"Grandpa, look!" Li Mingke turned to the first page.
"What is this painting of? It depicts a woman with a human head and a snake's tail, raising her hands to the sky, and then laying an egg."
Turn to the second page.
"The egg was left under a tree. After the woman left, another snake went to sleep under the tree, found the egg, and carried it back to its nest."
"Later, when this snake went out, another snake passed by, also found the egg, and wanted to take it back to its nest."
"Later, the two snakes fought over ownership of the egg."
According to Li Mingke, this book tells the story of two snakes fighting over an egg.
Li Jianshi initially listened with his eyes closed, but as Li Mingke spoke, his brows furrowed more and more, and gradually his mouth opened wide.
He opened the book with a puzzled look.
He glanced at the picture in the book, then at Li Mingke.
Is his granddaughter mentally challenged?
"Mingke, is that what you think?"
“Yes!” Li Mingke said, puzzled. “Is there anything wrong with what I said? It’s just a story like this, you can see it’s clearly illustrated in the book!”
She stroked her chin. "So I think the place described in the book must be a barren land. Two snakes fought fiercely over an egg, and in the end, neither of them ate it, pitifully guarding it. They probably wanted to wait until they were starving and on their deathbed before eating it!"
Li Jianshi suddenly slapped his forehead.
It made a very loud "snap" sound.
"Grandpa, Grandpa, what's wrong?" Li Mingke rushed to Li Jianshi's side. "Are you feeling unwell? Do you have a headache?"
"I have a headache!" Li Jianshi closed his eyes in despair.
He has a headache!
His granddaughter is really stupid, not only stupid, but also has poor eyesight!
“Mingke!” He pulled Li Mingke to his side. “The illustrations in this book aren’t like this.”
Li Mingke: Huh? It's not like that? Then how is it?
never mind.
Li Jianshi simply flipped through the pages one by one, explaining each frame in turn.
"Mingke, actually, this is the story..."
...
In ancient times, the four poles collapsed, the nine provinces were torn apart, the sky could not cover everything, the earth could not support everything, fire raged without ceasing, and water flowed endlessly.
So, Nuwa smelted five-colored stones to mend the sky...
Legend has it that Nuwa built a giant cauldron of stones, used five-colored soil as fuel, and borrowed fire from the sun god. After nine days and nine nights, she forged five-colored giant stones. Then, after another nine days and nine nights, she used a five-colored stone to mend the sky.
Only one piece remains.
This piece was then abandoned at the foot of Qinggeng Peak on Wuji Cliff.
As time went by, the clouds rolled and the years passed, and this five-colored stone was covered with the dust of history.
One day, a fiery red dragon emerged from the auspicious clouds that flowed like silk, coiled its five claws, and rested at the foot of Qinggeng Peak.
The red dragon had been traveling for a long time and finally found a good place to rest, but it was startled awake from its sleep to find a hard object protruding from its belly.
He was so angry he was practically spitting fire. He used one of his claws to dig out the hard object, only to find it was a rock.
He held it in his mouth, about to throw it, when he discovered that his sharp teeth had scratched out a dazzling, five-colored mark.
He vomited almost immediately.
He blew away the dust with his breath and cleaned it with his saliva. Finally, an incredibly beautiful five-colored stone appeared before his eyes.
His eyes lit up instantly.
Dragons like shiny things.
He carefully placed the five-colored stone down and then circled around Qinggeng Peak several times.
There were no other living things around; this was a remote place sealed away by history.
Therefore, this stone is unclaimed.
This made him happy for a long time.
He placed the five-colored stone under his tongue and couldn't wait to ride the clouds back to his dwelling place.
He loved this five-colored stone so much!
Even in his own territory, he still feared the covetousness of other creatures.
After all, this is one of the most beautiful stones in the world.
So he carried the five-colored stone with him almost everywhere he went.
During the day, he would fly and hide the five-colored stone under his reverse scale, and at night when he slept, he would hold it in his mouth.
When there's nothing to do, I take it out and touch it, lick it.
