When the first golden-red rays of morning light fell onto the bluestone paving, the roosters raised in the village perched atop high perches, stretched their necks, and let out long, resonant crows: “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”
Amidst the chorus of barking dogs and crowing roosters, the slumbering village slowly sprang to life.
Wisps of white cooking smoke curled upward from the roofs, lazily slicing through the pale blue morning sky.
The children on holiday could never stay still. The moment they opened their eyes in the morning, they darted outside, only returning reluctantly to stuff two baba into their bellies after being scolded in the local dialect by their elders.
Farmers leading young oxen to the fields ambled out of their homes with hoes over their shoulders. Unhurried, they first crouched under their stilt houses to enjoy a rich hit from their water pipes. Only when the pungent smoke drifted away would they fold their hands behind their backs and amble toward the picture-perfect green mountains and blue waters.
In recent years, the Xixiang government had been vigorously boosting local tourism. With Qingmeng Mountain directly behind Mulian Village and its well-preserved ethnic minority architecture, the villagers had reaped considerable rewards.
Over the past two years in particular, the influx of out-of-town tourists had grown steadily, prompting enterprising locals to open guesthouses and farmstays.
If the majority of villagers hadn't resisted having too many outsiders move into the village proper, several abandoned ancestral homes likely wouldn't have escaped demolition and reconstruction.
A rain had fallen the previous night, washing the greenery along the highway clean. It was a refreshing sight—a vibrant, thriving green completely different from the manicured foliage trapped in concrete cities.
A tour bus packed with passengers pulled over to the side of the highway, facing the humid breeze.
—Since most employees brought their families along for the company team-building retreat, Manager Feng Jianguo had simply chartered a bus.
They had originally planned to head straight to Mulian Village, but halfway there, the driver suddenly pulled over.
Nan Zhi leaned back in her seat with her eyes closed to rest, but Zhang Qiuyu, sitting beside her, couldn't resist poking her head out to look. “Oh my goodness! What a long snake! What a pity—it took so long to grow that big, only to get run over by a car.”
Hearing this, the other colleagues on the bus grew curious:
“Whoa, that must be over a meter long, right? Is it still alive?”
“Crushed like that with its head smashed? There's no way it's alive. But the environment around here is really great if snakes that long are just slithering across the road.”
“I was wondering why the driver pulled over before we got there. Turns out he ran over a snake.”
“Sigh. A snake this big... it won't come back to haunt us now that it's dead, right? I read online that snakes and hedgehogs have a lot of spiritual energy, and killing them brings bad luck.”
A snake?
Hearing that, Nan Zhi lazily opened her eyes and turned her head to look.
Sure enough, outside the window stood the driver and the tour guide. At their feet lay a long snake as thick as a child's arm, its head completely crushed.
Having spent her childhood running wild in the mountains, Nan Zhi recognized it at a glance—it was a rat snake, the kind that ate frogs near water.
Both the driver and the tour guide were locals. With cars constantly coming and going on the highway, running over a rabbit or a turtle dove was a common occurrence, so they thought nothing of it. They grabbed a plastic bag, bagged the dead snake, and climbed back on board.
“You folks live in the city where there aren't even any mountains, so you probably don't see snakes often,” the tour guide said. “This kind of snake is delicious. Take it back to stew or stir-fry with chili peppers—it goes great with rice. It isn't venomous, but it eats frogs, so when we run into them by the water, we sometimes just kill them.”
Hearing someone on the bus say running over a snake brought bad luck, the guide wasn't offended. As the bus started moving again, he explained with a grin, “This one today is pretty big. I can take the skin back to my grandpa to soak in liquor—it cures rheumatism!”
The tour guide was a young man in his early twenties named Shi Hongjiang. Though young, he was articulate and sweet-talked easily. In just one morning, he had already befriended many people on the bus.
As he spoke, he playfully held up the bag and leaned closer to Nan Zhi as a prank.
