Chapter Ninety-Six: Horseback Riding

At the riding ground, a cluster of little girls lifted their faces and listened with grave attention as the instructor paced back and forth before them.

"Though you are all girls, you were born into wealthy families. You must learn every skill there is: etiquette, music, the qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, arithmetic, archery, and, most importantly of all, horsemanship! If you master these things, you will benefit from them for a lifetime and have something to protect yourselves with. Do you understand?"

"Yes!"

Fu Bao, tiny as she was, had been placed in the very center of the front row. Watching the instructor turn this way and that before her, she already felt as if she might be baked faint from the sun.

"Good. Then who will tell me what the advantages of riding are?" The instructor’s sharp gaze swept over the line. Suddenly, he caught one child wandering off in her own thoughts.

"Lin Cenbao! You tell me. If you learn to ride, what would you use it for?"

Fu Bao lifted her head listlessly. "If I learn to ride?"

"Yes."

"I’d use it to run away!"

The instructor: "????"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I’m still just a baby. Mother always says there are bad people who steal children. If I learn to ride, I won’t have to run with all my strength anymore. I can just ride away on a horse!"

"Uh. Cough—well, that’s true. Anything else?"

"Mm... does skipping class count?"

"..."

The instructor gave Fu Bao a little foal. Looking at Fu Bao riding it in the line, clearly several heads shorter than everyone else, he nodded in satisfaction.

Darn it. She was already thinking about skipping class before lessons had even begun!

"Ah! Little Red, don’t just keep eating grass! The instructor said this time we’re supposed to build a bond with our own ponies." Fu Bao patted the foal’s back as she chattered without pause.

The ponies here were all very gentle, trained by the stable hands, so they were perfectly safe.

"What do you think of me? I’m good to you, aren’t I? Hey, lift your head. I’m talking to you!" The attendant assigned to protect Fu Bao’s safety was utterly speechless.

Little ancestor, at least try to make the pony walk a little. You’ve been talking for half an hour already!

Perhaps Little Red truly could not endure Fu Bao’s endless babbling. It finally lifted its proud little hooves and took two steps.

"Wow! Red, you’re amazing! You actually walked all the way from there to here. That’s incredible!"

The foal: "..."

The attendant: "..."

When horsemanship class ended, Fu Bao hugged the foal with great reluctance.

"Sigh. Red, I’ll come see you again tomorrow!"

The foal: Hurry up and go! Go!

Bai Jie waited at the academy gate for quite a while before she finally saw Fu Bao bouncing toward the entrance, her little topknot bobbing up and down.

"Fu Bao, hurry up! The coachman has been waiting ages!" Bai Jie called.

"I’m coming, I’m coming!"

At supper, Old Madam Bai asked Fu Bao how she liked the academy. Fu Bao said she was extremely happy.

"There’s Sister Lanlan, and Sister Lianlian! And... oh yes, there’s also a sister who keeps fainting," Fu Bao said, remembering Liu Fei’er, whom she had met that day.

Old Madam Bai: "..."

Who were all these people?

"Bao’er, in a few days your grandmother and your mother will be coming. Are you happy?" Thinking of her daughter and granddaughter arriving, Old Madam Bai was delighted as well.

"Mm-hmm. Bao’er hasn’t seen Mother in a long time. I miss her so much." Fu Bao pouted.

Old Madam Bai: "..."

Weren’t you having the time of your life every single day?

After supper, Fu Bao was carried back to her room by Hua Zhi. She was washed clean and tucked into bed.

After a while, Fu Bao suddenly said, "Ginseng, Mother and Father are coming. Do you think they’ll bring Little Black?"

"Probably not. That stupid dog should stay home and guard the house," said the little ginseng spirit, stretched out on the chaise beside her.

"Oh, sigh. Poor Little Black. I miss him so much."

"There’s nothing we can do about it. The road is so long, and even people find it exhausting. Let alone that stupid dog."

"I wish my older brother could come too!" Fu Bao pouted, missing them terribly.