Snow fell continuously for seven days and only finally stopped on the eighth day. Gradually, the dark clouds covering the sky scattered and the sun stealthily peeked through the cover.
The white horse brought along its herd to live at the stables that were built at the outskirts of the stud farm. This place not only had plentiful food and drink available but there were also humans here who helped to diagnose and treat their bodies. Their lives had improved perceptibly here! The dozen or so wild horses who had gotten ill were now leaping and frisking about as if nothing had happened. As soon as the weather took a turn for the better, the horses all ran out to celebrate and left trampled snow behind them.
The prairie had been buried under the snow from the great blizzard. In former years, their herd had to travel to a very far off place to find some withered grass beneath the snow to eat, which barely filled their stomachs. When they were thirsty, they had to gnaw on icy snow. The horses who were weaker often couldn't endure the bitter cold and poor fodder and ended up getting ill and dying. There were also some unlucky foals who were born in the dead of winter. They didn’t even get to open their eyes to see the world before they froze to death next to their mothers' sides.
The white stallion strode over to a mare who had a large pregnant belly. That little human girl had already examined her body and stated that it was very likely that the birth would occur in the next few days. Thus, she had especially prepared a clean, cozy and warm birthing stall for this mare.
Eh? The mare seemed to be a bit out of sorts. Goodness, was it time to give birth?! It raised its head to look at the uncomfortable expression on the mare’s face and heard its grunts of pain. Snow Scar stopped moving. What should it do? What should it do?!
That was right! That human little girl had said that if anything came up, it could go to the stud farm to find her! However, as soon as it exited the stables, Snow Scar paused out of bewilderment. Where should it go to find her? Where did she live? Oh right! It could go find that little black colt; it was sure that little fellow knew where the girl lived!
The white horse galloped away and glided over the snowy fields. In the distance, it looked like a snowy whirlwind as it billowed layers of snow in its run towards a certain direction.
“Eh? Who let Treading Snow out during the winter storm? If it gets chilled, Miss Yu will surely get angry! Huzi, go catch that horse and bring it back to the stables!” One of the firearm soldiers, Xiaoqi, who was patrolling around the area with his subordinates, saw the white horse galloping swiftly in the snow and mistakenly identified it as Treading Snow, which was the horse that Xiaocao had ridden over here.
Huzi was a tall and sturdy young man. Because he had a full beard on his face, he had received the nickname of ‘Huzi’ [1] . He followed the orders and got closer to the white horse. However, he discovered that the white horse didn’t have any tack on it, so it would be difficult to corral it in the right direction. Despite that, he wasn’t fl.u.s.tered. He prepared to go forward to grab onto that horse’s neck and hoist himself onto the animal’s back to stop and control it.
At this moment, Snow Scar sensed that there was a human who wanted to ‘control’ it. Hmph! Didn’t that human little girl say that it would have complete freedom to come and go as it pleased at the horse farm? Was that lie being exposed now? When it saw her, it needed to interrogate her closely!
“Treading Snow! Stop, you’ll get chilled and sick from being outside in this weather!!” Huzi saw that the horse had neatly avoided him and was now running in a different direction, so he hurriedly called out the animal’s name, hoping to calm it down to a stop.
‘Treading Snow? What the heck?? Wasn’t its name Snow Scar ah?? Did this guy mistake it for another horse ah? Not all white horses were Treading Snow, okay ah?’ Snow Scar noticed that Huzi had come over again to stop it, so it suddenly tensed its muscles and leaped forward, soaring over that man’s head. Then it gracefully landed on the snowy ground behind the man. The snow that it brought up from its jump spewed completely on Huzi’s head.
By the time Huzi was able to react, the white horse had already ran far away. When Xiaoqi detected that the horse seemed out of the ordinary, he remembered his leader’s warning and walked over to pat Huzi on the shoulder before saying, “We were the ones who were wrong! That horse should be one of the wild horses that came here to shelter from the wind and snow. The leader told us that we should directly ignore them if we see them! Earlier I was a bit too hasty when I gave the command. Are you okay ah?”
