The Empress' Livestream - Chapter 578
Chapter 578: Horse Plague at the Northern Borders (V)
The livestream audience looked on in confusion. They had originally wanted to watch Jiang Pengji hunt for wild game, and they had no idea how the plot had ended up developing along such lines. Why is the streamer suddenly talking about wanting to geld a stallion? However, someone in the audience that lived on the northern plains had some experience and provided an explanation.
Hanmei, the Man I Will Marry: “Eh, is it that White is going to be a mother soon?”
After the bullet comment appeared onscreen, everyone was silent for a moment, then all hell broke loose.
Muniu Milk: “D*mn! Bring me my forty-meter-long knife. Which shameless stallion has gotten my girl White pregnant, did you get my permission? Streamer, you need not do it, I can castrate that shameless stallion.”
Pipa Eats Loquat: “No! Wait a minute – Our White is a girl? Isn’t it a young handsome stud?”
Nüwa is not a Woman Trouble: “Huh what? How is such a hunky horse like White not a young handsome stud? I really like how it cooperates with the streamer during battle. It’s so fierce when it raises its hoofs to kick the enemies, and it can shatter a person’s sternum with a single kick. Such a fierce horse is actually a girl?”
Flash-fried Mushrooms: “#Despise, Even such a fierce fella like the streamer can still be a girl, why can’t White be one?”
While appeasing the affectionate White, Jiang Pengji sternly demanded an answer from the stableman.
White is my mount, and it’s not even spring right now. How can they put an ungelded stallion in my girl White’s stable?
Do they think that any horse can stay in the VIP stable for White and White only?
The stableman looked up, his face showing a hint of surprise, and stuttered, “There is indeed one such…”
“Bring it out, and see if I don’t personally geld it!” Jiang Pengji threw a fit, while at the same time turning her face away to avoid White’s tongue.
A beauty’s favor is pretty costly to accept.
It’s just been a while, yet she felt that her hair was getting messed up by White’s persistent licking.
As the stableman refused to budge, Jiang Pengji frowned and asked sternly, “Why? My orders don’t matter?”
Seeing that Jiang Pengji had gotten really angry, the stableman said fearfully, “Forgive me, my Lord, it’s just that the horse… It’s a fine horse of rare quality. I thought that you had asked me to put it in the same stable as White to match make the two of them…”
Jiang Pengji was visibly confused. “Eh?”
As she blanked out for a moment, White’s tongue had already gone one round around her cheeks.
The stableman was also a horse-lover, and for the past two years, he had been treating White, which was the strongest and most powerful horse in the stables, as his daughter. Every day, he would cut the freshest grass of the best quality for White, so that it could maintain its beautiful appearance with a glossy coat and stay in the healthiest possible state. More than a month ago, the company of travelling merchants presented a mixed-breed horse from the northern kingdom to her, and the young fella was really good-looking. The stableman had also asked nervously about what he should do with the stallion. Not having been gelded at this age clearly meant that the horse was intended to be used as a breeding stallion to produce more excellent offspring. The answer Jiang Pengji gave him was to put it directly in White’s stable, so the stableman did so.
After listening to the aggrieved stableman tell his story, Jiang Pengji finally recalled from her mind the memory of what happened during that period of time. Jiang Pengji rubbed her temples, getting somewhat of a headache. War horses around two years old had all been gelded. Before presenting the horse to her, the manager of the treasure house only said that it was a well-bred war horse from the northern kingdom, and that its father was a Ferghana horse from Shalan. He did not mention that the horse had yet to be gelded. Ungelded war horses had bad tempers and were extremely difficult to tame. During spring, the season when horses go in heat, they would be even harder to control.
Jiang Pengji was originally planning on giving Li Yun the fine horse after he came back, but at that moment she realized that she couldn’t do so. She didn’t know how good Li Yun’s equestrian skills were and didn’t want him to risk taming a wild horse that had not been broken in.
The stableman asked nervously, “My lord, do you still need me to bring Little White over?”
Little White? The corners of Jiang Pengji’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch uncontrollably. “Bring it over!”
The stableman did accordingly, and when she saw the horse that literally had the word “obedient” written on it from head to toe, Jiang Pengji finally understood why it was called Little White. White saw Little White, and she took two steps forward, rubbing herself against him. He responded gently, and conducted himself with extreme grace even when striding forward.
“This horse… really hasn’t been gelded?” She had never seen such a graceful and obedient stallion. Little White had a slightly sturdier build than White, and its coat was completely white as well, with no trace of any hair of another color. The horses looked like actual sisters when they stood by each other. Looking at how proactively White was behaving, Jiang Pengji was at a loss for words.
She couldn’t say anything, but the audience of the livestream could help her rant.
Can’t Come up with IDs: “Ah, my girl White really is a queen, she must have tamed Little White.”
Come up with One Anyhow: “Of course. Actually, with White’s current age, she can be considered a spinster among horses. Little White seems to be only slightly more than two years old, and he is exactly like a ‘Little Fresh Meat’. The baby born to these two will definitely have an amazing bloodline, streamer, let’s not split them up.”
Still Sounds Somewhat Nice: “Generally speaking, war horses in the ancient times were all gelded, so that it’s easy to tame and manage them. The ranchers will keep the stallions of the best bloodline and in the best condition to use as breeding stallions, and nurture strong offspring. Although Little White seems a little delicate, it is the descendant of a Ferghana horse and a war horse of the northern kingdom after all. Not pure-bred, but still of the second generation. Streamer, let’s not geld him.”
Jiang Pengji furrowed her brows and asked the stableman how much a breeding stallion from the ranches in the northern kingdom cost. The stableman did not know the situation in the northern kingdom, but he had heard about the price of breeding stallions from the Cangzhou ranches. Breeding stallions of excellent bloodlines cost around a hundred thousand strings of coins, give or take a few. Such was the case for fine horses procured from external sources. For stallions bred on the ranches, they were definitely not so expensive. Jiang Pengji was momentarily stunned, and cast a gaze at Little White. The horse seemed to be a little afraid of strangers, hiding behind White.
Jiang Pengji asked, “So what about this one?”
The stableman said, “I asked the merchants. Little White seemed to have been bought for 150,000 strings of coins.”
A breeding stallion worth 150,000 strings of coins?
With such a fearful and timid look?
Jiang Pengji took a deep breath and said, “Forget it, I won’t geld it.”
After a while, she asked, “You have a lot of experience in raising horses. What do you think of Little White’s health condition? Is he sick?”
How can a breeding stallion be so shy and timid?
It was so delicate that it seems like a noble girl among horses.
In contrast, my White almost seems like a domineering CEO.
Jiang Pengji was really not very at ease with horses from the northern kingdom, but after putting her heightened senses of perception to use, she came to the conclusion that its physical condition was very good.
The stableman quickly said, “No, Little White is in excellent health condition.”
Jiang Pengji was silent for a moment, then snickered and said, “I have never actually seen such a timid war horse.”
Since White was pregnant, Jiang Pengji felt that it was not suitable to go hunting while riding her, so she asked for Little White to be saddled and bridled.
The stableman said, panicked, “Don’t, my Lord. The horse had not been tamed yet. If it accidentally causes you alarm…”
Jiang Pengji said, “It’s alright, I would actually look at it differently if it could shake me off.”
