Chapter 165

Meng City's autumn climate is always very good, and most days are sunny.

In the afternoon, Xiao Qi's roommates in Huashan 606 Dormitory went their separate ways.

Xiao Qi first took a bus to the New District and went to the driving school to check in. The driving school assigned her a fat, middle-aged male coach with two whiskers under his nose. He looked quite amiable when he smiled. The senior who was processing Xiao Qi's student card said he was a retired veteran who taught very carefully.

"You can leave your student card with me and I'll clock you in. These next few days just focus on studying Stage 1, it's all theoretical knowledge. You students will definitely pass easily. When you feel like you've learned it, you can go online to register for the exam. After passing, come find me to practice driving," Coach Miao said while smoking, the smoke swirling around his dark, tanned face.

Looking at the petite, fair-skinned young girl beside him, he deliberately kept his voice down, afraid to scare her on their first meeting.

But when he looked up and saw the students practicing driving, he suddenly shouted loudly: "Chen Zhiyu, are you trying to run over all my flowers? Reversing into the flowerbed, what the hell!"

The coach's voice was so loud it made Xiao Qi's forehead buzz. The student next to them who had reversed into the flowerbed immediately turned off the engine. Xiao Qi saw it was a male student wearing glasses, flustered.

It was a bit like looking at her own future self, also feeling panicked.

She watched as the coach got into the car, started it up, and demonstrated reversing again. He was fierce but didn't seem impatient.

Only after the coach got out of the car again did Xiao Qi say goodbye to him.

On her way out, she asked the senior who had processed her student card what clocking in meant.

"Students need enough in-car practice time with the coach before they can schedule the Stage 2 exam. And each time, they can only clock 30 minutes. Coach Miao is pretty nice, he'll clock time for you so you don't have to keep coming back and forth. It'd be such a waste of time since the higher-end driving schools are all downtown," the senior explained.

"So do I need to give him a gift?" Xiao Qi had asked around before coming to the driving school and heard that gifts were expected.

Her uncle had also learned to drive. She heard he said you had to give cigarettes, otherwise you'd never get any driving practice. At the school you'd wait a whole day and the coach would only let you drive for half an hour max. But if you gave gifts, the coach would prioritize you and let you practice longer.

Of course, some driving schools charged higher fees, provided shuttling service, and had scheduled driving practice times so you didn't have to wait around.

But after checking, Xiao Qi saw this was the only school near campus that catered to students with lower fees. You really had to just wait your turn, based on what she saw with several students idling by as the coach taught. The higher-end schools were all downtown, each trip would probably take a few hours in transit—that'd be too much of a waste as well.

"If you can, just give the coach a pack of cigarettes, nothing too expensive, mid-range is fine. Coach Miao will prioritize your practice time a little, so you wait less. He's one of the better ones," the senior advised Xiao Qi.

Having no experience with gifts, Xiao Qi felt this was going to be difficult. She didn't feel comfortable buying cigarettes, let alone giving them to the coach...

Maybe get through Stage 1 first, then see, she thought.

After leaving the driving school, Xiao Qi went to the riding field.

Since she'd entered from the off-campus student neighborhood, Xiao Qi went straight to Old Man Yu at the metal gates. Seeing Xiao Qi arrive, Old Man Yu smiled and said, "Xiao Qi, you're right on time. The boss said the weather's good today, time to give the horses a wash. Little Wei isn't here today?"

"Good day, Old Man Yu. Wei Cheng had something to do this afternoon, so it's just me today." Xiao Qi greeted him politely.

"That works too. Horses are bad tempered when being washed, more people would actually make it tougher to wash," Old Man Yu locked the gates and brought Xiao Qi to the stables. Today they were going to bathe the horses, so when Xiao Qi entered the stables, she saw two horses.

One was brown, very tall and sturdy.

The other was white, not a pure white but more grayish, still mostly white overall and a little shorter and thinner.

Both looked quite beautiful.

The brown one looked especially robust, with a pitch black mane that was gorgeous.

It looked very strong, yet its eyes were as pure and docile as a child's.

As Old Man Yu led the horse out, he kept instructing, "Don't be scared, his name's Ji Gu. Don't let his size fool you, he's actually very tame, extremely even-tempered. Just don't stand behind him and startle him, and he won't attack you."

Xiao Qi nodded, able to tell from its gaze that this horse was very gentle.

"Ji Gu was the boss's horse when he first got it, just a small foal, his back only reached my neck. Who knew he'd grow this big so quickly." Old Man Yu chatted while taking out the bathing supplies for the horse.

There were sponges, brushes, towels, bath towels, shampoo, conditioner...

It looked like more trouble than when girls showered.

Old Man Yu grabbed the supplies and handed Xiao Qi the lead rope.

