Taoyuan

The red-spotted snake. "The black-and-brown snake with red dots is about two feet long. It hangs limply on the old hunter's hand. There is still a small half of the snake's slough on its body. It looks very pitiful.

Seeing that Yu Tao was interested, the old hunter squeezed the seven inches of the long snake in his hand, raised his hand and handed it to Yu Tao: "If you like it, you can play with it. I don't know when this water snake died of drought. It’s hot, take it back and add some food.”

"Uh, good." After taking the little snake, Yu Tao's brows twitched at the strange touch, he rolled it up, wrapped it in a piece of cloth, and put it in his cuff.

"Dacheng, are you at home? I brought someone to buy vegetables!"

"Uncle Sangen, you have returned to the village. My father went to my little sister's house last night." As soon as the old hunter yelled, there was a lot of movement in the house.Hearing the hurried footsteps coming from far to near in the small courtyard, Yu Tao put down his hand playing with the cloth bag and looked towards the closed courtyard door.

"Listening to the voice is the second child of Chang Cheng's family. You can find him for grocery shopping."

The second son of Chang Cheng's family in the old hunter population is a young man with dark complexion, thick eyebrows and big eyes. He is shirtless and fanning a big cattail fan, welcoming them in enthusiastically.

The scorching sun was almost completely blocked by the rough roof built in the yard, and it suddenly seemed a bit shady in the yard.

Not paying attention to the chatting of the two people around him and the veiled scrutiny of other people in the house, Yu Tao observed the layout of the small farmyard quite curiously.

The flat path paved with broken blue bricks divides the entire large yard into two parts on the left and right. On the left is a small vegetable field surrounded by a fence. Inside, it can be seen that cucumbers, eggplants and the like are sparsely hung with fruit. There is a small stone mill in the open space, and there is a small well in the corner; the whole area on the right is fenced up to make a chicken coop, and the six or seven stupid chickens inside don’t go to the trough to eat, but It keeps pecking on the dirty ground, hurting the eyes.

Fortunately, Hou Bai is a vegetarian, and there will be no need to raise such things in their yard in the future.

"Then, Mr. Yu, what kind of vegetables do you want to buy? I can harvest the most cabbage, melon and potatoes in my house. I also have lentils, soybeans, peas, cucumbers and loofahs, and there are not many eggplants and sweet potatoes..."

The second son of the Chang family counted Jiazhen with his fingers, Yu Tao's head grew dizzy, he hurriedly took out the list that Hou Bai had prepared earlier and read it to him one by one.

"I think Mr. Yu, you should settle the bill with cash, right? Since Uncle Sangen is leading you here, I will definitely not take advantage of you." Then, the second child of the Chang family rubbed his hands and put down the cattail fan, "However, I will use it in the county seat. Buying things with money is getting more expensive every day, I can't let myself suffer, can I?"

"I have enough money." After thinking for a while, Yu Tao took out two thick gold leaves from his sleeve and put them in front of the man, "Refund more and make up less."

"Hey, Mr. Yu is refreshing!" Picking up the gold leaf and touching it, the second son of the Chang family smiled with satisfaction, drained the well water in the tea bowl and stood up.

"Sir, you and Uncle Sangen are here to rest for a while. I'll take a few young people in the family to clean up the vegetables. In addition, I don't grow the lotus root and wax gourd you want. Let me go to the village and ask."

"Okay, sorry to trouble you."

"Don't do it, it's different." With a vigorous wave of his hand, the second son of the Chang family walked around the chicken coop and scurried into the room on the other side.

The author has something to say: Today, the city where I live has been experiencing moderate pollution for a long time. It was just fine to have a fever, but now my nose is stuffy and my throat is itchy, so uncomfortable.

I really don't know how the compatriots in those heavily polluted cities in the north survived... Life is hard

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Today's word count has not increased...and the bugs have not been caught...

☆, full load return trip

It is not easy for others to clearly understand what you mean.

After finally rejecting the meal invitations from the second son of the Chang family and the old hunter and other long-winded and strange words, Yu Tao, who was able to get away, looked back at the Chang family village, heaved a sigh of relief, and thought so.

