Chapter 1116: No. 21: Why Do You Run?

No. 21: Why Do You Run?

Earlier, Dazhenhan was already watching Chengtian Bai Ren's rehab.

And was making postural corrections for her.

This should have been the latter's trainer's job, but obviously Chengtian Bai Ren never mentioned it to Potián Lingxiang.

The lone wolf, silent for several years on and off, though not abandoned by the trainer, still had the trainer's charge of a newly signed little girl to train and look after.

Although no one said so, she still felt she was stealing time that belonged to them.

And she also wanted to spread the word that she was running again, drawing extra attention.

So in recent days, this stubborn, quiet horse girl has been doing her own rehab, training, and guiding Mancheng Chazuo.

Only her sister, the busy student council president, and her close rival friend have noticed her secret efforts these days.

But it's a pity.

Pipa Chengguang is a corporate slave, and as November approaches, it's the company's busy season, leaving her stretched thin.

Ludaofu Xiangzheng's busyness needs no explanation, juggling school and family affairs, with no respite even during holidays.

Liya Masun, as the dormitory manager, should have had some free time on this day off, but was held up by trivial matters.

All one can say is that busy people stay busy whenever, while leisurely people remain leisurely whenever.

Just like Dazhenhan.

Few know that this girl, whose pace is always unhurried and whose actions are leisurely, actually gets along quite well with Chengtian Bai Ren—not the antagonistic clash of a fallen old king and a rising new one that some imagine.

If you ask why, the reason is simple to the point of absurdity.

It's not a generational shift, nor a clash of their trainers, but because both of them like to slack off.

Very un-horselike, yet very student-like.

There's no way around it; unless one deliberately goes to the back mountains, the school has only a few perfect slacking spots.

Anyone who has looked into it a bit, or who often gets a chance to slack off, will find meeting each other natural.

Chengtian Bai Ren and Dazhenhan, two Triple Crown horse girls not pressured by teachers in cultural class, met alone in the quiet woods beside the high school teaching building.

One was reading, the other sleeping.

They had little in common, even no conversation, only a tacit understanding not to disturb each other.

This tacit understanding lasted nearly half a year before they had their first conversation.

The timing of that conversation was precisely when criticism of Chengtian Bai Ren in the horse-racing world was at its sharpest.

The lone wolf had vanished, while that figure, as blinding as a strong light that makes one want to see it even without closing one's eyes, was steadily rising.

Trampling and stepping on is what attention-seeking media people love to do; a new king's coronation always needs to tread on a carpet dyed with the old king's blood to satisfy people.

Yet the petite figure that the media already sees as destined for a new legend actually lacks such malice and arrogance.

She is elegant and gentle, yet at the same time still a child.

A child ultimately couldn't hold back, breaking the half-year of tacit understanding to ask this senior what she was really thinking.

The result of that attempt didn't look bad.

"Run your own way, don't think about all that nonsense—I no longer know why I run."

Chengtian Bai Ren answered her expressionlessly, and also chose to leave early.

After that, they occasionally met when choosing slacking spots, and Chengtian Bai Ren did not leave early again.

They seemed to return to their usual selves, not talking, not disturbing each other, and thus passed one year, then two, then three.

By now, Dazhenhan has already retired, and is about to graduate this semester; she once again, in a choice following her interest, met that senior who had taken a seat in advance.

"Can you help me check my running?"

That remark from the other party left her stunned for a moment, then she smiled and asked back:

"What are you running for now?"

——

Why run?

Does a horse girl's running need a reason?

She had once received this answer from those around her, an answer that could explain the running state of most horse girls, but it was not hers.

Chengtian Bai Ren is not like those horse girls who simply enjoy the pleasure of running; instead, she pursues victory, the excitement brought by competition, and the heated blood sparked by confrontation.

Rather than running, it is more like hunting.

Feeling the pulse of blood in the hunt, sensing her growth in the contest—this is the continuation of her childhood joy of forest hunting.

Only the beasts' cries never aroused her pity, while the collapse of opponents' will once made her hesitate.

She gradually realized that today's hunting ground is far harsher than before; bloodless hunting hides spiritual defeat and ruin, when you become so strong that peers cannot forget the burden on their backs, and can only silently taste that moment of despair.

You will also truly understand why the student council gate hangs the motto 'One horse ahead, ten thousand horses lose their light.'

So, do you have a goal so fierce you'd rather trample them and still move forward?

Holding this extravagant worry that outsiders see, Chengtian Bai Ren finally found the answer in the care and expectations of her family and trainer.

For her, steady and stubborn, responding to those people's expectations while shouldering the goals of those defeated by her hand is enough to be the reason she returns to the track, keeps defeating opponents, and wins.

But besides human calamity, there are also natural disasters.

Pure accidents befall, whether it's a sudden joint condition on the track or the trainer's unfortunate injury during contemporaneous training, all together hinder her running condition.

And that ever-less-than-ideal rehab running likewise makes her vexed and restless.

Her condition thus keeps worsening, to the point that even participating itself is repeatedly blocked by the trainer, nearly brought to a halt.

Sports competition is a sport that heavily depends on condition.

Horse girls are even more so.

The 'luck' in 'Only by burning through a lifetime's luck can one win the Jidong Derby' refers to the alignment of one's condition with the venue, and also indicates how other performers fare.

And in this regard, Chengtian Bairen is undoubtedly quite a jinx.

Triple Crown won, Arima Memorial overwhelming victory, everyone thought she would, like the Emperor surpassing Divine Praise back then, end Rudolf's imperial rule, but she then got into this.

Moreover, the situation kept occurring, her competitive condition together with her competition results continued to decline, from the peak to a bleak state, all the news marked the fact of the superstar's downfall, and she herself no longer appeared in public settings, often disappearing even at school.

No one will pursue it.

Not to mention her course grades; even if her cultural studies grades were really tight, the teachers wouldn't want to pressure her.

The student council colleagues were even more indifferent to her slacking on official duties, and her older sister often came over to handle those documents pertaining to the vice-chairperson's responsibilities for her.

But it was precisely because everyone had this attitude that it instead made her especially bewildered.

From that bewilderment she once again thought of that question.

Oneself, exactly what are you running for?

Perhaps she had simply gone in a big circle all along, she often would look at her own shadow beneath her feet and think that.

That which originates from oneself, also mixed with the resentments of countless losers, in Aomo's mouth is a primordial life of the same essence as the negative energy monster, compared to before, it has grown far too much.

But it has not lost control.

It can still be stepped on by Bai ren, and it is still a shadow gathered behind Bai ren.

But its existence also constantly reminds Chengtian Bairen, allowing her to see her former self, to see the former appearances of those opponents.

And thus she all the more despises this current primordial self.

And what is the reason for breaking free from this primordial state?

It is that she discovered she could not even outrun the newly arrived trainer.

Lost to peers, lost to juniors, lost to juniors even a trainer, even a newly arrived trainer like a college student could be faster than me……

This, for a horse girl, especially one who once had pride, already has the meaning of ultimate insult.

This is truly a bloody dagger.

Not because of others' mockery, nor because of the so-called 'thoughtful' from those around.

Those are all pressures from the outside world.

For Chengtian Bairen, who has always been extremely tolerant and extremely stubborn, these are merely a kind of pain that, although painful, cannot reach the depths, cannot make her whole heart ache.

Only when oneself is left a silhouette so easily by a newly arrived trainer.

This lone wolf then truly felt that heart-rending pain.

She finally wanted to run.

She finally had an opponent she did not want to lose to.

And that too was her longing to struggle out from the cold pool of life in which she was mired.