sjar Chapter 326 The Source of the Stone Quarry: Barley Field
Chapter 326 The Source of the Stone Quarry: Barley Field
Li Ju'an was incredibly excited, but Zhao Pao was even more excited.
Zhao Pao's eyes were red, and he said in a hoarse voice, "When I was around 20 years old, I was trying to raise my first eagle. It took eight or nine days, and I was about to give up when the old folks in the village told me to persevere and wait a little longer. I thought to myself, how long will this take? I might die before the eagle dies."
The group burst into laughter, and as they laughed, Li Ju'an's eyes also reddened, feeling the hardship of the falconers.
He was already aware of the industry's hierarchy of contempt: falconers looked down on gunmen, and gunmen looked down on trappers. He initially thought falconers had an incredibly strong sense of superiority. It's just falconry, how can they have such a sense of superiority?
Now that he has personally trained an eagle, he knows that someone with the willpower to tame an eagle is no ordinary person.
Zhao Pao glanced at the leather eye patch that Li Ju'an had sewn and said, "One of these can be used as a glove, and the other can be used as a cover to stick on your arm."
He stretched out his arm, gesturing for Li Ju'an to look at the leather glove on his arm. Li Ju'an fed the eagles some more meat, and the two eagles now had their own seats. On his right hand was a sturdy leather glove.
The two eagles weren't very big; they squeezed together and just filled one of his arms without feeling crowded. Each eagle had an iron chain on its leg, fastened to a buckle on his armband. When he wasn't using the eagles, the buckle was locked. Wherever he went, the two eagles followed. They didn't need to be fed too much; he only needed a few bites of meat every three to five hours.
Zhao Pao taught him a few commands.
Sub-adult eagles are still weak in their flight ability, so their owners need to train them to fly. Once they have mastered all the skills, the owner only needs to whistle once, and the eagle will fly out to hunt and will even land on the owner's shoulder.
Li Ju'an learned the commands, and for the next few days, wherever he went, the eagle followed. This served two purposes: firstly, to increase familiarity with daily routines and enhance close interaction; and secondly, to exchange scents, allowing the eagle to become accustomed to its master's scent, so that even if it were released later, there would be no fear of it getting lost and not returning.
Watching Li Ju'an interact with the two eagles, Zhao Pao added with concern, "If we find that the eagles have stopped eating again in the next few days, that would be normal."
"What? This is normal? Of course it was returned."
Zhao Pao nodded and said, "That's normal. There's a habit to wait for the eagle to get used to. We'll feed it for a month or so, and we'll also have to cook it for it a few times from time to time until the eagle is completely accustomed to it. You also need to use some sounds and coordinated actions to make the eagle learn conditioned reflexes so that you can better control it."
After listening, Old Chen, the forest ranger, muttered, "No matter what, an eagle is still a feathered beast; it still needs to be trained."
Zhao Pao gave him a few more instructions: after raising it like this for another half month, it could be released into the mountains for field testing. If the eagle flew well and caught small animals, it could be rewarded. With the help of commands and whistles, it could be tested by letting the falcon catch small animals such as greyhounds and jumping cats.
Before leaving, Zhao Pao left another message: "There's an old man over there in the barley field. He used to be one of the people who split off from our Yingtun family. If I'm not around, and you have any questions, ask him. Just say that Old Zhao introduced you."
Li Ju'an responded with a shout: "Okay!"
Hidden on the distant horizon is a small village called Qingkedi, nestled alone on barren land, a speck of dust carelessly left behind in the Gobi Desert. This village is far removed from the hustle and bustle of the world; even those who are accustomed to traversing the mountains and forests, such as hikers and hunters, rarely set foot in this desolate land.
The Gobi Desert, with its unique desolation and barrenness, proclaims that this is not a paradise for hunting and gathering; prey is scarce. Treasures of the mountains and forests, such as Ganoderma lucidum, mushrooms, and matsutake, are even more difficult to find here.
The Gobi Desert, with its gravel and bare rocks, is a corner that rain clouds can hardly reach. There lies one of the poorest villages there, a barley field.
When it comes to barley fields, even compared to Xiaoling Village, which is famous for its seahorse breeding, its reputation seems to be even lower. That area is simply unsuitable for human habitation.
The villagers who could move away have already done so. Those who are capable have told their descendants to buy houses in town and start small businesses. Their daughters have all married out and live elsewhere if they can avoid it.
The people who remain in Qingkedi Village now are mostly the elderly, the infirm, and the disabled; no herders go there anymore.
When Lin Yuan Lao Chen heard Zhao Pao tell Li Ju'an that he could visit Qingkedi Village when he had time, he immediately became unhappy and spoke up for Li Ju'an, saying, "Old Zhao, that's not right of you. If you care about your fellow villager, you can go and visit him yourself, bring some wine and drinks. What's the point of making Xiao Li run all the way there? It's not far."
Li Ju'an quickly said, "It's alright, it's just a trap, we can just stroll over."
Zhao Pao stared at Lao Chen, chuckled irritably, and said, "Over that mountain, there are barley fields and Leke Village. There's a highway over there too. Lao Chen, your information is way too late. That place is going to be amazing in the future."
When Li Ju'an first heard the name "Qingkedi," he didn't react much. However, when he heard the words "Leke Village," his eyes suddenly lit up and widened.
The ancient city of Leke, the ruins of which later became famous, stands quietly nestled in the embrace of those majestic mountains, adjacent to Leke Village. Once the floodgates of memory were opened, Li Ju'an suddenly realized. It turned out that the small village called Qingkedi had such an extraordinary geographical location.
It is just a stone's throw from the newly built highway, only one kilometer away. And it is only two kilometers away from the picturesque Lek scenic area. The surrounding natural environment is undoubtedly a treasure bestowed by nature.
Although Qingkedi Village is poor in resources, it is a rich land for quarrying. Stones, cliffs, rocks, and even exposed rock strata are everywhere, as if nature has deliberately piled up a treasure trove of rocks here. What is even more amazing is that in later generations, collectors have traveled thousands of miles just to explore the unique wind-eroded stones of this land.
Those uniquely shaped stones, sculpted by wind and sand and weathered by time, have become another little-known scenic feature of Qingkedi Village. Many business owners from the south like to collect these stones as wind-eroded stones, using them to ward off bad luck and bring good fortune.
These business owners came specifically to the barley fields to collect these wind-eroded stones. They commissioned people to carve them into artificial mountains and placed them in their courtyards. As a result, a quarry was built in this barley field to collect these wind-eroded stones. These stones were then transported to the south by merchants who came to buy them, where they were further processed into artificial mountains and sold as feng shui ornamental stones. Parks and scenic spots would purchase them in large quantities.
Lin Yuan Lao Chen looked at Li Ju'an and noticed that he was staring at the distant mountain peaks in a daze.
Old Chen teased him, saying, "Little Li, what are you daydreaming about? You really want to listen to Old Zhao? Going to that barley field? Even birds don't poop there."