darting out in a lazy flick. It felt like a silent taunt: Smart move. I stared back at her, my smile deepening. Bianca. Let’s see who survives the game this time. Denis insisted on carrying the heavy jade terrarium into our master bedroom himself. I leaned against the doorframe, watching him set it up on the nightstand. “Does she really have to sleep in our room?” Denis’s hands faltered for a fraction of a second. “Bibi is sensitive to drafts. The climate control in here is the most stable.” Ruby wrapped her small arms around my leg, tugging at my jeans. “Mommy, Bibi is so shy and scared. Please don’t banish her to the hallway, please?” Shy? She certainly wasn’t shy when she was sinking her fangs into my jugular in my past life. I walked over to the nightstand, bending down to look inside. The white snake lay coiled, still as a strip of white silk. But as soon as my face drew near, her jaw unhinged, and she lunged at the glass. I didn’t flinch. Instead, I slid the screen lid back, reached in, and clamped two fingers precisely around her neck, pinning her down right at the sweet spot of her spine. The snake went completely rigid. Then, her tail thrashed wildly, whipping against the jade walls with loud, hollow thuds. Ruby burst into tears, horrified. “Mommy! Stop! You’re hurting her!” Denis’s face drained of color. He lunged forward, shoving me aside. “Linda! What the hell are you doing?” I released my grip. The white snake instantly retreated to the absolute corner of the tank, her thin body trembling. Denis bent over the glass, his voice dropping to a soothing, tender whisper that made my stomach turn. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Shh… I’m here. I’ll protect you.” A wave of nausea hit me. In all our years of marriage, he had never once spoken to me with that level of tenderness. When I was pregnant and burning with a 104-degree fever, he had told me to stop being dramatic. When I collapsed from severe anemia, he blamed my poor constitution. Yet now, because a snake had been pinched, he looked as though his own heart had been ripped out. I blinked at him, softening my expression into one of innocent confusion. “But didn’t you say she was highly intuitive? I was just trying to bond with her.” Denis’s jaw tightened, his throat bobbing as he swallowed his rage. Ruby glared at me with pure hostility. “Mommy, you’re not allowed to bully her ever again!” I knelt down, level with the little girl I had spent thirty-six hours in hard labor to bring into this world. “Ruby, she bit Mommy.” Ruby hesitated for a split second, then lifted her chin defiantly. “Then you must have done something bad. Bibi never bites me, and she never bites Daddy.” The exact same words from my past life. And yet, hearing them again, my chest still felt a cold, hollow ache. In my first life, I died wondering why the child I carried for nine months loved a reptile more than her own mother. It wasn’t until I was a ghost that I heard her voice the truth. It was so painfully simple, it was laughable: I didn’t let her eat candy because of her cavities. But Denis had promised her that “Auntie Bianca” would buy her an entire room filled with sweets. And just like that, my daughter became an accomplice to my murder. She hadn’t even cried when she saw my cold body. She had simply kicked my leg twice to see if I was really gone. The phantom pain of those kicks hardened my gaze. The fake smile slipped from my face. Sensing the sudden shift in the room, Denis quickly pulled Ruby behind his back. “She’s just a child, Linda. Don’t take it personally.” I didn’t say a word. I turned on my heel and walked into the walk-in closet. Closing the door behind me, I reached into the deepest corner of the top shelf and pulled out a small black velvet pouch. It was the first thing I had secured after waking up in this timeline—a trip to the secluded Taoist temple upstate. I pulled a small porcelain vial from the pouch. Through the closet door, Denis’s low, conspiratorial murmur drifted in from the bedroom. “Just hang on a little longer, Bianca… wait until she’s asleep…” A faint, dry hiss answered him from the terrarium. It sounded terrifyingly like a woman’s soft chuckle. That night, Denis was uncharacteristically attentive. He insisted I rest early so my bitten finger could heal, offering to handle Ruby’s bedtime routine himself. I watched him place the jade terrarium right beside my side of the bed, my heart turning to ice. In my past life, this was always his routine. Every time the snake bit me, he would become the perfect, doting husband—pouring me warm water, wrapping me in the blankets, kissing my forehead. I used to think it was remorse. Now, I knew it was just the gentle handling of livestock before slaughter. I turned off the bedside lamp, closed my eyes, and forced