Chapter 38

To ensure the race was as fair as possible—or rather, to make sure he did not get the short end of the stick—Xing Yuan and Yellow Hair both chose positions in the middle of the track. The moment the race began, Xing Yuan surged ahead at the whistle. Qiao Shiyu and the other girls immediately jumped up to cheer for him. But before their cheers could leave their mouths, they turned into cries of alarm—Yellow Hair, trailing behind him, had actually guided his horse into Xing Yuan's with a vicious collision. He also lashed the rump of Xing Yuan's horse hard with his whip. In pain, the horse was knocked into the outer lane and instinctively tried to bolt. Fortunately, Xing Yuan had been on guard against Yellow Hair's dirty tricks all along. He immediately tightened the reins and calmed the horse down.

Yellow Hair had deliberately caused a "rear-end collision," yet he was in no hurry to race for the finish line. With one hand holding the reins and slowing his horse, he raised the other high and gave Xing Yuan a thumbs-up. Then he flipped his wrist and pointed his thumb down, making it clear that he was still looking to cause trouble.

Xing Yuan clenched his jaw and urged his horse forward. As he passed Yellow Hair, he deliberately guided his horse into the outer lane. He would rather have a harder ride than give Yellow Hair another chance to pull something.

When it came to riding skill, Xing Yuan, who had been on the school basketball team and possessed excellent coordination, was naturally far better than Yellow Hair, who spent his days drinking in sports cars and hanging around nightclubs. Unfortunately, Yellow Hair truly lived up to his name when he rode, snapping at Xing Yuan like a mad dog whenever he got the chance. Even after Xing Yuan moved to the outer lane, Yellow Hair would occasionally ride over and ram him. At the turns, he became even more excessive.

What should have been a horse race nearly turned into a bumper-car contest. Everyone was furious. Even Qiao Shiyu, who usually cared greatly about maintaining her school beauty image, leaned over the railing and loudly berated Yellow Hair for being shameless and breaking the rules, let alone everyone else.

After several collisions, Xing Yuan's horse gradually became enraged as well. When Yellow Hair once again used the same trick and rode into him at a bend, Xing Yuan's horse suddenly let out a long neigh and spun around. It reared up on its hind legs, kicked Yellow Hair's horse in the neck with its front hooves, then lunged forward and bit at its mane.

The other horse immediately reared up in pain and fought back. The two horses instantly became entangled, either tearing at each other's ears and manes with their teeth, rearing up to kick each other with their front hooves, or leaping about and lashing out viciously with their hind legs. Caught off guard, Yellow Hair and Xing Yuan, clinging to their backs, were the unlucky ones.

Xing Yuan was in slightly better shape. Before the race had even begun, Yue Bin and Lu Chi had warned him, and his coordination was good to begin with. The instant his horse erupted, he pressed himself against its back, wrapped both arms tightly around its neck, and clamped his legs hard against its belly. No matter how wildly it jumped and bucked, he refused to let go.

Yellow Hair was the unfortunate one. His riding skills were mediocre to begin with, and his physical condition could not compare with Xing Yuan's as a former school basketball player. On top of that, he had never expected the two horses to start fighting. Caught by surprise, he was nearly thrown from the saddle. At the critical moment, he gripped the reins for dear life, while one of his feet was tightly caught in the stirrup. Using every ounce of strength he had, he hung precariously from the horse.

Even so, Yellow Hair was struck several times amid the biting and kicking of the two horses, and it was obvious that he could not hold on much longer.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. By the time the club's horse trainers reacted, the two horses were fighting in earnest and had bolted straight off the track. The club members gathered along both sides of the railing hurriedly scattered, watching helplessly as the horses shot out of the riding grounds and raced toward the golf course.

"Quick, stop the horses!" The two trainers responsible for maintaining order immediately rode after them, trying to bring the enraged horses under control and save the people on their backs.

But the furious steeds had none of their usual gentleness. They kept leaping, galloping, biting, and kicking. When the two trainers got a little closer, the horses even turned around as if they wanted to drag the trainers' horses into the fight as well. The trainers were so frightened that they could only circle around them on horseback, not daring to get too close.

"What do we do? We have to separate them!" Before one trainer could finish speaking, a miserable scream suddenly rang out from the field—

Yellow Hair could no longer hold on atop the bucking horse and let go, immediately falling from the saddle. Worse still, his foot remained tangled in the stirrup. Fortunately, the two horses were locked in a heated fight and had not broken into a full gallop. Otherwise, Yellow Hair might have been dragged to death.

Even so, as he fell beneath them, Yellow Hair was stepped on the shin by a hoof during the horses' biting and ramming. Judging by that agonized scream, it was definitely fractured.

A club member had been injured at the riding grounds. Although Yellow Hair had unquestionably brought it upon himself, the two trainers still grew anxious. They wanted to rescue him and send him to the hospital at once, but they were helpless in the face of the two crazed horses.

Just as they were holding back for fear of making things worse and had no idea what to do, they suddenly heard someone shout from behind them, "Separate Yellow Hair's horse—"

Before the two trainers could react, a gust of wind seemed to sweep past them. Two youths on fine horses flashed by like the wind. One of them, riding a white horse, charged straight toward the horse that still had someone lying on its back. He raised his arm high, his wrist turning nimbly as a long lasso traced smooth circles above his head. As he neared Xing Yuan, the youth swung his arm once and snapped his wrist. The lasso seemed to have eyes as it looped around the horse's neck. Borrowing the momentum of his white horse's charge, he pulled Xing Yuan's horse away.

The next second, the other youth, riding a black horse, urged his mount toward the horse whose head had been lassoed. Once the two horses gradually came alongside each other, the youth on the black horse leaped up and landed directly on the lassoed horse.

In an instant, the horse neighed and reared up, bucking and jumping wildly as it tried to throw off the uninvited guest who had suddenly appeared on its back. But this uninvited guest was not so easily shaken off. He sat firmly in the saddle, gripping the reins tightly and giving the horse no chance to catch its breath. On top of that, Lu Chi had already looped a rope around its neck. After struggling for a couple of rounds, the horse could no longer keep it up. It gradually came to a stop and stood there, snorting and whinnying.