Chapter 56: No Wonder She's So Perfect
"There's a problem," the young man said.
Problem? The size, the muscle lines, and even the remaining issue of being unruly have been solved, what problem could there be?
To be honest, even if put into an international race, Ye Shuang believed that horse might not be worse than the pictures of purebred Ye Shuang had seen online, much less a small local racetrack like theirs.
Therefore, she had a hard time understanding the 'problem' that the young man had mentioned.
However, when she heard the explanation from the young man, Ye Shuang was hit by the harsh reality as she turned with disappointment to look at Yuan Ruan, who was knee-deep in arguments with the group of young masters from the capital. He's right; the problem is huge!
"That horse is the race horse specially brought over from England to represent the capital's group‽" The young man nodded affirmatively as Ye Shuang sighed with despondency. "No wonder she's so perfect, and here I thought we'd struck gold with a hidden treasure."
Reality taught her that she should not put all the eggs in one basket, and over-reliance on good fortune was only going to bite her in the posterior. The opportune acquisition of the alien DNA had probably exhausted most of her good luck; she shouldn't expect her good fortune to continue forever.
"Miss, what shall we do now?" The young man also was feeling dejected. It was already quite impossible to have found a good breed locally, so he had been extra happy when he heard there was a purebred at this racetrack. But now... after knowing the purebred was the ride of his competition, the young man took a quick look around the stables, and there was nothing there that could come close to the spirit of the purebred. If he could not discover a slightly presentable horse soon, the result of the race would have been decided before the race even started.
On his side, only Ye Shuang knew a thing or two about horse appraisal. Even though the young man had basically seen through the other horses and found none better or even slightly worse than the purebred, stuck in a tough position, he had no choice but to place all his hope on Ye Shuang.
"What else can we do? I'll go take a look of the remaining choices!" Ye Shuang rubbed the top of her nose to relax the tension that had gathered there.
She had just told their rider that they had a good chance, but now she was told that the good chance actually belonged to their competition. This sudden turn of events was hard to stomach. Regardless, since Ye Shuang's livelihood hinged heavily on this competition, she could not give up so easily.
However, the result was to be expected.
Instead of an official racetrack, the place was more like a pony-riding stables with a racetrack attached, so one could imagine the type of horses they offered their clientele. The speed needed to be slow, and mostly importantly, they had to be obedient and stable... which was the complete opposite of the sprinting mares needed for horse racing.
Unexpectedly, after giving up on the purebred that first attracted her attention and looking through the rest of the horses, Ye Shuang suddenly was overwhelmed by the desire to cry. As mentioned earlier, the best kind of horses for horse racing were the excitable, wild horses, and the best representatives of such horses were either purebred or Arabian horses.
However, since the stables was in the pony-riding business, to rear a bunch of horses that were easily excited and agitated would be counter-productive to business. Who would dare come to such a place for horseback riding‽ Even if there were such crazy customers, the boss would not dare in order to spare himself the possibility of lawsuits.
Based on all the reasons above, it was understandable that all Ye Shuang could see were mixed-breeds from questionable bloodlines. Weak bone structure, lack of development in the muscles... even the horses' manes looked like they were clumped together, in conclusion, all the horses there looked disconsolate and low-spirited, unlike the purebred wonder that had a shiny coat and an untamed spirit.
If they really went onto the track with any of these choices, just by standing beside their competition, it would have attracted the derision from the crowd.
After searching high and low, they finally settled on the least bad option. Under the scrutiny of the group of socialites, their choice was brought to the starting line, and even an amateur rider like Yuan Ruan was stunned.
"This... this is the horse that you were impressed with?" Looking at the purebred that was already standing at her position on the starting line and then at the horse ridden by the provincial champion, she had a hard time believing this horse could win them the competition.
Based on looks alone, that seemed pretty impossible!
Ye Shuang glanced at the purebred that was huffing and puffing, ready to run, and her lips twitched with several dry laughs. "I've tried my best."
She really did not know how to explain herself; after all, she was also an innocent spectator who was tricked.
When the group of young masters from the capital had heard Yuan Ruan claim confidently that she would win this race, they believed she had found herself a premium horse, but now, after taking a look of their competition... It was already giving face to Mr. Fang that they were laughing to themselves silently and not openly.
The two horses stood side by side at the starting line with the foreign jockey and the young man just one meter away from each other. With their professional eye, they could pick up many things that the amateurs could have missed.
Since even amateurs could discern the difference in quality between the two racers, of course, it was obvious to the two riders as well, and how could the obvious winner not react in any way to this?
He scanned the young man from the top of his head to the bottom of his toe out of the corner of his eyes before ending it with a derisive glance at the pony that his competition was riding. The foreign rider tutted before bending down to pat his precious horse on her side, saying, "Good girl, just take a look at our competition this time... I really don't understand why Mr. Fang insisted on bringing us to a place like this."
Rosie looked to her side haughtily and was about to neigh proudly when her neck froze. She sensed a demon-like presence looming just beyond the dumb horse that was standing beside her.
The horse's gaze met the girl's, and Ye Shuang flashed a smile at the pretty little purebred.