Tian Tian saw a long black strip on the grass in the distance and thought it was a hemp rope dropped by someone.
Hemp rope is quite valuable nowadays. During the winter, the members of their brigade stay at home to make hemp ropes, which are then sold to the supply and marketing cooperatives. A pound of hemp rope can be sold for a few cents.
Tian Tian was thinking about picking up the hemp rope and taking it home. She took two steps towards it and saw that the "hemp rope" suddenly moved and swam towards her at a very fast speed.
? ! snake!
“Ah!!!!!!!” After Tian Tian saw the identity of “hemp rope” clearly, she screamed and ran like a rabbit, “There’s a snake!!!”
The snake seemed to have recognized Tian Tian. No matter how fast Tian Tian ran, the snake still followed closely behind her.
Shen Lingling, who was picking chestnuts not far away, heard Tian Tian's scream. She threw the basket in her hand to the ground and ran towards the place where the sound came from.
“Sweet!”
Tian Tian, who was running away from the snake, saw Shen Lingling and shouted in a hurry: "Lingling! Run! There is a snake behind me!"
snake? Shen Lingling looked behind Tian Tian and saw that there was indeed a gray snake following Tian Tian and chasing her closely.
Shen Lingling saw that Tian Tian was anxious, she looked around, found a big rock, and ran over to move it.
"Tiantian! Run to me!"
Tian Tian looked back at the big stone in Shen Lingling's hand, gritted her teeth, turned around and ran to Shen Lingling. When passing by Shen Lingling, Shen Lingling threw the stone hard at the snake.
"Bang!" The snake's head was smashed to pieces by Shen Tiantian. The snake's body twitched unwillingly twice before it became completely motionless.
When Tian Tian saw the snake being smashed to death, she collapsed to the ground as if she had lost her strength, and the basket she was holding tightly in her hand also fell to the ground.
She looked at the snake's corpse and burst into tears out of fear.
She was most afraid of snakes and those boneless insects. These days, when she was picking vegetables, she was terrified by the big green caterpillars on the leaves, let alone such a long snake.
"Are you okay, Tiantian? You weren't pricked, were you?" Shen Lingling looked at Tian Tian worriedly. This peach is surrounded by chestnuts. It hurts so much if you prick it.
"I'm fine, I just need to rest for a while!" Tian Tian said while wiping her tears, still a little frightened. She just sat down on the ground and didn't touch Tao'er. She didn't know whether it was lucky or unlucky.
Shen Lingling saw that Tian Tian was fine and had no injuries, so she ignored her.
She moved the stone away, and the snake's head underneath was already a bloody mess. She picked up a large leaf from the side and picked up the snake through the leaf.
Tian Tian was frightened again and didn't dare to look at the dangling snake in Shen Lingling's hand. At the same time, she admired Shen Lingling's courage.
"Lingling, what are you doing?"
"This is meat!" Shen Lingling was not afraid at all. In her eyes, this was not a snake, but meat that she had not eaten for a long time.
Shen Lingling put the snake at the bottom of the basket and picked up the chestnuts that had fallen around.
Tian Tian felt a little embarrassed watching Shen Lingling busying herself. She sat on the ground to calm down for a while, suppressed her fear, and helped Shen Lingling pick chestnuts. Li Zi quickly buried the snake.
After this incident, Tian Tian no longer had the heart to continue picking chestnuts, so she went down the mountain with Shen Lingling.
Halfway up the mountain, they met villagers who were coming up the mountain to look for them.
"Tian Tian? Lingling? Are you two okay?" asked Uncle Tian, who was in the lead.
They were working in the field at the foot of the mountain when they heard a girl's scream coming from the mountain.
Although there are no ferocious tigers or wild beasts on this mountain, there are many poisonous snakes and some people have even fallen off the mountain. Just in case, they decided to come up and take a look.
"It's okay. We just saw a snake and were scared." Shen Lingling said.
"Snake?" The man following Grandpa Tian's eyes lit up. "Where is it?"
"It crawled over there. It was a gray snake." Tian Tian pointed to a random place and said.
Those people didn't doubt it. It was normal for two girls to be afraid of snakes. They stared at the place where Tian Tian pointed with sparkling eyes.
Uncle Tian ignored them and looked at Tian Tian and Shen Lingling with concern, "Are you two scared enough? Do you want me to take you two back?"
Tian Tian shook her head, "It's okay, uncle. I've recovered now. Lingling and I will go back together. Don't delay your work."
Seeing that the two of them were in good spirits, Grandpa Tian stopped insisting and said, "Then you two should go back quickly."
Shen Lingling and Tian Tian went down the mountain and were about to separate at the fork in the road.
Tian Tian held Shen Lingling's hand and stopped her from leaving. "You killed this snake. You have to take it back. I can't keep it."
If Shen Lingling hadn't been there today, Tian Tian would not have been able to kill the snake. But if she wasn't there, Shen Lingling could still take the snake home.
Moreover, Tian Tian was scared when she thought there was a snake in her basket. Although it was dead, it did not stop Tian Tian from being afraid of it.
"No need. I've already put it in your basket, it wouldn't be a good idea to take it out now. You can take this snake back and stew it, it will help you replenish your body." Shen Lingling said.
"No!" Tian Tian was very daunted. "Let's exchange the baskets. You take mine back. You picked up more chestnuts than me, so I got the advantage."
"Tian Tian! If we bring this snake meat to my house and stew it, my neighbors will definitely smell it. Then everyone will know that the two of us took the snake meat home."
Now everything on the mountain belongs to the state. There is no way to get firewood. In the weather in Northeast China, people will freeze to death if they don’t heat the kang in winter.
But the same cannot be said for wild game. If you catch snakes, rabbits, pheasants, etc., you have to hand them over to the team and cannot keep them for yourself.
When Old Man Tian chose the residential site, he selected an area of more than one acre. There were vegetable plots in the front and back yards, and the distance between him and his neighbors was also relatively large, so he was not worried about being smelled by others.
Tian Tian also thought of this and looked at the earthen basket in her hand hesitantly, "Then I'll take it home and send it to you after it's cooked."
"Okay! But you don't have to send it all. Just send half of it. I can't ask you to make soup for me for nothing." Shen Lingling was also craving for meat, and she swallowed her saliva and said to Tian Tian.
Tian Tian couldn't help laughing when she saw Shen Lingling's greedy look. "Then I won't be polite to you. But the soup may take a little while to cook. I don't dare to deal with this snake. I have to wait for my grandma to come back before I can cook the soup."
Tian Tian would rather die than touch the snake. It was scary enough just looking at it, so how could she possibly touch it?
"It's okay. I'm not in a hurry. Just simmer it slowly. Good food is never too late."
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