my breathing into the slow, heavy rhythm of deep sleep. It didn’t take long. A soft, dry scraping sound echoed in the dark. The heavy lid of the jade terrarium was being nudged open from within. A cold, slender weight slithered onto the wood of the nightstand, then transferred noiselessly onto the mattress. A sudden patch of icy skin touched my bare wrist. The snake began to coil. She was highly practiced at this; first looping around my forearm, then positioning herself right over my radial artery. She unhinged her jaw, aiming her thin fangs at the delicate skin. Just like she had done night after night in my previous life. My blood was her spiritual nourishment. Every drop she took bound her soul more tightly to the physical realm. The day my body finally gave out was the day she would fully manifest in the flesh. I opened my eyes. The sharp tip of her fang had just grazed my skin. In one swift movement, my hand whipped out from under the pillow, holding a heavy red cord soaked in cinnabar. I looped it around her neck and yanked it tight. The snake froze instantly, paralyzed by the spiritual property of the cinnabar. Her body began to thrash violently against the sheets, but the knot only tightened. Her jaw stretched wide in a silent scream, but what came out was not a reptilian hiss. It was a faint, muffled sob of a woman. The bedroom door flew open. Denis barged in, barefoot and frantic. Seeing the white snake thrashing in the red cord, his eyes went wild. “Linda! Are you out of your mind? Let her go!” Ruby trailed in right behind him, crying hysterically. “Mommy is mean! Why are you always hurting Bibi!” I sat up, lifting my arm so the moonlight caught the thin, bleeding scratch on my wrist. “She slithered into my bed. She was trying to bite me.” Denis faltered, but his face quickly hardened again. “She’s a pet, Linda. She was probably just hungry. She’s tiny—how much damage could she possibly do?” I let out a cold laugh. “So because she’s hungry, I’m supposed to let her feed on my blood?” Denis looked away, unable to meet my eyes. But Ruby screamed, her small fists clenched. “It’s just a little bit of blood! You won’t die! Bibi is sick—she needs Mommy’s blood!” The words hung in the air. The room went dead silent. Denis’s face drained of color, and he slapped his hand over Ruby’s mouth, but the damage was already done. I slowly turned my gaze to my daughter. “Who told you that?” Ruby’s eyes darted around in panic, and she buried her face in her father’s chest. “She’s just talking nonsense,” Denis stammered, his voice tight. “She… she watches too many fantasy cartoons.” I looked at the two of them, feeling a bizarre urge to laugh. To think that in my past life, I had wept bitter tears over their emotional neglect. Taking advantage of my silence, Denis lunged to grab the snake. I jerked the cinnabar cord. The snake’s spine arched in agony. Denis froze mid-air, terror written all over his face. “Linda, please. Let Bibi go. I swear, I won’t let her near your bed again. Just put her down.” I stared at his pale, sweating face. When I died in our previous life, he hadn’t looked even a fraction as terrified as he did right now. I opened my hand. The snake slipped from the cord, falling into his arms like a limp piece of white rope. Denis cradled her close, his hands trembling with genuine terror. Ruby pressed close to his side, gently blowing on the snake’s scales to soothe her. I calmly got out of bed and walked into the master bathroom. I turned on the faucet, letting the cool water wash the blood off my wrist. In the mirror, my reflection was pale, but my eyes had never been clearer. Through the cracked door, Denis’s hushed whisper floated in. “Don’t worry, my love. Tomorrow night, I’ll slip a sedative into her dinner.” “Once she’s out cold, you can feed as much as you need.” I turned off the tap. The rush of water ceased. Tomorrow night? He had no idea that Bianca wouldn’t survive to see tomorrow night. The next morning, Denis handed me a warm mug of milk with an unusually sweet smile. Across the kitchen, Ruby was cradling the jade terrarium, gently stroking the glass. “Bibi, I’ll come play with you the second I get home from school. Wait for me, okay?” I took small, slow sips of the milk, keeping my expression perfectly neutral. In my past life, this was the exact day Denis began spiking my food and drinks with liquid Ambien. My sleeping hours stretched longer and longer. The snake stopped restricting herself to my wrists. Every time I struggled awake from those drug-induced slumbers, I would find fresh, burning punctures on my neck, my collarbones, and over my heart. And when Denis saw my skin turning translucent, he would only smile warmly and say, “Linda, sweetie, you look tired. Are you sure you’re getting enough sleep?” While