Chapter 35 35. "The wolves ate a man!"

In December, it was cold and snowy. I put the water bag under the clear spring at the foot of Wolf Mountain, lay on the snowy pine, closed my eyes, and stuck out my tongue to taste the coldness falling down to the mortal world. This is a gully as wide as a river between the index finger mountain and the thumb mountain. This Wangqing spring is under the ice layer at the bottom of the ditch, which I dug in early winter.Tenzin was still grazing here at that time.The grassland has not snowed for a long time, the cattle are short of water, and the trickle I dug out is only enough for people to drink.Although there is snow now, the wind blowing from the desertification zone makes the snow mixed with a lot of dust. I still like the pure taste of the clear spring, so I come here every morning to carry water.This water source is very close to the hut, and I can see it from the window of the hut. Taking advantage of the time to slowly receive the water, I lay down by the stream and thought about my thoughts.

"Come back quickly, the mice are going to rebel again!" Yifeng hopped at the door of the house. "Oh, it's terrible..." I turned over helplessly, and ran back to the hut with my water bag on my back. People are good at being bullied by rats!Ever since we adopted the little prairie mouse as a mascot, as the severe winter approached, the news that the winter food reserves in the houses of the two great benevolent people were extremely rich spread widely in the mouse world, and the prairie mouse came here admiringly from all directions. .The cottage has become a Disneyland, where countless Mickey Mouse has made his home.The front door of the grain cabinet was sealed, and the back panel was gnawed open.Rice was hidden in all kinds of our shoes, so many good omens turned into bad omens.The cute Mickey Mouse showed his hateful side, and the mice formed gangs to fight, fight for territory, grab food, and snatch shoes and socks, all night and night.When the flashlight was turned on, it was quiet for a while, and when the light was turned off, it turned upside down again.

I couldn't sleep, and it was even more sad when we opened the grain cabinet.Only a small handful of fifty catties of peanuts remained, several rice bags were emptied, and flour was scattered all over the ground, like a snowfall.After the food is robbed, even the eggs that are frozen and cracked are not spared.Mickey Mouse rolled the frozen eggs under the iron stove, baked them and ate them! Prairie rats are not the only invaders, pikas and zokos have also burrowed into our house.Every night they could be heard nibbling on the vegetables, carrots and dried corn cobs that were stored under the beds.The most terrible thing is that these robbers will also bite our equipment and wires.

"They emptied all the money in the house! They even stole Jomo's dog food." I can no longer build a harmonious society. It's unbearable, and the landlord's house has no surplus food. Does this make people live? Yifeng gritted his teeth and said: "If Green is still in this room, how can they be so carnival!" hit! The three-day rat repelling campaign kicked off. Yifeng picked up one by one Mickey Mouse and threw them outside.Jomo, who was chained outside the house, was overjoyed, and happily became the goalkeeper. The prairie rats that escaped slowly became Jomo's food, one bite at a time!Hades doesn't think ghosts are skinny, at least it's a piece of fresh meat.The biggest beneficiary of this war is the flock of birds living under the eaves. We can only reluctantly throw away the food that has been spoiled by mice in the house. The birds are happy to clean up the battlefield. Mickey Mouse's "inheritance" is enough for the birds to enjoy a winter.The bird tenants are neither greedy nor troublesome, they seem to understand that if you don't work, you won't die.

I lay under the bed with a flashlight to sweep away the remaining evils, blocked the zokor holes, and drove away the pikas.The two chased and intercepted again, and a thing with long ears came out from under the cabinet—a hare? ! "You kid also come to join in the fun!" I pulled out the rabbit by the ears, intending to let him "pay for it". Yifeng, who belongs to the rabbit, has compassion for "the same kind": "Excuse me from the death penalty, and change to exile, as long as it doesn't harm us." So I threw the rabbit out of the house, and we finally got a good night's sleep.