“I’m fine! If it’s a wild horse, why is it coming over to the inner area of the stud farm? Is it trying to inspect the farm to see if it’s a suitable place to stay long term?” Huzi shook the pile of snow off of his head and grinned, revealing a row of bright white teeth.
“Ha ha ha…perhaps! How could the environment outside of the farm be as comfortable as here? After living here, it wouldn’t be surprising if it didn’t want to leave. How could our leader’s idea not work?” Xiaoqi and the other soldiers guffawed and then continued to patrol around the area as if nothing had happened.
A few days ago, they had caught a few outsiders who clearly had bad intentions in the area. Thus, they had increased the security around the horse farm by another level! The powers above had sent down an order to make the security look lax on the outside while being very stringent on the inside. Maybe by doing that, they could catch a big fish later on!
Snow Scar roved around the stud farm and finally arrived at the private stable of Black Whirlwind. It gently kicked aside the door to the stall and saw the little fellow leisurely eating its breakfast there——a stack of hay that had been infused with spiritual energy.
The little fellow unhurriedly turned around when it heard the noise to glance in the direction of the door. Black Whirlwind’s carefree demeanor immediately changed when it saw who the intruder was and it forgot all about its breakfast. It revealed a cautious expression as it stared fixedly at that ‘thief’. Did the other horse come over to steal its breakfast ah?
Horses had their own way of communicating with each other. Snow Scar told the young colt its purpose in coming over. Black Whirlwind was a bit unwilling to help the other horse. Why did it have to help such a horrid fellow? It still held a grudge against it! However, this fellow’s affairs were related to the future of the stud farm. Its master had told it before that all of the foals here were the future of the farm! If it delayed the birth of another little foal because of its own personal grievances, then the master would be angry, right?
Although it was unwilling, Black Whirlwind still brought the repulsive ‘thief’ along to the master’s courtyard for the sake of the ‘overall situation’. When it saw the familiar courtyard gate, the little fellow excitedly and happily rushed forward as it let out a joyful whinny——“Master, your most favorite Black Whirlwind is here! It’s been a long time since we saw each other, did you miss me?”
Snow Scar was not in the mood to appreciate the little fellow’s foolish demeanor. The pregnant mare in the stable was still waiting for the little human girl to save its life! It eagerly stepped forward and pushed aside Black Whirlwind so hard that the little fellow staggered a bit. It followed a familiar smell straight into Xiaocao’s courtyard.
The servants in the courtyard, who were currently sweeping the area clean of snow, saw that their frequent visitor, Black Whirlwind, had brought along a beautiful white horse along today. They all revealed admiring looks in their eyes. Almost everyone who had worked a long time at the stud farm was able to differentiate between different horse bloodlines. This white horse was an absolute divine steed and was in no way inferior to the fine steeds that their masters rode!
Yu Xiaocao had just finished washing herself up and was wearing a pink dress paired with a pink coat. She was sitting by the kang bed table and eating a delicious breakfast. Across from her sat a pair of handsome fellows who were respectively dressed entirely in black or white. Being able to eat at the same table with two handsome and stunning looking men, who each had their own merits, truly made her appetite better! Yu Xiaocao felt as if the plain white congee in front of her was more fragrant than before.
Suddenly, a ruckus could be heard in the courtyard and she heard the small cry of an animal. Yu Xiaocao looked inquiringly out but her line of sight was blocked by a thick door curtain. Zhu Junyang placed down the bowl in his hands and hollered out to ask, “What’s going on?”
The sound of Yingchun’s voice from the outside transmitted back, “In reply to Your Highness, a white horse has entered the courtyard. The servants are about to drive it away!”
“A white horse? It wouldn’t be Snow Scar, right? Is it about to leave with the herd of horses and came by to say farewell?” Yu Xiaocao pushed another spoonful of congee into her mouth and then used the handkerchief Zhu Junyang handed over to wipe her mouth before she put on her fur boots and jumped off the kang bed.
