Chapter 332 A Lightning Comes Down From the Snow Mountains
The setting sun in the west coats the Silver Lake with a layer of golden light. In the deafening sound of horses, a pure white horse and with the flying mane, appears on the hillside in a blink.
The gra.s.sy hill is only two or three hundred meters away from the Silver Lake. Within a few breaths, the white horse exceeds all other horses and comes to the lake.
Other horses behind it proceed orderly. Gracefully, it lowers its head. It stops after taking a tiny sip of water. Its tail sways in a beautiful arc in the air. Both in speed and appearance, everything about it is perfect.
Feeling the weakening ground shakes, Anar knows that the horses must have reached the lake. What are they doing now? Playing, drinking? Or… They have found something wrong?
Anar holds her breath and stays put in the pit. Because the main part of the root was peeled off along with the soil, there is no sign that the pasture covering her body has withered in these three days. Anar is really lucky. If she waits for two more days, the finest pasture she deliberately chose will lose the moisture. Even Ze Yitong’s horses won’t appreciate this place when there is abundant gra.s.s in the summer, let alone the proud horse of heaven.
Will the horse of heaven come over?
Anar tries to calm herself as much as possible. In fact, being paranoid is the instinct of every man, especially under such circ.u.mstances. So It’s normal for Anar to be swayed by gains and losses.
Today, the white horse of heaven does not leave immediately. When other wild horses are drinking water, it turns to the other side of the lake alone. Jumping down the Silver Lake, it cleans its mane with the cold water.
Through the slit of pasture, Anar sees something white leaping over her head. She breathes quickly and can hardly keep calm.
At that moment, the horse of heaven is only one meter away from her. Before she has figured out whether to jump up or not, it has jumped over the pasture under which she was hiding and into the lake—how fast it is! Confident Anar cannot even respond!
She says to herself in her heart that she must calm down. Today these horses don’t come and go as wind, so they are likely to just eat by the lake. If now she can’t calm down, then all her previous efforts will be wasted.
Anar takes a deep breath. The horse of heaven, playing in the lake, seems to notice something and then it looks here.
The wind from the lake is blowing. The two-foot-long delicious pasture is slightly swaying in the lake wind. As a group, wild horses are very powerful. When they are together, even arrogant wild wolves on the gra.s.sland dare not offend them.
Having not found anything strange, the alert horse of heaven still doesn’t want to stay here anymore. It walks out of the Silver Lake and shakes the water off its mane. After cleaning, its fur is more gorgeous than ever, as white as the snowy mountains in the distance.
The sound of chewing of wild horses stops abruptly. It turns out that they find a particularly fine pasture, so they encircle it for their leader to enjoy it.
The horse of heaven makes a short sound of breathing with its nose. It finally realizes that it should respect its followers.
It lowers its head slightly and chews the tenderest tip of the pasture in its mouth. Slowly and leisurely, it barely makes any sound when eating.
No matter how clever the horse of heaven is, it will never imagine that a woman with bad intentions is hiding under this puffed pasture right now.
It is reluctant to finish its meal. When it bows its head to eat the last mouthful of gra.s.s and gradually relaxes, Anar, who is determined to get it, suddenly jumps up. The pasture is lifted, and the horse of heaven is so frightened that it flees. Within a few breaths, it has already run to the gra.s.sy hill.
But it’s too late!
On its back, there is Anar, leaning down and hugging its neck tightly.
Her cheeks flush with excitement. She is a little short of breath. Her hands tightly pull a loop of leather rope. As soon as she tightens it, she firmly ties the neck of the horse of heaven!
Anar can’t believe it. She is now sitting on the back of the horse of heaven!
The horse of heaven is frightened and wants to turn away. Several seconds ago, she thought she would completely fail. It never occurred to her that her body had more potential than she had had when fighting the wolf—she only remembers that she was so light that she almost flew on tips of gra.s.s. She finished a set of actions, pus.h.i.+ng off, turning over, and getting on the horse, so naturally, smoothly and flawlessly. If Anar had time to think about it, she would definitely realize that at that time, she had already exceeded the limit of human beings’ physical fitness, reaction, coordination, and speed…
Feeling the fierce resistance of the horse of heaven, Anar comes to her sense. She knows that the battle has just started.
