Vernacular prose: "Shine on the wild boar"

Text: Wang Yeqin

　　Looking at the title, it is difficult for the general reader to understand its meaning, which is an authentic local language in the Yangtan Wuhe Mountains, which means to take care of the corn (baogu), yam, wheat, sorghum and other food crops planted in the mountains to prevent wild animals from ravaging and encroaching on a method of repelling.

During this year's May Day, my wife and I went back to Wuhe, and my third brother-in-law, who teaches at Guangde Technician College, and my third sister, took a trip to Wuhe's "Heavenly Road". This day road is built on the boundary ridge of Wuhe and Ningguo, the altitude is more than 500 meters, the approximate route is from the village, to Shengzikou, up the hill, on the hill, along the mountain, to the winter melon chong, to the Yuanwu, to the thatched ridge, down to the Yangjiachong, the whole road is more than 10 kilometers all on the hill, the off-road car can drive, there is uphill and downhill, it is exciting enough.

A few years ago, at the invitation of the secretary of Wuhe Village, a group of writers from the Guangde Writers Association climbed the road once, which was walking along the car road, and it took 3 hours to walk down, which was also a kind of exercise for the "showmen" who had been squatting in the office for a long time and sitting in front of the computer to code words.

This time, we didn't stop by the road, in order to test our physical fitness after retirement, and also in order to pursue the life of educated youth, we went up the mountain to "shine on the wild boar", we chose the seemingly absurd "route", through the bamboo forest, climbed the hillside, and walked on the hill where corn was planted in the past. Returning farmland to forest, after the tree ban is forbidden, the mountains are densely wooded, the heavy snow overwhelms the broken moso bamboo and trees abound, and falls horizontally and vertically in the mountain forest, there are some thorny shrubs, can not be used to "walk" to describe the tree, can only be described with "climbing the slope and drilling the woods", has not yet climbed to the hill is already a stinky sweat, the wild things walk on the sheep intestine path, wild boars, hares pull down the feces, you can see everywhere, after the implementation of the "People's Republic of China Wildlife Protection Law", the wild animals in the Wuhe Mountain area show a restorative growth, this is not, Before she had reached the Heavenly Road, the third aunt saw a hare timidly pop out of the thatched bushes and run away; On a cedar tree by the hill, a pheasant is "clucking"; The third brother-in-law who was walking in front of me suddenly saw a "soil eight belt" (local language, pit viper) by a pile of weeds; The three of them walked in front of me, and suddenly a black-brown wild boar weighing about 40 kilograms came out of the woods on the right, ran over the hill to the bamboo forest on the left, although my mobile phone had been turned to take pictures, and I held it in my hand, trying to take pictures of this wonderful moment, it was too late, and the wild boar ran away without a trace.

This is a mountain depression in the back of Wu Village, called "Niangniang House", before 1862, there was a "nunnery" built here during the prosperous period of Wu Village, and Wu Village was not spared after the Guangde epidemic, the temple collapsed, and the bamboo and wood had grown on the foundation. After the migration, the villagers reclaimed the depression and the base of the "nunnery" and planted soybeans, yams and corn until the 70s of the last century.

At that time, the grain crops planted in the mountains were built in the mountains to "shine on wild boars", and the production team had to send people to take care of them every night (usually in the prime of life). The construction of the shed also requires a certain technology, basically in the middle of the cornfield, slightly higher, can shelter from the wind and rain, look around, four pillars, the first two are high, the last two are a little shorter, the pillars are on the beams and branches, the roof of the shed is covered with thatch, and then pressed with the trunk, the left and right are also made of thatch, the front and back are left empty, and a thatched bed can be built in the shed, so that the people who "take the wild boar" can rest.

"According to the wild boar" to drive away the weapon, is to use five or six levels of bamboo, take the middle, the distance between the bamboo knots is more than 40 cm, a little longer than one meter, it is best to be three sections, two ends of the knots, sawed, the middle section, symmetrically sawed, both sides of the bamboo can be connected, and then the front section, and the middle section sawed open position break, pick up the slap like a "horn" to play, referred to as "bamboo slap".

After dinner, before the sky is completely dark, you have to go up the mountain to "station" the wild boar shed, at that time, the production team in the "Niangniang house" planted corn and yams, wild boars also like to eat, generally after 10 o'clock in the evening out of the nest foraging, after arriving at the cornfield, the noisy movement is relatively large, the caretaker at this time to pick up the "bamboo slap" to shoot hard, with the "horn, horn, horn" sound, scare away the wild boar, there are also with a gun to fight the wild boar, the firearms have not been controlled, there are a few guns in the village, "Wildlife Protection Law" It has not yet been promulgated, and it is very casual to bow and hunt wild animals.

"According to the wild boar" is very hard, but also dangerous, the production team captain Zhang generally does not arrange our educated youth group to "delegate students" to go, I am different from other educated youth, I grew up in this village, familiar, curiosity drove me to explore the true feelings of "according to the wild boar", so, I ran to Uncle Sixi's house, asked to go with him to "take the wild boar", Uncle Sixi could not stand my earnest request, that night, take me, before dark on the "Niangniang House" of the pig shed, there is only a quilt on the thatched bed in the shed, he covers half of the side I cover half of the side, Using clothes as pillows, pants were not taken off, and pants were put to sleep, and the two of us brought a "bamboo slap" to lean on the so-called "head of the bed".

Coincidentally, something really happened.

In the first half of the night, it was safe and sound, about 4 o'clock in the morning, the east began to turn white, a female wild boar with a group of seven or eight wild boar cubs came to the cornfield, gnawed corn, Uncle Sixi heard it, there was a wild boar, and quickly woke me up: "Zhibing, the wild boar is coming, get up and slap the 'bamboo slap'!" "I snorted and got up, picked up the "bamboo slap" and slapped it quickly, it may be, the female wild boar wants to feed the piglets, needs to eat a lot, patted for a while, but I don't see the wild boar escape, what should I do? So, Uncle Sixi held the "bamboo slap" in his left hand, picked up a big stone with his right hand and ran angrily in the direction of the wild boar, I also picked up the "bamboo slap", grabbed a wooden stick by the shed and followed it, the female wild boar bared her fangs, stared at her eyes, and looked at us angrily, at this time, we both smashed the stone and wooden stick in our hands at the same time to the wild boar, and then, that is, the "bamboo slap", it may be that the sow also has to take care of its "children", so she turned around and fled with its group of small wild boars. "If a boar starts to go wild, it's hard to imagine the consequences," Uncle Sixi told me afterwards.

I still remember that experience vividly.

Today's "Niangniang House" is already a bamboo garden, and the bamboo forest still grows the precious Chinese medicinal material "Huangjing". Wuhe is practicing the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", and people and nature live in harmony and run towards a better future.

　　Wang Yeqin, a retired cadre of Guangde Taxation Bureau, is now a member of Xuancheng, Guangde Writers Association, History and Culture Research Association, and New Fourth Army History Research Association. Over the years, his works have occasionally been published in newspapers, magazines and literary platforms, and when he was in office, he mainly focused on newsletters, and after his retirement, he began to study prose writing and historical and cultural research, and many articles have won awards.

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