Winters came and summers went.
Xiao Mo had passed another three years inside the Hundred Lives Book's second "life experience."
Over those three years, Xiao Mo herded cattle, picked herbs, and went to the village schoolroom every day to hear the old village chief teach.
Only, Xiao Mo could only listen to the lessons from outside the village schoolroom.
In a way it was better that way—he could keep an eye on the cattle at the same time.
Xiao Mo might have looked like a child, but the soul inside him was truly an adult.
On top of that, this world used the same Chinese characters, so Xiao Mo saved a great deal of time learning to read, and he learned fast.
It startled the village chief, who was delighted to have found a promising scholarly sprout.
In the village chief's eyes, if Xiao Mo applied himself to his letters, he might genuinely pass the provincial examination and earn his juren degree.
And when that day came, his Stone Bridge Village would really have brought honor to itself.
Still, the village chief never praised Xiao Mo to his face, for fear he'd get a swelled head.
But every so often the village chief would quietly lend Xiao Mo a few volumes from his own collection, and tell him that if there was ever anything he didn't understand, he could come to the courtyard and ask anytime.
Xiao Mo was not an ungrateful child either; each day he set aside a share of the herbs and wild fruit he gathered for the village chief.
And so, when Xiao Mo rested on the mountain while gathering herbs, he'd open a book and read. When he herded the cattle, he'd sit on the ox's back and open a book and read.
With nothing to do at night and the weather fine, Xiao Mo read by moonlight.
As for that little white snake—
Xiao Mo had not seen her once in those three years, and had no idea where she had gone.
Then spring came again, and all living things woke.
One early morning, Xiao Mo got up early, led Old Liu's ox up the mountain.
As usual, Xiao Mo read while the cow grazed.
"Hey! You there, on the cow!"
Just as Xiao Mo rode along reading, a clear, sweet female voice came from somewhere nearby.
Xiao Mo looked up. A girl of about thirteen stood not far away, hands on her hips, pretty as a picture.
She wore a white dress that covered her feet, and her long black hair fell just to her slender waist.
Her skin was very white—so white it gave off a faint luster in the spring light. Beneath long lashes, the corners of a pair of peach-blossom eyes tilted up ever so slightly, like a cat's tail, as though they had sketched out all the spring in the world.
Below a small, pert nose, pale pink lips carried an innocent, gentle smile.
For such a pretty girl to suddenly appear on the mountain, her white dress spotless—
anyone would know there was something strange about it. Xiao Mo was no exception.
But Xiao Mo had a pretty good guess who she was.
Because from beneath her skirt, a white tail was peeking out.
Well, I didn't expect that.
In just three short years, she could already take human form.
From what Xiao Mo knew, it took a demon at least twenty years to take human form.
No wonder the Hundred Lives Book said she was exceptionally gifted.
Maybe that drop of true dragon essence blood she'd come by accidentally was doing no small amount of the work.
Xiao Mo got off the cow, stepped forward, and bowed with his hands clasped, as though he knew nothing at all: "Might I ask who the young lady is?"
"I... I'm..."
The girl thought, Uh-oh, and her big, liquid eyes rolled in circles.
She had only just learned to take human form today, and had happened to spot him riding the cow, and come over without a second thought—only to forget to prepare any story.
"I came up the mountain to enjoy the spring. Who are you?" the girl asked back.
"I'm a villager from Stone Bridge Village. My name is Xiao Mo. Might I ask the young lady's name?"
"Me?" The girl pointed at herself with a pale, slender forefinger, her eyes curving. "My name is Bai Ruxue."
"Bai Ruxue." Xiao Mo repeated the name.
"What's wrong?" The girl clasped her hands behind her back and bent forward, looking up at Xiao Mo from below. "Is my name not nice to hear?"
"It's nice." Xiao Mo nodded. "It just reminded me—I once saved a little white snake and gave her a name, and it's the same as the young lady's."
"Th-that's just a coincidence. I... I'm not a snake at all. I'm a person! That's right! A person!" Bai Ruxue's eyes darted left and right, and then her gaze firmed up.
Xiao Mo smiled. "I never said the young lady was a snake."
Bai Ruxue: "..."
"Young lady, spring has come. There are plenty of wild beasts on this mountain, and more snakes and insects besides. It would be best if you went down soon." Xiao Mo took the initiative to change the subject and smooth over her embarrassment.
Three years on, this little white snake still seemed to be a bit on the dim side.
"No hurry. I know this mountain like the back of my hand..." Bai Ruxue waved a hand smugly. "Say, this cow of yours looks interesting. Can you take me for a ride on it? As payment, I can give you this."
Bai Ruxue produced a small nugget of silver.
She had picked it up on the mountain.
Xiao Mo shook his head. "No need for that. If the young lady wants to ride the cow, just get on."
"Thanks! You're actually pretty nice, you know."
Bai Ruxue wiggled her way over to the cow's side.
Xiao Mo patted the big black ox on the head. It gave a snort and lowered itself down.
Just as Bai Ruxue lifted her skirt to climb on—
a pale white snake tail slipped out.
Bai Ruxue's cheeks went red and she hurriedly dropped her skirt. "You saw wrong just now. I'm not a snake! A person—look, these are human feet."
Bai Ruxue lifted her skirt slightly again, revealing a pair of small feet in white embroidered shoes with cloud patterns; the faint veins showed at her snow-white ankles.
"Seems I've been reading too much lately. My eyes are playing tricks on me." Xiao Mo played along with the girl. "Go on up, young lady."
"Oh, oh, oh..." Bai Ruxue climbed onto the big black ox and sat sideways on its back.
Xiao Mo got on as well, straddling the ox in front of her.
When the big black ox rose, Bai Ruxue was startled and quickly grabbed a corner of Xiao Mo's clothes.
Under the spring sun, the big black ox wandered up the mountain as it pleased, taking a bite here and a bite there.
Xiao Mo sat on the ox's back, leafing through the classic in his hands.
"Are you reading?" the girl behind him stealthily slipped the silver into Xiao Mo's pocket and then asked curiously.
"Mm." Xiao Mo nodded.
"Is reading fun?"
"Not really..."
"Then why do you read?"
"Well... because I need to pass the examinations and earn a degree."
"Why do you need to earn a degree?"
"Only with a degree can I enter the court and become an official."
"What does 'entering the court and becoming an official' mean?"
On the ox's back, the girl was a regular Twenty Thousand Whys.
Xiao Mo could no longer read, so he simply shut the book and answered the girl's Twenty Thousand Whys.
It was not until evening that Xiao Mo finally said, "Young lady, I have to head down the mountain."
"Oh... all right then." A flicker of disappointment crossed the girl's eyes, and her little feet hopped down from the ox's back. "Then I'll go home too."
"Where does the young lady live? I could walk you back."
"No need, no need, I can get back on my own. Bye!" The girl waved her hands hastily and trotted off toward the woods.
But as she ran, beneath her skirt, the little feet in embroidered shoes turned back into a white snake tail.
Xiao Mo smiled.
She didn't say.
And so he didn't ask.