When the meeting ended, Wu Chenshui returned home with a heavy heart and saw his wife embroidering clothes with her head down in silence.
"Honey, our little Huan still got chosen." His tone carried a hint of helplessness and sadness.
"I understand. Is it tomorrow?" the woman asked in a low voice.
"Um!"
"Then I'll go and make preparations so that Xiao Huan... can leave looking beautiful."
Hearing this, Wu Mingnian felt a surge of hatred for her parents. It was her first time, and now it was her sister's. Why? The village chief's family had several girls the same age as her sister, so why wasn't his family used?
Seeing her parents' numb and cowardly appearance, Wu Mingnian felt angry.
Sneaking back to her room, she watched her sister diligently learning knitting, embroidery, and studying batik patterns, and her heart ached even more.
"Xiao Huan".
"Ouch! Hiss hiss..." She licked her fingers and said in a coquettish tone, "Sister, why do you walk so quietly? You scared me! Look, I pricked my hand with a needle." As she spoke, she took her small hand out of her mouth and showed it to Wu Mingnian.
"So timid?" Wu Mingnian teased her.
"Hmph! People scare each other to death." She playfully stuck out her tongue.
Seeing her so alive and well, Wu Mingnian made a decision in her heart. Her sister was so good and so lovely, she had to save her and get rid of this damned ritual.
It was almost eight o'clock when it got dark. Wu Chenshui's wife was boiling water, but she was preoccupied and her hands were idly holding the fire tongs.
Looking at the thin cloth shoes on her feet, a faint, flickering red light shone in her eyes.
Inside the cave, Yingzi was coiled around by a white snake. She trembled with fear and let out cries of terror.
"Waaaaah... Help... Help me! Someone save me!" Cries for help echoed in the cave. Xiao Sui was curled up, hugging her legs, her eyes filled with tears.
"Waaaaah... Aunt Yingzi, I'm so scared!"
Yingzi felt a chill beneath her legs, then her eyes filled with terror. "No...no, no, please, no." Yingzi shook her head in fear, repeating the word "no" over and over.
"ah………………"
With a scream, tears streamed down Yingzi's face. Her face was contorted in pain as the white snake's body tightly coiled around her, rendering her unable to move an inch.
"You beast...you beast..." Yingzi's weak voice came intermittently from the depths of the cave, scaring Xiaosui outside so much that she forgot to cry.
At this moment, a woman stumbled out, emanating a strong smell of snake. Her face was deathly pale, but Xiao Sui could tell at a glance that she was pregnant from her slightly protruding belly.
"You...you are..."
"Shh!" The woman gestured for her to be quiet.
"Don't speak, I'll let you out." The woman's voice was gentle, like a warm breeze soothing Xiaosui's desperate heart.
"You..." Before she could finish speaking, she remembered that the woman had told her not to speak, so she immediately covered her mouth.
The woman looked at the pit; it was quite deep, but it didn't matter, because there was a hole she had dug before.
Sure enough, in no time, the woman went down into the pit and left the cave with Xiaosui, while the white snake in the cave paused its movements slightly.
The red forked tongue flicked out repeatedly, and then its green eyes filled with a deep, dark aura. Yingzi took a breath and stared blankly at the only glimmer of light at the cave entrance.
The white snake paused for only a moment, then suddenly began to roll around, causing Yingzi to faint. However, the white snake did not release her body and continued to coil tightly around her.
In this situation, it really can't go out and chase after the women who were released, but it doesn't matter, it can catch a few more after it's over.
"Let's go! Let's find a Taoist priest with profound Taoist skills to kill the demon! Otherwise, you still won't be able to escape," the woman said, holding her belly.
Xiao Sui looked at her and felt that she looked very familiar, as if she had seen her somewhere before, but she just couldn't remember where.
"I'm leaving. Are you alright? Oh, and what about my Aunt Yingzi?...Is she...I wonder if she's been eaten by the snake demon?" Xiaosui seemed to have a lot of questions.
The woman glanced at her and said calmly, "That woman is beyond saving. She's been impregnated and can't escape until the snake cubs are born."
Xiao Sui looked blank, unable to understand what she was saying. "Aren't you leaving?" she asked again.
"Leave? I can't leave. I have a contract that I can't leave for the rest of my life. I don't even know if I'll survive this." After she finished speaking, she touched her stomach.
Her face was filled with a sorrow and despair that Xiaosui couldn't understand.
Whether Xiaosui can escape from the deep mountains and forests is another matter. The woman has done more than enough; there's nothing more she can help with.
Watching Xiaosui's departing figure, she clenched her hands, then gave a bitter smile, turned around and silently walked back into the cave.
After entering the cave, they watched as the white snake coiled around Yingzi, its body shifting. Yingzi remained expressionless, though the snake's green eyes were filled with a cold light. However, it did not harm the woman.
He then suddenly wrapped his arms tightly around Yingzi, as if he were angry, and stared at the woman with his head held high.
"If only I had done all the evil you've committed, why are you doing even more?" The woman's voice made the white snake pause, then it flicked its scarlet forked tongue.
"Hiss hiss hiss..."
The woman was taken aback, then burst into laughter, "Snake cub, it's snake cub again! Your wishes will never come true."
Xiao Sui ran desperately, pursued by several wolves and some other creatures. After all, human flesh was too delicious and very tempting to them.
"Huff huff huff... Help, help me!" He shouted as he ran, but got lost.
Seeing a big tree, she climbed it without thinking, while the wolves behind her howled incessantly.
“Awoo…Awoo…”
They kept circling under the tree, some frantically digging in the soil, some listening intently, and others already gnawing on the tree trunks.
Xiaosui was terrified. Who could save her? She didn't want to die.
Just then, the sound of bells rang out, and the wolf pack quickly left, turning back to look reluctantly at the small ears of grain on the tree.
But as the sound of the bells grew closer, they left, and the spiritual entities dispersed.
Xiaosui dared not come down from the tree until a man brought five corpses to rest under the tree, at which point she dared to come down.
The man looked to be in his sixties, wearing a straw raincoat and straw sandals, and carrying a bell and a gong.
Xiao Sui knew that this was a corpse driver, after all, there were many different schools of corpse drivers in their Miao region, and the tradition had not been interrupted.
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