Chapter 658: New footprints appear

Early the next morning, after Wang An finished breakfast and personally fed the golden eagle chick, he instructed his family:

"That golden eagle chick in the west room—no matter how it squawks, you must absolutely not feed it. Especially you two, Xiaomei and Xiaoli, don't even go look at it. Do you hear me?"

Wang An's attitude was full of seriousness, and Wang Dazhu, his wife, and Mu Xueqing all subconsciously nodded.

After all, everyone had heard about raising hunting eagles and knew that an eagle was different from a hunting dog.

To put it bluntly, an eagle is a bird of prey, just like fierce beasts such as tigers and leopards, standing at the very top of their respective domains.

Such birds and beasts of prey are inherently very fierce, possessing their own dignity and pride; wanting to fully domesticate them is a very difficult thing to begin with.

Therefore, it's good enough if they can be domesticated and recognize one master in their lifetime; they will absolutely not be as gentle to a whole family as a dog.

After the three of them nodded, Wang Yi also nodded, adding:

"Don't worry, Big Brother. I'm going to school in a bit, so I definitely won't even go look at it."

Only the two sisters, Wang Xiaomei, were a bit confused, mainly because this was the first time the two girls had seen their big brother show such a serious expression toward them.

The two little girls blinked their big eyes at Wang An, feeling a bit at a loss.

However, it wasn't hard to see from their eyes that if Wang An hadn't said anything, they would definitely have found a chance to play with the golden eagle chick.

After all, they had played with all the animals raised at home, except for the horses and wolves.

Unfortunately, on this matter, Wang An absolutely could not make the slightest concession, so he said to his two little sisters with a serious face again: "I'm talking to you two. Did you hear me?"

The two little girls looked at their parents with aggrieved faces, only to find that the two of them weren't looking at them at all. They turned their eyes to their sister-in-law, only to find her looking down and saying nothing.

Immediately after, the two little girls looked at their second brother, but only halfway—or more accurately, before their gaze even reached him, they retracted their eyes.

It was clear that although these two little girls were young, they measured who was the big boss and who was the little boss in the family very accurately.

However, what these two little girls didn't expect was that after they turned their gazes back, their parents and sister-in-law exchanged a glance with faces full of hidden smiles.

It was very obvious that all three of them understood the temperaments of these two little sisters.

Wang Xiaomei was seen saying in a wronged tone:

"I heard you, Big Brother. I won't go play with the little golden eagle anymore."

Once Wang Xiaoli heard that her eldest sister had spoken, she also said with a tearful voice:

"I heard you too, Big Brother. I... I want to eat..."

It must be said that Wang Xiaoli still understood very well what "taking advantage of a fire" meant.

Unfortunately, before she could finish, Liu Guilan scolded: "Eat what? Your big brother has practically moved the supply and marketing cooperative to your home, and you're still not satisfied?"

What Liu Guilan said was absolutely correct; whatever food or snacks were available in the supply and marketing cooperative, Wang An's home definitely had them, and in no small quantity.

The main thing was that Wang Dazhu and his wife were used to being frugal in their daily lives; no matter what good food or drink entered the house, they liked to put it away, calling it "rationing" it out... "Rationing" is equivalent to having a plan, meaning to make things last.

But Wang An truly couldn't stand this practice of having everything but hiding it all away, unwilling to eat or drink it.

That was why when Wang An bought things, he was so ruthless, buying them by the crate or by the batch.

Fortunately, this approach of Wang An's had quite decent results, finally making Wang Dazhu and his wife less frugal.

As soon as Liu Guilan finished speaking, Wang Xiaoli was clearly stunned for a moment. She secretly glanced at Liu Guilan, then said to Wang An with a lisp: "Then Big Brother, find some back for me!" It must be said, Wang Xiaoli's little brain reacted quite quickly, which immediately made everyone laugh. Liu Guilan also hadn't expected that her youngest daughter, after holding it in for so long, would blurt out such a sentence. Her originally serious expression instantly broke, and she burst into laughter with a "pfft."

Just as Wang An was packing the things he needed to take into the mountains and briefly explaining the method of raising eagles to his family, Seeing Mu Xueli rode over on horseback.

Seeing Mu Xueli not only returned Wang An's set of ginseng-digging tools but also brought two new sets, saying that one of the sets was prepared for Wang Li.

In these two sets of tools, the red rope, axe, scissors, knife, saw, bone needle, and bone spoon used for digging ginseng could be said to be fully equipped.

Upon asking, they learned that after Seeing Mu Xueli left Wang An's house yesterday, he hadn't gone home, but had gone straight to the township's supply and marketing cooperative.

Of course, the bone needles and bone spoons weren't bought; they were made with the help of Mu Hua, using the bones of a roe deer.

Just as Wang An and Seeing Mu Xueli were chatting idly, Wang Li also rode over on horseback.

After a simple greeting, the three of them rode their horses together toward the mountains.

To tell the truth, riding a horse into the mountains is really not as good as taking a sled, because as far as riding a horse goes, apart from the speed being slightly faster, which counts as an advantage, it can be said to be useless in every other aspect.

You can't smoke, chat, or talk nonsense, and you can't lie down or recline; the key is that after riding a horse for a long time, damn it, your butt hurts and your legs hurt too!

The three of them galloped on horseback, and after more than an hour, they arrived at the location of that old pit.

However, on the outskirts of the old pit, Wang An had Seeing Mu Xueli and Wang Li dismount; of course, Wang An dismounted himself as well.

The reason for doing this was that Wang An discovered that new footprints had appeared in the vicinity.

It was just that there were many withered grasses and fallen leaves, so most of these footprints were only half-formed.

Having traveled in the mountains for a long time, Seeing Mu Xueli and Wang Li naturally noticed this immediately, so the expressions of the three of them couldn't help but become grave.

The three of them followed the footprints and observed the surroundings, confirming that there were a total of 5 people who left these footprints, but the direction they were heading wasn't the old pit; they were likely just passing through.

Seeing Mu Xueli asked suspiciously:

"These 5 people, could they also be ginseng hunters?"

Wang An nodded and said:

"Yeah, according to the rules of the ginseng-hunting group, the number of people in a ginseng-hunting group is also an odd number, so it's really possible."

Wang Li, however, was a bit nervous and said with a worried face: "Fourth Brother, do you think our old pit won't be discovered by them, will it?"

Wang An thought for a moment and said with uncertainty:

"It should be fine for now, I just don't know if they'll wander back."

After a pause, Wang An suddenly said:

"You two hurry up and dig up that pile of ginseng; I'll quietly follow them to take a look."

Without taking a look, Wang An truly couldn't feel at ease; if this group of people appeared while they were in the middle of digging ginseng, that would be troublesome.

As he spoke, Wang An handed the reins to Seeing Mu Xueli, while he himself followed those footprints and chased after them.

Seeing Mu Xueli and Wang Li didn't dawdle either; leading the horses, they walked into the old pit.

(End of chapter)