Chapter 19

Hong Kong has been cloudy these days, with constant drizzling rain. On this day, Ye Tianhui went to the racecourse to take the test, and it was still cloudy. There

was a traffic jam on the road, but fortunately she got up early, so she had less time to go.

When she arrived at the Benteng Racecourse, she saw that there were already many people queuing outside the racecourse. Everyone needed to register and fill out a form, so she took a pen and wrote.

She learned simplified Chinese in the mainland, but fortunately her Dazhao characters were similar to the traditional Chinese characters in Hong Kong today, so she had to follow the old Dazhao writing method.

Who knows? The person in charge said, "What did you write?"

Ye Tianhui: "..."

She said carefully, "Isn't this word written like this?"

The person in charge looked at her with contempt, took a piece of paper next to him, and pointed it out to her. Only then did she realize.

Although most of the traditional Chinese characters here are the same as those in Dazhao Kingdom, a few are also different.

While she was registering here, a motorhome drove slowly over. When the staff of the horse farm saw the car, they had already respectfully stepped forward and opened the door. The motorhome

belonged to the Ye family, and the person sitting in the car was Ye Wenyin.

The Ye family has now established a horse company and has spent a lot of money to buy several horses to participate in this season's horse racing. The family horse company is now led by the second uncle of the Ye family, Ye Lizhen, but Ye Wenyin also participated in the horse purchase process this time, so she also has a seat in the horse company. This time she came to the racecourse to see her own horses.

Her eyes casually swept over the group of people who registered in front of the racecourse. She just wanted to take a look, but who would have thought that she would see Ye Tianhui among them.

Her heart suddenly paused.

She knew that a group of stable employees seemed to be assessed today. Ye Tianhui actually came here to participate in the interview?

You know, the horses that the Ye family bought with a lot of money are now all in the Benteng Racecourse. If Ye Tianhui also comes to work at the Benteng Racecourse, she will inevitably come into contact with the Ye family...

Ye Wenyin stared at Ye Tianhui's back and frowned slightly.

She felt vaguely that things had gone in a direction that she could not control.

At this time, Ye Wenjing next to her looked over in the direction of her sight and also saw Ye Tianhui. Ye

Wenjing was from the fourth room, the fifth in the family, half a year older than Ye Wenyin, and the two had a good relationship since childhood.

As soon as he saw Ye Tianhui, he frowned: "Isn't this the mainland girl that day?"

Ye Wenyin nodded slightly: "It's her."

She took a deep breath and glanced at Ye Wenjing: "I met her at Yunfang that day."

When Ye Wenjing heard "Yunfang", his face turned bad: "It's her, this mainland girl is so mean!"

Ye Wenyin sighed: "Forget it, don't blame her, she may come to the horse farm to work, I am naturally embarrassed about this, but it's also my own bad luck, how can I blame others?"

However, Ye Wenjing was very injustice.

When he returned home that day, Ye Wenyin's eyes were red, and he happened to see it and asked about it, but Ye Wenyin went back to her room without saying a word and started crying, and she didn't open the door when he knocked.

He asked and found out what happened. This was naturally quite embarrassing for Ye Wenyin, and even a humiliation for the Ye family.

Who wouldn't want to be famous when a family like theirs goes out?

Later, he specially asked professionals to identify the crocodile skin, but to his surprise, after the boots were identified, they were indeed crocodile skin, and the material was indeed very strong. As for why it was torn at that time, the experts were also puzzled. Now they are still studying and trying to come to a conclusion.

The store also refunded them and apologized solemnly. The matter ended here for them, but Ye Wenyin was obviously depressed and even uneasy at times, which made Ye Wenjing unhappy.

It just so happened that the British purebred horses purchased by the Ye family arrived these days. After settling in, because the old man planned to come over next week, he let Ye Wenyin know the general situation first, so as to make further arrangements and plans for the family's racehorses.

