father snake

Lingshan Town is very small.

Surrounded by mountains on both sides, there is only one asphalt road running through it, connecting the mountains and the outside. There are only two cross-shaped streets in the town, a main street and a side street. On both sides of the street are pagoda trees planted many years ago. It is very tall, with dense branches and leaves hanging on the high and low roofs.

No matter how the people in Lingshan Town build houses and build houses, the floors are getting higher and higher, but no one has cut down these locust trees that may block the light and hinder the view.

In summer, many people used to sit under trees to enjoy the shade. In the days of autumn wind and winter rain, the sun is bleak, but the atmosphere is really a bit eerie.

Lingshan Town may be a remote place, so there are many strange rumors in the town. Shi Xiaochuan only knows from the words of the adults. It was about 15 years ago when Mama Shi was still pregnant with him. , many people died inexplicably nearby, and some people said that it was because the people in the town disrespected the gods, so they were punished by heaven.

In short, no matter how cool it is outside and how hot it is inside, parents will stop those jumpy kids from running under the locust tree at night.

This has become even more so in the past few days. Before the sun set, the mothers of each family stood at the street corner and shouted loudly, "XX, go home for dinner. You bastard, don't come back and take care of your skin!" .

Because Shi Chen's children, who had always been healthy and pain-free, all fell ill overnight with a persistent high fever, and now they are all lying in the town hospital.

People in the town basically know each other, and the population is small, so everyone knows it overnight. Doesn't this cause panic?

The doctor from the epidemic prevention station in the county also came to see it. They only confirmed that it was not an infectious disease, and then they were helpless.

It didn't take long for these children to fall into a coma.

After hearing the news, Shi Chen's parents, who were far abroad, immediately flew back to Lingshan Town by plane, and brought back a whole team of doctors and medical equipment, filling the entire private plane.

These doctors tried all kinds of methods around those children, but failed to diagnose what caused their high fever and coma. In desperation, they could only try their best to save the lives of these children.

The four children were lying side by side in the hospital, with oxygen masks on their heads and various tubes inserted into their bodies. He kept babbling nonsense, and leaned closer to listen, but he couldn't hear anything.

There was a red blood line on both arms of them, slowly going up along the arms, gradually approaching the heart.

The people in the town are all fellow villagers, and there are naturally many relatives. Every day, people come into the ward to visit these children.

Grandma Liu, a centenarian in the town, also came over tremblingly to visit the sick child, and said, "Could it be that he is bewitched by an evil spirit?"

These parents suddenly realized that this situation is really similar to Zhongxie.

In closed places, there are naturally more superstitious people. What's more, the parents who have already lost their minds go to the doctor in a hurry. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, they will naturally not give up.

As soon as the parents of the several families got together, they immediately inquired about the famous magician and sorceress in ten miles and eight towns.

Tossing and tossing, during the days when Shi Xiaochuan rescued Xiaobai, these magic sticks came on stage after you sang, bustling and clamoring, beating gongs and drums, asking for sums of money, but the effect was Didn't see it at all.

The comatose continued to be in a coma, seeing the breath of the child who had not eaten for so many days gradually weakened, and the red lines on both arms were getting closer and closer to the heart, like a warning light, those angry parents almost rushed up to kill them. He was beaten violently.

A few days later, Grandma Liu tremblingly came over to take a look again, "Isn't there a Lingshan temple in the nearby mountains, and there is an old Taoist priest there, I heard that he is very capable."

These anxious parents muttered in their hearts, since there is such a person, why didn't you tell us earlier?

The people in the town also know that there is such a Taoist temple left before liberation. Now there is only one old Taoist priest left in it, and he does not usually go down the mountain. The grain and oil are provided by the state. Order vegetables, come to town once in a few months, and buy some daily necessities.Every time I saw him, I was wearing that Taoist robe with many patches, a pair of cloth shoes that were worn out, and my thin gray hair was pulled into a bun and fixed with a wooden hairpin.

The people in the town didn't care about him, they didn't expect this person to be a hidden talent.

Almost immediately, led by Shi Chen's father, Shi Anqing, several men prepared some gifts and went to the mountains.But as soon as he reached the entrance of the town, he saw the old Taoist priest whom he hadn't seen for a long time standing there, reflecting the setting sun, his face was blurred.

