Peach Blossom Land On Longyin Island Chapter 31

Catching snakes

After searching for nearly a morning, although I found a few snakes, I didn’t see a five-step snake.When the sun rose above our heads and it was noon, the group gathered together and sat on the pile of stones to eat and take a rest.An Xiaojin ate all the way and was naturally not hungry. He was still running around on the hillside, happily chasing small animals that were disturbed under the pile of rocks.

For the sake of convenience, the group brought only dry food, and the dry food did not taste good.Anle took a few bites, calmed his stomach casually, and then let it go.Upon seeing this, An Xiaoyu handed over a skin bag filled with water, and then took out two pears from the bag and gave them to An Le and An’s father.

An Le didn’t expect that An Xiaoyu was still carrying pears. They were walking all the way. In order to reduce the burden, the group tried to bring only the necessities: snake hooks, snake forks, snake bags and other snake catching tools. Not to mention, An Xiaoyu and other members of the hunting team also brought bows, arrows, spears and other weapons, as well as some basic medicinal herbs and antidotes to deal with emergencies.

Anle gave An Xiaoyu an approving look and gnawed on the pear.

An’s father sat on the stone, took the pear and looked at the two of them smiling, and said, “Fortunately, Xiaoyu is careful, so he will give you a cushion first, and dad will catch fish for you to eat tonight.”

“No, dad.” An Le finished chewing the pear in two or two mouths, threw the pear core back, reached out to An Xiaoyu for a handkerchief to wipe his hands, and said, “Let An Xiaoyu catch it.”

An’s father smiled and put his pear in Anle’s hand and said, “Father, go catch it. Dad is very good at catching fish.”

“Dad, eat it,” Anle pushed the pear back again, “It’s so sweet.”

“There’s more,” An Xiaoyu interjected, taking out two more pears from his backpack and handing another one to An Le, “Dad picked the pears back. Every time he comes back from herbal medicine, he always brings a lot of sweet fruits.”

An’s father looked at Anle lovingly: “If you like it, I will pick it when you go back. There is nothing delicious in the village, but the wild fruits on the mountain are very sweet.”

Anmi, who was sitting next to An’s father, smiled and continued: “Your father is more energetic every time he goes out to look for fruits than for herbs. Mulberries and raspberries in the spring, bayberry and berries in the summer, and pomegranates and sorbets in the autumn. Which ones are sweet and which ones are astringent. In the whole village, your father knows best. One year, your father and I went to the mountains to pick herbs. Spring had just begun at that time, and there were no ripe fruits on the mountains. Your father searched for a whole day and couldn’t find it. Looking at the sky,It was getting dark, but your father said nothing and insisted on bringing something back.I asked your father why he had to look for it, and Xiao Lele would be disappointed if he went back empty-handed.But there was no fruit at that time. In the end, we had no choice but to find a bright red plum in bloom, and finally we picked a few red plums.”

An’s father smiled and said, “In the past, every time I went to collect herbs, Lele would come to me and look for fruits in my pockets as soon as I entered the house. If I came back empty-handed, I would cry and make trouble.”

“Thank you, Dad.” Anle scratched his head in embarrassment: “It’s dangerous when it’s dark. If you can’t find it, you can’t find it. Come back early, mother will be worried.”

An’s father looked at Anle with gentle eyes and said, “Dad can find it. If you like it, dad will keep picking it for you.”

“Thank you, dad.” Anle said with a sweet smile.

“Changchuan is so lucky, Lele is well-behaved and sensible, and Susu is lively and cute,” An Mi said with a smile, “It’s not like me and my two children. I haven’t heard a single word of thanks from them since they were young.”

