bookrebus Chapter 321 The Eagle's First Battle
Chapter 321 The Eagle's First Battle
The tiger is very clever; if these two hairy beasts make any move against their master, the tiger will definitely rush up and tear them to pieces.
Li Ju'an calmed the hunting dogs, then grabbed the wings of the two sub-adult goshawks and placed them on the willow branches to stand upright.
He asked Uncle Chen for a stool, then moved a small stool and sat in front of the eagles, staring at them.
Suddenly, he slapped his forehead and remembered something, saying, "Uncle Chen, did I leave my leather gloves with you last time?"
Old Chen, the forest ranger, felt around in the cabinet and actually found a single leather glove. Last time, Li Ju'an took off his gloves to open the door and they just happened to fall onto the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).
With the leather gloves, Li Ju'an found it much easier to train eagles.
Those weathered leather gloves, bearing the marks of time, with many broken threads, desperately needed careful mending. They had been a generous gift from kind-hearted Aunt Zhang next door years ago, who, seeing the Li family's financial difficulties, had given them to her. Her son had bought a new pair of gloves, and she no longer used the old ones.
Seeing their poverty and hardship, Aunt Zhang gave her son's unused leather gloves to Song Lanhua, the mother. Song Lanhua couldn't bear to use them and gave them to Li Ju'an instead.
Li Ju'an borrowed a sharp pair of scissors from the skillful Uncle Chen and carefully unraveled the loose threads from the gloves that held so many memories. These unraveled threads were given new life in his nimble hands and used to make eye patches for the two eagles.
He carefully threaded the cowhide with the remaining thread, then used old thread to carefully string it together, ensuring that the blindfold fit snugly against the eagle's head without being restrictive. The finished blindfold blocked the eagle's sharp gaze, but cleverly left a gap for the ear canal, allowing the eagle to still hear the wind and sounds around it.
Uncle Chen watched all this silently, his eyes shining with admiration for Li Ju'an's ingenuity and perseverance. He said, "Li Pao'er, you have such skill, you're really good with your hands."
Uncle Chen couldn't sew; all the handicrafts were done by his wife. A few years ago, after his wife left, no one sewed the old clothes anymore, and his knees were so sore they couldn't be covered. He tried to thread a needle, trembling, but kept pricking himself. Finally, he had to take a toy cat and ask a female worker at the ranch for help to patch his sore knee.
Li Ju'an, engrossed in his sewing, chuckled as he listened, "After being away from home for so long, you're bound to learn a little bit of everything, aren't you?"
He learned sewing from his landlady when they moved south in his previous life. Back then, he and Zhang Yingnian had just arrived in the south and hadn't earned their first fortune. They could only make ends meet in a basement apartment, living in a leaky old house. In the summer, when the kitchen cabinets were lifted up, cockroaches would swarm underneath, making for extremely unpleasant conditions.
He recalled the arduous years he and Zhang Yingnian spent heading south in his previous life, how they eventually made it through. But how could such a loyal brother and partner stab him in the back for the sake of profit?
He thought of his cousin Li Changqing, who had followed Zhang Yingnian south, and sighed. He wondered what would become of Li Changqing, whether he would suffer the same fate as him. Zhang Yingnian was no benevolent man; he was utterly inhuman.
The leather eye mask is finished.
Seeing that the willow branch stick was not working, Li Ju'an decisively lowered the rope slowly and took out a bundle of thick hemp rope. He skillfully wound it into a sturdy spindle-shaped ball, which provided the eagle with a new foothold.
The two eagles had their eyes tightly covered by leather blindfolds, making the world a complete darkness for them; they could neither see nor perceive their surroundings.
Li Ju'an carefully placed them on the intricately woven rope. The eagle's sharp talons instinctively searched for a foothold, finally stepping lightly onto the rough hemp rope and gripping it tightly, as if every inch of its skin was taut, afraid that it might fall into the unknown depths if it were not careful.
The barking of the hunting dogs still echoed in their ears, their formidable presence keeping the sub-adult goshawks on their toes. They stood silently atop the rope, everything around them invisible and untouchable, only the sturdy rope beneath them offering them a sense of comfort and security.
The eagle couldn't stand as steadily as it did on a tree branch. With the rope swaying, its feet seemed unable to find solid support, and it could only maintain its delicate and fragile balance with a slightly unsteady posture.
This instability led to the start of falconry training.
Li Ju'an had chatted with the falconers from Yingtun and secretly learned the techniques of training falcons. But for the first time, technique alone wasn't enough; he had to try it out, hoping it might work.
Taming a falcon is a contest of patience and wit. Li Ju'an kept a close eye on the falcon, his gaze sharp and his movements swift. Just when the rope seemed about to stabilize, giving the falcon a moment to catch its breath, he would quickly intervene, gently shaking the rope to make it sway again. He ensured the falcon had no respite whatsoever.
This is a silent torment; for the eagle, there is no peace for a moment, no sleep, only constant suffering.
The torrential rain pounded on the roof of the duty room, the sound deafening. Li Ju'an stood there by the hawk, giving it a couple of shakes whenever the rope was steady. Eventually, listening to the rain, he became so sleepy he could hardly stay awake. He propped himself up on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), nodding his head intermittently, almost dozing off.
Seeing him like this, Old Chen, the forest ranger, laughed and said, "Falconry is a trade that's like a mountain to climb. Li Pao'er, you're good at training the dogs, but falconry is really not that simple. Look at you, you haven't even trained the eagle yet, and you're already exhausted."
Li Ju'an shouted, "Uncle Chen, bring me a pot of strong tea. I refuse to believe I can't outlast these two eagles."
He tilted his head back and gulped down a large pot of strong tea, then shook his head to feel a bit more refreshed. He nudged the eagle and said, "You two, you'd better listen to me and suffer a bit. Then we can get some peaceful sleep."
That night felt exceptionally long, filled with trials. The two eagles stared blankly into the night, their eyes half-closed, half-awake, but the leather blindfolds prevented them from seeing anything. It was as if their consciousness hovered on the edge of clarity and dazedness, only to be suddenly doused with a bucket of icy water; the pain and torment pierced their very bones and struck the darkest depths of their souls.
It takes at least seven days and seven nights to train an eagle. For an unruly eagle, the more it is trained, the more its sharpness is tempered and its temperament is tamed.
Li Ju'an was so sleepy he was dazed, and the two eagles were also slowly trudging along on the hemp rope, almost unable to hold on any longer. This was a silent contest, a test of the falconer's wisdom, patience, and profound understanding of the eagles' nature.
As midnight passed and dawn broke, Li Ju'an, who hadn't slept all night, couldn't stay awake any longer. He suddenly looked up and saw Da Hu wagging its tail at him. He slapped his forehead, sighed, and cursed, "Why didn't I think of that? Come here, Da Hu."
He pulled a thin hemp rope from one end of the coiled hemp rope, dragged it down to the ground, and fixed it to the hunting dog's tail.
The hunting dog looked at him and wagged its tail so enthusiastically. And so the rope started swaying too.
Uncle Chen's eyes widened in surprise, and he said, "My goodness, this is interesting."