Chapter 2: The Snake's Riot

  As soon as this cry came out, I saw Taohua Ma and Ba Shu no longer whispering to each other. They jumped up from their chairs and ran into the courtyard.

  I watched two old ladies running with great vigor. I thought: "I heard that Eighth Aunt had bound feet, but looking at this speed doesn't seem like it."

  There's no one left in the house either. I might as well go out and see what's going on, and take a look at our peach blossoms while I'm at it.

  I had just stepped into the courtyard when the scene before me left me stunned.

  Only Peach Blossom, Peach Blossom Mother and Eighth Aunt were seen standing in the corner of the courtyard, their faces filled with anxiety but unable to do anything. The entire courtyard was covered with thousands of snakes. Countless small snakes were crawling out from the snake well. All the covers of the snake wells had been overturned, some even smashed into pieces.

  Several large snakes floated on top of the masses of snakes, from time to time slowly swallowing a small snake into their belly. This disgusting scene... I'm really unable to express it in words.

  My legs were trembling with fear, and I patted my chest: "I'm not afraid of snakes, I'm not afraid of snakes. I just haven't seen many snakes before." This wasn't a lie. Although the weeds in our yard are dense, there have never been any snakes. Let alone this scene of thousands of snakes entwining and surging forward.

  As I walked out of the house, my feet had just touched the ground. That's when I saw this scene. Before I could even react, those snakes all stopped in their tracks. They seemed to be stunned.

  The devourer of its kind has stopped its mouth; and the wanderers have ceased their footsteps.

  I have a faint sense of fear. My sixth sense tells me it's because of my presence.

  After a while, those snakes unexpectedly turned their heads towards me. The snake heads swung back and forth to adjust the direction.

  I've heard that snakes in Snake Wells have poor eyesight and mainly rely on smell and temperature to distinguish where you are.

  I watched those snakes getting more and more accurate, gradually all aiming at me. In my heart, I regretted: "If only I hadn't taken a bath last night, it would be great. Full of the smell of mud from nature. It's strange that these snakes can find me."

  It's too late to say anything now. I saw that things were not going well, so I hurriedly sought help from Peach Blossom and others. At a glance, I found that these three people were also standing in the corner of the wall, looking at me with puzzled faces.

  "Grandmas, stop watching and hurry up to save me!"

  These people haven't spoken yet. I feel a gust of cold wind blowing in my face. I feel something is off, relying on intuition to tilt my head, and at the same time, I take a glance with my eyes: a three-inch-long small snake has just shot past like a short arrow.

  I muttered a sigh of relief. I'm afraid only a young boy like him could have reacted so quickly.

  The slight complacency had barely lasted half a second when the little snake crashed into the wall, then bounced back and came at my face again.

  I said you're still energetic. Conveniently grabbing the iron rake by the door, aiming at the right angle, with a loud crash, it flew away.

  The little snake flew out and fell into the courtyard among a group of snakes. Most of them would not survive. The winnower in his hand still had an unfinished tone.

  At this moment, I thought of the Baseball Prince and the Thirteen Province General Commander Sheng Ying. I was proud and handsome, strutting towards the peach blossoms. But then I saw her small face red with anger, shouting at me: "Why did you kill our family snake?"

  This remark chilled me to the bone: how could this girl be so cold-blooded. Your future husband almost got bitten by a snake, and you actually ask me why I killed the snake in your house?

  But I didn't have time to lament the shallowness of human relationships. Because dozens of snakes were slithering and ready to attack me again.

  These snakes all have very large heads, and they move in unison. I guess they'll jump up together and bite me. This way, I won't be able to take care of the front or the back, nor the left or the right. Eight out of ten chances that I'll be bitten to death on the spot.

  It is said that hitting a snake at seven inches will hit its death point, and if it doesn't die, it will lose half of its life.

  But these snakes are of varying lengths, is seven inches proportional or absolute?

