44 The Sword Forgers (part 5)

As she was still confused, a young man came to her and laughed and said, "Girl, don't take it seriously!" The man spoke in the Yue language.

Ying turned her head and saw the man who just spoke to her. The man was in his twenties, dressed in a neat blue robe. He looked pretty cute. Ying nodded politely. She didn't know who the man was, and she asked, "Sir, who are you?"

"I'm Yan Rui, I'm General Yan's youngest son!" the man said and smiled at her.

d at the man, and she smiled back and said, "Your father is my senior-apprentice brother. By degree, I'm more senior than you. Then tell me, how should I address you? And how are you going to address me?"

Yan Rui laughed and said, "Young Miss, you're so funny. You must have come from Yue!"

Ying nodded. "How do you know the Yue language?"

"I'm originally from Yue. I became an orphan when I was five years old, and my father adopted me and brought me here!"

"Oh! You're also from Yue!"

"You are the most beautiful Yue woman I have seen!" Yan Rui said. "Besides Xi Shi and Zheng Dan, of course!"

Ying lowered her head and asked, "How's Xi Shi and Zheng Dan? Does the king treat them well?"

"Of course. The king loves them so much. Have you ever seen those women?"

"They were my roommates," Ying said in her mind. But in her mouth, she said, "I saw them before they were sent to Wu!"

"The last time I saw them was the day when I became an immortal!" Ying said in her mind.

"Someday, you have to see the Guanwa Palace. The king built the palace just for them! It's a magnificent palace," Yan Rui said.

"I'm glad to hear that the king treats them well," Ying said in a low voice. Suddenly she missed her friends.

"They are stunning!" Yan Rui said.

"Uhm!" she nodded.

"I heard that in Yue, all women have to get married before seventeen years old. Have you passed your seventeen years old birthday?"

"Uhm!"

"Are you married then?"

"No!" Ying shook her head. "Nobody wants to marry an ugly girl like me!"

"Nonsense!" Yan Rui said. "Although your skin is very dark, you are very beautiful!"

Ying smiled plainly, "I have an odd destiny. I guess nobody would want to marry me! Besides, I want to learn blacksmithing from your father! I want to be a great sword forger one day!"

"My father is a good sword forger!"

"I know! That's why my teacher brings me here! Who would have thought that your father doesn't want to accept me to be his apprentice!"

"You're a girl! No woman become a blacksmith. Besides, why do you want to be a blacksmith?"

"The great blacksmith Gan Jiang had his wife, Mo Ye as his assistant. Who said that woman couldn't be a blacksmith?" Ying said.

"Mo Ye is Gan Jiang's wife. But you are not my father's wife! Unless…you want to be my father's wife to get the assistant title," Yan Rui giggled

"You!" Ying hissed angrily. "You complicated things! Who wants to be your old father's wife?"

"You pulled his hand!"

"I pulled his hand sleeve since I considered him to be my uncle or even my grandfather!" Ying pouted.

Yan Rui laughed, "Young Miss, don't be angry. I'm just teasing you!"

"Hmm!" Ying pondered. The most excellent blacksmith Gan Jiang and Mo Ye had died. Now only Ou Yezi is still alive. But where could I find him? Would Ou Yezi be willing to forge a sword for me or take me as a disciple? Xuanye was Ou Yezi's disciple. Learning from Xuanye is a way to learn blacksmithing from the grandmaster.

"To tell you the truth, my father will never accept you as his disciple because you're a woman!" Yan Rui said in a low voice.

"Why is that?"

"He is afraid of women. Especially the young and beautiful one!" Yan Rui laughed.

"Huh? How come? I heard that he's a great courageous military general!" Ying confused.

"He is! He's not afraid of anything but beautiful young females! My mother is a jealous woman. She will be unhappy if my father talks or interact with females. Therefore,..." Yan Rui said. "As long as you are a female, my father won't bother to take you as his disciple!"

"Is that the reason why?!" Ying disbelieved what she just heard.

Yan Rui nodded. Just before Ying said anything else, they could hear a female's voice was crying and screaming.

Yan Rui sighed and said, "It's your fault! That's my mother! She surely has heard that my father just talked to you, and you pulled his hand. Now she's angry and crying!"

