Bizarre stories can be found everywhere. Or the trolls who walk in the snowy mountains, or the old cats that have grown into spirits for a hundred years, or the fierce spirits that come at midnight, or the old corpses that uncover the coffin and worship the moon.

My hometown is a branch of the Yangtze River called Hulukou, and there is a legend that has been passed down here for a long time.

If a young and beautiful girl drowns in the mouth of the river with a grievance, the resentment will turn into a beautiful snake, swimming up from the high reeds, softly calling the names of others, and calling them to eat.

This legend is in the mouth of the gourd and is used by adults to scare children not to approach the reeds.

Most people thought it was fake, but there was the shadow of a beautiful snake that hovers deep inside me to this day.

My name is Lin Shao, and it was in the summer of the year I was seven years old.

The summer of that year was exceptionally hot, and in July, the sun was like a furnace, scorching the earth in the sky.

Holding a fan can only fan the hot air, and the electric fan blows out hot air. The air conditioner was conditionally turned on at home, and the fan hanging outside the wall rattled, suppressing the noisy cicadas.

In these conditions, few people leave home, and even those who work in the fields will put down their hoes and find a shady place under the trees to sleep well and avoid the scorching sun.

When I was young, my mother thought she had lulled me to sleep, so she went to my grandmother's room to chat.

But she didn't know that as soon as she left the room with her front feet, I sat up from the mat with my back feet, and sneaked open the window and climbed out.

My house was a small two-story bungalow at the time, because the second floor was too hot during the day, I took a nap in a small room on the first floor, with the sun on my back, and the temperature could be seven or eight degrees lower.

Outside the window is the fence, a few feet away from the house. Wearing a pair of shorts and flipping slippers, I quietly left the house and ran outside.

I didn't go to the sun for no reason, but I told my neighbor's sister Fang yesterday that she would take me to a boat to swim in the estuary today.

It's really weird to say that Sister Fang, how can there be a probe on the wall in the middle of the night to call people?

But I didn't feel at ease about this, and I was excited to play in the water for a night, and I was scolded by my mother, saying that I was a night owl.

I didn't tell my mother about this, because we have a reed pond called 'floating corpse land' by the locals, and every summer we have to drown on the Yangtze River, and the corpses will float down the river to the floating corpse field.

If you inadvertently see a soaked white dead person in the water, not to mention how mad it is.

The adults think it's unlucky, and in the summer, the juniors are almost not allowed to go to the estuary to play in the water.

But children are playful, where can they care so much? I was thinking about being able to soak in the cool river as soon as possible, and I didn't think about what I would do when I came back.

Sister Fang is my neighbor, she was already in high school at that time, she was quiet and beautiful, and her academic performance was good.

Sister Fang was waiting for me behind the wall, wearing a white shirt and her favorite pair of blue cropped pants, her black hair draped over her shoulders, and her whole person was clean and beautiful, like a pure white epiphany.

Seeing that I was coming, she smiled and asked me to sit in the back seat of her bicycle, and she rode to the mouth of the river.

I hugged her waist and felt that she was shady and cool. It's as if the temperature of the sun can't shine on her.

Out of the county seat, a large area of dense reeds swayed with the wind next to the bright river, floating a piece of yellow and clear cotton wool.

Sister Fang carried me along the potholed path beside the reeds, and I rested my head on Sister Fang's back, looking boredly at the reeds passing by me.

It was also at this time that I seemed to see something swimming in the swaying reeds. There were long things shuttling in the water under the reeds, making the yellow-headed and green-stemmed reeds swaying sparsely.

"Sister, there are snakes in the reeds, and there are big snakes." I vaguely seemed to see a piece of red and black scales coming to the surface, which made me hug Sister Fang's waist in fear.

Sister Fang's waist is very thin, and through the thin white shirt, she can be hugged by seven-year-old me with both hands, just like a snake's waist.

"Silly boy, what are you talking about?" Sister Fang supported her right foot on the ground, stopped the bicycle, and reached out and patted my head to comfort, "Where is the big snake, you are wrong." ”

"No, I did see a big serpent, just under the reeds." I don't believe I've been dazzled, but when I look back, where is the shadow of a big snake in the quiet reeds?

I muttered to myself, the familiar reeds gave me an inexplicable fear, it looked a little strange, as if there was some danger hidden.

Among the swaying reeds, in the fluctuating river water, there seemed to be a cold gaze staring at the two of us on the bank of the river.

"Sister... Why don't we go back? I swallowed, inexplicably scared, and the scorching sun above me seemed to make me feel no heat all of a sudden.

"Shao Shao, it's not okay for a boy to be so daring. When I see Yingying later, she will definitely laugh at you. Sister Fang, she didn't care, under the sun, her quiet and fair face seemed to be whiter today.

I didn't have time to think about anything else, but when I heard Fu Ying's name, I immediately jumped up and hurriedly asked, "Sister, you also called Yingying?" ”

"Yes, my sister may not be able to play with you in the future, so my sister also called her." Sister Fang nodded, with deep reluctance in her tone.

I then remembered that Sister Fang was admitted to a university in another place and was going to leave Hulukou after the summer vacation.

"Sister... I can't bear you. My mood suddenly became lost, and I reached out and grabbed Sister Fang's hand, "Huh? Sister, why are your hands so cold? ”

I was surprised to find that Sister Fang's white hands were surprisingly cold, as if she had just taken them out after soaking in ice water for a long time.

No, it's not just like. I spread out my hands, my hands were wet, and Sister Fang's hands really had water.