The sun has climbed to the highest part of the sky and warmly caressed the earth. Although Yu Tao didn't dislike it for being too hot like ordinary people, he was still blinded by the strong sunlight everywhere.At this time, you should protect the tender new leaves and flowers, and stretch your body to let the branches absorb the essence of the sun.

The distance from the village was not considered safe, but there was no one around in the wilderness. He held onto the cart full of goods with one hand and made a gesture with the other, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Hou Bai, I'm back, come and help me."

The familiar Qingyue voice suddenly rang in his ears. Hou Bai, who was squatting on the ground, squeezing the chisel and carving flowers carefully, moved his ears, subconsciously let out a sigh of relief, showed a frivolous smile, and put the chisel on the wooden board. Go on, wipe off the sawdust on your body, leave the backyard, walk through the hall, close the door of the tavern, suppress your impatience, and run towards the direction where Yu Tao appeared.

Well, he forgot to bring some sunshade, but anyway, there are no people on the road in broad daylight, so just run fast by yourself.

A pale yellow aura, which is hard to see with the naked eye, quickly approached along the official road, floating like a ghost.Yu Tao in the woods felt something, looked up and waved to him: "I'm here."

"Hey!" Stopping his feet and showing his figure, Hou Bai jumped off the official road and crossed the mound to approach the forest. It’s better to find a place where no one is around, but the store where you landed is really not very good, this forest is in the way and blocks people. Look, this cabbage has been smashed!”

Ordering this piece of ordinary wood to give Hou Bai a space for him to tow the car out, Yu Tao nodded and humbly accepted: "What you said makes sense, we will improve it in the future."

When he lived with old man Yu, he had never used this type of spell for traveling. This was the first time he was transported with a bunch of things that had no spiritual power and could not be contained in his sleeves. When the deviation unexpectedly appeared in an unfamiliar forest, Yu Tao himself was also a little confused.

"Is it far from the tavern?"

"Not far, not far, just follow the official road and follow me." Knowing that his store is a monster who is so lazy to move that he can't even figure out the way to his own site, Hou Bai used to be very reliable and conscious about the situation near the tavern. After touching all of them, I assured the shopkeeper relaxedly and helplessly.

Yu Tao, who was recalling the spells he had mastered, responded casually, and suddenly suggested: "Hou Bai, I remembered that I also have a spell of moving mountains with five ghosts, which can help you move the cart, do you want to try it? "

Five ghosts move mountains?It sounds like a pretty big deal.

It is always a good thing to be able to save some effort, Hou Bai repeated the name of the spell he had never heard of twice, looked around without even a ghost, nodded and watched Yu Tao's movements with great interest.

"Hehe Yangyang, the destiny ghost, the people who move mountains in all directions should be driven by me."

Following the method in the inherited memory, he took out a piece of his own peach leaf, and while chanting a mantra, Yu Tao carefully painted a ghost amulet on it.The last stroke was closed, and a few dark white sparks suddenly burned the peach leaves.

"Hey, hey, who is this? It's done? Shopkeeper, let the kid who comes here be careful!"

The cart in his hand was snatched away unexpectedly, Hou Bai was taken aback, realized that the shopkeeper's spell had worked, his eyes widened in surprise, and he glanced at the cart that was following them floating low in mid-air, with a I really want to find out the appearance of the ghost who "moved the mountain".

"Shopkeeper, do you have any spells that allow me to see ghosts? I want to see it too!"

"Here, let me think about it." Seeing that the kid he recruited this time is reliable and easy to use, Yu Tao agreed to Hou Bai's request, sinking his mind into reviewing the inheritance memory.

After tossing all the way to the tavern, Yu Tao still failed to let Hou Bai successfully see the appearance of those short and sturdy little ghosts.

Seeing the little ghosts disappearing at the door with a few "thumps" and "thumps" with the peach leaves he sacrificed in their mouths, he rarely looked at Hou Bai, whose eyes were red and swollen because of his torment: "You can hear them leaving voice?"

"……did not hear it."