Ruby watched from the corner, giggling into her tiny hands. This time, I looked up from my mug and smiled. “You two should head out. Don’t worry about Bibi, I’ll take care of her today.” Denis’s smile widened with relief. But Ruby remained suspicious. She marched over, clutching the terrarium tightly. “You promise you won’t bully her, Mommy? You have to feed her the imported organic blend later, and make sure to refresh her warm water every hour.” I leaned down, looking into her dark eyes. “And what else?” Ruby thought about it seriously for a moment. “If she wants to bite you, you can’t run away. Daddy said Bibi biting you is how she cures her illness.” Denis’s face instantly darkened. He cleared his throat sharply, and Ruby bit her lip, shutting up. I just smiled, smoothing a stray hair behind her ear. “Alright. Mommy will keep that in mind.” Before they left, Denis reached in to stroke the white snake affectionately. Standing beside him, I mirrored his movement and reached out my own hand. The white snake lunged immediately, sinking her teeth deep into my wrist. Ruby shoved me away instantly. “Mommy is so stupid! Bibi doesn’t want you touching her!” She reached her own tiny hand in and stroked the white scales with an air of smug triumph. The snake remained perfectly still, preening under her touch. I lowered my eyes to hide the curl of my lips. A few minutes later, the front door clicked shut. Denis and Ruby were gone. The sprawling, empty suburban house grew quiet, leaving only me and the white snake. Inside the jade terrarium, the snake slowly raised her head. But as she went to flick her tongue, her entire body suddenly began to shudder. She had no idea that on the very first day of my rebirth, I had poured a generous amount of the spirit-severing oil into every bottle of body wash and hand soap Denis and Ruby used. Every single touch from my husband and daughter was a slow, agonizing drop of poison, dragging Bianca closer to her permanent grave. Realizing something was wrong, the snake slammed violently against the mesh lid, knocking it open as she lunged at me. But I was ready. The cinnabar cord whipped through the air, binding her tightly at her vital spot. She thrashed frantically, her tail sweeping across the coffee table, sending glass coasters crashing to the hardwood floor. Shards rained down. I didn’t even blink. “I wonder,” I whispered, tightening the knot. “What kind of faces will they make when they come home and find your cold, dead body?” The snake froze. She understood. For the first time, a very human terror flashed in those tiny, black bead eyes. I lifted her up by the cord and walked out of the house. I drove down to the old Chinatown district, stopping at the very end of a narrow, historic alley where an ancient, traditional apothecary sat nestled between the brick buildings. It was run by Mr. Matt, a man famous for crafting potent, high-grade medicinal liquors. Mr. Matt took one look at the thrashing white snake in my hand, nodded silently, and swept aside the heavy bamboo curtain leading to the back room. The air there was thick and suffocating with the scent of dried roots, bitter herbs, and strong grain alcohol. Rows of dark ceramic jars lined the wooden shelves. The white snake went wild, writhing desperately in my grip. Her jaw unhinged, and from the depths of her throat, a choked, raspy woman’s voice clawed its way out: “Help… me…” Mr. Matt’s hand paused on a jar. He shot me a sharp, questioning look. I offered him a calm, polite smile. “She’s a rare specimen. Highly spiritual. The tincture she makes will be incredibly potent.” Mr. Matt studied the snake for a moment, then reached up to the highest shelf and pulled down a heavy, black clay urn. “This contains the strongest grain spirit in my shop,” he said, his voice flat and ancient. “If you throw an ordinary snake in, she’ll drown within minutes. No art in that. But a creature with spiritual energy? That’s different.” “The moment she goes into the clay, the alcohol will seep through the micro-spaces between her scales. It will soak into her bones, inch by inch. Her flesh won’t rot immediately, and her breath won’t cut off right away.” “She will remain fully awake. She’ll feel her life essence being slowly extracted by the herbs, her soul dragged down into the liquid. She will want to die, but won’t be able to. She will want to flee, but there will be nowhere to go.” The white snake understood every word. She began slamming her body frantically against the rim of the clay jar, her spine twisting into grotesque angles. I opened my mouth to reply, but my phone vibrated in my pocket. It was Denis. When I answered, his voice was tight, vibrating with a suppressed panic. “Linda? Why isn’t Bibi in her tank?”
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