Chapter 43: The Lazy Dog and Zhu Erhai
They would train the eagle to call it far away later, so Xiao Tao and his son did not return home after tying up the eagle.

Yue Feng came back early and prepared food for the eagle in advance. Several people sat in the yard and took turns practicing calling the eagle from a long distance, starting with jumping fists and slowly calling from the eagle stand to the south wall before stopping and feeding the eagle a full crop.

At the gate of the courtyard, the group of children were watching the fun from outside through the crack of the door. Every time an eagle that was called far away during training spread its wings and flew into the hands of the eagle trainer, the children would cheer excitedly.

The Zhang brothers were the last to come back. Today, the brothers Xiaowen and Xiaowu also gained a lot.

By the time Xiaowen and Xiaowu had finished training their eagles, the sky was gradually darkening.

When the children who had been watching the fun saw that there was nothing exciting anymore, they slowly dispersed and went home.

There were few things to talk about in that era, and the news that the Yue family had tied up several hawks and went into the mountains to catch chickens soon spread to the neighbors through the mouths of the children.

In the eyes of the vast majority of villagers, it is just a curiosity, but there are a few who realize the benefits.

Zhu Sanhai’s elder brother Zhu Erhai is one of them.

Zhu Erhai is 21 years old this year. He dropped out of school before finishing primary school. Apart from working with his parents during the busy farming season, he has nothing to do during this time. He either hangs out with a few scoundrels to play cards or plans to steal a chicken from someone else’s house and stew it to drink with.

At this age, children from good families have all married and had children, but the three sons of the Zhu family have a hard life. Zhu Erhai has a very bad reputation in the village. He is lazy and idle. He even bullies Grandma Li, a family member of a martyr. His temper is so bad that people nickname him Lai Gouzi.

When Zhu Sanhai returned home for dinner, he told his brother about how Yue Feng’s family hawk had caught a lot of sand chickens.

Zhu Erhai didn’t think about selling this thing in the city for money, but he was thinking that if he could train an eagle, he could go to the mountains to catch some sand chickens and flying dragons when he had nothing to do. Then he could eat meat every now and then, and then his friends would be teasing him every day.

In the villages at the foot of Changbai Mountain, every village has hunters who can hunt. Some large villages even have gunners who raise hunting dogs and play with guns.

However, even though hunters are common in the mountains, hunting in the mountains is still a dangerous thing for most villagers.

Most ordinary people’s understanding of hunting is limited to setting traps at the foot of the mountain near their home and trying their luck to catch a few jumping cats and pheasants. If they can bring a shovel and a mattock into the mountains and dig up a few badgers and bring them home, they are considered capable.

Hunting is not difficult to learn, but it is difficult not to do it. Without someone to teach, ordinary people simply do not know how to locate the prey and find the animal trails. Even if they set a trap, nine out of ten times they will not be able to catch the prey.

Zhu Erhai is a greenhorn who knows nothing about this business.

After thinking about it all night at home, Zhu Erhai went to Yue Feng’s house after breakfast the next morning.

However, Yue Feng and the others had already finished their breakfast and had already gone up the mountain with their eagles, so Zhu Erhai came to nothing.

In view of this guy’s despicable character, Yue Lei and Meng Yulan both disliked him. They responded to him vaguely in the yard, and Zhu Erhai left tactfully.

After leaving Yue Feng’s house, Zhu Erhai went back home. Although he hit a snag, he did not intend to give up.

At around three o’clock in the afternoon, Zhu Erhai arrived at the Xing’an Village Intelligence Center, a small shop at the entrance of the village. The old ladies gathered here to chat and gossip. No matter whether he was a good or bad person, they chatted about all kinds of things, both good and bad, and time passed quickly.

At around four o’clock, Yue Feng came back from the village with a large kite with a full crop. Zhu Erhai went to meet him from a distance.

“Brother Yue Feng, you’re back from the mountain!!!” Yue Feng was slightly stunned when he saw Zhu Erhai running towards him to talk, but he quickly figured out why this guy was looking for him.

“Ah? Take a stroll up the mountain! What’s the matter?”

“I really have something to do. Is it convenient in the evening? I’ll treat you to dinner at my house, and we can have a drink together!”

Zhu Erhai thought Yue Feng was still a young boy who knew nothing, so he didn’t mention his purpose, but instead invited Yue Feng to his home for dinner.

“Sorry, I don’t drink! We are not familiar with each other. I don’t want to receive anything without doing anything. The food in your house is not that delicious!” Yue Feng did not give Zhu Erhai any face and refused directly in a stiff tone.

“Look at you. We are close friends in the village. I’m kind enough to invite you to drink, but you’re still insulting me!” Zhu Erhai has good acting skills. After listening to Yue Feng’s words, he deliberately found faults in his words.

“If you have something to say, just say it. If not, please get out of my way. I still have work to do!” Yue Feng still had to go into the city to deliver goods. Today was his first evening delivery, so he had no time to chat with Zhu Erhai.

“I heard that you have trained a lot of eagles. Can you give me one?” Seeing that his roundabout tactics didn’t work, Zhu Erhai simply went straight to the point!
“I can’t give it to you. We know how many eagles we have at home!” Yue Feng shook his head and walked around Zhu Erhai and left.

“I’ll pay you, and you can sell me one!”

“I told you, the eagles all have numbers. You want to go find Li Mingtao, then. If Xiaotao is willing to sell you, you can talk to him!” Yue Feng directly tried to divert the trouble, not wanting to get entangled with Zhu Erhai.

Zhu Erhai doesn’t dare to show off in front of Xiao Tao. Even though he is a few years older than Xiao Tao, when Xiao Tao gets aggressive, he won’t tolerate him.

During the autumn harvest last year, the two of them had a quarrel over tractor work, and the tall and strong Xiao Tao caught them and beat them up.

Having said that, Zhu Erhai no longer wanted to continue pestering and just watched Yue Feng leave.

Yue Feng returned home and counted and organized all the wild game that had been stored at home and had not yet been given away. Then he pulled the sled, left the village through a small road, went around half a circle before getting on the main road out of the village and headed straight for the second canteen.

The game delivered today was the catch of the five people yesterday, plus the greyhound that Yue Feng caught during the day. Xiao Tao and the Zhang brothers have not returned yet.

The total number of chicks delivered today exceeded eighty. After Yue Feng handed over all the game, he took back the greyhound skin from Niu Fusheng.

It must be said that chef Niu Fusheng’s skinning technique is quite good. He can cut a complete greyhound skin from the jaw and clean up the head, face, limbs and even the most difficult tail neatly.

Today’s goods were sold for more than 80 yuan. Yue Feng stuffed the greyhound skin into his backpack, then pulled the empty sled and headed home.

The purchasing stations will not accept greyhound skins that have not yet dried. You have to go home and stretch them with simple wooden strips and put them in a cool place to dry before you can sell them.

As the hunting proficiency of the falcons in the hands of the five-member falconry team improves, the number of prey brought home every day is also steadily increasing. Yue Feng has spent most of his time in the red pine forest catching greyhounds, but the number of chicks has not been affected.

At this time, even if Yue Feng lay on the kang every day and did not go into the mountains, the fixed income share was very substantial, but he was reluctant to rest for a single day. In his heart, he was always calculating when he would have enough money at his disposal to buy a bicycle.

On the other side, Zhu Erhai, who had hit a snag with Yue Feng, did not give up. He continued to return to the intelligence station and waited for Li Mingtao to come back from the mountain.

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(End of this chapter)