“Dad~” After saying this, Anmai called out coquettishly and pouted, “I told you this when I was a kid, but my brother never said it. And you don’t bring us any fruit…”

“Hahaha, yes.” Anmi rubbed Anmi’s head, laughed and said, “You are much better than your brother, but daddy didn’t teach you anything when you were young…”

Listening to the conversation between the two, Anle scratched his head again and said nothing. From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of An’s father smiling at Anmi and Anmai, who were talking back and forth, with an inexplicable emotion in his eyes.Anle bit into the pear, thoughtfully pondering the meaning of that look.At this moment, An Xiaojin’s voice screamed happily not far away.

An Le heard the news and went to see An Xiaojin wagging his tail and circling a pile of rubble, as if he had discovered something.

“An Xiaojin seems to have discovered snakes again.” Anle said, got up and walked towards An Xiaojin.

Since Anle let An Xiaojin smell the smell of snakes, An Xiaojin has become the main force in finding snakes with his sensitive sense of smell, and has never failed. However, he can only confirm that there is a snake, but cannot confirm what kind of snake it is.

What they need is the highly venomous five-step snake, or the less powerful white snake, but so far they haven’t found any.Fortunately, there was still plenty of time. They brought two days of dry food with them this time and planned to go back before dark tomorrow.

The snake that An Xiaojin discovered this time was hidden under a pile of rocks. It seemed to be an abandoned nest of some small animal.Several people moved away the rocks at the entrance of the cave and looked into the cave.The inside of the cave is full of twists and turns and is so dark that no one can see into the depths of the cave.

“It looks very deep and winding, and the bamboo pole cannot be extended in.” An Chongyang, the elder of the two brothers who are also doctors, said after looking at the cave.

“Why don’t you try smoking.” An Duanwu, the younger of the two brothers, said.

An’s father and An Mai both shook their heads: “The smoke will hurt the snake’s body, and if you are not careful, it may cause the snake to die in the hole. We have to take the snake back alive.”

“Bring a live snake back?” This was the first time Anle knew he had to bring a live snake back, and he couldn’t help but be surprised.

An’s father explained: “The medicinal value of snake gall is highest when the snake gall is taken out while the snake is still alive.”

“But this is a venomous snake, and there is no serum here. It will be very dangerous if it is bitten.” Anle worriedly said, even in modern times, if one is bitten by a five-step snake, if the serum cannot be injected in time, the mortality rate is extremely high.

“Serum?” An Mai asked after hearing this, “What is that?”

“It’s an antidote to snake venom.” Anle replied smoothly.

“Is it an herbal medicine?” Anmai asked again, “Herbs such as Aesculus aesculata, Lobelia lobelia, and Lobelia all have detoxifying effects, but I have never heard of an herb like serum. Dad, do you know?”

An Mai looked at An Mi, who shook his head, looked at An’s father, and asked, “Changchuan, what is serum? Why have I never heard of it?”

An’s father looked at the two and shook his head, and the three of them looked at Anle.

Anle quickly lied, pointed at An Xiaoyu and said, “I heard what An Xiaoyu said.”

An’s father, An Mi, An Mai, An Chongyang, and An Duanwu all turned to An Xiaoyu with curious eyes.

An Xiaoyu touched his nose awkwardly, glanced at Anle, and stammered: “Ah…just…”

“Let’s talk about it when we go back.” An Le interrupted everyone in time and came to An Xiaoyu’s rescue: “It’s quite troublesome to explain. Let’s go back and catch the snake first.”

After finishing his words, Anshun continued: “You can’t use bamboo poles or smoke. You have to dig.”

Everyone also nodded: “dig, be careful when digging.”

Fortunately, the group had anticipated this situation before arriving and brought shovels with them.Just as they were told, the five members of the hunting team started digging holes, while the rest stood guard with snake forks and snake hooks in case a snake suddenly came out to attack.

This hole seemed to belong to a badger or a rabbit. Several people dug along the entrance of the hole and encountered many forks leading to different places. Some forks would meet at a certain fork. In the end, the five members of the hunting team had to dig one fork each of them.

The rest of the people also dispersed, An’s father and Anle followed An Xiaoyu, An Mi followed Anshun, An Mai and An Linmian followed An Tu, An Chongyang followed An Bei, and An Duanwu followed Anton.An Xiaojin rushed back and forth among several people.

