Chapter 472: Good Will Lead to Evil
In the words of the servants in the Yan family, Yun Chen was more diligent in brushing the horse than she was in taking a bath.
Every morning after practicing sword skills, Yun Chen would take the Wolf-Slaying Colt and the Cloud-Swallowing Beast to the yard to wash them.
A small brush every day, a large brush every five days.
First, brush the horse from head to toe with a stiff brush to remove loose hair and dust, then use a coarse-toothed brush to smooth the tail and mane. A daily light brushing is complete.
When brushing the horse, you also need to wash the whole body with water, dry it, clean the bit and reins, etc.
It was time for a big brushing today. When Yan Shijiu walked into the yard, Yun Chen was preparing to bathe the horse with snow.
Water cannot be used to brush horses in winter, so Yun Chen brought two large buckets of snow, rolled up his sleeves high, revealing his porcelain-white arms, and grabbed the snow in the buckets, not caring that his slender fingers were already red from the cold, and rubbed it on the horse's body bit by bit.
Seeing Yun Chen's thin clothes and the tip of her nose slightly red from the cold, Yan Shijiu inexplicably felt distressed and cute, and had the urge to hold her in his arms and warm her up.
"Hey, why did you get up so early today?" Yun Chen greeted Yan Shijiu.
Yan Shijiu took off his fox fur cloak and threw it heavily on Yun Chen's head as if mischievously.
When she took off her cloak, her hair was all frizzy and messy. Yan Shijiu had taken over her job and started brushing the horse with snow.
The Cloud-Swallowing Beast was fine. Apart from expressing its helplessness at Yan Shijiu's clumsy horse-grooming movements and snorting twice through its nose to show its dissatisfaction, there was nothing else wrong with it.
But it is impossible to kill the wolf colt.
This is a fierce horse that only recognizes Huo Gannian. Apart from Huo Gannian, only Yun Chen can get close to it.
The wolf-slaying colt showed great resistance to Yan Shijiu's brushing. He kept shaking his head and tail and even kicking his legs, refusing to let Yan Shijiu get close to him.
Yan Shijiu pulled the reins of the wolf-slaying colt hard and pushed it down, scolding it non-stop, trying to quiet it down, but he was unsuccessful.
He couldn't help but curse under his breath:
"You have the same temper as your master. I insist on asking you two to bow your heads. If you don't, I have a thousand ways waiting for you!"
Yun Chen couldn't hear what Yan Shijiu was mumbling. From her perspective, the wolf-slaying colt was becoming more and more agitated and was about to go berserk. Yan Shijiu was still oblivious like a fool, chanting some inaudible spell at the horse.
In order to prevent the wolf-killing colt from suddenly attacking Yan Shijiu, Yun Chen could only pull him aside and go forward to appease the horse:
"Let me do it."
Yun Chen grabbed the reins and let the wolf-slaying colt shake its hair and act angry. Her hands just moved along with the wolf-slaying colt without exerting any force. She made a soft "hush" sound from her mouth, as patiently as if she was coaxing a child.
The wolf-slaying colt quickly became quiet from its irritability, resting its head against Yun Chen's shoulder and letting Yun Chen stroke it obediently, letting out low cries, as if it was acting coquettishly and complaining to her.
Yan Shijiu stood by with his arms folded, admiring Yun Chen's horse training skills. Seeing how patient and gentle Yun Chen was with the horses, he couldn't help but feel sad.
It seems like... I feel a little jealous?
He himself was speechless. How could he be jealous of a horse? Was he crazy?
"Do you like smoked horse meat?"
Yan Shijiu, who rarely spoke faster than his brain, asked this question.
Yun Chen, the Wolf-Slaying Colt, and the Cloud-Swallowing Beast were instantly bounced three steps away.
Yun Chen was on guard, with a terrified expression:
"What are you doing?"
The horse is a comrade-in-arms. Yun Chen will never eat horse meat unless he has run out of ammunition and food.
Yan Shijiu laughed it off and temporarily gave up the idea of "smoking" the wolf-killing colt.
To show his friendliness, he diligently ran to rub the Cloud-Swallowing Beast's back.
Yun Chen stared at Yan Shijiu with suspicion for a long time before slowly letting down his guard.
The two men brushed the two horses from head to toe until their fur was shiny, and then they stopped to rest.
Yan Shijiu had never done this kind of work before, and he hadn't slept all night, so he was so tired that he sat on a low stool and wiped the sweat off his face.
Yun Chen seemed to be still not finished. He walked around the yard twice with the Wolf-Slaying Colt and the Cloud-Swallowing Beast, carefully observing the horses' gait and smacking his lips:
"Time to trim the hooves."
After saying that, Yun Chen brought out a whole set of tools from the house. Under Yan Shijiu's surprised gaze, he skillfully fixed one of the horse's hoof, picked up a small hammer and hoof pliers, and began to remove the old horseshoe.
Then use the hoof fork to scrape the hoof, use a large brush to clean the dirt and impurities on the hoof, use a hoof knife to scrape off the excess part, use long hoof pliers to cut off the excess hoof wall until the milky white hoof surface is exposed, then use a file to smooth it little by little, and nail on the new horseshoe.
For Yan Shijiu, this scene was something new and novel that he had never seen before.
Yun Chen did it quite skillfully and naturally, and it was obvious that he was a very experienced "old master".
