Chapter 12: Ka-ka-ka
After the bird nests were placed on the mountain, Ying Kongtu patrolled the mountains for several days in a row. Each time he passed by, he would specially go to look at the nests he had set up.
However, every time, his hopes came to nothing.
That day, Ying Kongtu once again went habitually to check the bird nests he had placed.
He had originally thought his expectations would fall through this time as well, but unexpectedly, in one of the nests on Baogu Mountain, he saw a majestic saker falcon.
The saker falcon was a diurnal bird of prey. It stayed in the nest for a while, then spread its wings and flew away.
Ying Kongtu watched from the ground for a long time and determined that this should be a female saker falcon.
Ying Kongtu climbed up the tree but did not dare get too close, afraid that his scent would cling to the nest and make the saker falcon feel unsafe.
He glanced from a branch some distance away.
As expected, the saker falcon had settled down in this nest.
The nest had been tidied up, with beautiful feathers and small stones added to it, but there were no eggs inside.
This female saker falcon seemed to still be single and was preparing to breed.
Ying Kongtu was a little excited and specifically stayed nearby to observe.
After observing for two days, he confirmed that she was a female saker falcon around two or three years old, newly arrived at breeding age.
Saker falcons usually formed fixed pairs and maintained them for many years.
There was no male saker falcon nearby. She truly had no mate.
The female saker falcon had no mate, and Ying Kongtu, who was hoping for little saker falcons, worried along with her.
There were no male saker falcons on any of his four mountains.
The ecology of the mountains had indeed not been good enough in recent years, and there were also few raptors. Even if Ying Kongtu wanted to help play matchmaker, he could not find anyone to match her with.
If she could not find a mate here for a long time, Ying Kongtu estimated that the female saker falcon would leave as well.
Because of this, Ying Kongtu specifically asked Pei Lejiu, who worked at the Forestry and Grassland Bureau.
Pei Lejiu worried together with him. “We do have saker falcons here, but the numbers are very small, and they’re all already paired. It would have been easier in late spring or early summer, but now the saker falcon breeding season is almost over.”
“I guessed as much. I just wasn’t willing to give up, so I wanted to ask you.”
“We haven’t seen any lone male saker falcons for now. I’ll keep an eye out for you and ask other people too.”
Pei Lejiu’s social circle was far broader than Ying Kongtu’s. He was also a leader and had more sources of information.
If anyone knew anything, they would be willing to give him a heads-up.
Within two days, Pei Lejiu called Ying Kongtu and said that someone had seen a bird suspected to be a saker falcon on Suixue Mountain.
Ying Kongtu had originally been lying on the reclining chair in the courtyard. Hearing this, he immediately sat upright. “Are they sure?”
“Not very sure,” Pei Lejiu said. “Ordinary people don’t recognize all kinds of birds. They just said it looked a bit like one.”
“I’ll go take a look first. Where was it discovered?”
“Do you know the stone forest on the west side of Suixue Mountain? Someone saw a lone saker falcon going in and out of the cliff wall there.”
Suixue Mountain had once also been Ying Kongtu’s territory, and he had even placed a tiny shrine there.
Speaking of that cliff, he truly was not unfamiliar with it.
After chatting briefly, Ying Kongtu hung up the phone, stood up impatiently, and went inside to prepare the things he would need to go to Suixue Mountain tomorrow.
Early the next morning, Ying Kongtu simply cooked a bowl of noodles and put out plenty of food for Dart before preparing to set out to search for the saker falcon.
Hearing the movement, Dart crawled out of its nest and followed behind Ying Kongtu, circling back and forth around his feet. “Meow.”
“You want to go too?” Ying Kongtu reached out, picked it up, rubbed its head, then stuffed it back into the cat nest. “I have something to do today. I’ll take you next time.”
Dart flipped over and stood up, leapt out of the cat nest, and continued circling beside Ying Kongtu. “Mi.”
Ying Kongtu had no time to respond to Dart’s coquetry. He perfunctorily scratched its chin, pushed out his motorcycle, locked the courtyard gate, and drove straight toward Suixue Mountain.
