I'm taking the imperial examinations in Liaozhai

The old man's scalp was numb from the sound of the wind behind him. Seeing that the black shadow was about to chase him, the old man stepped on a smear hole and fell to the ground with a plop.

"Human, this mountain is now the territory of the White Lady. Trespassers are not welcome. If you don't leave quickly, I will eat you." The black shadow stopped ten steps away from the old man. It turned out to be a The huge green snake raised its body and looked at the old man, as if it could swallow him in one bite.

The old man got up tremblingly, bowed his head and bowed his hands in thanks, "Yes, yes, yes, I don't know, I stumbled into this place by mistake, so I'll leave now."

It's strange, he has been to this mountain a few days ago, and he has also been to a temple on the mountain. He didn't see any monsters. Why did a mountain king suddenly pop out.What he didn't know was that when he came before, he happened to catch up with the white lady who was taking the snakes out of the snake temple for revenge, so naturally he had no chance to meet Er Qing.

The old man secretly raised his head. He had never seen such a big snake. The body of the snake seemed to be thicker than his waist, and he didn't know how it grew.Suddenly, he saw a small red spot between the eyebrows of the big green snake, and made a bold guess in his heart.

"Erqing, are you Erqing?" the old man said loudly.

Erqing stopped immediately, raised his upper body and looked at the old man. After sizing him up for a long time, he recognized his appearance, and slowly crawled towards him.The old man put down the bamboo box, and Erqing wrapped around his body along his legs, but after two or three wraps, the old man fell to the ground and couldn't get up.

"No, no, I can't hold you anymore, you are too heavy!" The old man begged for mercy.

Erqing let go of him, "Why are you different from before?"

Shorter and thinner, my face has also changed, and my back is not as straight as before.He also seems to be smaller than before, no, maybe it's because he has grown up.Back then, it could be wrapped around his arms, thighs, and waist to perform, but now, he can't even stand it.

The old man sat on the ground, panting heavily, and touched Erqing's head, "I'm old and useless."

"Why did you come here?"

"I came to find you."

Erqing shook off the hand on his head, and said coldly, "What are you looking for me for? You abandoned me back then, so why are you looking for me back now?"

"I'm old and I don't play snakes anymore. I came to you to bring Xiaoqing back to you."

Erqing's eyes locked onto the bamboo box instantly, and his forked tongue caught the scent in the air.The snake man's bamboo box was handed down from their ancestors. I don't know what kind of bamboo it is made of, but it is considered a treasure. Not to mention durable, it also exudes a faint fragrance, soothing the snake in the box.This scent will interfere with the snake's forked tongue, so that the snake in the box will not be able to smell the smell outside, and will not be afraid or sympathetic. Because of this smell, Erqing outside can't guess what it looks like inside.But Erqing knew that this bamboo box was where the snake man kept his snakes, because he had lived in it before.

Erqing pushed his head against the bamboo box, the old man understood what he meant, opened the bamboo box, and a green snake with thick arms poked its head out of the bamboo box.Seeing a huge snake head suddenly, he was startled, and shrank his head back abruptly.

Seeing Xiaoqing again, Erqing was naturally extremely happy, coaxing softly, "Xiaoqing, don't you remember me? I'm brother Erqing!"

Xiaoqing stretched out her head timidly, looked at the big snake, finally found Erqing's shadow on the big snake, and bravely crawled out of the snake box.

"Come." The huge green snake disappeared, and a handsome man in green appeared on the spot.He bent over, his face was as warm as jade, and he stretched out his palm towards the bamboo box, the red mole between his eyebrows was as bright as blood.

This big change made the old man startled.He watched Xiaoqing put her head on the man's hand affectionately, then wrapped her arms around his body, stretched her neck, and rubbed against the man's face.

"Are you Er Qing?"

Erqing nodded, "Thank you for sending Xiaoqing here."

The old man waved his hand, "Xiaoqing was originally attracted by you, and now that I return it to you, I have settled my mind."

Erqing shook his head, "I didn't attract Xiaoqing, it came back by itself."

The old man froze for a moment, "What do you mean, I remember it clearly came back with you?"

"Didn't you notice, it's Daqing!" Erqing touched Xiaoqing's head, and Xiaoqing rubbed his cheek, looking at the old man.

"Da Qing?" The old man took a step back in disbelief. Why didn't he realize that Da Qing and Xiao Qing look so similar?No, no, not all snakes look the same, can there be any difference.

"You're lying to me, aren't you?" The old man's voice trembled a little. Daqing was the first snake he raised, and although he wasn't the one with whom he had the best understanding, he was the only snake he killed with his own hands.

As a snake charmer for a living, it is almost the same to say that he treats snakes as his ancestors. After all, snakes are his parents. How could he have the heart to kill snakes.However, there are rules in his business. When a snake grows to a certain size, it must be killed, otherwise it may become a sperm.Not to mention snakes, even other animals that have lived with people for a long time and have abnormal symptoms, such as being able to observe people's activities, are all signs of becoming sperm.As for the snake charmer, the purpose is to train the snake to be human, so that the possibility of becoming a sperm is greater than that of ordinary poultry.No matter how much you like snakes, you are still a person in essence, and it is normal to reject goblins.

