Allure

  Wang Long and the giant snake stared at each other on the mountain slope, Wang Long's tense palms sweating slightly.

  The giant snake finally couldn't bear it, and with a "hiss" sound, its long tongue quickly stretched out several times, shooting towards Wang Long like lightning. Wang Long concentrated all his strength in his fists, aiming directly at the snake's eyes. The snake tilted its head, and Wang Long's fists landed on the snake's teeth. With a "crack" sound, two of the snake's teeth fell out, but Wang Long was also knocked down the steep slope by the snake's impact, rolling down the mountain like a tumbleweed.

  A branch of slanting pine on the half slope was crushed with a "crack" sound, and when Wang Long rolled down to the foot of the hill, he found that his shirt-like cloth had long been gone, leaving only half of his jeans still hanging between his legs.

  Wang Long quickly climbed up and found that at the foot of the mountain, a thorny small road wound its way into the distance. Since there was a road, it meant that there would be houses not far away. Seeing the big snake shooting towards him like an arrow, Wang Long picked up a sharp stone beside him and grasped it in his hand as a weapon.

  This time the giant snake changed its strategy, directly using its long tail to roll towards the king dragon. The king dragon was instantly rolled up by the snake's tail and flew into the air. The giant snake quickly stretched out several times, and the king dragon had already been tightly bound by the snake's body, with only two hands and head exposed outside. The giant snake opened its huge mouth and bit towards the food it had wrapped around itself.

  When the giant snake's mouth was about to reach his own head, Wang Long exerted all his strength and thrust the sharp stone in his hand into the snake's seventh inch. The sharp stone smoothly pierced the soft flesh of the snake's seventh inch, and suddenly blood and flesh flew everywhere.

  The giant snake was in pain, and its body tightened its grip on Wang Long even more, making him feel suffocated and parched. As the snake's head bit towards his own head again, Wang Long pulled out a sharp rock, tightly hugged the snake's body with both hands, and opened his mouth to bite towards the wound on the snake's mouth that was pierced by the sharp rock. Wang Long only felt a sweet and fishy-smelling blood flowing into his mouth.

  The hungry Wang Long sucked even harder, and after an unknown amount of time, Wang Long felt the giant snake stop thrashing about. Wang Long also fainted from sucking in the snake's blood and extreme exhaustion.

  Dongfang Lan has been feeling very anxious lately, as Wang Long has not come to school for a month. She asked everyone she knew who was familiar with Wang Long, but no one knew where he had gone. She even used her father Dongfang Hong's official power to investigate Wang Long's whereabouts, but Wang Long seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace to be found.

  Thinking of her own father, Dongfang Hong, Dongfang Lan's heart felt even more annoyed, because recently her old dad seemed to have fallen for a woman named Irina. Since her mother passed away five years ago, Dad had never looked for any other women, but just last week, he brought back that woman named Irina and became indifferent to Dongfang Lan's daily life.

  It was a cold Sunday, the north wind howling outside the car window, and Dongfang Lan's heart felt just as cold. She had originally planned not to go home that Sunday, but it had been a week since she'd seen her dad, and she missed him a bit. When she saw the driver her dad had sent to pick her up, Dongfang Lan got into the red Flag sedan and headed home.

  Arriving at her home in the Military Commission's courtyard, Dongfang Lan felt that the weather was even colder. It was only December now, and it was already unbearable; if it snowed, would people still be able to survive? Dongfang Lan rubbed her frozen, bright red hands, thinking secretly to herself.

  As soon as she stepped into her own home, the warm air inside immediately enveloped her, and Dongfang Lan felt her whole body warm up instantly.

  As she walked into the living room, Dongfang Lan saw her father sitting on the sofa with that woman named Irina, saying something and giggling while covering his mouth with his hand. Dongfang Lan's face immediately turned ugly.

  To be honest, this Irene is really stunningly beautiful, with golden shoulder-length curly hair, a pair of gemstone-like eyes with yellow crystal-like pupils, long eyelashes that are as cute as a doll, two dimples on her face that are to die for, especially her slender waist and towering bust, but her whole body exudes an almost eerie aura, smiling is extremely charming and full of temptation, making men want to commit crimes just by looking at her. And she looks like she's around twenty years old.

  However, Dongfang Lan had no good feelings towards this woman. Since his father became infatuated with her, his attitude towards him had become cold and distant, but what Dongfang Lan couldn't tolerate the most was that Dongfang Hong actually listened to Irene's words and used official power to do things for her. Some people living in the Military Commission's courtyard were already pointing fingers behind their backs, saying that Irene had bewitched General Dongfang, letting him use his power for personal gain.

