Chapter 625: An Absolute High Standard

Wang An had been thinking about the blue sheep on Qingshi Ridge for a long time, but that creature was perhaps the most agile and timid of all animals.

Whether it was their sense of smell, hearing, or vision, they were all incredibly sharp. Overall, they were basically on par with sika deer, but their alertness was much stronger than that of sika deer.

Most importantly, blue sheep, also known as bharal or rock sheep, had no path they could not walk; they could tread anywhere as if on flat ground!

Therefore, all things considered, hunting a blue sheep was dozens or even hundreds of times harder than hunting a sika deer.

Or rather, when hunting this creature, skill didn't matter much at all; it relied entirely on fate. Even with good luck, it was often futile.

Because at the very least, although sika deer were also very sharp in terms of alertness, they lived in the woods, and humans could still track their trails.

But blue sheep spent their entire lives on the very peaks of mountains, and on those that were extremely steep and at very high altitudes, so these creatures were elusive and left no tracks to follow.

In short, it wasn't that Wang An didn't want to hunt blue sheep, but that he simply didn't have the ability to do so.

That was why Wang An was pondering getting a golden eagle. After all, a golden eagle was a large bird of prey; even if it couldn't catch a blue sheep, it could restrain one, thereby creating an opportunity for a person.

Upon hearing Wang Dazhu say he knew of a golden eagle nest, Wang An's mood became genuinely wonderful; it was truly a case of getting a pillow the moment one felt sleepy.

Wang An immediately asked, "A golden eagle nest? A golden eagle nest is great! Where is that golden eagle nest? I'll go and raid it."

Wang Dazhu thought for a moment and said:

"It's not too far, just in the due southwest direction. Walk about forty-plus *li*, and there's a rocky mountain there. That golden eagle nest is right on top of it."

Having always run through the great mountains, Wang An was quite familiar with the geography and terrain of the mountains, so as soon as Wang Dazhu spoke, Wang An immediately sketched out the appearance of that rocky mountain in his mind.

That rocky mountain wasn't very high, only about a hundred meters or so, but according to the rules of eagles building nests, that golden eagle nest would definitely be on the steepest side of the rocky mountain.

Thinking of this, Wang An had basically determined the approximate location of the golden eagle nest and nodded, saying:

"Mm, I know that place. Tomorrow or the day after, I'll go and raid it."

Ignoring Wang An's words, Wang Dazhu continued, "That golden eagle nest has been there for quite some years. I remember that before I saw that golden eagle nest, you weren't even born yet. Whether it's still there now, it's really hard to say."

After Wang Dazhu finished speaking, Wang An was stunned for a moment. The main thing was that this timeline was truly a bit far back. In the worst-case scenario, Wang An would still have to call those two golden eagles "Uncle."

The reason he said "those two golden eagles" instead of other golden eagles was because eagles, including golden eagles, had quite long lifespans.

And this "quite long" was calculated based on human lifespans; the lifespan of an eagle was about 70 years or so.

That is to say, if no accidents occurred, by the time Wang An died of old age, the eagles hatched from Wang An's two eagle eggs would still be alive! It truly achieved the saying, "The person is dead, but the eagle is still here!"

One had to admit that the word "endure" in the term "enduring the eagle" didn't just refer to enduring willpower; it was actually also a competition of life.

Of course, although the golden eagle's life was long, the golden eagle in the nest Wang Dazhu mentioned might not necessarily be the same two that Wang Dazhu saw back then.

After all, as for which of the two fellows, "tomorrow" or "accident," would arrive first, no one knew. Wang An nodded and said:

"Mm, I'll go take a look tomorrow or the day after. If it's there, I'll raid it; if not, forget it. No rush."

Wang Dazhu nodded, agreed casually, and then started talking to Wang An about building the house.

Just like that, the grandfather and grandson talked as they walked all the way to the front gate.

Without needing Wang Dazhu to remind him, Wang An rubbed his own head and directly messed his hair into a bird's nest shape.

Immediately after, he moved his mouth and eyes, exercised his eyebrows, and then pretended to have a wronged look after being beaten, and walked into the house.

To be honest, this series of facial movements by Wang An, mainly the facial expressions after setting them, directly made Wang Dazhu's eyes stare straight.

Wang Dazhu never expected that his eldest son could change his face faster than those opera singers.

It was simply a case of wanting to show whatever expression he wanted to show, with the main theme being "as one pleases."

When the two entered the house, Liu Guilan specifically glanced at Wang An. After discovering Wang An's wronged expression, she then nodded satisfactorily to Wang Dazhu behind Wang An.

And after Wang An noticed Liu Guilan's action out of the corner of his eye, he lowered his head and made a face at Mu Xueqing, who was tending the fire.

To be honest, at this moment, this old couple and this young couple were genuinely quite interesting, having once again engaged in a battle of wits and courage without a sound.

But one had to admit that Wang An's 20 yuan was truly not spent in vain: he didn't get beaten, his father was very happy, his mother vented her anger, and his wife's mood improved.

In short, everyone was very satisfied, and the key was that the atmosphere was no longer so oppressive and dull.

Regardless of anything else, the whole family being happy and joyful was the most important thing.

Taking advantage of the time spent cooking, Wang An used the large pot in the courtyard to boil a full pot of hot water.

Having not bathed for more than 20 days, he really couldn't stand it anymore. If it weren't for his eagerness to return home, Wang An would have had to go to the bathhouse in the county seat to soak properly, scrub carefully, and finally get cupping therapy. Actually, in this era in the rural Northeast, people rarely bathed in winter; usually, they just wiped their upper bodies with a wet towel when washing their hair, and washed their lower bodies when washing their feet at night.

It wasn't that they didn't want to bathe, but that there simply weren't the conditions!

One can imagine that with the indoor temperature below 10 degrees Celsius and the outdoor temperature at a maximum of minus 20 degrees Celsius, bathing in such temperatures could simply freeze a person to death.

Most importantly, bathing in such a situation with a large temperature difference basically meant catching a cold every time one bathed; no one could escape it, and no matter how good one's constitution was, it was futile.

The water outside was boiled, and the food inside was also ready.

In the face of bathing, eating was naturally more important; one could skip a bath, but one couldn't skip a meal. After all, the old saying goes well: "Food is the heaven of the people!" One has to say, although Wang An angered Liu Guilan, causing Liu Guilan to order Wang Dazhu to beat Wang An, the first meal Wang An had upon returning was arranged by Liu Guilan with quite a lot of prestige! Stewed lamb chops and lamb spine, lamb meat with chive flowers, stewed pork bones, braised pork, steamed *huang* fish, fried meatballs, oil-braised forest frogs, and the only vegetable dish, which is also a dish that Northeasterners cannot live without at every meal: vegetables with dipping sauce!

A full 8 dishes, an absolute high standard! (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 626 =====