The stable manager seemed accustomed to the undercurrents of tension within the academy. After glancing at Xi Ting’s course card and student badge, he quickly found the information in the registry and said amiably, “Student Xi Ting, your horse is ‘Cherry,’ in the third row, second stall. She’s very gentle and already saddled.”
“Thank you.” Xi Ting nodded and headed toward the designated stall.
“Cherry” was a red mare with a well-proportioned build and a coat as vibrant as a brilliant sunrise, exceptionally beautiful. Not particularly tall, she was quietly chewing hay from the trough. As Xi Ting approached, she turned her head gently, her large, mild eyes gazing at him, her ears twitching slightly.
This was the horse his older brother had prepared for him—not the finest steed, but gentle enough to be a good fit.
During the summer before enrollment, Xi Ting had fallen seriously ill, and though he had largely recovered, his body remained somewhat frail. His brother still habitually treated him like a fragile glass doll, shielding him from harm.
If not for his unwavering insistence, he might not have been allowed to take equestrian classes this semester.
“‘Cherry’?” Wen Zheng’s persistent voice rang out again. He had dismounted and led his spirited black horse over, standing in the aisle outside the stall. His gaze swept over “Cherry,” and a smirk curled at the corner of his mouth. “Cute name. Fits you…” He paused, deliberately drawing out his words with meaningful emphasis, “perfectly.”
The implication was unmistakable: someone like you can only handle such a gentle, harmless “pony.”
Xi Ting acted as if he hadn’t heard.
He carefully checked whether the saddle was secure and the girth properly adjusted, then patted Cherry’s neck. With practiced ease, he placed his left foot in the stirrup, pushed off lightly, and swung himself steadily onto the horse’s back. The entire motion was fluid and natural.
He loved riding, loved the feeling of the breeze brushing against him as the horse galloped.
With a gentle squeeze of his legs and a flick of the reins, Cherry obediently broke into a trot, leaving the stable area behind and heading toward the warm-up field, leaving the persistent gaze behind.
As the bell signaling the official start of the riding class rang, the students gathered and lined up under the instructor’s command. The instructor, a lean and stern former military officer, loudly reiterated the safety regulations and the day’s training agenda.
Once in motion, Wen Zheng was undoubtedly the most eye-catching presence on the field.
The black horse beneath him was well-trained, clearly his long-time partner. Its approach, takeoff, leap, and landing flowed like a streak of black lightning. The height and distance it cleared far exceeded the standard, and its landing was steady and light, with almost no unnecessary swaying. It was a performance of breathtaking elegance, more akin to a flawless equestrian display than mere training.
After completing a lap, his sycophantic followers erupted into enthusiastic cheers.
Wen Zheng’s expression remained unchanged, but his eyes subtly flickered toward Xi Ting, who was focused on his own practice and hadn’t glanced his way at all. The smugness that had tinged his lips vanished abruptly, and he snapped at his followers, “Enough! What’s all the noise? Haven’t you seen someone ride a horse before?”
Once the practice had progressed sufficiently, the instructor announced the start of a moderately challenging continuous obstacle course, allowing the students to attempt it in groups.
Xi Ting was in the middle group. He urged Cherry into a trot, gradually picking up speed, his gaze intently measuring the fences and low double rails ahead.
Just as Cherry was gathering strength, her hind leg muscles tensed, preparing to leap over the first fence, a clear and steady sound of hoofbeats came from the side and rear.
Wen Zheng rode up on his horse. Black Snow’s strides were long, his movements fluid and graceful, light yet powerful, his muscle lines rippling beautifully as he ran.
He easily drew alongside Cherry and then, as if merely adding a bit of speed casually, surged ahead.
Wen Zheng sat steadily in the saddle, tilting his face slightly, his gaze sweeping seemingly unintentionally toward Xi Ting beside him, as if waiting for something, a hint of anticipation in his eyes that he himself hadn’t noticed.
Xi Ting didn’t spare even a glance from the corner of his eye, focused intently on preparing to clear the fence.
As Black Snow passed by, he stirred up a gust of wind that ruffled the stray hairs on Xi Ting’s forehead, but Xi Ting only blinked.
Wen Zheng pursed his lips, smoothly guiding his horse to leap over the obstacle ahead of them both, landing silently—a perfect jump.
He curled his lips into a smile and glanced back, but Xi Ting was focused on reining in his horse, not even turning his head.
Wen Zheng’s smile faded.