"Well, I haven't thought of a good solution yet, let's meet again next time I have a chance."

"...No, no, there's no need, it's okay if you can't see it."

Hou Bai shook his head again and again, wiping away the tears that could not help falling from the corners of his eyes: "Let's put these dishes in the back kitchen first."

"Speaking of the store, how much did it cost us to buy these?"

"Two gold leaves plus 17 taels of silver." Holding the vegetable seedlings bought from the old hunter, Yu Tao looked at Hou Bai's face that twisted into a ball after hearing the price, and hesitated, "Is it expensive? "

"It's not outrageous." Hou Bai sighed after scooping up a basin of clear water and sprinkled it on the vegetable leaves, "It's just the store, since we opened the store, we have served a group of guests yesterday... What kind of vegetable are you holding in your arms? Won't you let it go?"

"Like you, I found out that the tavern spends more than it earns recently, so I went to buy some vegetables." Pulling open the cloth bag in his arms, he showed it to Hou Bai. Yu Tao is very aware that opening a store and doing business requires increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. .

"I will use a few spells to promote the growth of plants. In the future, we will expand the backyard a little bit, and you can grow vegetables in it, so that you don't have to worry about the price of vegetables anymore."

It's really good at counting...

I don't do this job! !

Even if I was going to be skinned and eaten... it would probably be better to submit to this peach tree demon... right?

Shouting several times from the bottom of his heart, Hou Bai shook his hands and took the package of vegetable seedlings stuffed into his hand by the shopkeeper: "Shopkeeper, I once met a scalper in Sanhe County, let's recruit him to the tavern as a job." ?”

"No, we don't need to plant so much land. Take your time and don't rush." ​​After finishing speaking, Yu Tao took out another cloth bag under Hou Bai's frightened eyes.

"Bring a medium jug and fill it with water."

"Okay." Looking like he was going to do another job on his head, Hou Bai stuffed the package in his hand into the corner, quickly took a water jug ​​and put it on the table, and leaned his head to look at it. The package held in the hands of the shopkeeper.

"Red-spotted snake? Red-spotted snake spirit? Is it fainted or dead?"

Yu Tao shook his head, took the middle part of the snake and put it into the water jar: "I don't know, it must have failed to shed its skin and died due to lack of water, but the first time I met it, it seemed that there was still water left. Breathe in."

"Let's put it in a water jar to raise it first. If it really dies, you can just kill it and make snake meat soup."

"Okay, this little water snake is lucky." He stretched out his hand to poke the snake's head, Hou Bai covered the urn and carried it off the table, pushing it under the table.

The author has something to say: what do I want to say... Ah yes, it’s easy to guess what Hou Bai’s original form is, right?

It is easy to set animal goblins to take shape, and their abilities are biased towards physique type; it is difficult for plant goblins to even give birth to intelligence, and their abilities are biased toward spell types

Everyone's practice depends on passing on memory, and passing on memory is not immovable

Sounds pretty scientific, doesn't it?

☆, thunder and rain

Lightning quickly tore through the sky, and the sky and earth returned to darkness after a moment of brightness.After a few breaths, rolling thunder came continuously, and exploded between the low clouds, shaking people from the eardrums to the heart.

The torrential rain fell on the ground like a waterfall, and the sound of the rain was endless, and the knocking and shouting outside the tavern were mixed in, which was not very clear.

"A guest is coming, I'll open the door, you warm up two jugs of wine first." Yu Tao put down the half-washed peanuts to wipe his hands, and said to Hou Bai who was sitting across from him, who was a little absent-minded.

"Uh, good." After regaining his senses, Hou Bai let out a sigh of relief and nodded, showing a rare feeling of stupefaction, "Be careful to avoid thunder."

"Ah."

As soon as the door of the tavern was opened, two strong men dressed in yamen servants' clothes and drenched all over were rushing in timidly, cursing and swearing.Hearing what the man in front said was ugly, Yu Tao moved a few steps away and closed the door, seeing a row of bumps suddenly growing on the floor and tripped him.

"Fuck what the hell tripped me up!"