"Huh? Are you serious?" Ying surprised. She looked a bit guilty, thinking that his jealous wife might scold the old general because of her.

Yan Rui nodded. "You're a naughty girl!" He thought the girl was naive and gullible. Therefore he enjoyed pulling her legs.

"What should I do then?" Ying asked.

"Hmm…don't mind them! Come, let me show you something!" Yan Rui said and pulled her hand.

Ying brushed off his hand, "What are you doing? Be polite!"

Yan Rui widened his eyes, "You pulled my father's hand, and you thought it was alright! I pulled your hand since I want to show you something, and you think I'm impolite! Hmm…little young miss, it seems that you're eyeing my father!"

"No, I'm not! He's old, that's why I had no problem with pulling his hand. But you are still young!" Ying said. "Hmm, and please don't call me little young miss. Although I'm younger than you, your father is my senior-apprentice brother. You should call me: auntie!"

"I consider you as my auntie. Therefore I pulled your hand!" Yan Rui said with a serious tone.

Ying looked at him and sternly said, "Don't ever try to touch my hand again. Otherwise, your auntie will be mad at you!"

Yan Rui laughed, "Alright, beautiful auntie! Come, let me show you something," he deliberately bowed to tease her.

Ying laughed and followed Yan Rui, who showed her his father's weapon room. "Look at these weapons. These all are made by my father!" he proudly shows many weapons in the room. There were swords, blades, spears, dagger axe, and many other weapons Ying had never seen before. She was excited, and her eyes showed her excitement.

Yan Rui thought that she's adorable, despite her dark skin and her cheap clothing.

Ying took one of the swords, and she used her fingers to flicker the sword and heard its sound. As she was raising the sword, her sleeves rolled and exposed her hand.

Yan Rui was dumbfounded. Her skin behind the sleeves was as white as lustrous jade. "If she doesn't have the sunburn on her face, she probably could be compared to Xi Shi!" he said in his heart.

"This is a good sword!" Ying said.

"Now you know that my father is a good sword forger!"

Ying pondered. She's thinking about how to be a sword forger.

============

Madame Yan was angry and cried almost half a day when she heard that a young girl pulled her husband's hand sleeve. General Yan had to explain to her that the girl was his teacher's disciple.

Finally, at noon, Xuanye decided to talk to Mister Yao.

"Mister Yao, I'm sorry I can't forge a new sword for Ying!" Xuanye said.

"Xuanye, I've never asked you favor before. But this time, I'm begging you," Mister Yao said.

"Mister Yao, I have some swords collection. You could choose which sword is suitable for her!"

Mister Yao nodded and said, "Alright then! Thank you, Xuanye!"

"Let me take you to my weapon room now," Xuanye said. He took Mister Yao to his weapon room, located on the back part of the house.

They were chatting, and when they were approaching the weapon room, they heard some noise from inside the room.

Xuanye quickened his footsteps and opened up the room. He found out that his son, Yan Rui, was practicing swordsmanship with Ying.

Xuanye had trained his son in swordsmanship, but who would have thought that the girl was superior to his son.

Mister Yao shouted, "Ying, stop it!"

"Yes, Master!" Ying said. She tried to retract her sword, but Yan Rui, who was curious, didn't want to let her go quickly.

"Not until I win!" Yan Rui said.

"You can't beat me!" Ying said. She jumped backward and ran toward Mister Yao.

"Master, I win!" Ying laughed. "I won all eight rounds!"

Xuanye raised his eyebrows and asked, "Rui, does she beat you?"

Yan Rui looked at his father, with a bit embarrassed, he said, "That girl is good! I can't beat her!"

Xuanye nodded and said, "Mister Yao praised her! Then you should not feel bad if she beats you!" He patted his son's shoulder.

"Mister Yao, except the sword that Ying is holding, you are free to get any weapon you want!" Xuanye said. He walked toward Ying and stretched his hand to get the sword from her hand.

Ying handed the sword to Xuanye with a little disappointment. She had scrutinized all the weapons in the room one by one, and the sword she just used was the only sword she wanted.

