Chapter 46: I took a beating, but I must train this eagle!

“Brother Erhai, I don't think this will work! Wait for me a second, I'm heading home! I'm going to cut some leather!”

After a quick greeting, Wang Xiaonian ran home. He returned in less than ten minutes, carrying a piece of leather he had cut from the shaft of a worn-out cowhide boot.

In those days, cowhide was a rare commodity. Village children wanting to make slingshots needed cowhide for the pouches that held the stones; many kids had the wooden forks and rubber bands, but they always got stuck on the leather pouch.

Wang Xiaoyan was thin and small, but the reason he could hang around with thugs like Zhu Erhai was that he was smart enough.

Tying an eagle's leg with rope wasn't easy. By cutting cowhide to the right length, punching holes in it, and threading rope through to secure it, the problem was solved.

After a bit of tinkering, the two of them finally managed to secure the leather harness for the large eagle!

Once the eagle was tethered, Zhu Erhai couldn't wait to mimic Yue Feng and try to perch the bird on his arm.

However, after only one attempt, he let out a cry of agony.

Even though this "Paba" eagle was poor at hunting, it was still a bird of prey, and its talons were no mere decoration. With a single swipe, it left four bleeding holes in Zhu Erhai's right forearm.

Realizing this wouldn't work, the two scrambled to find work gloves. They put two gloves on one hand, but even the combined thickness was no match for the eagle's "talon technique." The bird struck again, piercing through the webbing between the thumb and index finger and the back of the hand.

According to the traditions of falconry, old-school trainers didn't use gloves like these; they used "eagle sleeves" or arm guards.

Arm guards were generally used for training large raptors like eagles, while the more practical version was the eagle sleeve—a type of protective gauntlet.

These were sewn from cotton cloth, stuffed with layers of cotton or other materials that were difficult to pierce, and meticulously stitched together.

The more sophisticated ones featured diamond-shaped stitching patterns, traditional ancestral designs, or even high-end decorations like cloud patterns.

Zhu Erhai didn't have eagle sleeves, but he had the "Sleeping Dragon" Wang Xiaoyan by his side. Under Wang's guidance, Zhu Erhai found his younger brother Zhu Sanhai's cotton trousers in the cupboard, cut off a leg with scissors, and used a large needle and thread to clumsily sew it together.

To their surprise, with the sleeve made from the cotton trouser leg, the Paba eagle indeed failed to injure his hand. Zhu Erhai successfully achieved his goal of perching the large eagle on his arm.

The moment he succeeded, a look of immense satisfaction—the look of someone who had overcome hardship to achieve victory—spread across Zhu Erhai's face.

All difficulties are merely paper tigers!

"Xiaonian, the eagle is on my arm, but what do we do next?" Zhu Erhai's joy was short-lived as a new problem arose.

His knowledge of falconry was less than hearsay; he was completely clueless.

Wang Xiaoyan wasn't much better, though he had heard bits and pieces from the elders.

"To tame a large eagle, you have to '熬鹰' (ao ying)!!" Wang Xiaoyan said with absolute certainty.

"Ao ying?" Prompted by Wang's reminder, Zhu Erhai realized what he meant.

In the Northeast dialect, "ao ying" was a term used to describe staying up all night, reversing day and night. An elder might say, "Why aren't you sleeping? Are you 'ao ying' (staying up to fight an eagle)?"

"Yes, ao ying!! It means you don't let it sleep at night. You and the eagle stare each other down until the eagle submits and starts listening to you!"

Building upon his hearsay, Wang Xiaoyan added his own "processing," making it sound incredibly convincing.

"Fine! Starting tonight, I'll stay up with it! If that doesn't work, I'll get my dad and my brother to take shifts. I'll definitely wear it down until it surrenders!"

"Yeah, Brother Erhai will definitely make it give up!"

Having reached a preliminary agreement, the two boys happily admired the large eagle perched on the arm.

This Paba eagle was a three-year-old adult. Having been caught in a net and brought to humans, its first instinct was undoubtedly fear.

At this moment, it was in a state of intense stress. Its face was filled with terror, its beak was slightly agape with its tongue peeking out, and its feathers were pressed tight against its body. Its wings hung at its sides like a warrior's swords. At the slightest movement, it looked ready to struggle and flee.

The most eyesore-inducing part was its fleshy, filthy talons. Perhaps from catching frogs in the mud, the grooves and crevices of its claws were filled with black grime, making its already unappealing appearance even worse.

However, Zhu Erhai and Wang Xiaoyan, knowing nothing about birds of prey, assumed this was just how their claws looked. They didn't find anything amiss.

After all, those bloody holes in their hands were caused by this "precious treasure," so its power was clearly evident.

While the two were admiring the eagle, Zhu Jianshe and his wife returned from the mountain after picking mushrooms.

"Dad, Mom! I got a huge eagle!" Zhu Erhai approached the old man as if presenting a treasure.

Before Zhu Jianshe could even react, his wife, Niu Guihua, lost her temper first.

"Is that sleeve on your hand made from Sanhai's cotton trousers? And you've got an eagle on your arm? Are you trying to fly to heaven?"

In the next second, the mother's discipline arrived.

Niu Guihua grabbed her second son by the ear, picked up the broom by the heated kang bed, and began a relentless barrage of swats.

In the chaos, Zhu Erhai couldn't hold onto the eagle. The Paba eagle slipped from his grasp and began circling the ceiling of the house while Niu Guihua continued her sweeping assault with the broom.

The entire Zhu household descended into total chaos.

Normally, when guests are present, parents tend to save face for their children. But once Niu Guihua realized her third son's trousers had been butchered by her second son, her anger flared up instantly, surging straight to the top of her head.

Seeing that things were going south, Wang Xiaoyan didn't even say goodbye; he turned and bolted.

After the beating, Zhu Erhai's cheeks were swollen, but he refused to back down this time because he was about to do something big.

"It was my fault for cutting Sanhai's trousers, and I'll take the beating for it. But this eagle—I must train it!" Zhu Erhai said stubbornly, his neck stiff with resolve.

"What? Are you trying to turn the world upside down?" Hearing his son's words, Zhu Jianshe, who had been sitting still, felt his temper rising. His hand instinctively reached for his leather belt.

"Dad, I'm grown up now. Can't you listen to my idea before deciding whether to get violent?" Zhu Erhai was quite fearful of his father's belt, and his eyes became noticeably clearer and more attentive.

"Fine. I'll hear how ivory comes out of a pig's mouth!"

"The second boy from the Yue family in the village..."

Zhu Erhai took the news he had heard from his younger brother and embellished it for his father.

When he heard that wild game caught by training eagles could be sold in the city for money, the murderous intent in Zhu Jianshe's eyes finally faded a little.