Wood Snake

Lunar New Year fell on Feb 10. Anyone born before that date belongs to the previous year (Loong).

Snakes do not explain themselves. Quietest in the meeting and busiest afterwards, they can cut to the point in one sentence if you ask, and they usually wait for you to ask. Small shifts in a room register fast, sometimes before the person involved notices their own change of manner. They read as cool and slightly apart. The truth is that the distance protects their attention: inside is livelier than it looks, and once they open the door for you the conversation runs past midnight. They are not being mysterious for effect; being read too easily feels like being handled.

Ji is loose garden soil, Si the snake moving belly-down, and the warmth that bakes the ground. Trees in that combination shoot up fast, adding a length in a single season. People like this pick things up quickly and open in a warm room, growing a little taller after praise. They dislike fixed procedure and prefer to bend with the momentum. Fast growth leaves hollow branches, and they know it. They learn fast and just as readily show someone else how.