Volume Four: Awakening of Insects Chapter 139: Lele the Little Snake

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Le'er was overjoyed. However, seeing the demeanor of another small golden snake, she felt a bit troubled, and Li Ying shrank closer to Le'er, not daring to move. This small golden snake looked exactly like Jin’er, except its color was less yellow and its crown was smaller.

“Jin’er, is this your wife?” Le'er teased with a smile. “Heh heh… you’re quite the flirt, hurry and call your little sister over.”

Jin’er suddenly slithered down to the ground, moving beside the other small snake, hissing softly. The golden snake stopped being fierce, first glancing at Le'er, then at Li Ying, before suddenly crawling toward Li Ying.

“Le’er…” Li Ying backed away fearfully, tightly gripping Le'er’s arm. She knew well how dangerous the golden snake was; a single bite could be fatal.

“Don’t be afraid. Jin’er is here; it won’t bite you,” Le’er reassured her. “Jin’er, tell your little sister not to bite Sister Ying, okay?”

Jin’er crawled back beside the golden snake and hissed at it. The golden snake slithered onto Li Ying’s instep, instantly coiling around her ankle, flicking its red tongue, and licking her delicate calf. Li Ying trembled all over, her muscles stiffened, but she dared not move or cry out; her face turned pale, drained of all color.

“Sis, it’s showing you affection,” Le’er said.

“Really?… But… but I’m scared…”

Jin’er hissed again at the golden snake. Then it leapt onto Le’er’s shoulder. Seeing this, the golden snake loosened its grip on Li Ying’s ankle, imitated Jin’er’s movement, and leapt onto Li Ying’s shoulder, flicking its red tongue and licking her face.

“Heavens! What kind of snake is this? It’s communicating!” The two old men, Sheng Tian and Sheng Yuan, sighed from a distance. “What a treasure. No wonder Le’er, the wild lad, got so lucky—he’s even got snakes accompanying him.”

“Indeed, such a spiritually connected snake is rare,” Sheng Yuan agreed. “Look, all the other snakes have stopped moving. This golden snake must be the Snake King.”

Sha Qiang, standing at the back, showed a gleam of jealousy in his eyes but remained silent, not daring to speak.

“Snake, you won’t bite me, right?” Li Ying asked nervously. “Come, climb onto my hand.”

Li Ying stretched out her hand. The small snake glanced at her, then slid from her shoulder to her hand, coiling around her wrist, flicking its tongue, and licking her palm.

“Good little thing,” she said.

Li Ying finally relaxed and giggled. Le’er smiled, placing Jin’er on his hand and then kissed the crown of the small snake. Taking the opportunity, the snake flicked its tongue, licking his nose and lips.

“All right, let’s go back,” Le’er said, glancing at the army of snakes behind him. “Jin’er, why did you bring so many snakes?”

Jin’er quickly slithered to the ground with a “whoosh,” and the small snake followed. Together, the two led the snake group back to Le’er’s snake garden. Le’er finally understood that Jin’er remembered him catching snakes and personally gathered the mountain snakes to raise for him.

“Le’er, that snake belongs to me,” Li Ying said with a smile, watching the snakes head toward the snake garden. “I want to give it a name… hmm… I think I’ll call it Lele, heh heh…”

“How come it sounds a bit like my name?” Le’er frowned. “Heh heh… Lele it is, then. It’s a catchy name.”

Li Ying chuckled quietly, walking shoulder to shoulder with Le’er toward the snake garden.

“Le’er, these snakes are wild. According to the Wildlife Protection Law, they cannot be captured.”

“There’s such a law?” Le’er was unfamiliar with these regulations. “Who here would know? Whatever, we’ll raise them first. When the snakes lay eggs and hatch, we’ll release some back into the mountains.”

“That’s true, but these snakes are too varied and hard to raise.”

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Snakes eat snakes, and poisonous snakes cannot be raised together with meat snakes. Also, different species will fight if kept together. These wild snakes are extremely fierce, making them even harder to tame.

“We’ll release the hard-to-raise snakes and keep only the easy ones,” Le’er said, feeling uncomfortable with the fatty meat in his mouth. He glanced at Jin’er. “With Jin’er here, these snakes won’t dare cause trouble.”

Li Ying initially wanted to release all the snakes but couldn’t argue with Le’er. They would keep them for now, and probably no one would enforce the law anyway. However, she decided to release some snakes back into the mountain later to avoid damaging the local ecology.

Once inside the snake garden, Le’er separated the meat snakes from the poisonous ones and further divided them by species. Fortunately, the original snakes were also wild, so they could be raised together.

While Le’er was organizing everything, a crowd gathered outside the snake garden, though no one dared approach too closely. Jin’er and little Lele swam around their owners, and the snakes behaved obediently near them.

Once everything was settled, Le’er took both small snakes out of the snake garden.

“Uncle, sorry to keep you waiting,” Le’er smiled warmly. “Oh… Brother Sha Qiang is back too.”

