The Black Card Chapter 246 - Horseback Riding Is A Difficult Sport

Chapter 246 - Horseback Riding is a Difficult Sport

Translator: Lav

Editor: Seliniaki Ilikia

Obviously the racecourse didn’t have custom-made saddles worth over 100,000 yuan.

The most expensive one was barely over 20,000 yuan, but s.h.i.+ Lei still happily used his card and got rid of another 20,000 yuan.

He hired a temporary coach at a rate of 300 yuan per hour. s.h.i.+ Lei couldn’t help but to complain silently about how cheap it was.

Wei Xingyue was already on a horse, galloping on the gra.s.s. s.h.i.+ Lei sighed in admiration at the sight. He was riding on a horse with the coach leading it, and could do nothing but trot slowly along the course. Looking back at Wei Xingyue who was galloping around, s.h.i.+ Lei suddenly had the feeling that he was on a journey to the west(1).

As s.h.i.+ Lei looked at the coach who was leading his horse and teaching him basic skills and things he needed to pay attention to, he finally understood where the feeling came from. The coach had a pointed mouth, a face that resembled that a monkey, and stood at around one hundred and sixty centimeters tall. He really resembled Sun Wukong!

s.h.i.+ Lei rode around in a circle a few times. Although the speed was kept pretty slow, he still felt tired.

He finally understood that horseback riding required a lot of stamina. On television and in movies, people riding horses as if they were flying all seemed comfortable and carefree. Those people easily urged their horses onward and were as confident as if they owned the world. However, now that s.h.i.+ Lei was actually riding one, he realized that controlling his horse wasn’t an easy feat.

The horses at the racecourse were all racehorses. Of course, they were all not of the appropriate age for racing, being either yearlings or retired racehorses. Otherwise, the horse could start galloping with the rider unable to control it.

But s.h.i.+ Lei a.s.sumed that Wei Xingyue’s horse was in its prime, and also probably a purebred. Such a horse would most likely be worth as much as a house. The coach had introduced to s.h.i.+ Lei that the horse he would be riding, a twenty-year-old female. A horse’s life span was anywhere between twenty to thirty years, so a twenty-year-old horse was old.

It was rather tame, but the coach told s.h.i.+ Lei that he should still be on guard all the time. If he couldn’t control it, then even though it could no longer gallop as fast at such an old age, it would still be excited at the sight of other horses galloping. Hence, s.h.i.+ Lei was rather nervous as he rode. The horse was as tall as the coach and he would definitely suffer if he fell down.

After an hour, s.h.i.+ Lei felt like he was still a long way from being able to gallop like Wei Xingyue.

Ah, everything he saw in the movies with the main character holding a beautiful girl in their arms and galloping on a gra.s.sy plain while waving their whip and saying, “This is the world I’ve won for you” were all lies!

s.h.i.+ Lei rested for quite some time before Wei Xingyue finally came back. She seemed like she didn’t want to stop, maneuvering the horse to leap in front of s.h.i.+ Lei. She then lightly dismounted. “Lil’man, are you at your limit already?” she asked, pointing at him with her whip in an extremely handsome manner.

s.h.i.+ Lei glowered at her. “How can a man be at his limit? I’m going again after taking a rest. Comrade, I’ve lost the battle, but I’ll win the war! We will vanquish the bandits and send them back where they come from!”

Wei Xingyue laughed heartily. “Alright, let’s see you do it!”

“Fine! I’m not afraid of you!” s.h.i.+ Lei stood up and clumsily mounted his horse with the help of the coach. The sight caused Wei Xingyue to laugh again. However, the coach’s expression was somewhat weird. s.h.i.+ Lei realized just how strange his conversation with Wei Xingyue had been.

He rode for another hour. In the end, s.h.i.+ Lei couldn’t even feel how tired he was. It was as if his soul had left his body and his inner thighs were hurting madly due to the chafing from the saddle he’d bought. It didn’t fit him very well.

