Chapter 403 - 398: Horseback Riding

Chapter 403: Chapter 398: Horseback Riding

To explore Jinhai Lake, many people chose the sightseeing bus, which circled the entire ring road around the lake, allowing them to take in the beautiful natural scenery.

Jiang Xia, as usual, didn’t join the main group. He was treating this company retreat as nothing more than a date with his wife.

The young couple strolled leisurely along the mountain trail north of Jinhai Lake. Fallen red leaves were scattered all along the path, covering the entire trail.

When they reached the summit, they could see a panoramic view of the azure Jinhai Lake through gaps in the red leaves.

Lin Yanwan was slightly out of breath. This small hill wasn’t as difficult to climb as Mount Tai, but the view from the top was surprisingly beautiful.

Gazing into the distance, they could see the horse ranch below. A crowd had gathered there, and Jiang Xia’s sharp eyes spotted Li Weiya and Zhou Lu. It looked like they wanted to try horseback riding.

"Want to go horseback riding?" Jiang Xia asked.

Lin Yanwan hesitated for a few seconds before nodding lightly. "We can give it a try, but what if I don’t know how?"

"Since these horses are part of a business, they’re probably very tame," Jiang Xia said. "Besides, there are professionals on hand to give instructions, so there’s nothing to worry about."

And so, the two of them took the cable car down.

Li Weiya, dressed in protective gear, was perched atop a horse. Following the staff’s instructions, she held the reins in one hand and placed her feet in the stirrups. After a wobbly start, she slowly seemed to be getting the hang of it.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Lu, look at me! Quick, quick, take a picture of me with your phone!"

"Feeling like a pro already, are we? Why don’t you try making it run for me, then," Zhou Lu said with a laugh, though she still took out her phone to capture Li Weiya’s ’heroic’ moment.

"Ah, no way, no way. It gets way too bumpy if I go any faster. Just riding at a walking pace is the best I can do," Li Weiya said, resigned.

’It looks so easy when celebrities ride horses on TV. Why is it so hard now that it’s my turn?’

"Weiya, look over there."

Zhou Lu pointed, and Li Weiya looked over to see Jiang Xia already on horseback, picking up the basics faster than anyone else.

’Youth really is something else. He’s perfectly in sync with the horse.’ Before long, Jiang Xia was trotting around the ranch.

In the end, Lin Yanwan still didn’t dare to ride alone. But, wanting to experience the fun, she put on the protective gear and carefully sat in front of Jiang Xia, letting him wrap his arms around her waist.

Normally, a novice wouldn’t be allowed to ride with a passenger, but the tip Jiang Xia offered was simply too generous for the ranch staff to refuse.

All they could do was assign someone to keep a constant, close watch on them, terrified the couple might accidentally fall off.

However, Jiang Xia’s riding was surprisingly steady. As they bobbed up and down with the horse’s gait, Jiang Xia couldn’t help but recall the famous scene of Er Kang riding with Ziwei.

"Ziwei, I like you so much."

"I like you much, much more than you do."

"You can’t possibly like me that much more, because I’m already full."

"If you’re already full, then I’m overflowing."

Jiang Xia couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Hearing his sudden laughter, a baffled Lin Yanwan asked, "What are you laughing at?"

"Hahaha, darling, I’m about to overflow."

Her face flushed red. It was anyone’s guess what suddenly popped into her head, but she snapped in embarrassment, "Don’t be disgusting! So many people are watching."

"Babe, what are you thinking? Can’t you have a purer mind? I was talking about Ziwei. You know, ’My love for you is about to overflow.’"

Lin Yanwan froze for a second, then remembered the famous scene and couldn’t help but start laughing, too.

’But it really did sound like he was being lewd,’ she thought. ’This guy with a mind full of garbage, and he has the nerve to call me impure?’

Hmph!

A while later, the two of them dismounted. Lin Yanwan felt a bit unsteady on her feet as she walked.

"Yanwan, how was the ride?" Zhou Lu asked as she walked over with a smile.

"It was alright, but my hips are a little sore."

It was her first time riding a horse, and she hadn’t been able to relax for most of it. She’d subconsciously tensed up against the constant bouncing, which made for an uncomfortable ride.

"Aunt Zhou, you should try riding too. It’s actually pretty fun," Lin Yanwan said with a smile.

"Xiao Lu~ Want to come sit in front of me? I’ll take you for a spin," Li Weiya’s laughing voice chimed in from nearby.

Zhou Lu firmly shook her head in refusal. ’They’re a young couple, so riding together is romantic,’ she thought. ’But we’re two women in our thirties or forties. What would that look like?’

"You really don’t want to? It’s a lot of fun."

"Nope. I’d rather go boating."

You wore a life jacket for boating, so it wouldn’t hurt even if you fell in. Most importantly, she knew how to swim.

Jiang Xia glanced at the sky. It was a brilliant, cloudless blue. The forecast had said the high for the day would be around eighty degrees Fahrenheit—perfect for all sorts of water activities.

Lunch was a grand meal at one of the scenic area’s restaurants. Afterwards, the afternoon sun was perfect, and many people decided to go boating together.

Single-person kayaks in a variety of colors were lined up on the shore. After putting on a life jacket, you could hop in and experience the joy of paddling across the shimmering surface of the lake.

This time, Lin Yanwan had a blast. Before long, their paddling devolved into a water fight, with the young couple splashing each other with their paddles, back and forth, lost in the fun of it all.

However, since the theme of the trip was company team-building, its purpose was to foster employee loyalty and trust. It was meant to strengthen team cohesion, improve collaboration and overall efficiency, and help cultivate a shared set of values and purpose among the staff.

So, Jiang Xia gathered the employees from both companies, divided them into the Qitian Team and the Dili Team, and kicked off a dragon boat race on the lake.

After a coach explained the proper paddling techniques, the race officially began. The course was one hundred meters long, with twenty people per dragon boat. Li Weiya and Zhou Lu acted as the respective cheer captains for each team, leading a squad of supporters to cheer them on.

In the end, the Dili Team won with a score of 3-2. It couldn’t be helped—when neither side really knew how to row a dragon boat, the team with more young people naturally had the advantage in stamina.

A festival on the water, fun in the mountains, painting, archery, games, soccer, forest adventures, grass-sledding, camping, and kite-flying. Breathtaking scenery at every turn and endless fun to be had.

The two-day team-building event for Qitian Company was a joyous affair. The place was like a paradise, far removed from the hustle and bustle of the world. All one had to do was let go, releasing all the pressures of life and work into the valley’s fresh breeze and the lake’s sparkling water.

...

(This book will probably wrap up at around a million characters. As you all have probably noticed, I’ve been starting to tie things up recently. There’s still a bit of the original plot outline left to write. As for the timeline, it’ll probably be finished around the end of August.)