My name is Liu Guizhen, eighteen years old, a recent high school graduate, and a professional snake veteran.

Many people don't know what a snake herd is, but everyone should know what a shepherd is, the so-called shepherd is a person who feeds by raising sheep, and the snake herd is a person who eats by a snake.

It's just that snakes are different from sheep, snakes are aggressive, so snake bosses are generally responsible for catching snakes to sell, rather than raising snakes.

This craft of mine is ancestral, it is said that I have been in the snake business since my wife and grandfather's generation, but in recent years this business has not been easy to do, so my family has passed down to me that only I am doing, and my other relatives have changed careers.

Why am I the only one who insists on it? It's really not about how much money I make, it's about starting with when I was a kid.

It is said that although I was born full-term, I weighed less than three catties, and when I landed, my whole body was even blacker, as if I was wrapped in scales, and I couldn't see anyone at all; People in the village say that my family has been catching snakes for generations and has done too many evils, so they will repay me.

When my grandfather saw me, he didn't say a word with a cigarette pouch in his mouth, and after a while, he went back to the house and spent the afternoon tinkering with it, and finally brought out a bunch of herbs and put it on me.

Strange to say, since my grandfather applied me herbs, I felt like I was molting, and all the dark skin on my body fell off, and I became like a normal person.

This was a happy event, but my grandfather was not happy at all.

"This child was born unwell, fortunately there is this herb to save his life, this herb is a ghost needle grass, specifically to restrain snake venom, I will call it Liu Ghost Needle after I look at the child!"

My grandfather gave me a name with a cigarette pouch, but then he still looked at me helplessly, smoking and sighing.

Later, my grandfather left me alone and drove my parents back to the city, saying that he had skills to teach me, and no one else could watch them.

That's it, I stayed by my grandfather's side since I was a child and followed him to learn the ability to catch snakes, my grandfather was very good to me, but he was also very strict, always criticized me, but after criticism, he gave me good food, I really loved and feared him.

That evening, after dinner, I sat in the door with a small bench and watched the sunset with my grandfather.

"Ghost needle, do you know what our family does?"

Grandpa asked, taking a puff of his cigarette pouch at me.

Although I was young at the time, I had already heard a lot of gossip in the village, and I had developed my mind relatively early, so I nodded to my grandfather.

"You know, our family specializes in catching snakes!"

I innocently said to my grandfather, but I didn't expect him to laugh.

"Hahaha, ghost needle, you're still too young! These words should not have been told to you, but you will go back to the city to study in the second half of the year, if you don't say these words again, I'm afraid that you won't have a chance in the future! ”

As he spoke, Grandpa stood up, knocked his cigarette pouch twice in the corner of the wall, and then led me into the small bedroom.

This small bedroom is separated from my grandfather's room, and usually my grandfather doesn't let me get close to it at all, let alone let me in, but today he took my hand and walked into the small bedroom.

The small bedroom is very simple, with only one incense table and one tablet.

In addition to the incense burner, there were all kinds of fruits and shelled boiled eggs on the incense table, and the tablet was red, with a few words written on it with a brush, but I was too young to know at the time.

"Ghost needle, come, kneel here."

Grandpa pointed to the futon in front of the incense case and motioned for me to kneel, and I knelt down obediently.

"Ghost needle, what is written on this tablet is the position of the ancestor of the python family, this is the ancestor of our family."

Grandpa respectfully put on three sticks of incense, and then said to me.

I listened to my grandfather say this, and nodded as if I didn't understand.

"The so-called python is a big snake, and the python fairy is a snake fairy who has cultivated for many years and has become a climate."

"Our family didn't specialize in catching snakes at the beginning, but was selected by the python fairy to help them deal with those snake demons who did evil."

Grandpa continued to say to me:

"It's just that later, some scum came out of our family, which ruined the doorway, and the times changed to become like this; But you are now the heir of our family, so you have to remember that everything has a spirit, there are good and bad, you have inherited the ability of our family, you must eliminate evil and promote good, don't take good as small, don't take evil as small and do it! ”

Although I didn't understand what my grandfather was saying at the time, I still took his words to heart.

"Come, put this on for you, wear it as long as you have good thoughts in your heart, our python fairy will bless you!"

Grandpa took a small pendant from the incense table and hung it around my neck; I held the small pendant and looked at it carefully, and after observing it for a long time, I realized that it was actually a snake tooth.

I carefully placed the snake tooth pendant in my clothes, and kept it close to my body, so that I would not take it off wherever I went.

In the summer, my parents came to my grandfather's house from the city to take me away, saying that I should go back to study, but my grandfather didn't stop me, but stipulated that I should come back every winter and summer vacation to continue learning from my grandfather, and my parents agreed.

Before returning to the city, my grandfather called me aside and asked in a low voice:

"Ghost needle, do you remember what grandpa told you?"

I nodded.

"Remember, don't take the good as small, don't take the evil as small, as long as I have good thoughts, our python fairy will protect me!"

At the time, I didn't know how much these words weighed, but my grandfather wiped the corners of his eyes with excitement when he heard me say this.

"Okay, go quickly, study hard, and come back when the holidays are over!"

After that, I left my grandfather's house where I had lived for many years and went back to the city to start studying, I didn't like life in the city, there were no mountains, no water, no snakes, and no grandfather.

Whenever I couldn't sleep in the dead of night, I would keep stroking the snake tooth pendant, recalling what my grandfather said to me over and over again.

In this way, I go back to my grandfather's house every winter and summer vacation, and my grandfather can always teach me different skills and tell me different stories; Until this year, I turned eighteen years old, and after the college entrance examination, I went back to my grandfather's house.

But this time my grandfather said that he had nothing to teach me, so I went to the mountains to find a snake to practice.

After listening to my grandfather's words, I went to the mountain with a feeling of anxiety and lay down in the grass according to the method that my grandfather had taught me.

"Sand ...... Rustle......"

It didn't take long for a sound to reach my ears, and I slowly turned around to look in the direction of the sound source, then removed the pendant from my neck and held it in my hand.

"Shhh

Suddenly, there was a sound of air tearing, and in the next second, a black shadow flew into the air, very fast, and shot towards me like an arrow off the string.

I suddenly stretched out my hand holding the pendant and grabbed the black shadow in the air; At that moment, a cold object wrapped around my wrist.

"Haha! Got you! ”

I was so happy that I quickly turned on the flashlight and shone it on my right hand.

"Huh?"

I looked at the little thing in my hand with some surprise, but I didn't expect it to be a fiery little red snake!

I looked at the little red snake with great excitement, put it in the cage three times and divided it by two, and then went home.

"Look, grandpa! What I caught! ”

When I got home, I excitedly showed my grandfather my results, but I didn't expect him to pause for a long time before he opened his mouth.

"Ghost needle, you take this red snake to see Erbai!"