“… When I met that snake, I was still a young and handsome man, just like the young man at the table.”
The green pines and cypresses swayed, leaving mottled marks on the stone slabs on the mountain path. A burst of laughter came from the teahouse beside the road, attracting the sidelong glances of passers-by. An old man inside was holding a teapot, his face flushed, and he said, "It's the same as the young man at that table."
Seeing him pointing at him with his chin raised, Lu Liangsheng couldn't help but smile while holding his chopsticks, and asked Banxia to continue eating and drinking tea.
… The old man spoke very skillfully. I think it was more than once or twice that he said it. It should be a way to attract customers. If you really have seen a snake more than ten feet long, I am afraid your life will be in danger.
While he was thinking about this, the guests at the other three tables also had rich experience in the outside world. When they heard this, some of them raised their teacups and made fun of it.
"Shopkeeper, I'm afraid you made this up yourself."
“Oh!”
The old man glared at him, looking sullen, and walked around twice with a tense body, waving his hands and tapping on the other person's table with his fingertips.
"I am so old, why would I lie to you? I saw the snake clearly, its waist, wow..."
He opened his hand and compared it to his waist: "It's thicker than my waist, and the head is bigger than this table."
Talking about the day he encountered the snake, the old man said that he was very scared and his legs were so weak that he could not walk. It was not until it was almost dark that he went down the mountain and went home trembling.
"That time, I relied on my youth and strength to collect firewood and trap rabbits in the mountains. I didn't encounter wolves, tigers or leopards, but I did encounter that big snake. At that time, I climbed over several mountains and didn't see one or two families within a radius of dozens of miles. Before it got dark, I carried three bundles of firewood and two rabbits and went back the way I came. After all, it was dark in the mountains, and the road was not easy to walk on. If I ran into a ghost, a fox, a rat or a monster, my life would be at stake."
The old man picked up the teapot and poured tea into the bowls of Lu Liangsheng and Wang Banxia. Looking at the interested expressions on everyone's faces, he continued talking with a smile.
"There are all kinds of legends in the mountains, such as loud rumbling noises at night, lanterns lit up for no reason, and the legend of a big white snake. The sun hasn't set yet, and I'm walking like I'm running. I've just come down a mountain, but haven't climbed up another hill yet, when suddenly a gust of wind blows. I can't see clearly, as if there's white fog in the hazy air. I haven't taken a few steps when I hear a hissing sound..."
Outside, two guests came in with bags on their backs. The old man stopped talking and went to greet them.
Wind, white fog... Lu Liangsheng took a sip of herbal tea and frowned slightly. Being able to stir up evil wind and evil fog, he must have some skills in Taoism. He must have cultivated into a demon. But no one knew how long he had been a demon and how deep his skills were.
The guests at three tables who were listening attentively asked the old man's son to add more tea and serve more food, and hurriedly urged him to do so.
"Hurry up and talk." "I'm listening to you. Don't let it stop here."
"Hurry up, we brothers don't need money for food, hurry up and finish your words!"
The teahouse was noisy and a new customer came in. The old man greeted him a few times and invited him to sit down. After wiping the table, he said:
"Don't worry, let me think about where I am."
Wang Banxia reminded him at the table.
"I encountered white fog and heard a hissing sound!"
"Haha, this old man has a good memory." Recalling where he was talking just now, the store owner asked his son to come over to help announce the names of dishes to the customers, and he walked to the middle, stroking his short white beard.
"I still remember the noise, it was the call of a snake. I was young and brave at the time, so I followed the sound, pushed aside some grass, and found a big snake hanging on the cliff in front of a stream!
The back half of its body was still in the forest on the cliff. It was almost as thick as a water tank, with white scales. Its big head was raised, and it kept spitting out its tongue, sucking water into the air and flying it into its mouth. It was so scary that I sat down on the ground with my legs weak, covered in cold sweat.
But unfortunately, the snake seemed to notice me peeping from the side, and it stirred up a gust of wind, which blew me to the ground for a few rounds. When I stood up and looked again, the snake disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The new guest couldn't help laughing when he heard the old man's words and interrupted him: "Shopkeeper, you must be hallucinating. There is miasma in the mountains, and people are inhaling it without knowing it, so you are seeing hallucinations."
"impossible!"
Hearing others' doubts, the shopkeeper almost looked serious and waved his hands: "I won't lie to you. After the snake left, there were stones falling from the cliff and hitting the stream. How can it be an illusion? It's definitely not!"
"You're just exaggerating. Such a big snake didn't eat you, but ran away. Who would believe it if you tell others about it?" A guest shook his head, sat up straight and went back to eat.
There were a few more voices echoing around, and after hearing this, the old man slowly walked back to the stove, rubbed under the cabinet where vegetables were placed, and pulled out an ordinary wooden box.
"You don't believe me? I'll show you something."
He opened the copper buckle and revealed a small piece of fine silk inside, which attracted people at several tables to stop chewing and stretch their necks to curiously see what he would take out.
Lu Liangsheng was facing the stove sideways, just in time to see the open wooden box. When the old man opened the silk, there was a faintly transparent white piece quietly placed inside, which was as big as a human palm.
hiss~~
Seeing the thin piece of scale raised in the old man's hand, the people at several tables couldn't help but gasp. They didn't know what to say for a moment and remained motionless as they picked up food and drank tea.
"This... this is snake scales."
"Is what the store owner said true? Hiss... Such a big scale."
"Then this snake must have become a monster. Its scales are so big, how big must it be? Tsk tsk, luckily we were collecting herbs in the mountains and didn't run into it."
There was silence for a while, and then there was a sudden uproar. Lu Liangsheng finished his meal quietly and watched the shopkeeper put the snake scales back into the wooden box. The Toad Taoist licked his lips, snorted, and jumped back into his disciple's sleeve with his four webbed feet.
"It's just the shed snake scales. Even the demonic aura is gone."
Lu Liangsheng nodded lightly. After decades of fading away, the evil spirit on the scales had long since dissipated. After paying the bill, the waiter helped put the bookshelf back on the donkey's buttocks.
The scholar had just untied the reins from the woodpile when a woodcutter in a sleeveless linen robe came over from the mountain carrying a load of firewood. He put the firewood in front of the teahouse, brushed the dust off his trouser legs, and walked in.
"Old Zhao, you are telling my story to others again. Bring me a bowl of herbal tea!"
The guests at several tables in the teahouse suddenly spurted water or coughed. Lu Liangsheng, who was about to leave, stopped and looked inside in surprise, holding the reins.
The woodcutter was very familiar with the old man who owned the shop. He ordered a bowl of herbal tea and did not even look for a seat. Instead, he took a pancake and squatted beside the stove, ate it up. When he saw everyone looking at him, he could not help but smile on his dark face.
"Why are you looking at me? I told this story to the shopkeeper. I sold the snake scales to him for free. He came by here on his way to collect firewood and got a bowl of herbal tea and a cake for free."
The old man probably didn't mind and let him continue talking. The businessmen and tourists traveling back and forth from north to south might not meet again for several years or even ten or twenty years, so business could still be done as usual.
The woodcutter chatted for a few words, and was urged by the old man to walk out of the tea stall, pick up his load and continue going down the mountain. Lu Liangsheng looked at his back, thought for a while, and suddenly called him to stop.
"Big brother, slow down a bit."