Back then, after he killed Daqing, he regretted it so much that he dug a hole and buried it properly. He was so sad that he couldn't get up the energy to find another snake to fill the vacancy.A few days later, he settled down in a temple and prayed for Daqing by the way, bless it to be a human being in the next life.As a result, Erqing disappeared that night.He has the habit of letting the snakes out to let the wind out. Every time he goes to a place with lush vegetation, he will let the snakes out for a walk, and they will come back soon.

He waited and waited in the temple until the sun had risen, but he still didn't see Er Qing's shadow.He was very sad, thinking that Erqing had left and would never come back, so he carried the bamboo box and luggage and left the temple.

Unexpectedly, on the way, Erqing suddenly ran out of the grass and brought back a little green snake.When the little green snake first came, it was as big as a chopstick, but it cooperated very well with itself.Not long after the training, he took Xiaoqing to perform together. He always thought it was because Xiaoqing was smart.

"Not all snakes can grow to such a big size." Erqing pointed out, "Xiaoqing was not brought back by me, he was found by myself. That day when I was staying at the Snake Temple, I suddenly heard someone calling After I went out, I saw Xiaoqing, who had become very small. Maybe Xiaoqing had some adventures, and she didn't really die at your hands, and she came here. If it wasn't like this, how could it be here when I left? , do you still have to stubbornly stay by your side?"

"This..." The old man moved his lips, staring blankly at Xiaoqing on Erqing's neck, his mouth suddenly felt extremely dry, as if something blocked his throat.

He didn't even know whether he should cry or laugh, his Daqing didn't die, he didn't kill Daqing, he should be happy, but what followed was deep guilt.Although Daqing didn't die, he did kill it with his own hands. This is an indisputable fact.He didn't know why Daqing returned to his murderer's side and stayed with him for so many years. He was not a good master, and he was really ashamed of Daqing's loyalty.

"Take good care of it, and I will be relieved to have you take care of it in the future." The old man bent even more, as if he had aged several years all of a sudden, his cloudy eyes were slightly red, and he said hoarsely.

"I will."

"You don't want to hurt people anymore. I heard that goblins who do evil are not conducive to cultivation and will be punished by heaven. There is no shortage of you to eat and drink in the mountains. Don't eat people anymore."

Erqing didn't explain that he didn't eat people, but just nodded slightly, "I see."

The old man licked his dry and peeled lips, looked at the two snakes in front of him, and wanted to say a lot in his heart, but he couldn't say a word when he reached his mouth.In the end, he could only say dryly, "Then, I'm leaving."

"Well, take care." Erqing didn't say goodbye. The old man was already very old. According to the human lifespan, he probably didn't have many years to live. This should be the last time they met.

The old man looked at him, and then at Xiaoqing hanging on his body, with deep reluctance in his eyes.He bent down, carried the empty bamboo box on his back again, leaned on crutches, hunched over, turned around and left slowly.

Er Qing stood still on the spot, looking at the old man's back, a little dazed. The old man pushed aside the grass and walked forward. When he passed by, the tenacious weeds bounced back without leaving a trace, and soon disappeared. the shadow.

"Hiss." Xiaoqing's forked snake head touched Erqing's face, Erqing came back to his senses, and smiled slightly, "This time you and him are over, so how about staying and living with me from now on?" ?”

Xiaoqing nodded, and rubbed Erqing's face affectionately.

"Then I'll take you to see our new home." Erqing said happily, turning into a huge green snake.Xiaoqing, who was originally wrapped around his arm, was pushed on top of his head by him. He moved his huge body and climbed up the mountain. Wherever he went, the grass and trees parted from the middle and fell to both sides, leaving huge marks.

The two Xiaohei went to the oasis, but Shalu told Ji Zihe that they had gone home, and hurried back to Zhaoyuan County.

The rushing back and forth exhausted Xiao Hei.After finally arriving at the door of Ji Zihe's house, it was night again.Xiao Hei has experience with climbing over the wall. Last time he climbed over the wall to get in.It's a pity that this time he wasn't as lucky as last time. Just as he climbed up the wall, he was hit on the waist with a stick, and fell into the yard all of a sudden.

"You don't learn well at such a young age, and you actually learn how others steal things over the wall. See if I won't teach you a lesson for your parents." Old man Ji took a broom and beat Xiao Hei fiercely.

"Oh, old man, I misunderstood, this is a misunderstanding, I'm here to find Ji Zihe!" Xiao Hei ran away with his head in his arms, and was beaten by the old man, forgetting that he was a fairy for a while.

"You're still lying, my grandson won't be friends with a kid who climbs up a wall at night, if you don't be honest, I'll send you to the government!" Ji Laohan's men are really rude, the end of the broom is made of bamboo branches, very It's thin, it won't really break people, but it really hurts!

"Oh, I was wrong, old man, stop hitting..."

Hearing the screams from the other side of the wall, the tortoise calmly walked towards the gate.Fortunately, he didn't climb over the wall. He had already reminded Teng Snake that he could knock on the door. What a pity.