  I thought I was a cultured person after graduating from junior high school. I unexpectedly died on the explanation of the term "seven inches". Oh well, I have no choice but to ask for help.

  "I yelled at the top of my lungs at those peach blossom people: 'Don't you care about me anymore? A life for a life, isn't that right?'"

  I was angry in my heart, so my voice sounded particularly stern and loud. These snakes were actually startled by my voice for a moment. Perhaps they were still intimidated by the bravery of my killing the small snake with a broom just now. Some of them even retreated.

  At this time, Taohua Mama and others were like waking up from a dream, as if they had just been sleepwalking and finally woke up. Some people hurriedly shouted to stop those snakes, while others seemed to be searching for snake medicine on their clothes.

  But it's completely useless. Whether it's sprinkling medicine or using a fork to pick them up, these snakes always dodge slightly and then crawl back. And there are just too many of them. Peach Blossom Mother is also a bit afraid and doesn't dare to use force.

  A group of snakes were in the middle, those snakes that wanted to attack me just now spat out their tongues and seemed to be discussing something in a low voice.

  I'm getting goosebumps. These snakes have really become spirits. The peach blossoms shouldn't be the transformed Green Snake and White Snake, right? Master Fahai, save me...

  Only to see the big snakes in front of them discussing for a while, they actually entwined with each other and started making doughnuts. I heard there's a dance called snake dance, which is extremely flexible and can make all sorts of unbelievable movements to the beat, often leaving the audience mesmerized.

  I've finally seen the real snake dance. It's indeed famous for a reason. These snakes are shaking their heads and swinging their tails, making quite a lively scene. I thought to myself: "What? Do they want to make friends with me? Come on, let's have a friendly dance party? No way, that dead snake is still lying behind us, how can they just forgive and forget?"

  Thinking that way. Just felt a chill on my ankle. Then a great force came over me. I was dragged to the ground, pulled towards the snakes. I looked at my ankle and found three or four snakes wrapped around it without knowing when they got there.

  This is a diversion! I was so frightened that I cried out loudly. The several people who were nearby, busily driving away the snakes, heard my voice and looked over at me, also becoming flustered.

  At this time, one of my feet was already in the snake well. All over my body were crawling all kinds of snakes. Colorful and green, long and short. Fortunately, they just wrapped me up and swam back and forth on my body. Although the venom was spitting wildly, the mucus was smeared everywhere, but for the time being, there was no intention of biting down.

  I grasped a tree trunk. Refused to let go. The weight under my feet grew heavier and heavier. I didn't know how many snakes were pulling me down from below.

  Peach's mother seemed to have made up her mind, took out a handful of snake medicine from her body, and threw it into the snake well. The weight under my feet suddenly became lighter. I rolled and crawled to pull the lower half of my body out of the well.

  In the midst of busyness, I still took a glance at the Snake Well. All I saw was what seemed like an explosion inside, with hundreds of small snakes frolicking about amidst the white foamy water.

  When I was a kid, I stole lime from the commune and poured it into the school toilet. The lime reacted with water to produce heat, scalding those white maggots in the feces to squirm about. That scene is still vivid in my mind today.

  Peach blossom mother probably feared that I would really die here. She didn't care about anything else either. She trampled on those snakes and rushed over from the other end of the yard, rolling and crawling. She grasped my hand tightly, not caring about the big and small snakes under her feet, and dragged me towards the house.

  This section is just a few steps away, but walking through it is like the Red Army crossing the grassland. Peach blossoms throw handfuls of snake medicine over to clear the way for us. It seems that those snakes are very afraid of these medicines and hastily make way for us. Even so, by the time we reach the entrance, both of us are drenched in sweat.

  "Big nephew, it's all right now. The snake...the snake doesn't dare to crawl into the house."

  I panted: "Auntie, I'm exhausted. Can you help me take the snake down?"

  At this time, I had dozens of snakes hanging on me, weighing at least 30 or 40 kilograms. It's strange if I didn't feel tired.

