A villager came forward and asked Zhang Hujun, "Dajun, is this tiger orchid?"
Zhang Hujun nodded, "Yes, she is my eldest sister."
"Oh, you haven't been back for many years, right?"
"I haven't been back to my parents' home in several years. Coming back at this time..." The villager didn't finish his words, but his meaning was profound and everyone could hear what he meant.
Zhang Hulan didn't take such words seriously and let them say whatever they wanted as long as it didn't involve the children.
Zhang Hujun didn't say much to those people. There was no need to explain his own affairs to them.
When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Zhang Hujun asked Zhang Hulan and Li to dig wild vegetables nearby while he and Zhang Xiaojun went upstairs to chop firewood.
Zhang Hujun and Zhang Xiaojun picked out the good dry firewood from the firewood they chopped every day. They used the bad ones for cooking and took the good ones to the city to sell.
There are mountains all behind this place, and it is impossible to dig anything if we squeeze together, so the villagers are scattered everywhere to dig wild vegetables or chop firewood.
When the eldest, second, and third daughters were at Chen's house, they would go to dig wild vegetables every day. They didn't need to be taught, the three sisters knew that those wild vegetables were edible.
Li reminded them, "Sister, don't go to the big ditch. There are snakes there. I saw a big snake last time. It was as thick as my arm. You should be careful. Your elder brother went to look for it. He said he would catch it and sell it for money, but he didn't find it."
Hearing about the snake, Daya and the other two were a little scared, but Zhang Hulan's eyes lit up.
Snakes are good things. Cut some bacon and stew them with a chicken. It's very good.
But there is no bacon, and no chicken...
But if you can really catch a snake, you can sell it for money! Sell it to a pharmacy, and the pharmacy will definitely accept it.
Zhang Hulan asked Li, "Sister-in-law, where did you see the snake?"
Li pointed to a place not far from where they were, "There's a big ditch over there, right in that ditch."
Zhang Hulan immediately walked towards the ditch, and Li shouted from behind: "Big sister, don't go over there."
"Don't worry, sister-in-law, it's okay. I'm not afraid of snakes."
Zhang Hulan walked to the edge of a big ditch, which was full of rocks and some rotten bushes.
There used to be water in this ditch. There was a big cave halfway up the mountain, and water flowed out all year round. But now, after a few months of drought, the water in the cave has disappeared.
Snakes like cool places, so Zhang Hulan jumped directly into the ditch and looked for shady places between rocks and under bushes.
Zhang Hulan didn't hold out hope either. Snakes wouldn't stay in one place for a long time, but big snakes generally wouldn't move from their nests and would stay in the nearby area.
Zhang Hulan searched in the ditch, not leaving out any cracks in the rocks.
Just when Zhang Hulan thought she couldn't find the snake, she saw a snake head in a cave. The head was as big as a baby's fist, and it was spitting out its tongue and looking at Zhang Hulan.
The snake's body is as thick as a human arm, and its skin pattern is yellow with a hint of green and black stripes. It is a rat snake, non-venomous and relatively docile.
Zhang Hulan was overjoyed, at least five kilograms.
Zhang Hulan reached her hand directly into the cave to grab it. The rat snake retracted its head and drilled into the cave, but Zhang Hulan caught the snake's tail.
It is difficult to catch snakes in caves because their scales scrape against the rocks when they are standing upright, making them difficult to pull out.
Zhang Hulan grabbed the snake's tail and loosened her grip a little, and the rat snake immediately drilled in.
When the snake runs forward, its scales will loosen. Zhang Hulan immediately pulled it hard, and with a "puff" sound, the rat snake was pulled out a little.
Zhang Hulan loosened her grip again, and when the snake tried to get in, she suddenly pulled it out. After doing this several times, she finally pulled the snake out.
The snake's body was pulled out, and the rat snake was about to open its mouth to bite. Zhang Hulan lifted the snake's tail and shook it down, and the snake's head immediately drooped.
Zhang Hulan held the snake's tail with her left hand, and stretched her right hand forward along the snake's body to grab the snake's head. She pinched the snake's mouth with her thumb and index finger to prevent it from opening its mouth.
They twisted their bodies and soon became tangled into a ball, tightly wrapping Zhang Hulan's arms.
Zhang Hulan climbed out of the ditch, walked a little further and shouted, "Sister-in-law, are you afraid of snakes?"
Zhang Hulan didn't dare to go over directly, as it would be troublesome if she scared Li.
Li heard the shouting and asked uncertainly, "Big sister, what do you mean?"
Zhang Hulan answered loudly: "Sister-in-law, I caught the snake."
Li was startled and said quickly, "Don't come over..."
"Don't worry, sister-in-law, I won't go there..."
Daya and the others looked at Zhang Hulan in fear. Zhang Hulan shouted again, "Sister-in-law, I'll take the snake to the city to sell it. You guys go back first."
"Why don't you let your elder brother sell it? Aren't you afraid?"
"What's there to be afraid of? This snake is not poisonous. It's icy and cool, and it feels very comfortable to touch."
All the hairs on Li's body stood up and he got goose bumps all over.
Zhang Hulan carried the snake to the city.
The county town is not very far away, but it still takes more than an hour to walk there.
When people met on the road, they saw Zhang Hulan holding such a big snake in her hands and stayed away from her.
Zhang Hulan originally wanted to take it to a pharmacy to sell, but when she passed by a restaurant, she was seen by the owner there.
The shopkeeper immediately chased after her and asked, "Sister-in-law, are you selling this snake?"
Zhang Hulan was stunned. She slapped herself with her left hand. She was thinking about the Dragon and Phoenix Soup before, so why didn’t she think of selling the snake to the restaurant?
The restaurant here definitely didn’t buy it to stew it, stew it into “Dragon and Phoenix Soup”? I’m afraid the restaurant owner doesn’t want to live anymore, the restaurant must have bought it to make medicinal wine to sell.
Zhang Hulan glanced at the shopkeeper and said, "Sell it. What's your price?"
The shopkeeper said, "Your snake is not small, I won't let you down, how about I give you a hundred coins?"
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