Just as the leading Li Xiujian thought he could win this race, Lu Mingye, who had been following closely behind him, suddenly gave up the chase.
He reined in his horse and stopped.
Everyone was stunned.
Including Li Xiujian.
He looked back, puzzled, at Lu Mingye.
Lu Mingye did not look at him.
Instead, he flashed a brilliant smile towards a certain direction in the stands.
He dismounted, handed the reins to a groom who came running over, and then walked straight towards the stands.
He had forfeited the race.
Because he saw that the pretty girl he had invited seemed to be growing impatient.
For him, winning or losing a race was far less important than a date.
On the terrace, Lu Chengsi's expression finally showed a flicker of change.
The fingers holding the celadon teacup seemed to have whitened slightly from excessive force.
"Hahahaha!"
Li Hongji burst into loud laughter.
"Brother Chengsi, your son is quite the romantic!"
"Willing to forsake the crown for a beauty!"
"How interesting, how interesting!"
Just as everyone was captivated by Lu Mingye's antics, no one noticed that Mo Zhenbang, who had been lagging in last place, began to accelerate.
His horse had been held back at a controlled pace all along.
Its stamina had been preserved exceptionally well.
Now, he loosened the reins.
The chestnut steed, like a shell fired from a cannon, began a frantic pursuit.
By the time Li Xiujian snapped out of his distraction caused by Lu Mingye's spectacle, he heard the urgent sound of hoofbeats behind him.
He looked back, and his pupils contracted sharply.
Mo Zhenbang was less than fifty meters behind him.
And the distance was closing rapidly.
"Damn it!"
Li Xiujian cursed angrily, lashing his horse's back fiercely.
The black Arabian horse, stung by the pain, accelerated again.
But it had expended too much energy from the very start.
Its final sprint was already somewhat struggling.
The finish line was right there.
Forty meters.
Thirty meters.
Twenty meters.
Mo Zhenbang caught up.
The two horses were almost neck and neck.
Li Xiujian's face flushed crimson.
He absolutely could not lose!
Especially not to Mo Zhenbang!
At the very moment they were about to cross the finish line, Li Xiujian made an extremely covert move.
His whip was not aimed at his own horse.
Instead, with a flick of his wrist, the tip of the whip, like a venomous snake, silently grazed past the head of Mo Zhenbang's horse.
The startled chestnut warmblood jerked its head to the side.
Its speed faltered for an instant.
That instant was enough.
Li Xiujian's black horse crossed the finish line first.
He had won.
By only half a head's length.
He raised his arm high, declaring his victory to the entire field.
But the expected cheers did not rise from the stands.
Everyone's expression was somewhat subtle.
Many had seen what just happened.
Li Xiujian's win was not honorable.
Mo Zhenbang reined in his horse, stopping past the finish line.
He did not look at Li Xiujian.
He simply leaned down and gently patted his horse's neck, soothing it.
Li Xiujian rode over to him.
"Mo Zhenbang, you lost."
"The plot of land in the east of the city is mine."
Mo Zhenbang looked up.
His face remained calm.
"I only agreed to race you with you. When did I agree to a wager?"
"What did you say?"
Li Xiujian's eyes instantly turned dangerous.
"Are you going back on your word?"
Mo Zhenbang remained utterly unmoved, continuing calmly,
"Moreover, the ownership of a piece of land shouldn't be decided by a horse race."
"That would be too childish."
"You!"
Li Xiujian was furious.
He felt humiliated.
The victory he had worked so hard for, even resorting to underhanded tactics, was considered merely "childish" in the other's eyes.
Just as he was about to erupt, Lu Mingye walked over with the pretty girl.
"Alright, alright, Young Master Li, don't be angry,"
Lu Mingye said with a smile, trying to smooth things over.
"The three of us are spoken of together, yet today is the first time we've all gathered."
"How about this? Tonight, my treat, at Caesar's Palace!"
"The gathering of the three young masters of Jingzhou will surely make for a fine story."
He skillfully shifted the topic, trying to ease the tension.
Li Xiujian looked at him coldly.
"Not interested."
Then, ignoring everyone else, he turned his horse and headed straight for the exit.
Li Xiujian's blatant disregard left Lu Mingye somewhat embarrassed.
The farce thus came to an end.
Lu Mingye took the pretty girl and got into his newly bought Ferrari.
The roar of the sports car soon faded into the distance.
The equestrian club gradually returned to calm.
Mo Zhenbang led his horse, walking slowly back to the stables.
