Chapter Fifteen: Buying an Ailu?

  Once bitten by a snake, for ten years one fears the hemp rope of a well.

  I have been bitten by a dog but I haven't been bitten by a snake yet.

  But this doesn't mean I'm not afraid of snakes.

  I'm really afraid of snakes and stuff, but for survival, I still followed Ah Liang to the side of the snake cave.

  She Cave, I have never seen it either.

  When Ah Li used his fox-like claws to point at a small hole and told me that was the snake den, I believed him. But the hole was too small, not even as big as my ankle, how could I possibly get in and get the snakeskin out?

  I looked at Ali helplessly.

  The raccoon dog circled around the snake's hole once.

  "That snake is almost done shedding its skin." Ah Li said to me.

  "What am I supposed to do? This hole is so small, I won't be able to get in!" I said to Ah Li.

  "This hole is very shallow, you can reach in and touch it directly." Ah Li said to me with a very serious expression, looking like she wasn't joking.

  But I couldn't help asking her a sentence: "Are you kidding me?"

  "Huh?" Aru muttered in confusion.

  "I just reached out to touch it, wasn't I asking for death? Didn't that snake bite me?" I said to Ah Li.

  "Don't worry, I'll bite you." Ah Li said calmly.

  "What's going on? Can I still feel at ease if you bite me?" I was speechless and forced a bitter smile.

  "Do you understand what I'm saying?" Ah Li asked.

  "What's up?" I said.

  "A dead pig isn't afraid of boiling water!" Ah Li said to me, "You've already been poisoned by the snake, what's there to fear about snakes now? Anyway, you've already been bitten, a few more bites won't make a difference."

  "Isn't he going to die?" I hesitated.

  "You're already a dead pig!" Ah Li snorted.

  “。。。。。。”

  Although Ah Li's metaphor is a bit too harsh, it still makes some sense.

  At least it is logically plausible.

  Those who have already been poisoned really don't care about being poisoned again.

  "Reach out and touch it! Hurry up!" Ah Li urged me, "We still have to rush back quickly."

  "Alright." I gritted my teeth and nodded.

  I crept up to the snake hole, crouched down cautiously, and then peeked inside for a few moments.

  It's dark outside, and it's even darker inside the snake cave, nothing can be seen at all.

  But I couldn't care less anymore, so I just felt around in the dark and stuck my hand in.

  I stretched more than half of my arm inside and finally touched something. The thing was slippery and it was a rope-like object.

  That's it!

  I was so excited that I directly grabbed the thing and pulled my hand out of the snake hole.

  "I've found the snakeskin." I waved the thing in my hand at Ah Li.

  "You idiot! You brought out the snake!" Ah Li yelled at me frantically.

  I lowered my head to take a look, and indeed, I was holding a bright red triangular-headed venomous snake in my hand. The two snake eyes became dim and deep in the moonlight, as if staring at something.

  "Ah?" I shouted and tried to fling the venomous snake out of my hand, but at this moment, the snake turned its head and bit down on the back of my hand.

  It's all over!

  It hurts so much I'm going to die!

  At this critical moment, I subconsciously grabbed the snake with my left hand, pulled it down and threw it away.

  The snake fell to the ground and hissed a few times before turning its head and running away.

  "Quickly take out the snake skin." Ah Li shouted at me again.

  "Can't you see I'm hurt?"

  I glanced at the back of my hand and saw that a snake had bitten off a piece of flesh. What was strange was that there was no bleeding from the wound, only that it had turned black.

  Got it! It's probably infected with tetanus.

  This is really adding insult to injury, I've become a thorough and utter old poisonous substance.

  "It's all been said, this poison is nothing," Ah Li said. "As long as you can take out that piece of snake skin, the snake venom can be suppressed. If you don't have that piece of snake skin, you're done for."

  What Ah Li said was so absolute that I didn't dare to refute it.

  "Aren't you going to hurry up? Do you want to die?" Ah Li urged me.

  I gritted my teeth and stretched my hand into the snake hole again.

  This time in the cave I reckon there's only that snakeskin left, and I easily pulled it out.

  This snake skin looks very thin and fragile, but it wasn't torn apart by me. This is also a very strange thing.

  Perhaps this is not an ordinary snake.

  "Is this enough?" I asked Ali with the snakeskin in hand.

  "Run!" Ah Li said simply, "Let's hurry up!"

  "What's the hurry?" I asked.

  "You've stolen someone else's stuff, can't you run a bit faster?" Ah Li hummed.

  "Let's hurry up and run then." I said with a chuckle.

  The fox didn't wait for me either, turned around and ran towards the outside of the forest, even leaving behind her few pieces of clothing.

  I followed Ah Li from behind and started running slowly.

  We walked for a long time and by the time we were approaching Red City, it was already daylight.

  Before entering Hongshancun, Ali stopped and turned around to look at me. She said to me: "Carry me on your back!"

  Hug you?

  I was taken aback for a moment.

  "This isn't right, is it? Men and women shouldn't be so intimate with each other." I muttered.

  "Cut the crap." Ah Li hummed, "There are too many people here, if you don't hold me, I won't be comfortable."

  I nodded in agreement with Ah Liang's words. A fox running on the road would inevitably be caught by someone.

  Then I stretched out my arms and hugged Ali.

  Then I swaggered into Hongshan City.

  The raccoon dog snuggled into my arms, its eyes darting back and forth, but it didn't say anything else.

  I held her as we walked on the sidewalk, where there were quite a few pedestrians. Although I had been very low-key, I still attracted the attention of many people, after all, this fox was too eye-catching, and it was rare to see such a pure white fox.

