Chapter 84: Riding
a Horse Qin Yao raised her eyebrows and pointed at the four books. Miss Ding snorted, "You are so greedy!", but she still said immediately, "Deal!"
"Don't damage it. Return it to me after you finish copying. Those are what my father has read, and there are his annotations on them. Others are willing to pay a lot of money to buy them, but I won't give them to them!" she said proudly.
"And!" he added, "You are not allowed to lend it to others. You must swear to do so. If you fail to do so, you will be struck by lightning and die miserably!"
Qin Yao raised her hand with amusement, swore a solemn oath, then crossed her arms and asked:
"Anything else you want?"
Miss Ding said confidently: "Yes!"
Qin Yao was good-tempered, "Please speak."
The girl suddenly lowered her voice, "Don't let my father know."
"That's no problem." Qin Yao raised her hand, and took her little hand under her dazed look, "Give me five!"
Miss Ding asked blankly, "What's the meal?"
"Miss, it's time for lunch!" Aunt Qiao shouted outside the study.
Qin Yao couldn't wait to walk out of the study, "Let's eat."
"Huh?" Miss Ding was startled. It was clearly not just eating. There was even a tone missing.
Following behind Qin Yao, he asked persistently: "What food did you just talk about?"
Qin Yao took the large bowl handed to her by Cao'er, tapped the edge of the bowl with her chopsticks, making two crisp clangs, and spoke nonsense in a serious tone:
"It's just about eating, nothing else. Miss, please go in and have lunch. Eat well so you can train in the afternoon."
When she heard the word "training", Miss Ding stopped asking questions and went in to eat.
At this time, she had no idea about the content of the training and was full of naive expectations for the afternoon training.
The Ding family has horses, and although they are usually used to pull carts, it doesn't cause any trouble.
There was also a saddle, which was Young Master Ding's saddle. Qin Yao asked Zhang Ba to take it out and put it on the horse. Then she led the horse and took Miss Ding, who had changed into a narrow-sleeved short-sleeved shirt and long pants, out of the stable and onto the road.
In front of the Ding family's house is a loess road more than two meters wide, running straight from east to west, about two to three hundred meters long.
This road leads from the town to the Ding clan village, and few people walk on it on weekdays.
It had just rained in the morning and the sun came out at noon, so the road was completely dry.
Seeing Qin Yao climb onto the horse and grab Miss Ding onto the horse, shouting excitedly, Aunt Qiao and Butler Yu looked at each other, their hearts in their throats.
Fortunately, Qin Yao's horse-controlling skills seemed pretty good, and the horse was naturally docile, so the horse started running on the road, and the entire road was filled with Miss Ding's excited shouts.
Housekeeper Yu looked at Aunt Qiao with some worry, "If the master comes back and finds that the young lady can actually ride and shoot, he will probably be very surprised, right?"
Aunt Qiao made a bitter face and said, "I think so."
After all, the master dotes on the young lady very much, so, perhaps, he doesn't mind her learning these things that only men can learn.
They were both very nervous, but when they saw the girl riding on the horse and laughing happily, they felt that this was really a beautiful thing.
The two sat down next to the stone lion at the door, watching the horses carrying Qin Yao and Ding Xiang back on this road, and it seemed that their hearts were flying away with the two of them.
However, the girl's bell-like laughter on horseback gradually changed its tone, because the horse was running faster and faster, shaking her up.
Miss Ding could no longer laugh. She lay on the horse's back in fear, hugged the horse's strong neck tightly, buried her head in the horse's mane, closed her eyes tightly, and shouted, "Stop it, stop it!"
However, it was of no use as a hand reached out from behind and straightened her head.
"Look ahead, look at the road, I'm behind you, don't be afraid."
Qin Yao's calm and steady voice rang in his ears. Ding Xiang took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes as she said.
There was a gust of dust and sand, and she was so scared that she wanted to close her eyes again.
"Open!"
A loud shout frightened the little girl so much that her eyes widened.
But soon her body was pressed down, and the two of them lay prone, slightly leaning on the left side of the horse's back, using the horse's body to avoid the wind and sand, and they could finally see the road clearly.
Qin Yao said in a low voice: "We don't have time to let you communicate with the horse and adapt to the environment little by little, so now you must remember everything I tell you."
"First, riding a horse is not about riding it and following it, but about controlling it, controlling the reins in your hands, and making it follow your rhythm."
Ding Xiang thought, shouldn't people run in sync with the rhythm of the horse? She remembered that her brother's riding master said this when he was learning to ride a horse.
But forget it, she can only listen to Qin Yao now, if she hesitates any longer she will fall.
"Overcome your inner fear. There is nothing to be afraid of. As long as you control the reins in your hands, you will not fall."
Really? Ding Xiang wondered in her heart.
But he still obediently took the reins handed to him by Qin Yao.
Then, the horse's speed slowed down significantly because the person holding the reins was no longer Qin Yao.
Ding Xiang breathed a sigh of relief, listened to the techniques coming to his ears, adjusted his sitting posture, held the reins, and tried to control the horse.
Because there was someone behind her and she knew that she would protect herself, she gradually became less afraid.
Without fear, everything seems to become gentle.
Under her control, the horse slowed down more and more, and finally maintained the rhythm of footsteps, strolling on the avenue step by step.
"It's so well behaved~" Ding Xiang turned around and smiled at Qin Yao with surprise. She began to feel the joy of being in control.
Qin Yao curled her lips and smiled, "Try to speed up."
"Um!"
Ding Xiang shook the reins, and the horse received the command and started to trot.
It was not very obedient, so Qin Yao taught the girl in front of her to kick the horse's belly and told her:
"Remember, you are a trainer. If the horse is obedient, give it a handful of grass. If it is not obedient, give it a warning. Remember, you have to tame it!"
Butler Yu, who heard it unexpectedly, felt a pang in his heart. He always felt that there was something wrong with the horsemanship taught by Qin Yao, but he couldn't tell what it was.
Forget it, it seems that the young lady has learned well, so it should be fine.
The two men on horseback ran back and forth on the road in front of the door countless times, until the sun went down, dark clouds came, and a storm was about to come, then they came back, sweating profusely, leading the horses.
Qin Yao said: "I want to take a bath."
Ding Xiang nodded tiredly and told Cao'er to boil the water for Qin Yao to take a bath. Then they both took a nice shower in the room.
Due to excessive physical exertion, Ding Xiang drank three bowls of rice, leaving Aunt Qiao stunned.
After eating and feeling less excited, Ding Xiang just felt uncomfortable all over.
Qin Yao walked in, sat down opposite her, asked the girl to put her legs on her knees, and gave her a muscle massage to relax her.
(End of this chapter)