As Mister Yao was still checking which sword was suitable for Ying, Ying asked Xuanye, "Shixiong, why except that sword? I like that sword. I hope you could give me that one!"

Xuanye looked at the girl who looked at him straight to his eyes and replied, "Because, although I forged this sword, I had given this sword to the late Wu Zixu. Now he died, and he gave this sword back to me. I don't give it to anyone!"

Ying sighed and said, "Mister Yao, I only like that one! You don't have to waste your time picking one! I don't want any other but that one!"

Xuanye said, "Girl, many of the swords in my collections are better than that sword! You should check the quality first before you make any decision!"

"I know! But I already like that one," Ying replied.

Mister Yao had used to her attitudes. Therefore he said, "Ying, don't be rude to your shixiong! These swords are of high qualities."

Ying lowered her head and said, "I want that one. Or…I want to forge my own sword. I hope that Shixiong could take me as his disciple! I want to make the best sword for myself!"

Xuanye looked at the girl and laughed, "Girl, you don't know how hard it is to forge a sword!"

"If I don't try, then how do I know?" Ying said and looked at Xuanye straight to his eyes.

"I won't take you as my disciple!" Xuanye said. "Mister Yao, just take your time to choose any weapon you like. I have something else to do!" Xuanye made a salute with his fist and left the room. "Rui, you accompany them!"

Mister Yao took one sword and gave it to Ying. "Ying, this is a good sword, suitable for you!"

Ying shook her head and said, "Mister Yao, I want the best, or nothing! This sword…" she shook her head.

Yan Rui said, "This sword is a good one! This one is much better than that sword."

"I know….but I like that one," Ying sighed.

"You know, my father has been very generous to you both! He had never offered me to have this sword."

"Really?" Ying asked Yan Rui.

Yan Rui nodded, "This sword is the best sword he made!"

Ying took the sword from Mister Yao's hand and then handed it to Yan Rui and said, "Alright, I give you my sword then!"

Yan Rui and Mister Yao were shocked. "Ying, don't play around!" Mister Yao said.

"I'm not. Yan Rui's sword skill is inferior to mine. He needs this sword better than I do!" Ying said.

"My father has never said that I can have this sword!" Yan Rui shook his head.

"He said that Mister Yao could get any sword for me. And since now this is my sword, I want to give it to you!" Ying said.

Mister Yao shook his head and said, "Ying, don't do something that you may regret. This is a precious sword!"

"I won't regret it. I like that sword, but shixiong doesn't allow me to have it. Then…why not I give this sword to Yan Rui. He likes it!" Ying said.

"Little miss, are you serious?"

"I'm not joking," Ying said with an expressionless face.

"Thank you, little miss!" Yan Rui said, and he pulled her hand out of excitement.

"Be polite!!" Ying said while brushing off his hand.

Mister Yao smiled, "Alright then! But I still have to tell your shixiong that you give this sword to him!"

Ying nodded.

Yan Rui accompanied Ying to look around while Mister Yao went inside the house to meet Xuanye again.

"What? She gave the sword to Rui?" Xuanye was shocked when he heard from Mister Yao of what happened. He shook his head and said, "That sword is better quality than the sword she wants."

"She knew it. But she still likes your sword better," Mister Yao laughed.

"That girl is really stubborn!"

"Ying is stubborn, but she's one of the kindest people that I've ever seen!" Mister Yao said and poured out some wine for them. "We're so proud to have her as our disciple. She's also very smart! You really should consider her to be your apprentice in sword-forging!"

Xuanye smiled lightly and said, "I can't! My mortal wife might kill me if I ever take her as my apprentice!"

Mister Yao laughed and said, "I heard that she cried this morning….because Ying pulled your hand!"

Xuanye nodded, "Not even hand! My hand sleeve!"

"That's a lesson for you not to retake any mortal wife!" Mister Yao laughed.

Xuanye also laughed. After a moment, he said, "My son likes that girl!"

Mister Yao shook his head and said, "She's a special immortal. You only see her with her dark skin and shabby appearance. But I can tell you; she's the most beautiful girl I've seen in more than a thousand years. We only allow her to marry a mortal man if the man is a king!"