Shi Anqing nodded and looked at the old Taoist priest, "You've been going down the mountain."

Shi Song took his broken bag, nodded, and said in a hoarse voice, "Lead the way, I'll go and see those children first."

He was originally from Lingshan Town. His parents died when he was young, and he was adopted by an old Taoist priest at Lingshan Temple. After that, he followed the course and became a Taoist priest, and his Taoist name also continued to use his common name.

Shi Anqing was taken aback for a moment, and then he was overjoyed, his eyes flushed with excitement, "Daoist Shi Song, you are really a living god, how did you know that I came to you to exorcise evil spirits! Now, our child is finally saved." The men around They also looked excited and echoed.

Shi Song didn't talk to him, but just looked at Lingshan Town at dusk, his wrinkled face was full of solemnity, it's better that this matter doesn't change, otherwise, he would be sorry for his dying master.

He followed Shi Anqing and his group to the town hospital. There were four beds in a large and bright ward.Today's children are expensive, if there is an emergency, it is tantamount to digging the hearts of their parents.

Shi Song asked Shi Anqing to get rid of these people first, and walked slowly to Shi Chen's bed. The boy who was alive and kicking ten days ago has now lost a whole circle of weight, his face is black, his lips are white and his face is blue, and his breath is dying. There are two hanging bottles in his hands, and the medicine drops drop by drop.

Shi Anqing followed behind Qingsong, feeling anxious, but he didn't ask any questions before Shisong spoke. He was a sensible person, and he could tell at a glance that this Shisong was different from those masquerading sticks.

"Go and get a bowl of black dog's blood, it must be pure black, not with mixed hair." Shi Song looked at it for a while, then said suddenly.

"Ah, ok, I'll go get it right away." Shi Anqing was stunned for a moment and realized, and immediately ran out the door, yelling as he ran, "Hurry up, whoever has a black dog wants a bowl of black dog blood, pure black Dog, Rory's, your one with the white forehead is useless."

After a period of chaos, Shi Anqing came in with a bowl of black dog blood, and handed it reverently to Shi Song. Shi Song took out a crumpled talisman from the broken bag he carried with him, muttering something, but he didn't know what to do. The paper burned by itself, Shi Song threw the ashes into a bowl, and told Shi Anqing, "Every child should drink a little, and they should be able to wake up tomorrow."

The last talisman left by the master was used up, Shi Song sighed, forget it, this is fate, he said casually: "Don't let these children toss those wild animals in the future, God has the virtue of good life, and these wild animals cannot be protected There is a history, this time I got through it, and next time I may not have this luck."

The couple of parents next to him nodded repeatedly, "Definitely, as soon as my son wakes up, if he is naughty again in the future, I will beat him."

Shi Song watched them feed the black dog blood to the children and planned to go back to the Taoist temple in the mountain, but Shi Anqing and the others firmly held him back, insisting that he wait for the children to wake up before leaving, he couldn't refuse, and he also had other things in his heart He agreed and stayed in the only hotel in the town.

midnight.

Shi Xiaochuan took out a small box and put it on the table to feed Xiaobai with milk and take a moonlight bath. He found that Xiaobai would only move when he was in the moonlight, and he usually lay softly in the box. at every turn.

He wondered, could it be that the moonlight still had curative effects, or did Xiao Bai feel better when the weather cooled down in the middle of the night?

He gently put a cricket in front of Xiaobai, and kept sending it to its mouth. Unfortunately, Xiaobai didn't appreciate it. Shi Xiaochuan was puzzled. Didn't the Internet say that most snakes eat living things? Eat insects?

When he was fighting with Xiao Bai, a figure stood in front of the window, blocking his moonlight.

Shi Xiaochuan raised his head, subconsciously stretched out his hand to cover Xiaobai, looked at the black figure that suddenly appeared in front of him with dim eyes, blinked, then laughed silently, and said softly: "Grandpa Shisong."

Shi Song nodded, and stretched out his hand to rub Shi Xiaochuan's disheveled hairy head.

Shi Xiaochuan smiled and asked Shi Song to grab him by the collar and carry him out of the room, the two of them walked to the secluded place without saying a word, Shi Xiaochuan still held the box containing Xiaobai in his hand.

