Feeling a headache coming on, Matthew rubbed his eyebrows. "I'm not—"

Before he could finish saying, "afraid," Erica had closed in. "Oh, Matthew, it's all right! I know you're a man, but there's nothing shameful in being afraid of snakes. Rest assured, there's no danger at all. In any case, I'm not scared, so I can protect you!" As she said this, she hugged him, patted his chest, adjusted his tie, and fussed over his lapels, thus leaving a copious amount of wet dirt smudged across the front of his suit.

Matthew looked down at her hands, his face hardening with disgust. "Erica," he asked dryly, "did you think of washing your hands after handling those snakes?"

Her face was stricken with what appeared to be genuine shock. "Oh! No!" she stammered, backing off a step.

Meanwhile, one of the two snakes she had dropped was creeping aimlessly about the meeting room. Its companion, apparently unsociable, had withdrawn to a corner and coiled itself up there.

As for the members of the Su family, they were huddled together atop the conference table, looking quite ridiculous and pitiable. The security guard they had brought was made of sterner stuff and remained as calm as Matthew. However, since there seemed to be no actual danger, he simply claimed his own corner of the room and waited at attention there.

After taking in the scene, Erica went to one of the snakes and gingerly gathered it up from the floor. She made a show of inspecting the creature; by contrast, the snake seemed uninterested in any of the humans present. "It's so cute, isn't it?" asked Erica innocently. "What are you all so afraid of?" She'd been careful to get ahold of snakes that were not poisonous. Naturally, nobody else in the room knew that.

With a casual air, she approached Phoebe, gently pointing the head of the complacent reptile toward her.

'How dare Phoebe tell on me to Matthew! Seems like she hasn't learned her lesson yet!' Erica thought. In recent days, Matthew had been sometimes warm and sometimes cold to her.

Erica had begun to fear, what if he dumped her because of the Su family? Her best chance of preventing that was to scare them all away!

And she seemed to be off to a good start; as Erica neared the desk, Phoebe was already screaming at the top of her lungs. At the last second the poor woman leaped from the conference table and took refuge behind Matthew, who stood like a statue, observing the madness. "Matthew...Matthew, help me! Please..." Phoebe cried hoarsely.

"Honey, don't help her! There's no need for that at all!" Erica countered, trotting after her.

White as a ghost now, Phoebe gave another scream and bolted from the room.

The door closed with a bang.

After a moment of dead silence, Lyman gingerly lowered himself from the table, then helped Fanya down as well. Trailed by the guard, they hurried from the room without so much as a goodbye.

All in all, it was a noteworthy day for the employees at ZL Group. A great many of them had seen the Su family strut into the building like they owned it; now they saw them rushing out, looking mortified and embarrassed!

When the Su family had left, Erica was quick to make sure the meeting room door was shut. If either of the snakes managed to get out, they could cause all sorts of trouble and would be hard to catch again.

Matthew watched, impressed despite himself, as his wife rounded up the second snake—the one that had gone to the corner—with her bare hands.

Erica put them in the box which the Su family had brought in, adding it to the third snake inside. Arching an eyebrow, Matthew asked, "Aren't you afraid of snakes at all?"

"Oh, of course not! How could I be afraid of such cute little things?" Erica looked down at the box and tapped the lid, adding, "Isn't that right?"

A weary smile took over Matthew's face. He sank into his seat at the table, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "This wasn't your attitude when your brother tried to get you to eat a peeled snake," he ventured. That had been during some kind of survival training class. In fact, Erica had run away and left the class on the very day of that incident.

"Well, maybe I am afraid of eating snakes," Erica admitted, "but that doesn't mean I'm afraid of live ones!" 'Well, except for the poisonous kind, ' she thought. Now those she did fear. Handling one wrong and getting bitten would be very dangerous indeed.

But she kept that fact to herself. If everyone thought Erica wasn't afraid of any kind of snake, poisonous or not, that was all right with her.

