But sister, you are a snake, how can you repay kindness?

"Snap."

"Snap."

"Snap."

In the courtyard, Xiao Mo was relentlessly chopping firewood.

Under the eaves of the dilapidated wooden house, a little white snake watched the eleven-year-old boy intently.

This was already the third day she had been here.

During these three days, this little boy named Xiao Mo had caught mice for her to eat every day.

He changed her medicine every day.

The little white snake didn't understand why he was so good to her.

She was clearly just a snake.

And he was a human.

Half a month passed.

The little white snake felt that her injuries had almost healed.

She bit open the cloth wrapping her body; her flesh and blood had already grown back, though her scales hadn't fully recovered and looked a bit unsightly.

But it didn't matter.

The little white snake crawled onto the roof beam and looked in the direction of She Mountain, "I should go back, otherwise Xiao Qing will worry about me."

However, the little white snake felt she couldn't leave without saying goodbye.

She wanted to wait for him to return, to bid him farewell.

In the evening, the setting sun rested on the horizon, dyeing everything in the world red with the twilight glow.

A young boy herding cattle slowly ambled home on a large black ox.

After tying the large black ox outside the door, the young boy walked into the courtyard and shouted, "Xiao Bai, I'm back."

The little white snake descended from the roof beam and crawled to Xiao Mo's side, flicking her forked tongue. Then she turned and showed him her wound.

"Eh? Your injury is healed?" Xiao Mo saw Xiao Bai's wound. Although her scales hadn't fully grown back, it was almost there.

The little white snake nodded, her head tilting towards the distant mountain.

"Are you leaving?" Xiao Mo felt he understood Xiao Bai's meaning.

The little white snake nodded again.

"Alright then." A flicker of disappointment flashed in Xiao Mo's eyes, then he said in the innocent tone of an eleven-year-old child, "You can go then. Be careful in the future, don't get hurt again."

"Hiss hiss hiss~"

The little white snake flicked her tongue, as if agreeing to Xiao Mo, and crawled out of the courtyard.

Outside the courtyard, the little white snake turned her body and glanced back at the boy.

Seeing Xiao Bai turn, the boy waved and shouted, "Xiao Bai, don't get hurt again!"

"Hiss hiss."

The little white snake wagged her tail, like a human waving goodbye, then burrowed into the grass and disappeared.

"Sigh..."

After the little white snake left, Xiao Mo sighed.

How could he help her achieve Dragon Transformation?

This parting might mean they would never see each other again.

As for forcibly keeping her here, that was even more impossible.

Not to mention what opportunities she could find by staying by the side of an ordinary person like himself.

If she wanted to leave and he still tried to keep her, it would only turn this good deed into a bad one.

"Do my best, and leave the rest to fate. That's all I can do."

Xiao Mo put away his thoughts and walked back into the house.

Since things had come to this, he should focus on his studies first.

The village chief was an old Talented Scholar who taught the village children to read and write.

Xiao Mo planned to go and see him tomorrow.

"Sister!"

After the little white snake returned to her cave in the mountains, a little green snake joyfully crawled over upon seeing her sister, coiling around her.

"Sister, where have you been this past month?" Xiao Qing flicked her tongue, looking at her sister with concern. "Little sister looked for you for a long time, I was worried something had happened to you."

"A while ago, I went to catch mice to eat, but I was targeted by an eagle. I narrowly escaped and got injured. A human saved me," Xiao Bai said briefly. "He even gave me a name."

"A name?" Xiao Qing tilted her head.

"That's right," the little white snake nodded. "He said I was as white as snow, so he named me Bai Ruxue. What do you think, is it a nice name? I'll take you to meet him another day, and he can give you a name too."

"Sister," Xiao Qing said helplessly, "Humans are all bad. People often come up the mountain to catch snakes. Have you forgotten, Sister?"

"But Xiao Qing, I don't think you can generalize everything. For example, snakes are not all the same. You are green, and I am white. Not to mention people? There are bad people in this world, and there are good people too."

"Hmph!" Xiao Qing turned her head away. "All humans are bad!"

"But he saved me."

"That's bad too!"

"But he saved me."

"Sister," Xiao Qing said, hitting the rock with her tail in anger.

"Alright," Xiao Bai's tail gently brushed against Xiao Qing's. "Xiao Qing, believe me, he is truly a good person. He saved my life, and I want to repay his kindness."

"But Sister, you're a snake, how can you repay him?"

"Emmm," the little white snake thought seriously.

Suddenly, the little white snake's eyes lit up. "I've got it."

"You've got it?"

"Yes," the little white snake raised her little tail, like a little girl waving her finger. "From today on, I will cultivate diligently, strive to transform into human form as soon as possible, and then repay my benefactor."

"You want to study?"

In the small courtyard, the old village chief, Wang Can, looked at Xiao Mo.

On the stone table in the courtyard lay the medicinal herbs Wang Can had gathered from the mountain that day.

"Yes, Village Chief," Xiao Mo looked up, his eyes filled with a thirst for knowledge. "I want to study!"

"You little rascal, what's the point of studying?"

Just then, the village chief's wife walked out.

"What's the use of studying? Look at my old man, he's studied his whole life and is still just a Talented Scholar. Does he have much money? My uncle works as a blacksmith in town. Next year, I'll send you there to be an apprentice. Learn a good trade, and you'll never starve."

"Mom, I want to study too~" a nine-year-old girl chimed in beside her mother.

"Go, go, girls don't need to study even more. Finding a good family to marry into is the proper thing to do. You must never be like your mother and marry a useless, pedantic scholar, understand?"

"Oh," the little girl nodded, not quite understanding.

Xiao Mo and the Village Chief: "..."

Based on the memories of "Xiao Mo" in this world, Xiao Mo knew the Village Chief's family situation.

The Village Chief was fifty-three years old, and his wife, Chen Hong, was ten years his junior.

They had a daughter, Wang Yan, who was now nine years old, late in life.

Although Aunt Chen always looked down on the Village Chief, she never left him and managed the household meticulously.

"If you can study, then study. If not, it's good to recognize a few characters."

The Village Chief sighed and said to Xiao Mo.

"Mo'er, don't listen to your Aunt Chen's nonsense. Starting tomorrow, you can attend classes in the village's thatched hall. However, the children from this village and the two neighboring villages have paid tuition, so it's not convenient for me to let you attend inside. You can just audit from the outside, alright?"

Xiao Mo's heart leaped with joy, and he quickly said, "Thank you, Village Chief."

"Hmph, studying, studying. Studying will starve a person to death," Aunt Chen muttered, pulling her daughter into the house.

"Don't listen to your Aunt Chen's nonsense," the Village Chief said quietly. "Look, I, the Village Chief, haven't starved to death, have I?"

"..." Xiao Mo's brow twitched. He really wanted to say, "If it weren't for Aunt Chen, you would have starved to death long ago."

But Xiao Mo still nodded seriously, "The Village Chief is right!"