I'm taking the imperial examinations in Liaozhai

"Excuse me, Taoist priest. It's getting late today. The two of us would like to stay in your temple for one night. Can it be convenient?" Ji Zihe suppressed the doubts in his heart and asked, clasping his hands.

"Come in, where did the layman come from? Fortunately, my children didn't see it." The Taoist smiled, and let Ji Zihe and the two enter the door sideways.

"We came from Baihe Town and are going to Honghe Town," Ji Zihe said.

"The layman has taken a long detour. This place is far away from Honghe Town." The Taoist priest led the way for the two of them.

The donkey was tied up in the stable in the yard, and there was always the sound of something crawling in the yard, but because it was too dark, Ji Zihe didn't see it clearly.The bones didn't respond, so Ji Zihe thought he was wrong.The Taoist led the two into the house.

"Hey, it's the first time for both of us to go to Honghe Town. We wanted to ask someone for directions, but there is no one nearby. Daoist, are there other people in this temple? Why do you live here? In a Buddhist temple?"

"It's a long story. You are all hungry. I'll bring you some food. Let's talk about it." The Taoist said.

"Thank you, Daoist, we just haven't had dinner yet." Ji Zihe smiled.

The Taoist priest left the house, leaving only Ji Zihe and Gu Gu.

The smile on Ji Zihe's face gradually disappeared, and he said thoughtfully, "Bone, do you think there is anything wrong?"

"No."

"Then why is a Taoist priest in a Buddhist temple? The temple doesn't look dilapidated, and there doesn't seem to be anyone else in the temple."

"Because, there is no one here at all. The Taoist priest is a snake spirit, and this is a snake den. There are so many snakes living here, so naturally it won't look dilapidated." Bone said quietly.

Ji Zihe: ...

Ahhh, don't you just say that this is a snake cave with a calm face, and say that there is nothing wrong with it.Snake Cave, what's the matter.

"Why didn't you remind me?" Ji Zihe's face turned pale, and he suddenly felt that his hearing was much better.Those rustling sounds that he deliberately ignored before felt amplified several times now, swearing his own sense of existence.

"You don't want to sleep in the wilderness, don't worry, with me here, what are you afraid of?"

Ji Zihe wanted to cry, but he knew that his bones would protect him, but when he thought of being surrounded by snakes, his legs were about to go limp.

Soon, the Taoist came back with some porridge and side dishes, and greeted the two of them for dinner.

Ji Zihe picked up the bowl, looked at the porridge in the bowl, and dared not put down his chopsticks.Is this real porridge or a trick, has it been poisoned?

"Why don't laymen eat?" Taoist asked.

"I……"

"Master, this food is delicious, eat it quickly, it will be cold in a while." Gu Gu ate it with relish.

Hearing what Gu Gu said, Ji Zihe no longer hesitated, he was already starving.I thought to myself, even if the monster wanted to tamper with it, he probably wouldn't tamper with such a poor meal.

While eating, Ji Zihe suddenly heard a strange sound.As soon as he turned his head, he saw a big snake crawling into the house outside the door.The big snake was blue in color, about ten arms thick, with a small red spot on its forehead.It raised its upper body, pointed its snake's head at Ji Zihe and Gu Gu, spit out a snake letter, and its eyes flickered, as if it was about to open its mouth in the next second and eat them into its stomach.

Ji Zihe held the bowl, opened his mouth, and was immediately startled.

The Taoist patted it on the head without any fear, and shouted, "Go!"

The green snake glanced at the Taoist priest, lowered its head, pushed down its upper body, and crawled towards the east chamber.Its body is very long, and it took a long time to crawl into the east room.It coiled up its body, stuffing the entire east room to the brim, with its head facing Ji Zihe's, staring at him with its big nearsighted eyes.

Ji Zihe swallowed the porridge mechanically, feeling a little cold on his back, couldn't help but move his head towards the bone, and the big snake moved his head accordingly.Bone glanced at the big snake quietly, and the big snake turned his head as if nothing had happened, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

"Hey, didn't the layman ask me why there are no people around here? This is the answer." The Taoist said.

"Could it be that they were all eaten by this big snake?" Oops, is it possible that this snake spirit is about to reveal its true colors?He hasn't finished his meal yet!

"Of course not, Erqing is a good boy," the Taoist said.

"Second Qing?"

"That's it. Its former owner named it Erqing. After that person abandoned it, I took it in." The Taoist said, pointing to the green snake.

"Originally, there were quite a few villages around here. This temple was originally a Buddhist temple. There was only one monk in the temple, but the incense was very prosperous, and even many people from other places came to the temple. What do laymen think is the reason?"

"Is the Buddha in this temple very effective?"

"No, if it works, how could such a big temple end up with only one monk?"

"Why is that?"

"The job of monks and laymen is to feed snakes. After being a monk for a few years, the incense in the temple is not good. Many monks can't bear the hardships in the temple. They either return to the vulgar or go to a big temple. In the end, only He was alone. Without others, he was too lazy to abide by the rules and precepts. He only wanted to use his status as a monk to benefit himself, so he started his old business again. He was good at raising snakes, and he was even better at cooking snakes. Locals and even out-of-towners are known to come and try something new.”

