Chapter Nineteenth: The Endurance of Bean Grass

  The next morning, Ju An was still fast asleep, and the day before, he and his master had drunk a catty and a half of white wine together. When he got up, he felt dizzy all around him.

  Got up several times at night, drank a few large cups of water, and just got up several times.

  It was just getting comfortable to sleep, when suddenly I heard what seemed like the neighing of Bean Grass and Snow Flower. In a daze, I stuck my head out from under the covers, perked up my ears and listened, and it really did seem like it was Bean Grass and Snow Flower, with the sound coming from somewhere nearby.

  The curtains were pulled open with a swaying motion, and looking down, it was not that these two guys were pulling at each other's necks, rushing towards their own window and shouting. Dou Cao was still using his front hooves to dig at the ground, and when he saw Ju An's figure appear on the windowsill, the two guys stopped shouting and looked up at Ju An.

  Two guys a few steps away, Zhao Nan is smiling and taking pictures of the two guys.

  Turning over comfortably, looking at the alarm clock on the bedside table, it was already 7:40. Only then did I realize that I had overslept and missed the time when the two guys ate carrots, no wonder.

  Half asleep and half awake, after washing up and putting on boots, I went out of the door.

  As soon as they went out, the two guys followed behind Ju An. When Ju An came out with two carrots, they turned around and walked towards the stable. Now it became Ju An who was dazedly following Dou Cao and them, with Zhao Nan still following behind him.

  When they entered the stable, Ju An was still dazed and seemed to see Xue Hua enter the compartment first. Then Dou Cao appeared to wait for Xue Hua to go in before using his mouth to lift the latch and lock Xue Hua inside. After that, he himself also entered his own compartment. He then poked out his horse face again and hung up the latch on his own door, locking himself inside as well.

  The whole brain is in a semi-working state, as if part of it is hinting that there's a problem, but can't quite put its finger on where the problem lies.

  At this time, Zhao Nan shouted: "Too shocking!" The servant was startled and finally woke up.

  "I think I saw that guy open the door and get on the latch" Ju An pointed uncertainly at Dou Cao, who was poking his head out of the small wooden door.

  Zhao Nan nodded: "It first closed the door of that room, then went in and closed its own door."

  Ju An knew he wasn't seeing things, so to verify it again, Ju An took a carrot and walked out while turning his head to look at the bean grass.

  As expected, Bean Grass picked up the plug and ran out, then bit onto Ju An's collar, not letting him leave. Xue Hua stretched her neck to come out, still snorting continuously.

  Just as he was about to sit down and rest, Bean Grass ran back into the compartment and locked herself in again.

  A hand held out a carrot and fed two guys who started gnawing on it.

  Unexpectedly, Bean Grass had this trick. After feeding, Ju An pulled out the two guys and started washing and shoveling dung. When shoveling dung, I heard a voice saying: "You slowly shovel horse dung, I'll go see if Liu Chao has woken up." Turning my head, I saw that Zhao Nan was already gone.

  Shaking his head: This job of shoveling feces is really looked down upon.

  Having finished cleaning up the stable, and having put saddles on Dou Cao and Xue Hua, today Ju An will be in charge of teaching Liu Chao and the others how to ride horses.

  When he led the horse out of the stable with reins, Liu Chao had already arrived downstairs.

  Taking them to the riding arena, Liu Chao roughly explained some things to pay attention to when riding a horse and then demonstrated.

  "Never approach a horse from behind, as these big guys can give you a kick that's no joke. Even if you're behind the horse's buttocks, put your hand on its hip to let it feel you. Don't casually approach a horse that likes to kick, and ladies, try not to wear flashy clothes that might scare the horse. Also, be careful not to change clothes on the horse, such as wearing a red jacket with a green shirt underneath - if you take off the jacket, the horse may throw you off. When approaching the horse, move slowly and don't rush towards it."

  "Also, when leading the horse, pay attention to your reins. Don't let them be too loose, and don't keep stopping and starting, then turning back to look at the horse. The horse won't know what you want it to do. Notice how I'm keeping my reins at this length."

  Linlin explained everything to Zhao Nan, then handed over the reins of Snowflake to her. She first gave Zhao Nan a few pieces of carrot to feed the horse and establish a connection with it.

  Zhao Nan happily pinched a piece and was about to feed it into Snowflake's mouth, but Ju An hastily stopped him: "When feeding the horse, never do this. You have to put things in the palm of your hand, with your palm flat, or you'll definitely get bitten. Watch me." He then placed a piece of carrot in his palm and brought it to Snowflake's mouth, who tilted her head and took it gently.

  Then Zhao Nan took Snowflake for a slow walk, and Snowflake also cooperated and followed behind him, walking in small steps.

  Xuehua was very cooperative, but Doucao didn't give Liu Chao any face. Liu Chao's carrot was still being eaten, and Ju'an handed the reins over to Liu Chao. Doucao raised its head, backing away and trying to pull the reins out of Liu Chao's hands, panting heavily and snorting loudly.

