Chapter 5 Chapter 3 The Weird Snake Catcher

Suddenly, Zhang Zikun showed a frightened expression on his dirty face, and shouted loudly: "It's not good, the monster is here again!" Zhang Zikun's terrified cry immediately caused the crowd to scream in surprise, thinking that the python really came out of the ancestral hall again, and instinctively fled in all directions as if blowing up the camp. However, the door of the ancestral hall was tightly closed, and there was no movement. Zhang Ziheng, who came back to his senses, was about to kick Zhang Zikun, but the expression on his face froze instantly... He saw a monster-like thing running quickly towards the ancestral hall from a field path.The running movement of this thing is extremely weird. It hits the ground on all fours, jumps up and down, like a ball bouncing off the ground and then falling down, each time it bounces at least one or two meters high.

This monster is clearly not running, but leaping! It was only when the monster leaped closer that everyone could see clearly that it was a short and ugly stranger.The stranger had a rough and thick face, with black and thick lips, a sunken nose, a big left eye and a small right eye, but his eyes were cold and fierce.And his arms are surprisingly long, hanging down almost to the knees. If he wasn't wearing an old ragged padded jacket, he would have been mistaken for a gorilla running out of the primeval forest! Everyone was stunned by the ugly stranger and dodged in private, but Zhang Yaoye shouted to everyone: "Don't be afraid, everyone, he is a distant relative of mine, and he is dumb!"

The stranger who came was Master Tuo! Hearing what Zhang Yaoye said, everyone stared at him blankly.No one in the village has ever heard of Mr. Zhang Yao having such a strange distant relative! In order to prevent everyone from being intimidated by Master Tuo's appearance, Master Zhang walked up and wanted to greet Master Tuo with gestures, but Master Tuo pushed Zhang Yaoye away, and his collapsed nose hit the air hard sniffing, as if looking for a scent that interested him deeply. Perhaps Master Tuo was lured by some mysterious smell... Seeing Master Tuo anxiously smelling the mysterious smell in the air, everyone stood up and stared at him like a wooden stake, even Zhang Yaoye stood still.

Master Tuo walked towards the two closed heavy doors of the ancestral hall while sniffing the mysterious smell in the air. Everyone's hearts were in their throats at this moment, but no one stopped him. Only Master Zhang Yao realized the danger hidden in the ancestral hall, and shouted to Master Tuo: "Don't go there!" But Master Tuo was deaf, he turned a deaf ear to Zhang Yaoye's shout, walked up to the gate of the ancestral hall, and pushed open the two heavy gates without hesitation... The two gates of the Zhang Family Ancestral Hall are tall and heavy. A single door panel is three meters high, two meters wide, and more than four or five inches thick. This is a typical tall family.

The sound of turning when such a heavy door is opened is extraordinarily heavy and dull.When Master Tuo opened the two gates, the sound of the gates turning gave a strange aura amidst the dullness. The people in the village, who had been watching from afar, felt their hearts twitching at the sound of the door turning. With the opening of the gate, a gust of cold wind in the ancestral hall rushed out from the inside with snowflakes. The timid people let out a cry of alarm, and ran away instinctively. Although the daring ones did not run away, they all acted as if they were about to run away at any time.

Zhang Yaoye and Zhang Ziheng were also frightened, but they didn't show excessive panic. They winked at each other and walked slowly towards the gate. A few stunned youths also followed curiously, tiptoeing around... Master Tuo who pushed open the gate did not step in immediately, but looked into the courtyard inside the gate, and then stepped into the gate. The threshold of the gate of the ancestral hall is very high, as long as half a meter. The short master Tuo held the threshold with both hands, and almost turned into the threshold. Master Zhang Yao, Zhang Ziheng and a few stunned young boys all held their breath.They did not follow Master Tuo into the ancestral hall, but hid on both sides of the gate, stretching their necks and peering into the ancestral hall.

The courtyard of the ancestral hall was empty, and there were stools and chairs lying in a mess, left behind by the villagers who had just lost their souls.The branches of the hundred-year-old Podocarpus pine were sparsely covered with snow, but there was a messy layer of snow under the tree, and there were old broken branches of Podocarpus pine on the snow. Zhang Ziheng whispered to Master Zhang Yao: "The boa constrictor came down from the arhat pine, and it bit Zhang Ziyin in one bite." Zhang Ziheng seemed terrified when he said this. Master Zhang Yao said in a low voice: "Don't make a sound, let's see what Master Tuo is going to do?"

