The yard was spacious, with a bundle of grass for the pony to eat. When it saw someone coming, it stood there looking around, ears erect, and snorted. Waiting for Bai Luochuan and Mi Yang to get closer, it used its front hooves to dig the soil vigorously, looking nervous.
Mi Yang looked at it from a distance, and the more he looked at it, the more he liked it. Bai Luochuan took a carrot from the side and gave it to him, saying, "Feed it something first, and I'll kiss you in a while."
Mi Yang had never fed a horse before, so he tried to pass the food forward, but the pony was alert and did not eat it.
Bai Luochuan said: "It's strange, I fed it like this in the morning... Look, it ate it."
Bai Luochuan fed the pony, and the pony lowered its head to eat, but its big eyes were still looking at Mi Yang, and it was curious while eating. Mi Yang was tempted by its black satin-like fur and couldn't help himself. When Bai Luochuan approached, he couldn't help but stretch out his little hand to touch it, and said in surprise: "It's so smooth!"
Mr. Bai came over from behind with a cane and said with a smile, "How is it? Pretty, isn't it?"
Mi Yang greeted the old man and nodded, "Grandpa Bai, where did this pony come from? It's so beautiful!"
Mr. Bai said, "Some time ago, the military horse farm in the old district was downsized, and the last few horses left were also going to be sold. I couldn't bear to part with them, so I asked someone to bring one back." He walked closer, reached out and stroked the pony's head with nostalgia in his eyes, "When I first joined the army, there was a cavalry regiment. Every year, the thing I looked forward to most was the arrival of new horses in the camp, like a festival. I would go to the camp gate early in the morning to wait, just to see them in advance. Later, the cavalry regiment was gone, and the horse farms were also downsized one after another..."
The little pony is very close to Old Bai. Even when there are no carrots to eat, he will rub his head against his palm. After all, he is a three-year-old pony and is not very wary of people. This is also the time when he is most likely to build feelings with people.
Bai Lao was rubbed by it and laughed: "Okay, let's not talk about those old things. Look, it's not happy."
The pony was still rubbing against Old Bai's palm, snorting, and looking at him expectantly.
Bai Luochuan asked, "Grandpa, do you have candy in your pocket?"
Bai Lao immediately denied it: "Nonsense, no way!"
Bai Luochuan asked cautiously: "Then why is it so nice to you?"
Old Bai snorted, "That's because grandpa is good at horse riding. When I was your age, I had already started to learn the ropes in the military camp. When I was the head of the cavalry regiment, I had more than a thousand good horses under my command, and they were all so dear to me!"
Bai Luochuan didn't believe it, so he went forward and touched the old man's pocket. Bai Lao chased him away with his walking stick: "Go away, you have no respect for your elders!"
Bai Luochuan said: "You still say there are none, but I have already felt them, there are several!"
The grandfather and grandson were competing for favor in person. One of them was holding a carrot with a look of disobedience on his face, while the other was sticking his neck out with a piece of candy in his pocket and refusing to acknowledge it. Xiao Ma had a much better sense of smell than them, and even though he was young, he could not help himself. He soon bent his head and gently bit the corner of Bai Lao's clothes, begging for candy through his clothes pocket.
Bai Luochuan sneered: "You still say no?"
Bai Lao: “…”
Bai Lao stood up with the help of his cane and said reluctantly, "I got this for Yangyang. Didn't you forget it just now? I'll give it to him now. Yangyang, come here. Grandpa will teach you how to feed the pony!"
Mi Yang walked over, holding back his laughter. Bai Lao took out a few pieces of fruit candy from his pocket and gave them to him. He taught him how to peel off the candy wrapper and spread the candy flat on his palm for Xiao Ma to eat. Bai Lao held his hand, raised it a little higher, and said, "Yes, just approach slowly like this. After feeding it a few times, it will be familiar with you. The little thing has a good memory and it knows who is good to it."