Ye Wenjing thought that it would be good to be able to go out and relax. After all, the racecourse is spacious, and running horses and looking at the scenery will always be good for the mood, so he also accompanied him.

But who would have thought that he would meet Ye Tianhui head-on.

Bad luck!

Ye Wenjing sneered: "Is she here to work? Just because she wants to work here? If such a northern girl comes to work at the racecourse, I will see her every time I come here in the future, and I will feel that this racecourse is full of stench!"

Ye Wenyin looked at Ye Wenjing, and she clearly saw the contempt and disdain in his eyes.

She sighed, but gently advised: "Fifth brother, we don't need to argue with her. These people are all pitiful people. Let's let her go and ignore her."

Ye Wenjing heard this and shook his head and said: "Wen Yin, I know you have a good temper, but you have to know that you are too kind. People who are kind are often bullied. People like this, if they can swim in the raging sea, they must have crawled in the mud. With their character, they are so cruel for a redwood. You can sell meat skin. If you indulge them, who knows how arrogant they will be in the future. You should teach them a lesson. "

Ye Wenyin was helpless: "Forget it, I won't say anything, it's up to you. I get a headache when I see people like this. You can do whatever you want. I can't control you."

As she said this, her eyes fell to the glass window, but she happened to see Ye Tianhui who had finished registering and was walking into the horse farm with a wet and dripping umbrella.

She looked at her back, pulled her lips, and chuckled.

***********

Ye Tianhui actually saw a luxury car passing by, but she didn't think much about it. She was now thinking about the next assessment.

After she registered, she was taken to the horse farm with a group of people and waited in line with a group of thin-looking teenagers.

Those boys didn't look very old, about twelve to fourteen years old, all wearing blue riding clothes, but they were all very thin, even skinny.

At this time, she heard someone whispering around her, as if they were talking about those boys. She listened carefully and found out that these people were called "Chongzi", and they were generally from poor families and were adopted to train riding skills.

Ye Tianhui thought about it for a while and understood.

Gu Shizhang once talked about the requirements of the horse farm for jockeys, and they had very strict weight requirements for jockeys.

In this case, ordinary people may not meet the requirements. In order to train their own jockeys, the horse farm may find some short and thin children to train, and at the same time let them control their weight from an early age to achieve the best results.

This is not uncommon, for example, dancers or some athletes are trained from a young age and properly control their weight.

Soon, those "bugs" were led to another meeting room by the person in charge, and Ye Tianhui and others were also arranged to take the exam.

The exam started with an interview, and the interviews were one by one. After Ye Tianhui went in, the examiner asked her in English. Her English foundation was too poor, that is, she spoke hoarse English. Fortunately, Gu Shizhang had taught her a lot in the past few days, especially some professional vocabulary that she knew. The examiner thought that her accent was not good on the one hand, and her vocabulary was rich on the other hand. After weighing it, he actually passed her.

After passing, the second level was the operation category, which examined the stable cleaning skills (actually sweeping the stables), daily horse care, as well as preparing and unloading horses, and cleaning and disassembling saddles, etc.

Ye Tianhui was naturally very familiar with horses in her previous life, but the modern saddle equipment in Hong Kong was different from her time, and she was not proficient in using it.

But it seemed that the people who applied with her were not familiar with each other. After all, if they were particularly familiar with each other, they would not have applied for such a small temporary stable assistant position.

The results came out soon. A total of five people passed the assessment. These five people were assigned to different stables to receive the most basic tests.

A young man named Jessie came over, smiled and greeted Ye Tianhui, and asked her to follow him to the stable, saying that Ye Tianhui would be assigned to his stable in the future.

He held a wet umbrella in his hand: "It's raining outside, let's go, let's hurry."

Ye Tianhui picked up her umbrella and followed Jessie. The rain outside was already heavy, and the whole horse farm was shrouded in heavy rain. There was water flowing down from the track halfway up the mountain.

