There are pythons in mountain villages
Author: Zhou Renchen
The python is a large reptile that contracts its muscles and advances, some people call it a giant python. In the early years in the mountain village, it can be described as a household name, known to all ages. However, since the founding of New China, in the urban and rural areas of southern Liaoning and as far as the northeast region, for some reason, it seems to have disappeared overnight. Whenever the people of the mountain village talk about it after tea and dinner, many young people will feel that it is just a nonsense or a beautiful legend made up by the older generation.
Time passed, the peaks turned, and an incredible scene occurred. In the middle of summer last year, someone accidentally found a green python with purple stripes, thick bowls, and eight long lengths in the thick grass of the railway track near the railway station in Laohutun Town. The news went away, turning the legend into a living reality.
On October 13, 2016, after wafangdian newspaper published the article "The Appearance of the Giant Python", it generated a lot of repercussions among urban and rural readers in our city. Some people can't help but question those big pythons that originally lived in the south of China and Southeast Asian countries, and suddenly appeared in the mountain villages in the west of our city.
For half a year, I have often received inquiries from enthusiastic readers, eager to learn the truth of this incident. With the concern and questions of relatives and friends, the special reporter of this newspaper, and tirelessly, visited three administrative villages and eight natural tuns on foot, trekked hundreds of miles, and investigated more than thirty people, including more than a dozen python witnesses.
The python appeared
Zhou Changcai, owner of Changcai building materials store in Laohutun Town; Jiang Hui, the boss lady of Guangzhen Home Appliance Maintenance Department. The two families are less than 100 meters apart, and they are self-employed individuals who have built houses and purchased houses on the west side of Xinghu Avenue and engaged in commercial activities for many years. Since last spring, the two and their families have witnessed two large pythons in the weeds behind the building, coiled into a large plate, quietly basking in the sun. By the way, they were discovered more than three months earlier than Ms. Ci of the agricultural machinery repair factory.
Zhou Changcai also told me about an eyewitness from out of town. Not long after they found a pair of large pythons in their own house, one afternoon, at about two or three o'clock, a middle-aged man with a foreign accent walked into the building materials store to buy decoration materials. As soon as he entered the store, he was surprised to find that this person was sweating profusely, panting, and his face was full of fear, as if he had been picked up by a wolf, and when he inquired about it, he realized that the scene that had just happened was much more serious than that of a wolf.
The big python witness, out of breath, trembled and told that he had just seen a large python thicker than a purlin, with a body growing a mile away, and a green and clear python that had just been seen on the head of a small bridge west of The Motor Company. Being able to escape smoothly is also a blessing from God, and my fate should not be extinguished. Such a large python, let alone a person, is swallowed by a large livestock, and it should be more than enough.
After listening to the middle-aged customer's story, Zhou Changcai smiled slightly and said: "Dude, in fact, although the python is big and looks quite fierce and scary, they are not as terrible as you say." A few days ago, I and my old neighbor ms. Jiang Hui in the north saw a pair of large pythons in the grass behind the house, huge bodies, head to tail, coiled into a clump, the huge plate is about the same size as the old mill plate, golden wings and golden scales in the sun, sparkling, making people daunted and creepy. Fortunately, as long as people don't disturb, they will never take the initiative to attack, and they are still very friendly to us humans."
Zhou Changcai also revealed to me his new discovery, the real reason why this python broke into the core of the commercial street, they were foraging, they were rat catchers, and they were the nemesis of rats. Some people have witnessed the scene of pythons catching rats, the garbage bins on both sides of the street, the service area for restaurants or restaurants, the waiter who has poured the leftovers on the front foot, and the large rats that roll and roll the melon will come on the back foot and open their stomachs to devour and eat.
At this moment, the big python lurking in the grass will rely on the smell of the footprints left by the rats, and will chase after them like a moving car, swallowing the rats one by one. Don't say a dozen, it's dozens of big rats, and not a single one has slipped through the net. Some witnesses have seen the scene and taken the opportunity to ridicule, good! If all corrupt officials and corrupt officials can be punished with this, how good it would be.
The python witness also informed me of a tragic incident. Late one night after the fall of last year, a large python was chasing a group of rats, and when it passed the tiexi road for trucks, it encountered misfortune and was crushed to death by a speeding truck.
In the early morning, people went to check after hearing the news. oh! So miserable, the python is unrecognizable, limbs are fragmented, about ten square meters in the center of the highway, the flesh and blood are blurred, the smell is thick, and it is unbearable to see. The people present were all sorry for it, and many of them were still in tears. People are praying for the python, big python, big python, you are both strange and familiar old friend, you have to go all the way, happy and happy in heaven. At the same time, I also hope that you will be reincarnated as soon as possible and return to the commercial street of Hutun Town, where the rats are almost refined, and I hope that you will eliminate them one by one.