Xi Ting also completed a jump, circling back to the approach lane. Wen Zheng caught up again, this time following leisurely a few steps behind Xi Ting, the clip-clop of hoofbeats making his presence strongly felt.
“Hey.” Wen Zheng’s voice came from behind, casual, as if he’d just called out idly.
Xi Ting was mentally calculating whether the stride pattern in the last few steps needed adjustment, completely ignoring that “Hey.”
“Xi Ting!” Wen Zheng called again. This time, Xi Ting heard it—his ears twitched, but he didn’t want to respond.
Wen Zheng watched the unmoving back ahead that treated him like air, and an indescribable irritation welled up again. He pressed his lips together, raising his voice slightly: “Hey, you little horse, your steps are pretty lively, but with such short legs, can you even jump?”
Xi Ting covered Cherry’s ears to keep her from hearing, thinking to himself that Cherry’s legs weren’t short—she was just a bit smaller in size, but very well-proportioned and graceful. He shot Wen Zheng a sidelong glare—on Cherry’s behalf—but still didn’t open his mouth to respond, instead nudging his horse’s sides to resume training.
Wen Zheng was left behind again. He mulled over that glance, snorted, and abruptly tightened the reins. The black horse let out a short whinny and broke into a full gallop, chasing after them with all its might.
Ahead was the starting line for the obstacle.
Xi Ting focused, slightly lowering his body, his calves pressed against the horse’s sides.
Just as Cherry was intently preparing to jump, Wen Zheng’s black horse rapidly closed in, attempting to run side by side. Wen Zheng even spoke coolly from horseback, his voice carried by the wind: “Is that all the speed you’ve got?”
The distance between the two horses instantly narrowed. The black horse’s tall, robust frame carried an unstoppable momentum, drawing closer and closer to Cherry.
Xi Ting frowned, still ignoring him.
In reality, the distance between the two horses wouldn’t have caused a collision, but perhaps the horse—nearly twice Cherry’s size—rushing into his peripheral vision was too fast, its posture too imposing.
The gentle Cherry, overly frightened, instinctively dodged sideways away from the threat, even coming to an abrupt halt—
Caught completely off guard, Xi Ting instantly lost his balance.
His hands gripping the reins tightened desperately, trying to stay on the horse, but his physical condition was already poor. Regrettably, he failed.
The world tumbled and turned upside down, the wind howled sharply, mingling with the frantic beating of his own heart and the terrified whinny of Cherry. He could feel himself falling, the hard ground below rapidly growing larger, rushing toward him.
Everything happened too fast, too fast to make any effective protective move.
He was going to crash—
The thought flashed through his mind, leaving no time even for fear, when a swift figure, wrapped in a gust of wind, recklessly crashed into him from the side of his vision.
Just as Xi Ting thought he was about to land solidly on the hard grass, the figure collided with his side, skillfully altering his trajectory. At the same time, one arm clamped around his waist like an iron vise, while the other hand gripped his wrist tightly.
"Thud!"
Xi Ting fell into an embrace, then felt himself being held tightly as they tumbled toward the ground.
His vision went dark, but surprisingly, he didn’t feel much pain. That person had firmly shielded him in their arms.
After a moment, he opened his eyes and saw Wen Zheng’s face, startlingly close.
That face, usually wearing an arrogant expression, was now drained of color, lips pressed into a pale line, with fine beads of cold sweat seeping from his temples. Wen Zheng’s light blue eyes were fixed intently on him, the lingering fear not yet fully faded. His hand still clutched Xi Ting’s wrist tightly, while the other arm remained firmly wrapped around his waist, trembling with lingering dread.
Gasps and hurried footsteps erupted around them.
Wen Zheng’s breathing was rapid and heavy, hot against the side of Xi Ting’s neck. He stared at Xi Ting, his pale lips moving slightly, his voice strained as if from a narrow escape: "…Are you… okay?"
Xi Ting was momentarily stunned, not speaking, trying to break free and get up.
As soon as he moved, Wen Zheng’s arm around his waist trembled, as if pulling at a painful spot. He sucked in a sharp breath, then seemed to realize he was still clinging tightly to Xi Ting’s waist. He released his grip as if scalded.
Xi Ting climbed off him, his legs still a bit unsteady. Wen Zheng also pushed himself up with his hands, but his movements were noticeably stiff. He supported himself with his left hand, his right arm slightly drawn in, rising more slowly than usual.
The coach and other students had already gathered around.
"Are you okay?"
"Brother Wen, how are you? That was way too dangerous!"
Voices clamored, noisy and chaotic.
