Didn’t the Oracle Bone Script character for 困 (Trap) have a little bird in a circle?
“Master, hurry up. Otherwise this bird will fly away.” Ma Jindong urged.
Ma Jindong naturally liked to speak the wrong words at the wrong time. The results were naturally tragic. Huang Shulang rushed ahead of me and sent Ma Jindong flying with a kick.
“You are Master or is Master the Master? Will Master need you to teach him when to act? Truly, spare the rod, spoil the child!”
Huang Shulang was very much satisfied with his kick, and after kicking he turned towards me and laughed: “Master, this fellow has no propriety. I taught him a lesson.”
Nevertheless, I felt that Huan Shulang was in the wrong about this matter . I was the Master. This was originally something that I had to do. How could Huang Shulang take my business away from me? It seems that both these fellows didn’t have a single good thing about them. After returning, I will have to drill them nicely. Only for now&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;..now is the time to act, otherwise the kestrel would truly fly away.
I quickly used my Primordial Qi to condense an Oracle Script 困 character. This 困 character unexpectedly turned into a cage in mid-air. I could feel that this cage seemed to be connected to my thoughts. If I wanted it to fly, it would fly, if I wanted it to descend, it would descend. If I wanted it to get bigger, it would get bigger. If I wanted it to get smaller, it would get smaller. It was truly interesting.
I made the cage a bit smaller and then i made it fly towards the sky in a quick action, and commanded it to go towards the kestrel.
The kestrel let out a frightened scream, and as if struck by something it let out a whine and started tumbling down from the sky. With great difficulty it managed to level its posture, and escaped in panic.
I was stunned. In this first attempt, I had unexpectedly failed. That cage made from primordial qi also dissipated without a trace.
“Aiya, Master, it ran away!” Ma Jindong opened his mouth again at this juncture. Don’t tell me that he didn’t know that I was just looking for a punching bag?
Huang Shulang reacted very quickly. This time, how could I let Huang Shulang succeed? I gently used my leg to hook Huang Shulang’s legs from behind. Huang Shulang was caught off-guard and fell down like a dog on his stomach. I rushed forward to kick Ma Jindong’s b.u.t.t as he landed down on his stomach from the kick.
“Will you die if you don’t speak?”
Even though Huang Shulang fell down, he was laughing non-stop while laying on the ground on his stomach.
That kestrel had been frightened out of its wits, i didn’t know where it could have gone to hide. Birds weren’t able to bear these kind of supernatural events.
I had been pondering over what had happened just now, suddenly I understood the reason. That cage was able to trap the bird, but the bird also needed to be let in. If the cage didn’t have any openings, how could the kestrel go in? I must leave a hole!
“Master, did that Kestrel go back to tell on us, why haven’t we encountered another kestrel all day?” Huang Shulang said.
“Yes, ah. Definitely that kestrel must have informed the other kestrels.” Ma Jindong also promptly weighed in.
I scratched my head. These words of Huang Shulang had logic. That kestrel had been scared to death, after returning home it must have definitely told it’s family, friends, relatives, and neighbours. So like that, n.o.body dared to come out.
“Quickly look, Monkey, Monkey.” Ma Jindong pointed at a tree in the forest. On top of it was standing a Golden Monkey.[1]
The monkey looked at us for a while, twisting its head incessantly.
I looked at this monkey and thought that he looked like the monkey which had thrown pine cones at us. Only, all the monkeys looked the same. I didn’t know if the monkeys looked at us as if we were all the same or not.
“Master, let’s grab that monkey and return.” Ma Jindong wasn’t willing to move his feet after looking at that monkey.
“Good. You go and promptly climb that tree.” I laughed.
Huang Shulang also laughed: “Junior Disciple, we’ll depend on you. Quickly climb that tree. Master and I will be cheering you on from here.”
Ma Jindong was also not stupid, “I won’t be able to capture the monkey regardless of whether I climb or not.”
I slapped Ma Jindong on the back of his head: “If you don’t climb then do you plan on calling me out to go climb?”
I took out two peaches from the bamboo baskets, and threw them beneath the tree on which the monkey was standing.
“Master, are you prepared to capture it once it gets down?” Ma Jindong still believed that I was intending on using the peaches to cheat the monkey into coming down.
“Down your head!” I unhappily glanced coldly at Ma Jindong.
I led Ma Jindong and Huang Shulang 20-30 meters away from where we stood and stopped. I turned my head to look. The monkey jumped out of the tree as expected. This monkey was very cunning, and didn’t dare to go and grab the peach directly, instead using a dried up branch to prod the peach lying on the ground he tested it to see if it was dangerous. By the time he had tested it out nicely, the monkey’s mouth was dripping with saliva.
The monkey could no longer resist the temptation of the peaches. At last it reached out to grab a peach and after giving it a bite, he never put it down. Both peaches were eaten clean by the monkey in a very short while.
“Master, if you put a few drops of knockout drugs on it, it would be great.” Ma Jindong again opened his brain cavity wide.
I knocked Ma Jindong on the head: “Are you stupid? Do you have knockout drugs?”
Ma Jindong shook his head repeatedly.
“If you don’t have then don’t speak fart.” When Huang Shulang came to knock Ma Jindong’s head, he ran away.
After so much noise, when I again turned my head to look, the monkey had ran away without a trace.
“Noisy farts, the monkey ran without a trace.” I said unhappily.