Python mouth escape
My car slowly drove into the south ditch of Sanjia Village in Laohutun Town, deep in the mountains, opposite the towering, lush and endless green mountains. Looking around, the mountains dance, quite spectacular, the mountainside, surrounded by white clouds, the fog is steaming; at the foot of the mountain, the houses are neatly arranged, the streets are spacious and bright, and the willows are lined up, swaying with the wind. The small river bends, rushes and flows, the farmhouse cooks smoke, the roadside wildflowers are fragrant, a paradise, a pleasant place, paradise on earth. Nangoutun is not unfamiliar to me, it is my grandmother's house, when I was a child, I often came here, often for ten days and a half months, there are several python witnesses who still know me, after all, it is a childhood partner.
When someone knew that I had come as a journalist to collect information about the python in the mountains, they all walked out of the house and rushed to introduce it to me. Villager Chen Yuming said to me: "As early as forty years ago, it was a summer, after a heavy rain, I went to the southwest mountain to collect mushrooms on a large basket, and found a large python under a grass. I thought it was someone who had stolen a purlin in the forest and hid it in the grass. But when I walked closer, I didn't scare me to death, it turned out to be a big python in the sun, which scared me to turn around and run. Fortunately, the python did not chase, otherwise this old life would have to be confessed. ”
As soon as Chen Yuming's voice of life fell, Fu Mingfu couldn't hold back, and the old man grabbed the stubble and said, "I found the big python more than ten years later than old Chen, and about thirty years ago, in the autumn, when I went into the mountains to cut the grass, I saw the big python." I remember that it was the second half of autumn, and the time was about two o'clock, and I was mowing grass on the hillside below the southwest mountain oak forest, when suddenly there was a "silky" wind sound in my ear. I think it is very strange, at this time the weather is sweltering, the wind in the mountains is not moving, how can I inexplicably hear the sound of the wind? Old Man Fu took a deep breath and continued, "I raised my head and looked back and forth, and I couldn't see a single figure on the nearby hillside, not even the cattle and sheep." Where did this "silky" wind sound come from, is it a problem with my old man's ear, or did I encounter a "ghost"? Besides, where are the ghosts and demons in broad daylight, am I not scaring myself?"
Fu Laohan, born stubborn, never believed that the people had anything to fear. He didn't even believe there were big pythons in the woods. But when he took another step forward and was ready to cut a few more hugs, he heard a "silky" wind. The sound of the wind came from a weedy bush, and the old man carefully walked up and pulled the artemisia grass with his hand, and suddenly found a long, thick, green water dragon pipe under the grass. Look closely, this pipe is more than one inch long, the bowl mouth is thick and still moving, is it true that the water dragon pipe has become refined, and the wind sound of "silk" is emitted from it?
Fu Laohan rubbed his eyes with his hand, and then looked closely, Oh! What kind of water pipe is this, it is clearly a big python, two big eyes like a brass bell, and a long red tongue stretched out, as if searching for some information, it is the giant python that the mountain villagers call it. After the old man saw the true face of the monster, his body involuntarily shook, the sweat could not stop flowing down, he could not care about collecting weeds, grinding his head and rushing down the mountain.
The last person to meet the python was Qi Pifu, the former director of the three villages. That was what happened more than two decades ago, he said. I remember it in 1996, it was a midsummer afternoon, about two or three o'clock, and I drove my own flock of sheep to the southeast mountain to graze. When the sheep walked into the mountainside to graze, suddenly there was a bombing, and the whole flock screamed and ran around...
I hurried over, looked down, and was suddenly frightened, a large python, with its head raised high, its long red tongue sticking out from time to time, making a posture of attacking at any time. Pythons, like wolves, are born with anger, and when people see it, their first reaction is creepy and chilling, and the python is even more terrifying than the wolf. I knew in my heart that it was the flock that had alarmed people's good dreams, and the flock ran away, and I rushed in again, inadvertently annoying the python. It was clear that the python had spotted that someone was approaching it again. To this end, the alarm is issued to the people, if they dare to take another half step, they will launch an attack, swallowing the intruder into the stomach in one bite.
The old qi looked at it, such a big guy, if he jumped forward again, his own small life could be confessed, the situation was critical, what were he waiting for, it was important to escape. Where did he dare to slack off at this time, and as soon as he turned around, he ran down the hill. After five or six minutes, a bright light appeared in front of me, and I stopped to look at the Nanshan Reservoir in front of me, and I couldn't run any further. If you run forward, you will not be eaten by the python, but you will also be drowned by the reservoir. Looking back behind him, fortunately, the python did not chase after him.
