Chapter 176 Minister Zhang Picks the Eagle

It is true that Yue Lei is quite respectful of these officials, but the underlying logic of this respect is based on the natural sense of distance and status gap between ordinary villagers and village leaders.

When it comes to his own personal interests, Yue Lei is not the kind of person who flatters without any bottom line. On the contrary, he used to hate all kinds of flattery and intrigue.

Yue Feng smiled and shook his head: “No need! Just leave it as it is! There’s nothing great about being the Minister of Security.

He can only take it if I give it to him, and he can’t snatch it away if I don’t give it to him!”

“Kid, you can say whatever you want at home behind closed doors, but don’t talk nonsense like that when there are other people around!” Meng Yulan looked at Yue Feng with dissatisfaction after hearing her son’s somewhat arrogant words.

“Desires bring suffering, while desirelessness brings strength! We live our own lives honestly and cannot ask Zhang Hongbin for anything. On the contrary, when he wants to do something, he asks us for something!
Besides, he doesn’t know anything about eagles. The feathers of the eagles tied at home are all loose, and they look much worse than the untrained eagles!! I had prepared for this when we were drinking and eating yesterday, and he had a psychological expectation before he came today!!
By the way, mom, after you have breakfast, go to the market and see if you can buy some hard food or something. You can brag, but if Zhang Dayantong really comes to our house, we can’t refuse to entertain him!”

“Okay, I’ll get some ingredients ready in advance!”

Hearing that their son knew what was going on, Yue Lei and Meng Yulan stopped reminding him. Yue Feng had previously dealt with conflicts with the Zhu and Zhou families easily without involving his family, not to mention today’s matter where it was obvious that the other party wanted something from Yue Feng.

After breakfast, Yue Feng took out some cotton thread from the thread box and made a new outfit for the big and small eagles at home in advance. Before he knew it, it was already past nine in the morning.

Just as he finished throwing the five-foot stick in his hand, Yue Feng heard the sound of a car horn outside the yard gate.

Yue Feng immediately stood up and went out of the house.

Zhang Hongbin, dressed in casual clothes, got out from the back seat with Wang Jianguo, and the driver next to them took out a bunch of large and small bags from the car.

“Uncle Zhang, Uncle Wang, please come in quickly! And what’s the name of this clerk? Come in and have some water to warm up! Just come if you want to, why do you have to carry things?” Yue Feng greeted them warmly.

“Your yard is tidy enough! I heard from Lao Wang that your father’s leg injury hasn’t healed yet, so I happened to bring some nutritional supplements. They’re not valuable things. Please don’t quarrel with me about our relationship!” Zhang Hongbin said after he walked into the yard and took a rough look around.

Yue Feng is a man who knows what he is doing. The driver was carrying rare things such as malted milk, linden honey, and sea cucumbers. Among these things, only malted milk was slightly common, and the others were hard currency that was hard to buy even if you had money.

From this perspective, it is better to be an official.

A few strangers entered the yard, and the four dogs in the yard immediately started barking.

Yue Feng took the things from the driver with both hands and shouted to the dog at home.

“Be quiet, stay in your den! If anyone barks again, we’ll have dog meat for lunch!”

The dogs, who were barking hard the previous second, fell silent the next second after their owner spoke, and obediently went back to their respective doghouses, with only their heads sticking out and lying on the ground.

“Tsk tsk tsk, you’ve trained this dog pretty well. It’s so good at enforcing orders that it’s almost like a military dog!”

Zhang Hongbin’s eyes swept over the four dogs, and there was a hint of eagerness in his eyes.

“They are all our local hunting dogs. They are smart and can understand people’s calls, but they are definitely not comparable to military dogs! Let’s not stand in the yard anymore. It’s very cold. Let’s go inside and warm up!”

Yue Feng immediately opened the door, led a few people into the house, and went straight to the east room where Yue Lei was staying.

After entering the door, I met Yue Feng’s father, and there was another round of greetings among the people.

Yue Feng made tea, gave some instructions, and quickly arranged for a few people.

After a few sips of hot tea, Zhang Hongbin did not stay in the room any longer. He looked up at Yue Feng and said, “Shall we go see the eagle you mentioned yesterday?”

Yue Feng nodded: “Okay, the eagle I mentioned is in the warehouse, I’ll take you to see it!”

Soon, Yue Feng took a few people to the warehouse.

The little eagle tied to the pole of the warehouse, which had not been trained since it was caught in the net and brought down the mountain, immediately flattened its feathers and looked sharply at the people who opened the door.

Zhang Hongbin fell in love with it at first sight.

“This eagle is great! Look at its spirit, its big claws, and its eyes! This is a great eagle!!!”

Yue Feng’s prediction was very accurate. Compared with those eagles that had already been manipulated by people, this pure eagle that had not yet been trained gave people a much more handsome first impression.

The reason is very simple. A mature eagle has already adapted to the presence of people. So when someone passes by, it does not even raise its eyelids. Its feathers are fluffy and its posture is very casual. Most of them just sit on the pole and do not show any signs of panic. A live eagle that has not been trained will eat when it is hungry in a dark barn when no one is around. But when it sees a person, its first reaction is to be alert.

