Release that Man

Even though the caretaker believed it was a bit unnatural for a horse to be able to bend the iron gate with her kick, since the VIP jockey had accepted this as the truth, and since this was as good an explanation as any, he had no choice but to accept it.

The thankful thing was that the rein attached to the mare was still holding on; this prevented the horse from getting out to hurt others. Other than that, the visitor earlier had already left, or else he shivered imagining what would have happened to that feeble-looking young woman.

The caretaker immediately prepared a new stable for ‘Miss Rosie’. Probably because the VIP jockey was there, the originally feisty mare was unusually obediently; she followed every given order compliantly. The caretaker sighed in relief while being impressed by the VIP jockey’s presence, but the jockey himself frowned with dissatisfaction. How are we going to win if you’re as dispirited as this‽

Even though this was merely a small competition with an unknown rider, the foreigner jockey, who had participated in many professional races before, warned himself from underestimating any competitor.

Therefore, after the stable swap, the jockey politely but firmly chased the caretaker away. He led this purebred, which he had reared from a calf, for a few laps around the race track to purposely reignite the horse’s wild nature. After evoking the mare’s desire for running but before exhausting her, the jockey led his precious baby back to the stables.

…Now, the upcoming competition should be fine.

After feeding the mare and temporarily appease her appetite for racing, the jockey left in satisfaction. He was also going to rest to prepare for the upcoming race.

At the same time, Ye Shuang was reporting the result of her horse appraisal to Ruan Ruan, who had just arrived. “…In any case, I’ve looked around, and only that horse will be able to nab us the victory. The other horses are too weak; their muscles not nearly as developed. According to the caretaker, the mare hasn’t been trained before, so they didn’t dare allow any guests to ride her, but since you’ve brought along the provincial champion rider with you, I believe they will make an exception for him.”

In reality, Ye Shuang had already used brute force to press the horse into submission, so no matter how wild the mare was, she would not be as difficult to handle as she was before. However, Ye Shuang did not bring this up. Firstly, there was no reason for her to pull more attention to herself; this might be misconstrued as gloating and cause misunderstanding with the provincial champion. Secondly, it was impossible for her to really describe the method she had done to force the mare into submission in detail. Would they even believe her when she said she used her leg to bend a row of iron rods‽

Yuan Ruan was so excited that her two big round eyes shone. “There’s really a winning horse here?”

“Is it really a purebred? Can I go take a look?” Even the provincial champion was surprised. This was a rather shy young man, according to the introduction from Yuan Ruan. He came from Mongolia, and while Ye Shuang hated to rely on stereotypes, it did seem like the young man had spent his whole life on the back of horses. The young man was not that good at social skills, because other than when he was on horseback, where he felt more like himself, he was incredibly shy and reserved.

After the brief conversation, Ye Shuang realized the young man was an honest man, a rare breed in today’s society. Probably because horse-racing was a closely-knit and self-sufficient society that was independent of the society at large, the young man did not pick up the tactfulness of common city dwellers. Ye Shuang found herself comfortable in his presence, and she nodded easily. “Sure, the stables are open to all the guests after all. Her stable is the one at the very end. She stands out because she is the one with a brown-red coat and at least 1.6 meters tall, practically a giant among the rest… Or should I come along with you?”

“No, no, it’s okay!” The young man jumped up from his seat excitedly. “Stay here and chat with Miss Yuan; I can go on my own.”

He didn’t stay for anything else and left, jogging in the direction of the stables.

The horse appraisal was done; the provincial champion had gone to pick up the champion horse. Ye Shuang believed her work was done. With a relaxed mood, she joined the other socialites who had just returned from their horseback riding for afternoon tea.

In the drawing room, they ran into the group of gentlemen from the capital, which included the young master who had a bet with Yuan Ruan. The young master was surrounded by several of his friends, and Yuan Ruan stomped over angrily to argue with them after she overheard several words of provocation that were suspiciously loud. The other group of socialites laughed and sipped at their tea, showing no sign of helping Yuan Ruan.

Ye Shuang was confusing. “Aren’t any of you going to help her?”

“We don’t intervene in the couple’s bickering!” The girl who looked to be the eldest among the group shrugged and said impatiently, “If this were someone else, yes, we would definitely stand behind her, but this Mr. Fang is purely using this opportunity to get close to Ruan Ruan… Cough! In today’s day and age, if you like someone, just come out and say it. It’s not like Ruan Ruan come from a bad family, if he likes her, he should just ask for her hand. I really don’t see the point in all this when pretty much all of us know his real intention…”

“…” No wonder the group of socialites seemed to be on good terms with the people from the capital. Ye Shuang had thought that there would at least be wars of the words or something, but now she realized, this was merely a fake competition and a kind of “date”. Earlier, Ye Shuang had thought she was imagining things, but after knowing the truth, she realized everyone in the circle had been clued into the fact that the young master was interested in the Yuan Ruan… well everyone except the parties involved, who thought no one knew. One of them didn’t even know it herself.

This level of IQ… Ye Shuang rubbed her temples and by then truly understood the easy life of the rich.

So, it is true that money makes one dumb!

Right then, the provincial champion returned from the stables with a drawn face. He must have intended to walk over to talk to Ye Shuang, but when he saw the group of girls, his tanned skin almost burned to the color of tomato instantly. He rubbed his hands as was his habit when he was nervous before calling Ye Shuang’s name.

Ye Shuang turned her head toward the voice and saw the young man wave at her. She then turned to look at Yuan Ruan in the middle of an argument. Ye Shuang thought about it before placing her cup down and standing up to join the young man. “What’s wrong? What’s the problem?”

“Erm, sorry to trouble you again, but,” the young man hesitated, as if speaking with difficulty, “do you mind appraising another horse for me? The mare you pointed out earlier is a no go.”

“Huh? Why?”