Xiao Ma came closer, rolled the two pieces of fruit candy with his tongue and ate them, and finally agreed to let Mi Yang touch his head.
Mi Yang accidentally touched its ear, and the pony immediately trembled vigilantly and took a step back.
Bai Luochuan came over and said to him, "Your ears won't work. Touch your head first and take your time."
Old Bai stayed with them for a while. He was old and felt a little tired, so he told them not to feed too much and went back to rest.
Bai Luochuan stayed in the yard with Mi Yang and the pony to build a relationship with them, and told Mi Yang the story of the horse.
"When grandpa was in the cavalry regiment, he rode a black horse like this. Grandpa said it was transported from the Mongolian pastoral area. The whole cavalry regiment was shocked at the time. They had never seen such a good horse in all these years. Other horses could not catch up with it even if they ran away. All the horses eating grass in the stable gave way to it first, and no other horse dared to compete with it. The whole regiment treated it like a treasure, but guess what happened later?" Bai Luochuan touched the pony's head, blinked at Mi Yang, and said, "It ran away."
Mi Yang was surprised and asked, "He ran away? Where did he run to?"
Bai Luochuan said, "It ran all the way from Gansu back to Inner Mongolia. It was less than a thousand kilometers from the cavalry regiment to the pastoral area. It took it more than half a month to get back with the other two horses. Two soldiers from the pastoral area each followed two horses for 27 days. When they arrived at the horse farm, the black horse was still eating grass! The herdsman was so moved by it that he didn't want to give it to the cavalry regiment. Later, the division headquarters sent a car to transport the people and horses back. It was even published in the internal publication at the time, praising the horse for its spirituality. It became famous."
Mi Yang listened with great interest and asked, "What happened next?"
Bai Luochuan said, "Afterwards, it followed Grandpa. He kept it even after he retired. Grandpa sent money there every year. In the past, he also sent some food coupons because he knew it loved to eat candy. He has been raising it for three or four generations. When the military horse farm was downsized and they asked whether to sell it to herders or what to do with it, Grandpa couldn't bear to part with it, so he had it transported here."
He patted the pony's head, with some tenderness in his eyes: "This is the last one."
Mi Yang looked at him and felt that he had a sense of contradiction and conflict. This person had a bad temper, but he was always innocent and harmless towards small animals, but he would immediately arm himself towards other people. Mi Yang thought about the friends he had met in the mountains before, and couldn't help but said: "When you saw those children just now, it seemed that... you were not in such a good mood as you are now?"
Bai Luochuan frowned and said, "Their yelling is annoying, I'm too lazy to pay attention to them."
Mi Yang was stunned for a moment and asked, "Did I give you a nickname?"
Master Bai didn't want to talk about it anymore, so he took another carrot and teased the pony and fed it, feeling more comfortable when he was with the animal.
Mi Yang thought for a moment and said, "Maybe they didn't mean it..."
Bai Luochuan interrupted him and said, "You haven't seen the stable yet, I'll take you to have a look." He led the pony and took Mi Yang over there. The sound of horse hooves could be heard, and the pony followed him very obediently. Perhaps because Mi Yang had just given it a piece of candy, it turned its head to look at Mi Yang, as if wondering why he didn't follow.
Mi Yang sighed and followed.
Mr. Bai had a stable built for the pony in the backyard. Perhaps considering that it would grow much bigger in the future, the stable was built very spacious. The wooden walls were covered with ivy, and there was a small sign hung on the side that read: Wu Le.
Mi Yang looked at the small wooden sign curiously and asked, "Is this its name?"
Bai Luochuan said: "Yes."
Mi Yang said: "It seems to be Mongolian. What does it mean when translated?"
Bai Luochuan led the pony in and settled it down. He patted its head, looked at its pair of innocent black and bright eyes, and smiled, "Cloud Atlas, sounds nice, doesn't it? You don't know how handsome it is when it runs. It's faster than the clouds in the sky. When the weather is good tomorrow, I'll take you to see it."
The author has something to say: I wish everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival~