The distance from Anlin County to Shangjing is only a little over a hundred miles. Su Wan felt that it would only take the time to have breakfast before she saw Shangjing.
The giant eagle landed in a deserted place several miles away from the capital, first releasing its claws to put Meng Ruliu down.
It was Meng Ruliu's first time flying so high. She was both excited and scared. She stood up and straightened her clothes, saying, "This is the first time in my life that I've looked down from the sky. It's so exciting! It's just so cold up there. I'm freezing."
Su Wan smiled and said, "This is an ancient airplane."
She patted the giant eagle's claws and said, "Grandpa Eagle, thank you for bringing us back to the capital. Please release me too, we need to go back to find Ajin."
Zhang Ying said that this giant eagle was already old by human standards, so she called it "Grandpa" since she didn't have a whistle.
The giant eagle leisurely tilted its head and preened its back feathers, not letting go of its claws at all.
Meng Ruliu straightened her clothes, slung the package over her back, and asked Su Wan, "Can it understand what you're saying?"
“Of course I can’t understand. You have to use a special eagle whistle,” Su Wan said, then poked the giant eagle with her finger. “Grandpa Eagle, look down, there’s still me I haven’t let go of. Hey… it’s really uncomfortable for me to be pressed to the ground like this.”
She was being held by eagle claws and lying face down on the ground. Although it didn't hurt, she was covered in dirt.
“Sister, come here, I’ll help you.” Meng Ruliu squatted down under the giant eagle’s belly, intending to pry open the eagle’s claws.
“It’s old, it might really forget about me,” Su Wan said. “Try prying its claws off.”
Just as Meng Ruliu was about to pry off the eagle's talons, the giant eagle raised its free talons and swung them, sending Meng Ruliu flying five or six meters away. Fortunately, Meng Ruliu was skilled in martial arts; she flipped in the air and landed steadily.
Su Wan was startled, thinking the giant eagle was attacking Meng Ruliu, and quickly called out, "Sister-in-law!"
Meng Ruliu steadied herself and said, "It's nothing, it just pushed me away. Does it not like being touched?"
“What he doesn’t like is that he’s old and has a bad temper,” Su Wan breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at the giant eagle. “Strange, who’s holding the whistle?”
She suddenly remembered that Zhang Ying stayed in the lab all day and never went out; there was no way she could have known she was in Huishan. The giant eagle would only act according to the eagle-riding whistle's instructions and wouldn't actively try to rescue them. Clearly, it wasn't Zhang Ying who did it.
Could it be Jiang Wenpei? When she left the family of renowned healers, she returned the Eagle Whistle to Jiang Wenpei. But how would Jiang Wenpei know she was in Huishan?
Unless Jiang Wenpei followed her the whole time, it's unlikely that he could have gotten the giant eagle to rescue them when Tongchan Temple caught fire.
Who else is there?
As she was pondering, she felt a sudden tightness around her as the giant eagle grabbed her and leaped into the air. Su Wan quickly looked down and saw Meng Ruliu transformed into a tiny person, jumping and screaming on the ground with her hands outstretched.
The giant eagle flapped its wings twice, creating a great gust of wind, and in the blink of an eye flew several miles away, disappearing from sight of Meng Ruliu.
She sighed and simply closed her eyes to rest.
Since she couldn't break free from the eagle's talons anyway, and even if she did, she would just fall and die, let's see where the giant eagle takes her.
She was already feeling unwell, so she closed her eyes and took a nap. She didn't wake up until the damp sea breeze hit her face.
Opening her eyes, she saw the azure sea below, with several seagulls crying out and frantically scrambling to avoid the giant eagle. The coastline was already behind her, growing ever more distant.
To her utter surprise, the giant eagle carried her to the skies above the sea.
"This is outrageous!" she couldn't help but curse. "What idiot blew that whistle?"
Despite her complaints, she had no choice but to let the giant eagle carry her around.
At first, there were still many fishing boats on the sea. Without exception, the fishermen on the boats pointed at the giant eagle in the sky. Some fishermen were so surprised that they threw their fishing nets at people.
Later on, there were only one or two large ships left...
Later, there was nothing left on the sea surface. Occasionally, she could see large black fish leaping out of the water, but she couldn't tell whether they were dolphins or whales.
After flying for the time it takes to eat a meal, she estimated that she had flown at least a hundred miles when a small island appeared on the horizon ahead.
The island is about two or three miles in circumference, round like a white steamed bun protruding from the sea. Unlike the deep blue of the ocean, the water near the island is a light blue, crystal clear, like a bright, transparent blue ribbon encircling the island.
The island was covered with clumps of tall palm and coconut trees. The tallest were three or four stories high, while the shortest were at least two stories. The deep green palm leaves spread out comfortably in all directions. The coconut leaves, however, resembled countless slender willow leaves adorning the branches. Beneath the coconut leaves, clusters of yellow-green coconuts huddled together.
As the giant eagle flew over the island and began to circle, she noticed a small wooden house at the highest point in the center of the island.
She thought she was seeing things, so she rubbed her eyes again.
On an island hundreds of miles from the coast, there is actually a small house?
Her mind raced through various novels she had read in her past life. Usually, those who lived in seclusion were either masters of unparalleled martial arts or had drifted here after a shipwreck. But she hadn't seen any broken ships on the island's shore, so she wondered which reclusive master lived here.
The giant eagle grabbed her and landed on the beach of the island, then released its grip.
Su Wan got up and, without saying a word, punched the giant eagle's wing: "You stinky bird, you actually brought me to this place. I used to buy you pork to eat."
The giant eagle glanced at her, then tilted its head to preen its feathers.
Su Wan's hand hurt from hitting it, knowing the giant eagle couldn't feel anything, so she plopped down on the soft sand and said, "Did you suddenly have your own ideas and bring me here... Never mind, I know you wouldn't understand anyway."
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