A Guide to - 14

Unedited chapter


14. Stepping on the Snake in the Middle of the Night   


The huge snake unexpectedly didn't eat the frogs! Shu Shu stared at Edgar with a puzzled look. After much deliberation, he ultimately concluded that the huge snake was not able to catch the frogs.
 
Indeed, suffering so many heavy injuries, he supposed that the huge snake could not move anymore. Right, he had not gotten the chance to ask the huge snake a question before. Did the huge snake could only use his tail to point something out?

Shu Shu glanced at the huge snake with a sympathetic look. Grabbing a frog and breaking its legs, he then threw it near the huge snake's mouth: "Snake, eat the frog."

Edgar merely eyed the slimy frog struggling beside his head. Then he moved his head far away from it.
 
Edgar's movement made Shu Shu jump in fear again. He drew back a few steps to lean against the cave’s wall and realized that the huge snake was just trying to stay away from the frog. Having not been attacked by the snake, he  breathed a sigh of relief.

However, getting frightened by his own disciple was really humiliating . . . . Shu Shu pretended that he was just occupied with something on the side of the cave. He grabbed a frog next to his feet and began to speak to calm himself down: “You don’t eat frog, ah . . . . And for what reason is it that you don’t eat frog?"

"Being picky about food is not good. You‘re being so troublesome to keep, you know!"

"Anyway, I can't catch other prey. It’s good enough that I can catch frogs. What else do you want to eat, ah?!

"If you don't eat, I'll starve you to death."
 
. . . .

Shu Shu relied on the fact that the huge snake couldn't understand his words to educate the huge snake sincerely and earnestly. Of course, considering that he was afraid of the snake, he didn't dare to look at the snake while educating it.

In the meantime, he had grabbed all the frogs that had escaped to his side, and now he was running to the cave mouth to kill them.
 
Shu Shu did not feel like going to the lakeside. After killing the frogs, he just buried their heads and viscera in the mire nearby. Then he brought back the frog meat to the cave and put it inside the wooden basin he had made with his own hands to wash.
 
The frogs here were all larger than the frogs that Shu Shu had seen before. Each one was the size of the palm of the hand and had a lot of meat, too. After Shu Shu was done washing the frog meat, he could not help but feel ravenous to the point of wanting to gnaw it raw. Of course, he certainly wouldn’t do such thing.
 
But, how was he going to cook these frogs? That's the problem . . . .
 
After pondering for a while, Shu Shu took out the slab he had used to make dried meat.
 
He had always used this slab to make dried meat, so the upper layer had become oily. Shu Shu placed the supported slab in the middle of the fire and put the frogs on it one by one. Then he adjusted the fire under the slab. 

"Slab frog, it’s the first time you see it, right? I'm the one who make it, so it must be very tasty!" Shu Shu once again said to the huge snake. He really liked to talk, but there had only been him alone before, so he had just hummed and sung a song. Now there was this disciple of his, he started to jabber on and on: "The most delicious frog on earth will be made by me!"

"The frog meat is very tender; it’ll get burnt if it’s roasted for a little bit too long. It's no good to continue like this . . . . Adding some water should be fine, right? Don’t you need to add some water when pan-frying fried dumplings?” Shu Shu kept harping on. Using a small ladle, he poured a little water on top of each frog and flipped them over with a pair of chopsticks.

Among the rising steam, it was actually true that the frogs were cooked. But of course, it was just that and nothing more. Forget about calling it the most delicious under heaven, it was even not qualified to be called delicious.
 
"I can't finish eating them, ah. How about making dried frog? The frog's meat is very tender; it’ll probably shrink a lot when made into dried frog, right?" Shu Shu looked at the pile of frogs in front of him and fretted a bit. He suddenly heard some movements. Only to find that the huge snake was close by and gazing at him impatiently. Even more, the snake was rapping the ground with its tail.

It was really an impatient gaze, not a vicious one!
 
That gaze, it was the same as when he had asked his owner for food. Of course, his action had been more lavish than the snake’s at that time. He had still been able to join his two paws together and bow with his hands held in front! He was absolutely a hundred times more adorable than the huge snake!
 
“You want to eat?” Shu Shu asked. After asking the snake, he thought that he was a bit silly. The snake should still not understand the words “you want”.