The horse of heaven in herdsmen’s legend is obstinate and unruly. Taming it is not only a test for her physical fitness and skills, but also a seesaw battle of perseverance!
Hold on… hold on… she must not give up.
Beside the track of the horse racing in the Naqu Town, Ze Yitong must be looking at the direction of the Silver Lake with eager eyes.
The howling wind pa.s.ses by her ear and the resistance of the horse of heaven becomes more and more fierce. Anar’s braid has all fallen down. Her long hair is flying up and down in the wind. She clutches the strong leather rope tightly with both hands. The horse of heaven is struggling very hard. Even though she has worn leather gloves, she still has a feeling that all her fingers are about to be cut off.
All wild horses are stunned. Seeing a human riding on their leader, they all run away wildly. It’s not until the horse of heaven goes over two gra.s.sy hills that they realize what is happening. They rush to follow the horse of heaven. The huge sound scares away many small animals looking for food on the gra.s.sland.
The horse of heaven is bounded and temporarily it can’t shake off the person on its back. It has lost its cool and self-control. All wild horses follow it to pa.s.s by some pastoral areas. Occasionally, when herders who live in these areas see this shocking scene, they are stunned and quickly pinch themselves to make sure they are not dreaming.
It’s really abnormal to see the horse of heaven, not to mention that there is a woman on its back!
Rustic and arrogant herdsmen can’t get over the shock. They snap their whips fiercely, trying to catch up to see what happened. But they are left behind in no time by wild horses with incredible speed.
Horses are important property of all herdsmen. In order to survive from the cold winter every year, their horses are fed so well that they are all plump and st.u.r.dy. How can they catch up with the wild horses?
The white horse of heaven leads mighty wild horses towards the snowy mountains.
On its back, Anar sets her mouth in a grim line tightly. There is a sense of stubborn perseverance in her eyes.
…
Three days later, in Chongqincardo, north of the Naqu Town, thousands of yurts are scattered on the edge of the gra.s.sland. This place is also close to Gongli. Every year, besides herders’ family from several hundred miles away, many tourists are attracted to here by its reputation.
The trade fair has been on for a few days. Herders and other Tibetans dressed in costumes are all smiling, showing their white teeth. It seems that the fair this year is a great success, and they have all got something they want.
Ze Yitong’s yurt is not very gorgeous, but the horn combs her nana made are very good and popular with tourists. With the help of other herdsmen, all cattle and sheep that Ze Yitong plans to sell are sold out. Dun Zhu’s feet were injured, so now Ze Yitong takes the charge of managing the family, purchasing all necessities for the whole year.
It is reasonable to say that her family’s plan in Chongqincardo has faultlessly been fulfilled. However, Ze Yitong is still unhappy.
Today is the day when the Naqu Horse Race officially starts. On this day, riders and horses that enter the finals will be decided after races.
Ze Yitong quietly signed up for Anar a few days ago. But until now, there is still no news of Anar.
The staff of the compet.i.tion has come to remind her several times. Ze Yitong asks them for more time. Seeing how young Ze Yitong is, they don’t make things difficult for her, and agree to adjust Anar’s order to the last.
Even so, she is so uneasy all day, and this day soon comes to an end.
“Your family can only choose to give up. Neither your rider nor your horse is here. We have no choice.”
Ze Yitong shakes her head. It’s impossible for nana to wait until next year. n.o.body knows if her eyes problem will worsen.
She looks far away. The sun is about to set and players of the last group are preparing. However, Anar is still not there.
—maybe her Ajia, Anar, really can’t make it?
Ze Yitong is very frustrated. If Ajia can’t join in the horse racing, why should she stay here? After all, she is only twelve years old. Children’s temper is always changeable. With disappointment, she wants to persuade Dun Zhu to go back home immediately.
The referee shouts “Ready”, and the riders are all on their horses getting ready.
The crowd suddenly surges. The small flag of the referee has not been waved yet. The referee cannot help looking at where the restless crowd is.
On the green gra.s.sland, a graceful female rider is on a horse’s back, rus.h.i.+ng to the field like a flash of lightning.
With the green gra.s.s and blue sky as background, the horse is like coated with the whiteness of Snow Mountains. Everyone can’t help gazing at it.
“Ajia, Ajia Anar…”
—Ze Yitong takes off her little hat and throws it to the sky.