Serpent Sarcophagus

Chapter 5 Channeling the Spirit

No one would expect a kiss after I did the blood thing.

At that moment, my mind went blank, and I kept blinking uncontrollably, Should I just slap him, or be

grateful and say nothing? I didn’t know!

After all, the ghost serpent was real, and people had been killed for it.

Compared to losing one’s life, some small harassment seemed unworthy to mention.

Seeing that my thoughts had recovered, Stowy closed his eyes, and his lips were pressed together as

if he was savoring a memory or trying to hide something, but there was still sadness in his eyes, “This

is just one of the ways to unlock the magic of the bracelet. I didn't tell you about it, because I was afraid

that you might... well, find it unacceptable.”

If I knew, I would never have agreed!

“Aurora,” In the kitchen grandma called, “lunch is ready”

I turned to look at Stowy and wanted to ask him if he would like to dine with us together. After all, I still

need his help.

“I don’t need to eat.” Stowy disappeared right away.

Holding the bracelet in my hand, I didn’t know what I ought to do with it. But it suddenly came alive,

with its snake body stretching slowly and crawling along my palm.

I was naturally afraid of snakes. Now one in my hand, I almost threw it away.

“Fear not!” Stowy's voice rang again. It was from the snake’s mouth.

The black snake raised its head and turned back into the bracelet around my wrist again,

“Eat! After lunch, I will take you to see Mrs. Quebec’s apprentice......” Grandma called again. When she

saw me staring at the bracelet, a frightened expression showed on her face, like she was unwell.

“Grandma? I waved the snake-shaped bracelet at her, and said, “is there anything wrong with the

bracelet?”

“Nothing, everything is exactly where it’s supposed to be. It’s the right way! That's the way it is...” ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Grandma’s voice faded, but her eyes were still staring straight at the bracelet, as though she could do

nothing to help

So far, I failed to find out what my grandma knew exactly. Though I wished to inquire more, I suddenly

couldn’t open my mouth seeing my grandma's distraught look.

After lunch, grandma brought with her some joss paper and candles. She also packed a liter of rice,

along with four just-laid eggs from the henhouse.

The chickens no longer screamed and ran away when I approached them, but they still dared not come

near me.

Before going out, my grandma asked me to hold the big white goose, “Goose can scare the snakes off.

Hold it and don't let go, lest you get to be targeted by the snake on the road!”

Grandma seemed to be prepared for the whole thing, which made me feel even more confused.

Mrs. Quebec lived in the village next to us, so grandma and I must leave the village.

At the entrance, Mr. Han was enjoying the sunbath with his belly full. He giggled when he saw us, “The

Lady of House Dragon was entangled with a snake. So she becomes a snake’s wife and delivered a

babe. Her name should be Dragon, but her child is a serpent? How strange! How strange!”

“Shut your filthy mouth!” My grandmother growled at him and pulled me away.

Mr. Han was still singing to himself. Although he couldn’t speak clearly, he did sing this children’s

rhyme very clearly.

Confused, I asked my grandma, “what does he mean by his singing? Delivered a serpent baby, but the

surname is Dragon?”

I learned what entangling with a snake means this morning, but what about delivering a baby serpent?

“Leave it.” Grandma grabbed me and pointed to the car. “Is that the car you drove back?”

Grandma’s finger poke at my forehead while I was about to nod. “Are you out of your mind! You are too

young to drive! What if you hit someone, or you died in an accident? If you got caught, you could go to

jail for that!”

When grandma disciplined a child, it was often an intense and unpleasant experience.

I urged her to move, and then called my mother, planning to ask her to inform Dominik to pick up the

car.

But nobody answered the phone. I called my dad, and it was the same.

I thought grandma and I would walk to the next village, but she stopped a motorcycle and asked the

driver to take us there.

She even arranged for someone to check the car to see if there were any repairs needed. If so, she

would cover the expense.

Honesty is a common quality in my grandmother's generation.

The late Mrs. Quebec was the one who used the rice to extract snake venom out of my father’s body

and then was bitten to death by snakes on her way home.

“Her apprentice is her niece, also a Quebec. Now we all call her Mrs. Quebec as well. You should

address her politely as Aunt Quebec.” Grandma made the point clear to me before we went in.

When we got there, Channeler Quebec was helping others channel the spirit before that seeker was

kicked out halfway.

A middle-aged woman in a blue cloth walked out, whose hair was tied up with a wooden hair stick. A

liter of rice was splashed in front of the door. Her face turned green when she chided, “There’s mold on

the rice, and the eggs have gone bad. What have you done? Don’t you really know? And you dare ask

me!”

That seeker was an old lady, whose didn’t look happy after being thrown rice by that middle-aged

woman.

She pointed at that middle-aged woman and said, “Who knows if you’re trying to cheat me out of my

money! The rice is freshly bought this year. It was alright when I fetched it from the container. But it was

molded when it came into your hand! Maybe you did something about it! “

“You know exactly whether I am behind this.” The middle-aged woman pointed to the turned egg “only

dark people have dark eggs! See it yourself!”

