Little Girl

The White Snake, who had been observing humans from the slope behind the village, had planned to return to the deep mountains, but on the last day before leaving, she met a little girl.

The girl was six or seven, with her hair tied in twin horn braids and a coarse cloth dress washed pale with wear. She skipped into the Back Mountain to catch butterflies and pick flowers. The Back Mountain was usually safe, with hardly any animals, but today a lame Old Wolf prowled there. Crippled and unable to catch prey, Old Wolf had long been so hungry his eyes glowed green. This tiny human happened to fall into the category of tasty and easy-to-catch prey, so he immediately opened his jaws and pounced on the little girl...

The plot was utterly melodramatic. Just as the little girl froze in terror, about to die in the wolf's jaws at any moment, a flash of white light streaked past!

The White Snake moved with incredible speed, coiling around Old Wolf again and again. It was a snake's killing technique: constrict, then flex and tighten the muscles until the prey suffocated and its bones snapped.

Old Wolf's desire to survive erupted. He kicked and clawed wildly, gouging pits into the ground. His claws scraped across the Snake Scales, leaving several pale marks. Guarding against his fangs, the White Snake had wrapped around Old Wolf's neck from the start. She tightened her coils, leaving him taking in less air than he breathed out.

The little girl sat on the ground, blankly watching the enormous White Snake and Green Wolf fight for their lives.

The wolf's eyes bulged, bloodshot, while bloody foam sprayed from his nostrils...

Snake and wolf, tangled into a ball, rolled across the ground. Gradually, Old Wolf's movements weakened. He was done for. Unable to breathe fresh air or break free of the coils, his consciousness slowly scattered.

Her opponent was dead, yet the White Snake still held tight without relaxing. This was a snake's way of preventing prey from recovering when the period of suffocation had been too short. She kept squeezing the wolf's corpse until its body temperature dropped.

Looking up, she saw the girl hiding behind a tree, peeking at her.

The little thing had real nerve. Back then, Wang Da had been so scared he rolled and crawled away, nearly fainting dead on the spot.

Releasing Old Wolf, the White Snake coiled herself up and curiously watched the little girl. Biting her grimy little hand, the girl looked frightened yet curious. After a wash and tidy-up, she would be quite pretty. To face Fierce Beasts without fear—she was a brave and clever little girl.

One snake and one human simply gazed at each other in silence.

At last, the girl could no longer contain her curiosity and spoke.

"Y-you... are you the Snake Immortal in the Back Mountain?"

"..."

The White Snake was speechless. It seemed the legends passed down years ago had left quite an impact. Even little children knew about snake spirits and Snake Immortals. Otherwise, she would have already wailed and run home.

The snake's head nodded twice, indicating that was correct.

Seeing the White Snake nod, the girl's small mouth formed an O as she stared in shock once more.

"You can understand what I'm saying?"

The snake's head nodded twice again.

The girl was utterly dumbfounded. She even imagined how much attention she would get if she told the other children back in the village. A giant snake that could understand human speech! How magical!

After thinking for a moment, she asked another question.

"Will you eat me? Daddy says the wild beasts in the mountains all eat people."

The White Snake shook her head. Though she wanted to nod and scare the girl, she decided against it. It had not been easy to find someone who was not afraid of her and could chat with her. If she scared the girl away, where would she find another?

"That's great~ I knew someone as beautiful as you definitely wouldn't eat people~"

The girl's childlike innocence showed without the slightest concealment. Had she been an adult, or even a more sensible child, she would have run away long ago instead of staying here to talk. Before the White Snake could react, the girl actually ran over and stroked her Snake Scales with her tiny hands, looking so envious she could scarcely be more so.

"So pretty~ Whiter than the big porcelain bowl in our house, and prettier too!"

"..."

On the hillside lay the corpse of an Old Wolf, while beside it, a six- or seven-year-old girl pawed all over an enormous White Snake. The scene was unspeakably bizarre. The White Snake began to wonder whether something was wrong with this girl's head...

And so, the White Snake, who had originally planned to return to the deep mountains, remained near the village.