His father, Mo Jingsheng, was already standing there, though no one knew when he had arrived.
"Dad."
"Mm." Mo Jingsheng nodded.
He glanced at the chestnut horse.
"Good horse."
He then looked at his son.
"You did well too."
Mo Zhenbang said nothing.
"Sometimes, losing is better than winning,"
Mo Jingsheng said slowly.
A glimmer of understanding flashed in Mo Zhenbang's eyes.
"I understand."
Elsewhere.
Lu Chengsi stood on the terrace, watching his son's red Ferrari disappear in a cloud of dust.
His face was calm, his thoughts inscrutable.
Only, the aura around him grew colder and more forbidding.
His secretary behind him didn't dare to breathe too loudly.
Lu Chengsi stood there for a long time.
Until the setting sun stretched his shadow long.
He picked up his cell phone.
Dialed a number.
"Old Liu, help me arrange a meeting with Director Li from the National Development and Reform Commission."
"Tell him I'd like to personally report to him some... immature thoughts regarding the future industrial planning for the new eastern district."
The person on the other end of the line immediately agreed.
Lu Chengsi hung up.
His gaze once again turned towards the distance.
Victory or defeat on the racecourse truly didn't count for much.
The real game hadn't even begun yet.
He glanced at the seat where Li Hongji had been sitting earlier and recalled Mo Jingsheng's words, "They're all still just children."
A cold, sharp curve appeared at the corner of Lu Chengsi's mouth.
The farce at the equestrian club was like a stone thrown into water.
The ripples slowly spread within their respective families.
u serious?" Chen Feng watched helplessly as his painstakingly trained disciple, fresh off a championship victory, publicly abandoned him. "You had your chance, but you didn’t appreciate it. Now, face the consequences of your choice!" Chen Feng possessed the "Master System," a treasure trove of supreme martial arts techniques, capable of molding ordinary individuals into peerless prodigies. "Legs like yours? A shame not to train in the Crippling Kick." "Ever heard of a palm strike that descends from the heavens?" "Auntie! I see extraordinary bone structure in you—a martial arts prodigy, one in ten thousand." The once-defiant senior disciple, now watching her juniors rise to fame one after another, dominating the internet, was consumed by endless regret.
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
Explosive Plot Song Gua crossed over into another world, bringing along a whole crew of his doppelgangers—all of them mischief-makers. This was a world where everyone could choose a class. Song Gua became a "Bondweaver," capable of borrowing power, while his doppelgangers took on a wide variety of classes, covering just about everything. The number of doppelgangers grew day by day, each one a talented individual with a charming way of speaking. Under Song Gua's brilliant leadership, they would "greet" each other daily and engage in friendly "sparring," pulling off one major scheme after another on Earth. Sometimes they were bandits—stealing bosses, plundering mines, snatching resources. Sometimes they were saviors—descending like divine warriors to face world bosses threatening to massacre cities. Sometimes they even went undercover, infiltrating various major factions to stir up trouble from within, keeping their enemies constantly on edge. To prevent their doppelganger abilities from being exposed, Song Gua made them wear masks with mahjong tile patterns and don Taoist robes in various colors. "Remember, in front of outsiders, call me 'The Dice.'" "Got it! Boss!" "Not 'Boss'—it's 'The Dice.' Think about the vibe, pay attention to the vibe." "Yes! Boss!" "For crying out loud..." From then on, whenever they appeared, they would have their own theme song playing: ~Hey~ paying respects at the mountain stronghold at night~ whose arm is draped over whose shoulder~ gather your courage and follow along...
orn and Humiliation】【Forced Love】 In his past life, Lin Ran was betrayed and murdered by his girlfriend and family, while the yandere female aristocrat, who had treated him as a mere plaything, avenged him by doing in his enemies. Upon seeing the yandere female aristocrat lying in the same coffin, ready to die with him, Lin Ran realized how profoundly mistaken he had been. Reborn, he abandoned the fickle campus beauty and wholeheartedly embraced the yandere female aristocrat's arms. "Ran! If I dig out your eyes and turn them into a specimen, you'll only be able to look at me!" Lin Ran: "Darling, kiss me!" "Ran! If I break your legs, you won't run away anymore, right?" Lin Ran: "Love, hold me tight!" "Ran! If..." Lin Ran: "Hush now! Love me more!" Luo Yao: ... Seeing his scumbag dad: "Take him out!" Seeing his stepmother: "Get rid of her!" Seeing his brother: "Eliminate him!" Seeing his white moonlight: "Send that to Southeast Asia!"
