Chapter 19: Feeding the Chicks
When Ying Kongtu gathered acorns, he only picked the best-quality ones and left the rest for the animals in the mountains.
Even so, whenever he patrolled the mountains each day, he could still gather nearly half a basket.
That day, he was walking down along the mountain path.
When he reached halfway down the mountain, a chipmunk was dragging its furry tail beneath the trees, sniffing left and right as it tried to find food. As it ran, it happened to run right up to his feet.
He lowered his head to look.
The chipmunk had not reacted yet and was still rustling around his feet, searching.
Ying Kongtu smiled, crouched down, took an acorn from his back basket, and handed it over.
The chipmunk was walking forward and happened to bump headfirst into Ying Kongtu’s foot.
Only after it climbed onto the top of Ying Kongtu’s foot did it seem to realize something was wrong. It stared blankly up at Ying Kongtu’s chin. Several seconds later, it finally reacted and shot behind a pine tree with a whoosh, poking its head out to look at Ying Kongtu warily.
Ying Kongtu smiled again. He did not leave, but patiently crouched there and waited.
Sure enough, after a while, the chipmunk cautiously poked its head out again. It advanced two steps and retreated one, slowly edging over to Ying Kongtu’s side before quickly grabbing the acorn and running off.
Ying Kongtu took another acorn from his back basket and held it in his palm, waiting for it.
Standing on its two hind legs, the chipmunk stuffed the acorn left and right, carefully tucking it into its cheek pouch. Then it once again stretched out its little paws and quickly snatched the acorn from Ying Kongtu’s hand.
This time, it was not so frightened. When it took the acorn, its soft belly pressed against Ying Kongtu’s fingers.
When it stuffed the acorn into its cheek pouch, it did not dodge away either. Instead, it stood right there on its hind paws, gripping the acorn with its two little front paws and trying very hard.
Seeing this, Ying Kongtu took a third acorn from his back basket and waited for it.
Chipmunks had a habit of digging holes around their burrows and scattering the food they collected in separate caches.
They usually collected far more food than they needed, and most of the nuts and seeds they could not finish eating would slowly sprout at some suitable moment.
Therefore, as important creatures that spread seeds in the forest, as long as their numbers did not grow so large that they became a forest rodent plague, they had a positive significance for the forest.
Ying Kongtu was patiently waiting for the chipmunk to work hard and stuff away the acorn in its paws.
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept over. A saker falcon descended from the sky and pounced straight at the chipmunk.
Perhaps because Ying Kongtu was crouched nearby, the falcon’s movements and range of activity were restricted, and it failed to catch the chipmunk immediately.
Startled, the chipmunk turned and fled at top speed. In the blink of an eye, it hid in the gap among the tree roots behind it and vanished.
The saker falcon missed. Its claws scraped a small pit in the soil. It paused for a moment, then could only flap its wings and fly back up into the tree.
Ying Kongtu recognized it. This was the male saker falcon from Baogu Mountain.
The male saker falcon was not afraid of Ying Kongtu. After flying into the tree, it did not leave, but stood on a branch and called, “Ka-ka-ka,” its voice rough and piercing.
Ying Kongtu suspected it was scolding him, but he had no evidence.
“What are you shouting about?” Ying Kongtu asked.
“Ka-ka-ka!” The male saker falcon loudly ka-ka-ed at him.
Ying Kongtu looked up. “Have the chicks hatched?”
Judging by the time, the young saker falcons should have emerged from their shells.
The male saker falcon was probably out hunting for food to bring back and feed the chicks.
With Ying Kongtu’s current divine power, he still could not directly communicate with the animals in the forest, not even simple communication.
The male saker falcon called “ka-ka-ka” for a while, then flew away.
Seeing this, Ying Kongtu simply followed behind it, intending to go to Baogu Mountain and check on the situation in the nest.
Very soon, Ying Kongtu arrived at Baogu Mountain and stood beneath the tree where the falcon couple’s nest was located.
The young saker falcons had indeed hatched, but they still looked extremely small.
They had only grown sparse white down. Their bodies were flesh-colored, and they had probably only just hatched not long ago.
The female saker falcon was in the nest, using her body to protect them, preventing them from losing warmth while also shielding them from predators. When she saw Ying Kongtu, she stared at him vigilantly.
The young saker falcons were very lively. They desperately poked their heads out from under the female saker falcon, opening their mouths and chirping as they waited for food.
“One, two, three, four, five, six… There are actually six?” Ying Kongtu counted the young saker falcons and muttered.
Generally, saker falcons hatched only three to five chicks. This pair of novice falcons had hatched six chicks!
No wonder the male saker falcon’s hunting behavior was somewhat impatient.
Ying Kongtu raised his head and looked.
Mm. The female saker falcon also looked exhausted.
It was the first time Ying Kongtu had seen “aged weariness” on a bird, probably from caring for the chicks.
It seemed the six chicks had worn them down quite badly.
Ying Kongtu set down his back basket, climbed up another tree, and observed from above.
None of the six chicks could be considered especially strong. Perhaps it was because they had not been born in the breeding season the falcons were used to, or perhaps it was because the falcon mother had laid too many eggs at once.
The condition of the falcon couple was also not very good.
Now, the female saker falcon was exhausted from guarding the nest. The chicks were very fragile, and she could not fly even one step away.
Meanwhile, the male saker falcon alone had to hunt for the rations needed by eight saker falcons, himself included, and was also extremely tired.
Part of this might have been his fault too.
He had bestowed blessings upon this pair of saker falcons, installed a sturdy nest, and hoped that more young saker falcons would be born.
That was why there were so many chicks now.
