You can identify the species of snake by its skin.

After examining the snake's molted skin, Xiaoman said, "This is a rat snake. It's not poisonous, and it can even eat poisonous snakes."

The presence of rat snakes in the vicinity is usually a good thing, but this one has grown to an enormous size.

If you encounter a snake, either kill it or chase it to the other side of the mountain; it can't be left in this area.

It was just a rat snake, not some ferocious venomous snake, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Farmers are very familiar with this snake; almost every household has snakes following rats into their houses. Usually, when they find one, they just chase it away and don't kill it.

But seeing such a large rat snake made me a little nervous.

The king cobra, also known as the rat snake, is a large, non-venomous snake. Its body is black and yellow, resembling a cauliflower, and it has a black "king" character-shaped marking on its forehead, hence its name.

Although this snake is not venomous, it is fierce and mostly active at night, feeding on frogs, lizards, other snakes, birds, mice, and other animals.

It has outstanding hunting ability and will take the initiative to attack other snakes when it encounters them. It especially likes to hunt some highly venomous snakes, and even the five-step snake is its prey. Therefore, there is a saying that "if there are rapeseed flowers in one mile, there will be no poisonous snakes in ten miles".

Small rat snakes are harmless to humans, so it's not a problem to have snakes in your home, as they eat rats and venomous snakes and can even serve as a guard snake.

But now there are snakes over three meters long and weighing over ten kilograms near my home, and their diet is no longer limited to small mice, frogs, and birds.

Just as Jiang Zhi thought, adults would be safe from the snake as long as they didn't step on its body, but the children in the family would be in great danger, especially little Caixia who had just turned one month old.

To prevent any accidents, Grandpa Xiaoman led the two boys to search the woodpile in front of and behind the house again, and even looked under the wooden sticks used for drying soybeans.

All the cracks in the rocks, tree holes, and pits around the two houses were filled in and sealed off. Low shrubs were also removed to minimize blind spots and eliminate any hiding places for snakes.

It is also very easy to spot the rat snake.

This snake is extremely smelly, with an odor that is a mixture of rotten eggs and swill, making other animals afraid to approach it.

Not only does the snake's body smell foul, but it also leaves behind foul-smelling bodily fluids in the places it passes through, which can last for a considerable period of time.

No snakes have been found yet, and everyone remains uneasy.

Snakes are nocturnal creatures; their absence now does not mean they will not be in the future.

You might be sound asleep at night when it silently lies on the roof by the door, not far away, staring at you with its cold eyes. Just thinking about it sends chills down your spine.

As night fell, Jiang Zhi once again burned mugwort and other herbs outside the two houses, sprinkling realgar powder into the fire. The smoke drifted in the wind, permeating the entire mountainside.

Everyone knows that snakes are afraid of realgar, so they assume that if you sprinkle realgar powder on the ground, snakes will not dare to cross it.

That's a very wrong idea, and if you actually did that, something bad would probably happen.

Experiments have shown that snakes are not afraid of realgar at all, and can even crawl directly over realgar powder.

On the contrary, it dislikes minced garlic, ginger juice, or even vinegar. In short, it doesn't like anything with a strong or pungent smell, and it will turn away as soon as it senses it.

Realgar is a natural mineral with no odor, but when burned, it produces yellowish-white smoke and has a strong garlic smell.

Snakes find the sulfurous smell of burning realgar extremely repulsive and cannot tolerate it for even a moment.

As dusk fell, the two families were about a hundred meters away from the cliff where they lived.

A small, two-foot-long, black and white snake was quietly waiting for its prey to appear in a crevice in the rock.

Just as Jiang Zhi lit the mugwort and realgar powder, it suddenly stuck out its forked tongue and rapidly extended and retracted towards the cliff. Almost without hesitation, it turned around and disappeared into the leaves and grass.

At the same time, a large, colorful snake with the character "王" (king) on ​​its forehead silently slid down from the treetop and left the place, clearly its target being the departing silver-ringed snake.

The smoke rising from Old Cloud Cliff today inadvertently saved the little snake's life, but whether it can escape the big snake's pursuit is unknown.

Knowing there are large snakes around, for safety reasons, people who go out to work every day hang snake-repelling sachets on their clothes that have been fumigated with realgar on them, so that snakes can stay away within a certain range.

The two children also need extra attention.

Nini no longer gathers rabbit grass, nor can she go to the woods outside; she must stay with the adults at all times.

Qiaoyun simply took Xiaocaixia down the cliff, where she spent every day with Xiaoman's grandmother making hemp thread, peeling cotton seeds, and spinning cotton thread.

The cotton that has been harvested is now dried, the seeds have been removed, and then it is rubbed and scraped alternately with two wooden boards with sharp points. This process can fluff up the tight cotton clumps and disrupt the fibers, allowing the cotton to be spun into yarn and woven into cloth.

Xu Dazhu didn't lie inside the house; instead, he twisted hemp thread in the yard, keeping a close eye on his surroundings.

Although he has difficulty walking, Xu Dazhu is still a man at heart, with a stable temperament, and he can always give his family courage in times of trouble.

Xu Errui and his grandson Xiaoman needed to work in the fields, while Jiang Zhi and Chunfeng prepared the dried wild boar meat and went out together to pick bamboo shoots, wood ear fungus, and mushrooms.

As we enter August, in just half a month, the temperature in the mornings and evenings will gradually cool down, which also means that the mushroom and wood ear picking season will end at the end of August.

Now, Jiang Zhi and Chun Feng must hurry to harvest the mountain produce; they cannot afford to waste time, even if there are large snakes.

Walking into the forest, after more than ten days away, the oak wood ear mushrooms had grown plump and firm again.

Following her long-established habit, Jiang Zhi did not approach the woodpile. Instead, she first used a long wooden stick to tap around the area before carefully stepping onto the edge of fallen leaves and weeds.

Chunfeng was bold. She put down her basket and rushed around the pile of trees to check first, before smiling at Jiang Zhi, who looked nervous, and said, "Auntie, there are no snakes, come on over!"

We've been burning realgar smoke every day for the past few days, and we also carry snake repellent bags with us when we go out. The snake is probably gone!

After spending time with her, she learned that although Aunt Jiang was shrewish and seemed fearless, she was afraid of snakes and centipedes, and would even use a stick to pry open centipedes that didn't bite.

Perhaps because he was terrified by the giant snake half a month ago, this fear has become more and more serious. He even doubts a pile of wood for a long time.

Jiang Zhi knew she was being overly cautious, but she was grateful to Chunfeng for taking care of her feelings in every way. So she put away the wooden fork and smiled, "Be careful. As long as it gets cold in two months, these snakes will be gone."

Chunfeng added, "Yes! We'll be digging up sweet potatoes at the end of this month, turning the soil, and then planting wheat. Auntie, do you think soaking the seeds in lime water can prevent powdery mildew..."

She steered the conversation from snakes to crops.

These past few days, people have been gathering during the day and burning moxa at night, and time has passed just like that, without anything unusual happening.

Knowing it was rat snake, everyone's tense mood, which had lasted for half a month, began to ease.

Chunfeng only carried a bag of snake repellent medicine and a wooden fork when she went out, and at this moment she did not take the big snake seriously at all.