After a short break, the nervous, flustered mood finally stabilized. Looking at the sheep scattered on the hillside, he whistled, and the sheep heard the call of their master and quickly gathered around. At one count, there were quite a few fifty-three sheep, and I felt very excited and calm in my heart. When the sheep were quiet again and looked down to graze, there was a "whirring" wind on the southeast hillside. Lao Qi raised his head and looked around, from the mountainside where he had just found the big python, the waist-length grass actually fell with the wind in unison, and a huge figure rushed towards the hillside like lightning. oh! It turned out that the big python had finished the sunlight bath, replenished its energy, and people began to go home.
Pythons hibernate
During the nearly half-year visit and investigation, I learned that the first person to find the python was not a few industrialists and businessmen on the west side of Xinghu Avenue in Xiaohutun Village, nor a dozen old men in Nanshantun, Sanjia Village, but a young man from Lougoutun in Leizishan Village, whose name was Yu Hongzhou. Forty-four years ago, people met the big python. And it was released and passed on as a beautiful talk in the mountain village.
According to Mr. Yu Dong, the former director of the village, as early as the early winter of the 1970s (1973), when he was digging the foundation of the wall on the west slope of the terrace, he accidentally dug up a large python that was hibernating underground. It can be seen that although the python is extremely rare and quite rare, this behemoth has not disappeared in the mountains, and they have always lived in the mountain forest. It's just that people are good at hiding and cleverly hiding, and it is difficult for people to find out.
Time back to the early winter season forty-four years ago, because the sky has not yet snowfall, the main labor force in Leishan Village has not received instructions from their superiors, and is still on the West Mountain to build a large village field. At this time, on the construction site, the red flag fluttered, the horn sounded, and the team of more than two hundred people was grabbing pickaxes and dancing shovels, and the hillside showed a busy scene of steaming heat.
Suddenly, from the crowd at the production team's construction site, there was a shout: "Let's come and see, I dug up a big monster, this guy is big and long, and he can move!" "When the people heard the news, they ran over. The young man Yu Hongzhou stood on the edge of the foundation he had just dug, pointed to the gray and fluffy big guy below and said: "I am digging the foundation, I feel a little strange, the feet are getting softer and softer, and gradually sinking, after a while of kung fu, I will dig out one, the big guys come, you have a good look, what I dug out is a big worm (scientific name earthworm) or a big golden dragon." ”
People flock up, watch carefully, huh! Such a big guy, thick enough to have a bowl mouth, more than a foot long. It is not a cockroach, it cannot grow so big, it is not a legendary dragon, the dragon head has double horns, beard, scales on the body, not to mention, dragon legs and dragon claws. It seemed that the behemoth lying under the foundation would not only shake its body, but also open its brass bell-like eyes and stick out its long red tongue. At this time, the python that was hibernating under the soil had awakened, and because of the late solar terms this year, the earth was not frozen, and people were awakened before they could sleep.
When it comes to pythons, mountain villagers seem to be no strangers to it. In addition to hearing the old people talk about it, I also heard that the old men who herd sheep and cattle in the mountain villages have found out in the past few years, but no one believes it, and they all think that they are deliberately making up nonsense to make the big guys happy.
As the saying goes, hearing is false, seeing is believing, and everyone present at this time has to believe that the python really exists. In mountain villages, pythons, like foxes and weasels, have historically been said to be spirit beasts and protected. Many families also worship the tablets of their ancestors. At this time, although it was the cultural revolution, people did not want to innocently hurt it. If it is not an extraordinary period, I don't know how many elderly people in the mountain village will bring paper incense to worship and kowtow after hearing the news, and ask the gods and pythons to bless the wind and rain, the grain and the safety of their families.
The python seemed to perceive that people were watching and whispering about it, and more than half an hour had passed, and no one had hurt it. As if sensing that it was going to let it go, the python with a sharp heart plunged into the ground, and its entire body began to tremble violently. Escorted by more than two hundred pairs of eyes, it slowly dived into the dark hole under the soil, and quickly disappeared into the thick layer of soil, continuing to enjoy its hibernating life.
About author:Zhou Renchen, a native of Wafangdian City, Liaoning Province. Born in 1952 in a Manchu peasant family in Dachuan Village, Laohutun Town, he returned to his hometown after graduating from high school to work as a farmer. He has loved literature all his life, and although he has achieved nothing, he has not changed his mind. He is passionate about writing poems and words, and likes to write literary works in many aspects such as realistic prose and childhood memories. He has edited and published four books at his own expense: "Rural Style", "Tintin Roaming Animal City", "Cute Elf" and "Paradise of The Child's Heart". After its release, it was widely praised in urban and rural areas.
EDIT: True, true
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Public number: Jiangnan Poetry and Painting Art Institute 2021-08-01