“Put on your mink fur overcoat. It’s cold outside!” Zhu Junyang couldn’t help but nag a bit. Only when he saw the little lass obediently allow Wutong to wrap her up tightly in the warm coat did he finally relax.
“Tsk tsk!” Su Ran used a handkerchief to wipe the corner of his mouth, revealing an ambiguous looking smile, “I never would have expected the cold hearted and tyrannical Royal Prince Yang, who’s like a fierce lion, had such a considerate and sweet side to him. A fierce lion becoming as docile as a kitten. This truly has opened up my eyes!”
Zhu Junyang smiled faintly and didn’t think that he was doing anything improper as he struck back, “Hasn’t Chief Steward Su, who has always been a loner and never bothered to make close relationsh.i.p.s with other people, also changed quite a bit recently? You make it sound as if only this prince treats that lass well!”
He was already feeling unhappy about the way Chief Steward Su treated that little lass. Ever since Xiaocao had knitted a white wool sweater for the other man, Chief Steward Su seemed to dote on the little lass without any restraint. Zhu Junyang had seen everything from the side and always felt like the other man was treating Xiaocao as if she was his own daughter!
That damned old eunuch was trying to steal the little lass away from him since he couldn’t have his own children! Zhu Junyang silently cursed the other man. This absolutely could not continue! Clearly, in the future, his road to woo his little wife now had another ‘father-in-law’ who was there to bar his way. Zhu Junyang truly wished he could pack that fellow up right now and send him back to the capital!
“That lass Xiaocao is worthy of being doted upon. If I don’t favor her, who else should I favor?” Su Ran deliberately revealed the white woolen sweater that Xiaocao had knitted him——he really wanted to infuriate that little brat to death!
Su Ran felt his heart lighten when he remembered the constipated look on Royal Prince Yang’s face when Xiaocao had given him the sweater. He deliberately asked the little lass to also make him a pair of gloves and a scarf to complete the set. The more he could irritate the other fellow, the happier he felt!
Didn’t Xiaocao say that she regarded him as an older brother ah? It was right and natural for an older brother-in-law to make things difficult for his younger sister’s husband, right? Right? After all, wouldn’t anyone feel a bit upset seeing such a lovable little girl being taken away by a big bad wolf, right? The Yu Family didn’t dare to make things difficult for this son-in-law, so he, Su Ran, would help them in their stead! Did the other guy really think it’d be easy to swindle away someone’s daughter, who they had painstakingly raised for over a decade?
The two handsome men in the room stared at each other with pointed eyes. Sparks of fire seemed to be coming off of them. If Xiaocao, this crazy fangirl was around, she might have started imagining a romance between the two of them!
With the little divine stone translating for her, Xiaocao discovered that the white stallion had come by to tell her about a pregnant mare who was about to give birth. Thus, she sent Yingchun to inform Doctor Wang and bring him over. Although she had a cheat item in her hands, it was only useful in decreasing pain for the horse. As for helping the horse give birth, that was out of her abilities.
She brought along her own medicine box and climbed onto the white stallion’s back before the two of them sped towards the outskirts of the stud farm, where the stables for the wild horses were located. There truly weren’t a lot of horses who gave birth in the middle of deep winter within the herd. Xiaocao was a bit worried about this, so she felt that it was for the best that she also be present for this.
When Little Black Whirlwind saw that its master had completely ignored it and had her entire attention taken up by that ‘little thief’, it felt quite unhappy. It threw a little temper tantrum in the courtyard and only calmed down after Wutong gave it two pieces of rock candy.
This was not okay! It could not allow that little thief to take its master away. It needed to keep an eye on that uncouth fellow. Despite the cold, Little Black Whirlwind trotted outside in the direction of the outskirts of the horse farm. Before long, it caught up with the old veterinarian who was also headed to the stables there.
[1] Huzi literally means beard/facial hair.
