In classical Chinese, idioms are used to beat snakes.

In the Tang Dynasty, there was a man named Wang Lu. When he was an official in yamen, he often took bribes and did not abide by laws and regulations. One day, someone handed a form to the yamen to accuse Wang Lu's subordinates of taking bribes illegally. At first glance, Wang Lu saw that the crimes written on the form were exactly the same as his daily illegal acts. Wang Lu looked at the form and shook it: "This ... this is not."

The more afraid Wang Luyu was, he forgot how to approve the form paper. He actually wrote eight big characters on the form paper: "Although you mowed the grass, I was scared by the snake." This means that you are doing this to mow the grass on the ground, but I am like a snake hiding in the grass, but I am greatly shocked!

Later, according to Wang Lu's eight words "Although you mow the grass, I am surprised", it was extended to the idiom "startle the snake".