Chapter 45: Snake Handler

It was not easy, but I finally made it up onto the platform. I saw several people standing there. I did not recognize two of them, but I had seen the rest before. They were the lazy-looking soldiers from the small courtyard.

The two I had never seen before were an old man and a young man. The old one wore a gray traditional Chinese jacket with a front buttoned design. The clothes looked rather worn, even patched in places. A strip of cloth of the same color was wrapped around his head. He sat there in complete silence, smoking a dry tobacco pipe, his brows tightly furrowed as if he was thinking about something deeply.

As for the young one, he was dressed quite normally, in a faded yellow military uniform that had clearly been washed many times. A wrinkled military cap was perched on his head. He puffed out his cheeks while blowing into a small jade green bamboo flute. His skill was clearly terrible, because there was not even a sound coming out. His face was red from effort, and the veins on his neck were bulging.

I did not even bother to look down on him. Thinking of myself, San Wa Er, I could make a loud whistle out of a bamboo leaf.

When I looked back at Su Rou’s expression, I figured he was probably thinking the same thing.

At that moment, the snake swarm stirred a little. I turned around and saw that the man who had just delivered the message to my master had come in. Everyone else did not seem to care, so I stopped caring as well. I tugged at my master and asked, “Master, why are you here?”

“Nonsense. Of course I have to be here. Last time I discovered this place is a yin accumulation site. If it keeps developing for another few decades, the entire market town could be affected. It might become impossible for people to live here. If I had not seen it, I would not bother, but now that I have, how can I ignore it?” My master straightened his neck as if annoyed that I had asked such a stupid question.

Su Rou beside me looked completely confused. Born in New China and raised under the red flag, even if he believed in ghosts, he could not immediately accept terms like yin accumulation site or the idea that people might be unable to live here.

I reacted quickly and immediately asked, “Master, so all this huge commotion was caused by you?”

“Yes, got a problem with that?” Old Man Jiang tucked his hands into his sleeves and looked extremely pleased with himself, as if waiting for me to praise him. He always cared a lot about praise from children.

But I looked troubled instead, as if I was genuinely worried for him.

“San Wa Er, what is wrong with you?” Old Man Jiang did not get the praise he expected and instead saw my worried expression, which made him curious.

“Master, I know you want to help the villagers, but what are we going to do now? You told them there would be work points for this. What if there are none in the end? Work points can be exchanged for grain. How are we going to repay that?” I said anxiously. Growing up in the countryside, I knew exactly how important work points were. It was not strange that I thought of this.

The moment I finished speaking, everyone on the platform burst into laughter. Even the old man smoking the dry tobacco pipe, who had looked very serious, cracked a grin. His wrinkled face looked like tree bark when he smiled.

Even the young man blowing the bamboo flute tried to laugh, but could not. His eyes squinted into crescent shapes as he held it in, and his face turned even redder.

“You little brat…” Old Man Jiang could not hold his dignity anymore. He almost spat blood in anger and raised his hand high.

I shrank my neck, expecting the slap. I thought I would definitely get hit, maybe even on the butt. But unexpectedly, the hand never came down. Instead, it gently landed on my head and ruffled my hair a few times.

“Forget it. At least you were thinking about me. You even worried about how we would repay it. That means you do not treat your master as an outsider. I will not beat you today,” Old Man Jiang said, his expression strange, as if he was both touched and trying to act stern.

“Old Jiang, you really have a good disciple. He cares about his master. Look at my foolish disciple,” the old man smoking the pipe said. His voice sounded like two stones grinding against each other.

“What good disciple? I have not even taught him anything yet. He might not even compare to your disciple, Old Wu. Look how serious Xiao Ding is,” Old Man Jiang replied modestly, though he was still smiling in a slightly mischievous way.

“Forget it. Look at how stupid he is. With just these little snakes, he cannot even drive them away. My lifelong skills might end up wasted,” the old man called Old Wu said, scolding his disciple quite harshly.

The young man named Xiao Ding turned around, looked at us, then looked at his master. His eyes were full of grievance.

I felt a chill in my heart. I thought, my fake master has not even taught me anything yet. If he did and I still failed, would I end up like Xiao Ding?

But my master did not know what I was thinking. He directly pulled me over, not quite pulled, more like dragging a bundle of potatoes out of the ground. He even dragged Su Rou along behind me, still clutching my sleeve.

