12 When The Strangers Meet

280 BC - Chu State

Yue Maiden bewildered.

"Immortal? Was that the reason why I didn't die when Zixi and I were ambushed on that day? Was that the reason why I don't grow any older since the day when I supposed to die together with Lord Ejun?" Yue Maiden pondered.

"You are in your thirties when you died and resurrected. Even a thousand years or ten thousand years from now, you will still have your current body and face!" the girl said.

Yue Maiden was confused and unconsciously held her spear tighter. If the girl in front of her did something unusual, she would just use her spear to kill her.

The girl looked at her spear and calmly said, "Yue Maiden, we're not enemies anyway! You and I…once we worked together! You trained King Goujian's soldier with your swordsmanship skills. I was the one who forged the swords for his soldiers. It's just,.. we didn't have the chance to meet up each other at that time. "

"You…are you the Beauty of Yue? Ou Yezi's disciple?"

"And a few years before that, when I was just a child. You saved me from a bear trap on the foothill of Kuaiji Mountain! I owe you my foot!" the girl said.

Yue Maiden and the young girl looked at each other straight to the eyes.

Both of them recalling their past.

490 BC - Pier of Zhe River in Yue State

It was winter, and the weather was cold. Still, there were so many people enthusiastically waiting near the riverbank. Common people, soldiers, and high officials.

That day was a big day for the people of Yue State. Because on that day, their ruler King Goujian who was taken captive as a slave in Wu State, would return home after he served in Wu State for three years.

While the high officials were solemnly waiting near the pier, the commoners could only stand a bit far on the higher ground, hoping to be able to see their king, his wife and his minister. For peasants like them, to be able to see their king was a once in a lifetime chance.

Among the crowds, was a man with his little daughter. From his clothing, that man was a hunter and a farmer instead of a local fisherman who lived along the river.

"Daughter, are you cold?" the man asked his daughter.

"No, I'm not, Father!" the girl said. "This dog skin jacket is very warm!"

"I'm not talking about your body. I'm talking about your feet!" the man said.

"I'm alright, you don't have to worry!" she said. The girl was around eleven or twelve years old. She wore a warm dog skin jacket, yet she only wore straw sandals on her feet.

"When we get home, I will try to find something to buy you warm shoes!" the man said.

"You don't have to; otherwise mother will get angry again!"

The man wanted to say something, but they heard some loud noise of people cheering. The king's boat was arriving.

"Ying-er, the boat is arriving!" the man said. "Can you see the boat?"

The girl craned her neck, but the man in front of her was blocking her view. She tried to squeeze, but she's too little. Her father laughed and spontaneously carried her and pointed to the river direction, "Look at that boat!"

A boat was arriving, and three people got off the boat.

"The man wearing black is the king! The man wearing blue and white is Minister Fan Li! And the woman is the queen!" the father said.

"She's a beautiful woman! And the king, and the man, they looked,…" the girl could not describe what she saw. After all, that day was her first experience seeing noble people and a crowd such as that.

King Goujian was only in his early thirties, yet he looked so much older now. Three years as a slave in Wu State had changed him.

Six years earlier, the young King Goujian led a battle against Wu State, and he won the battle. Not only did he win the battle, but he also managed to shoot an arrow at King Helu of Wu. The mighty King Helu died because of the grave wound. As a result, three years ago, Wu State launched a revenge attack on Yue.

King Goujian, who got an easy victory, thought that he would gain another triumph easily. He was wrong. He was miscalculated. King Goujian's army was heavily defeated, and Wu's army led by Wu Zixu almost destroyed the whole Yue if not because of Wen Zhong's diplomatic mission to Wu that brought a peace treaty between Wu and Yue.

Wu didn't eliminate Yue once for all. Yet Wu stripped Goujian's position and brought Goujian to Wu as a slave. Goujian and his wife served as a horse keeper for Fuchai - the new king of Wu, the son of King Helu. His faithful minister Fan Li, who felt guilty as he could not stop Goujian from waging war against Wu, followed Goujian to serve as a slave in Wu.

