Reborn in the 1980s: I made my fortune hunting wild game in Changbai Mountain

The dog, carrying a live red-haired rabbit in its mouth, quickly arrived in front of the group.

This was the first time Yue Feng and Jin Long had ever seen a red-haired old rabbit that had come to life.

Yue Feng has seen many old rabbits who are simply getting on in years. Last time when he was filming a documentary with Director Xiao, he also caught an old rabbit who knew military strategy and had been through many battles.

But this is the first time that a war criminal-level old rabbit like this, still alive and well, and rumored to have destroyed at least a dozen eagles, has ever appeared.

Li Fulin grabbed the red-haired rabbit's long ears before giving the dog the command: "Let go!"

The dog immediately let go, allowing the rabbit to be lifted up by its owner by the ears.

Freed from the dog's restraints, the yelping old rabbit struggled and thrashed about with its hind legs, as if to say, "Let me go."

We will definitely release them, but not now!
Li Fulin seized the opportunity, grabbed the old rabbit's hind leg with his left hand, and forcibly restrained it.

"Hey, this little thing's pretty powerful! Old Liu, Xiao Yue, you two take a look and give this old rabbit a check-up, see if it's injured or anything!"

Yue Feng and Little Eagle Liu took a step forward and carefully examined the red-haired old rabbit's condition.

Overall, this old rabbit was quite fat; it could be described as plump and robust.

This is a large male rabbit; its overall size is a size larger than that of a typical wild rabbit.

The hair on its back was almost entirely red, making it look very beautiful.

After observing the rabbit for a while, Yue Feng lowered his head slightly and blew a breath onto the fur on the rabbit's back and buttocks.

A gentle breeze revealed the old scars on the rabbit's sole.

The scratches and marks from the iron filings did not escape Yue Feng's notice.

"This old rabbit really has an impressive track record! Look at the scars on its rump and back! It's been ravaged by eagles and the like!" Yue Feng couldn't help but exclaim.

Little Eagle Liu chimed in, "With a rabbit this big, if a big eagle wants to catch it, it'll have to use its talons to grab it from the top; any other method would be difficult! Even if it tried to use both claws, it would be hard to hold it down!"

"Any external injuries? If everything's fine, let's make a mark and then leave it there!" Li Fulin asked.

"No external injuries!"

"All done! Old Liu, mark it with your pipe!"

Old Li gave Little Eagle Liu a look, and Grandpa Liu immediately understood. He took a puff of his pipe, and after the tobacco burned red, he pressed it against the thicker fur above the rabbit's rear end.

A smell of burning hair filled the air, and before the hair even touched the flesh, Grandpa Liu took off his pipe.

After all that, a circular burn mark was left on the rabbit's rear end.

Until the new fur grows in, this rabbit is considered a marked rabbit.

Li Fulin was very satisfied with the marks Lao Liu had made. He looked down and admired them for a second, then picked up the rabbit by its ears and took a few steps down the ramp, gently put the rabbit on the ground, and let go.

Freed from the hunter's grasp, the red-haired rabbit flipped itself to its feet and ran away without hesitation.

The two dogs saw their prey run away and made a move to give chase, but Li Fulin called them back.

"Chasing the Wind, Treading the Snow, come back here! Don't chase me anymore!"

The two dogs gave up the chase and came back, whimpering and whining around their owner's legs, looking somewhat puzzled.

"This old rabbit is still useful, let him go today! Here, after the eagle finishes eating the meat, the rest of the rabbit is for you!"

The old man comforted the two dogs in turn, and the dogs lay back down at his feet, panting heavily as they rested.

"Hehe! That was exhilarating! We actually captured that old rabbit alive! Uncle Li, you're the one!"

Jinlong witnessed the entire process firsthand and gave Li Fulin a thumbs up.

Li Fulin said with a smile, "How about it, Young Master Jin! We've released the rabbit now, and my eagle and dog have also proven their abilities!"
"Next, shouldn't we figure out how to win some good wine?"

Jinlong nodded: "No problem, no problem! As long as you confirm with Grandpa Liu that this old rabbit is still active in this brickyard area, I'll get people to arrange things when we get back today!"

"What are you planning to do?"

"It's simple, this old rabbit has the tobacco pipe mark we left on its rear end! That's proof that we caught it!"

I spread the word that I wanted to invite those young masters who had good hawks to come and stroll around the brickyard!