I was not really expecting to catch that monkey. I was satisfied with just being able to catch a kestrel. I could hear bird cries resounding everywhere in Ba Jiao Mountain, but rarely I would hear the cry of a kestrel.
“Master, look, look. Over there, Kestrel Kestrel.” Huang Shulang excitedly pointed at a kestrel that was gliding through the air in the valley ahead.
We three immediately started running in the direction of the valley.
“Speak a bit softly. Don’t scare the kestrel away!” I whispered.
We ran into a thicket of bushes and hid ourselves.
Huang Shulang’s and Ma Jindong’s eyes were looking at me stealthily, waiting for me to capture this kestrel.
I promptly condensed a Oracle Script 困 character. This time while writing the character, I deliberately left an opening. Sure enough, the Primordial Qi 困 character turned into a cage, only this cage was a bit special. Unexpectedly it had an opening. The cage turned big suddenly and dashed straight towards the kestrel.
The kestrel was not aware of what was happening and that way was easily trapped.
The kestrel suddenly felt something amiss and tried to flee but hit the cage, almost stunning itself from the hit.
“Jiu!” The kestrel kept crying incessantly, but it had nowhere to flee and it dropped straight from the sky. Ma Jindong and Huang Shulang were prepared and rushed to the place where the kestrel had fell. The kestrel which fell on the ground was caught and placed into another basket.
“Captured! Master, we captured it!” Ma Jindong and Huang Shulang were jumping in excitement.
I heaved a long sigh: “There’s not much left of the day. Let’s go back.”
“Master, how about we grab two more. We can divide them once we get back, one for each.” Huang Shulang looked enviously at the kestrel.
“What one person each? Are you even capable of feeding this kestrel? It’s getting dark and we are going back. Do you want to sleep here?” I said unhappily.
After returning home, I began to study the kestrel that was locked by me in a bamboo cage. It looked pretty fierce considering its small stature.
“Yi. Kestrel! YangYang, how did you manage to bring it back?” Grandpa looked at the kestrel locked inside the bamboo basket in shock.
“There are lot of them in Ba Jiao Mountain. I took Huang Shulang and Ma Jindong to Ba Jiao Mountain to catch one.” I said.
“What a pity, ah. This bird looks good, but this thing has a very fierce temper. I am afraid you will not be able to raise it.” Grandpa said anxiously.
I was not in the least bit worried: “I am definitely capable of raising it.”
The kestrel had been struggling in the cage, frantically attacking it.
“It’s temperament is truly fierce, but unfortunately it landed in my hands. You should better obediently listen to what I say, otherwise I will cook and eat you.” I threatened.
The kestrel struggled for more than an hour, I don’t know how much it wore its claws down in doing so.
I promptly patted a strand of primordial qi into the kestrel. The kestrel suddenly quieted down. After accepting the primordial qi, the kestrels appearance suddenly became somewhat blank. It looked at me with a blank expression, not knowing where did that primordial qi that made it so comfortable, came from in the end.
“It’s indeed useful.” I was also delighted. I originally wasn’t very certain, but now it seemed as if this method was really effective.
Huang Shulang and Ma Jindong came over holding several insects.
“Master, insects have arrived!” Huang Shulang brought a few big locusts in a broken bowl.
I placed the bowl on the side of the cage, but the kestrel didn’t appreciate it. It didn’t even look in the bowl’s direction.
“Don’t tell me this kestrel doesn’t like insects?” Huang Shulang scratched his head.
“How would I know?” I was also at a loss. I was afraid that if this kestrel didn’t eat these insects it would starve.
“Surely it is because we are standing here, it doesn’t dare to eat.” Ma Jindong said.
“Go Go Go, we’ll go out. Otherwise it won’t eat anything.” I hurriedly led Huang Shulang and Ma Jindong outside. I also walked out myself and then carefully shut the door.
After coming outside, we lay down on our stomachs to observe the kestrel through the gap in the door.
That kestrel didn’t start eating even after we left. It was standing in the cage and looking around. Today’s events were too weird and it was making its small head unable to cope. An entirely alien environment was keeping it constantly on guard. The few insects in that broken bowl were not attractive to it in any way.
“Master, how come it is not eating, ah?” Huang Shulang asked.
“If you were given a bowl of meat, would you still eat pickles?” I said after thinking for a bit.
Huang Shulang shook his head, “I would definitely eat meat.”
Ma Jindong said: “I would eat.”
“You deserve to eat pickles, even having meat you don’t know what to eat.” I said unhappily. This fellow was not in tune, ah.
“Then what to do?” Huang Shulang asked.
“Then we’ll give it meat to eat.” I said.
“Master, our family has meat. I will go back and bring some.” Huang Shulang hurriedly ran home. Not long after, Huang Shulang came running holding a half-jin of meat, and was promptly kicked in the behind by Huang Kui.
“You this wastrel. What are you doing with this meat?” Huang Kui chased him all the way to my house.
“Father, you go back. I naturally have a use!” Huang Shulang was not afraid of his father.
Huang Kui discovered, after chasing his son all the way to my house that the meat was going to be used by me to feed the kestrel and so his att.i.tude immediately changed for the better.
“YangYang, If I knew that you needed it here, I would have definitely been willing.” Huang Kui was afraid that I might keep some kind of grudge over this matter, so he promptly explained.
Footnotes
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