To his surprise, Nan Zhi didn't even bat an eye. She grabbed the limp rat snake through the bag, examined it for a moment, and said firmly, “You can't eat this snake. It's carrying eggs. Eating it will make your mouth rot out. It's better to find a spot to bury it.”
From a young age, Grandma Dao had taught Nan Zhi that animals in the mountains carrying young were off-limits and must be released. Even if one were killed by accident, it had to be buried respectfully.
Eating a pregnant mother beast would cause one's mouth and backside to rot.
The entire bus fell silent. People eating snacks, chatting, bragging, and scrolling through their phones all turned to look, staring at Nan Zhi as if she were an absolute warrior.
—Wait, even though it was a dead snake, she actually dared to grab it with her hands?
And how on earth could she tell the snake was pregnant?
By taking its pulse?
Even Zhang Qiuyu looked at Nan Zhi as though seeing her for the first time.
If that thing had gotten anywhere near her, Zhang Qiuyu would have screamed, wriggled, and scrambled away on all fours like an abnormal titan, putting three hundred meters of distance between them.
“Huh?”
Shi Hongjiang's face fell as he took the snake back and felt it carefully. Sure enough, along a section of the belly, he felt a firm yet soft bulge. “Damn it, there really are eggs inside this snake! Guess we really can't eat it. Not only would my mouth rot out, but my grandpa would give me an earful if I brought it back.”
Zhang Qiuyu looked from Shi Hongjiang to Nan Zhi, sensing a familiar vibe, and leaned in to whisper, “Do you two know each other?”
“We do. We're from the same village. His grandpa and my grandmother are of the same generation, so I'd have to greet him formally if I saw him.”
A faint smile flashed across Nan Zhi's eyes. “When I was little and playing in the village, I was older, so he and the other little kids used to run around chasing after me.”
Zhang Qiuyu vaguely knew that Nan Zhi was on bad terms with her Second Uncle's family. Hearing that she knew Shi Hongjiang, she felt a bit concerned. “Will he tip off your Second Uncle's family that you're back?”
“Tip them off? What do you think this is, a spy drama?”
Nan Zhi found it amusing and wrapped an arm around Zhang Qiuyu's shoulders. “Besides, when this kid was playing back then, he accidentally fell into a manure pit and nearly drowned. I was the one who called people to pull him out. Plus, after my grandmother passed away, the Shi family basically stopped interacting with my Second Uncle's family. Besides, coming back this time, I was planning to visit the old house anyway to burn incense for my grandmother. Even if my Second Uncle finds out, what can he do? I'm not that helpless kid anymore.”
—As if sensing that Nan Zhi was talking behind his back, Shi Hongjiang, sitting up front, shot her a mock glare and childishly bared his teeth at her.
In truth, the Nan and Shi families used to be quite close, and the children of both families often ran wild together outside. However, when Nan Zhi was about to go to college, she had a violent falling out with her Second Uncle and hadn't returned home since.
Later, when Grandma Dao passed away, Nan Zhi feared her Second Uncle's family would make a scene, so even her attendance at the funeral was rushed. That was how she lost touch with the Shi family.
Nan Zhi had never expected Shi Hongjiang to become a tour guide, let alone recognize her at a glance.
Zhang Qiuyu was still somewhat uneasy. In her eyes, Nan Zhi was like a poor girl who had suffered her whole life. If that Second Uncle of hers dared to bully Nan Zhi again...
She immediately clattered away on her phone, sending messages to her husband sitting in the back row, heavily emphasizing that the two of them must protect Nan Zhi at all costs during this team-building trip.
Zhang Qiuyu's husband, who had been virtually ignored the entire trip: “...”
Protect who?
That warrior who just grabbed a snake barehanded?
The wife's best friend who had stolen his wife's soul away?
Or the culprit who stole his seat, forcing him to squeeze together with a bunch of grown men?
With a face full of deep grievance, Zhang Qiuyu's husband stared at the back of his wife's head for a long time before pitifully replying: 【Understood.】
Rate on N.U.
