Zhulan pursed her lips. The original owner wasn’t afraid of snakes at all and had even eaten many, but she was scared. She couldn’t let anyone know that. “I really don’t have time. The grandson is too young. How about this, let Xuemei bring the two children tomorrow. I’ll help take care of them. You and Xuemei can go together.”

Jiang Wang Shi felt the aura of rejection from her in-laws from the inside out, and she laughed dryly. She stopped asking and sat for a while. “It’s getting late. I should go back now.”

Xuehan went out and had already packed the return gifts. The basket was covered with cloth. Zhulan took it and stuffed it to Jiang Wang Shi, “There’s nothing good, don’t dislike it, in-laws.”

She smelled the smell of snacks, and her daughter must have prepared snacks, covered with cloth to prevent dirt.

Jiang Wang Shi smiled, her eyes sparkling, “Then I won’t stand on ceremony.”

She also smelled the scent of cake.

After Jiang Wang Shi left for a while, the people who went up the mountain came back. Li Shi was carrying a backpack, “Mom, Mom, you are lucky today. I caught something good to replenish your body.”

Zhulan shuddered, with a bad premonition, “I’ve replenished the body too much lately, and I don’t want to do it today.”

Li Shi had already pulled out a large snake from the basket, its head missing, coiled into several loops, “Mother, this is a snake. You used to love eating it. This is the first time this year I’ve caught a snake.”

Zhulan felt her blood flowing backward and froze completely, “.”

The original owner set her up! Even though she was someone who couldn’t even dare to eat eels, fortunately, her good training since childhood kept her face expressionless. No one could tell that she was on the verge of a breakdown. In reality, she was screaming internally, feeling extremely frustrated and overwhelmed.

Li Shi also held the snake to show off her credit, “Mom, I cut off the snake’s head with one knife. Mom, I will stew the snake for you at noon.”

Zhulan suppressed the urge to scream from the depths of her heart. Her pupils constricted as she maintained a smile. She didn’t jump, truly thankful for the lessons learned since childhood. With a cool gaze at Li Shi, who was still courting death, she took a deep breath, steadying herself. Trying to hold it in, she couldn’t any longer. “Take it aside and deal with it bloody mess. Look at your clothes, covered in blood everywhere. Hurry up and change.”

Li Shi, sensing the wild mood of her mother, felt very uneasy, really bad. She quickly picked up the snake and ran away.

Boss Zhou, “.”

He always felt that his mother was suppressing her anger, so he slipped away. His wife was courting death on her own, and he would let her handle it. After all, he would escape first!

Zhulan couldn’t see the snake anymore; her blood circulation resumed, and she could finally move her steps. With a cold expression, she turned back to the house, swiftly closing the door. Making sure no one would come to stabilize her, her hands trembled. Snakes, with their vibrant colors, filled her mind. Holding her chest, she was determined not to let Li Shi go out!

At lunch, Li Shi really cooked the snake. Zhulan didn’t dare to go to the table. She said she had an upset stomach and didn’t want to eat. When she went back to the house and lay down, she felt the fright had made her lose her soul, and she felt drowsy, wanting to sleep deeply.

Li Shi was anxious, “Head of the family, what’s wrong with mother?”

Anyway, she didn’t expect that it was because of snakes, mother used to like to eat them. She used to catch snakes and eat them a lot!

Boss Zhou didn’t understand, so he asked Second Zhou, who pondered for a while, “Is it because the weather is hot and lively?”

Zhulan controlled her expression very well and always remembered to maintain her original habits, even if she was scared. She was able to hold on tight, and even the shrewd Second Zhou didn’t notice that their mother was now afraid of snakes!

Zhulan was woken up by Zhou Shuren, and Zhou Shuren already understood what happened. You really can’t blame Li Shi for this. Who would have thought that he and Zhulan were not the original people, and Zhulan was very afraid of snakes!

When Zhulan saw Zhou Shuren, she felt a sense of security. She tightly grabbed Zhou Shuren’s clothes with both hands, “I was scared to death today. The snake’s body was swaying right in front of me. Even in my dreams just now, it was about snakes. Call me tonight; I must have been really scared. My palms are still throbbing.”

Zhou Shuren picked up Zhulan easily. Zhulan’s body was still shaking. She was very frightened this time. “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. I will find a way to tell them not to catch snakes.”

Zhulan hurriedly said, “No, I was able to maintain my image. It’s better not to change habits. If we become more astute, it can be explained as the original couple being unwilling to talk. It could be said that in the past, when the children were young, they didn’t bother with such things. Now that the children are mostly clever, the son takes after his father. If we change too much, it will stand out. Anyway, we’ll be going to Pingzhou soon. As long as we don’t buy snakes, we won’t see snakes again.”

Zhou Shuren looked at Zhulan’s pale little face and felt distressed. “It’s hard for you.”

Zhulan smiled, “My patience is nothing compared to what you have to pay. But, being afraid of snakes is a weakness after all. I want to be just like the original body, so I still have to overcome it.”

Zhou Shuren furrowed his brows, “You don’t need to overcome it. Just avoid it in the future.”

Zhulan pondered a lot. She knew she had to overcome it. If it weren’t for Wang Ru, she wouldn’t be afraid. However, she didn’t like having a glaring weakness. Knowing that Zhou Shuren cared about her, but she also had her own principles, she changed the subject, “Don’t worry about me. You went to the county office today. Did the County Magistrate take a liking to one of our boys?”

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T/N Note: I fully empathize with Zhulan because I also suffer from Ophidiophobia which is the fear of snake. I can’t even watch them on TV let alone in real life. I remember one incident; I was just married and living with my husband in his place of posting which was in Sikkim, a state of India located entirely in the Himalayas. The project area was in a hilly area, and naturally there were forests in between the quarters. So it was evening time, I was sitting on the porch of my neighbor’s quarter and chatting with her and other ladies. Suddenly one of them said, look a snake going on the railing guard! This guard was nearly 5 to 6 meters away from me, but I was petrified. One of the ladies noticed something was wrong with me, and then they had to literally hold my hand and take me to my quarter, give water and stayed with me till I was little better. For the next few days I didn’t get out of my room, let alone go near that railing!! Also made sure my husband spread carbolic acid all around my quarter. If I was in Zhulan’s place, I could have straight fainted!!

The railing in the story and I took this picture from my porch. So You can understand how far the snake was from me and yet I was so terrified. BTW that is my late father playing with a local doggo.