“Old Wu, this is my disciple Chen Chengyi. Just call him San Wa Er. And this chubby kid behind…”

My master did not know Su Rou’s name, so he turned to look at him.

Su Rou was quick-witted. He immediately stepped forward with a silly grin and said, “My name is Su Laifu. My nickname is Su Rou. Master, you can just call me Su Rou.”

Smack. Su Rou also got hit on the head.

Old Man Jiang looked at him and said, “You cannot just call anyone master. Be obedient. Call me Jiang Ye. Laifu, Laifu, that name suits you well. You do have a lucky face.”

Su Rou clearly could not understand my master’s strange logic. He just held his head and kept calling him Jiang Ye over and over. It was completely spineless, like a collaborator. Meanwhile, Old Man Jiang seemed to enjoy it greatly and smiled in a very pleased way.

“Alright, San Wa Er and Su Rou, this is Old Wu. I met him here a few years ago. He is a good friend of mine. He is a snake handler. There is no snake in the world he cannot deal with,” my master introduced him to us.

Su Rou and I quickly greeted him as Grandpa Wu. Old Wu let out a few strange laughs, which immediately gave both of us goosebumps. His voice was simply too unpleasant.

“You two little kids are quite clever. I will give you something small,” he said, handing each of us a small bamboo tube.

We took it and looked. The bamboo tubes were tightly sealed, with several small holes on one end like a pepper shaker. When I smelled it, a sharp pungent odor rushed out. There was also a small hole with a string attached so it could be tied around the waist.

“A small toy, nothing special. Wear it on your waist normally and it can keep away snakes, insects, and rats. Especially snakes. In emergencies, open it and sprinkle some of the powder inside. It works even better,” Old Wu explained casually.

Su Rou and I were both stunned. It was amazing. We immediately treated it like treasure and put it away carefully.

“Say thank you to Grandpa Wu,” Old Man Jiang shouted from the side. We quickly thanked him, especially me, who could not resist taking it out again to play with.

Old Man Jiang ignored us and squatted beside Old Wu, looking worriedly at the sea of snakes on the ground.

“I did not expect such a remote place to have something like this. There is something terrible being raised down there. This is going to be difficult to deal with,” he said.

Old Wu replied, “I do not understand your side of things. You are the expert. I only know that this yin accumulation site has also attracted a snake spirit. That is something extraordinary. Snakes love yin energy, and snake spirits avoid human presence. They rarely appear in the human world. This graveyard is close to human habitation, yet it came here to cultivate. That shows this place is unusual. If it is man-made, then the purpose is hard to guess.”

Old Man Jiang sighed and asked, “Old Wu, are you confident you can move that snake spirit away? It is blocking the entrance to the burial chamber. I do not know if it has already been affected.”

Before Old Wu could answer, Xiao Ding suddenly turned around, finally putting down the bamboo flute in his hand, and said in a northern accent, “Master, I cannot handle it.”

I originally wanted to ask what a snake spirit was, and what kind of terrifying thing was buried underground that could be even stronger than Li Fengxian’s vengeful ghost formed from resentment. But since Xiao Ding said that, I held back. It was better to let them solve the problem first.

He cannot handle it? Was it because the bamboo flute would not make a sound? That was the level of understanding I had at the time, so I could not figure it out at all.

“Forget it. With a snake spirit here, it is normal for the snake swarm to gather without dispersing. Your skill is still lacking. You need more practice,” Old Wu said. Although he scolded his disciple harshly, he still cared about him.

He walked over, took the bamboo flute from Xiao Ding, and sat in his place to blow it himself. Just like before, there was still no sound.

Xiao Ding looked relieved and smiled at me. He was quite a good-looking young man, with big eyes and deep dimples, just a little shy.

“Ding boy, come here,” my master called him over. Xiao Ding came and sat beside my master, his face slightly red and head lowered, not sure what to say.

“Looks like an honest kid. Not like you and Su Rou, a pair of shameless mountain monkeys,” my master said.

So in Old Man Jiang’s eyes, I, the brave revolutionary soldier, was just a mountain monkey?

“How are you so stupid? You cannot even blow a bamboo flute properly?” I leaned over and asked Xiao Ding directly.

“Yes, yes. Otherwise why would I say you should just use a bamboo whistle instead,” Su Rou added from the side.

We both felt that Xiao Ding was too pitiful, failing to make a sound after blowing for so long.