Chapter 74: The Green Bamboo Snake

  Today's things were delayed, and I came late. Please forgive me, everyone! On the first day of Sanjiang, I hope you will collect, recommend and vote for Sanjiang tickets! Thank you all. At the same time, thank wujia1230, *Unknown Life* and Ding Meixiong for their reward support!

  It was daytime, and the old village chief led a group of robust men and young people to rush up Mount Bamboo again. Chu Jiaqiang naturally couldn't be lazy, carrying a curved knife to follow. Generally, everyone carried two kinds of tools, which were two kinds of knives. One was the curved knife, and the other was the large chopping knife with a straight blade. Chopping bamboo generally used the large chopping knife, while trimming branches and cutting off the ends generally used the curved knife.

  Among them, there are certain rules. The curved knife cannot be chopped to the bottom due to the shape of the blade, while the large chopping knife can chop flatly. In addition, the large chopping knife is generally several times heavier than the curved knife, making it easier to chop things. Curved knives are more popular for cutting grass and other materials, which emphasizes sharpness.

  At this time, Little Jin also followed up and returned to Bamboo Mountain. The little guy seemed very happy and was very active as soon as he entered the bamboo forest. It's no wonder that this used to be his home, and although it can't be said that he never came back, he was still very happy.

  There is also a group of children following behind, these guys are idle and only come to make trouble.

  "Eyes on the target, we'll cut down the old bamboo. Choose some big ones to cut, don't just randomly hack at any bamboo you see." The old village chief led the team himself this time, carrying a knife and with a towel draped over his shoulder to wipe away sweat.

  He reminded everyone as soon as he came up that the people present were all grown up in the mountains and could naturally identify the old bamboos. Generally, the age of bamboo is identified from three aspects.

  First, look at the leaves. Generally speaking, bamboo leaves change color once a year, or every two years, this cycle is called one degree. The yellow and tender ones are 1-3 years old. The leaves after three years are a bit darker and deeper green, and the veins of the leaves are clearer. Confucius said: One year emerald, two years green, three years yellow.

  The second is to look at the bamboo pole, 1-year-old bamboo shoots have residual sheaths at the base, the stem is covered with white powder, twice without white powder, three times bamboo, the color turns dark green, mainly relying on experience, four or more degrees of bamboo poles turn yellow and black.

  Thirdly, some people also look at the bamboo nodes and bamboo branches. Generally speaking, if the bamboo nodes and branches are dense, then it is likely to be old.

  "Get out of the way, you naughty kids! Be careful not to get hit when the bamboo falls!" A man shouted. Earlier, when he was cutting the bamboo, these little rascals had rushed up recklessly, almost crushing him, making him very worried. Upon closer inspection, he found a bird's nest on the end of the bamboo.

  The nest is newly built, and Chu Jiaqiang can tell at a glance that there's nothing inside. In fact, many people know those little kids, they often steal bird eggs, so they're naturally familiar with the nests. It's just that everyone is joining in the fun for the sake of pleasure.

  The old village chief heard the curses and immediately also opened his mouth to scold: "You children hurry up and get a little further away, not enough to make things happen but enough to spoil them!"

  Those kids scattered with a shout, although they were scolded, but there was not a hint of unhappiness on their faces, and the boundary had also reached a certain level. They are not afraid of being scolded by others, let alone being beaten, at most it would only intimidate them for a while, in less than two hours they would have forgotten the pain and be mischievous everywhere again.

  Suddenly, Chu Jiaqiang felt a strong sense of danger approaching. He turned around and his scalp exploded immediately, with goosebumps all over his body. There was a bamboo snake as thick as a thumb, 70-80 cm long, right next to him, staring at him coldly, its forked tongue darting in and out from time to time.

  Chu Jiaqiang felt his legs go weak, he was born in the year of the snake but had a natural aversion to snakes, even non-venomous grass snakes made him take a detour.