The exiled rabbit was not lucky, and I found him the next morning dead on the table-high platform at the door of the house, with several cavities in his teeth.It seems that he was executed on the spot by the guard Qiao Mo.Anyone who violates my territory will be spared! I surveyed the murder scene: "Jomo is too capable, he can catch the rabbit with an iron chain! The chain can't reach the platform, how did he get the rabbit onto the platform?" "It's probably because when he bit the rabbit, he shook his mouth and threw it on the platform." Yifeng, who had been fighting with the lamp for a few days, was weak, "Don't worry about other things, just boil a pot of potatoes to fill your stomach. Fortunately We still have potatoes as a guarantee, or we would really starve to death here."

Yifeng carried a shovel to dig potatoes, and I went into the house to boil water. Just after lighting the fire, I heard Yifeng yelling from behind the house: "It's not good! Something serious happened!" I ran to have a look, miserable!The vegetable cellar that Yifeng dug up didn't contain any potatoes except loose mud!The two frantically dug open the second cellar—only a few gnawed potatoes and a mummified zokor that was defeated in the robbing remained at the bottom of the cellar.Hundreds of catties of potatoes disappeared without a trace!These local thieves are really hard to guard against!

Unwilling, I picked up the shovel to dig out the place where the zokors stored their food and get the potatoes back! Yifeng stopped me, "It's useless, I've been tired for three days, save some energy. A real fighter can't dig zokor at all." These tunnels extend in all directions and even connect below the hut.I tapped the frozen soil with a shovel and shoveled the loose mud from the vegetable cellar. It was only then that I suddenly realized that the soil here is easy to dig. It turned out that I dug the vegetable cellar directly into the zokor's nest.This somersault went home.The old wolf suggested that we dig cellars to store food, but he never imagined that the grassland rats are so rampant now. After 40 years, the grassland is no longer what it used to be.

Now things are serious.When the food in the house was looted, although I was angry, I was not so scared. I aggressively beat mice and threw rice grains. I always felt that there was a strong backing of potatoes in the cellar, and I would never go hungry at critical moments. Who knew this strong backing It has long since disappeared, and the empty cellar is like two tombs.I had a feeling of being pushed to the brink. "What should I do? The mountains are covered by heavy snow, where can I find food?" I picked up those rotten potatoes and lost my mind for a while. Yifeng looked at the mountain road solemnly, stepped on the snow on the ground, gritted his teeth and said: "First find out what else to eat, if it doesn't work, cook Qiao Mo's rabbit. After we are full, we will eat it no matter what." Gotta go back to town."

"The road is snowy and slippery. Even if we drive out with an empty car, we won't be able to come back with a full load of food." "Look for Tashi to find a way, even if you carry it, you have to carry it up the mountain." The steep slopes were snow-covered and muddy, and the rolling hills rose again and again. At this time, it was very dangerous to go out of the mountains. If the car overturned, no one could save it.Especially when crossing a camel hump in the Thumb Mountains, even the experienced Yifeng drove the off-road vehicle to skid frequently, and almost rolled over on the snow slope several times, but we had to venture into the city to purchase supplies.This time we must learn a lesson and buy a big iron box to store food!

