The white serpent, having observed the human village from the hillside, was preparing to return to the deep mountains when, on its last day, it encountered a little girl.
The child, no more than six or seven years old, wore her hair in twin braids and a faded coarse-cloth dress. She had come to the hillside chasing butterflies and picking flowers. Normally, the area was safe, but today, a lame old wolf prowled nearby.
The wolf, disabled and starving, saw the small human as easy prey—tasty and defenseless. Without hesitation, it bared its fangs and lunged at the girl…
Just as the child froze in terror, moments from death, a flash of white streaked past!
The serpent coiled around the wolf with lightning speed, its powerful muscles constricting—the classic killing technique of its kind.
The wolf thrashed wildly, its claws gouging the earth and leaving faint scratches on the serpent’s scales. But the serpent had anticipated the wolf’s bites—it had first wrapped around the beast’s neck, cutting off its air.
The girl sat dumbfounded, watching the giant white serpent battle the gray wolf.
The wolf’s eyes bulged, blood foaming from its nostrils…
The tangled mass of snake and wolf rolled across the ground until, gradually, the wolf’s movements weakened. It could no longer breathe, its consciousness fading.
Even after the wolf died, the serpent kept squeezing—a snake’s instinct to ensure prey didn’t revive. Only when the body cooled did it finally relax.
Looking up, it saw the girl peeking from behind a tree.
This little girl was brave enough to not run
The serpent mused. Wang Da nearly fainted from fear back then.
Coiling loosely, the serpent studied the child.
She clutched her dirty little hands, equal parts frightened and curious. With a proper wash, she’d look quite pretty. Facing a predator without panic—this girl had spirit.
For a long moment, the serpent and the child simply stared at each other.
Finally, the girl’s curiosity won out.
“Are… are you the snake immortal from the mountains?”
The serpent nearly sighed. The old legends had spread far indeed—even children knew tales of snake spirits. Any other child would have wailed and fled by now.
It nodded twice.
The girl’s mouth formed a perfect “O.”
“You understand me?”
Another nod.
The girl was awestruck, already imagining how amazed her friends would be when she told them about this talking serpent.
After a pause, she asked the inevitable question.
“Will you eat me? Papa says mountain beasts all eat people.”
The serpent shook its head. It considered nodding to scare her, but why ruin this rare companionship?
“Yay! I knew someone so pretty wouldn’t eat people!”
The girl’s innocence shone through. An adult—or even a wiser child—would have fled long ago. Before the serpent could react, she darted forward and ran her small hands over its scales with naked admiration.
“So pretty! Whiter than Mama’s porcelain bowl!”
“……”
On the hillside, beside the wolf’s corpse, a six-year-old girl giddily petted a giant white serpent—a scene so bizarre the serpent began questioning her sanity.
Thus, instead of returning to the mountains, the serpent lingered near the village.
Mornings were spent atop peaks, breathing in mist. By afternoon, it would return to the hillside where the girl—Yun’er—often came to chat and play. When tired, she’d nap sprawled across the serpent’s coils.
To protect her, the serpent drove away all venomous creatures at night. Unlike Wang Da, this child brought no schemes—just pure companionship. Perhaps it was her secret; she never spoke of the serpent to anyone, not even her parents. New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
Months passed.
One day, Yun’er trudged over and plopped onto the serpent’s back, despondent.
The serpent nudged her neck with its tongue, tickling her into giggles. That’s better, it thought. Children shouldn’t be so gloomy.
Catching her breath, Yun’er lay beside the serpent, staring at the sky.
“Mama says I must learn sewing. It’s so hard—I’ve pricked my fingers bloody! And cooking, and tending fires… She says this is all my life will ever be.”
The serpent had no response. Cooking, sewing, childbearing—this was a woman’s fate in this era. Step out of line, and you might end up in a pig cage at the river’s bottom. Countless pale bones already whispered their grievances there.
Poor Yun’er was just beginning to learn about a woman’s hardships.
Their conversations gradually shifted from playtime to Yun’er’s endless chores. As the elder sister, all treats went to her newborn brother. She hauled water, gathered pig feed, and tended fires—her small frame already bent under woman’s work.
The serpent could do nothing.
Summer faded into autumn. With harvest duties keeping Yun’er busy, the serpent retreated to the mountains to avoid the hunting parties that scoured the hills each fall.
Winter has arrived.
The Hundred Thousand Mountains, lying south, remained verdant even in colder months. After gorging to build winter fat, the serpent returned to the village hillside.
There, atop the hill, sat a tiny figure watching clouds. Yun’er had grown painfully thin—a stark contrast to the plump monkeys in the woods. How strange, the serpent mused. The so-called pinnacle of evolution, starving while beasts thrive.
At their reunion, Yun’er hugged the serpent’s head, jumping with joy—the scene was no less bizarre than before.
But her excitement soon gave way to hunger.
“Big Snake… I’m so hungry. The clan elders took our grain for taxes. But… I’m so hungry…”
The serpent understood. In this era, villages were ruled by clan elders—petty tyrants who collected “imperial taxes” while lining their own granaries. What could the poor do against such systems?
After a moment’s thought, the serpent turned and vanished into the forest…