“Ah! Ahhhhhh!”
Liu Yun never expected to witness such a shocking scene as soon as she entered the gate—or rather, before she even stepped inside. She was terrified of snakes, a fear she had had since childhood. When she was little, she lived in the countryside with her grandparents. Because her grandparents were old, they lived on the ground floor in an old house, so it was normal for there to be snakes, insects, and rodents in the house. One night, a snake crawled onto her bed. She didn't notice it at the foot of the bed and kicked it, only to be bitten. Luckily, the snake wasn't venomous, but she would never forget the icy, cold feeling of it coiling around her foot. Since then, the sight of a snake would send shivers down her spine. Now, Yu Qian was skinning a snake right where she often sat in her rocking chair—a snake almost as thick as her wrist. She immediately felt her scalp tingle and her whole body ache.
Yu Qian, who was skinning a snake, and his father, who was cooking, were both startled by the scream. Yu's father thought something had happened and quickly ran out. The neighbors also heard the noise and were about to come over. Seeing that something was wrong, Yu's mother quickly untied the bag on Liu Yun's bicycle to take it back to the kitchen. Liu Yun also realized what was happening and quickly untied it. The snake was still in the yard, and she was too scared to go in, so she asked Yu's mother to take it inside.
"Little brother's wife, what's wrong?"
"Yes, yes! What happened?"
"No, it's nothing, I was just startled when I suddenly saw that." Liu Yun pointed to the snake in the yard and forced a smile.
A group of people rushed over to find out why, but when they saw the snake on the tree stump in the yard, they knew why. After all, even in the countryside, some women are afraid of snakes, let alone this young girl who grew up in the city. Even among the older folks, there were some who were afraid.
"Wow! Xiao Yu, this snake is fat! It must weigh three or four pounds!"
"Yes, yes! You're in for a treat tonight. The braised dishes are delicious, and have some wine with you."
"It's also good for making soup if you have kids at home; it's very nourishing."
The chattering of the crowd sent chills down Liu Yun's spine. She knew she absolutely couldn't cook that in the pot at home; it was absolutely forbidden.
Yu Qianhe could tell from Liu Yun's motionless stance at the courtyard gate that she was scared, so he stopped chatting, quickly peeled off the snake's skin, chopped off the snake's head, and took it to the kitchen.
Looking at the snake head that was still moving even after being skinned and chopped off, Liu Yun felt goosebumps rise on her skin.
The triplets, seeing the snake's head on the ground, tried to poke it with a stick. Liu Yun immediately forgot her fear and grabbed the triplets, pulling them back. She remembered seeing a news report about a hotel kitchen that had prepared a venomous snake and thrown its head directly into the trash can. An elderly woman collecting garbage accidentally touched it, was bitten, and died from the poison. Seeing the triplets' actions, Liu Yun felt her heart almost stop.
"Yu Qianhe, get rid of this thing right now! How can you just leave something so dangerous lying around? The child is still in the yard, what if he gets bitten?" Liu Yun was furious.
Yu Qian wanted to say that it wasn't poisonous, but seeing Liu Yun's furious expression, he quickly shut up. His intuition told him it was best not to speak, and he silently and quickly cleaned up the mess.
As her husband cooked in the kitchen, Yu's mother began to help, saying, "Take that snake meat away from us, don't cook it. Fourth son's wife is afraid of this stuff."
"What's there to be afraid of when you're already dead?"
"Believe it or not, if you use this pot to cook snake meat today, she'll replace it tomorrow. She'll either disinfect the basin containing the snake meat or throw it away. And the fourth brother, if he doesn't clean himself up properly, he won't be able to get in the door today. Don't believe me? She definitely won't use that knife he just used again."
"Is it really that exaggerated?"
"It's that exaggerated." She remembered that in her past life, her husband was a snake once, and the fourth son's wife saw it. She was in the kitchen when she saw it, and her face turned white. She dropped the snacks in her hand and didn't even care about the children. She went back to the old house and didn't return for a long time. The fourth son took care of everything, such as picking up and dropping off the children. He also delivered the things for the two elderly people. She had no choice but to go back to the old house during the New Year. Moreover, even though she knew that snakes hibernate in winter, she still searched the room inside and out to make sure there were no snakes in the house before sleeping for one night.
When it was time to eat, Liu Yun kept her distance from Yu Qian. Yu's mother knew that Liu Yun was afraid of snakes, but she didn't know why she was so afraid.
"Eat quickly! Don't worry, nothing in the house has been touched, except for the wooden basin that held the snake meat and that knife."
Despite this, Liu Yun didn't eat much, while Yu's father took the snake meat to his old friend after finishing his meal. Although they didn't eat it at home, they couldn't just throw it away, since it was real meat!
After finishing her meal, Liu Yun took a flashlight and searched the house thoroughly. Although Yu Qianhe had already said that the snake was caught by Fu Yao in the countryside, not at home, and that realgar had been placed around the house so there wouldn't be any snakes, she was still worried. She had a real psychological aversion to this kind of thing and absolutely zero tolerance for it.
Seeing this scene, Mr. Yu gave his wife a thumbs up, saying that it was exactly as she had said.
That evening, Liu Yun told Yu Qianhe that he was not allowed to go back to his room until he had washed himself clean.
Even after he washed himself clean, Liu Yun still kept her distance, sleeping in the corner and refusing to let him touch her. This went on for over half a month, which made him miserable. He vowed never to touch that thing again. Besides, his wife had said that from now on, there could only be one of them in the house—the snake or her. If he ate snake meat in the house again, she would leave. How could that be allowed?
There's no way around it; whenever she sees Yu Qianhe's hands, she's reminded of the scene where snakes were wrapped around him while he was peeling snakes, and just thinking about it gives her goosebumps.
Furthermore, who knows how many parasites live on a snake, and who knows how many he had on his hands!
Since then, Liu Yun has never sat on the recliner next to that tree stump again. She also threw away the pot, scalded the knife with boiling water and then threw it aside, never using it again, and even bought a new one.
Seeing that Liu Yun was almost always walking around that stake, Yu's mother simply told Yu's father to dismantle and burn it, and to stop hanging clothes out to dry in the yard altogether. She hadn't hung them out before, mainly because she was too lazy to climb the stairs.
However, seeing how afraid Liu Yun was of snakes, no snakes have been seen in the house since then. If a snake is seen near the house, the group will just kill it silently and will not tell Liu Yun or let her see it.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
