C16 Riding Together on a White Horse

At 11: 10 P.M. on the evening of October 3, Clouds and I boarded the train that Galaxy had sent to Tongliang, bought the two little Mazas of the black-hearted conductor, and sat down in the aisle between the two carriages.

I wanted to buy a berth, but I didn't even have a seat. I only got two tickets. I was a little depressed, but Cloud didn't mind. She said that she would stand without a seat. She was already used to it.

In the foul air, I snuggled up to the clouds and began the long midnight rush to the distant northern steppes.

Before I left, I didn't go online. After thinking about it for a few days, I finally made a difficult decision: after I quit my job after the holidays, I would remove the fantasy from my own clasp, and let the reality and the virtual world's beautiful Qiu Tong disappear from my memory forever.

When I made this decision, I felt a little relieved, but also a little uneasy.

It was late at night, and the clouds were sleeping soundly on my knees.

I opened my eyes wide and stared out the window at the endless night, listening to the rhythmic sounds of the train, lighting a cigarette, thinking about the river of time without the beacons, about the unknown tomorrow and the slow journey of life, about the unforgettable Dong'er in my memory, about the cloud girl in front of me, about the reality and the autumn and the dream in the virtual world …

My heart kept churning, my eyes were sore, and I gently closed them.

The night was long, and the road was long …

The next day at 2 p.m., we arrived at Tongliao railway station. Clouds and I took the Chinese bus and continued north. The further we went, the more uneven the road became, the more open the horizon became, the bluer the sky became, and the less human life there was.

After bumping for more than three hours, we finally got off the bus at a place where we didn't have to go to the back of the village.

Just as I was at a loss, a young man's voice suddenly called out from behind me, "Sis — Sis — —"

Looking back, we saw a skinny but strong young man with a dark face riding a bay horse. He was waving his whip and smiling at us. He was leading a white horse.

The clouds immediately bloomed into a brilliant smile, and ran over to join the young man who had jumped down from his horse. "Battle — little brother —"

It turned out to be Cloud's younger brother, Battle, who had gone to college in Hohhot and had come home to pick us up during the holidays.

Yun Yun joked with my younger brother for a while, then pulled me over to Bartle and said, "Little brother, this is big brother Yi Ke, my colleague. He came to the prairie on holiday to play, and wants to stay with us."

Then the cloud said to me, "This is my younger brother, Yunba. We all call him Battle. The Mongolian language means Hero. My younger brother is the eagle flying on the grassland. He is the little hero in my heart."

Battle made big sister Yun Yang feel a bit embarrassed. He scratched his head and politely bowed to me. "Big brother Yi Ke, welcome to the grassland."

As soon as I met him, I liked this simple and honest Prairie student, Battle. I extended my arms and hugged him, "Battle, you are my sister's pride, and also the pride of a prairie man."

Bartle became increasingly bashful. He turned around and hurriedly carried the luggage on his horse, and then with a beautiful action, he mounted the horse. "Big sister, let's go. Mom and Dad are all at home waiting for you."

Yun Yang nodded his head, "Alright, you go first, Yi Ke and I will arrive shortly!"

Battle nodded at me, then kicked the horse into a crouch and the horse galloped off, leaving me and Cloud alone.

I looked at the clouds and said, "How do we get there?"

"Ride on my snow." Yun Xiao chuckled as he pulled his white horse back. "This is my good companion. We haven't seen each other for a long time. We'll ride the snow back home together."

I was afraid and hesitant. I had never ridden a horse, and I had to ride with the clouds.

Yun Xiao seemed to guess my thoughts and laughed, "Silly brother …" Cluck, cluck … You sit behind me and put your arms around my waist. "

As he spoke, the cloud leapt skillfully onto the horse and reached out to pull me up.

I put my arms out in front of the clouds, but I didn't put them around.

Clouds pursed his lips into a smile and snapped his whip. The horse suddenly trotted, and my body swayed and I almost slipped down. I was so nervous that I grabbed Clouds by the waist.

"Snow-White, let's go home. Big Brother Yi Ke, hold on tight!" The cloud gave a triumphant cry, and with a bell-like laugh, the horse galloped away, carrying me and the cloud deep into the prairie.

When night fell, the clouds and I finally reached the Cloud House in the depths of the Khrünchen prairie — not the yurt I had imagined, but the neat new pastoral settlement supported by the government, with the brick bungalows in front of us and the corrals in the backyard.

At Yun's house, I was received by Yun's family at the VIP level. The dinner was very sumptuous, filled with a large table filled with specialties of the prairie flavour, and although I was not used to the taste of milk, seeing Yun's parents' simple smiles, I forced my appetite to accept these new varieties of food, gulping down the horse's milk and vigorously eating the cheesecake, making them look delicious.

From the way my parents stared at me, it seemed like I suddenly realized something. I couldn't help but feel uneasy …