Uma Musume, Master of Love

"Huh? Writing? I didn't..." Haidu Star was about to deny it, but paused when he noticed the flowing and curved lines on the paper. He then picked up a pen and wrote a series of sentences on the white paper on the table: "This is... my handwriting. Then who wrote the words in the book?"

The two fonts are quite different. The handwriting in Haidu Zhixing is more elegant and neat, and although there are some connected characters, it still looks very clean. At first glance, the handwriting in the parchment book is just a continuous undulating line.

The astronomer smiled silently, assuming that her sister had finally come to her senses and was trying to joke with her. However, Haidu Star fell into deep thought, believing that there was only one explanation for such an event.

----

The room in Haidu City had been specially converted into a small reception room. After Huiyi entered, she gently closed the door. The soft light from the chandelier made her feel very comfortable. The whole room was decorated in a pleasing pale yellow color, and tea and drinks were already prepared on the table in front of Haidu City.

"Hello, senior from Haidu City...?" Huiyi wasn't sure what to call the other person... The other person already had a retired daughter, whose exact age was unknown, but Huiyi felt it was probably about the same as his two lifetimes combined. When in doubt, calling someone "senior" was always the right thing to do.

Hai Dudu nodded slightly, gesturing for Huiyi to sit down, and pushed the full glass in front of her: "There's no need to be so reserved. First of all, I'm very grateful to Huiyi for agreeing to come here."

Hai Dushi's originally striking orange-yellow hair became less eye-catching under the chandelier. As Huiyi observed her, he couldn't help but marvel at how amazing the horse girl was. Hai Dushi didn't have the weathered look of a human who had given birth to two children; she seemed like she had just graduated from school...

Huiyi picked up the cup and saw the dark brown tea inside. She took a small sip and found it a bit bitter. It seemed that she was destined to be someone who had no affinity for tea. She didn't pay much attention to what Haidu City said; it was just polite talk she'd seen too often in the workplace.

“I heard about Senior Haidu’s feat of winning the Arc de Triomphe Tournament a long time ago. To be honest… Senior Haidu was actually one of my idols, and I have a special feeling for him.” Huiyi said this. Of course, this could also be described as… a mother’s love for her son? Love linked by another great mother has been passed down ever since.

"Is that so... Then I'm curious who Huiyi's idol is right now?" Hai Dudu smiled with narrowed eyes; she rarely had the chance to enjoy such casual conversation these days.

Huiyi clicked his tongue slightly, and then answered very seriously: "These days, if we leave aside senior Hesek as a real idol, then it's Bill Gates."

"Hmm? May I ask why?"

"Haysek is a professional icon, while I idolize Bill Gates simply because he's a big money-maker. My initial reason for being active in the competitive arena was to achieve financial freedom. Isn't that strange?"

The two women, who were roughly the same age, looked into each other's serious eyes and burst out laughing at the same time after a few seconds.

"I never imagined that Huiyi, you are such a young woman. If I hadn't known you beforehand, I would have thought you were a seasoned veteran in the workplace."

"Actually, looking at it this way isn't wrong..."

"Well, let's get down to business first. Just like the message I had the astronomer convey, I would like to ask Huiyi to provide guidance to Haidu Star and Van Gogh during this period," Haidu City said seriously.

Huiyi sat up straight and thought for a moment: "Although it's possible, I still want to ask why... Senior Yin from Haidu City chose me? There are clearly more excellent racehorse girls in Europe, right? I've only won one international G1 race so far... the rest are all domestic first-class races."

Hai Dudu sipped his tea and said, "Huiyi, you should understand that horse girls can be attracted to each other, right? I feel that there is something about you that attracts me. Although I don't know what it is, I am willing to believe my instincts."

"I see... I understand... But please rest assured, Senior Haidu. Although my teaching ability is very poor, I will do my best to pass on my experience to Haidu Star and Van Gogh." Huiyi felt a little guilty. She herself didn't have any skills, so how could she teach them... But Haidu Star was said to be a genius, so maybe she would figure it out on her own? As for Van Gogh... that idiot, all she had to do was tell her to charge forward blindly?

Huiyi felt like he was a genius at being a teacher; this was what you call prescribing the right medicine for the right ailment!

However, Huiyi was still a bit confused by Haidu's talk of mutual attraction... Logically speaking, her physique shouldn't be that effective with a mare like Haidu, right? Besides, she hadn't had a particularly memorable encounter with Haidu yet; drinking tea together now was probably their first meeting...