Le’er smiled generously, as if he had never fought. Li Ying followed silently, the small female snake curled obediently on her shoulder, and she joyfully played with it.

“Not at all,” Sheng Yuan looked at his son, then at Le’er, sighed. He wished he had someone like Le’er—someone who could handle things gracefully, even smiling at his enemies.

The group entered the house and took seats.

“Uncle, Brother Sha Qiang, is there something you wanted to discuss with us?”

Le’er brewed tea and poured a cup for each person. Li Ying, with the small snake Lele, went upstairs, followed by the small golden snake. She did this intentionally, refusing to show Sha Qiang any respect. Seeing Li Ying go upstairs without a word, Uncle Sheng Tian remained silent while Uncle Sheng Yuan smiled bitterly and smoked. Li Ying was not an easy person to talk to; this matter would be difficult.

“Le’er, I’m truly sorry. Last time, Sha Qiang was out of line and offended Li Ying, your niece. We’re here to apologize.”

“Uncle, it’s been so long, why apologize now?” Le’er feigned ignorance. He guessed the reason was Sha Qiang got into trouble in Guangzhou with Li Ying’s cousin and couldn’t stay there anymore, so he came to beg for mercy. “Who still holds a grudge? We’ve all forgotten.”

Still, seeing Sha Qiang’s miserable face was satisfying. It seemed being overly kind wasn’t the answer. The saying goes, ‘only evil can be met with evil.’ Sometimes being firm earns more respect.

Li Ying played the villain, so Sha Qiang behaved like a lapdog, begging for forgiveness.

“Le’er…” Sha Qiang finally couldn’t sit still. “I was wrong last time… it was my fault.”

“Eh… you can be wrong?” Le’er’s face darkened. “You better not bring it up again. If you don’t, I’ll forget it. If you do, I’ll get angry again.”

Seeing the situation tense again, Uncle Sheng Yuan nudged Uncle Sheng Tian, who had been silently smoking. Uncle Sheng Tian coughed, removing his cigarette holder.

“Le’er… forget the past. Since Sha Qiang admitted his mistake, don’t be stubborn.”

“Uncle, what exactly happened?” Le’er forced a smile. “It’s all in the past, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Uncle Sheng Tian and Uncle Sheng Yuan exchanged glances.

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“Le’er, here’s what happened…” Uncle Sheng Yuan explained Sha Qiang’s troubles in Guangzhou to Le’er.

“Uncle, are you mistaken?” Le’er frowned. “My sister has always been here. She’s never been to Guangzhou. I don’t think she’s capable of that.”

“Le’er… stop making excuses. That day… your family’s… Li Ying said if I don’t apologize, I can’t be the contractor… Isn’t that obvious?” Sha Qiang finally lost patience. Le’er got angry hearing this.

“You think I’m making excuses? What do you want?” Le’er stood up. “You have a problem, go find the one who messed with you. Why come to me?”

“You…” Sha Qiang also stood up angrily.

“You… what? Want to fight me? I don’t have time for you.” Le’er ignored him and turned to the two uncles. “Uncles, I’m not disrespecting you. First, this has nothing to do with me or my sister; she can’t fix this. Second, even if she could, she wouldn’t bother. What does it matter to us?”

“Le’er, calm down,” Uncle Sheng Yuan said, looking at his son, also angry. Usually, Sha Qiang was clever, especially in front of officials, but here he was acting foolishly.

Actually, Sha Qiang’s pride was at fault. He always thought himself superior to Le’er and everyone in the village. Coming to beg Le’er was already swallowing his pride; he wasn’t truly sincere. Hearing Le’er’s words, his face turned dark with anger.

“Dad, let’s go. I don’t want to be the contractor anymore. I’ll survive,” Sha Qiang said.

“You’d better leave quickly!” Le’er said coldly. “Take your things with you.”

“All right… I’m leaving…”

“Sha Qiang!” Uncle Sheng Yuan stood up in fury, trembling finger pointing. Uncle Sheng Tian held him back.

“Brother Sheng Yuan, just let him go. I’m afraid nothing will be resolved here anyway,” Uncle Sheng Tian shook his head. “Damn it, do you think your Sha Qiang will ever yield to Le’er?”

Uncle Sheng Yuan sighed and sat down. Le’er sat as well.

“Le’er, I beg you as an old man, please spare Sha Qiang this time,” Uncle Sheng Yuan looked at Le’er. “I know he’s no good, but for my sake, could you let it pass?”

“Uncle, it’s not that I don’t want to. Even if I could fix this, it would be my sister’s doing. If she doesn’t agree, what good is my promise?” Le’er didn’t want to say harsh words in front of the two uncles. “I’ll talk to my sister later and see if she agrees. If she doesn’t, there’s nothing I can do.”

“That’s right. Li Ying isn’t an ordinary person. She suffered a great injustice; how could she feel at ease?” Uncle Sheng Tian smiled. “Le’er, you wild lad, no matter what you say, we all have the surname Sha.”

Despite Uncle Sheng Tian’s stern demeanor, he had a kind heart—a tough exterior with a soft interior.