Chapter 8: Great Fortune, Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

A sand partridge, a juvenile from this year’s brood that was noticeably smaller than an adult, was currently pecking at small insects under a bush, letting out soft chirps as it fed.

How could Yue Feng let such an opportunity pass? He attached the line to the hawk, then held his arm out flat and released the bird.

The large goshawk shot out like a bolt of lightning, skimming low across the ground. As it neared the bushes, it slammed down violently, and a second later, the shrill cry of the sand partridge rang out.

A hit on the first try!!

No wonder the veteran falconers had so many theories and requirements when it came to selecting a hawk.

Choice is more important than effort; a hawk with good innate qualities, whether you are training it or putting it to work, really saves so much trouble!

His first real-world hunt with a newly trained hawk, and it was a success on the very first attempt, less than a li outside the village!

Yue Feng patiently waited seven or eight seconds before walking toward the spot where the hawk had landed, reeling in the line unhurriedly.

Under the bushes, the goshawk was pinning the sand partridge firmly with its large talons, its head bobbing as it plucked the feathers. Even when Yue Feng reached them, the hawk showed no fear. Once the feathers on the partridge’s neck were plucked clean, it quickly tore through the skin and began to feast greedily.

This was his first successful hunt with a newly trained hawk, and Yue Feng didn't rush to snatch the prey away, letting the goshawk eat its fill. Only after the hawk had torn off and swallowed the sand partridge’s head along with its entire neck did Yue Feng take off his left glove and cover the prey under the hawk’s feet.

Unable to see its prey, the hawk naturally loosened its grip. Yue Feng used his right hand to steady the hawk and perch it back on his arm, while his left hand, protected by the glove, grabbed the sand partridge and hid it behind his back before he turned and headed home.

The hunt was a success, so the mission for the day was complete. You couldn't overwork a hawk that had just been trained; it was a process of gradual progression.

A sand partridge’s neck and head weighed significantly more than a sparrow. Now that the hawk had fresh meat in its crop, if he sent it out again, it likely wouldn't be focused. If he kept pushing it, he might not catch anything else and could even end up making the hawk lazy or cunning.

By the time he returned home with the hawk, it was only 6:10. His mother had already finished making breakfast, but his youngest sister, Jingjing, hadn't woken up yet.

Yue Feng gently pushed open the door to the east room and whispered, "Jingjing, get up and eat sand partridge!"

The little girl, who had been sleeping soundly, reacted almost reflexively to the words "sand partridge," rolling off the kang and lifting her head in one motion.

Yue Feng stood sideways to block the hawk’s line of sight, dangling the headless, neckless sand partridge in front of his sister with his left hand.

"Look, the hawk caught this this morning! Get up quickly and let Mom roast it for you in the stove ashes!"

"Wow, you really caught one! Why doesn't this sand partridge have a head?" Jingjing rubbed her eyes, quickly put on her clothes, and began to examine the prey Yue Feng had brought back.

"The hawk ate the head and neck! The rest of the chicken is yours!"

"Second Brother is the best! Chicken time!!" The little girl’s happiness was so simple. With the small bird in hand, she skipped off to find her mother.

In truth, a sand partridge wasn't very big. An adult male weighed about half a jin (250g). The one Yue Feng caught this morning was a young hen from this year’s brood, weighing less than four liang (200g). After removing the head and neck, there was barely two liang (100g) of meat left.

Even so, the little girl was quite content. Her mother didn't even pluck the feathers, tossing the whole thing directly into the stove.

Soon, the peculiar smell of burning feathers drifted into their nostrils. The little girl stayed by the stove, not moving an inch, until it was cooked and her mother pulled a blackened lump of meat from the ash pile.

It was similar to roasted pigeon. Even though it looked charred and inedible at first glance, once you peeled away the burnt shell of feathers, the tender red meat inside was completely unaffected. When eating, you just had to pull out the mass of internal organs, and the rest was ready to eat.

His mother cleaned up the roasted sand partridge and handed it to his youngest sister, who was already drooling.

"Eating it just like that?" Yue Feng looked at his sister with doting eyes and asked, feigning anger.

"Huh?" Jingjing gave him a look that was clear-eyed but foolish.

"Give the two little drumsticks to Dad and Mom to taste! You eat the breast meat!" Yue Feng said firmly.

"Oh!" The little girl was a bit reluctant, but she listened to her Second Brother and obediently handed the two thin drumsticks to her parents.

His parents knew Yue Feng was consciously teaching his sister, so they didn't stop him, accepting the drumsticks the little girl broke off and taking a symbolic bite.

"The chicken is so fragrant!" Jingjing tore off a strip of breast meat and tasted it, her pretty eyes immediately squinting into crescents.

"Once the hawk is steady, I'll catch sand partridges for you to eat every day! Don't put the bones in your mouth; you might choke!" Yue Feng reminded her with a smile.

Perching the hawk on one arm, he finished his simple breakfast.

After hearing about Yue Feng’s morning hunt, his father’s opinion of the goshawk rose even higher.

For the rest of the day, Yue Feng walked around the village with the hawk on his arm. The more familiar it became with the environment, the better. By four in the afternoon, as it was getting dark, Yue Feng used the last live sparrow to reinforce the training in the yard, then kept the hawk on his arm until midnight before going to sleep on the kang.

The hawk had eaten two meals of fresh meat yesterday, morning and evening. After coughing up the pellet of feathers in the morning, its spirit was significantly improved. As Yue Feng walked out with the hawk on his arm, he hadn't even reached the river along the village road before he discovered traces of prey again.

A large tiger-striped dove was walking unhurriedly along the side of the road, no more than ten meters away from Yue Feng in a straight line.

The tiger-striped doves in these mountains were perhaps even larger than sand partridges. Autumn was the season for them to fatten up, and with no shortage of grass seeds in the fields, this fellow was so round it gave the illusion that it could barely walk.

Yue Feng had plenty of experience in falconry from his past life, so he knew that hunting doves wasn't the best choice. Doves had very loose feathers; if you weren't careful, you'd just end up with a handful of feathers while the bird flew away.

Under normal circumstances, Yue Feng wouldn't have released the hawk without being certain, but this particular dove was just too bold. Even when Yue Feng got within seven or eight meters, the dove didn't fly away, continuing to peck at food on the roadside with its round body.

This was a blatant provocation! If an uncle could endure it, an aunt certainly couldn't!

Seeing this, Yue Feng decisively released the hawk.

The goshawk had already been struggling impatiently in Yue Feng’s hand. Once freed from its restraints, it struck the large tiger-striped dove like a precision-guided black brick.

"Coo-coo-coo!"

The large dove, which hadn't been afraid of anything a second ago, was now pinned firmly under the goshawk’s feet. It didn't even put up a decent struggle before it was taken down.