  The green bamboo viper is a notorious venomous snake, with a triangular head, narrow neck and a shape similar to a soldering iron. The top of the head has fine scales, and there are cheek pits on the sides of the mouth. Only the upper jaw has deadly venom. The back is bright green in color, with an inconspicuous black horizontal stripe; the abdomen is yellowish-white. On the outermost side of the body from the neck to the tail, there is a white stripe; the upper lip is yellowish-white. The scales between the nostrils are large; generally, there are no scale plates between the nasal scales and the cheek pits.

  They inhabit mountainous areas with shaded and humid streams, among grasses, shrubs and bamboo forests. Due to their green color and prehensile tails, they are well adapted to arboreal life. They often hang or cling to branches or twigs over the stream, and their green color makes them difficult to spot. Sometimes they also perch on rocks, facing the stream, and if disturbed, they slowly swim into the water. They are active both day and night, but more frequently at night.

  In rural areas, to determine the strength of a snake's venom, people usually look at the shape of its head. Snakes with round heads generally do not have venom or have relatively weak venom, while those with triangular heads are highly venomous snakes.

  In Zhujiazhai, the green bamboo snake is considered the second most venomous snake.

  The first is Trimeresurus albolabris, also known as the white-lipped pit viper. The body is black or dark brown with narrow white or yellowish transverse bands; the belly is dirty white. The head and neck are dark brown, with a light-colored inverted "V" mark on the back of the head, and a row of enlarged hexagonal scales along the middle of the back.

  The bamboo pit viper may be unfamiliar to many people, but it also has a well-known name, the silver ring snake. The silver ring snake is one of the famous edible snakes, and its body can be used as medicine after being soaked or dried, and its gallbladder can also be used as medicine. The young snakes that hatch in 7-30 days are called "golden money white flower snake" after being dried, which is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine material. Therefore, it has been heavily hunted for many years, and the young snakes have not been spared either. At present, it is rarely seen in the wild. Although some people have started to breed them, they are still not on a large scale.

  The silver ring snake is the most toxic venomous snake in our country, with extremely high danger and seemingly gentle appearance at ordinary times, making people relax their vigilance. However, when a silver ring snake bites a person, it never gives warning.

  Both of these snakes are highly venomous and almost legendary for being untreatable.

  Chu Jia jumped strongly towards the edge, and the people around were frightened, asking what was going on.

  "Green Bamboo Snake, be careful everyone," Chu Jiaqiang said in a slightly trembling voice.

  Those little kids actually swarmed up to watch, more than Chu's family. Logically speaking, people who grow up in the countryside are generally not afraid of snakes, but Chu was an oddball, not only finding snakes disgusting, but also terrifying.

  The old village chief was also startled and quickly drove away all the naughty children who didn't care about their lives.

  "What? Hasn't anyone been bitten?" The old village chief said with a pale face, his greatest worry was that someone had been bitten. In those years, there were people in their own village who were bitten by the bamboo viper, fortunately, the guy was clever and immediately rushed to the old Taoist priest's place, managing to save a life. But it is said that last year, a person from the neighboring village was bitten by a green snake and died after being sent to the hospital. These places are most afraid of these two kinds of snakes.

  Chu Jiaqiang's face turned pale, and people who didn't know the truth would really think he had been bitten. No wonder the old village chief was so worried.

  "No, fortunately I found out early."

  After hearing this, everyone finally felt at ease. The group used bamboo to press down on the snake's head and then smashed its spine, especially at the seven-inch mark, as the saying goes: "When beating a snake, beat it at the seven-inch mark!"

  Long ago, Chu's family heard an elderly villager tell a terrifying story about the revenge of snakes. It is said that snakes have a strong vengeful spirit. In the past, someone chopped firewood and hit a snake, but this person had no experience, and the snake did not die. Two years later, this person got married, and on their wedding night, the snake slipped into his new home and bit him to death in the middle of the night.

  After this incident, the old village chief immediately reminded everyone to be careful with everything, especially those headache-inducing children.

  ;