Catching snakes? 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

That’s easy!

Yan Jinzhi didn’t ask her what she wanted to do; instead, Jiang Mingyue felt countless "light bulbs" moving towards her, feeling a sense of foreboding.

Sure enough, in the next second, a slithering mass of soft-bodied creatures came rustling towards her on the grass, heads raised and tongues flicking.

She shivered all over and glared angrily at the culprit.

Yan Jinzhi was puzzled: "Aren’t you the one who wants to catch snakes?"

Jiang Mingyue was so mad she wanted to throw the basket in his face.

"Yan Jinzhi, if you don’t make them leave right now, I’m going to take you down today."

Yan Jinzhi: "..." She’s mad! Yan Jinzhi didn’t dare delay.

"But didn’t you want to catch snakes? Why not present them to you?"

Jiang Mingyue glared at him, "Yan Jinzhi, you did this on purpose?"

"Wouldn’t dare!" But suppressed a chuckle.

"Is it non-venomous snakes you’re after?"

"Yes, can you summon non-venomous snakes?"

"It’s not impossible."

But Jiang Mingyue recalled the earlier scene, which was too overwhelming, and quickly stopped him: "No need, I want to find them myself."

Yan Jinzhi took her basket and carried it himself.

Jiang Mingyue: "..." Some people are quite attentive, but this temperament and the basket, can’t say they match.

Considering it was nighttime, and Jiang Mingyue wasn’t fond of self-torment, with mosquitoes everywhere, she just wanted to quickly catch one and get down the mountain.

Using her spiritual power, she quickly found a small flower snake nearby on the hillside. She was somewhat dissatisfied, as it wasn’t very frightening. After comparing it with others, she finally settled on a meter-long corn snake, which looked quite scary.

Changing direction, she moved away from the path, and the terrain became difficult, with thorns everywhere, making the flashlight and dagger useful.

"Can you take them down?"

"I can."

"Can’t your spiritual power level these thorns completely?"

Jiang Mingyue was amused by this.

"Yan Jinzhi, you really dare to think. Spiritual power inside a space and outside a space is vastly different in energy. Inside, you can fell trees or harvest rice in a second, but outside, no such luck. Right now, I’m just a weak girl unable to truss a chicken."

Yan Jinzhi: "..." Are you serious about the latter half?

"Here, you take this. I have my own."

Yan Jinzhi watched her pull out a dagger, longer and with a blade you could tell was a fine weapon, not just for cutting branches casually.

"Where did it come from?"

"Oh, you’re talking about this? Li Huai gave it to me."

Yan Jinzhi paused: "You just take whatever others give you?"

"Didn’t I say I saved him? It was his reward."

"Swap with me, give me yours."

Jiang Mingyue didn’t understand but looked at his hand and then hers, guessing he needed a bigger handle for his big hand.

"Alright. I’ll reluctantly trade with you."

When they found the snake, Jiang Mingyue simply used spiritual power to temporarily put it to sleep, then picked it up with a stick into a sack.

"Let’s go."

"Not catching a few more?"

"No, catching too many would be suspicious. Aren’t you curious about what I’m going to do with them?"

"There’s a reason for what you do, I believe you have it under control."

"Alright! Yan Jinzhi, once again you’ve softened my heart a bit. Why do you indulge me like this?"

"Because you’re the best!"

"You’re too vague, not specific enough."

The little girl seemed emotionally off tonight!

"When we’re back, I’ll tell you for as long as you want. Is that okay?"

"Alright, I’ll let you off for now. Wait," Jiang Mingyue’s spiritual power sensed a small courtyard deep in the mountains, with a thatched hut inside, surrounded by vegetable patches, with a thick bramble fence making it impossible for animals other than the soft-bodied one she just caught to get in.

"What’s wrong?"

Jiang Mingyue described it to Yan Jinzhi.

"Want to go take a look?"

Of course she did.

A quarter of an hour later, the two were standing in the courtyard deep in the mountain.

The owner of the courtyard also emerged; fifty meters away, Jiang Mingyue had used her spiritual power on him but was deflected. Now, undeterred, she tried again, only to find the same result. This meant he wasn’t a threat.

Yan Jinzhi and Jiang Mingyue exchanged a glance and tacitly let Yan Jinzhi speak first.

"Sorry, we’ve lost our way in the mountains and are thirsty. We saw this courtyard and wanted to ask for a drink of water, if it’s not too much trouble."

The man, whose age was indeterminate, had a benevolent air like a recluse wise man, kindly brought out a bowl of water.

"Younger generation, Yan Jinzhi."

"Younger generation, Jiang Mingyue."

But as Jiang Mingyue finished speaking, the recluse’s gaze suddenly fixed on her. Even on his face, there was a familiarity.

Familiarity?

"Jiang Mingyue? Are you the niece of Jiang Zhengye from the third family in Qingshan Village?"

Jiang Mingyue couldn’t quite respond to the recluse’s words.

Yan Jinzhi answered for her: "Yes, Jiang Zhengye is her uncle, she’s the fourth daughter of Jiang Zhengmin from the third family."

The recluse smiled warmly at Jiang Mingyue: "I’m Gong Qingge, I was an old friend of your uncle. I owe him for helping me settle here; how is he?"

Jiang Mingyue answered honestly.

While speaking, she couldn’t help but observe the room, noticing many animal pelts nailed to the walls outside, which didn’t match with his ethereal quality.

Jiang Mingyue wondered if there might be another person living with him.

But the recluse said no, he lived alone.

Though there was no need for the recluse to lie, Jiang Mingyue felt something was off.

But since he wasn’t forthcoming, Jiang Mingyue couldn’t question further.

After expressing their gratitude, they prepared to leave.

Before leaving, the recluse uncle Gong Qingge asked them not to speak of this place after going down the mountain.

Yan Jinzhi and Jiang Mingyue solemnly promised.

After leaving the wilderness, Jiang Mingyue shared her doubts with Yan Jinzhi.

But Yan Jinzhi had observed more closely than she had.

"No, this courtyard clearly had only one person. As for the pelts not matching his demeanor, well, his hands tell a different story. The three calluses at the base of his thumb and the many cracks on his palm—those are a hunter’s hands. Regardless, those dark hands couldn’t be faked."

"I’ll consult with my uncle when I return."

"By the way, there’s another mystery. Given this courtyard in the mountains, why haven’t my brother and sister ever mentioned it? Or rather, they seem unaware of its existence."

"An array. That’s the second thing I wanted to mention."

An array?

This is something out of legend, a concept unfamiliar to her, so naturally beyond her perception.

"Yes, an Enchanting Array surrounds the courtyard, making it invisible to passing villagers."

"That explains it."

"Also, Gong Qingge, doesn’t his name sound familiar to you?"

"Gong Qingge? The only people I knew with that surname were that brother and sister pair."

That brother and sister... naturally referred to the pair from Wuyun Mountain in her previous life, whose brother blew her to pieces—a grievance never forgotten.

"The brother Gong Boyan, the sister Gong Zhiyi. Outwardly, they appeared to have no relatives, growing up depending on each other. But records I gathered indicated otherwise. The data showed the siblings had living relatives, one being their uncle Gong Qingge, and an orphaned third uncle’s son Gong Ye."

"Gong Boyan’s cousin? Then why were there no traces of him over all those years?"

"My theory is that the child must still be underage, hidden away by Gong Boyan for protection, so the absence of information makes sense."