Chapter 875
New Birds Enter the Coalshed, Coal Ball Goes into Heat
Yue Feng stayed in the sable enclosure for a while, admiring the soft, cuddly white sable cubs, before following Zhao Dashan to the spot next to the motorcycle.
The transport cages on the vehicle haven't been removed yet.
"What's this? Did you catch another eagle from outside?" Zhao Dashan looked the birds of prey in the transport cages up and down and asked curiously.
"Yes, besides the little one, we brought back three more eagle chicks from Beijing this time! These two fully-feathered sub-adult chicks are male falcon chicks! They're for expanding the gene pool of breeding falcons!"
The smallest one is a male peregrine falcon that nested late! It will probably take another twenty days or so before it can learn to fly!
For the time being, I'll just keep them all up on the mountain. Since you enjoy handling these things anyway, it'll be good for keeping you entertained!
Zhao Dashan opened the cage wide and carefully examined the peregrine falcon chicks, who were just beginning to grow feathers and were still covered in feather tufts: "How do you feed these? Do you raise them the same way as other eaglets?"
Yue Feng nodded: "That's right! Before learning to fly, just feed them normally. For live food like birds brought up from the foot of the mountain, just clean it up and feed them bones and meat together. When it's not hot during the day, put them in the yard to sunbathe. Once they start learning to fly, I'll take them down the mountain for a while to train them! It'll be about a month at most, and then they'll be all set up!"
"You want to take it out to sunbathe in the yard? I'll have to keep a close eye on it! That Coal Ball guy has been a bit restless since spring started, he's getting a little wild, I'm afraid he'll get into trouble with the eaglets again if I'm not careful!"
"Is Coal Ball in heat?" Upon hearing this, Yue Feng subconsciously looked into the north room. Coal Ball usually slept in the room where Zhao Dashan stayed most of the time.
This male bear is over two years old. It doesn't need to hibernate in winter to expend extra energy, and it grows at least one-third longer than other male bears of the same age during its growth period.
It's normal for a creature to grow quickly and mature quickly if it eats well. However, it is still an animal, and Yue Feng is quite worried that it might go berserk and hurt someone someday.
"It's nothing! I know what I'm doing! This guy has been pretty arrogant lately. A few days ago, he grabbed my trouser leg and bit a hole in it!" Zhao Dashan said casually.
"And then?" Yue Feng glanced down at his master's trouser leg and then pressed for details about what happened next.
Zhao Dashan curled his lip: "The back? I opened the door to the north room, and then all the dogs came in! I gave Coal Ball a good whipping!"
Although Coal Balls become more emotional and difficult to control and less obedient during their estrus cycle, it doesn't mean they stop recognizing people.
The three Azure Dragon brothers, along with another litter of surviving wolfhounds, spent most of their time with Coal Ball.
As long as the owner gives the order, the coal ball can be surrounded. It won't bite or injure it, but controlling the guy for a short time is definitely not a problem.
Zhao Dashan knew the temperament of these mountain animals well enough to prevent problems from escalating.
"Where's the coal now? Have you given up yet?" Yue Feng continued to ask.
Black bears have thick hides and tough flesh, so taking a few hits won't hurt them, but Yue Feng wasn't sure what the consequences would be after the beating.
If the bears raised from cubs were not handled properly and could really threaten the safety of the master, Yue Feng certainly could not leave this potential hazard at the farm.
This is a very contradictory emotion, so Yue Feng is a little emotionally unstable at this moment.
Seeing the concern in his apprentice's voice, Zhao Dashan grinned and said, "Don't worry, it's nothing! One beating and you'll be right back to your old ways! Coal Ball, come out here!"
With a shout, a fat lump of coal, as round as black brocade and rippling with flesh as it moved, pushed open the door and squeezed out from the door frame.
The guy looked up at Yue Feng, then sniffed the air and immediately scurried over.
Awoo!
Coal Ball, now grown into a large bear, let out a deep, somewhat rough growl. It tried to grab Yue Feng's legs with its two front paws, but before it could get close, it immediately withdrew.
He squatted down with his buttocks down and his front legs braced against the ground, no longer daring to pounce on people, and even less daring to hug their legs like a half-grown child before.
Seeing that this guy seemed to know his place, Yue Feng grinned and chuckled, "Hey, looks like a good whipping worked! Master, have you beaten Coal Ball into submission?"
Zhao Dashan nodded: "Different breeds of livestock have different habits. Although black bears become more irritable after mating, they still know right from wrong! Simply beating them up can be effective, but it won't achieve the results we've seen now!"
