The firecrackers at the foot of Luofu Mountain rang out one after another, and the sound was endless, passing through the air all the way to the orphanage in the mountain, awakening a sleeping snake.

Raising his head, the black snake was a little puzzled by the unfamiliar sound source. After waiting for a while, after he was sure that the movement couldn't cause any harm, he swam to Liu Yan's belly and swam along the warmth of the dark quilt. body drilled to and fro.

It wasn't until Liu Yan was woken up by him that he stretched out his hand and threw him from the bed to the pillow, exposing him to the air that was so much colder than the bed that the black snake stopped and stopped the daily play.

Lying on the side of the pillow pretending to be an innocent black snake in a posture of "I'm about to freeze to death", after insisting on a cup of tea, the soft-hearted Liu Yan re-tucked it into the bed.

Liu Yan pulled the quilt over his head, and buried himself whole, holding the black snake in his arms, and remembered vaguely that today is New Year's Eve.

It's New Year's Eve again.

Liu Yan was stunned under the quilt for a while, then gradually came to his senses and sat up slowly. The black snake wrapped around his arm, looking like he didn't want him to get up, clinging and pulling until it was peeled off by Liu Yan, Liu Yan said, "Aren't you supposed to hibernate?"

Seeing that the obstruction was ineffective, the black snake curled its tail and hooked it around his waist, trying to get into his loose clothes. Liu Yan nodded its head and said, "The snake should sleep, there are still many things to do today."

The spoiled black snake didn't have the slightest bit of self-awareness, and was still pestering him to try to get into his arms.

Liu Yan simply grabbed his head with one hand and the snake's tail with the other, opened his arms, stretched the coiled black snake straight, like a cross-section, put his head on the pillow, put his tail in the quilt, and gave him the quilt. Cover it up. Liu Yan finished all this with a smile, and coaxed: "Be good."

He slipped out of bed by himself.

This "horizontal death" posture really goes against the nature of snakes, unless it is a dead snake. So when Liu Yan got out of bed, the stretched black snake immediately put away his body, curled up again, got into the depths of the quilt, found the still warm hand stove, and curled up to sleep.

Liu Yan didn't know why Yimo, who was supposed to hibernate, didn't hibernate, and Shen Jue couldn't understand it. Maybe it was because the house was too warm. After all, this year's charcoal fire has not stopped burning since the day of winter.

At the end of the year, we should have a good time. Liu Yan and Shen Jue are busy together for the day of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new. Only Xu Mingshi, who has become an "old", has nothing to do, sitting on the foot beside the bed, Full of enthusiasm for the black snake that should be hibernating but not hibernating on the bed - after all, they are the only ones who have nothing to do now.

These days together, the black snake is no stranger to Xu Mingshi. He is willing to stay here, and the black snake has also given enough tolerance to chat with him endlessly. Can't understand words. Most of them are reminiscing about the past.

Xu Mingshi felt that the only thing he could do now was to sit here, reminisce about his past, and get a lot of comfort from it because someone was watching. His life was much shorter than the man in front of him. When he was still young, this snake was already a thousand-year-old monster, and the gap between them was too far from their age, but although his life was short, Xu Mingshi consciously lived a wonderful enough life. He counted himself In his life, he has done wrong things and done a lot of good deeds. He has helped many people and demons, and he has also let those who harm others get the end they deserve. No matter what, he did not waste it.

The only difference from Yimo is that he has never experienced such a relationship.

Having said that, Xu Mingshi remained stubborn, leaned in front of the black snake, and whispered a whisper.

It's a pity that if he thought it would have an impact, it didn't affect the Black Snake at all. The black snake that is as steady as Mount Tai is coiled by the stove, expressing disdain for this old man's naughty quality.

Shen Jue was chopping wood in the yard, and when the axe fell, his keen ear made him catch the words that he shouldn't have heard, the axe blade tilted suddenly, and the wood that had been chopped off a corner bounced off, hitting the wall, the earth wall. In an instant, a pit appeared, and the yellow mud rustled all over the ground.

Liu Yan heard the sound and rushed out from the stove. Seeing this, he asked, "Do you want to repair the wall?"

Shen Jue shook his head and said, "The split was wrong."

In the room, Xu Mingshi was still whispering in the black snake's ear. Shen Jue lowered his eyes, bent over to pick up the piece of wood that was forced to fly out and bounced back, and slashed with the axe in one hand, but the wood didn't have time to make any sound. , divided into eight petals. Xu Mingshi didn't know anything about what happened in the courtyard. All he knew was that Shen Jue was working hard chopping wood to provide a fire source for Liu Yan, who was busy in the kitchen. Regarding the eight-petaled wood, Xu Mingshi was as ignorant as if he didn't know what he was saying and had others listen to him. It was because of his ignorance that he dared to say: "Old Snake, in fact, I still envy you very much. Even though you have become this false appearance."