"A monk has compassion in his heart. If he wants to kill, why doesn't he return to the vulgar?"

"Probably because he doesn't have to pay taxes. He became a monk to avoid corvee. After becoming a monk, he made a lot of money. He bought a lot of land in the name of the temple without paying taxes. Later, came More and more people eat snakes, and the snakes he raised were quickly eaten up, so he mobilized the local people to catch snakes and sell them to him. He dug a big well under the Buddha seat in the Buddha Hall and caught All the snakes in the well were put in the well. If someone who didn’t know came here, he told them that there used to be snakes in this place, and the Buddha sat on it and suppressed the snakes in the well so that they would not dare to come out to make trouble. If you go out, the reputation of the temple will be even greater.”

"Then what happened later?" Ji Zihe scolded the hypocritical monk in his heart, but his intuition told him that there must be more to come.

"Later..." the Taoist laughed sinisterly, "there were more and more snakes in the well, but they are food, how could the monks be willing to feed them. Just like raising Gu, the big snake began to eat the small snakes, and the body The strong snakes began to devour the weak snakes. Although snakes are cold-blooded creatures, they can only survive on the flesh and blood of their own kind, and they will also hate. Finally, several strange snakes were nourished in the snake well, and they crawled out with the resentment of their own kind. He opened the snake well, released the other snakes in the well, and killed the monk and several snake catchers. The people in the surrounding villages were afraid of being retaliated, so they moved away one after another. The surrounding fields were also abandoned and overgrown with weeds. Later, when I heard about what happened here, I came to the temple, adopted these little snakes, and educated them with morality so that they would no longer make trouble."

Ji Zihe's eyes were wide open, listening to the story, he was picking up the rice, and there was nothing in his mouth, looking down, he didn't know when he had eaten all the rice in the bowl.

"Do you want more? I'll serve it for you again." The Taoist asked.

Ji Zihe put down the bowl in embarrassment, "No need."

"Don't be afraid of Erqing, I raised them, they are very obedient, don't worry about it hurting you." The Taoist said.

As soon as the Taoist finished speaking, another snake entered the door.This snake was thinner than Erqing, with a black body, and looked more reckless. When it saw Ji Zihe, its eyes shone with a strange light, and it jumped at Ji Zihe with its mouth wide open excitedly.

"Go." The Taoist jumped up, slapped the snake's head with his palm, and knocked the black snake to the ground.The black snake glanced at the Taoist priest with some grievances, turned his head three times at a step, and crawled towards the east room shyly.The ground in the east room was occupied by the green snake, so it had no choice but to climb onto the beam, wrap around it a few times, and stare at Ji Zihe covetously.

"It made the layman laugh. These children are close to me, so they will go back to the temple to rest at night." The Taoist said.

"Yes, is it?" Ji Zihe smiled dryly, "Well, we are full and a little sleepy, can you take us to a place to sleep?"

He just wants to leave this room quickly now, who knows if there will be snakes coming to this Taoist priest later, he still doesn't disturb the gathering of these snake spirits.

"Okay then, you two come with me." The Taoist got up, led them to the wing, and then left.

After closing the door, Ji Zihe breathed a sigh of relief, "Bone, there are no snakes in this room, right?"

"Yes." Bones said, and grabbed many small snakes from under the quilt, under the couch, on the beam... etc., opened the door, and threw them all out.

"It's gone now." Bone clapped his hands and said.

"Are there any outside the house?"

Bone nodded, "There are the most on the roof, but they can't get in with me."

"Bone, you didn't remind me that this is a snake cave, maybe you want to eat the snake demon here?"

"How could that be?" Bone said frankly, "How can you think of me like that? Didn't you tell me that you only eat bad monsters and don't eat good monsters? How could I not listen to you? This snake monster didn't touch you , why should I eat it?"

Just kidding, it's impossible not to eat.Most of those snake monsters have evil spirits, so they are definitely not serious monsters.Although he didn't know why these snake demons didn't attack them, he had no reason to eat them.But it's rare to meet so many monsters, it would be shameful if they didn't handle them all at once.Bones had made up his mind. When Ji Zihe fell asleep, he would eat all the monsters in this place, as long as Xiaohezi couldn't see them.

The Taoist priest returned to the house, and the black snake turned into a little girl and jumped off the beam, "Bai Niangniang, why don't you let me eat those two people, I haven't had enough to eat for several days."

The Taoist habitually raised his hand and flicked at his temples, but he didn't feel the broken hair before he realized that he didn't need the current attire at all.He sat on the chair, but it was a woman's voice that said, "Those two people have nothing to do with the snake catcher, why should I kill them while waiting?"

"But that young man looks delicious, doesn't he, Er Qing." Hei Snake said.

When the green snake heard his name, he opened his eyes slowly, and said in a young man's voice, "His smell is indeed very fragrant, but his servant seems a little strange."

"He still has servants, why didn't I see them?" the little girl wondered.

Isn't it because you put all your mind on eating, only focusing on that young man, ignoring everyone else.Didn't you see Mrs. Bai there? She wanted to bite someone as soon as she entered the door, and she deserved to be beaten.Erqing turned her head and continued to sleep.