After chatting with Zhang Shuya for a while longer, Wang An took his leave and departed.
After leaving the Public Security Bureau, Wang An originally wanted to drop by Wu Dong's place, but when he thought about the fact that starting tomorrow, he would be in the county every day for a full month, he abandoned the idea.
And so, Wang An rode his sidecar motorcycle back home.
As soon as the sidecar entered the village, Wang An heard two eagle cries. Immediately following that, he saw two black shadows diving toward him from the sky.
Looking closely, it was Da Cang and Xiao Cang.
He had to admit, an eagle's eyes were damn impressive; even from such a distance, Da Cang and Xiao Cang were able to recognize him.
The reason Wang An could tell it was them was that he had sewn a strip of red cloth onto each of their legs.
Not only did the two of them have red strips, but Wang An had also sewn red strips onto the legs of Da Jin and Xiao Jin.
It couldn't be helped; people in the countryside were generally averse to eagles. The main reason was that whether they were goshawks, northern goshawks, or other types of eagles, most of them preyed on domestic chicks.
Therefore, the primary purpose of the red strips was to tell anyone who saw them that these eagles were owned, so there was no need to fear them, but they should not be harmed either.
The reason he sewed them on rather than tying them with knots was that sewing left no lumps; tying a knot would create a large bump on the eagle's leg, which would affect its flight.
Seeing the two little fellows flying over, Wang An quickly stopped the sidecar, picked up the sheepskin pad from the side seat, and wrapped it around his arm.
Mainly because Wang An was wearing his uniform today, and the summer uniform was essentially just a shirt. If he were scratched by an eagle, not only would the clothes be torn, but his arm would be left with several bloody gashes.
Just as Wang An got ready, Xiao Cang arrived, followed by Da Cang, who circled once in the air before landing.
Once both eagles had landed on the sheepskin pad, Wang An stroked their heads and feathers, saying with a smile
"Are you two here to welcome me? Huh?"
Whether it was because of the Spirit-Opening Powder or because Wang An had raised these four eagles since they were young, Da Cang, Xiao Cang, Da Jin, and Xiao Jin were all exceptionally perceptive of human nature.
They could understand some of Wang An's short commands. Of course, if the sentences were too long, they would look at him with faces full of confusion, clearly unable to comprehend.
After being affectionate with Da Cang and Xiao Cang for a while, Wang An said to them
"You two go home first."
As he gave the command, Wang An lifted his arm. Da Cang and Xiao Cang glanced at him, then flapped their wings and flew away.
Watching Da Cang and Xiao Cang fly high into the sky, Wang An finally squeezed the clutch, shifted gears, twisted the throttle, and continued driving home.
Compared to Da Cang and Xiao Cang, Da Jin and Xiao Jin were more aloof. To be precise, the intelligence of these two golden eagles was slightly lower than that of the two goshawks.
The reason for this was that golden eagles normally stay in the nest for two years before officially becoming independent in the wild, whereas goshawks only need one year, or even less than a year, to leave the nest.
Simply put, goshawks mature earlier, while golden eagles mature later.
When Wang An arrived home, Da Cang and Xiao Cang were standing next to Da Jin and Xiao Jin, waiting for him to enter the courtyard. In front of the four eagles lay their trophies.
They were two rats, a small rabbit, and a small bird that Wang An didn't recognize; he had no idea where they had caught these things.
What Wang An hadn't expected was that these four eagles had actually learned to hunt for themselves. Fortunately, without exception, these animals had not been torn open and eaten; they were waiting for Wang An to feed them.
This point gave Wang An a great sense of peace.
According to what was written on the silk cloth, eagles cannot learn to feed themselves actively for at least one year; otherwise, there is an eighty to ninety percent chance they will fly away in the future.
If the eagles he had spent so much time and energy raising flew away before they could be put to use, Wang An would be miserable.
Tearing open these small animals one by one, cutting them into strips of meat and applying Spirit-Opening Powder, Wang An began to feed the four eagles.
Actually, normal eagle feeding didn't need to be this meticulous. One could simply cut larger animals into small chunks and smaller animals in half, as long as the eagle could swallow them.
Things like indigestible fur and feathers would be vomited up by the eagle the next day.
However, if Wang An wanted to control them without leaving any hidden risks, he couldn't let them eat like that. He had to give them the cognition that animals with fur and feathers could not be eaten.
Only in this way would they always depend on Wang An; even if they could catch prey themselves, they would still rely on him to actually get food into their mouths.
It had to be said, humans were the most ruthless.
During dinner, Wang An told his family that starting tomorrow, he would be going to the Public Security Bureau every day for training.
As soon as Wang An finished speaking, he heard Wang Dazhu say indifferently
"Then go. Your eldest sister went through a lot of trouble to get you this job; you should go if you're supposed to."
After Wang Dazhu spoke, Liu Guilan immediately asked
"Then if you train during the day, will you be back before dark?"
Wang An thought for a moment and said hesitantly
"There's no fixed schedule. Normally I can come back, but if there are too many training tasks, I won't."
The reason he said this was that while chatting with Zhang Shuya, Wang An learned that training didn't just consist of grappling and shooting. There were cultural classes, such as laws and regulations, case analysis, and other professional subjects that needed to be studied and trained.
Hearing this, Liu Guilan suddenly said with a hint of hope
"It would be great if you could be converted to a permanent official position. Then we wouldn't have to worry about anything in the future."
After speaking, Liu Guilan smacked her lips, her eyes full of anticipation.
Hearing this, Wang Dazhu immediately agreed
"That would be perfect. If you can become permanent, there's nothing more to say."
For some reason, for people of Liu Guilan's generation, having a permanent official job was always the most important thing.
They wouldn't consider how much money you could earn or how much money you had; in their eyes, none of those things were as good as having a permanent job.
Wang An looked at his father and mother, whose faces were full of daydreaming, and silently lowered his head to eat.
After dinner, after staying for just a short while, Wang An led Mu Xueqing back to their own house.
Due to the successive battles with Sun Nian at noon, Wang An fell asleep shortly after getting onto the kang.
Just as Wang An was about to engage in a fierce battle on a chessboard with the God of Dreams, Mu Xueqing suddenly frowned and sniffed.
Immediately after, Mu Xueqing threw off the quilt and delivered a fierce slap right onto Wang An's big backside.
Following a crisp "smack," Wang An let out a howl and leaped up from the kang.