"Have you heard? A pack of wolves ate a man!" "There were two women who went to the mountain to dig medicine, one was eaten by wolves, and the other went crazy..." The noodle restaurants in the county seat are the places with the most gossip.Yifeng and I sat at the table in the far corner and waited for Tashi. The two of us were snoring for noodles while listening to the gossip of the people at the next table. When I came out of the vegetable market in the county town, I heard people talking about the "wolf cannibalism" incident. There are various versions, and each one is more vivid than the other, just like seeing it in person.I didn't pay much attention to it at first, and we usually just laughed it off.I once specifically asked the Ruoergai county magistrate and relevant departments that there has never been a wolf wounding a person in the Zoige prairie for so many years.Now we hear these people gossip again, and we can't help frowning. A gust of wind blew in, Tashi patted the snow particles on his head and got into the noodle shop, looked around, came over with a smile and sat beside Yifeng, "How did you come out with such a heavy snow?" "I drove out hard, and I was worried that the car would be heavy because of too many things, and I couldn't drive back." Yifeng talked about the story of the human-rat war that forced us to stockpile food again. "The rats on the prairie have been very fierce these past few years!" Tashi said cheerfully, "No problem, when I go back to the mountains, I will find a few horses nearby to help you pull things up." He raised his voice to Neitang and asked for a Bowl of lamb noodles. The topic of "wolves eating people" at the next table floated into our ears again.Tashi said "Oh", covered his mouth and said in a low voice, "I was just trying to remind you these two days. Just last month, the wolves ate a person in the village. Don't believe in evil, don't dare to take risks again." You've gone to Langshan rashly." My heart was pounding, and I didn't expect Tashi to tell me that.I saw Tashi's expression was very serious, and he didn't mean to be joking at all, so I took it seriously: "How could such a thing happen?" "Who knows, maybe it's the foot-and-mouth disease that made the wolves strong and started to attack people." "It's impossible," I said with a frown. "Foot-and-mouth disease leaves so much food, the wolves are not likely to eat people. Besides, it's not the season to raise and care for their cubs, and the wolves have no motive to hurt people. There must be something unavoidable." It will trigger the attack of wolves. Is it Tibetans or Han Chinese who are eaten, or are they poached?" "No, it's two Tibetan women who went to the mountain to dig medicine. The one who escaped went crazy, and the other woman was eaten. Someone saw it with their own eyes." "Dig medicine in this season? Is it possible? Is it still possible to dig?" Although I was still talking about the details, my scalp was already numb.This matter is well-founded, someone witnessed it, and it is probably true.That's too bad, why do wolves hurt people? Wolves do have the ability to hurt people, that's right, but they are very life-saving, and the increasingly rare wolf pack is absolutely unwilling to conflict with people, it will bring them a catastrophe of genocide, wolves have long understood this Clicked.Not to mention that Green, whom we raised since we were young, has never been ungrateful, even the wild wolves we came into contact with day and night in Wolf Mountain wisely kept a peaceful distance from people.People do not offend wolves, wolves do not offend people.I really can't believe that the wolf neighbor, who usually looks up and down, would do such a reckless and stupid thing. Back then, when twelve wolves were besieging Tenzin's yaks, even if a four or five-year-old child knocked on a basin, or a woman yelled twice and rode a horse to drive away the wolves, the wolves would all choose to avoid them with hunger.Twelve wolves and two women and children are not of the same weight at all, but even a child on the grassland is not afraid of wolves, because he knows that wolves will definitely leave and will not hurt anyone.The wolves also visited our hut. They searched for medicine, ate dry food, and stole sheepskins, but the humans and wolves lived in peace and remained in awe.Now, how can wolves hurt people? All kinds of rumors are at odds, rabies?Forced to help?Beastly?Desperate counterattack?Demon spirits?Some people even say that the wolf god has accumulated grievances and turned into a monster, demanding his life from the world... Stripping off the colorful clothes of mythology, wolves hurt people, there must be a reason for this!There is absolutely a reason! !I need to figure it out. I asked Zhaxi to help find out - which family was the one who was eaten?The time, place, witnesses, and where is the crazy woman who survived the disaster? In a few days, Tashi replied that the wolf cannibalism incident happened in the Langdutan area of ​​the core area, and the witnesses have been contacted, so