sjar Chapter 390 Zhao, the Head Esteemed Warrior
Chapter 390 Zhao, the Head Esteemed Warrior
Zhao Pao stayed at the Li family's house for a while and was amazed by the comfort of the house.
Li Ju'an called an electrician to install wiring for his small building. A Baihua brand washing machine was running in the backyard, washing clothes by itself. Inside, the ceiling fan was wrapped and secured with old newspapers to keep it dust-free, so it could be used again next summer.
It was late autumn, and the bees at the apiary outside were building queen cells one brood after another. The fruit trees were also being supported and protected, with white insecticide applied to the lower branches and tied up securely, in preparation for winter.
Zhao Pao placed the golden eagle on his shoulder onto the hemp rope provided by Li Ju'an, and wandered around the small building, praising the three-story house.
“Li Pao, let me tell you, I’ve been to the city before. Even those tenement buildings in the city aren’t as comfortable as your little courtyard.”
Two roosters crowed in the backyard. These were chicks that Lin Mei and Li's mother had bought from town and raised themselves in the backyard, eventually creating a brood of chickens. Originally, they were all roosters, but Li's mother kept one to grow up, and the rest were raised into young chickens before being braised and stewed with chestnuts.
After class, Li Xiao would go hunting in the mountains with Sun Hao and Lu Wenqian. The three children would hunt near Wild Boar Gully, and Lu Jinyang would keep an eye on them. The three children were also sensible, and before the weather dropped sharply, they hurriedly picked all the chestnuts that had fallen to the ground.
Lu Wenqian pestered her second aunt to roast chestnuts. They would roast them under a wood-fired stove, and you would hear them crackling. They couldn't roast them for too long; someone had to keep turning them over, or they would burn.
The mountains are rich in resources. The chestnuts that Li Xiao picked alone are enough for Li's mother to stew chestnuts and chicken for a month or two. After the rooster finished eating, Lin Mei comforted Song Lanhua. When Song Lanhua complained that the person selling chicks in town was discerning and only sold roosters, not hens, Lin Mei chuckled and said, "You can tell the sex of chicks too. I'll come and check next time."
Lin Mei asked her younger brother, Lin Guodong, to buy chicks from a hen. Lin Guodong was now working as an apprentice at a movie theater and was gaining experience. In the countryside, some people hired him to project movies, but the price wasn't right. So, Lin Guodong secretly took on side jobs, learning how to project movies himself. He was young and could charge low prices—just chicks were enough. People from the neighboring villages loved him and lined up to have him project movies; he had plenty of chicks.
Lin Mei took the baby hens that her younger brother had brought and raised them in the backyard. After a few months, the chicks had grown up, and there were more than twenty hens clucking and squatting there every day, occasionally laying an egg, while a rooster would crow, making the backyard very lively.
Li Ju'an was placing two golden eagles together, with one eagle standing on each of two hemp ropes.
The female eagle had endured until the ninth day, and was clearly nearing her end. Her strong personality and volatile temper were driving him to his wits' end, and he was feeling increasingly frustrated. Perhaps no one could truly survive to adulthood like her.
The male golden eagle showed little interest in the female eagle, occasionally pecking at her and looking rather unlucky with its drooping neck.
Lin Mei walked over, carrying a porcelain basin filled with dirty coats that had just been spun from the washing machine. These were the coats Li Ju'an had changed out of after going into the mountains. Besides washing away the mud, many were torn and needed mending. Lin Mei noticed that Li Ju'an hadn't been able to eat or drink for the past nine days, just spending his time with a bird.
She said with concern, "Honey, let me come and take a look."
Li Ju'an was feeling annoyed, but he still patiently stroked his wife's soft hair and coaxed her, saying, "Wife, this bird is very dangerous. Don't get too close, or it will peck you. It can make your finger bleed if it pecks you."
Lin Mei smiled and said, "It's alright, I'll just sit over there and knit a sweater and thread some needles. You rest first. It breaks my heart to see you like this."
Li Ju'an knew that his wife was worried about him, having worked hard for nine days and looking so tired, and wanted to give him a break. He kissed his wife on the forehead and said, "Okay. If I look at that flat-feathered eagle again, I'll feel like my heart is about to explode."
He rubbed his aching forehead and went outside to chat with Zhao Pao.
Lin Mei watched Li Ju'an and Zhao Pao smoking outside. Zhao Pao handed her a Daqianmen cigarette, but Li Ju'an didn't smoke it. He tucked it behind his ear, wrapped his coat around himself, and lay down on the bench in the bee farm, falling fast asleep.
She smiled and sat down, carefully threading a needle along the two golden eagles' sides, mending the holes in Li Ju'an's coat little by little. Li Xiao tiptoed over, watching her sister-in-law sewing, and put down the mushrooms and wild wood ear fungus she had just picked, sitting beside her to watch her sister-in-law's skills and learn to sew.
The Li family's small house is peaceful and serene; everything is just right.
The female golden eagle sensed the change in atmosphere, quietly opened her eagle eyes, and looked at the two female companions, then glanced at the sullen male golden eagle beside her.
When the female golden eagle saw the handsome and majestic male eagle, the hen perched on the rope beside her was involuntarily drawn to him. Her eagle eyes were no longer closed, and she never turned her face away, staring intently without blinking.
……
Li Ju'an slept like a log.
Beside the bee farm, the shouts of the Lu brothers, Zhao Pao, and Li Guaizi playing Pai Gow were deafening, but he didn't hear them at all; his snoring was almost as loud as the four of them playing cards.
The Lu brothers had all finished their free meal and were about to leave after dinner. Lu Zhiqiang plopped down and woke Li Ju'an up.
Li Ju'an felt like there was something heavy blocking his nose, and he instinctively tried to push it away: "What are you doing! I don't even need to look to know you're a scoundrel like Lu Zhiqiang."
Lu Zhiqiang laughed loudly, deliberately exhaling a foul breath in front of him, and said, "How can you train an eagle like this? The eagle hasn't even been trained yet, and the person himself is already failing."
His breath reeked of garlic. Li Ju'an gagged from the stench: "What are you doing, a biological attack?"
Lu Zhiqiang was also very proud of himself, saying, "This is called divine breath. One breath from me can grant you immortality."
"That's utter nonsense. You've been listening to too many ghost stories on the radio lately, so all you can say is rubbish."
Li Ju'an was woken up, and Zhao Pao's mood improved considerably when he saw that Li Ju'an had given in.
Hmph, even an experienced man like him couldn't tame an adult eagle, and Li Ju'an, a young man, thinks he can? Isn't that just humiliating the old hands of Eagle Village?
Zhao Pao, who was concerned about saving face, saw Li Ju'an scratching his head in frustration and comforted him, saying, "What's the big deal? It's just a failed attempt at cooking. It's a minor matter. We can pluck the feathers and make soup later. It'll be delicious, even better than stewed goose in an iron pot."
Lu Zhiqiang had just finished his free meal and was patting his round belly, still savoring the taste, when he called out, "Stewed goose in an iron pot! Aunt Song, shall we have stewed goose in an iron pot tomorrow?"
Lu Jinyang glared at him, grabbed him hard, and said in a low voice, "How can you be so shameless? We've come here to freeload so many meals, and we've already troubled others. You came empty-handed, and you even ordered food? Aren't you thick-skinned?"
Lu Zhiqiang grinned and said to him, "I came empty-handed, but you always bring a bunch of big bags and small packages. We're like family, a small gift will suffice."