Zhang Ziheng still suppressed his voice and said, "Did you call him here?" Zhang Yaoye shook his head, but stared at Master Tuo's back without blinking. Master Tuo didn't have the slightest fear of the gloomy atmosphere in the ancestral hall. His big head, which was extremely disproportionate to his body, swayed flexibly on his shoulders, looking around at every corner of the ancestral hall. The Zhang Family Ancestral Hall was originally built by a great warlord named Zhang Weibo from the Zhang family.Zhang Weibo and Zhang Yaoye are of the same generation, but they are several decades older than Zhang Yaoye. They started their careers in troubled times, and later joined the Kuomintang. The Kuomintang was defeated. This Zhang Weibo and his family fled to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek. Alright, no news so far.Except that Mr. Zhang Yao knew some things about this person vaguely, the younger generations completely forgot about this person.

Today, only this ancestral hall can still testify that this person was once prominent here. However, the ancestral hall has now been confiscated and has been used as a warehouse for the village and a venue for holding meetings.The layout of the ancestral hall has not changed in any way, but there is no household item inside, only various farm tools for farming. The ancestral hall of the Zhang family is built in a very strict and imposing manner. It is arranged symmetrically with an axis, and the rooms are divided into four entrances. Facing the courtyard is Xiangtang, which is also the main hall of the ancestral hall. The giant python mentioned by Brother Xi is hung on the central beam of Xiangtang.

Master Tuo continued to sniff the air vigorously with his snub nose.Suddenly, his short neck retracted, and his back was arched cautiously, like a wild animal suddenly about to attack his opponent! Master Zhang Yao and Zhang Ziheng's hearts tightened following the sudden change in Master Tuo's back. Zhang Ziheng whispered, "Did he smell the python?" Zhang Yaoye said: "Perhaps he has already smelled the smell of pythons." Zhang Ziheng said: "He found it. The python is still on the central beam of Xiangtang." Zhang Yaoye said: "Go find a few people to get some hard things first, and rush in when you hear something wrong. No matter how big the python is, it will be afraid of too many people."

Zhang Ziheng listened to Zhang Yaoye's order, and went back to find someone to get the household belongings.At this time, the calves of the few stupid boys who followed closely behind began to tremble.The villagers watching from afar were too nervous to breathe. Master Tuo became very cautious and stepped into the courtyard lightly.There is snow water in the patio, which is wet and slippery. The bluestone boards inlaid in the patio are covered with moss. Only the place that is often stepped on by people forms a road shadow leading to Xiangtang... A few stupid boys gathered behind Zhang Yaoye, and asked Zhang Yaoye in a low voice: "Is he specialized in catching snakes?" Master Zhang Yao motioned to these stunned boys to keep quiet. Master Tuo approached Xiangtang more and more cautiously. Although he was wearing a worn-out padded jacket, it could be felt from his hunched back that every muscle in Master Tuo's body was tense at this time! The cold air froze like ice at this time, only the sound of water falling when the snow melted on the small blue tiles made a soft ticking sound. The tense and dull air made a few stunned blue teeth chatter, knocking softly... The hall of enjoyment is dark, and the granite stone drums on both sides of the hall are extremely stiff, with very exquisite dragon and tiger carvings on them.But at this moment, the unicorn relief seemed to be moving. Master Tuo walked to the stone drum on the right and stopped. He used the stone drum as a cover to peek inside for a while. Suddenly, he jumped into the hall with two strides. When the incident happened, Master Tuo slammed the two carved doors of Xiangtang firmly shut, almost in the blink of an eye. When everyone hadn't realized what was going on, they only heard a loud noise in the hall, and the two carved gates that were closed were shaken violently, followed by the sound of piled farm tools falling to the ground. Master Zhang Yao and the younger students were all frightened by the big commotion in the hall, and they couldn't move.The villagers watching from a distance also knew that something had happened in Xiangtang, and hula surrounded them all at once. Master Zhang Yao turned around and yelled at the surrounding villagers: "Don't come here, stay far away!" As soon as Master Zhang Yao finished speaking, he heard a loud bang from the carved doors of Xiangtang, and a carved door had already fallen down. Immediately afterwards, the shadow of Master Tuo shot out like a ball It seems to be rolling down into the courtyard. Master Zhang Yao knew that something was wrong, so he shouted loudly to Lengtouqing behind him: "Close the door quickly!" As he spoke, he first jumped out of the threshold and pulled the thick gate on the left.A few stupid boys also came back to their senses, jumped out of the threshold and pulled the door on the other side. At the moment of pulling the door, I saw a giant green python flashing out from the hall...