When dealing with a bear that's even slightly intelligent, you have to use a combination of kindness and severity! If it does something wrong, it gets punished; if it does something right, it gets rewarded!
Yue Feng scratched his head and asked with some concern, "Aren't you afraid of making it lose its temper and going berserk? Coal briquettes must weigh at least 300 pounds now. If it really goes crazy, we might have a hard time dealing with it!"
Zhao Dashan explained with a smile, "You can't keep whipping it. Just a few lashes are enough to let it know what's going on! If it dares to make a mistake again, I'll have the white eagles in the eagle house peck at it!"
Even when the Azure Dragons attacked the coal briquette, it wasn't as effective as the eagle's beak! This thing has its counter—like brine curdling tofu!
Top birds of prey do indeed have a crushing power over land beasts. Gyrfalcons can even take on tigers, let alone bears raised by humans. They can easily defeat them.
"Hehe, that's pretty good! Coal Ball, here, have some candy!" Yue Feng took out the candy he had prepared for Coal Ball from his pocket and threw it directly into the other's mouth.
Crunch, crunch! Coal Ball loved sweets and quickly chewed the candy, drool dripping from the corners of his mouth.
"Alright, go inside and stay here! There's no more candy!" Zhao Dashan called out to Meiqiu, who obediently turned around, opened the north door himself, and went inside.
"Not bad, this guy is a bit mischievous, but he's quite obedient!" Yue Feng couldn't help but exclaim.
Zhao Dashan waved his hand and said, "We can't keep feeding it candy without restraint. This guy is so fat that he's started snoring in his sleep! Other bears gain weight for winter, and they burn off most of it during the winter, so it doesn't have much of an impact!"
This guy doesn't hibernate; once he's grown big enough, any extra food he eats just turns into fat!
"Hmm, that makes sense! You can temporarily put these two falcon chicks in the same cage! They were just hatched this spring, so their wings are still a bit soft, and they've only gone through the first stage of circling flight training! When you have free time, you can add them to the raptors' daily circling flight training group!"
"Have you memorized the password and the lure?" Zhao Dashan glanced at the eagle and looked up to ask.
Yue Feng nodded: "I spent some time taking care of them in Beijing, and I've already trained them in basic skills like flying and recognizing whistles!"
"Okay, then I'll set up the nest for two days, and then we'll start training! These fledglings will all be crossbred with gyrfalcons to be used as breeding stock?"
Yue Feng nodded: "That's right! Without enough non-bloodline parent birds, breeding purebred gyrfalcons is prone to problems! We should crossbreed these breeding falcons, select suitable breeding eagles, and then breed them!"
“You’re better at handling these things than I am. Just tell me what to do, and we’ll do it! We have plenty of space in the cages right now; we can easily raise another ten or twenty!”
“Master, you’ve gone to so much trouble! That’s enough, you don’t have to push yourself so hard! From now on, we won’t do this kind of job where we have to stay up all night watching over someone! He’s just a kid, if he’s not meant to be, he’ll just die!” Yue Feng said very sincerely.
"Haha, okay..." Zhao Dashan felt a warmth in his heart and nodded with a smile. Yue Feng took the local specialties he had brought for the old man from the car, stayed at the breeding farm for another hour or so, then said goodbye and rode his bicycle home.
After delivering the eagles, Yue Feng still had a serious matter to attend to! He had promised his father yesterday that he would help him get his grandfather an official position.
Back home, Yue Feng went straight into the storage room in the back room, took out two bottles of vintage Moutai liquor, then took a bag of tea, four packs of Chinese cigarettes, and from under the kang (heated brick bed) he took out five stacks of brand-new 10,000 yuan notes.
And so, he packed his things into an inconspicuous snakeskin bag, picked it up, and swaggered out of his house, riding his bicycle straight to Hongxing Forest Farm.
Some people might be puzzled by this. Given Yue Feng's extensive network of connections, was it really necessary to give such a lavish gift to get his father a minor position as a forest ranger captain? Five thousand yuan was no small sum at that time.
A responsible answer is necessary! And absolutely necessary!
If spending a little money and providing some supplies can get things done, Yue Feng doesn't intend to rely on personal connections or owe favors.
Any adult with social experience knows a simple truth: favors should be used only in crucial moments, because it's not worth asking for them for such trivial matters. The higher your position, the more valuable your favors become.
I rode my bike out and easily found my way to the forest farm.