After riding the motorcycle for almost half an hour, Ying Kongtu leaned it against the mountain wall by the roadside, locked it, then found a relatively convenient, gentle slope and climbed upward.
Now, Suixue Mountain also belonged to the public forest and was a proper wild mountain.
There were no mountain paths on the mountain. To climb up, one had to pass through stretch after stretch of forest.
Ying Kongtu carried his back basket and lowered his head as he climbed. From time to time, branches struck him straight in the face.
He climbed upward the whole way. After climbing for more than an hour, Ying Kongtu finally saw the stone forest and cliff from afar.
Below the cliff was a large plum forest. Several hundred years ago, this plum forest had already been here. Every winter, the white plum blossoms were like snow, so this mountain was called Suixue Mountain.
He had not expected that after so many years, the plum forest would still remain. Old trees mixed with new ones, forming a sea of plum trees.
At this time, the plums had already all fallen, though there were still dried or rotting plums on the ground.
When Ying Kongtu passed by, he patted the rough tree trunks, feeling somewhat comforted in his heart—they were still here too.
Before he had even climbed up to the cliff, Ying Kongtu suddenly heard a birdcall.
He raised his head and looked.
A saker falcon spread its smooth, elegant wings and was gliding through the sky.
The sunlight shone on the falcon’s grayish-white feathers, making it look especially spirited.
Ying Kongtu looked up at the saker falcon for a long time and confirmed that it was a male.
Compared with the female saker falcon, its body was smaller, its lines smoother, and it flew more nimbly.
He just was not certain whether this male saker falcon was single.
During the breeding season, male saker falcons were responsible for hunting, while female saker falcons were responsible for building nests. It would be perfectly normal if there were a female saker falcon and unhatched eggs in its nest.
Ying Kongtu carefully climbed along the cliff, intending to check the crevices for a saker falcon nest.
Under normal circumstances, male saker falcons did not build nests. Female saker falcons were the ones who built nests, attracting male saker falcons to come and raise offspring together.
Ying Kongtu climbed up the cliff to investigate and soon discovered that the male saker falcon was indeed still single.
It had merely slipped into a crevice in the cliff to rest there.
That made things easier.
Ying Kongtu let out a breath of relief. As long as he created an opportunity for the female and male saker falcons to meet, they would most likely become a pair.
However, creating that opportunity was not so easy.
Several more days passed. Even Wen Zhongshan had returned, yet the two saker falcons Ying Kongtu had his eye on still had not gotten together.
Wen Zhongshan came to Ying Kongtu’s house to pick up the cat. Seeing him worry, he asked, “You still haven’t thought of a way?”
“I have one. I just don’t know whether it will work.”
“Do you need help?”
“Not for now. When I do, I’ll tell you.”
The two had not seen each other for several days. Ying Kongtu kept Wen Zhongshan at home for dinner and chatted with him along the way, sparing him from going back to a cold kitchen and cold stove.
Ying Kongtu truly had thought of a method.
The next day, he went up the mountain with a loudspeaker that could record sound and quietly recorded the female saker falcon’s call.
Then he rode his motorcycle to the male saker falcon’s territory and played the recorded female saker falcon call.
“Ka-ka-ka!”
The female saker falcon’s voice was amplified by the loudspeaker and echoed through the mountain forest, startling anyone who heard it unexpectedly.
As expected, the male saker falcon noticed it at once. It circled and patrolled in the sky, trying to find the female saker falcon.
Ying Kongtu continued playing the recording, walking toward Baogu Mountain as he played it.
The male saker falcon followed and flew for a while, then hesitantly landed on a tree and refused to follow any farther.
Ying Kongtu suspected that perhaps the recorded sound was too stiff, causing the male saker falcon’s wariness to rise, so it stopped following.
He could only go back first and find an opportunity to record several more clips.
Then he returned again to lure the male saker falcon.
The male saker falcon followed him this time and flew over one more mountain, but no matter what, it refused to move farther forward.