Yan Shijiu held his chin in his hand while watching Yun Chen repair the horse's hoof, and couldn't help but ask:
"Are you going to do such a small thing as trimming the horseshoe yourself? I have plenty of horse servants in my house, just let them do it, and you just ride the horse."
"That's different." Yun Chen answered without looking up, his hands busy. After each hoof he finished trimming, he would bend it over for the horse to see, like a servant asking for his master's opinion:
Are you satisfied?
She treats horses with almost the same equality and respect as she treats people.
This made Yan Shijiu feel interesting again.
"It's rare to love horses to the extent you do. Most people like cats, dogs, birds, and horses, and just play with one or two in their spare time. Even war horses that have been through life and death are only given some good feed, but not to the extent you do."
"'Tease in your spare time'? That's exploitation, not love," Yun Chen said.
These words made Yan Shijiu stunned for a moment.
Yun Chen continued, "Whether you love a person or an animal, love must be done with your heart. Love means constantly caring about them and taking care of them. Playing with them when you're happy and then throwing them aside when you're unhappy is just satisfying your own 'desire to nurture'; it's not love."
After saying this, Yun Chen began to repair the third horseshoe.
Her expression was matter-of-fact and relaxed, yet one could clearly feel her pure kindness from these simple words.
What does it take for a person to have such beautiful facial features and such positive values?
Yan Shijiu couldn't think of anything, his expression was uncertain, his eyes flickered back and forth, and after a long time he smiled faintly:
"That's right. Love should be done with your heart."
He stopped talking and sat quietly by the side watching the horse's hoof being repaired. He watched the smelly and dirty hoof become clean little by little, and he became mesmerized. He entered a state of special peace and concentration, just like he was fascinated by watching Yun Chen dance with the sword.
Listening to the "click-click" sound of trimming the horse's hooves, he suddenly felt sleepy and his eyelids drooped.
By the time Yun Chen had finished trimming the hooves of both horses, Yan Shijiu had already fallen asleep on a small bench, leaning his head against the porch pillar.
His brow was calm, his breathing was even, and he slept as deeply and sweetly as a baby.
Yun Chen laughed and thought: I'm sweating profusely here repairing the horse's hooves, and I've been trying to help you sleep for so long?
She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head to look at the sleeping Yan Shijiu, wondering whether to wake him up or ask someone to carry him back to the house?
Finally, seeing that he was sleeping so soundly, I couldn't bear to disturb him and decided to just leave him alone.
She covered him with the fox fur cloak, clapped her hands, and went to have lunch.
After she finished her meal, Yan Shijiu still hadn't woken up.
For fear of disturbing him, she didn't dare to bring the servants with her to move the tables and chairs, so she could only wander around bored and unknowingly walked into Yan Shijiu's study.
Since she married Yan Shijiu, although Yan Shijiu was frivolous and unforgiving in words, he was very conscious in his actual actions.
After she slept in the bedroom, he went to sleep in the study, saying that there were many books there and he could fall asleep quickly, so it was better than the guest room.
In order to avoid suspicion and keep a distance as friends, except for changing a desk for Yan Shijiu, she rarely came to the study at other times.
The servants in the mansion have also become accustomed to this strange couple who are affectionate and flirting during the day but never sleep together at night.
Being bored, she went into the study to see if there were any picture books or something like that.
But in Yan Shijiu's study, on several rows of bookshelves, apart from some decorative vases and glass jades, the rest were all books on military strategy, power strategy, history, etc.
It was boring and profound, completely different from Yan Shijiu's usual style.
She concluded that Yan Shijiu bought these books to pretend to be a "cultured person" or simply to hypnotize him. She was thinking about how to vilify him when Wan Chen suddenly appeared from behind the bookshelf like a ghost, scaring Yun Chen.
She screamed "Ah——" and subconsciously stepped back, assuming a fighting stance, and slammed into the first row of bookshelves.
The bookshelf swayed from side to side, making a long, smelly creaking sound.
Yun Chen and Wan Chen watched helplessly as the bookshelf tilted and fell heavily towards the second row of bookshelves, followed by the third row, the fourth row...
But in a moment, after a loud earth-shaking noise and the crackling sound of broken porcelain, only Yun Chen and Wan Chen were still standing in the study.
The rest of the bookshelves were all lying down, with all kinds of papers and dust flying everywhere.
Even though Wan Chen was very quick-eyed and quick-handed, he only had time to rescue one square-mouthed green inkstone bottle.
Wan Chen looked at the bottle in his hand. There was a chipped corner at the mouth of the bottle. He accidentally touched it when he left the secret room two days ago.
Thinking that this was one of Yan Shijiu's favorite items, Wan Chen did not dare to tell Yan Shijiu at the time. He was worrying about what to do. How should he repair this thing worth thousands of taels?
Now, the one who settles the account has arrived.
Wan Chen looked at Yun Chen, who was stunned and obviously frightened.
As they looked at each other in bewilderment, he loosened his hands and the square-mouthed green inkstone bottle fell straight down and shattered into pieces on the ground with a "bang".
This sound finally brought Yun Chen back to his senses, and he stared at Wan Chen with wide eyes:
“You, you, you…”
Before she could figure out what was going on, she saw Yan Shijiu running towards her in big strides.
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