In this state, the eagle is not squatting on the bar, but its feathers are pressed tightly against its body, and it is leaning forward, standing upright. Its sharp eyes are vigilantly observing the people in front of it, ready to guard against possible attacks at any time.

On one side are the pampered old employees born in the 80s, and on the other side are the rebellious post-00s who have not yet joined the company. To an outsider, the difference is naturally very obvious.

As for the methods of judging eagles by looking at their feather color, skeleton structure, and temperament, those are the knowledge that only experts in the field would have. Zhang Hongbin does not understand them.

“I told you that you would definitely like it after seeing it! Do you want me to untie the eagle now and we can take it to the yard to take another look at it?” Yue Feng suggested.

“That’s fine. It would be better if we take it to the yard and take a look at it!” Zhang Hongbin did not refuse.

Yue Feng immediately put on leather gloves, untied the five-foot rope that tied the eagle and put it on his hand, then walked out of the warehouse holding the eagle.

After seeing the day, this little eagle looked even better. Its feathers were dark bean yellow with a hint of lavender, and its front breast was covered with black spots the size of your fingertips. Under the reflection of the sunlight, the texture of its feathers was very good.

To talk about this eagle, it really didn’t suffer any injustice in Yue Feng’s home. It caught an average of one sand chicken or other miscellaneous birds a day. It ate fresh food and never went up the mountain to hunt. Therefore, the feathers on its wings and tail were in 100% perfect condition. Unlike the eagle working on the eagle pole in the greenhouse every day, the base of its tail feathers would be a little split and worn.

The only drawback was that although the little eagle was able to handle the hand, it was very uncomfortable standing on the hand. Its wings and tail on both sides were stretched out and drooped, ready to escape at any time.

Yue Feng did this intentionally to look at the eagle. There would be no harm without comparison. All the large feathers were spread out, and the feathers were intact and could be seen more clearly.

“Uncle Zhang, what’s going on?” Yue Feng asked with a smile.

“Okay! This eagle looks good! It’s much better than the one my old leader raised last time. You can see the difference at a glance!” Zhang Hongbin nodded repeatedly.

“I told you I would definitely like you, I wasn’t lying, right?” Yue Feng smiled and turned his head slightly to look at Wang Jianguo.

“I didn’t expect that you still have a top-quality eagle tied up in your warehouse that you are reluctant to train! This eagle does look more energetic!” Wang Jianguo also echoed.

“Hehe, that’s settled! I’ll start lighting it tonight, and in about ten days, I should be able to work in the fields! When it’s done, let my uncle call you!”

“Okay, you’re an expert, I’ll listen to you!” Zhang Hongbin, who had been worried, finally felt relieved after seeing the real thing with his own eyes.

“I’ll tie the eagle back to the pole first, and then I’ll take you to the greenhouse to take a look! If you like anything in the greenhouse, you can take it away today!” Yue Feng called out, and tied the small eagle back to the warehouse.

Soon, Yue Feng took Zhang Hongbin to visit the captive eagle in the greenhouse again.

“These small ones are kites, scientifically known as sparrowhawks! They catch flying dragons, sand pheasants and some other birds!

This one is the same species as the previous eagle, the rabbit eagle, also known as the big eagle, a female goshawk! It can catch rabbits and pheasants!

The last one looks a bit lazy. It is a chicken hawk. My dad spoiled it. It is lazy and eats a lot, but does the least work! It can only catch pheasants and some small birds, but not rabbits! “

Yue Feng introduced all the eagles in the greenhouse to Zhang Hongbin one by one.

In comparison, these eagles look less attractive in the eyes of laymen. Even the iron-backed red eagle in the score is only slightly larger in size, with fluffy feathers, and squatting on the pine pole, it looks like an old hen sitting on its nest.

“Okay, no need to look at these! Oh, by the way, why can’t I see the big black hawk that Xiao Guo mentioned in the hawk shed? Now that I’m here, I have to see with my own eyes whether it’s as mysterious as he said!!”

Hearing that Zhang Hongbin was still obsessed with his big Black Hawk, Yue Feng had already thought of a countermeasure.

“This eagle has not been trained well yet. It still has many bad habits of attacking people and other eagles. I dare not tie it up in the greenhouse for fear of quarreling with other eagles! The eagle is in the west room where I sleep. It just so happens that it has not been fed today’s food yet. Look how domineering this guy is in front of you!”

While speaking, Yue Feng turned and entered the west room, and wearing gloves, he took the big black eagle down from the falconry.

“Fuck! Why is this eagle so big? What is it wearing on its head? A helmet? Or a hat?”

At first glance, Zhang Hongbin was quite surprised. The gyrfalcon weighing 15 pounds was two sizes larger than a normal eagle weighing 20 pounds or 23 pounds.

Yue Feng nodded: “When this eagle came down the mountain, it weighed 4.12 pounds. A normal eagle catching rabbits weighs only a little over 2 pounds! The thing it wears is called an eagle cap. It is used to cover its eyes during eagle training. This thing has a lot of eyes. When it is very hungry, it wants to grab anything that moves!”

(End of this chapter)