Chapter 8
Chapter 8: The Wild Horse King
“Great!” Xie Changqing lightly kicked the horse’s belly and followed.
The little horse tried hard, but it really couldn’t run fast.
But that was fine—Nuomin always maintained the same pace as him.
Seeing Xie Changqing handling it with ease, Nuomin was quite amazed: “You’ve… gotten good at this. You used to hold onto the horse’s neck for dear life and never let go.”
Who would have thought that this illness would actually cure his mental condition too.
That could be considered an unexpected blessing.
“I just suddenly felt that riding horses wasn’t scary anymore.” Xie Changqing looked at the endless grassland in the distance, feeling very cheerful.
Facing the wind, he experienced an unprecedented sense of freedom.
Nuomin led Xie Changqing through the rolling meadows on horseback. In the distance, her family’s horse herd was leisurely grazing.
A jet-black stallion suddenly leaped out from the herd, its glossy mane shimmering like silk in the sunlight, its muscle lines flowing like water as its hooves struck the ground.
“This is Lightning! Just turned three, the most spirited!” Nuomin pointed her whip toward the black horse, pride in her voice: “At last year’s horse races, it jumped three barriers and won first place!”
She whistled, and Lightning immediately trotted over, affectionately nuzzling her palm with its nose.
Xie Changqing dismounted and gently stroked Lightning’s neck, feeling this vibrant life force beneath its coat.
Lightning shook its head slightly, avoiding his touch.
When he mounted, Lightning suddenly reared and whinnied, trying to give him a show of dominance.
“Oh no!” Nuomin panicked and wanted to help him.
But Xie Changqing shook his head: “It’s fine.”
He steadied his mind, following the rhythm of the bucking to lower his center of gravity. His legs clamped the horse’s belly like iron pincers, the reins neither too loose nor too tight, but just enough to maintain control.
In less than half the time it takes to drink tea, Lightning was docilely carrying him in beautiful arcs across the grassland.
“Wow! You can do it!” Nuomin laughed with delight, but noticed Xie Changqing gazing thoughtfully at the horizon.
Following his gaze, dust clouds rose on the horizon where a sea of wild horses thundered across the wilderness with the sound of rolling thunder.
The lead white horse stood half a head taller than the other wild horses, its moonlight-colored mane flying like a battle flag in its wild gallop, amber pupils burning with the fire of untamed wildness.
Xie Changqing’s fingertips unconsciously rubbed the leather of the reins, dimly hearing an echo in his blood.
Each leap of that white horse carried the sharp energy of splitting wind and waves, like a silver lightning bolt cast by the Eternal Blue Sky into the mortal world.
As the horse herd was about to disappear behind the hills, the white horse suddenly stopped and looked back, its gaze crashing thunderously with Xie Changqing’s across three li of distance.
“That’s the wild horse king from the Altai Mountains.” Nuomin’s voice grew serious: “Last year Abu led eight horse-catchers and couldn’t get near it—instead, they broke two century-old birch lasso poles.”
She turned to see familiar intensity burning in Xie Changqing’s eyes—the same look as yesterday when he knelt in the sheep pen saving the little lamb, gentle yet determined to succeed.
A gust of wind carrying tumbleweeds swept between them, and Xie Changqing’s voice mixed with the sound of grass waves, particularly clear: “Where can I get salt blocks? I also need some astragalus powder.”
He took one last look toward where the white horse had disappeared, the red marks on his palm from the reins burning faintly.
“That’s the wild horse king!” Nuomin exclaimed, frowning as she tried to convince him: “Even my abu couldn’t capture it—he almost got trampled instead. It’s too dangerous! And astragalus powder? You’d probably have to go to town to buy that.”
“Yes.” Xie Changqing nodded—of course he knew it was dangerous, which was why he needed to prepare in advance.
Seeing her worried expression, he raised his eyebrows and smiled: “Don’t worry, I didn’t say I was going now. In the future!”
No man could resist such a wild stallion.
Riding Lightning, they quickly reached the yurt.
Uncle Qiaoba came out smiling to welcome him: “We’ve already prepared everything. We wanted you to come see which of these herbs we can take with us.”
Though he said it was for dinner, the real point was to give these herbs to Xie Changqing.
After all, Xie Yu had cleaned out their place, and with Xie Changqing taking over temporarily, he probably didn’t even have a mortar.
Hearing this, Xie Changqing’s eyes lit up with surprise as he walked in.
“My goodness… this is too wonderful…”
Medicine knives, herb grinders, mortars, sieves… even a medicine-frying pot.
He was overjoyed, touching each item.
“This one’s probably unnecessary though, haha!” Uncle Qiaoba lightly tapped the medicine scale: “I figure it’s probably not as accurate as your hands.”
Xie Changqing also laughed and thanked him earnestly: “This set of tools is exactly what I need most right now. Thank you, Uncle Qiaoba!”
“Bah! Don’t mention thanks between us.” Uncle Qiaoba patted the neatly stacked herbs and bark nearby: “These are just dried—you might need to process them yourself on the road.”
Previously, Xie Yu seemed to grind everything finely and process it carefully.
Nuomin watched from the side, looking wistful: “I actually wanted to learn back then, but…”
But every time she tried to help, Xie Yu would hide everything tightly, as if afraid she might get involved.
“Hmm…” Xie Changqing looked them over and frowned slightly: