Returning home, I didn't have the mood to do homework and sat there absentmindedly with a pencil in my mouth.

Suddenly, someone tapped my head.

I turned around and saw Liu Qingqing standing behind me, smiling.

"You're finally awake?" I was happy to see Liu Qingqing awake.

Since the Spring Festival, Liu Qingqing had said she wanted a good long sleep, and she had slept for over a month.

Because Liu Qingqing was hibernating, I had no one to confide in during this time of frustration.

Liu Qingqing stretched lazily, still looking beautiful in her languid manner. She said, "Yes, this sleep was so comfortable. It must be warm and blooming outside, right?"

I nodded. When it was warm and blooming in spring, various animals also woke up from hibernation.

Many hibernating snakes had already slithered out of their caves to look for food. After a winter of hibernation, they were already starving. During this time, many small animals also came out. The fields were filled with field mice and frogs, while the forests had many rabbits and mountain sparrows. It was a good season for snakes to hunt.

Liu Qingqing seemed to have grown taller. She used to be about the same height as me, but now she was half a head taller.

Liu Qingqing asked me, "Why aren't you doing your homework properly? Why are you daydreaming? You seem to be in a bad mood!"

I sighed and poured out all the pent-up grievances in my heart, feeling like I had found an old friend.

Liu Qingqing comforted me, saying, "As a person, you should learn to be more open-minded. There's a popular saying that goes, 'You're not the Chinese currency, and not everyone can like you.' This world has always been about the survival of the fittest. So, Yang Cheng, don't care about what others think of you. Only when you become a truly strong person will others shut their mouths and respect you! If those people don't want to play with you, then forget them. You still have me, right?"

With Liu Qingqing's reassurance, my mood noticeably improved.

Yes, no matter what, I still had Liu Qingqing. Even if I suffered grievances at school, coming home to see such a gentle and adorable wife waiting for me, what more could I ask for?

After realizing this, the gloom in my heart naturally dissipated.

From then on, every day after school, I would rush back home and play with Liu Qingqing after finishing my homework.

Liu Qingqing was very good at dancing, and snake dances were quite sensual. She would often dance for me.

As for me, I taught her various games like Five-in-a-Row and Aeroplane Chess. Liu Qingqing was intelligent and learned everything quickly, even better than me, her "master."

After resting and recuperating throughout the winter, Liu Qingqing's cultivation and spiritual power continued to improve.

Previously, she could only maintain her human form for three or four hours, but now she could do so for five or six hours. Her spiritual power grew stronger day by day.

As for me, every night before sleeping, I would take out the "Three Pure Ones' Scriptures" and read a bit. With the passage of time, I accumulated more knowledge about Daoist teachings.

The weather became hotter, and Dragon Boat Festival was approaching. Every household was making zongzi.

In ordinary households, most people made mung bean zongzi, while those who paid more attention to detail made red bean paste zongzi. Families that were slightly better off would take out the leftover cured meat from the Spring Festival, dice it, and make meat zongzi with enticing aromas.

In the countryside, there was a custom of scattering realgar powder during Dragon Boat Festival.

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During Dragon Boat Festival, almost every household would scatter realgar powder, and some even drank realgar wine.

This custom had its reasons. During this period, the climate was hot and humid, and harmful insects, bacteria, and diseases were rampant, breeding rapidly. Diseases could easily enter through the mouth and nose. People would carry sachets, hang Artemisia (a plant), Acorus calamus, scatter realgar powder, and drink realgar wine as preventive measures against diseases and plagues.

In the city, there might not be as many traditions, but in the countryside, these ancient customs were well preserved.

There were more mosquitoes and snakes in the countryside, so scattering realgar powder served to repel insects and snakes. There was also a superstitious belief that it could dispel evil spirits.

Although Liu Qingqing was a spiritual snake, she hadn't yet reached the stage of flying in the sky or burrowing into the earth. She still had some weaknesses inherent to snakes.

So, these days, the entire village was scattering realgar powder, but our family didn't because we were afraid of harming Liu Qingqing.

A few households scattered the most realgar powder. The ground in front of their houses was covered in a thick layer of realgar powder. These people had wanted to get rid of me because of the incident with Yin Hongyi, but they were scared away by the massive group of snakes and had since been terrified of snakes. That's why they scattered the most realgar powder.

With Liu Qingqing in our house, we didn't fear snakes at all.

Returning home, I called out to Liu Qingqing as usual, but I found that she wasn't at home.

I quickly asked my mother where Qingqing had gone.

My mother told me that there was realgar powder everywhere in the village, and the air was filled with a strong smell of realgar. Although we didn't scatter realgar powder at our house, the entire village did, and Liu Qingqing couldn't stand the smell. So, she went back to the mountains to hide for a while until after Dragon Boat Festival when she would come back.

These days, I had been together with Liu Qingqing every day, so suddenly not having her by my side made me feel unaccustomed, and a long-lost sense of loneliness arose.

Maybe it was because Qingqing wasn't with me, but even when my mother made meat zongzi for me, I didn't have much of an appetite.

I looked forward to Dragon Boat Festival passing quickly so that Liu Qingqing could come back.

That day, as I was leaving school, I saw a large group of children gathered on the roadside, seemingly watching something extraordinary.

As I passed by them, I overheard someone saying:

"Wow, it's so amazing. I've never seen a snake like this before. It's like jade all over, so beautiful!"

"This must be a venomous snake. My dad said that the prettier the snake, the stronger its venom!"

"Boss, tell us, what kind of snake is this?"

Hearing their conversation, I involuntarily stopped in my tracks, and my heart felt like it was struck by lightning. A snake that looked like jade all over?

"Make way! Get out of my way!"

I quickly pushed through the crowd and squeezed my way to the front.

Many people recognized me and hurriedly moved away, as if they were avoiding a plague. Some even shouted, "Run, the disaster child is here!"

I didn't bother to pay attention to these people and focused on what was in front of me.

I saw a snake catcher standing by the roadside, and there was a dirty woven bag at his feet, filled with many snakes.

Next to the woven bag was a separate iron cage, and inside the cage was a small jade-colored snake!