"Your legs are weak, you fell yourself, the ground is very flat, don't beep or beep." With a sneer, he stretched out his hand to give his companion a hand, and the black-faced man who entered the door turned his head to look at Yu Tao who was standing beside him.

"Ginger soup and strong wine can be used as long as it can keep the cold away. Serve us two bowls quickly! A few days ago, the sun was hanging every day to roast the living, but today the rain is falling as soon as it is said. Fortunately, I heard that there is a restaurant here. The tavern, or this one will be finished. Are you the store owner here?"

"Well, the cook is warming the wine, you just wait for a while. You are still running outside in this weather, what's the matter?" Yu Tao was a little curious as he handed them two dry towels.

"My name is Zheng Anzu, and he is Liu Duo. The two of us are doing some chores under the name of the county government." The dark-faced man Zheng Anzu was obviously acquainted, and while twisting his clothes, he introduced himself, "Isn't this It's finally cooling down, the magistrate asked us to patrol the villages to see if they have planted this crop of grain."

He took off his outer shirt and finished wringing out the rain, Liu Duo flicked the big scarf behind his neck, sighed comfortably, and took over the topic from Brother Zheng: "What else is there, the emperor's grandfather in the imperial city came earlier The sky is gone, so we have to announce it to everyone in the world, right? We have to run away and let the folks in the village attend his funeral, really..."

With a clear "snap", Liu Duo received a blow to the back of the head, swallowed back the half-sent grievance, and looked at Zheng Anzu depressedly, "Brother Zheng, why did you hit me?"

"Who told you to talk nonsense about the words of a saint."

"What the hell did I say to me!?"

Yu Tao saw Liu Duo inexplicably snorted out of his nostrils angrily, and argued with Zheng Anzu: "Since I can remember, the weather has been bad and people die every year, isn't it because the old emperor is not good at being an emperor? The old emperor never took care of us once, he only sent soldiers to take away the tax money every year, and after he finally died, he had to let us be his grandson and put him in filial piety for that shit?"

"When my mother died of thirst and starvation, my family couldn't even take out a straw mat! Fuck his grandma! If Master Jiang hadn't been thinking about his hometown in the past few years, he came back from the imperial city to our Pingyuan County to be the master. , I can’t support my sister!”

"Seller, tell me, is this the truth!?"

Liu Duo felt aggrieved and indiscriminate, he slapped the square peach wood table until it made a "bang bang" sound, and Yu Tao only felt pain for the table in his restaurant when he heard it.When Leng Buding was asked such an inexplicable question, his face was full of confusion.

When he was in Yangui County, how did he hear that the current emperor has done many good things for the people?

Besides, according to the side he had watched from afar when the emperor was traveling, the blood of the real dragon in his body was very strong.To say that this kind of person can't be the emperor of the world is simply a stupid joke.

As for Master Jiang who was born in a family in Pingyuan County...

"It's only been more than two months since I moved to Nanyuan County. I don't know anything about the years you mentioned."

"There's nothing to argue about. The wine is here. Drink some to warm up your body. It won't be good if you get sick."

Seeing Hou Bai coming out of the back kitchen with a tray, Yu Tao took advantage of the situation to change the topic.

Snorting angrily, Liu Duo got up and sat down on the edge of the table, taking practical actions to stay away from Brother Zheng.

Sighing angrily and amusingly, Zheng Anzu raised his hand to grab the ironed jug and put it in front of Liu Duo, glanced at Xiao Er, and was slightly taken aback: "Hou Bai?"

"Officer Zheng, long time no see." Putting the last dish of peanuts in the tray on the table, Hou Bai smiled and bowed to Zheng Anzu, and sat down beside the store.

There was a thunderstorm outside the house, sitting around the table inside the house, under the flickering lights, the tavern felt a little warm.

"I didn't expect Hou Bai to be from this tavern. No wonder you tied up so many thieves and sent them to the county government." Thinking of those bullies who behaved like turtle sons under Hou Bai, Zheng Anzu faced Looked more amiable.