Jessie bent down and rolled up her trouser legs, cursing in a low voice: "What kind of horrible weather is this!"

The wind blew and the rain drizzled down the hem of Jessie's clothes, and Ye Tianhui quickly used her umbrella to shield him.

Jessie rolled up her trouser legs, wiped the rain off her face, and smiled at Ye Tianhui: "Thank you, your name is Ye Tianhui, right? Are you from the mainland?"

Ye Tianhui nodded.

She could tell whether others were kind or malicious. When they asked "I'm from the mainland", some people were presumptuous and contemptuous, while others were just asking.

She smiled and said, "I've only been here for a short time. I don't speak Cantonese well, and I only know a few traditional Chinese characters. If I can stay, please give me more advice."

Jessie smiled and said, "I don't speak Cantonese well either. Didn't you hear that?"

He winked at her, a little naughty.

Ye Tianhui: "It seems so. You have an accent, a very strange accent. I don't understand it very well."

Jessie laughed: "Actually, my father is half Portuguese. I am a Chinese-Portuguese mixed race, with a quarter of Portuguese blood. My accent was influenced by my father. Look at my appearance, isn't it different from the locals?"

After saying that, he deliberately moved closer to let her see his face clearly.

It was raining and the air was humid. He was so close that Ye Tianhui felt that his face was particularly big.

She pursed her lips and smiled: "Yes, you are a little different. If you look closely, you must be a mixed-race!"

Jessie: "That's right!"

As he said that, he led Ye Tianhui to the stable: "From now on, the two of us will be in charge of Stable No. 71. We now have six horses in our stable. Our daily job is to serve the horses here. I have been working here for a year. I have always been a stable assistant, the lowest-level staff member, and I have been ordered around every day. But now you are here, and I can order you around in the future. In front of you, I am your elder."

Ye Tianhui smiled and said, "Okay, I get it."

As he said that, they finally arrived at their stable. The moist and cool air followed them into the stable, and the stable was filled with the smell of hay and horse manure.

The two hung the dripping umbrella next to the wooden shed at the entrance of the stable, and then Jessie gave her a general introduction to the stable.

This racecourse now has the most advanced stable equipment in Hong Kong, with the most complete horse training facilities, including horse swimming pools, mountain running tracks and rest areas.

In addition to horses, there are also about 300 horses entrusted to Hong Kong tycoons.

The stable is equipped with a full set of staff, in addition to horse racing related jobs such as jockeys and trainers, there are also veterinarians, equestrian affairs assistants, coaching assistants, nailers and event trainee administrative assistants.

Of course, these jobs all require a series of selection and training. Ye Tianhui is new here and is not qualified to participate in the professional technical training. She can only work as an apprentice stable assistant here for the time being.

Her job is to clean the stable, stable equipment and tools, supervise the health and hygiene of the horses in the care of the stable, and accompany the horses during transportation when there is a need to transport the horses.

Jessie smiled and said, "Specifically, our job is to take care of the horses here, feed them, bathe and massage them, and take them for a walk. If the trainer wants to use any horse, we also have to prepare the horse in advance. The six horses here are all retired, but each one is a good horse."

Ye Tianhui could only nod her head.

She was naturally familiar with horses in her previous life, and what Jessie said about horse care was more or less consistent with her own knowledge. However, thanks to the development of technology and the convenience of tools, and of course the innovation of concepts, what she knew was obviously outdated and old-fashioned. These new things were more scientific and reasonable. It seemed that she still had a lot to learn.

As she was talking, the door opened, and an old man with an umbrella walked in quickly, and a storm also rushed in.

The old man quickly closed the door, and then said to Jessie: "Jessie, No. 56 and No. 32, prepare the horses, we need those bugs."

Jessie frowned when she heard it: "Now?"

The old man had gray hair, wore a suit, and spoke with a northern accent mixed with English, which was a little serious: "Yes, we need them now, hurry up!"

