26 Heightened Hearing (2/2)
”I would love to,” Xueyue whispered, but her eyes weren't on the white horse that everyone seemed to love. Instead, her eyes were on the blinded black horse.
”Perfect! I'll tell the announcer my price!” Li Wenmin walked the first step towards the announcer, but Li Chenyang grabbed Li Wenmin and pulled him back.
”She wants the other horse,” Li Chenyang quietly said.
Li Wenmin lifted his head in the direction that Xueyue was staring at.
He frowned. That horse was blind, beaten, and useless. 'What could Xueyue do with such a useless horse? Was it because it was less expensive than the white one?' he asked himself.
”Xiao Yue, don't worry. We have a lot of money, you don't have to settle for a discount horse,” Li Wenmin gently said.
”I like the other horse,” she firmly said. She saw the similarity between herself and the horse. They were both beaten into submission, but neither of them lost the fire in their eyes.
”Are you sure...? That horse is blind, it won't run well,” Li Wenmin hesitantly asked her. He stared at Xueyue who didn't even look at him. When she finally lifted her gaze back to him, her eyes were wide with longing.
Li Wenmin felt his heart clench at her puppy-face. Could this girl get any cuter? At this moment, he knew, from the bottom of his heart, he would do anything to please this girl.
”I will grow with this horse and in return, our loyalty towards each other will be solidified,” Xueyue responded with her eyes glued to the black horse.
The edges of Li Chenyang's lips tilted upwards. She was either incredibly stupid or naive, or both. ”Loyalty might be important, but stealth and speed outweigh a simple relationship.”
Xueyue slowly shook her head. ”Without loyalty, stealth and speed will be useless. The horse can easily throw you off or never show you its best abilities because it does not trust you enough to do so,” she quietly said, her words forever rooted in Li Chenyang's heart.
Li Wenmin sighed at her stubbornness. ”Then we shall get this horse for this, Xiao Yue.” He nodded towards one of his servants who instantly went towards the stable boy. The surprised stable boy quickly ran to the seller to tell him the good news. Not a minute had passed, before he returned with the price of the horse.
The entire transaction went by quickly, almost too quickly. The seller was eager to get rid of the rebellious horse that's without any use.
When the stable boy was about to hand the horse to Xueyue, it was reluctant to move. ”Come on, walk faster!” the stable boy urged, growing embarrassed at his pathetic attempts of controlling the horse.
The horse neighed, stomped the ground, bit the leather reins, and nearly kicked the stable boy.
When Xueyue saw the stable boy raise his whipping stick, she ran forward. ”Don't hurt my horse!” she reprimanded, cutting between the whip and the horse.
The stable boy was startled at her presence and quickly pulled back the whip. He was thankful for his quick reflexes, or else he might've committed an offense he couldn't afford.
”Give me the reins, I'll walk him myself.” Xueyue frowned.
”R-right away ma'am.” The stable boy hastily passed the reins to her.
The horse reared its head back and ferociously trampled the ground. Despite not being able to see anything, its hearing was perfectly fine.
Xueyue noticed the horse might have sharpened its hearing from relying solely on its ears to survive.
While Xueyue was busy observing the horse, Li Chenyang noticed something startling. ”Xueyue, let go of the reins now!” he screamed just as the horse raised its front legs.
”It's going to charge!” But it was too late. Xueyue didn't have the time to react before the horse jerked forward and ran with speed faster than thunder.