In the end . . . the huge snake unexpectedly nodded its head briefly.
 
Did this snake understand? Or, did it understand "eat"? Shu Shu was a bit curious, but he quickly let go of it nonetheless—it was good that his disciple was very smart, ah!
 
Shu Shu had caught a total of eight frogs. He kept two, and the remaining six were all wrapped in leaves and placed not far from the huge snake.
 
In fact, they were beasts; even if they ate food that has been thrown onto the ground, it would not harm them. However, Shu Shu was a hamster spirit who loved cleanliness. Therefore, every time he gave food to the kind person or to the huge snake, he always wrapped it with leaves. He believed that inevitably there would be a day when he could be the same as human. Fine, as soon as he was free, he would make a few wooden bowls, OK!

Speaking of food, the six frogs were no more than a light snack for Edgar. However, this time he was especially satisfied with the meal. Watching the nearby little sub-beastman putting the chestnuts into the dying bonfire to roast, his heart felt comfortably warm.
 
When the beastmen had not yet developed science and technology— particularly when they had been in primitive society—it was said that in some areas, the beastmen and the sub-beastmen had lived in the caves. At that time, when the beastman had gone out to hunt, the sub-beastman had stayed in the cave, preparing food for the beastman. The two men lived together intimately . . . .
 
It was a pity that these frogs were not caught by him . . . . Edgar suddenly woke up to reality. He . . .  it seemed like he had eaten the food that the little sub-beastman had brought back with much toil?

Clearly, he should be the one who kept the little sub-beastman. How could he let the little sub-beastman keep him!
 
"I didn't expect that the snake nowadays doesn't like to eat raw food and likes to eat cooked food instead. This is a good habit. Big snake, you must keep living, and I will catch some more frogs for you to eat tomorrow." Shu Shu Shu did not know Edgar’s way of thinking. At this moment, he was prattling on while tidying his cave up, putting everything in its place. He also dug for a while, expanding the cave a bit. 

The home that originally seemed to be very big to him, after the addition of one snake, now seemed to be too small . . . .

The sky soon became dark, which of course had little effect on Shu Shu. After all, the cave was always very dark. Moreover . . . compared to the daytime, he actually preferred the evening.
 
Before he was put in this situation, Shu Shu at this hour would rather go out to absorb the sun and moon’s brilliance to advance his cultivation. However, today he was very tired and chose to not do it. Instead, he got into his bedroom and went to bed early.
 
Of course, before going to bed, he also didn’t forget to infuse all his spiritual power into the huge snake's body.
 
Burying himself in the pile of grass, Shu Shu at first thought that he would not be able to sleep. After all, there was a snake outside . . . . He also thought that if he couldn't sleep this time, he definitely should refrain from digging another hole and just cultivate properly instead . . . .
 
In the end . . . the thought has just reached that point when Shu Shu fell asleep.
 
Edgar nest was in the outer side of the big cave, and he also fell asleep very quickly . . . .
 
On the edge of falling asleep, Edgar suddenly sensed someone coming near him, and even stepping on his body . . . . Who was suddenly approaching him? Edgar instinctively wanted to grab that person; his snake body involuntarily rolled up. Only to find that it was the sleepy, closed-eyed little sub-beastman whom he had seized. At this moment, the little sub-beastman opened his eyes.
 
In the darkness, the two men looked at each other in dismay. In the end, the little sub-beastman who got up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night shrieked and ran back into his hole.
 
Edgar tapped the floor with his tail, somewhat depressed. It should be unlikely that the little sub-beastman was still afraid of him, right? By the way, just now the little sub-beastman seemed to be naked again . . . .
 
Shu Shu actually wasn’t afraid of the huge snake anymore. He even found that he seemed to have stopped getting frightened by the huge snake to a degree—the snake had already coiled around him, but it had not eaten him. It had certainly been reluctant to swallow him down to its stomach.

But he was still getting scared in the end, ah! It's really, really awful to step on a snake in his own hole at night!

When the disciple actually scared the master, it was terribly wrong! Shu Shu thought it was necessary to give the huge snake some lessons!
 
As for what lessons they were . . . .
 
He was still shivering now, and he did not dare to go through the cave mouth to pee outside. It's better to urinate in the huge snake's cave . . . .

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