The Reality of Life

Ying had stayed with Mister Yao and Madame Ling for a few months.

Mister Yao, who found out that Ying had previously learned archery, taught her how to make bows and arrows. He also asked Ying to practice her archery every day.

At night, Ying would spend her time reading in the library. Mister Yao had a lot of books in his library. One day she went to the library to get a book to read. Unfortunately, there's a lot of books in the library that she could not read.

"Mister Yao, there are many books that I can't understand, " said Ying with a low voice. "I guess it's my knowledge too shallow that I can't recognize many of the characters."

Mister Yao laughed, "Girl, you only know the writing system of Chu State. My books are written in many languages. Yan, Qin, Qi, Zhao…and of course, Chu. Therefore it's very natural if you can't read them all."

Ying was astonished as she heard it. "I only know that outside our Yue State, there are other countries like Chu, Wu, Qi, and Wey. I don't know that there are still other countries out there!"

"Many!" Mister Yao said. "Many small states out there. Some even already perished, while the new ones emerge. Someday when you go out and wander around, then you can see how big the world is!"

Ying's eyes sparkled. She imagined how someday she could roam freely and see the outside world.

Madame Ling saw how eyes sparked full of excitement. She laughed and said, "Girl, it's not time yet for you to go out and see the world. You still need to learn. Learn how to live and survive in this world! And also, you're an immortal! Your mission in life in this world is bigger than those of ordinary people!"

Ying nodded, "Yes, Madame. I will work hard and study hard. I want to be an official like Minister Fan, who works hard to make our people live in a better condition!"

Madame Ling smiled and pulled Ying to sit closer to her. Then she started to comb Ying's hair and said, "Girl, it is not a coincidence that you're beautiful and smart! And the most important thing is that you are an immortal!"

Ying nodded, "With my immortality, and after you teach me swordsmanship, then I could roam freely and see the world, and be an official like Minister Fan!" She didn't realize that every time she mentioned Fan Li's name, her voice showed adoration and excitement.

"You are a girl! You can't be an official!" Madame Ling laughed. "But, you can be a king's woman!"

Ying sighed, "You just like my father! He said the same thing!"

"Silly girl! A king is more powerful than officials. While a king's woman is more powerful than a king!" Madame Ling said while she's tying Ying's hair. "Fan Li and Goujian have made the best decision to send beauties to Wu! They want the girls to be like Daji or Baosi, who collapsed nations with their beauty!"

"They taught us how to seduce men and manipulate them to comply with our demands," Ying said. "I don't like it. I don't think I could do a shameless thing like that!"

"Not necessary to seduce. But you could always use your charm to persuade people," Madame Ling said, and she patted Ying's shoulder lightly said, "Done with your hair!"

"Thank you, Madame Ling!" Ying said. She turned her body and moved to sit in front of Madame Ling.

Madame Ling saw Ying's skin was a bit darker because of sunburn. "Hmm, this training makes your skin got sunburned! With this skin, this clothing…aye, you're no longer the Yue beauty!"

Ying laughed and said, "Only when the queen brought me to undergo training that people called me as a Yue beauty! Before that, people in my village, including my mother, called me a wolf girl!"

"Hmm, you're not a wolf girl! You are an immortal! A beautiful one! Perhaps one day, we will call you an immortal beauty!" Madame Ling said. "But you know, beauty is only skin deep. The most important thing is you have to have a beautiful heart!"

"Minister Fan said that I have a beautiful heart as beautiful as my face," Ying recalled what Fan Li once said to her. Suddenly she missed Fan Li, and she unconsciously sighed.

"Why do you sighed?" Madame Ling asked.

"I remember Minister Fan! He has a beautiful face and a kind heart!" Ying said.

Somehow Madame Ling was an old lady who had a lot of experiences. She could tell from Ying's face that she had a crush on Fan Li. Madame Ling laughed and said, "You like him, don't you?"

Ying's face blushed and said, "No! He likes Xi Shi!"

"Hmm. I'm not asking if he likes you or not. I ask: do you like him?"

"I admire him!" Ying said. "He has a lot of knowledge. I wish I could have a lot of knowledge like him!"

Madame Ling said, "You are an immortal, which means that you may live thousands of years old. You can learn anything that you want! You can even learn things that Fan Li can't learn in his life!"

Ying nodded, "I want to be an official like Minister Fan!"

"You miss him, do you?"

"Hmm!" Ying shook her head. She's lying, that's why she lowered her head and didn't want to have eye contact with Madame Ling.

"You know, he's just a mortal man. A few years from now, he will grow old and weak and ugly. In comparison, you will always be forever young and beautiful! You should only marry another immortal! Just like Mister Yao and I," Madame Ling said.

Ying laughed, "But you often said that I should be a king's woman. Is there any immortal who become a king?"

Madame Ling laughed, "I don't think so! Hey, tell me about Fan Li. How's he looks like?"

Ying blushed, "Minister Fan…is the most good looking man I've seen in my life!"