"Just rely on this ability to repay my store." With a smile, Hou Bai moved closer to Zheng Anzu, "What happened to those blind things that make others jealous?"

"There were two evildoers, Mr. Jia decided to kill them directly, and the rest were sent to the county prison."

"Send it to the county government? I really don't think it's hard enough."

In this kind of ghostly weather, people are escorted to the prison car and walked more than a hundred miles to the county mansion. The person who made this order probably owed it in his previous life.

Seeing the speechlessness of Yu Tao and Hou Bai, Zheng Anzu rubbed his nose and repeated the explanation Mr. Jia gave to his superior: "This

It's what the county said, and we people below have to follow suit. Besides, most of our prison cells in Nanyuan County have collapsed and haven't been repaired... Ah, there's another thunderstorm. "

The last exclamation could not be heard clearly in the rumbling thunder, and the four of them sat quietly waiting for the thunder to subside.

So, Hou Bai shrank his neck and tensed his body, his frightened expression became very conspicuous.

"Ha, Brother Zheng, look, Hou Bai, you big man is actually afraid of thunder! You keep telling me how powerful he is, and he looks like that, and he's a lot younger than me." With eyebrows and eyes, Liu Duo looked at Zheng Anzu with subtle embarrassment and faint flattery.

...Whether it sounds or looks, this appearance is quite unpleasant.

Thinking so, Yu Tao patted Hou Bai's shoulder to comfort him, and decided to wait for the two guests to leave the tavern before letting Liu Duo fall hard.

"Hou Bai was once struck by lightning when he was young, and was seriously injured, so he has always been a little afraid of thunder."

Before Zheng Anzu wiped his cheeks and opened his mouth, Yu Tao looked at Liu Duo and explained for his mistress.

"Ah, oh, that's right." Startled, Liu Duo showed an expression of amazement, "Fortunately, he was not chopped to death. You must have been in pain at the time, right? Now that you are inside the house, you can't be chopped, don't be afraid. "

The author has something to say: halfway through the code, he suddenly couldn’t get on the JJ, it was a false alarm

Hey, please collect it~

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Coughing killed me, I didn't catch bugs, good night~

☆、Mahogany upright

After the rain stopped and the clouds rested, the sky was clear and fine. The sun that had been damaged by the torrential rain eliminated the dreadful heat, and even the air was very comfortable.

After the light snow season, it was finally a little cool.

After sending Zheng and Liu away, Yu Tao looked at the water tank under the eaves that had been filled with rainwater, turned to Hou Bai and asked, "Is there any white cloth in our tavern?"

"White cloth? I remember that there was an old bed curtain that was white and hadn't been thrown away yet. What is the store going to use it for?"

"Didn't the emperor become the former emperor? Hang a piece of white cloth out to pay homage to him, and you can take that piece of cloth and hang it on the wine cover."

"Also, since the weather is right now, let's plant some trees around the tavern."

The land outside the tavern, which had rarely absorbed the rain, was moist and muddy, and the grass branches that were crushed by the heavy rain were stained with mud, covering up the withered color, showing a somewhat fertile scene.

Looking at the soil like this, Yu Tao remembered the idea of ​​planting trees in the past.

Some time ago, I have been busy expanding the backyard and building a vegetable garden. If I plant all the trees today, I can safely welcome this year's peak business season.

"...Our tavern is almost facing the main road. There is only such a big place in front of it. What kind of tree does the store plan to plant?" Hou Bai folded his arms and thought positively, thinking that the job of planting trees would not be spread to him. Get an idea.

Like the elm and locust tree, it looks pleasing, and it’s good to climb up comfortably; when the shorter shrubs grow up, they can...

"Of course it's a peach tree. Maybe you can eat a peach before it gets hot next year."

Yu Tao carefully picked a good place that would not block the door of the tavern and could bring shade under the eaves, stood still, made a soil trick, dug a hole and wanted to throw seeds into it, but was stopped by Hou Bailian live.

"Shop, shop, peach trees can't be planted at the gate, it's very ominous in Feng Shui!" With a twitch of his face, Hou Bai hurriedly went to block Yu Tao.