Wen Zheng had already stood up, his back turned to Xi Ting, vigorously brushing grass clippings from his black riding attire. He stood straight, but Xi Ting noticed his right hand hanging at his side, fingers slightly curled, not swinging naturally as they usually did.
"I’m fine. What’s with the crowd? Everyone, disperse." Wen Zheng’s voice had returned to its usual cool detachment as he strode directly toward his black horse, waiting quietly nearby.
But the way he handled the horse betrayed him.
Taking the reins with his left hand came naturally, but when he tried to use his right hand to adjust the saddle strap, his movements clearly faltered. His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly before he switched to using his left hand to finish the task.
Xi Ting stood where he was, rubbing his reddened wrist, watching as Wen Zheng urged his horse toward the other side of the field.
Once the crowd had dispersed, the coach finally had a moment to check on Xi Ting. Apart from the clear red marks of fingers encircling his wrist, he had been well protected. Wen Zheng had firmly shielded him in his arms, leaving him completely unharmed.
"Thankfully, Wen Zheng reacted quickly just now," the coach said, frowning slightly as he watched Wen Zheng ride away. "But such an accident is still far too dangerous. From now on, make sure to maintain a safe distance."
He saw the entire incident clearly, but Wen Zheng was A-Rank, and his status was quite extraordinary. In a school like this, ordinary teachers didn’t have the authority to intervene or dissuade him.
Besides, nothing major had happened. Letting big issues shrink and small issues fade away was the default rule.
Xi Ting nodded and turned to leave as well.
When the class bell rang, the students gradually returned their horses and cleaned up. Xi Ting led Cherry back to the stable and added fresh hay. By the time he finished tidying up his things and stepped out of the stable, most of the students had already left.
Then he saw Wen Zheng.
Xi Ting immediately furrowed his brows, instinctively thinking he was here to stir up trouble again. “What do you want?”
But Wen Zheng looked at him with an awkward expression, his mouth opening as if he wanted to say something, then closing again.
Xi Ting: ? How strange.
Wen Zheng seemed to have made up his mind and finally opened his mouth.
After a long pause, he closed it again.
“…”
Xi Ting grew impatient and asked, “What exactly do you want to say? Hurry up, I have things to do and need to leave.”
Seemingly stung by his coldness, Wen Zheng’s expression darkened. As if finally finding a reason, he raised his right hand, which had been hanging down all along, and showed Xi Ting his wrist. “My hand was injured while saving you. Aren’t you going to take responsibility?”
Xi Ting stared at him incredulously. “Didn’t I fall off the horse because of you?”
Wen Zheng seemed choked by these words, staring at him without speaking for a long time.
The two stood in a stalemate.
After a while, Wen Zheng spoke again, as if trying to explain his earlier behavior, though his voice was low and unnatural. Clearly, this kind of “backing down” made him uncomfortable. “I didn’t know your horse was so easily startled. It’s all because the Xi family wouldn’t give you…”
He trailed off under Xi Ting’s threatening gaze.
The two stared each other down until Wen Zheng finally looked away, his tone stiff. “…My hand hurts, and my whole body hurts. Anyway, I can’t go to the infirmary by myself.”
Xi Ting gave him a look that said, “Do you even believe yourself?” and snorted without another word, turning to walk toward the infirmary. Wen Zheng’s eyes lit up, and he followed two steps behind, neither of them speaking along the way.
Author’s Note:
Wen Zheng: (Showing off intensely—trying to look cool—swinging around like a monkey—whoop!) Honey, don’t I look cool?
(Didn’t notice he knocked his honey over while swinging) Where’d he go?
Received my first rocket launcher in life, so touched! Thank you, Su Yi baby, for the rocket launcher!!! Love you!!
Second edit: Here, Wen Zheng actually just wanted to show off by brushing past Xi Ting. Although it was foolish, he didn’t expect to hurt him. The young master is used to top-tier racehorses and didn’t realize Xi Ting’s horse would be so easily startled and lose control, so he was also shocked and rushed to save him immediately. Maybe I didn’t convey that well…
This isn’t to excuse Wen Zheng—he’s just being annoying, so it’ll be hard for him to chase Xiao Xi later. Feel free to scold him, but I’m a bit sensitive and easily affected by comments, so sorry, please scold him but don’t scold me or Xiao Xi. Love you all (puts on a pot lid) (quickly puts one on Xiao Xi too) (runs away together)
Third edit: Based on suggestions from the comment section, I’ve made some revisions, though a bit hastily. I’ll polish it more later. Thank you, everyone!