A week passed since Han Suyin was introduced to the army. Everyone seemed to warm up now compared to before. Han Suyin was very friendly and treated everyone equally, something that all the people really respected about her.
The little girl who finally realized who she talked back to, became a little aggressive towards Han Suyin. She still thought that Han Suyin is a weak girl from the Capital who will cry about everything. Even though she was her idol's daughter, the little girl didn't want Han Suyin to be their leader.
Everyone was at the training grounds today. It seemed like this was the day they tested Han Suyin's skills. The little girl was very excited to see how badly Han Suyin would fail. Dressed in plain robes, Han Suyin stepped forward and waited for the person who she had to fight.
Since she had to prove herself again, Han Suyin couldn't be bothered to act benevolent and modest. She had her long silky hair in a braid and wore no makeup. All the younger men and older women who were watching from the side, were drawn to her face. Sometimes she looked like a beautiful woman, but when she cracked her joints, her charm and elegance made her resemble a young man.
It was truly fascinating to watch.
Fu Guan stepped up and said, "Today, you're fighting someone so that we can see your status."
The little girl was the first to jump up and run to the front. "I want to fight her!"
Han Suyin glanced at the girl and then looked back at Fu Guan. "How good is she?"
"Better than you would think." He replied.
Han Suyin raised a brow.
Wouldn't this be cheating?
Han Suyin shook her head. "I'm not fighting her."
"Why not! I'm way better than you!" The little girl puffed up her chest. "Are you scared that I might damage your face?"
Han Suyin scoffed lightly. She looked around and saw everyone staring at her, in doubt. They thought that she couldn't beat the girl.
What is the matter with you people?
Fu Guan didn't doubt Han Suyin's skills. She dodged a dagger aimed for her head so casually, she couldn't possibly have no experience. He announced, "We have our two fighters!"
Han Suyin narrowed her eyes slightly at the man. The little girl came up to her. "Watch your back."
The girl then started circling her. Han Suyin wanted to laugh.
I have to bend down to talk to you, and you're telling me to watch my back?
"And, start!" Fu Guan yelled.
As soon as he said that, the girl pounced onto Han Suyin's back and tried to make her fall to the ground. Han Suyin, feeling the weight of another person on her back, didn't do anything. She didn't want to hurt the girl or the girl's ego.
She tried to shrug her off a few times but the girl had a tight grip on her clothes. After a few attempts, Han Suyin got bored and held the girl by her fat sash, pulling her off her body. The girl came running at Han Suyin again and was about to pounce on her from the front when Han Suyin used two fingers to press the pressure point on her neck. The girl's body went limp and Han Suyin caught her before she fell.
"She's very... courageous." Han Suyin looked around to see the other soldiers watching.
"That she is, Miss Han." Fu Guan said and called the girl's father to take her away.
The father ran up and was about to kneel before Han Suyin stopped him. "Why are you going to kneel?"
"This slave has raised an incompetent child, please forgive this lowly one!"
"There's nothing you need to be sorry for, it's alright. Take your daughter and look after her, she'll be up in a few hours."
"Many thanks, Young Lady Han!" The father walked away with his unconscious daughter after bowing slightly.
"Why would you make me fight a 14-year-old? Has your age affected your brain?" Han Suyin asked Fu Guan once the man was gone.
"What? It's not like you're much older, aren't you 16?"
"I'm 20." Han Suyin replied.
"And you're calling me old?" Fu Guan mocked.
"Oh please old man, stop talking."
Fu Guan rolled his eyes and went to get spears. When he came back, he threw one to Han Suyin. Catching it lazily, Han Suyin questioned. "What are you doing?"
"We're going to fight, watch out."
Not this again.
Han Suyin held onto her spear and saw the soldiers watching on the side. She felt like she was reliving when she first went to the Northern base. "Are we going to stand here all day?" She said, twirling the spear.
"Of course not." Fu Guan brought down his spear and snapped Han Suyin's into two pieces.
"You didn't say start." Han Suyin calmly said as she started defending Fu Guan's attacks with her two pieces. It was actually easier to handle. She blocked an incoming blow by crossing the two pieces together above her head. She then pushed forward, which made her and Fu Guan at a distance.
Fu Guan laughed, "Too bad."
Han Suyin kept blocking his hits with one piece after the other and over time, they started to pick up the pace and eventually, the soldiers watching couldn't tell what they were looking at. Han Suyin saw the spear aim for her leg so she jumped and used a piece of her spear to seize Fu Guan's one.
She pulled it out of his grip and then, Fu Guan had no weapon left on him. Han Suyin had thrown one piece of her spear in the process of taking away Fu Guan's, so she still had one more piece left. She saw Fu Guan panting and coughing and threw her other piece to the ground. She cracked her knuckles and gestured for him to come over.
Fu Guan ran to her and secretly pulled out a dagger. Han Suyin was observing the way he ran and caught sight of the dagger in his sleeve. She put her foot under her broken spear and moved her leg upwards so that she can grab hold of it. The spear was in mid-air when Han Suyin caught it and put it in front of her as she blocked Fu Guan's dagger.
Not expecting the swiftness of the other person, Fu Guan couldn't stop his dagger from hitting the spear. Since the spear was quite strong, the dagger made a slit in it and got stuck, but didn't break it. Han Suyin took the dagger out of the spear and flung it to the ground, it pierced through the mud and stayed upright.
Then, Han Suyin took her broken spear and spun it in front of Fu Guan, catching him off-guard. He could only see the spear spinning when Han Suyin swung at his legs, making him fall to the ground. She pointed the spear at Fu Guan and stopped when the tip of the spear touched his neck.
Han Suyin threw her half-spear to the ground and gave out her hand. "Get up."
Fu Guan accepted her hand and when they looked back to the crowd, they saw all the soldiers kneeling with one hand formed as a fist by their heart. They started to chant something indistinguishable.
What the fu-
"Congratulations, you are officially the leader of your father's army." Fu Guan said, out of breath.
"What?" Han Suyin asked, also breathless.
"They're swearing their allegiance to you, staying loyal until death."
"I haven't even done anything worthy of it." Han Suyin was surprised.
"Maybe not in your eyes, but in ours, you are ready. You didn't cower when I broke your weapon, instead, you used it to your advantage and ended up winning. You also beat me, and I'm the best out of all of them, so what does that make you?" Fu Guan explained.
"Better than you?"
"Yes."
"Great, so that dagger thing was planned as well?" Han Suyin asked.
"Oh, no it wasn't. If you weren't good enough, you would've died." Fu Guan said casually.
"Go drown, old man."
...
Hey guys! Here's another chapter!
Hope you all are happy with the pace! The next chapter will be a bit more adventurous, now that Han Suyin has been accepted as the leader of her father's army!
Thanks for reading!