Luckily, Wei Xingyue’s stamina was also limited. She had galloped for a long time and was also tired. They took a break on the side of the racecourse, watching all the people there and drinking water. Wei Xingyue was relaxed and happy. A few drops of sweat rested on her nose, making her look cuter than usual. s.h.i.+ Lei, on the other hand, was frowning and rested with his legs spread apart, since his thighs was hurting too much.

When they were about to leave, Manager Jin came and asked if s.h.i.+ Lei wanted to sign up for a members.h.i.+p. He also expressed that he could register for a coaching card so he wouldn’t have to pay in cash every single time he came.

s.h.i.+ Lei was moved by Manager Jin’s words when he heard that a year’s members.h.i.+p cost a few thousand and that adding the coaching fees would make it to be around 10,000 yuan for only thirty hours. However, he was also worried that the Scepter wouldn’t recognize this consumption and therefore decided to take it one step at a time.

“Not today. Maybe next time. I don’t even want to move right now. I just want to go home and go to sleep. I’m so tired!”

The excuse wasn’t bad. After dismissing Manager Jin, Wei Xingyue drove s.h.i.+ Lei away.

“Want to have lunch together?”

“I’m not going to eat. I just want to lie in bed. I don’t care if I starve to death.”

“Are you a man or not? You only rode for two hours, not to mention at the pace of a stroll—”

s.h.i.+ Lei became agitated and yelled, “That’s bulls.h.i.+t! Your saddle is custom-made and won’t hurt your thighs. No no no, I’m not going to eat. I’m going straight home to lie down.”

Wei Xingyue couldn’t stop laughing, but she listened to s.h.i.+ Lei and drove him home.

“Aren’t you going to invite me to go up and sit for a while?” Wei Xingyue asked, seeing s.h.i.+ Lei get out of the car without looking back. She felt like he was being too rude. He could’ve at least pretended to invite her in.

s.h.i.+ Lei didn’t even bother turning around, leaving her with only a few sentences. “Forget it. You are too good at doing what people ask. If I am polite and ask you, you would definitely go up without another word. Just forget it. I’m going home to sleep. Don’t tell me you have the habit of watching a man sleep?”

Wei Xingyue was furious, but s.h.i.+ Lei stepped up his pace. She cursed softly in anger. “d.a.m.n, he’s getting more and more annoying.” But she soon smiled as she stepped on the accelerator. The Alfa Romeo let out a roar and sped away.

s.h.i.+ Lei didn’t go up the stairs, instead turning for the self-service bank on the side.

He went in when no one was there, inserted the Black Card, and entered the pa.s.sword.

As soon as he typed in the pa.s.sword, no one would enter the bank before he ejected the card. s.h.i.+ Lei still didn’t have an idea as to how the Black Card did this, but it wasn’t important.

The Scepter appeared gradually. “You took slightly longer than I a.s.sumed,” its neither male nor female voice said. “I thought you would keep up your habit from before and communicate with me as least once a week.”

s.h.i.+ Lei wasn’t in the mood for small talk and his thighs were still aching. If he didn’t have so many questions, he really wouldn’t have chosen this time to ask them.

“First question, if I use my own funds to invest in a certain company, such as investing in an entrepreneur, will I be able to use the sum to pay for the operational fees? Skip the worker’s salary part. I already know that. I mean the renting of the workplace and other consumptions, such as purchasing office equipment and all other necessary expenditures.”

“Stupid marmot,” the Scepter scolded in disdain. “You are only investing with, at most, ten to fifteen percent of the share. How would you have the right to intervene in the company’s business? You can’t even use the sum to pay the workers’ salaries, not to mention production costs.”

s.h.i.+ Lei frowned. “But you said I could use the sum to pay no more than 25,000 yuan for investments over 100,000 yuan—”

s.h.i.+ Lei suddenly stopped, realizing what the problem was.

1.  Journey to the West: One of the four most renowned novels in China, with the the monkey king Sun Wukong as one of the characters