They dug carefully and stopped every time they dug a few shovels to see if there were any traces of snakes in the cave. Firstly, they were afraid that they would accidentally hurt the snakes with a shovel. Secondly, they were also afraid that they would dig out a nest of venomous snakes with a shovel or make too much noise and alert the whole group of snakes. They would be injured if they could not cope with it.The best situation is still to wait until you can see the snakes, lead the snakes out one by one, then use the snake fork and snake hook to subdue the snake, and finally put it into the snake bag.

Therefore, the group of people dug for a long time. Anle had gone from being very interested to being less interested. He rested his snake hook on the ground and leaned on the bamboo pole to yawn.

Suddenly, An Xiaojin roared low and threateningly.Anle immediately became energetic, guessing that An Xiaojin had smelled prey, and looked towards An Xiaojin.

An Xiaojin was beside An Duanwu and Anton, grinning and growling at the entrance of the cave.Others also realized that the snake’s nest was probably on An Chongyang’s side, and they all gathered around An Chongyang.

Anton dug a few more shovels, and the cave turned a corner and stopped. An Duanwu squatted down and looked into the cave. The cave was dark. An Xiaoyu lit a fire, bent down and stretched into the cave entrance to light up.

The light from Huozhezi was very weak and could only barely illuminate a few inches of the cave entrance, but the situation inside the cave was still unclear.

“Let’s dig a few more times.” An Duanwu raised his head and said to Anton. Just as he was about to stand up, he was suddenly pushed to the side by a force, and his body was caught off guard and tilted to one side.At the same time, An Chongyang saw from the corner of his eye a long gray-brown figure flying out of the hole. Its long body flew past where he was just now and landed two steps away from him.

It has a huge triangular head that looks like a plowshare, a short and pointed nose tip raised upward, a yellow-white abdomen, and large square patches on its back. The scales at the end of its short and pointed tail are sharp thorns called “Buddha nails”, which are hitting the ground quickly, making a nervous clicking sound.

This was a five-step snake, about one meter long. It was spitting out its long snake tongue and staring at several people fiercely. The two sharp fangs on the left and right sides were clearly visible.

An Duanwu’s heart was beating fast, and he was glad that he had escaped. If he hadn’t fallen in time, those two fangs would have injected full of poison into his body at this moment.

An Xiaoyu reached out and pulled An Chongyang up, asking An Chongyang to go aside and wait with An Mai and An Linmian.At this time, Anton, Anbei, Anshun, Antu, An’s father, Anmi, and An Chongyang were standing in front of An Chongyang, forming a circle around the poisonous snake in the center. Everyone tensed up and carefully faced the poisonous snake with a snake fork.

Anle followed An’s father, and the two of them were on the right side of the snake. An’s father held the snake fork in one hand to be wary of the poisonous snake, and protected Anle behind him with the other.

“Dad, I’m here, you and Anle stay away.” An Xiaoyu said, walked over, handed the shovel in his hand to Anle, and took the snake hook in Anle’s hand.

Father An did not raise his head when he heard this. He stared at the five-step snake in the circle and said seriously: “Take Lele and wait nearby. You are inexperienced. Just take care of yourselves. We will do it.”

An Xiaoyu couldn’t convince An’s father, so he had to say to Anle, “Anle, stay away. I will protect dad.”

Anle nodded, took the shovel, and took a few steps back, but not too far. Anle thought that if an accident happened and the snake suddenly turned its head and rushed towards them, he might be able to use it again, such as hitting it with a shovel.

Anle picked up the shovel in his hand and stared at the five-step snake in the circle with its red tongue and hissing through the gap in the circle. He also arched his body and made an attack posture.

As soon as An Le tensed up, he saw the five-step snake in the circle suddenly launched an attack. The five-step snake did not change direction, but ejected and stretched its long snake body, biting directly at An Chongyang who was directly in front of him.