Hou Bai's words were blunt and ugly, Yu Tao put aside his hand, frowned and looked at him dissatisfiedly: "The uprightness of peach trees is difficult for ghosts and gods to invade, what's wrong with it? Besides, Fengshui metaphysics is just a little bit of heresy Kung fu, why bother to take it to heart."

... But it's really ugly to plant a pink peach tree on the bare ground beside the official road at the entrance of the tavern!The tree planted at the gate of whose house will be the kind of fruit tree that blooms and bears fruit?

Of course, he could just think about the first reason in his stomach. If he really said it, it would not be a matter of being verbally reprimanded by the store.

"What kind of tree other people plant is their business, and there is no law in the world that restricts me from planting peach trees that will bloom and bear fruit at the entrance of the tavern."

Although Hou Bai has rich experience in life, he is also limited by the world.

Shaking his head, Yu Tao threw the tree seed into the pit and covered it with soil, skillfully counting his luck.

In just a few breaths, a small peach tree with half a person's height and luxuriant branches appeared between the two of them, and the thin branch on the top shook Hou Bai a few times with its long and narrow leaves.

"Aren't peach blossoms beautiful? Aren't peaches delicious?"

"Haha, it looks good, it's delicious." He laughed dryly a few times, how could Hou Bai look at this little peach tree so awkwardly——

"Shopkeeper, it doesn't look good to just plant such a peach tree. Why don't we plant peach trees all the way from the back of the tavern to the side of the stream?"

In this way, it probably won't be so obtrusive to people... right?

"It's the same as my plan, let's take a look at the back together." Nodding in surprise and joy, Yu Tao waved his hand at Hou Bai, and walked towards the back of the tavern.

Probably because it was just washed away by the heavy rain and the water flow was cut off. Although the creek behind the tavern is no longer dry, the water quality is rather turbid.

After walking along the stream for a while, Yu Tao kicked a big wet bluestone by the stream into the water.

With a sound of "Plop", Hou Bai, who was standing in a corner planning Taoyuan, was taken aback by the shopkeeper who seemed to be unhappy again, and followed up with a few worried steps, without getting his feet wet: "What's wrong, shopkeeper?"

"It's okay." Zhao Hou Bai smiled, and Yu Tao watched with satisfaction as the bluestone shattered into several pieces and fell into the stream.

"This stone gets in the way by the shore. Anyway, old man Yu and Jia Zhen can't lean on it to play chess and talk, so they just don't want it."

"It's about, it's pure if you don't see it. Shopkeeper, let's hurry up and plant the trees back, or someone will go to the tavern after a while, and the ground is full of water, mud and weeds. I feel uncomfortable staying here." After glancing at Yu Tao's calm expression, Hou Bai hopped his feet and changed the topic.

One pointing the direction and the other digging a hole to plant trees, Yu Tao and Hou Bai cooperated tacitly, and the wasteland from the tavern to the creek was not big at all, and twenty or so new dwarf peach trees quickly overwhelmed the place. It's full.

With so many trees planted in the wild, there might not be any problems this winter, but when life gets tough again next year, there will definitely be people who will go all the way to steal peaches and trees.

Their tavern has a sparse business, and it is indeed very leisurely, but it happens that there is a lack of someone to help, making him busy all day long.

After lamenting his hard life, Hou Bai followed Yu Tao back to the tavern, while thinking about the vegetables that should be picked in the vegetable garden, he ran to the warehouse to find the old bed curtain that had been put somewhere.

It finally rained and I was in a happy mood, and it was even more pleasant to plant dozens of peach trees on my own site in one go.

It wasn't until this time that Yu Tao finally had the feeling of "taking root in his hometown again", and even the fire in the back kitchen that had not been extinguished was pleasing to the eye.

Just as he bent down to look at the vegetable basket under the table and wanted to pick a courgette to wash and eat, Yu Tao noticed a pool of water stains appeared in the corner of the wall under the table at some point.

Although his technique and skills in setting up the formation are only low-level, no matter how bad he is, he can protect the tavern so that the wind and rain outside will not seep into the house.How could there be a puddle of clear water under this table?