"Look at you now, you can't talk, you can't do things, you are a big worm who eats, drinks and has fun all day long," Xu Mingshi said incessantly: "I will peel you and stew you in soup, how can you live like this? happy."

As Xu Mingshi spoke, he poked the snake's head to express his dissatisfaction and jealousy. The black snake was extremely tolerant of this behavior, and ignored him. Xu Mingshi looked at him, and couldn't help but feel sad, and said, "My brothers and sisters, some of them have not been cultivated, they have been reincarnated a long time ago, and they are still alive. There are some who have a little success. Seeing the appearance of a bad old man like me, they are very disgusted. Those who do not hate me are willing to talk to me, but they only know about cultivation, either alchemy or giving I see the magic tools they made... one by one, they are all very interesting."

"Although you've become like this, you're better than me. Your son is waiting by the side, and Shen Qingxuan is coaxing you every day." Xu Mingshi said, "It's not like me, I don't even have a refugee, and in the end, I need your family to send me to the end."

Xu Mingshi became more and more sad, raised his hand to wipe his eyes, leaned over and whispered, "Although Xiaobao doesn't recognize my uncle, he has prepared the coffin for me. , I think it took a lot of thought."

How could he know that Shen Jue, who was outside the hospital, had already frowned, and he felt that the older he got, the more thieves he became. After a lot of disasters, now you look like this, you can't make such a treasure anymore. When I die, I will leave this thing to Xiaobao, which can be regarded as returning to the original owner. I don't owe you anything..."

The black snake looked up and looked out the window, the sun was very good, the light was abundant, he yawned, alas, the sun is long.

When the New Year's dinner was finally put on the table, the black snake was freed from the fly-like chatter. He was held by Liu Yan and sat on the banquet. After this, he was beaten back to his original form, the first New Year's Eve.

Naturally, he also drank alcohol. Since the first time he drank, he fell in love with the feeling of warmth all over his body, as if it was March in the spring, when Yingfei grass grew, and he could roam around as he wanted.

Xu Mingshi spent a day talking about the bitterness in his stomach, and his mood was much more relaxed. He raised his glass frequently, and in the sweetness of the New Year's dinner, he looked at Shen Jue slightly, and said, "Boy, call me uncle."

There is a saying how to say - wine is strong and cowardly. Liu Yan tore a piece of pork head meat and stuffed it into the mouth of the drunkard in his arms.

Shen Jue put down the tableware and looked at Xu Mingshi. Facing the greasy old man with gray hair, he asked calmly, "I didn't hear what you said."

Xu Mingshi reacted in an instant, laughed and said, "Nothing. I said this dish is really delicious."

There is also a saying - the mud can't support the wall. Liu Yan murmured silently, feeling powerless.

After New Year's Eve, it was the Lantern Festival soon. Shen Jue cooked a pot of osmanthus sesame stuffing for the Lantern Festival, during which a lot of honey was mixed. , the trees in the mountains have sprouted a layer of light green, and the tender leaves covered with light fluff pulled out their branches. In the early morning, the birds sang again, and there were often small insects crawling on the ground. This spring is coming quickly.

After taking off his heavy padded coat, Xu Mingshi felt much more relaxed, and his hunched waist was straightened. He often wandered around the mountains, talking with those flowers, birds, fish and insects, his expression was very light, and Shen Jue doubted that he could live for another few decades. Not a problem. But he couldn't say it, so Shen Jue had to do business as usual, serving the old man's necessities.

In this season when the birds are noisy and squirrels are jumping all over the mountains, the black snake dormant in Liu Yan's arms seems to be infected with the vitality. find it back.

Another late night, when Liu Yan took the black snake from Shen Jue, who kept spitting out letters and making a "hissing" sound, and seemed to be extremely impatient, he finally felt that his abnormality was not due to fun, and he couldn't think of a reason for a while, so he had to Ask Shen Jue: "What's wrong with him? Is he sick?"

Shen Jue shook his head, "I'm in good spirits, it seems like I'm sick."

Xu Mingshi stole a jar of wine from the kitchen and stopped when he passed by the window, hesitating over and over again whether he should tell the truth or not. The problem he could see at a glance was that the two smart people in the room were still in the clouds, and the only reason was because they did not regard the snake as a snake. That is their dearest love, even in the shape of a snake, in their hearts, it is still a living person. So the simplest answer, they can't think of it.

After hesitating for a moment, Xu Mingshi rushed into the window and said euphemistically, "He's just... His spring is here." After speaking, he hugged the wine jar and walked away in a hurry as if he had done something bad.

- His spring is here.

Xu Mingshi's words were no less powerful to Shen Jue. That's why Yimo has been so restless recently. He looked at Liu Yan, but saw a face of despair.

Involuntarily tightening his hand to three points, Liu Yan lowered his eyes and concealed his expression very well. He only said lightly to the black snake struggling in pain, "Don't even think about it."