As she was spoking, a large piece of meat was thrown out, along with a plastic bag of incense candles

and joss paper. “Take your things and go away!”

Seeing it was over, grandma pushed me forward, “this is Aunt Quebec.”

The old woman wanted to say something more, but was deterred by Aunt Quebec’s hard stare. “If you

don't want the entire village to know what dirty work you did, I suggest you get lost right away!”

“Bah!” The old woman picked up the meat and the bag of joss paper and candles, pointed at Aunt

Quebec, and said, “You are the wicked one. You will be bitten to death by snakes like your aunt sooner

or later!”

Hearing that, my grandmother froze and pulled me to one side.

Mrs. Quebec grunted indifferently and turned to look at us.

After that old woman walked away, Mrs. Quebec said to us, “You heard it. When my aunt died, we had

sworn that we will never channel spirit for the Dragon family again! “

“Channeler Quebec,” Grandma lifted up my wrist, pointing at the snake-shaped bracelet and said, “She

has worn the bracelet on her wrist!”

Mrs. Quebec looked at the bracelet, and her expression became unfathomable. “You are Aurora

Dragon?”

I nodded hurriedly, didn’t expect her to know my name.

She tutted, “Do you know how you were born?”

When I was a child, I often heard people in the village talking about it every time I went there. They said

that I was a snake lady.

Seeing me nod, Aunt Quebec said, “Why do you ask me to perform the channeling magic since you

already know who you are!”

“Your aunt gave us this bracelet!” Grandma pulled me forward and looked at Aunt Quebec, “Our two

families were united once, and...”

“All right!” Hearing that, Mrs. Quebec suddenly interrupted grandma's words. “I can channel the spirit

for you, but you can’t go in. Just do it out here!”

The old lady before us was driven out. When it came to us, we couldn’t even be allowed to walk into

her door.

I was a little uncomfortable about it, but grandma seemed to be very pleased. She took the rice and the

eggs out.

Glancing at me, Aunt Quebec moved out a long table and put an incense table on it. She picked up two

eggs and buried them in the rice, then lit the incense sticks and threw two zafus on the ground.

Grandma pulled me down on my knees on the zafu, and then she began to murmur something.

Aunt Quebec squatted aside to burn some paper while glancing at me from time to time. But the fire

that burned the paper gradually died off.

Mrs. Quebec tried to burn it again. This time the fire was put off as soon as it touched the brazier.

She entered the room particularly to fetch another pile of paper, but the results were the same. Though

it was burning at first, the fire distinguished as soon as it touched the brazier.

Aunt Quebec started to wear a long face. She gritted her teeth and took a flaming coal ball from the

stove and put it in the brazier.

Even in this way, the paper, though obviously dry, was just like the wet paper and cannot be caught by

fire when thrown into the burning brazier.

Mrs. Quebec's forehead slowly sweated, turning her head to look at me, and then looked up at the

incense on the incense burner, seemingly having come to a realization.

She got up and took out the eggs buried in the rice and put them on the table. She looked at my

grandmother and said, “You see, it’s not that I don’t want to help. The Paper does not burn because of

the snake’s breath underneath. The Eggs buried in the rice were also contaminated by snakes.”

She said, then threw the two eggs at the ground.

I clearly remembered that the eggs were from the henhouse, but what lied within the cracked eggs

were two baby snakes still with their eyes closed!

Once the egg was broken, the snakes wriggled a few times in the egg liquid and then stopped moving

and died.

My grandmother was so scared that she pulled me two steps back and looked at Aunt Quebec. “But

the Quebec family and the Dragon family were......”

Aunt Qin's face darkened. “I don't want to follow in my aunt’s footsteps and be bitten to death. Why

don’t you go back to have a look? Maybe something has happened in your home?”

“As for the past of our two families, it can wait until you find that serpent sarcophagus.” Aunt Quebec

looked at the two dead snakes on the ground and stared at the other eggs that grandma had brought.

“Open these two as well.”

Grandma brought four eggs in total, so now there were still two remained. After hearing Quebec’s

words, she threw them directly at the ground without a second thought.

Inside each of the two eggs was a small baby snake just like the former two.

My grandma was so scared that she kept sweating. She grabbed my arm and was ready to go home.

“Tell her to find the serpent sarcophagus. She knows it!” Stowy suddenly talked. “The bracelet had

helped save the Quebec family before. Now it’s time for them to return the favor!”

I looked at Auntie Quebec. Before I said anything, she spoke first, “You need to leave now! Something

happened in your home.”

She sounded impatient like she was driving us away. Then she pulled the door and was going to shut

it.

I felt something cold crawling on my wrist, and then the bracelet fell.

“How dare you, Quebec, to drove your Lord away?” The Mamba bracelet fell to the ground with a loud

noise, and it turned to a human.

Mrs. Quebec, who was going to shut the door, trembled when she saw Stowy. She knelt. “Lord Dracula,

I dare not! I dare not!”