The old man at the gate of the forest farm was already familiar with Yue Feng. When he saw Yue Feng riding his bicycle over, he immediately came out of the gatehouse to greet him and opened the gate.
"Xiao Feng, are you here at the factory on business?" the gatekeeper asked.
Yue Feng grinned, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and stuffed it into the gatekeeper's hand: "Is Uncle Zhou in the factory? I need to talk to him about something!"
The security guard took the unopened cigarettes without batting an eye and stuffed them into his pocket. He glanced around out of the corner of his eye and lowered his voice, saying, "He's at the factory, but it's probably not convenient right now! Two groups of people came looking for him today! I guess it's about the same thing you're talking about!"
"Two groups of people? They haven't left yet?"
"I went to the office building but haven't seen him come down!"
Yue Feng nodded and clasped his hands together, saying, "Thank you, sir!"
The old man patted the cigarettes in his pocket: "Thanks is too much of a formality. I've never been polite when I smoked your cigarettes! We men don't talk about such things! Xiao Guo is on duty. Go find him and hang out for a while. I'll come and call you when he leaves!"
Yue Feng nodded: "Okay, then I'll go find my brother Guo for a while! Please keep an eye on the things in the snakeskin bag at the gatehouse so they don't get lost!"
"Don't worry!" The gatekeeper gave Yue Feng a look and reached out to take the seemingly inconspicuous gift bag.
At this point in society, it is still a purely personal society. In places like workplaces, information travels the fastest. Don't underestimate that guy just because he's a security guard. He knows exactly what happened in the workplace.
Yue Feng greeted them, rode his motorcycle directly to the parking space, locked the bike, and swaggered over to the forest ranger's duty room.
In the duty room, several young men in short sleeves were playing cards together. Yue Feng knocked on the door and walked in.
"Little Yue is here! Are you looking for Uncle Yue or someone else? Uncle Yue went out for a stroll!" A familiar face greeted Yue Feng.
"I'm not going to my dad! I'll go find Brother Guo and brag about it!"
"It's in the inner room!"
"Okay!" Yue Feng nodded and pushed open the door to go into the inner room.
Guo Jianfeng was sprawled out on a recliner in the inner duty room, listening to songs on the radio, looking quite content.
"Hey, Brother Guo's busy!" Yue Feng greeted him familiarly.
Guo Jianfeng looked up when he heard the noise, and immediately sat up straight.
"Xiao Feng is here! Please sit down!" As she spoke, she picked up the kettle and started making tea for Yue Feng.
The reason why Yue Feng and Guo Jianfeng are so familiar with each other is due to their continuous interaction. Whether it is a holiday or when they have the opportunity to come to the venue, Yue Feng will come here to sit for a while. He also gives Guo Jianfeng small favors every day.
In Northeastern dialect, we've completely figured out Guo Jianfeng.
"Hehe, I heard from my dad that you're getting promoted, Brother Guo!" Yue Feng said with a grin.
"The general direction is about the same, but as long as it's not implemented, there's still a chance for things to change!" Guo Jianfeng said calmly.
"What do you mean? There's external competition too?"
"It's hard to say! These lucrative positions aren't always only coveted by people within the organization; there's always the possibility of someone being brought in from outside!"
"So, who makes the final decision on this? Didn't they offer some kind of tribute as a token of their appreciation?" Yue Feng continued to ask.
“I’ve done everything I could! They’ve told me to wait for news! Just wait patiently! You didn’t come here today just to hang out, did you?” Guo Jianfeng asked bluntly.
Yue Feng nodded, pursed his lips, and whispered, "Yesterday when I came back from Beijing, the old man talked about Director Zhou's promotion! Then he said you also have a chance! There just happened to be a vacancy for team leader! I just asked casually, and the old man got a little carried away!"
Guo Jianfeng nodded after listening: "If I get promoted smoothly, I will recommend Uncle Yue to take over the captain's position! Let's talk behind closed doors, you don't need to worry about that!"
In matters of review and appointment by higher-ups, my role as team leader does have some influence! However, this is all I can do for now!
If I could take over Lao Zhou's job, there would be so many more things I could do!
Yue Feng nodded: "Okay, little brother, I understand! I heard from the gatekeeper that there's been a constant stream of people at Director Zhou's office! I brought him a gift, let's see how it goes!"
"They definitely haven't stopped sending people; the people who came from outside probably haven't left yet!"
"People from outside? What's going on?" Yue Feng's curiosity was immediately piqued. (End of Chapter)