The Snake Was Pinned to a Branch at Its Vital Spot

Zhou Wanwan climbed onto the wall and saw Old Madam Shen crouched at its base, listening intently.

Zhou Qingyan climbed onto the wall too and said through gritted teeth, "What are you crouching there listening to? What's wrong with you? Do you enjoy eavesdropping on other people's homes?"

Old Madam Shen hurriedly patted her chest. "Oh my! You scared me half to death! I'm listening in my own home. What's it to you? If you've got a problem with it, stop talking!"

The Shen family's eldest son rushed out too. "You little brat! How dare you scare my mother? Believe it or not, I'll bash you to death with a stool!"

Zhou Wanwan held up a brick. "If you dare hit my brother, I'll dare smash you to death..."

"Well, well! You little bastard, you've got some nerve. Go on, try it. Come on, hit me right on the head." The Shen family's eldest son was a rascal.

Zhou Wanwan smiled and said:

"Just try hitting my brother. If you hit him, I'll hit your children.

And don't let me catch you eavesdropping again. You even think you're in the right for eavesdropping? You've got no shame."

Zhou Wanwan couldn't be bothered with them anymore. She turned and jumped down from the wall, which really wasn't very high.

Once they were back inside, Liu Su'e said helplessly:

"Why did you have to go and provoke him?

His son's a thug who goes around the village stealing chickens and snatching dogs all day. It won't be good if he sets his sights on us."

Zhou Wanwan didn't take it to heart. "Everything we own is in the cellar. They won't find it. Let's go look around the mountains..."

Zhou Wanwan led her three brothers toward the mountains. Zhou Qingyan smiled and said, "It'd be great if we could dig up a few more fleeceflowers today..."

Holding up a torch, Zhou Wanwan said, "How could we be that lucky? Let's look around first."

When they reached the mountainside, Zhou Wanwan suddenly heard wolves howling. She said, "Quick, let's climb a tree."

Luckily, they were fast. They had just climbed into a tree when they saw more than a dozen wolves run beneath it.

Zhou Wanwan swallowed. The wolves ran incredibly fast, but luckily they had been fast too.

The wolves kept sniffing around beneath the tree. After quite a while, the wolf king finally gave a howl and called the pack away.

"That was terrifying! Oh, my mother, that wolf pack's presence was frightening," Zhou Qinghe said, trembling as he clung to a branch.

Zhou Qingyan wiped the sweat from his forehead. "These mountains really are terrifying. We'd better not come here so late at night again."

Zhou Wanwan said calmly, "Those wolves are far away now. Let's get down!"

Zhou Qingchen was so frightened that he stammered, "H-how about we just go home?"

Zhou Wanwan said, "It's all right, Third Brother. You'd better not move right now!"

Zhou Qingchen looked at her. "What's wrong?"

Zhou Wanwan gave him a gentle smile. "I told you not to move, so don't move..."

Holding a dagger, she flung it straight toward Zhou Qingchen. He shut his eyes in fright.

Zhou Qinghe and Zhou Qingyan were so frightened that they collapsed to the ground.

After a long while, the two opened their eyes and discovered a snake beside Zhou Qingchen. It was now pinned to the branch at its vital spot.

Zhou Wanwan grabbed the snake, looked it over, and said:

"This snake's pretty good. It came at just the right time.

Look at those fangs. They're sharp and thick. I'd wager it has plenty of venom."

As she spoke, she untied a small clay bottle from her waist and took out a thinly shaved sliver of bamboo.

"The venom of this short-tailed pit viper is hemotoxic. Just a little is enough to make flesh rot.

If we smear it on arrowheads or blades, it'll save us a lot of effort when hunting. If we run into a wild beast or a villain who doesn't know what's good for them, it'll also be a useful weapon for self-defense."

She deftly pressed down on the snake's head and gripped its upper and lower jaws precisely between her thumb and forefinger. With a little pressure, its fangs emerged.

She held the mouth of the clay bottle beneath the fangs and used her other hand to gently scrape the bamboo sliver against their roots.

Several drops of clear, pale yellow venom slowly seeped down the fangs and fell into the bottle.

She quickly plugged the bottle tightly with a wooden stopper and tucked it back at her waist. Smiling with satisfaction, she said, "There, that's better. With this, we'll have a little more confidence when we're in the mountains."

Zhou Qingyan was trembling all over. "Little Sister, can we please not play with snakes? They're too terrifying."

Zhou Wanwan chuckled. "It's all right, don't worry! These herbs can counter the poison. I just need to process them when we get home."

The three brothers didn't dare say anything else. Zhou Wanwan led them farther in, but they had only taken a few steps.

Zhou Wanwan stopped, crouched down, and began listening to the plants.

She heard a foxtail grass say, "That wolf pack went after a goat just now, but the goat got away."

The other foxtail grasses said, "That goat was amazing! It ran so fast!"

"Hehe... Those wolves would never have guessed that the goat was hiding in that tree hollow."

"That's right! That's right! Those wolves are so stupid. It's a shame the goat's leg is lame, and it can't run anymore. It has two little kids with it, too!"

Zhou Wanwan followed the direction they had mentioned and sure enough, she heard bleating from inside a tree hollow.

Zhou Qingyan and Zhou Qinghe grabbed the wild goats, while Zhou Wanwan and Zhou Qingchen picked up the kids.

Zhou Wanwan smiled. "All right, we can go home now."

The foxtail grasses turned even greener with fright. "That human can understand what we're saying! Quick, shut up!"

"Heavens! This human is so scary! Boo-hoo... So scary..."

Zhou Wanwan looked at them and said, "Thank you!"

With that, she led Zhou Qingyan and the others down the mountain. As soon as they got home, they heard Liu Su'e cursing. "Some thief came from who knows where and stole all our rabbits! They'd better hope I don't find them. If I do, I'll beat them to death."

As soon as Zhou Wanwan got home, Liu Su'e wiped away her tears and said:

"Wanwan, all our rabbits are gone.

When I came back from fetching water today, there wasn't a single rabbit left. I don't know which plague-ridden thief stole them."

Zhou Wanwan looked at her and said:

"It's all right, Mother. If the rabbits are gone, they're gone. We have wild goats now.

I was going to raise these wild goats, but it doesn't look like we can do that now. How about we sell the big ones and keep the two little ones?"

Zhou Fusheng said angrily, "This time, I'll build a shed, and we'll lock them up whenever we go out."

Zhou Wanwan nodded. "All right. Father, Mother, don't be angry. I'll sell the wild goats in a bit, and I still need to go to town to buy some chicks and ducklings, and some mousetraps too..."

Zhou Fusheng looked at her. "What do you need mousetraps for?"

Zhou Wanwan gave a cold laugh and said:

"To guard against thieves, of course. We'll put mousetraps all along the wall. Father, aren't you good with your hands?

Find some branches, sharpen them to a point, and stick them in the ground along the wall.

If anyone tries to climb over it, they'll be in for a world of trouble."