  Peach Blossom Mother slapped her forehead: "Right, right, right." She hastily took down the snakes and threw them one by one into the courtyard.

  Then I led him to a small compartment, pointed to a large bucket and said: "You quickly wash in this water. Also put the snake medicine in to soak." Turning around, he took out a set of clothes from the cabinet: "This was worn by Peach Blossom's father before. Don't be shy either. Change into it."

  I see that this garment is far better than the tattered clothes I'm wearing. Never mind whose master has long since died. Hurriedly took it over, repeatedly thanked.

  Peach blossom mother instructed two more sentences. She turned around and closed the door, presumably to drive away the snake.

  I took off my clothes and got into the water. I rubbed that snake medicine all over my body. The snake medicine was like a powder, similar to paprika. After rubbing it in for a while, the water turned red.

  The more I think about what happened earlier, the more disgusted I feel. You said that a young and beautiful girl like Taohua could do anything well, but instead she raises snakes. She's been tainted by the evil aura of the snakes, how can she live her life in the future?

  I washed myself carefully. I saw a layer of white foam floating on the water's surface. As for what it was, it didn't need to be asked. I felt nauseous and quickly jumped out. I looked around but couldn't find their towels anywhere. Even if I had found them, I wouldn't have dared to use them. The things that belonged to those girls weren't something to be used casually.

  I put on the clothes while my body was still wet. Well, the clothes fit quite well. I took a look in the mirror. Oh, it's really true that people match their clothes and horses match their saddles. I think I'm not much worse than Ah Jin now.

  I pushed open the door and walked into the living room. Just in time to see the three of them coming in. I asked: "Have all the snakes been driven back?"

  Eighth Aunt was bowing her head to pat the clothes: "Hurry back." She raised her head and took a look at me, suddenly full of smile, saying: "Wow, Dali is so dressed up, really handsome."

  The peach blossom also glanced at me with a gentle face. She said softly: "I didn't expect you to look quite silly, but your thoughts are actually quite clever." I was overjoyed in my heart and wanted to boast a few more sentences. But she lifted the curtain and went back inside.

  Peach Blossom Mother said to me: "Big nephew, sit down. Tell me, why does the snake in our house go crazy whenever it sees you?"

  This remark made me feel uncomfortable in my heart. I said to Peach Blossom Mother: "You shouldn't speak like this. Your snake, how would I know?"

  Eighth Aunt hastily mediated on the side: "What your aunt means is strange. Snakes should be close to you."

  I was left bewildered by his words: "Why does the snake want to get close to me?"

  Eighth Aunt glanced at Peach Blossom Mother, and the two exchanged a look. Eighth Aunt said to me: "Dali, Peach Blossom is as beautiful as a flower, do you know why I especially want you to be her husband?"

  "Yes, I also want to know."

  Eighth Aunt continued: "In our Qianyanjing, every household makes a living by raising snakes. This is the skill passed down from our ancestors. Women's bodies are yin, and it's suitable for them to raise snakes. But men have strong yang energy since birth. If they rashly enter the snake farm, they'll easily provoke the snakes. But you're different. Look at your courtyard, the wild grass inside is as tall as a person. It's naturally a good place for snakes to appear and disappear. You've lived in there for so long that your body has naturally absorbed the snake energy. It's just right for you to pair up with Taohua to raise snakes."

  I scratched my head: "So I get it. Auntie Ba thinks I'm suitable for raising snakes, so you want to introduce Peach Blossom to me?"

  Peach Blossom's mother chimed in, "I only have this one daughter, Peach Blossom. Once you two are married, all of our family property will be yours. Your aunt isn't after your money; she just thinks your body is suitable for raising snakes."

  I took a look at the three-entry, three-bay mansion and thought about the beautiful peach blossoms, and I couldn't help but drool. But the scene of snakes dancing wildly just now made me hesitate a bit.

  I said to Taohua Mama and Ba Shu: "But we've never had a snake in our house?"