  "Hey! Boy, calm down, calm down." Yu An took over the reins to comfort Dou Cao, speaking softly into his ear while stroking his mane. Once Dou Cao had calmed down, he handed the reins back to Liu Chao, only for the same thing to happen all over again.

  "Easy, don't try anymore, get Steven a different horse. I'd be surprised if you could ride Bean Straw's back. Uncastrated male horses are too temperamental and hard to handle. Luckily you didn't let Steven ride him or he would have been thrown off for sure. Even I wouldn't dare ride Bean Straw. Let's go find a better-tempered horse for Steven to practice on."

  Yu An had no choice but to tie Dou Cao to the pillar on the side with a rope, and then Thomas chose another horse, this time choosing a sorrel horse with white flowers all over its body.

  When they led the horse to the training ground, Zhao Nan surprisingly fell in love with this horse at first sight and insisted on exchanging it with Liu Chao.

  "Look, this horse is so handsome with its whole body snow white, even the mane is a patch of chestnut color and a patch of white, really beautiful!" While hugging the horse's head, she would occasionally give it two kisses, leaving Ju An speechless. If Ju An had to choose, among all the horses, this one would be the ugliest, looking like someone with vitiligo, what's so good-looking about that?

  Everything went smoothly afterwards, and the two of them led the horse around the training grounds for a few laps.

  First put a side rein on Snowflake, teach two people how to ride a horse and the precautions for getting on and off the horse, as well as the posture that needs attention when riding.

  Liu Chao got on the horse first, and it was not bad. His sitting posture was also okay. He relaxed his reins: "Use a bit of force with your waist or gently squeeze the horse's belly, and it will start walking."

  Liu Chao was not bad at learning, and on the horseback, he looked like a big crab. The first time riding a horse is always like this, excited but with some fear, stiff movements, but Liu Chao's face was full of excitement.

  Watching Liu Chao walk slowly and steadily, Ju An walked to Zhao Nan's side and helped her mount the horse. Zhao Nan was relatively short, and the horseback of the flower horse was about 1.6 meters high, just a few centimeters shorter than Zhao Nan. If Zhao Nan wanted to get on the horse, she had to press her thighs close to her chest in order to put her feet into the stirrups. In the end, it was still Ju An who gave her a boost from below and helped her onto the saddle.

  As soon as he got on the horseback, Zhao Nan grasped the pommel tightly and looked extremely nervous.

  Stay calm and hold the reins, take her for a few steps: "Don't be nervous, don't be nervous, don't grab the beam, grab the reins".

  "Hold on to the reins, don't let go of your hands either," Zhao Nan said tensely.

  Originally, Ju An wanted to help his senior brother hold onto Xue Hua's reins and take a look at his senior brother, who was squatting on top of Xue Hua like a big monkey, looking delighted. "Hmm, I'll hold the bridle, you grip the reins, don't worry," Ju An said with a smile.

  Leading the flower horse along the training ground for a few laps, Zhao Nan felt a bit better, and could basically let go of the reins. However, someone still had to follow Zhao Nan, and after walking a few more laps, he was able to grab Snowflake's reins, so that he held one rein in each hand, while the couple walked in a circle, one in front of the other.

  Solved lunch simply, in the afternoon Liu Chao couple continued to circle around.

  Liu Chao said to Ju An in the afternoon when he got on his horse, "Anzi, I know why many people love riding horses. When you ride a horse, your entire line of sight is completely different. A normal person's line of sight is this high, but when you're on a horse, your line of sight suddenly increases by twice as much, it feels very strange." He said while gesturing with his hands.

  "Actually, the view is one aspect, another thing is that when you're riding a horse and galloping fast, your ears hear the sound of hooves pounding the ground, and the wind rushing towards you. If you're with some friends letting horses run freely, that's what's beautiful. In our country, I was in a horse-riding arena in the suburbs of Jiangnan, but it was too small to really gallop, even if we did ride, it was just circling around the arena, completely different from here. When you can ride, let's go out together and run wildly, that'll be exhilarating."

  "I'll have to practice harder, but this morning my thigh roots are a bit sore, and just now I looked at them and they're all red," said Liu Chao.

  "Posture is a problem, don't squeeze your legs too tightly, pay attention to relaxing your thighs. At the beginning of riding horses, everyone will have this problem, and it will be fine after getting familiar with it. On the horse, you must relax. In fact, riding a horse is a kind of communication between humans and horses, which requires mutual trust. I didn't understand it in my home country either, but Thomas taught me here. He told me that good riders need to learn to believe in their horses, even sometimes giving themselves to the horse," said Ju An.

  Liu Chao received: "I used to think that riding a horse was just riding and running, but after riding for half a day today, I realized it's not that simple. There are many things to learn, even how to hold the reins has its own rules. My previous thoughts were too simplistic."

  "Back then, I thought the same way," said An, laughing. "Old Thomas said that riding a horse is not just about not falling off, but about communication. Every horse has its own personality, just like people. If you don't understand your own horse, you can't be considered a true cowboy."

  Liu Chao nodded in agreement, deeply convinced.

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