Chapter 22 2/2

Seeing Huo Shu walking farther away without immediately coming back, Ji Taoyu suddenly felt that the reins in her hand were burning hot.

For a moment, she didn’t know whether to let go or hold on tighter. Her hands trembled as she grasped the rope, and she glanced at the big black horse, forcing a strained smile.

“You, you won’t misbehave, right?”

The big black horse just stared at Ji Taoyu with its big eyes, but it remained quiet, not moving at all.

Ji Taoyu sighed slightly with relief and slowly tried to sit down, but as soon as she touched the stone, the black horse made the humming sound again and its eyes turned fierce.

She was startled and quickly stood up again, gripping the reins tightly. Then she shouted towards Huo Shu’s direction, “Huo, Huo Big Brother! The horse is going to kick me!”

Hearing the teary voice, the black horse, seeing the tearful eyes of the small figure in front of it, stopped making the sound.

Ji Taoyu’s heart fluttered, and she held back the tears that were about to fall. Seeing the horse calm down, she sniffed and tentatively sat back on the stone stool.

Only when she sat down steadily did the big black horse stop trying to scare her with its humming.

Ji Taoyu finally relaxed, sitting with her knees bent. Seeing that the horse was behaving, she released one hand and gently blew on the palm that had been chafed by the rope.

They waited quietly, Ji Taoyu occasionally shifting her position and picking some fresh goosegrass and wild artemisia nearby.

She tied the wild grass into a small bundle and tentatively offered it to the horse’s mouth. “Do you, do you want to eat this?”

The big black horse suddenly turned its head and glared at Ji Taoyu, which frightened her into retracting her hand.

Seeing the horse still not intending to attack or scare him, Ji Taoyu felt relieved.

He cautiously offered the grass again, and this time the big black horse immediately opened its mouth and bit the grass, startling Ji Taoyu.

As Ji Taoyu withdrew her hand and hugged herself, watching the horse chewing the grass without any intention of attacking or scaring her, she couldn’t help but smile. “You like it, huh?”

Seeing the horse become gentler, Ji Taoyu slowly reached out her hand, intending to stroke the smooth and shiny horse’s head like Huo Shu.

However, just as her hand was about to touch it, the big black horse suddenly turned its head away, quite coquettishly avoiding her touch.

Ji Taoyu snorted softly at this.

A moment later, Huo Shu returned with a bunch of wild chrysanthemums.

Seeing Huo Shu holding the green plants, the big black horse tilted its head, waiting for its master to feed it. However, instead of approaching, someone else reached out and pushed its head away.

“That’s enough.”

Ji Taoyu quickly took the chrysanthemums, and a bitter fragrance rushed into her nose, refreshing her mind.

“That’s enough, that’s enough. With so many, we can dry some for later.”

It seemed that they had just bloomed, and the small chrysanthemums were still fresh, not yet wilted or yellowed.

Ji Taoyu’s mind was already full of ideas for making pastries, tea, and medicinal use with chrysanthemums.

Seeing Ji Taoyu’s happiness, Huo Shu didn’t say anything, but his tone was noticeably softer.

“Let’s go, back home.”

With Huo Shu’s quick pace, Ji Taoyu on horseback soon arrived at the village entrance.

On the official road, it was fine, and they might encounter unfamiliar travelers. But once they entered the village, they were greeted by familiar villagers.

Ji Taoyu didn’t bother to hide anything and boldly passed through the village road.

Seeing them, the villagers working in the fields dared not talk to Huo Shu but greeted Ji Taoyu instead. “Taoyu, you’ve learned to ride a horse?”

“No, I haven’t,” Ji Taoyu shook her head and explained to the villagers, “I went to the city today, and on the way back, the cart I was riding fell into a ditch, and I hurt my hands and feet. Huo Shu Big Brother happened to pass by and gave me a ride back.”

“Oh, are you okay?” The villagers asked with concern, “Who was driving the cart? How could they be so careless?”

Ji Taoyu replied, “It was a cart driver from the neighboring village, not very tall, a bit dark-skinned, with a large face. I heard people on the cart calling him Master Zhang.”

The villagers listened to Ji Taoyu’s detailed description, which sounded genuine, and her eyes were slightly red, as if she had been crying.

Just then, another villager returning to the village overheard Ji Taoyu talking to the locals while sitting on the horse and chimed in, “From Yanmiao Village, right? When I was coming back, I saw them still trying to pull the cart out of the ditch. I don’t know if they’ve managed to do it by now. Taoyu has such bad luck to have ridden on his cart.”

“I’ve ridden on that man’s cart before, but never again after that. If there’s no cart outside the city gate, I’d rather walk back than ride on his.”

The villagers recognized who it was and cursed, “That Zhang guy is so dishonest in his business dealings. He charges less for people from his own village, but for others, regardless of distance, he always charges extra. And for those further away, the price is even higher.”

The villagers, who had initially gathered out of boredom, were suddenly ignited, forgetting their original purpose and all began to criticize the cart driver named Zhang.

“Taoyu, be careful in the future, don’t ever ride on his cart again.”

Then they turned to talk about Huo Shu, “Miss Yuan’s Huo Lang seems cold-hearted, but unexpectedly he’s quite warm-hearted.”

The villagers praised Huo Shu for a few more words.

Huo Shu didn’t engage with them, maintaining his usual solemn expression and just nodded slightly to acknowledge the villagers’ words.

“Taoyu, go home quickly and check your injuries. If you have any hidden injuries, you’ll need to ask Li Zheng from Yanmiao Village to take a look.”

Ji Taoyu obediently said, “Then I’ll go home first.”

As they watched Ji Taoyu ride away, the farmers in the fields continued to discuss, “Huo Shu usually looks cold and aloof, ignoring everyone he sees, but unexpectedly, he has his moments of warmth and kindness. He even lets people ride his horse. Miss Yuan said he treasures his horse a lot. It used to accompany him to the battlefield, and he hardly lets anyone touch it.”

“Did you see how eager he was to help? And he even let Ji Taoyu ride his horse.”

The farmer’s wife teased, “Just look at who fell into the ditch. That’s Ji Taoyu, the apple of everyone’s eye. Any man would feel sorry for her. I heard Huo Shu hasn’t married yet. Who knows, he might want to be a dragon husband, as they say.”

“Well, that’s true. We old wives don’t have that luck.”

“But then again, after so many years, there’s no sign of marriage between the Ji and Yu families.”

“Can’t say for sure, people gossip a lot, and I don’t dare to speak recklessly.”

“Even though the marriage is off, the two families still get along well. Look at the boy from the Zheng family next door this morning, he’s been helping out and running errands for us, and he hasn’t even gone back yet.”

“The news sure travels fast. It’s only been a few days since Ji Taoyu called off the engagement, and already there’s a line of people trying to impress him.”

As Yu Lingxiao passed by on the village road, he listened to the villagers’ discussions about the departing pair and clenched his fists tightly, his face turning grim.