Chapter 26: Taking Xiao Tao to the City
The afternoon's harvest was also good. Yue Feng took Xiao Tao to a new spot they hadn't visited before, and in half an afternoon, they caught a total of 11 Flying Dragons and five Sand Grouse.
The old socks used for holding birds were not enough. Yue Feng put the lower-priced Sand Grouse two birds per sock. When there was no more room, he simply used wire to tie the wingtips and legs of the last two Sand Grouse together. Honestly, besides affecting the appearance slightly, it didn't have much other impact.
By around four o'clock in the afternoon, as the sun was setting in the west, the two brothers each carried a bulging satchel back to the village.
Today's total hawk hunting harvest included 19 Flying Dragons, 8 Sand Grouse (seven perfect specimens, one fed to the hawk), plus one Weasel.
Under Yue Feng's conscious detour, the two brothers did not take the main road but circled through the farmland on the other side to enter the village via a small path. Besides encountering a villager collecting mountain goods, no one else knew they were there.
Upon reaching their doorstep, the two brothers didn't rush back inside. They sat under the big elm tree in the yard and divided the spoils.
According to the rules of hunting together in the mountains, the team leader gets two shares, the working hawk gets one share, and the person responsible for beating the bush and assisting gets one share. All things considered, Xiao Tao could barely be counted as someone who beat the bush, so he should get a quarter of today's total hunting income.
Yue Feng wanted to give Xiao Tao more, but he was afraid of being too hasty and causing other issues, so he decided to temporarily divide the prey according to the usual rules.
As for the Weasel meat, which doesn't taste good, it was perfect for feeding the hawk.
Yue Feng wanted Xiao Tao to take a few pieces of prey home in the evening, but the kid knew that each live Flying Dragon could sell for one yuan and one jiao, so he absolutely refused to take any home, insisting on selling them together in the city tomorrow.
After agreeing on the time to go to the city early tomorrow morning, the two brothers went back to their respective homes to find their mothers.
When Yue Feng entered his house, he saw two freshly woven three-finger-wide small hawk perching cage net pieces hanging on the clothesline in the yard. Under the second net, Yue Lei still had a bit left to finish. After tying the last few knots and threading the rope, a small hawk net was complete!
"Dad! Did you just weave this new net today?" Yue Feng was greatly surprised when he saw the nets.
He had originally planned to weave nets at home tomorrow after returning from the city instead of going hawk hunting during the day, but he didn't expect that Dad, being at home, had already made arrangements.
Yue Lei smiled and nodded, "Since we're going to catch a few more hawks, how could that one old perching cage net be enough! I've also tied the three-piece set for tethering small hawks for you, and prepared the lure rolling cages. They are all stored in the storeroom!"
Yue Feng pulled open the storeroom and took a look. Inside the two finely woven rolling cages, there were five or six Sparrows each. This setup was much better than the three Sparrows Yue Feng caught from under the eaves with Jingjing after dark last time.
"How did you catch these Sparrows?" Yue Feng asked curiously.
"I asked your mom to go to Village Head Zhao Daye's house to get some medicinal wine-soaked wheat grains to catch them!"
Village Head Zhao Daye is also a hunter, but he only uses medicinal bait. He uses medicine to catch birds after it snows, and digs deer pits and uses medicine to catch deer in the mountains in May and June. During normal times, he farms his land and relies on this skill to support his five children, living a quite comfortable life.
"Did you talk to Xiao Tao about forming a team?"
"Yes, I did! I mentioned the idea to him, and he agreed without hesitation. He told me to go find the Zhang family brothers after dinner!"
Oh, right, today I took Xiao Tao to the small woods by the River to catch Sand Grouse, and the Northern Goshawk caught a Weasel!"
As he spoke, Yue Feng pulled out the Weasel from his pocket. He didn't bring a skinning knife up the mountain, so he didn't rashly skin it. Now, except for its eyes being pecked out and some bloodstains around its mouth due to internal bleeding, the Weasel was otherwise intact.
"Huh! This little Northern Goshawk is so fierce, it actually dared to tackle a Weasel?
Was it, pecking its eyes?"
After taking another look at the Weasel's eyes, Yue Lei completely lost it.
Yue Feng nodded, "Yes, with its double claws holding the head, both claws were on its face, and the large rings (hawk talons) on the side claws tightly clamped the Weasel's mouth!
After I kicked it, causing serious injury, the Northern Goshawk didn't need my guidance; its first strike went straight for the Weasel's eyes!"
After hearing his son's battle report, Yue Lei nodded, "The big wild chicken this time was pecked in the eyes, and the Weasel was also pecked in the eyes. An occasional instance might be an accident, but two consecutive times is an objective fact!
Take good care of this hawk. When it snows, if we can catch Purple Sables in the mountains, not to mention more, if we catch three or five throughout the winter, our family will be rich!"
Yue Feng wasn't sure if the Northern Goshawk could catch Purple Sables before trying, but a Weasel is about the same size as a Gray Dog, so catching a Gray Dog with the hawk would definitely be a sure thing.
Yue Feng has initially planned that when the Hawk Hunting Team is formed, while others go into the mountains to hunt Sand Grouse, Flying Dragons, etc., Yue Feng will go use the hawk to hunt Gray Dogs. Those things are much easier to find than Weasels. If you find the right spot in the Red Pine Forest on the Yang Slope, there are quite a few Gray Dogs.
...
On the other side, after Xiao Tao returned home, he repeated everything Yue Feng had told him about going up the mountain for hawk hunting during the day to Li Wentong.
Old Li and Yue Lei had been neighbors for over twenty years, and they understood each other's character very well. The first day Yue Feng went to the city, Li Wentong was entrusted by his good brother to follow him from a distance, but Yue Feng's vigilance was low and he didn't notice.
Li Wentong had a rough idea of where Yue Feng set up his stall, who he sold to, and even how much money he made.
Now that Yue Feng was inviting Xiao Tao to earn money together with his family, there was no reason to refuse such a thing.
Poor hawk hunting skills can be learned gradually, and catching less is better than staying idle at home. Even if he only catches two Flying Dragons on a trip out during the day, they can still sell for over two yuan in the city.
Every year after it snowed, his father could always get mountain animals like wild boar and Roe Deer from the mountains. Xiao Tao was afraid that his father was too proud and would disdain doing this kind of work of hunting small prey with a hawk.
Getting his father's approval, Xiao Tao's hanging heart completely relaxed.
After dinner, Xiao Tao took a flashlight and went to the Zhang Family, mentioning the matter to the Zhang family brothers again. Upon learning that Yue Feng was willing to take them to earn money together, and that there was no initial investment required, Zhang Xiaowen and Zhang Xiaowu agreed decisively without hesitation.
The two sides agreed to meet at Yue Feng's house the next morning.
At 3:30 the next morning, Yue Feng got up early from bed and put on his clothes. He couldn't borrow the Village Secretary's bicycle every day; in this era, the main mode of transportation still relied on two legs.
Carrying the Flying Dragons and Sand Grouse caught yesterday, Yue Feng waited outside Xiao Tao's house for a few minutes, and soon Xiao Tao, fully equipped, came out.
"Let's go!"
Yue Feng called out, and the two brothers walked along the familiar village road out of the village, disappearing into the vast night.
With Xiao Tao accompanying him on the road, Yue Feng felt it wasn't as boring and monotonous as when he was alone before. On the way, Xiao Tao asked many questions about the city, and Yue Feng picked out a few things to tell him. The journey of over an hour wasn't difficult, and the two brothers arrived at the Ghost Market area.
They left half an hour later today, so by the time they reached the Ghost Market, it was almost dawn.
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