Jessie was helpless: "It's raining so hard, why do you need to use our horses."

The old man: "It's not my decision, hurry up."

The old man went out for a while, and it seemed that he was going to notify other stables. Jessie cursed helplessly.

Ye Tianhui was curious: "You still want to go horse racing on a rainy day?"

On the way here just now, she saw that the horse racing track was built against the mountain and there were some obstacles, which means that during the horse racing process, they have to go up and down the mountain and cross obstacles, which is still a bit challenging for ordinary horses.

It is raining now, so much rain is flowing down, and they are still racing. This is too dangerous.

Jessie shrugged and said helplessly: "Those bugs want to ride horses, they must be reluctant to use good horses. The horses here are all retired old horses, and they don’t feel bad about using them."

Ye Tianhui was puzzled: "On a rainy day, let those bugs ride horses? They haven’t entered the industry yet, and they are so young. They haven’t received the most basic training. Let them run on an obstacle course in this weather?"

Jessie could naturally hear her surprise and looked at her helplessly: "Indeed, this is their purpose."

Then he began to explain that these "bugs" were all teenagers from poor families. Generally, the minimum age to engage in horse riding is sixteen. This is the rule, but horse racing does not look at birth certificates. Many people don't have birth certificates anyway, so there is a problem of lying about age.

He looked at Ye Tianhui and said, "So it is best to start riding horses at a younger age, twelve or thirteen, because this is the best body shape. They have to undergo certain tests. Only after passing the tests can they be selected by the horse trainers at the horse farm and trained to become the best in this industry."

He didn't say it in detail, but Ye Tianhui understood it immediately.

These bugs were selected to undergo very hard training, just like in the old society, if an apprentice wanted to follow a master to make a living, he might have to go through some training and examination, and these bugs also had to go through such an examination before they could have this job.

Even if they could have this job, life was not easy. It is estimated that they could only get a small part of the money they earned when they were young, and most of it was taken away by the horse farm or the master. Some people would be eliminated in this process, and some would survive to the end, become masters, and then take apprentices, thus forming a cycle.

At this time, Jessie began to prepare with a full belly of complaints, and Ye Tianhui helped from the side, and took out waterproof raincoats and put them on the two horses. After that, both of them put on raincoats, held umbrellas, and led a horse out.

The rain outside was getting heavier, but fortunately, the two horses were experienced and did not back down.

The two men led the two horses to the track, but saw that there were already more than a dozen horses and more than twenty teenagers gathered here. Those teenagers should have been screened.

They were all very thin and short, standing silently in the rain, just getting wet.

Not far away, the originally neat racecourse has now become muddy, everything looks messy and shabby, except for the obstacles on the mountain road, which are still standing in the rain.

Ye Tianhui followed Jessie and led her horse to the stable next to her to take shelter from the rain, ready to receive orders at any time.

At this time, Ye Tianhui felt a silent line of sight. She looked in the direction of the line of sight and saw a familiar face.

The soaked riding gear tightly wrapped around his thin body, his short black hair stuck to his forehead, and his pair of dark eyes just looked in her direction.

Through the cold rain, their eyes met, and Ye Tianhui looked into those eyes. They were a pair of dark eyes filled with desire.

Ye Tianhui was very familiar with this look.

She had seen such eyes when she stood on the city wall and looked at those skinny soldiers.

It was also the day when she wolfed down two wife cakes and was satisfied, and she saw the pair of eyes hiding behind the trash can.

It turned out to be him.

I didn't expect that he would be collected to the horse farm and become a candidate for the bug.

I didn't look closely that day, but now it seems that he actually looks very clean, with a delicate appearance, long and thick eyelashes, but he is too thin.

It was still raining at this time. A drop of rain rolled down from his nose, flowing down his pale face and flowing over his slender and thin neck.

He pursed his lips and avoided her gaze.

Ye Tianhui also withdrew her gaze.