From the moment Shi Song appeared, Xiao Bai has been limp and pretending to be dead.

After these ten days of recuperation, Xiaobai recovered very quickly, at least much faster than humans. If humans were so severely burned, they would probably still be unconscious in the ICU intensive care unit, but what about it?It is already possible to challenge Shi Xiaochuan, because of the problem of food taste.

The scorched snake skin on Xiaobai's body slowly sloughed off, and a new layer of beautiful white skin grew out. The color was smooth and contained pearl white, matched with Xiaobai's slender body and round head, Not at all ferocious of ordinary snakes.Sometimes when Shi Xiaochuan watched Xiaobai raise his head and look left and right, he felt in a daze that this snake probably belonged to a nobleman among snakes, otherwise, how could it be so beautiful and smelly!

"Grandpa, I'm going to the city to go to high school in a few days." Shi Xiaochuan said lying on the grass and looking at the stars in the sky.

"Xiao Chuan, you—grandpa told you a long time ago that you can't leave Lingshan Town, why are you so disobedient!" Shi Song looked at the thin child next to him, feeling distressed.

I remember when I saw him for the first time, he was only five years old, but he looked like he was only three or four years old. He was hiding in the grass and didn't know what he was doing. A worm was being sent into its mouth, and a pair of bony black eyes didn't even reflect light, making it creepy to see.

Shi Song has never seen such a pair of eyes in his life!

The child saw him staring at him, looked at the worm in his hand reluctantly, raised his little hand high, and said in a clear and clear childish voice, "I'll eat it for you."

Shi Song thought, children are really ignorant, they dare to put anything into their mouths, and their parents don't care, so such a small child runs around outside, saying: "You can't eat this, you will get sick if you eat it." .”

The child froze for a moment, then laughed, "No, I've been eating it for a long time, it's delicious." As he spoke, he stood on tiptoe and tried his best to send the worm to his mouth.

Shi Song brought the worm over, looked at the child staring at the worm swallowing, with a reluctant but determined expression on his face, and felt that the child was really cute, "There is no food for you at home. , eat this, where are your parents?"

Shi Xiaochuan sucked his finger, "They were taking care of his younger brother. Xiaochuan did something wrong and ate his brother's steamed eggs, and his father punished Xiaochuan not to eat."

He was a little frustrated, but then he became happy again, "But it's okay, Xiaochuan can eat this." He pointed to the worm in Shisong's hand.

"This kind of worm is delicious, but it's hard to catch." Seeing that Shi Song was holding the worm without intending to put it in his mouth, he said a little embarrassedly: "If grandpa doesn't eat it, can you give it to Xiao Chuan?" ?”

Hearing this, Shi Song scolded the Shi family's parents in his heart, did anyone abuse their children like this?Isn't this child his own?

He picked up Shi Xiaochuan and threw away the worm in his hand, "We won't eat this anymore, grandpa will cook something delicious for you."

He took Shi Xiaochuan back to his dilapidated Taoist temple, and made a meal for Shi Xiaochuan, which was simple scrambled eggs and soy cabbage, which made Shi Xiaochuan very happy. Shi Song told Shi Xiaochuan that he wanted to eat when he was hungry. If you have something, come to grandpa.

After eating, Shi Xiaochuan played in Xiaoping outside the Taoist temple, while Shi Song packed up the herbs he had dried in the yard. After a while, he wondered why he didn't hear the child's voice. When he went outside, Shi Xiaochuan fainted He fell to the ground, half of his body lying in a small puddle silted up by the rain.

Shi Song quickly checked the child's condition, and took off his soiled clothes. When he saw Shi Xiaochuan's back, his hands trembled, and the clothes fell to the ground.Shi Song aged ten years in an instant, as if time had sped up on him suddenly, even the wrinkles seemed to cover his entire forehead in an instant, his cloudy eyes heralded the future, as if seeing this innocent child He died before his eyes, and all this was because of his sins.

He sighed, staggered to the most complete room in the Taoist temple, stayed for a while, and came out with the worn-out bag. He sat on the bed and looked at Shi Xiaochuan, the pale child lying there quietly , as if dead.