The dishes placed under the table were almost soaked in water and turned into rotten dishes.

After absorbing the puddle of water on the ground, Yu Tao lowered his body and dragged out all the earthen jar vegetable baskets under the table.

Hou Bai jumped up and down to hang up the white cloth. Hearing the movement of the back kitchen, he came in to check. He saw his shopkeeper half squatting and opening one jar after another. After a few glances, he put it back together.

"Seller, what are you looking for?"

"I'm not looking for something." Waving to Hou Bai who came over to help him, Yu Tao casually tapped the clay pot in his hand, "I saw water under the table before, so I wondered if it was something under the table. If there is something wrong with the water pots, they are all brought out to have a look.”

"I don't know if I don't look for it. Our kitchen has prepared so many pickled and dried vegetables."

"There are not too many of these things, so take them out without opening the eyes." With a hook of his wrist, he scooped up the outermost pottery urn and turned it around under his hand, Hou Bai's eyebrows twitched.

"What is installed here, why does it seem to move?"

☆, the king is above

Seeing Hou Bai's surprised expression looking at the bottom of the pottery urn, Yu Tao leaned over curiously, and saw a brocade snake coiled up at the bottom of the urn, looking at the two of them blankly with its small oval head up.

"It's that little snake, I didn't expect it to come back to life."

"Well, it probably spilled the water on the ground." There was only a little water that would cover the bottom of the urn that was half full, and anyone could see that something was wrong.

While guessing, Hou Bai held the water jar and poured it down.

"You little thing that can make trouble, come out quickly."

Sliding from the urn to the ground, the little snake seemed to have finally reacted, its slender and flexible body bounced violently on the ground, and the whole snake rushed towards Yu Tao beside him like an arrow from a bow.

Although the behavior of this little snake spirit was unexpected, it was impossible for Yu Tao to be easily approached by this kind of little monster. With a stretch of his hand, he restrained the snake's body by seven inches, but he couldn't prevent his wrist from being tightly entangled by the cool snake tail. superior.

"I, I, I, I have successfully shed my skin! I can transform! Don't boil me into meat soup!!" A slightly trembling voice came from the palm of his hand, and Yu Tao, who was trying to pull the snake's tail away, was stunned for a long time I just remembered that I was joking with Hou Bai when I picked up the snake just now, and he sighed speechlessly and wanted to let go of his hand, but suddenly felt the weight of his palm, and the little brocade snake directly turned into a claw with two horns on it. The white and tender toddler, with two tears streaming down his face, had his thin neck stuck in the middle of his palm!

I almost missed her, no, if I held her tight, I would strangle her to death!

In a flurry, Yu Tao and Hou Bai put the little goblin wrapped in a bellyband, who could only whimper and cry, on the padded chair in the hall and set them down, looking at each other.

It is not easy for monster races to survive in the world. Since this little water snake has successfully transformed into the threshold of monster races, it has a relationship with them that is not a natural enemy. It is not easy for the two of them to treat her without any experience as a monster. The younger generation threw the matter directly outside the tavern.

"You and her were transformed from beasts, so you should have something to talk about?" Looking at the little girl who was rubbing her eyes and crying, and kept peeking at them, Yu Tao quietly took a step back and stretched out her hands to push Hou Bai.

"...That's fine, I'll try it." Following the force coming from behind, Hou Bai took a few steps, pressed the corners of his mouth that kept turning up, and patted the corner of his clothes, "It's been many years since I coaxed you." Little doll, when I used to perform on the street, many children came to see me every day."

After saying that, Hou Bai walked to the front of the little snake demon, bent down and squatted down, and opened his arms as if to hug her: "Come on, baby, no one here will come to hurt you, do you want me to hug you?"

Hearing the little girl cry "wow" even more after being stunned for a moment, Yu Tao, who was disgusted by Hou Bai's strange tone, breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a little headache.

"Hou Bai, did you understand what she was saying?"

"I don't know what she thinks, but I always feel that I will eat her in one bite." Helplessly, he found that the closer he got, the louder the little guy was crying. Tao translated the cry of the little snake demon, "I've been yelling things like 'I'm good, don't eat me'. It's really... I haven't touched meat for many years."

