Chapter 11 The source of cool air_1

After eating their fill, the four of them were not as impatient as before.

However, the two young girls whispered among themselves and did not speak with He Tiantian, feeling that her speaking earlier was somewhat sycophantic. Li Mingkai disliked people who contradicted him even more, turning his gaze away without looking at He Tiantian. Even if He Tiantian was attractive, he wouldn't converse with such a worldly and slick woman.

He Tiantian knew who these two were; the taller girl with small eyes was Lin Xiaoru, and the slightly shorter and plumper girl was Huang Jingli, both from other parts of Su Province. In her past life, He Tiantian was young and couldn't mingle with these older sisters in their late teens. However, at that time, they all lived in the abandoned Land Temple, and these two would often boss He Tiantian around to do chores and sometimes even make her wash their clothes.

As for other malicious intents, He Tiantian hadn't noticed any for the time being, so now seeing these two again, she merely disliked them but couldn't say she detested or resented them.

Nevertheless, He Tiantian smiled wryly in her heart. In her previous life, she was a naive girl unaware of worldliness. Even if others had ulterior motives, she wouldn't necessarily know or be able to discern them.

He Tiantian sat alone on a chair, laying her head on a large wicker chest to sleep. Her whole body felt cool, and soon she drifted off to sleep. When she woke up, He Tiantian stood up, stretched lazily, and regained some energy. Seeing that no one was looking at her, she sat down, rolled up her trouser leg, and checked what was going on with her left ankle!

The coolness of her body started from there, but the sensation was comfortable, not at all like having a bag of ice tied to her ankle.

He Tiantian rolled back her sock and her eyes bulged with surprise, unable to close her mouth. There was a silvery band around her ankle as thick as chopsticks. On closer inspection, this silver band had dense, web-like patterns on it—it looked familiar, yet she couldn't remember where she had seen it before.

He Tiantian rubbed it with her hand, but the band on her leg didn't come off, as if it had grown into her flesh.

It wasn't painful or itchy, but He Tiantian felt uneasy inside and continued to rub, rub, and rub...

Before long, the silvery-white band slid down from He Tiantian's ankle at a visibly rapid speed. This... this wasn't a band, this... this was a silver snake!

He Tiantian finally remembered. In her last moments in her previous life, beneath the persimmon tree, it was this Little Silver Snake that had bitten her, causing her to lose consciousness. When she thought about it again, she found herself back at eighteen years old, back in the home that haunted her dreams for a lifetime.

"Ah!" The sight before her was so bizarre, He Tiantian couldn't help but scream out loud, hastily standing and stomping her feet, trying to shake off the nauseating Little Silver Snake.

Hearing He Tiantian's sharp scream, Li Mingkai, Lin Xiaoru, and Huang Jingli all looked over, frowning slightly, wondering if He Tiantian had gone mad!

He Tiantian explained dryly, "I just saw a mouse..."

Hearing the word mouse, the three of them quickly looked around, but found no mouse. Li Mingkai pursed his lips and said, "With so many people here, that mouse would have to be very bold to come here. You must be seeing things."

"Exactly, how come we didn't see it," Huang Jingli agreed, glancing at Li Mingkai with a shy look in her eyes.

Wow, she's taken a liking to him so quickly!

But Li Mingkai had high standards and didn't fancy the average-looking Huang Jingli.

He Tiantian didn't feel like explaining further and went along with them, saying, "Maybe I really was seeing things."

While He Tiantian said this, the Little Silver Snake once again climbed onto her left ankle and coiled itself there. This time, the little silvery creature even lifted its head and bared its teeth at He Tiantian.

Good heavens, could someone tell her what on earth this little fellow was? A snake spirit? If she got startled a few more times, she'd turn into a snake spirit herself.

He Tiantian covered her mouth, afraid to make a sound. Despite her advanced age internally, she still couldn't remain calm.

After a while, when He Tiantian had somewhat calmed down, she rubbed the silver band on her left ankle again to prove to herself that she wasn't seeing things.

The Little Silver Snake moved again, lifted its head, glared at He Tiantian, stretched out its neck, and suddenly bit down on He Tiantian's ankle.

Damn it, that hurts! It didn't just bite, it also drank blood.

He Tiantian, terrified, turned pale and slumped into the chair, closing her eyes, motionless.

Poor thing, was she going to die again?

But after the pain passed, He Tiantian found she hadn't fainted, nor had she returned to the previous life where she'd felt worse than dead; she was still at the train station.

He Tiantian sighed with relief. As long as she didn't go back to that previous life that led her to despair, it was fine. A little pain was nothing; she could endure it. If the Little White Snake wanted blood, she'd just have to eat more and produce more blood.

He Tiantian reached out, intending to touch the Little Silver Snake again but then thought better of it, realizing that if she hadn't been so curious and hadn't tried to verify, she wouldn't have gotten bitten. Better leave it alone.

"Yama Raja doesn't let a person destined to die at the third watch live until the fifth watch."

One should accept fate!

Not far away, Lin Xiaoru and Huang Jingli occasionally glanced over at He Tiantian, thinking her behavior odd, whispering that they should keep their distance from this girl in the future—who knew if she was mentally sound?

Through the window, the sunset was visible, the evening glow spreading across the sky.

Aside from He Tiantian, no one had the leisure to admire the endless sunset outside. They kept complaining about the people from Qijia Village, wondering why they hadn't yet arrived. It was getting dark soon, and they feared they might have to spend the night outdoors.

Finally, when it had turned dark outside, Qi Dazhu rushed in, his dark face covered in sweat, his clothes damp.

A middle-aged man accompanied Qi Dazhu and quietly criticized him on the way, "You're not right this time, why so late?"

"Director Wu, it's all my fault. Ah, the ox-cart broke down halfway, and then finding someone to repair it took time. By the time we went back and forth, it turned this late. I've inconvenienced those young people," Qi Dazhu said, "I'll apologize to them when I see them."

Director Wu laughed and said, "That youngest educated youth, He Tiantian, guessed right, predicting your ox-cart would break down on the road."

"Heh, it's rare to find someone who understands us," Qi Dazhu chuckled naively, following Director Wu over.

But just as Qi Dazhu had barely stabilized himself, Li Mingkai sprang up from his seat, saying, "We've been waiting for six or seven hours, don't you have any sense of time? Time is life; in critical times, one would have already—"

Seeing the increasingly unpleasant expressions on Director Wu's and Qi Dazhu's faces, Huang Jingli hurriedly pulled Li Mingkai, saying, "Are you dizzy from hunger?"

Li Mingkai was abruptly pulled by Huang Jingli, cutting off what he was about to say next. Indeed, as Huang Jingli had pointed out, Li Mingkai was dizzy from hunger and in a bad mood, unable to restrain his anger.