So, as if possessed, Huiyi asked, "Has Senior Haidu ever thought about traveling to China?"

“China… I go there every year with my parents, husband, and children.” Hai Dudu spoke of this with a lot of memories. Of course, the parents here are not her biological parents. Hai Dudu has no memory of her biological parents at all. She was rescued by this couple and has lived with the Cui family ever since.

Her former trainer, now husband, is also the son of the Cui family. Hai Dudu can easily say that she lives for the Cui family, whose ancestral home is in China, so in Hai Dudu's eyes, China is her true home. This is why they take time each year to live in China, mostly during the Spring Festival.

"Oh, I see... Sorry for asking too many questions!" Huiyi had also wanted to return to China for a while, but it seems there's no such opportunity during her competitive career... But the future is promising, and after her competitive career ends, she can go wherever she wants!

"It's nothing. It seems you're quite interested in China too..." Hai Dudu wanted to say something more, but her phone on the table rang. After answering it, she got up to leave in a hurry, less than two seconds later.

"I'm sorry, I have some urgent personal matters to attend to. Although there are some things I'd like to tell you, it seems there's no time right now. I'll send them to you from my phone later. I'm really sorry."

"It's alright, Senior Hai Du can go ahead and get busy...!" Hui Yi watched her leave in a hurry, feeling that even reaching the top of the company wasn't all that enjoyable; in the end, everyone was just a beast of burden...

After finishing his tea, Huiyi got up, pushed open the door, and returned to the living room. At that moment, Van Gogh was sitting in front of the TV playing a game console, looking at a game that he didn't know was a collaboration with. The astronomer was leaning against the bookshelf with a novel in his hand, while Haidu Zhixing was writing and drawing on the table.

The astronomer noticed the brilliance and asked, "It seems there isn't enough time?"

"Perfect, at least I know what I need to do now," Huiyi replied, pressing his slightly empty stomach, feeling that it was probably time for dinner...

"Are you hungry? It should be lunchtime by now. Let me think about what to eat..." The astronomer took out her phone and pondered. Just when Huiyi thought she was thinking about what ingredients to use, it turned out that the astronomer wanted to order takeout.

The next moment, Huiyi stopped the astronomer from pointing to the payment and asked in bewilderment, "Wait, do you all eat like this?"

"Yeah~ We always order takeout when the teacher isn't around." It was Fan Gao'er, who had died in the game, who answered this question, causing Huiyi's face to darken slightly. Although she hadn't been a full-time mom, she knew that eating takeout for a long time while a child was growing was definitely not good for them…

Of course, the astronomers were an exception; she absolutely didn't care about Huiyi's affairs. She was mainly worried about Haidu Star and Fan Gao'er, two children with promising futures.

Huiyi rubbed his temples and looked towards the kitchen: "What ingredients do you have at home?"

“There should be… a little, but probably not much. Mom hasn’t cooked at home in a long time,” Haidu Star said, but her eyes never left the parchment book.

"Okay, then let's not order takeout... Of course, astronomer, you can order whatever you like." Huiyi walked into the kitchen, leaving the astronomer with only his back to her.

The astronomer stared blankly at his phone: "Huh...? Hey! Star, look at Huiyi, why is she treating her differently?!"

Haidu Star replied calmly, "Mother probably only told me and Xiao Fan what to do. As for you... you can find food yourself when you're hungry, or you can stay at any of those many horse-riding women."

"..." The astronomer remained silent, but it seemed to be true. How many horse girls had she brought back to show Haidu City? She couldn't even remember.

In the kitchen, Huiyi looked at the few wilted tomatoes and eggs left in the refrigerator and almost turned to ashes. So this was the leftover food that Haidu Zhixing had mentioned... Huiyi suddenly felt that Haidu Zhixing was the kind of child who was easy to raise, the kind who could survive even if fed cornbread and cornmeal every day.

"Luckily, we still have plenty of rice at home. I'll make some tomato and egg rice. We'll eat first and then talk about other things..." Huiyi sighed, but when he opened the cupboard and saw the dusty pots and pans inside, he almost spat out blood.

-

After stir-frying a few tomatoes and eggs, everyone was given a large portion of rice to top with. Van Gogh looked at the food with great curiosity. She had never seen it eaten this way before. She only vaguely remembered that tomatoes were mostly used for seasoning soups. Stir-frying them like this was really a first for her.

"Come on, everyone, I've done my best." Huiyi took a couple of bites first, and thankfully there was nothing wrong with the taste. But when she looked up and saw Haidu Zhixing actually using a spoon to pick at her rice, she was taken aback. Could it be that this meal didn't suit Haidu Zhixing's taste? Was she really not the kind of horse that was easy to feed?