"Can't she understand human speech?"

If you say this snake demon is timid, she cries louder and louder, the cries of children are already shrill and piercing, Yu Tao gradually becomes a little impatient, and steps forward to lift her up to her eyes.

"If you didn't come over and die before, it's only natural for me or Hou Bai to eat your meat; now that you survived and successfully transformed into a form, you have earned your life. As long as you don't become our enemy in the future, we won't kill you. I see you, do you understand?"

"It's just an ordinary water snake demon, your meat is not that expensive."

"... Ming, I understand."

The little water snake, who was so scared that he forgot that he was still crying, couldn't help hiccupping, and looked at Yu Tao nervously.

Well, isn't this a good behavior right away? Could it be that he still has the talent to take care of children?

Pursing the corners of his mouth in satisfaction, Yu Tao carried the little girl and shook her in front of Hou Bai deliberately before putting her back in her original position.

"Do you remember how I picked you up?"

"I remember." Sitting firmly in the middle of the chair, Xiaopang's arms were placed on Xiaopang's legs, the little snake demon behaved as if those crying and accusing all of them were farting just now, and the circles of their eyes didn't even turn red.

Hou Bai twitched the corners of his mouth and pulled two chairs to sit down, then rolled his eyes towards the sky.

"I couldn't leave the water for too long when I didn't transform, so I stayed in the stream in the mountain forest to practice before. The stream has a pool in the middle of the mountain. No matter how hot the weather is, the water in the pool is always enough for me. of."

"However, there was a small hole outside the mountainside at some point, and all the water in the pool flowed out of the hole, so I followed suit, and was almost caught and boiled by the people scooping water outside the hole. Meat soup!"

"Then, I suddenly started to shed my skin and grow up." Speaking of this, the little snake demon couldn't help but touch the snake pattern apron covering his belly, and trembled, "I need a lot of water to shed my skin, but At that time, the places where I could find water were getting less and less every day, and I was sore and thirsty every day. Later, I probably fainted due to lack of water? Anyway, um, I felt it when you picked me up, my lord, but I just moved. No."

"puff--"

"Don't call me king." Looking sideways at Hou Bai who was amused and laughing, Yu Tao began to doubt whether his previous plan was reliable or not.

As the weather turns colder, the business in the tavern will definitely improve gradually and needs manpower, but is it inappropriate to leave such an unreasonable little monster from the mountains as a second hand in the tavern?

"Of course it's not suitable, she's just as high as the table!" Hou Bai almost jumped up from the chair when he heard the store's plan, "We can't send such a small doll, so what will she do?"

Such a small child should be protected like a little monkey to eat and drink, and sleep when he is tired from playing.

"I will do a lot of things well, and I can learn if I don't!"

"Well, there will be no shortage of water for the whole winter, and this little snake demon should be able to support herself."

Raising his eyebrows slightly, Yu Tao looked at the snake demon who was speaking at the same time as him, and saw that she was staring at Hou Bai with wide-eyed puffs, with snake patterns faintly showing on her skin, she was almost like a frog.

"Your Majesty..."

The little snake demon's desire to stay in the tavern is palpable. Its short stature is not a big problem, but it's a pity that its brain is really not very bright... Unable to make up its mind, Yu Tao turned to look at Hou Bai to ask his opinion.

"Hou Bai, if you're willing to take her as an apprentice, I'll leave her to take over the work of your shop waiter; if you don't want this, you can hire someone later, how about it?"

The author has something to say: Holding a grass, I wanted to cough but couldn't cough, and finally tears came out

☆, open a shop to welcome customers

After that hearty thunderstorm, the weather has gradually cooled down, and a few drops of rain will fall from time to time.

Before dawn, Yu Tao, who had finished his one-night practice, leaned against the window and looked into the distance. He could vaguely see many figures rising and falling in the far away farmland.

When the old man Yu taught him how to read, he often said that a year's plan lies in spring, but now it has probably become "a year's plan".