  Dongfang Lan also heard about it by chance last time. However, Dongfang Hong was completely unaware of these things. When Dongfang Lan went to question him, her own father actually hit her for the first time in front of this woman, which made Dongfang Lan sad for several days.

  Dongfang Lan had always thought that this woman named Irina, who was getting close to her father, must have ulterior motives. So she had always been cold towards Irina and never pretended to be friendly with her.

  Dongfang Lan gave a faint greeting to Dongfang Hong, "Dad", and was about to return to her own room upstairs. Dongfang Hong's face immediately changed, and he loudly scolded: "Lan'er, stop right there! You're so big now and you don't even know the basics of politeness, not even giving a greeting to Aunt Irina."

  Dongfang Lanqi turned her head to the side, standing there silently. Dongfang let out a sigh: "Lan'er, I know you're upset with your dad, but since your mom left, I haven't been with any other women. Now that I've met Irene, it's love at first sight. Since we met at that banquet, I feel like I won't be able to leave her side again. And Irene truly likes me too. Don't you want your dad to have a happy life in his later years?"

  Dongfang Lan listened, her eyes becoming moist, turned around and said to Dongfang Hong: "Dad, I'm not opposed to you finding another woman, just find a better one, okay? You know how people outside have been talking about you behind your back since this woman entered our home? I just don't like her, I won't acknowledge her." After finishing speaking, she ran crying towards the second floor room and slammed the door shut with a "bang".

  Dongfang's eyes widened in shock, and his heart felt a pang of dryness. He knew that since he and Irina had gotten together, she had used her identity to arrange for some people to take on government positions, and had also used her connections to obtain various certificates and documents. But he didn't think this was a big deal, as long as Irina was happy, doing things for her was already enough, as long as it didn't harm the country's interests, within his own ability and power, helping Irina out a bit would allow him to be at peace.

  After all, Irina is only twenty-five years old now, and he is exactly ten years older than her, so of course, he should spoil her a bit. At this time, Dongfang Hong was like all young people who had fallen in love, trying hard to find some excuses for his behavior in his heart. Alas, unfortunately, my daughter doesn't understand me, Dongfang Hong secretly sighed in his heart.

  Irena gently said to Dongfang Hong: "Dear Hong, Lan'er is still young and doesn't understand things, you shouldn't be too heartbroken either. When she grows up a bit, she will understand you."

  Dongfang Hong's mood immediately improved after hearing Irene's words, and he hugged Irene's shoulders, saying: "En, you're right, Irene, you still understand me."

  Irena leaned on Dongfang Hong's shoulder, a sly smile spreading across her face, but unfortunately Dongfang Hong was too immersed in his great happiness at the moment to notice anything.

  Dongfang Lan rushed back to her room, threw herself onto the bed, covered her head with the quilt and burst into loud sobs. As she cried, she muttered to herself: "Mom, what am I supposed to do? If Dad continues like this, he'll definitely lose his dignity. That Irene is not a good person, she must have some ulterior motive towards Dad, what am I supposed to do?"

  Dongfang Lan picked up a tissue and wiped away her tears, then continued to cry: "Wang Long, where did you go? If only you were here, every time I have something unhappy, you can help me solve it, comfort me by my side. Without you by my side, I really don't know what to do."

  Slowly, she cried herself to sleep, Dongfang Lan fell into a dream, her face still wet with tears.

  At the same time, Wang Long was struggling to open his eyes, and what he saw was a wooden roof, and he was lying on a bamboo bed. He looked around at the house he lived in, and found that all the furniture inside was made of wood and bamboo, very simple and rustic.

  Wang Long got up, shook his hands, and only then discovered that he was wearing a dark blue men's jacket with a double-breasted front, while his lower body was clad in a pair of wide-legged trousers.

  Wang Long felt extremely surprised, what kind of clothes were these? He seemed to have seen them somewhere before, but he really couldn't remember. In fact, Wang Long was wearing the ordinary Miao costume worn by young people of the Miao ethnic group at this time. He had often seen it on TV before, but now his memory had been erased by Mozu Laine River, so he didn't remember.

  Wang Long pushed open the wooden window beside him and looked out. More than a thousand houses, either densely packed or scattered, stretched out in a pyramid shape on the green and yellow mountain slope. The buildings were mainly stilted houses, all covered with dark tiles, and the gradually weathered corners revealed black and shiny pebbles.

  Among the black tiles, green trees emerged one after another. Under the eaves of every household, there were strings of bright red peppers and golden corn hanging down. The cooking smoke was like a thin mist, swaying gently. Now it's time to cook.

  Wang Long saw the scenery outside and took a breath of fresh mountain air. He felt that the days of these mountain people were very simple and unadorned.

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