Dragon and the Twelve Zodiac Animals

The snake Liu Chang'an bought was a king cobra, a name that sounds imposing, as if it were a tyrant among snakes like the king cobra. However, the king cobra also has another name: the rat snake.

The name itself suggests a type of vegetable, which is farmed extensively for food.

The word "cauliflower" is also quite interesting. When used to describe plants, it evokes a beautiful scene, such as rapeseed flowers. When used to describe animals, it evokes a delicious food, such as the rapeseed snake. However, when used to describe humans, it signifies contracting a sexually transmitted disease.

Seeing that the stall owner was very busy, Liu Chang'an didn't ask for help in processing the snake. He put the snake in a bag and carried it away. He then went to buy some old ginger and garlic, as these two ingredients were essential for cooking snake unless it was for soup.

The erratic little plane came to a stop after hitting people. A kind middle-aged man held Zhou Dongdong's head to prevent her from stumbling and falling.

Zhou Dongdong, still shaken, peeked out from behind the signboard of the chicken cutlet shop. Her eyes involuntarily drifted into the shop before she quickly blinked again, focusing her attention on the bag that Chang'an was carrying.

Last time, Brother Chang'an ate a centipede by himself, but luckily Mom had the antidote. Zhou Dongdong still remembers this incident.

Snakes are all poisonous. Zhou Dongdong once watched a TV show where a girl was bitten by a snake, and her brother chased after the snake. Unexpectedly, the snake turned out to be another beautiful girl. From then on, she lived happily with that brother, and every Qingming Festival, she would burn paper money for the girl who was bitten by the snake.

Zhou Dongdong didn't want others to burn paper money for her, so she had to stay away from Brother Chang'an.

Suddenly, Brother Chang'an took off running towards her. Zhou Dongdong was so frightened that she burst into tears and frantically flailed her arms, spiraling away like a shot-through airplane. Lu Si'en followed behind, yelling and shouting, because the Saintess sensed a threat. However, Lu Protector did not know where the threat came from, so he could only bluff and intimidate the unknown enemy.

Liu Chang'an followed behind, laughed three times, and slowly walked back to the residential area.

Shangguan Dandan had already gotten up and was sitting on a long bench, holding her thermos and watching the kettle on the small stove making a bubbling sound.

"Brother Chang'an caught a snake!" Zhou Dongdong rushed past Shangguan Dandan in a hurry, then stood on the stairs to watch. If Brother Chang'an continued to approach her, she could quickly run home; if Chang'an was just downstairs, she could stand here and observe safely.

Shangguan Dandan breathed out a breath into the chilly morning air, tilted her head to the left, then to the right, swaying slightly. Then, puffing out her cheeks, she imitated a kettle making a "beep... beep beep..." sound.

Zhou Dongdong returned first at the speed of a small airplane, but Liu Chang'an was not far behind and returned shortly after. He crushed several snakes and nailed them to the sycamore tree. Then he pulled on their smooth and slender bodies, destroying their intricate skeletal structure so they wouldn't wriggle around.

At the same time, the phoenix tree has the ability to suppress evil spirits and can absorb the vengeful spirits of evil creatures, since snakes are considered very sinister.

Liu Chang'an first removed the snake's internal organs and threw away the gallbladder. Then he peeled off the snake's skin and chopped the snake meat into sections.

Snake skin can be used in cold dishes, and it's prepared in the same way as fish skin. First, soak and roll it in hot water, then soak and roll it in cold water. The scales will easily fall off with a simple swipe.

Through observation, Zhou Dongdong concluded that Brother Chang'an wanted to eat these snakes.

Zhou Dongdong hurriedly went home to find the antidote.

They didn't eat snake in the morning; they marinated it first. Zhou Shuling made breakfast. After Liu Chang'an finished eating, he lay down under the sycamore tree. Zhou Dongdong took two red "antidote pills" that had been held in her hand for a long time and had become damp, and insisted on feeding them to Liu Chang'an. Shangguan Dandan sat next to him drinking effervescent water.

While resisting Zhou Dongdong's attempts to feed him, Liu Chang'an checked his text messages. Tao Peiyuan was going to visit Xiangtan University today, and Gao Dewei had hired An Nuan as her guide. Miao Yingying and Bai Hui were also going.

It's a strange combination, but after thinking about it, Liu Chang'an didn't find it strange at all. They were all old classmates and good friends.

"Brother Chang'an, have you ever eaten dragon?" Zhou Dongdong climbed onto Liu Chang'an and knelt down, continuing to try to get Chang'an to take the antidote while asking the question.

Zhou Dongdong could understand her brother Chang'an's resistance. When her mother fed Zhou Dongdong medicine, she also shook her head and refused to eat it.

"Why did you suddenly think of eating dragon?" Liu Chang'an frowned.

"Our teacher said that a dragon is a very, very big snake," Zhou Dongdong explained.

"A dragon is a dragon. The reason why Emperor Gaozu killed the White Snake was because the White Snake wanted to steal Emperor Gaozu's dragon energy." Shangguan Dandan said disdainfully. As a girl who could be referred to as a "Phoenix", she consciously maintained the majesty of another creature of the same rank, the "dragon".

"Feudalist." Liu Chang'an dismissed the feudal remnants in Shangguan Dandan's thinking with disdain, and proceeded to give Zhou Dongdong a lesson in science. "Look at the twelve zodiac animals, apart from the dragon, which no one has ever seen, the other eleven are all real."

"Brother Chang'an, you've eaten all twelve zodiac animals!" Zhou Dongdong said enviously.

"Is that what I meant?" Liu Chang'an continued, "Dragons actually exist in reality... Of course, I'm not talking about those mythical dragons that control all the waters of the world or have the ability to reverse time and travel through countless worlds; they're not that powerful."

Who is stronger, the dragon or Sun Wukong?

"Sun Wukong... his image, embellished by mythology, often transcends the pinnacle of power in reality. The dragon I'm referring to represents the pinnacle of power in real-world natural creatures."

"Did Sun Wukong ever eat a dragon?"

"Could you please stop bringing up food in every conversation?"

Did Sun Wukong actually eat a dragon?

"How should I know? I'm not Sun Wukong!"

Have you ever eaten dragon?

"No!"

"Aww..."

I told you not to bark like a dog.

"Okay... yes."

Liu Chang'an picked Zhou Dongdong up from his arms and tossed her aside. What an uncommunicative and foolish child.

"Dongdong, where's your antidote?" Shangguan Dandan giggled. She was always happy to see Zhou Dongdong leave Liu Chang'a Shangguan Dandan.

Zhou Dongdong looked at her sticky palms, her eyes widening in surprise as she looked around. "Where's my antidote?"

"You can eat it yourself," Liu Chang'an said.

"Oh."

Qin Yanan sent a message saying that the camel she prepared was a bit big, and it would take a long time to marinate it. Usually, the camels used for barbecue are dromedary calves, but this time they used adult Bactrian camels.

This meant they would have to wait two more days. Liu Chang'an relayed this to Shangguan Dandan and Zhou Dongdong, who were most concerned about the roasted camel. Then he saw the message sent by Su Nanxiu: Li Hongfang's back wound had been completely healed, but there was a type of cell tissue in her body that was exactly the same as the one detected in the remains of the demon monk Rasputin.