Chapter Eighteen: Training (Part Two)

  Geng Yan taught Meng Er from the basic steps, to stretching, coordination, strength, and then to movements, step by step. Meng Er's ability to pick up quickly surprised him, making him think she was a natural-born martial arts prodigy. However, reality made him shake his head - this was impossible; it was just that girls were naturally more flexible and coordinated. Geng Yan comforted himself like this.

  Before long, a day passed, and Meng'er lay on the bed, her whole body feeling like it had fallen apart. She missed the feeling of holding a sword so much, but now her brother wouldn't let her practice with a real sword, afraid that she would get hurt again. However, being able to practice movements purely was also satisfying for her. Everything has its own process, and one must learn to progress gradually; she didn't rush to succeed.

  The next morning, Meng Er got up early and had already finished 20 laps of jogging in the garden. Just as she was finishing her jog, Geng Yan appeared.

  "Looks like the young lady is quite diligent!" Geng Yan said with a teasing expression. Meng Er ignored his sarcastic face and looked at him with a sunny smile. "Good morning, Master! Skill is refined through diligence, but ruined by laziness. As I'm just starting to learn, of course I need to be more diligent and studious!"

  Gong Yan didn't expect Meng Er to respond in such a way, and suddenly felt that his nitpicking was sometimes unnecessary. So, he straightened up and said: "Let's start training."

  Geng Yan slowly explained to Meng Er, and was more patient with her posture than yesterday. Maybe it was Meng Er's self-awareness in the morning that moved him. At first, he thought she was just having fun, and he didn't put his heart into teaching her. But after a whole day yesterday, he knew she was very tired, yet she never said no to practicing or tried to slack off from his arrangements. So, he began to be touched by her seriousness.

  An hour later...

  "How do I feel that your spirit isn't very focused today?" Geng Yan looked at Meng Er, whose spirit had clearly become somewhat sluggish, and couldn't help but ask. But she didn't respond, just continued repeating her own actions. "What's wrong with you?" He couldn't bear it anymore, continuing to ask.

  "Meng'er stopped in her tracks, her eyes sorrowfully gazing at Geng Yan."

  "What's wrong with you? If there's something on your mind, just say it, I won't make things difficult for you!" Meng'er looked at Geng Yan with an expression that said 'you've made things difficult for me enough already'. "Alright, alright, I'm serious. As long as you speak up, I'll try my best to satisfy you!" Geng Yan said, unable to bear it, he couldn't stand it when girls looked at him like this, he would rather Meng'er be fierce or lively.

  "I'll take the sword and practice!" Meng'er saw that Geng Ye had relaxed his guard, and immediately made her request. However, upon hearing this, Geng Ye became disheartened and scratched his hair, thinking to himself that he should not have agreed so quickly.

  "Brother Jun, I've already told you it's not possible for me to lend you the sword. At least not until a month later!"

  "It's okay, isn't my brother around? He won't know."

  "This..."

  "Master!" Meng'er started acting cute again.

  "Okay. Then you can just take some, your destructive power is a bit strong. And I'm afraid Jun will suddenly come back, and then I'll end up having to leave with a full stomach!"

  "You're so afraid of my brother?"

  "It's not that, I just promised him!" He said, and then took a sword over and put it in Meng Er's hand. "Your hands must be steady, strong, and your wrists flexible."

  Then, Meng'er began to practice with the sword. Beginners usually find that although the sword is not heavy, they have not practiced the corresponding movements and muscles before, so at first their arms ache and wrists are sore, and soon they can't lift the sword anymore. However, Meng'er was unexpectedly full of energy, the more she practiced, the more energetic she became.

  "Meng'er, have you practiced swordsmanship with Junge before?"

  "No!"

  Then, Geng Yan didn't say anything else and just looked at Meng Er's increasingly skilled movements, feeling that she should be holding a sword. Her entire body was emitting an air of elegance and vigor. Geng Yan thought to himself, this girl is quite suitable for practicing swordsmanship. At that moment, Meng Er let out a mournful cry, pulling Geng Yan back to reality.

  "What's wrong?" He ran over and looked at Meng who was in a daze.

  "Look at my hand." Meng'er stretched out her reddened palm in front of Geng Yan.

  "Hold the sword not too tightly, but like holding a brush with an empty mind, so that you can use your fingers to grasp the hilt flexibly. The hand and the sword are like a pair of lovers, if you hold too tight, the friction between the sword and the hand will hurt; a pair of lovers, if they grasp everything too tightly, will produce friction and ultimately harm each other. So, you need to grasp a degree, control it flexibly."

  Meng'er listened and raised his right hand with a sword, shouting: "Unity of man and sword! Haha!"

  "Haha. Ha, your head. You've watched too many martial arts shows, right?" Gang Yan glanced at Meng Er with a bad temper. "Go rest, we'll continue in the afternoon!" After saying that, he left.

  Meng'er watched as Geng Yan walked out of the training room with a cool expression. This person, really changed his face faster than a woman. Just now he was still talking to himself in a good tone, but in an instant, he turned back into that dead fish face again. Luckily she thought he was just a little brat, humph, dead fish face.

  Afternoon, training room...

  The warm sunlight of the afternoon poured into the training room through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Meng'er pushed open the door and saw only Geng Yan standing in the center of the room, dancing with his sword, its light flashing like a phoenix dancing and a dragon flying; she saw the long sword make a circle from bottom to top, slanting out with one swift motion, powerful and fast, with a lively and agile posture. Then he turned around, saw Meng'er watching at the door, and steadily retracted his movements, standing still: "You're here!"

  "Yes, Master!" Jing Yan saw that Meng Er was no longer speaking and composed himself to begin the lesson.

  Geng Yan explained while correcting Meng Er's movements. Meng Er listened and pondered Geng Yan's words, thinking of ways to better grasp the sword techniques. Perhaps it was because she hadn't moved in a long time, but by the afternoon, Meng Er started to feel tired from practicing. Her movements were no longer as precise as before.

  After an hour, Geng Yan saw her getting more and more sluggish, so he said: "Let's stop practicing for this week. When you get back to school, remember to go for a morning run every day if possible!"

  "Yes, got it, Master!" Meng Er replied listlessly.

  At dinner time, Canghai Jun looked at Meng'er who was shrugging her shoulders and asked with some concern: "Meng'er, what's wrong? If you're too tired and your body can't digest the food, then don't practice."

  "Brother, I'm fine! Maybe it's just that the exercise intensity increased suddenly and I'm a bit tired!" Meng'er smiled to comfort Cang Hai Jun.

  "Dream, is it...?" Canghai Jun hesitated whether to ask further, seeing Dream's puzzled look at him. He steeled himself and continued: "Is it because of the last shooting, you're afraid of encountering something like that again? Don't worry, brother and Yu Ge will protect you, we won't let you get hurt again!" Nangong Jun was afraid to bring up this matter, fearing Dream would fall back into that terrifying scene, but not bringing it up made him worried.

  Meng'er felt a little guilty, after all, that shooting really took her sister's life away. But also because of this, she came to him. Looking at Canghai Jun's worried face again, she said emotionally: "Brother, it's not because of this. Meng'er just wanted to learn and went to learn, don't worry about me, okay? Besides, my body has recovered very well!"

  Meng'er gave a reassuring glance to Canghai Jun, and he also knew about Meng'er's stubbornness. Once she had made up her mind, it was rare for her to change it again. So the brother and sister both fell silent, and the only sounds left at the dinner table were the clinking of bowls and chopsticks and the sound of swallowing food.

  Afterwards, Meng went to rest for a while and then let her brother send her back to school.