"I think I've figured something out," Matthew said. "You had that hole in your pants—that was from climbing onto the balcony of the Su family's house. That was when you put the snake on Phoebe's bed. Right?"

Erica gasped in mock amazement. "Wow! You figured it out? I'm so impressed." Her husband was as smart as her father and brother!

Just then the headache that Matthew had begun to feel moments ago erupted full-force. "Get out of here!" he snapped. He didn't want to see her again for a while.

"Okay, but..." Erica trailed off, looking down at her dirty clothes. "Can I use a bathroom here? I need to get changed."

Matthew sprang from his seat and stalked from the meeting room. "Follow me!" he ordered.

Erica paused to grab the box of snakes, then trotted after Matthew toward the elevator.

All along their route, the various employees milling about kept their distance. They were perfectly aware of what Erica was carrying.

Inside the elevator, Matthew glanced at the box with false casualness. "So, are you going to take the snakes home and stew them?"

"No! Of course not. I'll set them free later, someplace where they belong!" Erica looked stricken at her husband's suggestion.

Matthew sighed quietly. He really couldn't do anything about her. A moment later, he took out his cell phone, dialed a number, and said only three words.

"Send someone here."

Things were changing at ZL Group, and the CEO's special assistant area was no exception.

Everyone in the company soon heard about the audacious deeds of Erica, grabbing snakes with her bare hands and bringing them into the office. Everyone in the office was afraid of her.

Probably none were more afraid than Paige. When she saw the couple approaching, particularly the box in Erica's hands, she suppressed a shiver. To her credit, though, she offered a professional smile as she greeted them. "Why, hello...Mr. and Mrs. Huo!"

Erica smiled back and waved. With terrifying speed she approached Paige's desk. "Hi, Paige..."

In unison, the three female employees in the special assistant area gasped and left their chairs, backing away as if they had seen a beast.

But the male employees were more calm, especially Owen. Although he knew about the snakes, his smile didn't flinch, and there was no trace of fear in his demeanor.

Paige and Owen were both Matthew's right-hand men—so to speak. Paige was afraid of snakes, but she was a woman after all.

Owen, on the other hand, had served in the army before, so he was not bothered at all.

Realizing her gaffe, Paige quickly regained her composure and approached Erica again. "Mrs. Huo," she said quietly.

Suddenly self-conscious, Erica hid the box behind her. "Ah, I'm sorry. I just want to ask you if you were scared," she said quickly.

"No, thank you for your concern. I'm fine." Paige was still smiling, but the smile was as brittle as glass.

She knew that the young woman in front of her had no malice, but that didn't make the box of snakes any less creepy.

Erica's face brightened, and she displayed the box again. "Oh, that's good! In fact, these snakes are all nontoxic; they're not dangerous at all. Anyway, don't be afraid. I'll have them released now."

"Okay, okay..." Paige wanted very much to cry. Why did this crazy woman have to show them the box again?

Off to the side, Matthew stood watching the scene. Despite the pain in his skull and the spectacle Erica had caused, he was impressed with her. In fact, he was ready to admit that she was quite brave; all women were scared witless by snakes, but his wife could catch them with her bare hands.

Presently, the elevator doors opened again, admitting a security guard who trotted up to them. "Mr. Huo, Mrs. Huo!" he said respectfully. "I'm Raymond Li from the logistics department. What can I do for you?"

Matthew indicated the box. "I'd like you to take these snakes and release them. They don't belong in the office."

Raymond Li nodded. "Yes. Please leave it to me."

Erica hesitated, feeling a bit reluctant to hand over the box. Finally she said, "Listen, I bought one of these snakes at the pet market, so you'd better return it there. If you set it free out in nature, it won't last long. But the red one and the green one, those were caught in the Great Mountain. You can leave them there."

The snake that Erica had put on Phoebe's bed was indeed from the pet market. It had been nontoxic and its fangs had been treated, so she had known it was harmless. The worst it could do was scare somebody.

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