The horse she had bought in a hurry simply was not good enough. It was a nag; Pan Yun had to whip its rump for ages before it moved even a little. It had originally been meant for pulling carts, so its endurance was sufficient, but its speed was lacking.
Fortunately, the people ahead were riding in a carriage, so they were not traveling very fast either.
Pan Yun stroked her new companion's neck and coaxed it for a long while, then gave it a piece of candy. Only then did the nag lift its noble hoof and start forward amid Pan Little Black's snorting laughter.
Clop-clop,
Clop-clop.
The young nobleman in the carriage lifted the curtain and glanced behind him. Seeing the horse walking without the slightest order and the young girl atop it nearly falling off several times, he lowered the curtain and paid it no further mind.
The curtain on the other side was lifted as well. A middle-aged man poked his head out for a look behind them, then lowered the curtain and said, "It's nothing. They should be traveling the same road. I wonder whose child that is. It would have been one thing if she had not prepared a horse before setting out, but she could at least have gotten a donkey. Riding a nag out like this—wasn't she afraid of falling?"
The moment his words fell, there came a thud from behind, loud enough that even the rumbling of the carriage wheels could not conceal it.
The carriage continued onward. To preserve the young girl's dignity, no one turned around to look.
Pan Yun climbed up from the ground, dusted the dirt off her backside, and silently locked eyes with the horse.
Compared to the horse's eyes, hers were small.
Pan Yun let