As the old saying goes, "Let's see what a mule or a horse is like!"
Let's get more people here and simply fence off the north side of the driveway and the east side of the gentle slope!
This is a natural arena! Anyone who disagrees, let's see who has the better weapon—the hawk and the hound!

The loser must accept the loss and leave a prize!

What do you think of this plan?

After listening to Jinlong's initial plan, none of them rushed to speak. Xiaoying Liu and Li Fulin exchanged a thoughtful glance.

Yue Feng pondered to himself for a moment.

Jinlong's ideas in general direction are not problematic.

The location of this kiln pit is indeed uniquely advantageous in terms of terrain.

In his previous life, Yue Feng had also witnessed similar activities to dog racing and rabbit chasing in some areas of Shandong with his friends.

The general idea is to mark off an area in a wheat field, then release rabbits for dogs to chase.

The winner is determined by who gets the final prey.

Some of those venues had really high stakes, with wins and losses reaching six or seven figures in a single game. Yue Feng was quite astonished by what he saw.

Yue Feng wasn't a gambler, and he only knew about eagles, but wasn't good at handling dogs. After seeing it, he didn't have any other ideas.

But now, the insights from my past life still surfaced at this juncture.

"Tsk tsk, your plan sounds good, but there are a few obvious problems!"
The area under the kiln pit is only so big. If there are too many people, the old red-haired rabbit definitely won't be able to lie down comfortably.

We may have spent a lot of effort preparing, but in the end it jumped out before we even heard the noise!

If you ask me, we should just keep it in a relatively natural state. This old rabbit has escaped so many times and is still active in this area. As long as it feels a little safe, it is unlikely to run away from this area!

If you want to play this kind of competitive game, this old red-haired rabbit can be the grand finale. In addition, we can prepare some healthy wild rabbits with all their whiskers and tails intact as backup.

"We'll scatter rabbits on the spot and let the eagles catch them. The winner will be decided by the success rate and the rabbits' performance!" "I think Xiao Yue is right! This old rabbit probably won't lie in the open area around the wheat field! The gentle slope on the east side is its home ground!"

As long as we don't easily drive them away from this area, and there aren't too many people walking around in the wheat field, they can usually stay put!

"Once we've eliminated the weaker opponents in the first few rounds, we can set our sights on this old rabbit in the finals. That'll be quite a challenge!" Li Fulin said meaningfully.

Seeing that Uncle Li agreed with his suggestion, Yue Feng continued, "There are still some details in the rules that need to be improved!"
First, in this kind of game involving both eagles and hounds, a lone eagle is definitely at a disadvantage! Knowing they're at a disadvantage, would they agree to it?

Secondly, if other people bring their own rabbits, tigers, and dogs, and everyone plays falconry, how do we determine who wins and who loses?
Thirdly, if that old red rabbit gets captured alive and leaves the area in fear, we need to come up with a backup plan. Since everyone's here, regardless of the final outcome, we need to make sure the spectators have a good time!

Yue Feng's concerns were quite comprehensive, and the questions he raised were all very representative, requiring improvement at the rule level.

After listening, Jinlong clicked his tongue and lowered his head to ponder.

After pondering for at least two minutes, Jinlong finally said, "The eagle is efficient, but its potential is low! It's easy to catch ordinary rabbits, but it will most likely suffer a loss when it encounters the old rabbit from before!"
We can set a rule to assign different scores to ordinary rabbits and old rabbits respectively.

For example, a regular rabbit gets one point, and an older rabbit gets five points. The winner is determined by the total score!
Secondly, if it's the same hunting method as rabbit-falcon encirclement, the winner can be determined by the time it takes to complete the hunt, or by the eagle's actual performance in combat! If a dead foot is caught, extra points can be awarded!
Thirdly, as Xiaofeng has already answered, let's prepare some live wild rabbits in advance, just in case!

The scoring system effectively solves the problem of fairness in competition between different species of birds of prey.

The overall framework is fine, but the details of the rules need to be carefully considered. As long as all the participants agree, it will be fine.

Yue Feng grinned: "I think there's nothing wrong with the general direction, but the details might need more consideration!"

At the very least, the players should feel that it's fair on the surface!

"Xiaofeng is right! Let's think about the details again! Let's find a way to solve the problems we can think of first!"
If special circumstances arise, we'll adjust accordingly! With Uncle Li's hawk and hound around, there's a high probability there won't be any problems!

Uncle Li, what do you think?

After listening to what the others said, Li Fulin nodded confidently: "If it's in this kind of venue, I'm not too afraid of efficiency!"
If you really let the Wind Chaser and Snow Chaser go all out, not many rabbits could withstand even a single round!

