The Tale of the Cursed Beauty and the Enchanted Serpent"

According to my grandma and great-grandma, this story took place during their childhood, which would be in the 1930s or 1940s, probably around the time of the Yingkou falling dragon event. During that period, there was a surge in the activity of insects. In a village, not deep into the mountains but just on the outskirts of the city, there was a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl. She was exceptionally beautiful and not yet married. Due to the chaos of those times, many pretty young women were concerned about being violated by invaders or bandits. Therefore, they purposely made themselves look unattractive, and this girl was no exception. Besides her close neighbors, she would deliberately dirty her face.

One day, while returning from a trip to the market with her mother, they spotted a black snake slithering across the road. Her mother halted from a distance, waiting for the snake to pass. In the rural areas of northeastern China, some places had a tradition of treating snakes as mystical creatures, much like foxes. Unless provoked, they were not to be harmed. The mother's choice was wise. However, the girl, unaware of the situation, made an offhand comment: "Mom, look, doesn't it look like a young lord passing by? If I marry someone who yields the road like this, it's worth it!" Her mother, panicked, tried to cover her mouth, but it was too late. The black snake seemed to understand her words, turned back to look at her, and even stuck out its forked tongue. Both the mother and daughter felt a sense of unease and hurried back to the village.

That night, the girl fell ill and began to have vivid dreams filled with colorful snakes hissing outside her window. These dreams continued for several days, and she grew visibly thinner. Her parents became worried and decided to consult a local diviner. The diviner came from a neighboring village and, after some rituals and offerings, conveyed a message to the spirits, asking the snake spirit, known as "Liu Xian," not to harm the girl. He said that the girl had a plain appearance and was not suitable to become a wife of the Liu family, asking Liu Xian not to take offense.

The girl's condition improved after the divination, and she was instructed to avoid contact with strangers for seven days. She followed these instructions and stayed home while her family members worked in the fields. Things seemed to be settling down. However, on the sixth day, while her family was away, she heard a young man crying outside her door. He was dressed in black and appeared to be a stranger. The girl, curious and feeling sympathy for the young man, decided to open the door to inquire about his situation. The young man, upon seeing her, expressed his astonishment and accused her of deception, believing that she was already betrothed. The girl was taken aback and denied any betrothal, which made the young man laugh. He claimed that he knew she had tricked him and declared they would be entangled together in the future.

The young girl didn't understand what he meant, and he left in high spirits. However, when her parents returned and heard her story, they were terrified. No one had ever heard of such a young man in the nearby villages. This left her parents deeply concerned about what the young man meant by being "entangled together."

The girl's mother decided to move her to her sister's home in the neighboring village. Meanwhile, her father went to find the diviner, but he was away, performing rituals for another family. Realizing that he couldn't locate his daughter right away, he decided to spend the night at the diviner's place.

At her aunt's house, the girl consumed some contaminated food and had stomach troubles during the night. She needed to visit the communal toilet, which was situated in a nearby area shared by the villagers. With everyone else asleep, she carried a lantern and bravely ventured to the toilet, completely unaware of a shadowy figure silently following her.

At dawn, the girl was discovered missing, and her family began searching frantically. Terrifying screams from several women near the communal toilet drew their attention. Rushing to the scene, they found the girl struggling in a pile of weeds. Her clothing was torn and she was virtually naked, wrapped around by a black serpent as thick as an arm. But the entanglement was far from simple. The snake had entered her body through her lower parts, emerged from her left breast, went back inside via her right breast, and the head portion had emerged from the back of her neck, coiling around her head while constantly flicking its forked tongue against her face. The girl was still struggling, though her eyes had rolled back, and her state was uncertain.

Her family was devastated, but nobody dared to intervene. At this point, her father returned with the diviner, who sighed heavily upon seeing the girl's predicament. He declared that there was nothing more they could do as the girl had become an animated corpse, her body and soul entwined with the snake. There was no way to save her. Her parents reluctantly agreed to the diviner's advice, and they wrapped the girl in white cloth. The diviner used real fire to cremate her body. However, he warned them that the connection between the girl and the snake was not over. In their next lives, they would continue to be entwined, a tortured and illusory love story.