Some of the muddy water trickled down her sleeve, carrying the smell of river mud.

I subconsciously looked up and saw that Sister Fang's white shirt had large water stains, and there were some river mud in many places, and her favorite blue cropped pants were still wrapped with some green aquatic plants from the estuary.

"Sister?" I suddenly felt scared.

The surroundings seemed to be out of touch with me, the reeds were swaying, but there was no sound, and the sun overhead was not even warmer.

I felt like I had fallen into the ice cellar, no, it was the icy river water, a kind of cold that seemed to penetrate into the skin, from all directions, from Sister Fang in front of me.

"Shao Shao." Sister Fang stood in front of me, I couldn't see Sister Fang's face, and her voice became gradually ethereal, hollow, and inaudible. Her body seemed to shake, like a snake.

The hem of the white shirt was blown by the wind, and I seemed to see Sister Fang's waist, some white belly, and faintly visible red and black scales.

I fell on the bank in fright, but I didn't feel any pain. The bike had fallen, and it was covered in river mud and algae, and some black hair.

Sister Fang was gone, swimming into the reeds like a snake.

It was as if I had fallen into the river, and the sky seemed to have turned into water.

The icy cold water was pouring into my nose and mouth, and it hurt so much that I wanted to struggle and scream, but when I opened my mouth, I could only swallow more of the icy river water, rushing into my stomach, burning my trachea and lungs!

The feeling of suffocation dizzled my consciousness.

In the water around me, in the pitch black water, there was a huge shadow swimming, and a big snake surrounded the river around me, watching me continue to sink.

"Shao Shao, come and find me."

The woman's hair danced in the water, like a large pool of aquatic plants floating on the water.

I felt colder, my eyelids heavier, and I didn't know anything.

"I'll find you."

"That's it."

The last voice I heard, hollow with a hint of relief.

When I woke up, I was on the mat of my own house.

There were some people around the bed, there were worried mothers, grandmothers, and Aunt Jiang with a sad face next door, and a dark-skinned man who lived next to Lu Weidang, who seemed mysterious to us children, and our juniors called him the third uncle.

"Wake up, wake up!" Seeing me open my eyes, my mother was happy and worried, "You child, you can't wake up no matter how you scream, but you are in a hurry to kill your mother." ”

"Mom," I cried weakly, feeling hoarse, as if I had really choked on water.

"Give the baby some water." The third uncle spoke, he was wearing a yellow sweatshirt and his skin was dark. As he spoke to his mother, his eyes kept on a spot next to my bed.

At this time, I noticed that there was a large pool of water next to the bed, I don't know where it came from, mixed with some mud and sand and some algae from the river.

"Mom, where is Sister Fang?" I remembered my dream, and when I was picked up by my mother to drink water, I asked.

Unexpectedly, when I asked, the faces of the people in the room changed, especially Aunt Jiang's lips trembled, and she spoke after a while: "Shao Shao, your sister Fang... Now I'm not at home, and when she comes home, my aunt asked her to come and see you. ”

Aunt Jiang said very reluctantly, choked up several times, and I also heard my grandmother sigh softly.

I wanted to say something, but the third uncle came over and took the water bowl and said to his mother, "Big sister, you can get a bowl of ginger soup for the baby." Auntie, you and the sister of the Jiang family also go out, I have something to ask the baby. ”

After the third uncle waited for his mother to leave, he turned his head, stared into my eyes and asked, "Baby, tell my uncle, did you dream of something?" ”

I was a little scared by him, and nodded while drinking water: "I dreamed of Sister Fang, and Sister Fang took me to the Jiangkou to play." ”

"And then?"

"Later... I saw a snake in the reeds...... And then ...... Sister Fang has turned into a snake! I thought about it, and seriously and eagerly pulled the third uncle's arm and emphasized, "Third uncle, I didn't lie. Sister Fang, she really suddenly became a snake, such a big snake! ”

I excitedly gestured to the third uncle, but the third uncle's expression became heavier and heavier.

"I heard, Sister Fang said, let me go find her." I gradually stopped moving, looked at the third uncle and said.

"And what did you say?"

"I said, I'll find you."

In my thoughts, this was a normal sentence, but after the third uncle heard it, his face became even more ugly. I wanted to say something, but I didn't say it, and finally sighed heavily: "Don't tell anyone about this yet." ”

"Third uncle, why?" I'm confused.

"It's nothing, you melon baby, don't blindly promise personnel in the future."

"Sister Kefang asked me to find her..."

"Be obedient, uncle won't harm you." The third uncle shook his head, returned to his usual expression, patted me on the shoulder, and then got up and left the room.

At about nine o'clock that night, I was watching TV in the living room when I heard a knock at the door.

"Third uncle? In the middle of the night, come in. ”

"No, sister of the Lin family. I still have something to do, is the baby asleep? ”

"Not yet, this baby is too solid to sleep at noon. Shao Shao, come here, the third uncle is looking for you! ”

"It's coming!" Hearing my mother's scream, I reluctantly turned off the TV with the cartoon program and went to the door in my slippers.

In the night, the third uncle stood at the door, carrying a cloth bag on his shoulder, holding a black bamboo pole in his hand, and two hooks tied to the top of the bamboo pole, which were sharp and black, which made me feel a little inexplicably afraid.

"Third uncle." I screamed obediently.

"Sister of the Lin family, let the baby come to sleep at my house today." The third uncle said to his mother.

Mom was obviously in a bit of a dilemma, and at this moment, the light at the door suddenly flickered, and the original yellow light bulb went out!