Jinlong: "Let's settle on the initial framework then, and refine the details later! The thought of those arrogant guys getting their comeuppance is making me a little excited!"

"Then why wait for the dog to rest for a while before continuing to work on the rabbit?" Yue Feng asked with a grin.

"We've already caught the old rabbit and let him go, so let's not keep letting him go! Let the situation calm down, and we'll go back and study the rules and regulations!" Jinlong said impatiently.

"Alright, let's go back then! Have your aunt cook some dishes for lunch, and we men can have a few drinks!" Little Eagle Liu made the decision decisively.

None of the people present, including Yue Feng, had expected this.

What started as a spur-of-the-moment show-off stunt within a small falconry circle, aimed at winning some prizes and fine wine, turned this large kiln pit outside the city into the most famous 'raptor arena' in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Of course, this is a follow-up.

Having reached a preliminary consensus and accomplished their hunting objectives, the group turned and headed towards their parking spot.

While watching rabbits dart about in the wild, no one felt cold yet, but once they got in the car, a chill quickly crept up their spines.

"No, no, my body isn't what it used to be! Old Li, do you have your wine flask with you? Give me a sip to warm myself up!"

Once inside the car, Little Eagle Liu rubbed his hands together and asked his friend for a drink.

Li Fulin grinned slightly and casually pulled a small silver wine pot from his satchel.

"Drink sparingly, leave a sip for Young Master Jin and Xiao Yue!"

Yue Feng wrapped his cotton coat tighter around himself: "I don't need it, I'll warm up in a bit!"

Jinlong started the car: "I don't need it, the heater will warm it up in no time! Shall we head back?"

"Let's go back! Let's go back and have a drink!"

"That's it!"

……

Along the way, the group kept busy, each chattering away about the more detailed rules and such.

By the time the car returned to Grandpa Liu's house, everyone had warmed up, and the details of the rules for catching eagles had been improved considerably.

Overall, the scoring system is the foundation for maintaining balance, and the "rabbit-falcon encirclement" game is a killer move against prey like the "difficult-to-find" red-haired old rabbit.

The four people shared their opinions, which significantly improved the details. Even Yue Feng, looking at these details from an outsider's perspective, felt that it was quite fair.

Of course, this fairness is based on the premise that the Yaokeng hunting ground has this red-haired old rabbit, which poses a 'fatal threat' to most eagles.

Without this restriction, all the superficial fairness in the details of the rules would collapse. Jinlong, the one who orchestrated this, would no longer be able to guarantee a win!
That noon, the four of them had another big drinking session at Uncle Liu's house.

After the four of them had eaten and drunk their fill, they finalized more details and then chatted extensively about their experiences raising, training, catching, and releasing eagles when they were young. The atmosphere was quite pleasant.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Yuefeng and Jinlong helped the two drunk elders to the kang (a heated brick bed) and covered them with blankets to rest.

After greeting Grandpa Liu and Uncle Li, Yue Feng gave Jinlong a wink, and the two brothers quietly closed the door and left the room.

"Are you drunk? Can you still drive?" Yue Feng asked.

Jinlong shook his head: "Grandpa Liu and Uncle Li were both a little craving alcohol, but we weren't. We only had a little over three cups, so we're fine driving!"

"Then drive me to my house for tea. I need to talk to you about something!"

"What's wrong? Just tell me now, why are you being so mysterious!"

"Let's talk about it when we get home. If this is handled well, it'll be a great business opportunity that can make money and expand our network!"

Hearing this, Jinlong didn't press further and nodded: "Alright! Let's talk about it when we get back!"

Throughout the journey, Jinlong hesitated several times before speaking, while Yuefeng sat in the passenger seat, pretending to sleep with his eyes closed, his mind constantly considering more possible extensions.

When the car arrived at their doorstep, the two brothers got out and went inside. Jinlong couldn't hold back any longer.

"Xiaofeng, we've been friends for a long time, and you used to dislike making things mysterious like this."

"Speak up, what's wrong? I've been holding it in all this way. If you can't say anything, I'm getting really frustrated!" Jinlong asked impatiently.

Yue Feng grinned as he watched Jinlong's anxious and impatient expression, his curiosity tantalizing him. He then slowly poured hot water from the thermos into the teapot to brew the tea leaves before plopping down in a chair and speaking.

"Have you ever seen a dog racing track before?" (End of Chapter)