Ying Kongtu could sense that if things continued like this, the falcon couple would not be able to raise so many young, and they would abandon one or two of them.
“It seems I’ll have to intervene manually.” Ying Kongtu quickly made a decision.
All six young saker falcons looked quite healthy.
With his intervention, most likely all six young saker falcons could survive.
And the forest needed more birds of prey.
Ying Kongtu went down the mountain to the market, bought a lot of meat, had the stall owner help cut it into long strips, then went back up the mountain.
He deliberately waited not far from the nest for the male saker falcon to return.
With six chicks to raise, the male saker falcon flew outside all day long.
He had only crouched and waited for a short while when the male saker falcon indeed came back clutching a small sparrow.
After the male saker falcon brought the sparrow back to the nest, it was about to go out hunting again.
Ying Kongtu, who had been waiting not far away, began calling out in the saker falcon’s cry. “Ka-ka-ka.”
“Ka-ka-ka!” The male saker falcon responded, circling above Ying Kongtu.
Soon, it saw the strips of meat Ying Kongtu had hung on a tree branch. Its eyes lit up, and it dove down, grabbed a strip of meat, and flew toward the nest.
Whenever it carried away one strip of meat, Ying Kongtu quickly replaced it with a new one and continued calling “ka-ka-ka” for it to come take the meat.
The male saker falcon flew down and back up. Its eyes shone brightly, and even its wings seemed to gain strength, sweeping away its previous fatigue.
Only Ying Kongtu’s throat hurt again. He would probably have to gather some herbs later and brew a medicinal soup when he returned.
After finally feeding out all the meat strips for the day, Ying Kongtu carried his back basket and headed down the mountain.
The male saker falcon circled above his head in confusion twice. Hearing no familiar “ka-ka-ka” and seeing no new meat strip refresh on the branch, it had no choice but to flap its wings and fly off into the distance to hunt.
Ying Kongtu would help this falcon couple raise their chicks, but he could not make them lose their ability to hunt.
At most, he would provide half of their food.
Because he had to feed the whole falcon family, Ying Kongtu had recently been going to the vegetable market first thing in the morning.
The small county closed its stalls early. Only by rising early could he buy the freshest and most complete selection of meats. If he went a little later, the stall owners might have already sold out and gone home.
Today was the same. Ying Kongtu went out early and bought duck meat, chicken meat, bullfrogs, and white mice.
Saker falcons mainly preyed on rodents, birds, and insects.
When buying meat, Ying Kongtu did not intend to change their food types either.
It was just that animals raised by humans were too large, so after buying them and bringing them home, Ying Kongtu still had to cut them up further.
Ying Kongtu did not like cutting up the falcons’ food in the kitchen. He usually did it in the courtyard.
For this, he had prepared another set of knives and a cutting board.
Just as Ying Kongtu was cutting meat, a cat’s meow sounded from outside the courtyard gate, its tone extremely sweet and ingratiating. “Meow~”
Ying Kongtu raised his eyes and looked over. Sure enough, he saw a furry cat head poking through the cat door he had specifically left open, followed closely by a plump cat body.
“Meow.” Seeing Ying Kongtu look over, Dart called again. Its two hind legs alternately stretched straight as it squeezed for a long while, finally managing to squeeze in through the cat door.
It raised its tail, twisted its bottom, and walked toward Ying Kongtu’s feet, rubbing its head back and forth against Ying Kongtu’s legs. “Meow.”
Ying Kongtu lowered his head to look at it. “Have you gotten fat again?”
“Meow.” Dart pretended not to hear and continued rubbing back and forth.
Ying Kongtu laughed and was just about to continue cutting the meat.
Suddenly, a furry cat paw stretched out. With one hook, it caught a large strip of meat, dragged it to the ground, and started eating.
It ate extremely quickly. Even someone as skilled as Ying Kongtu could not possibly dig the piece of meat out of its throat.
“Was that necessary?” Ying Kongtu was both annoyed and amused. He lightly tapped Dart on the forehead with the back of his hand. “You came here specifically to steal meat, didn’t you?”
“Meow.” After finishing the meat, Dart smoothly flopped down beside Ying Kongtu’s feet, lying belly-up and acting spoiled. It even used its paw pads to hook Ying Kongtu’s trouser leg.
Every time, it kept its claws retracted. Its soft paw pads pressed against Ying Kongtu’s leg, warm and soft, without scratching him, so Ying Kongtu let it do as it pleased.
Before the meat had even been cut, there was another knock outside the gate.
Ying Kongtu said, “Come in.”
Wen Zhongshan pushed the door open and entered.
“You two, one human and one cat, are really interesting. You even came separately.”
“Dart snuck out on its own.” Wen Zhongshan immediately saw Dart lying at Ying Kongtu’s feet. “No wonder it didn’t even finish its cat food.”
“Maybe other people’s food smells better?”
Ying Kongtu packed the cut meat into a fresh-keeping bag, then took out a fully charged loudspeaker.
He did not want to call by himself anymore. Playing the recording would do.
Ying Kongtu was clearly going up the mountain, and both Wen Zhongshan and Dart followed behind him.
“Wait.” Ying Kongtu turned around and looked at the man and the cat.
“What’s wrong?”
“You can follow. The cat can’t.” Ying Kongtu gently pushed Dart’s plump body away with his foot. “Let’s walk faster. You go out first.”
“All right.”
Wen Zhongshan went out first, and Ying Kongtu followed behind. Dart also wanted to come along, but Ying Kongtu closed the door and directly blocked it inside.
The big fat orange tabby, whose nose had almost been hit by the door, revealed a shocked expression. “Meow?!”
It was extremely vivid.
Ying Kongtu gave a soft snort of laughter. “This is your punishment.”
