In the 1960s and 1970s, there was an old man surnamed Wei in our village. Because of his higher seniority, Murakami was younger than he was. Those of the same age and even older than him affectionately called him "Wei Sanye." Wei Sanye was timid and careful, calm in case of trouble, witty and humorous, and very talkative. When I was a child, I often listened to Wei Sanye tell about his thrilling and interesting experiences under the moonlight, and the most memorable thing was the story of Wei Sanye's battle against wolves.

Umbrellas drive wolves

Before the founding of New China, years of natural disasters and frequent wars led to a sparse population in the Guanzhong area. With fewer people, there were more wolves. Every autumn and winter, some hungry wolves in the Qinling Mountains would often come out of the mountains at night and come to Guanzhong Plain, specifically attacking pedestrians who were traveling alone at night.

One spring, Third Master Wei went to Xianyang County to run errands. At that time, transportation was far less developed than it is now, and it was all about walking on two legs when entering the city. Before leaving, he looked up at the sky, which was gray and looked like it was about to rain, so he took a red tarpaulin umbrella, put it under his armpit, and hurried to the county seat.

After finishing work in the city, the sun had already set. Third Master Wei was worried about the old and the small at home, and he didn't even bother to eat, so he hurried home.

When he was about five or six miles away from the village, the sky was completely dark. Suddenly, Third Master Wei noticed a black shadow on the path ahead. At first, he thought it was a figure and didn't care. But he did not go far, and soon found that two green lights in the dark night were shooting straight at him. Third Master Wei's heart "throbbed," his heart beat rapidly, and he knew that there was a wolf staring at him.

At that time, the distance between the human and the wolf was only fifty or sixty meters away. Third Master Wei knew very well that if he turned around and ran away, the wolf would definitely chase after him. How could his two legs beat the wolf's four legs? But if he continued to move forward, it would be a dead end.

What should I do? As Third Master Wei slowed down and walked forward, he started thinking about ways to deal with the hungry wolf. He suddenly thought of the tarpaulin umbrella under his armpit, and a bold and risky idea jumped out. He gently took the umbrella out of his armpit and held it in his hand, holding the lower end of the bamboo umbrella bone with one hand and the handle with the other, and continued to walk calmly forward.

50 meters, 30 meters, 10 meters, 5 meters... Seeing that he was about to walk in front of the wolf, Third Master Wei suddenly used both hands at the same time to open the umbrella in his hand with a "snap." Then, as he walked slowly forward, he spun the umbrella vigorously.

The wolf squatting on the road was startled by the sound of Third Master Wei's umbrella. He saw a round thing on the opposite side spinning rapidly, making a "whirring" sound, and attacking it. For a while, he didn't know how to deal with the "new weapon" in front of him.

Carry the wolf home

There is still a custom in Guanzhong countryside that if there is a Qin Opera performance in a certain village during the day or night, the surrounding villagers will go to watch it. One night, Wei Sanye went to a neighboring village to watch the Qin Opera – "Three Drops of Blood". Halfway through the play, Wei Sanye was a little anxious, but when he looked back, there were black crowds everywhere, and he couldn't go out at all. Even if he barely made it out, it would not be so easy to come back. Helpless, he had to endure to continue watching the play.

After the play, the crowd gradually dispersed, and Third Master Wei hurried to the deserted place to make it easier. After convenience, Third Master Wei found that all the people watching the play had left, and there was no one on the road, so he had to walk back alone. To embolden himself, he sang aloud a clip from "Three Drops of Blood" as he walked: "My ancestral home is Hancheng County, Shaanxi Province, and there is a home in Xinghua Village..."

Suddenly, Third Master Wei felt a hand on his left shoulder. He thought that the people watching the theater were joking with him, and said without looking back: "Go, go!" While speaking, he stretched out his left hand to hit the hand on his left shoulder. Unexpectedly, this touch, Third Master Wei immediately broke out in a cold sweat: it was not a human hand, but a furry wolf paw.

Third Master Wei is well-informed and knows that this is a way for wolves to attack people. When the cunning wolf finds a passerby walking alone on the road, he will quietly follow behind the person, stand up like a human, and pat the person on the shoulder with a front paw. Under normal circumstances, the person being patted will mistakenly think that someone is joking with him and involuntarily look back. At this time, the wolf will attack the person from a distance: either swallow a bite on face of the person; or bite the person's neck and kill the person.

Third Master Wei knew that there was a wolf behind him, so he quickly calmed down and continued to walk forward while secretly warning himself: Don't look back. In this way, the wolf anxiously waited for Third Master Wei to turn back as he advanced; Third Master Wei was thinking about how to deal with the wolf as he advanced. The wolf and the man kept walking forward in a stalemate.

A few minutes later, the wolf grew impatient and used his other paw to pat Third Master Wei's right shoulder.

This action of the wolf suddenly brought inspiration to Third Master Wei. It was too late to say, but it was fast at that time. When the two claws of the evil wolf were placed on Third Master Wei's shoulders, Third Master Wei stretched out his hands without hesitation, grabbed the two front claws of the wolf tightly, pulled forward fiercely, and tilted his head back, firmly against neck of the wolf. The upper body of the wolf could not move at all; although the two back claws could move, they were suspended in the air and could not be used.

Third Master Wei carried the wolf on his back and ran towards the village with great strides. As soon as he entered the village, he shouted, "Quick, come out and fight wolves!" The villagers had just returned home after watching the play, and when they heard the shouting, they ran out with sticks. Third Master Wei warned everyone, "Wolves have iron heads, hemp legs, and tofu waist. Hurry up and hit the wolf's waist hard." Hearing this, the young man in the village hit the wolf's waist with one stick. The poor hungry wolf originally wanted to treat Third Master Wei as a delicious meal, but he didn't expect that he would become a delicious meal for the whole village.

From then on, the story of Wei Sanye carrying the wolf home spread in Shili Baxiang.