But actually, Hai Du Zhi Xing tasted the flavor of her grandparents' cooking, which she could only enjoy in Hong Kong during Chinese New Year. It was so authentic... Besides, she remembered that the ingredients in the refrigerator weren't fresh. Hui Yi's ability to make it taste like this was truly impressive, which is why Hai Du Zhi Xing was stunned.

In my memory of Haidu Star, only my mother and grandparents could make this kind of flavor, but now there's one more...

"It's delicious. It tastes just like the dishes my mom makes."

The best compliment for a cook is probably "Mom's cooking," and Huiyi certainly enjoyed it. However, the astronomer looked at the food in his bowl and felt quite depressed.

There wasn't even half as much rice in her bowl as Van Gogh!

Then Huiyi nudged her with his elbow: "What are you looking at? Children need to grow. It's okay if you skip a meal."

"..." Okay, it seems that interacting with the enchanting scenery really upset her. Could the enchanting scenery be her sister? But how come there are sisters with brown hair and white hair? This older sister's protective instincts are a bit too strong...

However, upon closer inspection, the astronomer realized that Glow was actually a very good partner. She was equally adept in the kitchen and in the living room, and her ancestral origins were definitely European... It seemed like a perfect match, right? It seems that the best-loved horse girls are attracted to each other, and the astronomer now felt that Glow was attracting him.

Haidu Zhixing ate very quickly. After wiping his mouth with a tissue, he caught a glimpse of the golden laurel on Huiyi's ear out of the corner of his eye...

"Laurel? Wait...right, Greece..." Sea City Star suddenly had a clue...

In this way, we can understand what the sentences appearing in the parchment are!

With a whoosh, Ling IV, the former star of the Sea City, grabbed her umbrella and rushed into the upstairs library room with unprecedented speed.

"Xingxing, what... did she remember something? This is the first time I've seen her so anxious. Golden laurel?" The astronomer turned his head and happened to see the white ear that was trembling inside the golden laurel decoration.

Chapter 211 Pegasus Bloodline

Haidu Star's formidable learning ability isn't limited to running; she also excels at learning theoretical knowledge in various fields. Based on the golden laurel she just saw on Huiyi's ear, it's highly likely that she has some connection to Greece.

The laurel reminded the Star of the Sea of ​​Stars of a deity—the laurel goddess Daphne, but she is not the only one who represents the laurel.

Haidu Star found books about Greek in the study and quickly compared them with the handwriting on the parchment. However, the process of comparing the handwriting was a great torment for a genius like her. But Van Gogh, who was always very curious, also came to the study that she hated the most.

Actually, Van Gogh didn't want to come to this place on her own initiative. It was just that the astronomer asked her to call Haidu Star to go out and buy some cooking ingredients together. However, seeing Haidu Star's furrowed brows, Van Gogh's curiosity was piqued. After all, it was rare to see Star Sister looking so troubled.

"Sister Xingxing~ What are you looking at? Why are you like this..." Fan Gaoer came over and saw the two open books and Haidu Zhixing's fingers moving back and forth between the two books. At this moment, he didn't feel a headache.

Haidu Star paused his work on the comparison marks, rubbing his temples: "I'm translating this sentence. I can only guess that it's Greek, but I can't figure out exactly what it is."

"Translate? Why does Sister Xingxing have to search for it herself bit by bit? Why not just use AI to translate it?" Fan Gao asked, puzzled. He then took out his phone, took a picture of the sentence on the parchment, and sent it to AI for translation. Although the handwriting was crooked, the powerful AI still managed to barely manage to translate it, and finally gave its answer under the astonished gaze of Haidu Zhixing.

Pegasus, the god of winged horses

"Look, it's a very simple job~" Van Gogh proudly raised her chin, her ears swaying back and forth like jelly. Most of the time, Van Gogh doubted whether Sea Star was really a modern horse girl. She had almost zero interest in cell phones and televisions, so she always lagged behind others in handling certain things. However, Sea Star surpassed her in other aspects.

In Van Gaal's view, Haidu Star is quite contradictory.

Haidu Star's lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she remained silent. Since she had already received the answer, there was no need for her to do repetitive work. After all, Haidu Star would not question the AI's answer to such a non-philosophical question.

