Rebirth of a Star General: Chapter 56
Translator: Sylph
Editor: Elsa
THE SPEAR
“May I?”
I don’t think so, Liang Ping thought to himself.
He was about to say it when someone else chimed in, “Hey, what’s the point of asking Instructor Liang when you could just ask He Yan? Isn’t this a pretty simple matter? If he’s willing to compete, then let it go. That kid’s already got a plan in mind.”
Du Mao nodded, “That’s reasonable.”
He turned and said to Jiang Jiao, “You can go and ask He Yan directly. The contest is fine but,” after a pause, he warned, “Remember, don’t hurt anyone.”
As the conversation had reached this point, Liang Ping had no choice but to watch Jiang Jiao head towards He Yan.
When Jiang Jiao observed Instructor Liang’s group of new recruits, he immediately spotted He Yan playing with a spear. She didn’t stand out because she was bright, but rather because she was strikingly thin amongst the group of strong men. Jiang Jiao stayed behind and quietly observed He Yan for a while.
He Yan might simply be taking the spear back in and throwing it repeatedly, but she practised with determination. His common marksmanship showed no laziness.
After watching her for a while, someone noticed him and asked, “Brother, why are you watching us from here?”
“I was trying to find someone,” Jiang Jiao said and strode closer to He Yan.
He Yan threw her spear forward.
Suddenly, a figure held the spearhead, causing the man to stagger two steps backwards.
She wondered as she raised her head, Why did you grab my spear blade?
Still clasping onto the spearhead, a hint of amazement surfaced in Jiang Jiao’s heart. Although He Yan looked like a soft spear dancer with little strength, the throw said the opposite. If it wasn’t for the fact that his family runs a martial arts school, he would’ve been stabbed and fallen to the ground.
Whilst contemplating this, his heart dripped with contempt.
Jiang Jiao looked at He Yan seriously, “I heard that Brother He is peerless. How about a spar with Brother He on the long spear?”
He Yan blinked, realizing that this was another person who came to kick the hall [1].
Hong Shan stood behind He Yan and smacked his head after hearing the declaration, “Bad. People are afraid of being famous, pigs are afraid of being strong. Last time when Ah He won over Wang Ba, I knew it was going to be bad. See, this is the second challenger.”
“Will there be more after that?” Mak asked quietly.
“There’ll be plenty of them- there’ll always be a third, fourth and fifth one,” Hong Shan shook his head, “Humans…they just love to fight for themselves, but I’ll never understand what’s the point of competing over and over again?”
What’s the point? The anecdote amused He Yan. Xiao Jue rarely observes new recruits practising. So, In order for Xiao Jue to discover her as an extraordinary hero among talented men, she had to prove herself and achieve fame by accepting challenges from people like Wang Ba to enter the Nine Banners Camp.
But for some reason, no one challenged her since Wang Ba and she sparred using the crossbow. He Yan guessed that, on one hand, it was probably because the lost bets of bread had hurt the new recruit’s ego- so much so that they didn’t want to see her for the time being. On the other hand, she couldn’t just initiate challenges to everyone in the vicinity.
Right now, there was a competitor. Someone still came to ‘give her a pillow [2]’, and she wasn’t even sleepy. Wasn’t that wonderful?
“Okay,” He Yan kept her spear by her side, “How do you want to compete?”
Her response was so crisp that Jiang Jiao himself was startled. After a moment’s hesitation, he replied, “We spar in close quarters.”
“Okay,” He Yan said, “You go and get your weapon. Let’s spar on the arena stage.”
“You…” Jiang Jiao was baffled, “Don’t you want to wait for ten days?”
He Yan was stunned and a little beguiled, “No, not every time.”
Did they think she needed ten days again? She needed ten days last time because of her lack of arm strength. Now, in addition to her daily training, she had stone locks on top of her routine. Even though she still wasn’t on par with the Rexes and Hercules of her group, it was sufficient for drawing ordinary crossbows.
The few instructors who had heard of the news huddled together, and someone nudged Liang Ping’s arm, “Old Liang, I told you earlier, maybe this new recruit of yours isn’t bothered by this competition. It’s just you worrying about it!”
“…”
He thought that He Yan would decline because if He Yan personally refused the match, Jiang Jiao would not have anything else to say. He didn’t expect He Yan to agree. Or, was he so confident in winning every challenge?
“I’m kind of looking forward to it,” Du Mao pulled off the cowhide water bag from his waist and took a sip of water.
Staring at He Yan heading towards the high platform, he remarked, “How about we make a bet?”
“No bets,” Liang Ping flatly refused. The recruits lost their dry bread and starved for a whole month. It was scary to watch. Why should the instructors bet when their recruits don’t gamble anymore?
“He’s a coward. If he doesn’t want to bet, then I will,” another instructor said, “I’ll bet on the yellow wine issued at the end of the month, and I’ll bet on Jiang Jiao to win!”
……
Cheng Lisu’s first reaction to the news of He Yan and Jiang Jiao competing in spear combat was to look for Xiao Jue in the next room.
When he arrived in a rushed state, Xiao Jue was talking to his personal bodyguard. He frowned at the sight, “Cheng Lisu, why do you look like you’ve been running around?”
“Uncle, I’ve come to tell you about a good show!”
Xiao Jue motioned for the secret guard to leave.
After the guard left, he asked, “What is it this time?”
“My new friend, Brother He, is going to have a long spear contest today!” Cheng Lisu tugged on Xiao Jue’s sleeve, “It’s about to start at the arena. How about we go and check it out?”
“He Yan?” Xiao Jude raised his eyebrows.
He remembered He Yan. In just a few months, this person’s name had already spread throughout Liang Zhou. First, it was running, then it went from being unable to draw a bow to becoming Cheng Lisu’s sworn brother. In addition, he turned a blind eye to the fact that Cheng Lisu secretly went and delivered food to He Yan every now and then. He treated it as a child’s play.
But determination and persistence shone through this man. His qualifications might be mediocre, but every night, after the recruits went to bed, he would run to the arena and continue training until the third quarter of the night before returning to his room to rest.
“Yeah, you know my big brother too!” Cheng Lisu tugged on Xiao Jue’s sleeve, attempting to drag him outside, “I heard it was that kid who took the initiative to approach my brother, but my brother will teach him what true marksmanship is!”
Xiao Jue glanced at him, “Sleeve.”
Cheng Lisu immediately let go of his sleeve and hugged his arm instead. He begged, “Uncle, just go and take a look with me. My brother is great! He won’t be any worse than those Rexes from your Nine Banners Camp!”
Xiao Jue sneered. He didn’t want to comment on what his nephew had said. Even so, his steps didn’t falter and were finally dragged outside.
Cheng Lisu was relieved and secretly thought to himself, Big Brother, this is all I can do for you.
[1] came to challenge
[2]everything goes so well, having what you want without making efforts,
[3](of the firing of a shot, bullet, or other missiles) from very close to its target.