The rope felt light. One end was in Xiao Qi's hand, the other end leashed a giant. It even felt a little heavy and Xiao Qi held it nervously.

Careful not to stand behind the horse, she held the rope standing in front of it. Its back was taller than her, and she had to crane her neck up to see its head.

Xiao Qi held the rope gently, trying to stay relaxed. She was worried about accidentally yanking the rope and pulling the horse. It was her first time being so close to a horse, so she was a little frightened. There were donkeys in her rural hometown, Old Man Li in the village had one. But its fur was always dirty and it liked making a racket—it didn't seem very friendly.

Seeing this, Old Man Yu laughed and said, "Don't be scared, Ji Gu is extremely gentle. Raise your hand and try it."

Xiao Qi slowly lifted her fair, delicate hand into the sunlight.

But she saw the giant horse's head gently lean closer until its breath touched Xiao Qi's palm. It felt warm and a little hard, lightly bumping against her palm.

In that moment, Xiao Qi felt a wondrous sensation.

It must be like when a cat lover first touches their cat master—incredibly tender, heart softening.

It was as if she could understand the horse's intention.

He was tall and strong yet also very friendly and tame.

Xiao Qi couldn't help responding by gently touching Ji Gu in return. What she felt was a rough texture, not soft at all. Seeing Ji Gu's wet eyes move closer, even taking another step forward, Xiao Qi felt it was unbelievable, magical.

She could even see something more in the horse's eyes.

"Old Man Yu, I think Ji Gu is thirsty," Xiao Qi said uncertainly.

"Thirsty? Didn't he drink from the basin?" Old Man Yu muttered and went back to check the stable. He had thought the water was all drunk, but upon approaching, he discovered the bottom of the basin had somehow cracked and all the water had leaked out.

Ji Gu likely kicked it himself. Though tame, Ji Gu was the biggest and strongest horse on the field. The basin was a consumable that could easily be broken by his kick. It was normal.

Old Man Yu took the broken basin outside and replaced it with a new full one.

On Xiao Qi's end, she filled a basin with water and set it in front of Ji Gu, who immediately started drinking.

What made Xiao Qi want to complain a little was that Ji Gu ignored the tap water and only wanted to drink premium bottled mineral water... He looked so pretentious as Xiao Qi carried over bottles of mineral water to pour into the basin before he deigned to elegantly lower his head to drink...

It really acted like quite the spoiled pet.

But also very cute.

As Ji Gu drank, Xiao Qi couldn't help scratching his head. He was clearly parched and paid her no mind, allowing Xiao Qi's hand to scratch him.

After downing nearly half the basin in one go, he lifted his head, let out a dignified burp, and gracefully stood as if to say bath time could commence...

Xiao Qi: ...

She saw the shampoo and conditioner were also specialized horse products, very high-end.

Xiao Qi filled a bucket with warm water, squeezed a big blob of shampoo, and soaked a sea sponge. She first washed Ji Gu's back while he was drumming. Ji Gu seemed to be enjoying it very much, especially when the sea sponge rubbed against his fur and skin, and he kept humming contentedly and moving closer to Xiao Qi.

When washing his belly, she felt a little shy.

When washing his head, he kept shaking it. Xiao Qi even felt Ji Gu was smiling at her, baring his teeth...

Old Man Yu changed the wash basin and found that the little girl had already efficiently started working, which pleased him very much. He thought even this horse had become clever, liking the pretty young girl. Ji Gu had not been nearly so cooperative when he himself washed him.

Xiao Qi wiped Ji Gu down once with the sponge, scrubbing harder at spots she could feel were itchier. Then she adjusted the sprayer to a warm stream and rinsed him completely clean.

She had even soaked his tail in the bucket of shampoo and put conditioner in it, as well as the mane on his back. After applying conditioner she did not tangle it, but used a fine-toothed brush to brush the hair out.

Ji Gu was very happy and quite satisfied with the human washing him. He felt she suited his taste perfectly and was cooperative the whole time.

Once Xiao Qi had rinsed him off completely clean, she draped a bath towel over Ji Gu's back and dried his head with it, basically wiping down all his fur. He shook his body in the sunlight, still splashing some water, and Xiao Qi laughed merrily.

Ji Gu looked so handsome after his bath, his coat all fluffy and expanded. The fur on his face was soft, and his tail like a huge feather duster, with long, soft black hair that was both gentle and beautiful.

Just then, the other little white horse in the stable had already stuck out its head and was whinnying loudly.

When Old Man Yu let it out, it rushed up to Xiao Qi, eagerly squeezing its head in front of her. Ji Gu then nudged it aside, and Xiao Qi laughed heartily.

The scene of one girl with two horses was truly picturesque.