Ying Kongtu tried several times. At its farthest, the male saker falcon followed him over two and a half mountains.
The two saker falcons still failed to meet smoothly.
Perhaps poaching had been more serious in recent years, so wild animals had also become more vigilant than before.
The saker falcon’s wariness was very strong. As a wild bird of prey, its territorial awareness and wildness were also very strong.
Ying Kongtu could not directly catch the male saker falcon and send it to the female saker falcon’s territory.
Doing so would easily cause the male saker falcon to suffer stress and self-harm. It would be completely impossible for it to pair with the female saker falcon then.
When Wen Zhongshan invited him to dinner, Ying Kongtu mentioned the progress.
Wen Zhongshan comforted him. “Maybe they’re still lacking a bit of fate.”
“I don’t believe in fate.”
Wen Zhongshan raised his eyes to look at him, surprise in his gaze.
“Things are accomplished by human effort. If everything waited for fate, many things would have been ruined long ago.”
After a pause, Ying Kongtu said, “I have never believed in destiny.”
Wen Zhongshan looked deeply at him.
Ying Kongtu smiled. “You don’t believe me?”
“No.” Wen Zhongshan said softly, “I simply didn’t expect you to say something like that.”
A god who followed the way of heaven said he had never believed in destiny.
Ying Kongtu did not believe in destiny, nor did he accept it.
That day, he once again tried to lure the male saker falcon.
The male saker falcon also habitually followed him for a distance. But once it was about to fly beyond the range of its territory, it turned and flew back.
Ying Kongtu played the female saker falcon’s call again, but still failed to keep it there.
Watching as its back was about to fly out of sight, Ying Kongtu opened his mouth and tentatively called out, “Ka-ka-ka!”
It had to be said that, as a mountain god, he truly had talent in this area. His call mixed with the female saker falcon’s call, almost convincing enough to pass for the real thing.
The male saker falcon’s wings paused. It turned around and circled above Ying Kongtu’s head.
Seeing that it responded, Ying Kongtu continued calling, “Ka-ka-ka~ka!”
The male saker falcon opened its beak, seemingly answering him. “Ka-ka-ka!”
Ying Kongtu called as he walked toward Baogu Mountain.
Compared with the recording, his calls were much richer and far more attractive to the male saker falcon.
Whenever the male saker falcon wanted to go back, he changed the call and kept it there.
Calling “ka-ka-ka” all the way, Ying Kongtu finally arrived at Baogu Mountain.
The saker falcon’s call was truly too distinctive. Hearing the movement, the female saker falcon flew out from the forest. “Ka!”
Ying Kongtu held his breath and concentrated.
The female saker falcon saw the male saker falcon immediately and called out somewhat clumsily, “Ka-ka-ka~ka!”
The male saker falcon gave a response. “Ka-ka-ka!”
The female saker falcon became excited at once. She flew near the male saker falcon and circled around him, calling as she flew.
Ying Kongtu sat beneath a tree, watching the two saker falcons interact, and touched his throat.
He had imitated the female saker falcon’s call all the way here, and now his throat had gone hoarse.
If the two saker falcons did not take a liking to each other, he would have suffered a huge loss.
Fortunately, there were indeed too few saker falcons nearby. The female and male saker falcons, both in breeding season, seemed to have very favorable impressions of each other.
Ying Kongtu observed for a while and saw them fly into the female saker falcon’s nest. Only then did he let out a breath of relief.
They had already entered the nest. If nothing major went wrong afterward, they should become a pair.
In a very good mood, Ying Kongtu slowly walked down the mountain. Along the way, he also picked quite a few medicinal herbs for himself, planning to brew a medicinal soup after returning home to nourish his sore, hoarse throat.
Under the night curtain, Ying Kongtu’s figure became a tiny dot on the mountainside.
At this moment, that dot carried a lively, bouncing quality, allowing anyone to see from far away that he was in a very good mood.
When Wen Zhongshan came to find him, this was exactly the scene he saw.