"Perhaps... I really need to learn how to use these things in the future?" Haidu Star murmured softly, but Van Gogh didn't have much time to listen. As Haidu Star talked to herself, Van Gogh grabbed Haidu Star's sleeve and pulled her out of the study, and went out to buy groceries with the astronomer.

Huiyi was left alone in the kitchen, washing pots and dishes and fixing the refrigerator's poor insulation. Huiyi found it hard to imagine how the three of them survived when Haidu City wasn't home... Could it really be said that the astronomer was good at teaching children?

But eating takeout every day isn't right, is it?

----

After Huiyi left for her home in Haidu City, Da Zhenhan felt a pricking sensation all over her body, as if someone was secretly poking her spine. So Da Zhenhan tossed and turned in bed, and finally, she accidentally fell onto the cold floor and looked up at the ceiling.

"Why would that family in Haidu invite Huiyi...? Haidu is definitely fine... a renowned senior... but..." The thought of the rumors about the astronomer sent a chill down his spine, making him feel as if he had fallen into an abyss, fearing that Huiyi might be...

The most widespread rumor about the astronomer on the internet is that she has hundreds of female girlfriends at the same time, and she can even keep all these hundreds of girlfriends from getting angry... What's even more terrifying is that these female girlfriends all actively pursued the astronomer, and some of them even dumped their current partners.

This kind of thing is chilling no matter how you look at it, especially since it involves a child from Haidu City...!

"Even though it's just a rumor, it's still terrifying enough... Could Huiyi have been influenced by the astronomer? No wonder she told me to keep an eye on Meijing Shijie... Now it seems I have to lock Meijing Shijie in the room!" Da Zhenhan got up from the floor and paced anxiously around the room. Then she made a video call and waited anxiously for Huiyi to answer... Of course, half of it was because Huiyi wasn't home and no one was cooking, so she was hungry. Guangzuan and Huangguan were still figuring out how to order takeout.

"Moses? What happened to Deep? Did something happen at home?" Huiyi had fixed his phone to the windowsill, and the camera could clearly capture the entire kitchen. At this moment, Huiyi was standing on a stool, scrubbing the pots and pans.

Da Zhen was first stunned, then felt a pang of sadness. How come his own horse was washing dishes at someone else's house?!

She treated Huiyi like a precious gem, but is this how she gets treated in someone else's home?!

Astronomer, you just wait, I'm not done with you! Come to the Thames and I'm sure you'll be in big trouble...!

Da Zhenhan's teeth were clenched so tightly that they almost spewed out black energy from behind her. However, Huiyi was so focused on washing the pots and pans that she didn't see what Da Zhenhan looked like in the video. She only heard her ask, "Why are you... washing pots and pans in someone else's house?"

"We can't find anyone in the family who knows how to cook, so I felt it wasn't healthy for the two kids to eat takeout, so I just made a meal. They've gone out to buy groceries now, so I'm just tidying up the kitchen," Huiyi replied casually.

"And... don't let Xiaozuan, Huangguan, and Jingzhi order takeout! I prepared a day's worth of semi-finished dishes for you before I left, and they're all in the fridge. Just heat them up and you can eat them. Deep, you can't even do something like this properly, can you?" Huiyi left in such a hurry that he forgot there was a charming Jingzhi at home who could cook. Although the taste and appearance were just average, at least she could eat her fill.

"Okay... So when are you coming back? If you're just there to take care of the kids, you can just refuse... The other party isn't some big shot, at most just a winner of the Arc de Triomphe! Why should you put yourself through that!" Da Zhen was still full of anger, and seemed to have the idea of ​​going straight over and carrying Huiyi back.

Huiyi cleaned the sink and smiled amiably: "Tomorrow, Haidu City wants me to tutor two children. She happens to be leaving, so I can bring them to stay with us. As for the astronomer... she can survive on her own, so we don't need to worry about her."

"Two children? Who are they?"

"Haidu Star and Van Gogh, two kids who will be out of the game for a long time. But they have great talent, especially Haidu Star, a genius among geniuses in chess." Huiyi exclaimed, drying his hands, taking his phone, walking out of the kitchen, and sitting back on the sofa to lie down comfortably.

"Oh...that's good then. I'll go prepare rooms for them, one room or two rooms?" Da Zhenhan breathed a slight sigh of relief. If it was two children, she would be very happy to welcome them. They should be able to chat very well with Meijingzhi and the others. It would be nice for such a big house to be lively.

After a moment's thought, Huiyi replied, "One room, I guess. The relationship between Haidu Star and Van Gogh is quite good, just like Little Diamond and Crown."

"okay."