"Argh!" Madame Ling rolled her eyes and laughed, teasing her young apprentice, "So he's smart and good looking, huh?"

"Yes, he is!" Ying said.

"Hmm….just find other immortals! There's quite a lot of handsome and smart immortals," Madame Ling said.

"Who cares anyway!" Ying said. "I still have a lot of things to do in my life!"

"What do you want to do next after you finish your training here? What do you want to do in your life? Remember, you can't be an official since you're a woman!"

Ying pondered for a while. She lowered her head, thinking hard of the question.

Madame Ling smiled and shook her head. Somehow the girl in front of her was just a young girl from a small village who was trained on how to be an elegant, refined king's woman. She knew nothing about life and its reality.

"Come, let's eat now!" Madame Ling said as she saw Mister Yao had finished cooking for their dinner. "Just ponder on my question! You should answer my question later! No rush! Just think it over!"

Madame Ling, Mister Yao, and Ying had their dinner together.

Ying saw how Madame Ling and Mister Yao loved each other and served each other. Suddenly she recalled Fan Li. Fan Li also treated Xi Shi nicely, just like Master Yao treated Madame Ling.

She unconsciously sighed. "Only my father treated me kindly. The rest, nobody cares for me! Not even Minister Fan!"

"Why sighed? Eat now! Tomorrow we will take you to the nearby village," Mister Yao said.

Ying nodded and started to eat. She was grateful to have Mister Yao and Madame Ling in her life.

The next day, Mister Yao brought Ying and Madame Ling to ride a cart pulled by two oxen to go to the nearby village.

"Why do we have a ride a cart?"

"Later, you will know! We're going to buy a lot of items!" Madame Ling said.

Ying enjoyed her trip. She sang some songs from her country.

Mister Yao and Madame Ling could only smile when they saw how happy and excited she was. After all, she's just a seventeen years old girl who just entered the real world.

Their happiness didn't last long. Mister Yao saw some smoke from the village direction.

"Ling, look at that!" Mister Yao pointed the village direction.

"Husband, could it be…" Madame Ling said in a panic tone.

"You take this cart, and I will go there first!" Mister Yao said.

Madame Ling complied, and she replaced Mister Yao driving the cart to go to the village, while Mister Yao hopped off the cart.

Ying was still confused. And she became more confused when she saw Mister Yao ran so fast. She had never seen anyone could run as fast as that.

When Mister Yao arrived at the village, it was already a bit late. A band of bandits had been plundering and burning some buildings in the village.

The local villagers tried to resist the bandits with anything they had. But the bandits were too many.

Mister Yao unsheathed his sword and helped the villagers to drive out the bandits.

Madame Ling and Ying arrived with their cart, and they were shocked to see how chaotic the village was. They saw some houses were burned, women and children were crying, and some people who fought the bandits.

"Ying, don't go anywhere! Just stay in the cart, and use this to protect yourself!" said Madame Ling, and she passed a bow and arrows to Ying. She jumped off the cart and used her sword to help the villagers and killed some bandits.

Ying nodded. She had not learned swordsmanship and only knew how to use a bow and arrows. She secretly mad at Madame Ling and Mister Yao, who had not taught her swordsmanship yet.

She looked around and saw how chaotic it was. Her village once was plundered by bandits. Luckily the bandits could easily be driven away by the soldiers.

Ying saw a young woman holding a baby who was chased by a bandit who wanted to rape her. The woman ran with all her might. Unfortunately, the bandit was fast and managed to pull her clothes from behind. The woman and her baby fell on the ground. The baby cried out loud. And while the woman was trying to save her baby, the bandit pulled her legs, wanted to take off her skirt.

Ying was enraged as she saw how cruel and brutal the bandit was. She took her bow and arrow and shot the bandit on his head. Hit! She shot dead the bandit.

The woman held her baby, who fell on the ground. Her baby cried out loud; probably, the baby was hurt. She looked around to see who shot the arrow.

Ying jumped off the cart wanted to help the woman and the baby. She didn't know that another bandit saw her shot dead his friend. That bandit ran toward Ying and slashed his sword.

"You bitch! I will chop your head!" the bandit shouted.

Ying spontaneously used her bow to dodge the bandit's sword. "Madame Ling, help me!" she shouted in panic.

Madame Ling was too far away from her and could not hear her. Ying had to deal with the bandit by herself. She didn't have a sword, and she had to use her bow to fend off the bandit's repeated attack.

After a few months of working hard every day, although she's not trained in swordsmanship yet, Ying's strength was already above ordinary people. Every time she used her bow to dodge the bandit's sword, she could feel how her opponent's sword was shaken aback. Her bow was made from old precious wood. Therefore although several times it clashed with the sword, the bow didn't break.

The bandit saw that Ying didn't know any martial art. She just randomly dodged and fend off. Therefore the bandit changed his strategy. He rolled on the ground to the right, and in a flash moment, he slashed his sword to Ying's waist.