In the morning, the air was pretty fresh and the grassland was just like a boundless green blanket.
Xia Xiaoluo was running around happily like a little foal, which impressed Ling Tianyi who was following her. The man who was always cool smiled delightedly.
“Darling, where are the horses of Uncle Muren? You told me that he had many horses, right? But I can’t see them!” Xia Xiaoluo ran to Ling Tianyi and took one of his arms.
“Let’s see them after breakfast!” Ling Tianyi smiled and said. Since Xia Xiaoluo was so excited, he was afraid that his sweetheart would go to ride horses without breakfast.
“What shall we have for breakfast?” Xia Xiaoluo asked.
“We will eat what the hosts prepare! But Aunt Jiri Gele must prepare a rich breakfast for us!” Ling Tianyi said.
As Ling Tianyi expected, Jiri Gele was preparing the breakfast with Tana. Mu Ren went to pick up horses for them and Tala came to welcome them.
“Tala, are you coming to welcome us?” Ling Tianyi asked.
“Yes. Uncle Yi, my grandmother is preparing breakfast, I come to welcome you!” Being strong with dark skin, Tala was definitely good at wrestling.
“Tala, do you know how to wrestle?” Xia Xiaoluo asked. She wanted to talk about something with the boy on the way. What was more, as his aunt, Xia Xiaoluo should care about him.
Being annoyed, Ling Tianyi pinched her because he thought that Xia Xiaoluo talked too much with a boy.
“Sure! And I’m good at it!” Tala said.
“You are lying!” Ling Tianyi said half-jokingly and half-seriously.
“Uncle Yi, I’m not lying! Men on the grassland are all good at wrestling, riding horses and shooting. We often hold races. What’s more, I won the first place in qagan sar last year! Everyone here knows it and you can ask my grandpa!” Tala pled for himself and proved what he said by providing the evidence.
“Tala, you are so awesome!” Xia Xiaoluo said and thumbed up to him. However, Ling Tianyi pinched her again, because he was annoyed when Xia Xiaoluo praised other man even though Tala was just a boy.
“Tala, what did your grandma prepare? Your Little Aunt is hungry!” Ling Tianyi smiled and said. It seemed to be a common sentence, but Ling Tianyi thought it over.
For one thing, Xia Xiaoluo’s attention could be attracted by food. For another, he could tell Xia Xiaoluo and Tala that they were in different generations in a family.
“My grandma and Tana were busy for the whole morning, they prepared much!” At the same time, they arrived at the yurt of Mu Ren.
There were milk tea, cheese, butter biscuit, dried yogurt, milk curd and crème etc.
They also prepared Fried Goat Hearts, Fried Goat Tripe and Stewed Goat Brain with Vegetables…
Xia Xiaoluo was extremely surprised and delighted to see all the delicious dishes.
Seeing the guests arriving, Tana greeted them and invited them to sit down. Tana introduced various delicious dishes to Xia Xiaoluo. Ling Tianyi didn’t mind it, instead, he thought that she was very enthusiastic and hospitable. However, he didn’t want Tala to talk to Xia Xiaoluo even though Tala and Tana were twins.
Uncle Muren came back and Jiri Gele invited them to eat together. The Mu Ren family were friendly and they wanted to enjoy the meal with the friends.
“Darling, don’t eat too much.” Ling Tianyi said in her ears.
Holding half of the goat leg in the hands, Xia Xiaoluo looked at Ling Tianyi with confusion. She didn’t understand.
Seeing Xia Xiaoluo’s puzzled face, Ling Tianyi said to her: “You will vomit during riding if you eat too much now.”
“Um…” Xia Xiaoluo was stunned. She didn’t know what to do at once.
His words were reasonable, so Xia Xiaoluo had to give up many dishes she liked.
“Yi, I picked up a black horse named ‘Panther’ for you! It is good at running just like a real panther!” Mu Ren said. Knowing that Ling Tianyi wanted to ride a horse, Mu Ren prepared the horse for him. He went to check the horses in the morning.
“Xiaoluo, can you ride a horse?” Mu Ren asked.
“I’m good at riding a horse! Uncle Muren, have you picked up a good horse for me?” Xia Xiaoluo asked excitedly.
“I don’t know whether you are good at riding a horse, so I prepared two horses for you. One is a maroon horse named ‘Eagle’, which is an excellent horse even though it doesn’t run so fast as ‘Panther’. The other one is called ‘Princess’, which is a tender mare. You can ride the latter one, which is safer.”
Mu Ren said: “You are good at riding a horse, you can ride ‘Panther’ so that you will enjoy riding horses very much!”