Staff members came over, including several skinny horse trainers. They stood in the rain with bare arms and began to check the boys one by one. Some even reached out to pinch their arms, measure their bodies, and observe their feet.

Those boys were like cattle and horses in the market, allowing them to be picked without saying a word.

Jessie came closer and kindly explained to her: "Look, they are looking at the feet."

Ye Tianhui whispered: "Why, is it because the feet can predict future weight?"

Jessie: "Yes, they believe that a child grows his feet first. If the feet are too big, he will be tall and heavy in the future."

He went on to explain: "In formal competitions, we usually announce the weight three days before the competition. The required weight range is between 108 and 118 pounds, which is difficult for ordinary men, so we have to be strict."

Ye Tianhui listened and roughly calculated. She knew that one pound was less than one catty. In that case, if it was a male jockey, the height requirement was indeed very strict, and he had to be an extremely thin person.

As they talked, each horse trainer picked a boy. They led their boys aside, while those who were not picked were shouted away.

Ye Tianhui saw that the boy with dark eyes was picked by a horse trainer wearing a straw hat.

As for those who were not picked, disappointment appeared in their dull eyes. They looked at each other, not knowing what to do, and finally could only be taken away by the staff - obviously they also knew that they were eliminated.

After those boys walked away, some people looked over here with reluctant eyes.

After the boys were selected, the assessment experience also began. Ye Tianhui saw that the horse trainers brought a heavy old horse blanket. They handed the old horse blanket to the boy, and the boy put the horse blanket on his back.

Ye Tianhui was a little confused and whispered to Jessie: "What is this for?"

It looked like it was to keep out the rain, but this horse blanket was obviously not a rainproof item. This kind of horse blanket is thick and is used to keep the horse warm in winter. It can absorb a lot of water, so how can it be used to keep out the rain.

Jessie held the reins and whispered: "Let's make it a little more difficult for them. If they can ride a horse for a circle and ensure that the horse blanket does not fall off, then they will pass the level. Of course, it also plays a protective role in case they fall."

Ye Tianhui frowned, and she began to realize the cruelty of the next selection.

After the teenagers put on the horse blankets, Ye Tianhui and others received orders to lead their horses over for use. Obviously, Jessie was reluctant to do so and said distressedly: "Poor my Unnasch, so pitiful."

But he obviously couldn't make the decision, so he could only reluctantly lead the horses out.

The young men were led to the horses, and each of them could pick a horse. Obviously, the young men didn't know much about horses, and most of them looked at the horses in a daze. These horses weighed about a thousand pounds and were at least 1.7 meters tall, while the young men only weighed about 80 pounds. They looked so thin and small in front of these tall horses. They didn't understand and didn't know where to start.

Only the black-eyed young man walked forward and walked in front of Ye Tianhui.

Ye Tianhui handed him the reins in her hand, and then whispered quickly: "Pay attention to the sixteenth obstacle when you go down the mountain."

The young man heard it and looked up.

Ye Tianhui didn't look at him again, and lowered her head to adjust the stirrups. Seeing this, the young man stopped talking. After Ye Tianhui adjusted the stirrups, he led the horse out silently.

Soon, all the young men present had chosen their own horses, and they climbed onto the horses at the request of the horse trainer.

This was obviously unfamiliar to them. These children from poor families had no chance of ever having experience with horse racing, but they could only climb onto the horses, hold the reins tightly, and clutch the horse blanket in their hands, waiting for the next arrangement of their fate.

It can be seen that they were all very nervous.

Because just now, the screeners had eliminated a group of people, and if they could not pass the next test, they would definitely leave with disappointment.

Ye Tianhui looked at the black-eyed boy just now. He was really thin, so thin that he might weigh only more than 70 pounds, and his waist was so thin that one hand could pinch it.

But he sat on the horse, his two feet stepped on the stirrups, and his upper body remained upright, looking very stable.

Ye Tianhui admired him. He seemed to have some talent to be chosen as a worm boy.

