Chapter 56: The Business of Training Large Eagles

The news that the Zhu family and the Yue family had gotten into a fight—specifically that Old Man Zhu had been slapped hard by the Yue family's second son—spread through the village like wildfire.

Originally, the news that Yue Feng's family had just bought a bicycle was the top headline in the village. Now, with the Yue family fighting an established household like the Zhus and coming out with a decisive victory, their status in the eyes of the villagers had soared even higher.

Even the village bully, the Zhu family, had been dealt with; this second son of the Yue family was truly something else.

Over the next few days, Yue Feng followed his usual routine: heading up the mountain with everyone else in the morning to hunt, and returning in the afternoon to ride his bicycle into town to deliver the wild game.

Every day he went into town, brought back the money from the sales, and distributed it among his brothers. Every few days, they would prepare a few dishes and enjoy a little drink on the *kang* bed, living a life full of flavor and contentment.

On the other side, Zhu Erhai was having a rough time. His father’s belt had been so punishing that Zhu Erhai hadn't been able to get off his *kang* bed for three days.

Zhu Jianshe hadn't been idle either. Although his son was sidelined, the work of training the large hawk couldn't be neglected. Consequently, he and his wife stopped going up the mountain to gather mountain goods and instead took turns "weathering" the hawk.

It had been about a week since this large hawk was caught in the net two days ago. For five or six consecutive days, the hawk had barely closed its eyes around humans, yet it still showed no sign of submission.

Old-generation falconers all knew the saying: "One year a Yellow, three years a Dragon." This referred to the age of the hunting hawk.

A "three-year Dragon" didn't just mean the hawk was highly skilled; it meant the old fellow was not easy to serve. A sub-adult hawk fresh out of the nest had a "Yellow Hawk" temperament—less wild and relatively easier to tame.

But a hawk that had lived in the wild for three years had grown from a sub-adult into a mature adult. Not only was its temperament unruly, but its energy was extraordinarily high.

If this "bastard hawk" were handled by Yue Feng, he would supplement the "weathering" process with continuous weight control—lowering food intake to reduce the hawk's physical reserves.

But Zhu Jianshe didn't understand these nuances. To keep the hawk alive, Zhu Kaishan went all over the soybean fields setting rat traps to catch mice. Although the bastard hawk was being weathered quite harshly, it was being fed well every single meal once it started eating from human hands.

With food constantly in its belly, its weight hadn't decreased; in fact, it was a pound or two heavier than when it was first caught. In such a situation, expecting the hawk to submit couldn't be achieved in just a few nights of weathering.

Judging objectively from an outsider's perspective, it would take at least ten more nights to grind down the hawk's temperament.

Of course, even once the hawk's temperament was mostly tamed, there was still a long road ahead before it could actually go out hunting. These were things that had been predetermined the moment this specific hawk was chosen.

In a flash, a week had passed.

One evening, Yue Feng rode his bicycle to the Second Canteen to deliver goods. After counting the quantities and settling the payment, he was pulled aside to a side lounge by Niu Fusheng.

"Brother Niu, is something up?" Yue Feng glanced at Niu Fusheng, wondering what was going on.

"Little Yue, can you do me a favor?"

"Huh? Please, say the word. If it's doable, I'll definitely do it!"

"Lately, things haven't been very peaceful at our canteen. I'm feeling a bit of pressure," Niu Fusheng said vaguely.

"Hmm? What do you mean? Just speak plainly. With our friendship, there's no need to beat around the bush!"

"Over at the First Canteen, Old Fu has somehow managed to get a lot of wild game as well! Now, the status of our Second Canteen is a bit unstable! Those leaders eat Flying Dragons and Sand-half Chickens every day; they seem to be getting a bit bored of it! Can you help me think of a way to get some other kinds of wild game to add some variety?" Niu Fusheng said, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Niu Fusheng knew that Yue Feng was just a small-scale hawk handler. Asking him to help catch other kinds of wild game was, in a sense, asking too much.

Hearing this, Yue Feng wasn't particularly surprised. Even if you eat good things every day, you eventually get tired of them.

"What kind of variety do they have over there?"

"They have wild chickens, rabbits, and occasionally roe deer or wild boar meat! They have Flying Dragons and Sand-half Chickens too, but they're rare—mostly dead ones!" Niu Fusheng counted them off on his fingers like a seasoned expert.

"They're all quite 'spicy' to the palate, aren't they?" After listening, the corners of Yue Feng's mouth curled up slightly as he guessed with a smile.

"How did you know?"

"It's not hard to guess. Without heavy seasoning, it's hard to suppress the earthy, bloody smell of prey that hasn't been bled properly," Yue Feng explained.

"That's true! Can you get these things? If you can, consider it a favor to your big brother. The purchase price is negotiable!"

Yue Feng nodded and asked in passing, "Alright! I'll look into it! Besides the previous Sand-half Chickens and Flying Dragons, the future demand will mainly be for wild chickens and rabbits, right?"

"Yes! Mainly wild chickens and rabbits. I can occasionally buy roe deer and wild boar meat from the black markets. It's best if the wild chickens and rabbits are live. I want to show them what real craftsmanship looks like!" Niu Fusheng said with great confidence.

"Fine, I'll find a way as soon as possible. If everything goes smoothly, it should take about ten days to half a month!"

"That long?"

Yue Feng nodded and explained, "Yeah. Dead ones are easy to handle, but live ones are hard to catch! To catch wild chickens and rabbits steadily, the hawks at home won't cut it. I'll have to go up the mountain to catch large hawks. From the time a new hawk is caught until it's ready to hunt, it takes at least seven to ten days!"

"Alright, I'll hold on for a few more days! I'll wait for your good news!"

"Then I'll be heading off!"

...

Leaving the Second Canteen, Yue Feng pedaled his bicycle toward home.

Along the way, Yue Feng pondered many things. His current business model of using hawks to catch mountain chickens for money was still a bit too singular.

Relying solely on the few Accipiters at home to catch Flying Dragons wasn't impossible, but due to the limitations of the hawks' abilities, the variety of prey was somewhat limited.

No matter how fierce his Great Green Accipiter was, the largest prey it could catch was a wild chicken. Moreover, every time he sent it after a wild chicken, it was a gamble that could stake his entire hunting season; one mistake could mean losing or injuring the hawk.

To grow his hawk-hunting business, he had to continue expanding his categories.

His original plan was to save enough money to buy a gun and a dog to transition into large-scale hunting, but looking at it now, that idea was somewhat idealistic. To protect his current "cash cow"—the business of supplying wild game to the coal mine canteens—he couldn't avoid the hurdle of training large hawks.

By "large hawks," he meant the females of the Goshawk species. According to the traditions passed down by old-generation falconers, the females of the Goshawk are called "Large Hawks" or "Rabbit Hawks," and they primarily hunt prey the size of rabbits, wild chickens, or even lynxes.

The males of the Goshawk are called "Chicken Hawks," and they primarily hunt prey ranging from Sand-half Chickens to Flying Dragons and wild chickens. A standard Chicken Hawk basically does the work of a top-tier Accipiter, with the difference being their larger size, which means they won't lose out when hunting wild chickens—unlike the Accipiter, whose business exceeds its capacity, making the risk so high.

Seeing this, some might ask: since Yue Feng is skilled at training hawks and there is market demand, why does he seem hesitant to step up?

Yue Feng indeed didn't really want to train Large Hawks; the truth was, they were simply too much of a hassle.

(End of Chapter)