“That’s OK!” Xia Xiaoluo said, but Ling Tianyi disagreed, “No, you can’t!”
“Why? Yi!” Mu Ren asked.
“She was lying just now! She has only ridden a horse once and it was a tender mare. In a horse farm in A City, she just rode around with me! In fact, she doesn’t know how to ride a horse, so ‘Princess’ is more suitable for her. Anyway, safety is the most important thing!” Ling Tianyi said and glanced at Xia Xiaoluo scornfully.
“Well, Xiaoluo, you are wrong. Riding a horse is not easy, so you should pay attention to the safety because you are a girl and a new hand in riding” Mu Ren said to Xia Xiaoluo. Having experience in riding horses, he knew it was very dangerous. Many people had accidents during riding.
“Well, I will ride ‘Princess’.” Xia Xiaoluo said unhappily.
After breakfast, Ling Tianyi and Xia Xiaoluo went to ride a horse with Mu Ren, Tala and Tana accompanying them. Jiri Gele stayed in the yurt to prepare lunch.
“Remember what I told you! Just ride slowly!” Ling Tianyi said to Xia Xiaoluo.
“I know!” Xia Xiaoluo said, being a little unhappy.
After Ling Tianyi helped Xia Xiaoluo to ride on the horse, she was happy again. Xia Xiaoluo didn’t know much about horses. Actually ‘Princess’ was already a tall and big horse to her. She looked very cool at that time.
Then Ling Tianyi rode on ‘Panther’. He looked very handsome.
They rode slowly under the blue sky for a while. Then Mu Ren said: “Yi, let’s have a horse racing?”
“You taught me how to ride horses and you must be teasing me! I don’t want to do that because I’m afraid I will lose the race!” Ling Tianyi said jokingly.
In fact, Ling Tianyi wanted to have a race, because he was the kind of people who never gave up. He wanted to compete no matter what would happen. What was more, in A City, Yao Sheng and he often went to ride horses, so he was good at riding. He had a chance to win if they really had a horse racing.
However, he was worried about Xia Xiaoluo. He was afraid that she would do something dangerous if he went away. He would be heartbroken if she fell down.
“Yi, why are you so modest?” Mu Ren didn’t expect that Ling Tianyi would refuse.
“Darling, have the race! I will cheer for you!” It seemed that Xia Xiaoluo was looking forward to the race. Tala and Tana also started to persuade him.
Not knowing how to refuse again, Ling Tianyi decided to have the race and said to Xia Xiaoluo: “Stay here and don’t frighten the horse, will you?”
“OK! Darling, I will stay here to wait for you!”
“Darling, come on!”
“Defeat your master and you will be the master!”
Xia Xiaoluo kept cheering for Ling Tianyi, who intended to show his ability to her even though he was worried about her.
“Tana and Tala! Your Little Aunt always brags that she is good at riding horses, but she isn’t actually. Protect her please!” Ling Tianyi asked them to protect Xia Xiaoluo because he couldn’t focus on the horse racing if Xia Xiaoluo stayed alone.
“Yi! It’s really beyond my imagination that you care about your little wife so much! We are just going to have a horse racing!” Mu Ren teased Ling Tianyi.
“Well, just tell me how to compete!” Ling Tianyi waved the whip confidently.
“Look!” Mu Ren pointed at a yurt and said, “People who reaches there first will be the winner!”
Ling Tianyi thought that his little wife would run to see their race if they took the yurt as the destination, which was too dangerous.
“How about going back and forth!” Ling Tianyi proposed, because Xia Xiaoluo would stay here to watch the race, which would be safe.
Mu Ren looked at Ling Tianyi and then took a glance at Xia Xiaoluo, understanding what was in his mind at once. “Well! Xiaoluo will be the judge and stay here to see who will be back first! Xiaoluo, do you agree?”
“Well! That’s settled! You can start when I say ‘Go!’. Who beats the gun will be regarded as the foul!” Xia Xiaoluo said complacently.
They stood side by side on horses and Xia Xiaoluo shouted: “Ready? Go!”
As Xia Xiaoluo shouted, Ling Tianyi and Mu Ren started riding at the same time.
“Darling, come on!” Seeing Ling Tianyi’s back, Xia Xiaoluo shouted to cheer for him.
“Come on! Run!” Xia Xiaoluo shouted excitedly on the horse with her hands free from the rein and the feet free from the stirrups.
Tala and Tana were so young that they focused on the race without paying attention to their Little Aunt, who was already in danger even though they were together.