  I tried to hide Ali in my arms, afraid of causing any trouble. But no matter how hard I tried to prevent it, something still went wrong.

  As I passed by the department store in the city center, I ran into an acquaintance.

  She was my classmate in college, a girl named Zhao Meng.

  At the age of 21 or 22, as long as a woman is not too ugly, she can still be considered a beauty with some dressing up. This female classmate is no exception and can be considered an unnatural beauty.

  I deliberately avoided her, but she still noticed me.

  "Ah Peng, long time no see." she said to me.

  This is actually true, although we were classmates, I didn't often see her attend classes, because I also rarely attended classes.

  "Haha." I couldn't dodge it and responded, "Yeah, long time no see. Are you accompanying your dad to the mall?"

  I saw an old man standing next to her and asked like this.

  But after I finished asking, her face suddenly became very unsightly.

  The old man's face also sank.

  I realize I said something wrong.

  "This is my boyfriend!" Zhao Meng introduced coldly to me.

  "Huh? You've changed boyfriends again?" I blurted out suddenly.

  This time she didn't turn her face away in anger, so I knew I had said something wrong again.

  "No, I didn't mean that." I hastily corrected myself. "What I meant was that you should have changed boyfriends a long time ago. Don't look at how handsome your previous boyfriend was, he's just a playboy. Not as good as the one in front of us now...I mean, this uncle is really great. You've made a good change, a good change."

  "Alright, let's stop here." Zhao Meng interrupted me, afraid that I would say something unreliable again.

  "Well then, I wish you happiness! I have something else to attend to, so I'll be off."

  "Wait a minute, we haven't gotten to the main topic yet!" Zhao Meng pulled me back.

  "What's going on? What's going on?" I looked at Zhao Meng and asked her.

  "Is this fox yours?" Zhao Meng asked aloud.

  "Yes." I nodded, "What's wrong?"

  "Will you sell it to me?" Zhao Meng asked.

  "Want to buy it?"

  I was startled by her words. No wonder I couldn't avoid her no matter how hard I tried, it turns out she had set her sights on Ah Li.

  "Alright, name a price! My boyfriend is the chairman of Hongshan Group, he won't cheat you out of your money." Zhao Meng's eyes sparkled with excitement and pride as she mentioned her boyfriend's identity.

  Damn it!

  No wonder she hooked up with this old man, it turns out he's a sugar daddy!

  I despised the woman in my heart, but I still smiled on my face. Such a person didn't offend me, and I had no reason to offend her either. Everyone has their own aspirations, after all!

  "What did you buy this fox for?" I asked casually.

  "This fox's fur is quite good, I think it would make a nice scarf." Zhao Meng said with a smile.

  Squeak squeak

  The raccoon dog in my arms could no longer hold back at this time, stretched out its head and chirped twice, looking extremely angry.

  "Huh?" I was taken aback for a moment, not expecting Zhao Meng to have such an idea, and her words also startled me. You dare to peel off the demon's skin?

  She hasn't skinned you alive yet?

  Of course, these words cannot be said to Zhao Meng.

  "Name a price," Zhao Meng said with a smile, "I know you're also short on cash lately."

  "Heh heh." I felt a bit disgusted with this woman and coldly laughed, "Sorry, this is my pet, not for sale."

  "Not for sale?" Zhao Meng furrowed his brow, "Are you afraid we'll offer a low price?"

  "Twenty thousand!" The old man beside Zhao Meng's coarse voice came over, "I can give you twenty thousand."

  "Sorry about that, uncle!" I yawned, "No matter how much money you offer, I won't sell."

  "Is it?" The old man chuckled with a hint of jest.

  I nodded.

  "What if I give you 100,000?" said the old man with a big belly again.

  "Even if you give me 10 billion, I won't sell." I said firmly.

  "Is this a joke?!" The old man with a big belly angrily said, "Do you know who I am?"

  "Chairman of the Red Mountain Group?" I just heard Zhao Meng mention it. The Red Mountain Group is the first private enterprise in Hongshan City, and can be said to be the economic leader. It's said that even the mayor has to show respect when meeting with the group's boss.

  What does this have to do with me? I'm not the mayor or a government official, nothing at all, no need to find such a backer.

  "Do you believe it? I can make sure you don't get your graduation certificate with just one sentence!" He glared at me, his eyes narrowing into a line, threateningly.

  "No need to trouble you, sir!" I thought he was going to threaten me somehow, but instead he brought up the issue of graduation, which made me very happy. I didn't care about it at all. The university I attended was a crappy one anyway, and whether or not I had a diploma really didn't matter. "Don't worry, sir, I wasn't planning on graduating anyway."

  "Aren't you afraid of not being able to find a job?" he asked again.

  "I don't want to work anymore, it's so comfortable sleeping all day," I said with a smile.

  "Little kid, I see you don't dare drink the toast, so you'll have to drink the penalty wine!" Seeing that I wasn't intimidated, that old fellow put on a show again.

  "I'm busy today and don't have time to drink with you! You old couples can continue on your own! You'd better keep that money for yourself to buy medicine!"

  I'm too lazy to bother with him anymore, so I turned around and was about to leave.

  "Ah Peng, isn't that a bit too much? Offending Director Jiang won't bring you any good fortune!" Zhao Meng also warned me with a gloomy face.

  "If there's no good food, then I'll eat the bad. As long as I don't starve to death, that's all that matters." I shook my head, chuckled and turned around to leave.