68 An Injured Eagle

"Dad, I'm back, you can go home," said Wang Yao as he walked into the cottage.

"What is this book about?" asked Wang Fenghua as he pointed at Huangting Jing.

"The book is about Taoism. It helps to increase your inner peace," said Wang Yao.

"I see," said Wang Fenghua. He closed the book and got up.

"It is cold on the hill. Make sure you have a thick cover at night," said Wang Fenghua before he left.

"Sure," said Wang Yao.

"San Xian, you walk with my dad home," Wang Yao pointed at his father to San Xian.

"No need, I'm fine," said Wang Fenghua.

San Xian seemed to understand Wang Yao and still ran out of his dog house to follow Wang Fenghua.

San Xian came back 40 minutes later. Wang Yao called home to make sure his father arrived home safely.

The next morning, Wang Yao watered his licorice roots with a high concentration of ancient spring water. He then climbed to the top of the hill and started practicing his breathing under the morning sunshine.

The wind was cold at the top of the hill.

Wang Yao could hear the consistent rhythm of his breathing and feel the trace of Qi moving like running water inside his meridians. The sun rose up high in the sky. At the same time, Wang Yao felt the Qi shoot up inside his body, then slowly return to his belly.

This was part of Wang Yao's morning routine. After he finished practicing, he went down the hill to water the other herbs with a low concentration of ancient spring water. He had quite a few herbs in the field now. Although the ancient spring had increased, it was still not enough if he didn't add normal water from the hill into it.

Zhang Xiuying came to the hill at around 10 am.

"Hi, mom, how come you are here?" asked Wang Yao.

"Tell me, how was your reunion party yesterday? Were there any girls? Got their contacts?" asked Zhang Xiuying with a smile.

"Mom, we just got together to talk. There were not many people. Most of the people who showed up had kids," said Wang Yao.

"What? Look at you! Staying on the hill all the time. Are you gonna wait until all the girls in the village are married?" said Zhang Xiuying grumpily.

"Nothing like that, mom, please sit down. Let me make you a cup of tea." Wang Yao made a cup of black tea for his mother.

"I don't want your cup of tea. I want you to find a girlfriend!" said Zhang Xiuying.

"I'll try my best," said Wang Yao.

"How? By staying on the hill all day and all night?"

"Well mom, don't be upset. Can I ask you something?" said Wang Yao.

"What?" said Zhang Xiuying.

"I found the area where my sister is renting is not good. The unit is so old and the neighbors are not friendly. I'm considering buying an apartment in the town," said Wang Yao.

"You are right. But the apartments in town are so expensive. I heard even the units where your sister is renting cost 5000 yuan a square meter. How can we afford an apartment in town? And what about you if we spend all the money on your sister's apartment?" said Zhang Xiuying.

In the village, people still treated women as inferior to men.

"Well, I can pay for the apartment for my sister. What do you think?" asked Wang Yao.

"You? How much money do you have?" asked Zhang Xiuying in surprise.

"Leave it to me. Just tell me if you'll agree or not?" said Wang Yao.

"I have to discuss with your dad first," said Zhang Xiuying.

"Okay, talk to my dad and don't tell my sister for now. I'm afraid she won't accept it," said Wang Yao.

"Okay." Zhang Xiuying walked out of the cottage after drinking the tea. But she soon stopped.

"Don't forget about finding yourself a girlfriend!" said Zhang Xiuying.

"I know, Mom!" said Wang Yao.

Wang Yao went back to his room to read his books. He suddenly heard a strange noise outside the cottage when it was close to noon. San Xian also started to bark.

What is going on?

Wang Yao came out of the cottage and went towards the noise.

He saw an eagle lying on the floor. Its feathers were messy and its wings were covered with blood. Obviously, it was injured.

San Xian was two meters away from the eagle who was staring at San Xian cautiously.

"Stay away, San Xian!" shouted Wang Yao. San Xian stepped back immediately, but still looked at the eagle. To San Xian, the eagle was a dangerous animal.

"You are injured, we need to bind up your wounds," said Wang Yao. He walked towards the eagle. The eagle opened its wings and suddenly became very alert.

"Well, you seem to not want me to touch you. Fine." Wang Yao returned to the cottage and left San Xian watching the eagle from afar.

The injured eagle was looking around; it wanted to fly but couldn't.

Wang Yao came out of the cottage to check the eagle but found it was still resistive to him. He asked San Xian to keep an eye on the eagle and not to take any action before he left the hill at noon.

After lunch, Wang Yao took some meat with him in case the eagle needed it. He heard the prompt from the system on his way to buy some medication for trauma.

Please make your own trauma medication.

Well, I can't buy medications in the future? thought Wang Yao.

He eventually bought some bandages and returned to the hill.

Wang Yao left some minced meat in a small bowl and placed the bowl in front of the injured eagle. He also gave it some water.

The eagle was too cautious to touch the food.

Woof! Woof! Woof! San Xian started to bark, as if he was saying to the eagle, "Eat it! I don't even get nice food like this!"

Wang Yao made some trauma herbs in the afternoon. He didn't need to brew them, just grind the herbs into a powder. It was not a hard process as Wang Yao already had the herbs he needed ready in the herbal field. All he needed to do is to wait for the eagle to relax so that he could apply the trauma herbs to it.

San Xian was still staring at the eagle. The eagle moved its wings from time to time but with less and less strength.

It started to get dark, cold and windy outside.

Wang Yao took another look at the eagle after dinner. It was still shaking in the wind and hadn't put down its guard. And it still didn't touch the meat Wang Yao gave to him.

"What a proud animal!" sighed Wang Yao.

Wang Yao went back to the cottage to start reading scriptures. He checked the eagle before he went to bed and saw it became weaker and weaker but still hadn't eaten anything.

One night passed.

The next day, Wang Yao went to check the eagle first thing in the morning.

It was still there but it looked like it couldn't hold on anymore. The glamor started to fade from its eyes.

"Have some meat," Wang Yao pointed at the meat to the eagle, regardless if it could understand or not.

Then he started doing his exercises and working in the herbal field.