let's take us to him. I really got in touch with the witness... On the way to drive to the witness's house, I didn't know what it was like, this matter was about to come true.Wolf, wolf, what do people eat?Are you out of your mind? ! The road is very familiar... When we arrived at the pasture of the witness's house, Yifeng and I were stunned—isn't this the quarreling herdsman we met when we were looking for Scud's body a month ago?Asked again, the rancher said that he saw seven or eight wolves dragging a woman up the mountain with his own eyes a month ago. Why is there a "revised version" of this thing again? I couldn't help laughing, "Uncle, didn't you say that the wolves dragged your yak up the mountain? We came to your ranch that day, and you don't remember us?" The rancher looked at me and said with certainty: "I drank alcohol that day, so I didn't see it clearly. I counted it later, and all of our yaks were not missing. The thing that was dragged up the mountain was indeed a person. I heard the woman shouting. Help." I smiled bitterly and said, "You heard the woman calling for help, why didn't you go and save her?" "Then who dares to go, there are too many wolves!" I suffered a lot, and I don't know where to start. This matter has not been explained for a long time, and now it has become a myth, and no one will believe it if I trace it to the source. I was heartbroken for a while, and a drunken talk can cause a storm in the city, "Uncle, let's not brag about what we saw after drinking." "He didn't brag," the helper explained, "We can also prove that it is true. When I went up the mountain to graze, I saw the dead man's Tibetan clothes with blood on them." My eyes lit up, could it be my robe? "What he said is true. Although the leading wolf god is not big, other wolves have to pay tribute to him for food. The wolf god wrapped the dead man's red belt around his body...he has turned into a demon!" red belt?A wolf in a belt?Could it be Scud?This little girl is not dead? ! My mood suddenly brightened, "Tell me where are those wolves? Where did you find the robes?" ………… On the way back, I was having fun while driving.Unexpectedly, that girl with Scud was really hard-working, and she was about to "bang", so she went to play in the ground for a while, but Lord Yan couldn't take care of her and threw her back.It was right for us to leave her where she was that night. The wolves did not abandon her. My parents are good nurses, and they fed her bit by bit after getting her back!I am afraid that the only life that can survive such a crude operation is the wolf.I secretly smug, our "needlework" is okay. Yifeng also chuckled beside him. Tashi was puzzled, "You two are so weird, why are you still looking for a dead man's robe? Don't be afraid of taboo!" Yifeng couldn't hold back his laughter anymore: "Tashi, don't let the dead grow long and the dead short. That dead man is alive and well, and he is driving for you." He smiled and told Zha the whole story. oo. Tashi was dumbfounded when he heard that, "I've learned some things about rumors! That's the reliable news that my best friend told me, and I really believed it!" According to what the herdsman said, I found the Tibetan robe that I had lost for more than a month.The so-called "bloodstain" above is just a bottle of iodine that I knocked over in a hurry, and it has turned brown and black, and the red belt tied to Scud's body has been taken by her nowhere.We hoped that the "red boy" would be safe and sound. All the clues have a clear connection.Rumors are not groundless, and rumors spread quietly in this most imaginative land at the speed of influenza.Perhaps the story of "wolves cannibalize people" is gradually enriched in one pass, ten or ten passes, and when it comes to the end, there is always a version that makes you unbelievable. "Shall we refute the rumor?" I laughed and said, "How to refute the rumor? This is enough to say a book." That's right, shall we go to the family on the prairie to explain, or let the "man-eating wolf" hold a press conference and speak out from his own experience?Rumors are a thing of ghosts and ghosts. Many people are more willing to spread rumors and ignore the truth. People have this tendency, because rumors are often more exciting and catchy.Where science is underdeveloped, myths and legends can breed. This is a place with a strong religious color. Let’s leave room for legends. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to make people fear wolves. At least there will be fewer people going up the mountain to disturb them. many. Let's write it out in a down-to-earth manner, those who should understand will naturally understand, and those who don't understand, let them not understand.As long as the government understands it, it will be fine not to mobilize people to "remove harm for the people".I don't know how many scapegoats the wolf has borne. Do I still mind being the dead?Anyway, I'm not the only one in this story, so who is the guest star of the crazy woman? "Wind..." "What?" "Take some time to cut your hair."