But she felt complicated when she saw the boy's back.

Being able to stay as a worm boy was a way for these boys to make a living, but she also understood that being a worm boy must be very hard. They had to control their diet and weight, and they had to put in a lot of effort but might not achieve any results.

At this time, those young boys who had never ridden horses had already ridden on the track. Fortunately, these horses were old horses that had been through many battles, and the one that Ye Tianhui led was even more so. Compared with those boys who were at a loss when they rode on horses for the first time, these old horses actually knew how to overcome those obstacles better.

The track built on the mountain is 2,400 meters long and has 23 obstacles. It became slippery after being washed by heavy rain. As the horses' hooves flew, mud and water splashed all over the young boys.

Because of the speed and the mud, the bodies of these young riders all leaned forward slightly.

The horses began to cross the obstacles. When the horses jumped up, a young rider fell down. As the horses roared, the young rider seemed to be trampled. There were faint screams of pain in the heavy rain. Someone cursed "useless wood" and ran over with the stretcher.

Jessie, who was standing next to Ye Tianhui, took a deep breath and sighed, "It's so pitiful. The child must have been trampled by the horse."

Ye Tianhui didn't say anything.

The rain had subsided by then, and her eyes followed the black-eyed boy closely.

He seemed to have passed four obstacles without any harm, and his horse was indeed an old horse, running fast and steadily.

She saw that his horse was running wildly on the track up the mountain. Because of the high speed, the horse's body was swaying violently, and the strong muscles on the back and buttocks were surging.

Ye Tianhui understood that riding on such a horse was not as stable as ordinary people thought. When the horse was running wildly, it was like a high-speed boat in the wind and waves. In fact, it was a very difficult and physically demanding task to keep balance on this horse and not fall off.

She squinted her eyes slightly, and through the rain mist, she could clearly see that the black-haired boy had hunched up, his whole body suspended in the air, his toes firmly clasped on the violently shaking stirrup.

He had already pressed all the weight of his frail body onto the toe support.

The horse trainer beside him obviously noticed the black-haired boy. Some of them whispered in praise, while others said, "This boy has talent!"

Another horse trainer said, "It's very dangerous. If he moves a little backward, he will flip over. If he moves a little forward, he will fall off the horse."

Ye Tianhui listened to this and naturally understood that from the posture of the black-haired boy, he could naturally control the best riding posture even though he had never ridden a horse. His body balance, coordination and reaction ability should all be excellent. In other words, this child has a talent that ordinary people don't have.

But he has no experience after all. On the back of a horse running at such a high speed, the balance range that the rider can control is actually very small. If the front and back are off by a few inches, the consequences will be disastrous.

Therefore, competition is cruel and requires talent and perseverance. The selection of the bugs in front of us is to select those young people with innate talents.

Ye Tianhui stared at the situation on the field without blinking. The speed of the galloping horses was swift. After crossing one obstacle after another, people kept falling off the horses, but the black-haired boy had already led the horses next to him by half a horse's length.

Ye Tianhui's eyes swept forward. At this time, the rain became heavier. She passed the heavy rain curtain and her eyes fell on the sixteenth obstacle in front.

In fact, when she just glanced over, she had already seen that the height of the 23 obstacles on the entire track was no more than 1.1 meters. Most of them were set in the middle of the straight track, but six obstacles were set on the rugged mountain road going up and down the mountain. The 16th obstacle, at first glance, was nothing special, but it was located at the turn of the track, and that turn was still downhill.

In other words, according to common sense, a horse sprinting through the straight road would sprint very fast, but here suddenly there was a sharp downhill turn, and at the same time, a 1.1-meter obstacle was added.

This is also a difficulty for professional athletes. For these teenagers who have no experience in riding horses, especially in the heavy rain, it is simply a death checkpoint! When

she thought of the black-haired boy, her heart was slightly lifted.

Can he pass this death level?