The Witching Snakes pt 18

Xu Xian and Bai Suzhen get married. Greenie steals silver ingots. It leads to trouble. Greenie frames a magistrate but Xu Xian still goes to jail. Greenie wanders the world. Bai Suzhen waits.

Read Part 17

"I don't know," said Xu Xian. He feared that the dream would fade. Greenie whispered to Bai Suzhen and Bai took Xu by the hand.

"May I spend a lifetime with you?" she asked.

Xu Xian said yes. Greenie led the couple to the household shrine. They bowed to the heaven and the earth. Then she undid her red girdle. The couple held the ends as she led them to the bridal chamber singing a tune about spring and hope.

As Bai Suzhen and her new husband explored their happy state, Greenie dove up into the air. The windows of heaven were opened and rain came forth upon the earth. Greenie tossed rain drops on cattle. She spun and danced, devouring every bird that could fit in her extended jaw; crunched their bones with human teeth before swallowing.

When finally Greenie found the Qiantang magistrate office, she opened the storehouse and grabbed 60 ingots of silver all weighing 500 ounces, enough to start several businesses. Greenie flew again, circled by the ingots. If she flew too close to a bird or a house, an ingot would destroy it.

She was home before the couple had emerged from their slumber. She spent the morning drinking tea. The happy couple remained secluded. It was only when her sister emerged wearing a white robe that Greenie gave her an ingot to fund Xu Xian's venture in apothecary arts.

Xu Xian left the house in a daze, eager to tell his sister and brother-in-law. He spoke in poetry and analytical archetypal principals. Bai Suzhen and Greenie watched. Bai Suzhen joked about arranging a marriage for Greenie and sang with a happiness that Greenie could not share. Greenie preferred solitude. Bai Suzhen was working on a tapestry. Greenie smoked from the twilight. Day servants brought them cakes of mango; celebrated the heteroglossia.