Because of the five-colored stone, he found that the times he used to find boring had become short.
He wished he could merge with the five-colored stone.
He hoped it wasn't just a cold, unresponsive stone.
So he made a bold decision.
Finally, on a certain evening when the sun was setting like blood and the sky was full of rosy clouds, he took out his three precious drops of heart's blood without hesitation and carefully dripped them one by one onto the five-colored stone.
At the same time, he offered his most sincere prayers.
Heaven did not let him down.
This five-colored stone came to possess sentience.
The newly born five-colored stone was like a pure and flawless blank sheet of paper, feeling unfamiliar and curious about everything around it, and was completely bewildered.
However, whenever he called out, she would always respond with a voice as clear and melodious as heavenly music, like jade gently clashing together.
He was overjoyed.
The loss of his heart's blood had severely weakened him. But what did that matter? He had gained a gemstone that belonged only to him, the most beautiful gemstone in the world.
So he stopped going anywhere and stayed in his cave all day, talking to his five-colored stone.
He showed unprecedented patience.
Like raising a baby, everything starts from scratch.
From the very beginning of my babbling to the later fluent conversations with him, it was all thanks to him.
He poured all his love and emotion into this stone.
The five-colored stone still clung to him every day: either beneath his most sensitive spot or on his lips and tongue.
He couldn't let her go for even a moment.
She listened as he recounted the places he had traveled to—the boundless desert, the towering snow-capped mountains, the surging sea…
And in thrilling battles, he displayed unparalleled courage and wisdom, turning danger into safety time and time again amidst bloodshed and defeating powerful enemies.
Those were things she had never seen before and could never imagine.
She was merely a stone that had been forged, and it was through him that she came to life.
From the very beginning, she failed in her responsibilities; she was a stone left to mend the sky beneath Qinggeng Peak.
She has experienced countless heavy snowfalls and felt the gentle caress of water droplets countless times.
From the very beginning, she never moved; the only companion she had was an old pine tree behind her.
But she immersed herself in his stories.
Until one time...
"...A red sparrow flew by carrying nine ears of rice. I startled her, and she opened her mouth, causing the nine ears of rice to fall out. The nine ears of rice were of a different color, and if you planted them immediately after they fell to the ground, jade dew would appear!"
As he spoke, he mimicked the scene and yelled at the little bird outside the cave. The poor bird, who was pecking at its feathers, was so frightened that it fell headfirst into the air. It only realized what was happening in mid-air and flapped its wings to fly away.
She laughed.
Laughter struck his heart.
He swooped down, coiled his tail around her, and began to lick her with his tongue.
"All different colors? What do you mean by different colors?" she asked.
"Unusual color, well..."
What is it?
He couldn't explain it either.
“I’ll bring it back for you to see. I know where the red sparrows fly over. I’ll wait under the tree where they rest, and as soon as they fly over, I’ll open my mouth.”
"Won't the Danques be terrified? What will they do without Jiu Suihe?" she asked.
“They’re incredibly bold! Losing one nine-eared rice stalk is no big deal; they’ll just go find the next one,” he reassured her.
What a kind-hearted child.
He licked it again and again.
Should I tell her that this is a dog-eat-dog world?
Forget it, let's just not do it!
She won't go anywhere; she'll stay by his side and he'll protect her from the wind and rain.
After a long time, he finally left the cave once again.
It was just for the nine ears of rice she wanted to see.
His cave was the safest place, so he left her at home.
He was afraid of losing her if he took her out, and besides, she was just too beautiful.
However, what he didn't expect was that what he thought was foolproof still turned out to be a miscalculation.
This is the thing he regrets most in his life.
...
The day after he left, an uninvited guest passed by and also saw the incredibly beautiful five-colored stones in the cave.
If it were any other creature, it would have slunk away long ago, and wouldn't have taken a single step forward no matter how beautiful the stone was.
They couldn't possibly defeat such a powerful creature as a dragon.
However, this time it was a different dragon.
His strength is on par with his.
He was also deeply attracted to her.
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