After a long time, Shi Xiaochuan finally woke up. Shi Song wrapped a piece of broken jade with a piece of yellow talisman paper full of ancient symbols, threaded it on a red string to make a chain, and hung it around Shi Xiaochuan's neck. Instruct Shi Xiaochuan not to take it off by himself, not even when sleeping and taking a bath!After that, I gathered a lot of medicinal herbs and boiled a bucket of medicine, and soaked Shi Xiaochuan in it for two hours. In order to prevent him from getting bored, I told him some folklore and fairy tales.

He said that 300 years ago, there was a snake demon with profound mana, who did many evils, and was surrounded and suppressed by many Taoist masters. The snake demon escaped for nine days and nine nights, and traveled tens of thousands of miles. Everyone wanted to kill the snake demon directly, because many fellow disciples were killed by the snake demon all the way, but because of some scruples, they could only seal and suppress the snake demon.

Shi Xiaochuan was drowsy from the potion, and asked in a daze, "Where is the snake demon imprisoned?"

Shi Song said, "That's not clear, it happened hundreds of years ago, who knows, maybe even in my Taoist temple."

Shi Xiaochuan felt in a daze that this snake demon was a bit pitiful.

He was locked in the closet by his mother for one afternoon, and he was so uncomfortable that he didn't dare to cry, but it was locked for 300 years.

After that, Shi Xiaochuan ran to Lingshan Temple from time to time, not for anything else, just to find the imprisoned snake demon.

When I was locked in a dark closet, I always thought that if someone could talk to me, I would probably not be afraid.

The snake demon should be the same.

Of course, he has been looking for it for several years, not to mention the snake monster, and he hasn't even seen half of an ordinary snake.

Every time he went there, Shi Song would cook some delicious meals for him, and also let him take the medicinal bath that was said to be good for his body. From time to time, Shi Song forced him to drink some dark Chinese medicine.

The relationship between the two is getting closer and closer. If Shi Xiaochuan were to tell him, maybe Shi Song is his real relative, and the Shi family is just a temporary residence where he has to live.

Shi Xiaochuan said softly, "Grandpa, I have to go out, I can't take it anymore, I know I'm not in good health, if it wasn't for Grandpa's medication these years, maybe I would have—"

He couldn't go on talking, actually, from the guilty and sad eyes that Shi Song looked at him sometimes, the hesitant words, those medicinal baths and traditional Chinese medicines that continued after he recovered, and the taboos that Shi Song repeatedly warned ——Do not expose to the sun, do not drink alcohol, do not touch realgar, do not get too close to crowds, do not get near water, do not...

Shi Xiaochuan knew a long time ago that he was not normal. "Grandpa, even if I don't live for a long time, I still hope that I can live happily during these times. I will walk more and see the outside world and people outside. I don't want to stay in Lingshan Town for the rest of my life."

Shi Song sighed softly, "In this case, you can go, remember what I told you, and I will follow you to leave Lingshan Town. For so many years, the "Snake Classic" that I have been looking for has finally been released a while ago. If you have a clue, if you have this scripture, you will be saved."

"Thank you grandpa for taking care of me all these years." Shi Xiaochuan said sincerely.If it weren't for the appearance of Shi Song, he would probably become a person who only has hatred and ice in his heart, not what he is like now. Although deep in his heart, the blood is still cold, but underneath, there is a faint warmth flowed through.

"What stupid things are you talking about, kid?" As long as you don't hold grudges against me in the future, I'll be content, Shi Song thought to himself.

The two talked affectionately for a while, and Shi Song explained to Shi Xiaochuan one by one the things that should be paid attention to along the way. In fact, they took out those taboos before and re-emphasized them.

The wind is so cool, the starry sky is so far away, the frogs and insects are buzzing in his ears, and finally he fell asleep——

Shi Song gently took the small box in Shi Xiaochuan's hand. He didn't forget to hold the box in his hand when he was sleeping. When he opened the lid, he saw the little white snake looking at him with its head raised high. throughput.

He hesitated for a while, finally sighed, and put the box back into Shi Xiaochuan's palm, "Ah, those children are young and ignorant, but the crime is not worthy of death."

The little white snake flicked its tail and hit the box wall with a "snap" as a response to Shi Song's words, then circled in a circle and continued to bask in the moonlight.