Three years as a slave in an enemy's state made Goujian humble. The first thing he did when he got off from the boat was to make a kowtow - a bow with his head touched the ground.

Seeing he kneeled to make a kowtow, all of his high officials and his people also kneeled and made a kowtow.

Goujian then raised on his feet and said, "My people, I - Goujian has made a grave mistake. For three years, I became a slave of Fuchai. And this is all for the sake of Yue! I can not let that foreign country invade our land and disgrace our ancestor's altar! We have to work hard from now on. We have to make our state strong, and the people prosper!"

When the people heard his humble words, they all started to cry.

After some ceremonies, Wen Zhong, the prime minister, and the other high officials then let Goujian and his wife ride an open chariot to go to the palace.

After the chariot left, the crowd started to disperse and return to their own houses.

The man rubbed his daughter's head and asked, "Our king sacrificed a lot for the sake of his people. He's a real hero!"

"They don't look like strong hunters!" said the girl.

The man laughed and said, "The king and his minister don't have to hunt their food. They don't need to work like us!"

"They all wear nice warm clothes! And warm shoes!"

"That's because he's a king! Our king and the ministers, they are all heroes!"

"Then someday I want to be a king! I want to be a hero and have nice warm clothes and shoes!"

The man laughed and said, "You're a girl. You can't become a king!"

"Why not? Is there no girl who can become a king? What should someone do to become a king? Oh, the official also wears nice clothes. I want to be an official then!"

Her father laughed and didn't know how to answer. "For sure, you can't be a king. You can't be an official too! But you can be a king's woman!"

"A king's woman?"

"Did you see the woman? She's the king's woman. Didn't you see how beautiful she is?"

"She's adorable!" the girl said. "And she wears nice clothes too! I hope that someday I can also become like her!" Her eyes sparkled and showed admiration as she recalled how beautiful and adorable the queen was.

Before her father said something, someone who overheard their conversation cut off their conversation, laughed, and said, "Aye, Old Man! Don't dream in broad daylight! That your daughter, who was raised by wolves, could marry a decent man is already great luck!" The man laughed and continued, "You better sell your daughter to a brothel house in Ying City! The Chu people love young girls from our tribes!"

The father looked angry, but he didn't want to fight and argued with the man. His face changed, and he dragged his daughter to walk faster and left behind the man who was mocking him and his daughter. The man was then telling the other people around him about the man and his daughter, who was raised by wolves.

The man and his daughter walked toward the Kuaiji Mountain where they lived.

After a while, the daughter asked, "Father, is it really true that I was raised by wolves?"

"Nonsense!" the man said. "You are my daughter! Don't listen to other people!"

The girl sighed and said, "I know that I'm your daughter. But mother said that I'm not her daughter! So who is my mother then?"

"Ying-er, don't ask too much!"

The girl obeyed and didn't say anything more.

They increased their pace as the snow started to fall. "Ying-er, we have to go home faster. I'm afraid that your feet might get frozen!"

"I'm used to, and I will be fine!" She just finished her word when suddenly she felt something pain on her right foot. She cried and howled, "Argh!"

It's an animal trap. The trap was covered with snow, and the girl accidentally stepped on it.

The girl cried out loud, "Father, father, please help me!"

The man uncovered the snow and tried to release the trap from her foot to no avail. He's too weak to release the bear trap.

The man desperately looked around. But they were alone in the forest. They could not easily find someone to help.

"Ying-er, don't be afraid! You'll be fine!" the man said. He took his knife and tried to use the knife to open the trap that gripped her foot. He managed to loosen the teeth of the trap, but the trap was too big and too strong. It bounced back and pierced her daughter's foot more severely.

"Argh!" the girl cried louder. Blood streamed from her little foot like a pond.

Just as the man was desperate, someone was approaching them. The person looked shocked and ran toward them. The person was a woman in her thirties, wearing a thick jacket and carried a bamboo spear in her hand. A sword was hung on her waist.