The two chatted for a long time. Huiyi seemed much more relaxed. In fact, it was because she had felt the familiar atmosphere of her homeland during her conversation with Haidu City. At this moment, an idea arose in her mind: perhaps it would be nice to go to the mainland during the Spring Festival...?

It just so happens that the Meguro family has opened a branch in mainland China, so they can provide assistance if I need to go there.

After hanging up the phone, Huiyi wandered aimlessly around the room. The house in Haidu City didn't look very big from the outside, but the interior space was surprisingly spacious. In addition to the furniture, there were also many magical items specially made by Haidu Star. Looking at the handwritten information cards under each item, Huiyi felt that Haidu Star really had some kind of eccentric attributes...

The all-seeing eye—through which the destined person can perhaps glimpse the future...?

"Is this thing really not a product of Yog-Sothoth? Did Cthulhu invade Uma Musume...?" Although Huiyi didn't believe that this thing really had that kind of effect, she still had a sense of awe. Some things are better believed than not, and one should have at least some respect for them.

Curiosity is the horse girl's greatest enemy. Huiyi looked at each item one by one, and each item had a different function written on it. At first glance, it really seemed to be full of ritual. However, after looking at it, the novelty wore off.

But when she reached the last item, Huiyi suddenly stopped. Inside was a horseshoe pendant with laurel leaves printed on it. The laurel leaf pattern looked quite familiar, and it was about 80% similar to the earrings that Huiyi was wearing. It was almost certain that it came from the same design!

"Wait... how did this design appear in both Europe and Japan at the same time..." Huiyi knew very well that this modern laurel element was not fashionable, and could even be classified as classical aesthetics, so it could not possibly be for fashion reasons.

Huiyi felt that this was related to his background, but Huiyi was not a master in history, and it was impolite to touch other people's things in their home. However, Huiyi suddenly thought of a man who had come to Europe some time ago. Perhaps he had found some clues during this time?

With these thoughts in mind, Huiyi found the phone number that Naise Eito had left for him and dialed it.

A few seconds later, the call was connected, and Eito's voice sounded noticeably tired: "Moses? Please dial this number if you need anything." Naze Eito quickly uttered a string of numbers, and before Huiyi could finish writing them down, he hung up.

When she dialed again, she asked, puzzled, "Did you change your phone number?"

"Seeing it was a British number, I gave you a Greek number. Calling a Japanese number is an international call, and it's a bit expensive," Naze Eito explained, leaving Huiyi speechless. He hadn't expected this guy to be such a tightwad, not spending a penny.

"Forget about that... I saw a little thing that I'm curious about. You've been in Greece for so long, you must have gained something, right?" Huiyi took a picture and sent it to Naise Eito on Twitter, then went upstairs to the floor-to-ceiling window and comfortably lay down in the rocking chair.

After receiving the picture and glancing at it, Naze Eito remained silent for a few seconds: "You're right next to this thing right now? This laurel leaf pattern is a characteristic from hundreds of years ago. Which museum did you see it in?"

"I happened to see this at a client's house while I was tutoring children in Haidu City for a few days. I thought it looked a lot like the earrings I wear?"

"It's the same design, so it must be a product of the same era. It's just that your earrings are better preserved. I also made some discoveries in Greece. I recently went through the entire National Library of Greece and found some things. First of all, it's certain that there was a horse goddess before the Three Goddesses, but she wasn't a horse-racing goddess."

This was the first time Huiyi had come across information that was definitely related to the Horse Goddess, and that she was an existence other than the Three Goddesses, which made her extremely curious, not to mention that it was related to the identity she had always been pursuing.

Then, Naze Eito continued, "And it's also confirmed that her name is Pegasus. Your relationship with Pegasus is quite close; that's all I can deduce for now. However... based on my deduction, you are probably the only one whose bloodline of Pegasus has survived."

"Does that mean that, like other racehorse girls, they must be from one of the three goddess bloodlines?"

“That’s right. But what I’m more curious about is how such a fragile bloodline survived to the modern era amidst the competition among the three goddess bloodlines. That’s quite intriguing.”

Naise Eito actually had another guess, but it was too far-fetched to tell Huiyi. It was that Pegasus personally created a horse girl to pass on his bloodline, and this horse girl was Huiyi's White Horse.

But thinking about it, it's a bit too far-fetched. Can the goddess Ma Niang reproduce asexually?

And what about Pegasus? Besides being mentioned in books, where else could one hear her name? Under all these circumstances, even Hidetoshi Nase himself didn't really believe in this idea.