Every morning, as before, she climbed a high mountain to practice Breath Control and absorb the mist. In the mornings, she returned to the forest behind the village. The little girl named Yun'er often came to chat and play with the White Snake. When Yun'er grew tired of talking to herself, she would lie on the White Snake and sleep soundly.

To keep Yun'er from being injured by venomous snakes and insects when she entered the mountains, the White Snake drove away every poisonous creature under cover of night. Unlike Wang Da, who had been in his thirties, she did not need to worry about betrayal or deception when facing this little girl. Yun'er came only to play and regarded the White Snake as a friend. Perhaps this was her little secret; she had not told anyone, including her parents.

In the blink of an eye, several months passed.

One day, Yun'er walked up to the White Snake with her head hanging low and sat directly on her body.

The White Snake turned to look at the girl. Her forked tongue brushed Yun'er's neck, tickling her until she burst into laughter. That was more like it. Being happy was what mattered—why should such a young child walk around so dejected?

After laughing herself tired, Yun'er lay on the grass with the White Snake, gazing up at the sky.

"Mother wants me to learn needlework. It's so hard. I've pricked my fingers with needles several times. I also have to learn to cook and tend the fire. She says that for the rest of my life, I'm destined to stay at home, tending fires, cooking, sewing, and mending..."

The White Snake did not know what to say. Tending fires, cooking, and mending clothes were all women did in this era. Oh, and bearing and raising children. If they took even a few wrong steps, they might be stuffed into a pig cage and thrown into a river. That was no joke. Who knew how many pale corpses in the river told tales of injustice? There were countless pretexts for dunking women in pig cages. Women truly held a low status in the Old Era.

Poor Yun'er had only just begun to experience how difficult it was to be a woman.

Gradually, their conversations shifted from games and fruit to Yun'er having to do this and that. She was the older sister, and ever since her younger brother was born, all the good food had to be saved for him. When cloth was bought, he received new clothes first. Yun'er's little body had already begun doing housework. Tending the fire went without saying, and every day she also had to cut fresh grass for the pigs.

The White Snake could do nothing about it.

Summer slipped quietly away, bringing crisp autumn. Yun'er had to help her Household work the fields and had no time to come out and play. After considering it, the White Snake decided to return to the mountains for a few days.

Mountain villages did not produce much grain, so in autumn, people formed groups to enter the mountains and hunt, hoping to fatten themselves up for winter and store food. The White Snake did not want to clash with them.

Winter arrived.

The Hundred Thousand Mountains lay in the south. Even in winter, they remained warm, with temperatures only slightly lower than in spring and summer. As always, the mountains were clear, the waters beautiful, and greenery flourished everywhere.

After hunting fiercely in the mountains and eating enough to pack on winter fat, the White Snake emerged from the mountains once more.

Crossing ridges and streams, she followed the dense forest all the way to the slope behind the village. From afar, she saw a tiny figure sitting atop the hill, watching the clouds. Yun'er had grown much thinner. The White Snake found it hard to imagine that in this season, even the mountain monkeys were plump and round, yet humans—the spirit of all living things—had become skin stretched over bones. It was difficult to understand. Humanity, the most successful product of evolution, had instead become the greatest failure.

Yun'er was overjoyed to see her again. She hugged the snake's head, jumping and bouncing about. The scene remained as bizarre as ever.

Once the excitement passed came a deep, gnawing hunger.

"Big Snake, I'm so hungry. The grain at home was taken away by the clan chief in town. He said it was being used to pay the imperial grain tax, but Yun'er is so hungry..."

The White Snake understood. In this era, common folk were organized around clan surnames. Clan chiefs and elders were like local emperors in villages and towns; whether it was distributing fields, selling land, murder, or arson, it was handled by the elders and clan chiefs. This was what it meant that imperial authority did not extend to the countryside. As the core direct line, clan chiefs and elders used every possible means to squeeze out money and grain. What could poor households use to resist? Shared surname and shared ancestry were nothing but a joke.

After thinking for a moment, the White Snake turned and slipped into the forest...