Chapter 47: Birds of a feather flock together

“I’m already twenty-one. The farm work is done, and I can’t just sit around the house idling all day, can I? If this keeps up, when am I ever going to get a wife!

If I can train an eagle to go into the mountains and catch pheasants or hares, even if it only earns fifty cents a day, that’s fifteen yuan a month!”

Zhu Erhai was exaggerating as much as he dared; he didn't dare boast any higher. In his eyes, earning fifteen yuan a month was an unimaginable fortune.

Silence!

Total silence!

Both Zhu Jianshe and his wife felt their brains stall. Their son, who had always been lazy, incompetent, and never satisfied no matter what he ate, seemed to have an idea today that—strangely—lacked any logical flaws.

“Can you really take pheasants and hares caught with an eagle into town and sell them for money?” Niu Jianshe asked again, still uncertain.

“My younger brother Sanhai heard it directly from Wang Mingyu, the Secretary’s youngest son, yesterday!” Zhu Erhai argued his case.

“Where is Sanhai? Go call your brother back!”

“I can’t open the door; the eagle is still on top of the heated kitchen cupboard!” Zhu Erhai said, pointing to the eagle on the kang bed.

“Give me your pant legs!” Zhu Jianshe took the cotton pant legs from his son, took off his shoes to climb onto the kang, and then suddenly lunged, grabbing the eagle's tether.

Seeing that the great eagle had been re-restrained by his father, Zhu Erhai finally went outside to find his brother.

A short while later, Zhu Sanhai returned.

Little Sanhai recounted everything he had heard from Wang Jianguo’s son to his father, detail by detail.

Now, Niu Jianshe’s mind began to stir.

Could it be that they really had misunderstood their second son this time? He immediately decided that he would head out later to inquire about the matter.

If it were true, training a great eagle to hunt in the mountains would be a fine option for the autumn and winter seasons.

Ordinary villagers didn't dare venture deep into the mountains; those who grew up at the foot of the mountains had a profound respect for the deep, old forests since childhood.

Using an eagle to hunt small game didn't require venturing into the depths of the Changbai Mountains like hunting wild boars or roe deer would; the ridges near their doorstep were enough to catch pheasants and hares.

Because of constant human activity, large predators rarely appeared in the settlements at the foot of the mountains. Aside from the occasional year when mountain produce was scarce and large animals descended to ravage the cornfields in autumn, the hills surrounding their homes were almost entirely without danger.

And so, the matter of Zhu Erhai raising a great eagle was temporarily settled within the household. However, his mother’s "broom-and-meat-slice" beating was not something one could easily recover from; once she hit him, she hit him, and there was no such thing as a biological mother apologizing to her son afterward.

In the entire Zhu family, the happiest person was likely Zhu Sanhai.

His brother had brought home a great eagle, and by the look of it, it was much larger than the eagles Yue Feng and the others took into the mountains.

From what he heard while listening to his parents and brother chat, a great eagle this size could catch pheasants and hares, making it far superior to the small eagles the Yue family's second son used, which could only catch partridges.

Having not yet eaten lunch, Zhu Sanhai felt he couldn't stay still at home. If it weren't for the fear of being beaten, he would have run out right then to tell his playmates that his family was also raising a great eagle.

While things had calmed down regarding the eagle-raising at the Zhu house, another storm was brewing at Old Man Zhu's place at the back of the village.

By noon, the geese released by the family had returned home on schedule, but upon inspection, the most productive egg-laying hen was missing.

Old Man Zhu and his wife wandered around the area where the geese usually ate grass and bathed, but they found no clues. Consequently, Old Man Zhu's wife, Granny Ma, couldn't even bother with lunch; she walked out into the street, hands on her hips, and began her tirade.

“Which damn soul stole our goose!

If you eat my goose, I guarantee you'll grow mouth sores and hemorrhoids!!”

“You son of a bitch thief! I curse you to be infertile for the rest of your life, and may your wife give you eight sons!”

“You bastard thief, I’ll [expletive] your whole bloodline!”

...

They say birds of a feather flock together, and that was certainly true for the Zhu family.

The Zhus were an old family in the village, but their reputation had been terrible since their great-grandfather's generation. Old Man Zhu had no dealings with his neighbors; if he ran into someone on the street, he wouldn't even bother to greet them.

Old Man Zhu's wife, Granny Ma, was the champion of cursing among the village women. If anyone provoked her, she could stand at the street corner under the scorching sun and curse for half the day without repeating herself!

If it were anyone else, neighbors would surely help look for a lost goose, but the neighbors of Old Man Zhu's house remained silent, and no one was willing to approach.

Who would want to cross her? Even those villagers who had seen Zhu Erhai carrying a goose out of the village preferred to mind their own business rather than invite trouble.

Granny Ma cursed from noon until after two in the afternoon. When there was still no response, she felt she hadn't performed well enough, so she tiptoed straight to the home of the Village Secretary, Wang Jianguo.

As the village secretary, Wang Jianguo found Granny Ma quite a headache. Given her age and seniority, he couldn't speak too harshly to her, but he couldn't ignore her either when she came looking for trouble.

Thus, Wang Jianguo used the village loudspeaker to shout the announcement a few more times and promised to inform her immediately if there was any news, finally coaxing Granny Ma back home.

For the next few days, the entire village remained peaceful.

Yue Feng and the members of the eagle hunting team headed up the mountain together every day at dawn. They would each select a mountain ridge to work with their eagles, and at exactly 4:30 PM, they would gather at home to hand over the day's catch. Yue Feng was responsible for totaling the harvest before pulling the sled to deliver the goods to the second canteen of the coal mine.

After several days of high-intensity hunting, even the gentlest of the five goshawks in their possession—the one assigned to Xiaowu—had become steady and well-trained.

Aside from the large Goshawk in Yue Feng's hands, the other four hunters averaged a stable daily catch of over 25 small birds, providing the second canteen with a steady supply of about a hundred pieces of mountain game every day.

During these days, Yue Feng wandered through the red pine forests in his memory every day while on the mountain. He had also gradually accumulated over thirty greyhound skins.

Stable fresh game meant stable cash income. Through this period of accumulation, Yue Feng's cash had successfully broken the two-hundred-yuan mark, reaching a staggering 241.53 yuan.

This was even before selling the dried skins; otherwise, he would have several hundred more.

After receiving the payment for another delivery, Yue Feng had saved enough money to buy a bicycle, and his mind began to wander.

It was time to make another trip to the ghost market in the morning. After all this time, Brother Hu should have managed to get a bicycle permit.

Every day, after going up the mountain in the morning and returning home in the afternoon, Yue Feng had to pull the sled into town. Setting aside the mountain paths, the round trip into town alone was forty to fifty *li*.

This kind of life, traveling on foot, was no way for a human to live. Once he had saved enough money, the first thing he had to do was solve his transportation problem.

Chapter 2, another chapter at 8:00 PM.

(End of Chapter)