Fan Li was a native of Chu State. He knew that the quality of Yue military archers was pretty bad. Therefore he suggested Goujian recruit a capable man in archery to train Yue archers.
Goujian agreed and let Fan Li handled this matter. Fan Li recruited Chen Yin - an archer from the state of Chu to teach Yue soldiers in archery.
Chen Yin and Fan Li were around the same age. They get along really well, and Chen Yin often came to Fan Li's house for a drink or chit-chat.
He also taught Fan Li how to do archery and how to use a crossbow. They often discussed how to make a crossbow design.
Both men didn't know that when they practice archery and shooting with a crossbow, another person was listening and peeping on them. It was Ying. She was fascinated with the crossbow. Although she had no chance to learn how to use a crossbow or even take a close look at it, Ying was satisfied enough to hear the two men's conversation and saw them practicing from afar.
One day when Chen Yin was at Fan Li's house, Fan Li was not at home. Chen Yin started to drink while he was shooting his crossbow.
When Ying saw that Chen Yin was only playing around with his crossbow, she knew that she would not be able to learn anything from it. She decided to leave her hiding place.
Chen Yin saw a beautiful young girl who walked away from behind a willow tree. He didn't know that in Fan Li's house, there were girls who stayed there under Fan Li's training. Chen Ying thought that the girl was one of the maids in the house.
Seeing how beautiful the girl was, Chen Yin chased her and grabbed her hand and asked, "Beautiful girl, what is your name?"
Who would have thought that the girl was mad at Chen Yin and slapped him on his face said, "How dare you touch my hand? If you ever try to do something impolite again, I will be rude to you!"
Chen Yin disbelieved that the girl would react that way. He's still confused when the girl left the place.
When Fan Li arrived home, Chen Yin told everything that happened to him and how his maid slapped his face.
"How did she look like?" Fan Li asked.
"Beautiful! Tall, fair skin! Fierce!" Chen Yin said, while his face blushed as he was a bit embarrassed.
Fan Li laughed, "Beautiful, lofty arrogant face and fierce?"
"That's her!"
"She's not my maid," Fan Li explained to Chen Yin, who that girl was.
The next day, Chen Yin came again to Fan Li's house. He was looking for Ying to offer an apology.
When Ying saw Chen Yin, she stared at Chen Yin with such cold expression eyes that made Chen Yin felt really bad.
"Please forgive my impoliteness! I didn't know that you are one of Yue beauties who are under Minister Fan's training," said Chen Ying to Ying. "I was a bit drunk yesterday. I thought that you're maid in this house."
"Oh, you're saying that you can be impolite to women if they are maids?"
"No, I didn't mean that!" Chen Yin was stuttered. "I…I…"
"Don't worry; I accept your apology!" Ying said politely. She saw a crossbow in Chen Yin's hand and continued, "But I don't spare you for nothing! I want that crossbow!" She pointed at the crossbow at Chen Yin's hand. "I want to learn how to use it!"
Chen Yin nodded happily. "Let me show you how to use it!" Chen Yin said and gave the crossbow to Ying. "Hold it this way," he said and was about to show her how to hold the bow correctly.
Who would have thought that the girl sternly said, "Don't ever try to touch my hand!" Chen Yin blushed and nodded, "I dare not to be impolite in front of you, young lady!"
That's how Ying managed to make Chen Yin trained her on how to use a crossbow. Although she's much younger than Chen Yin, Chen Yin somehow was afraid of her as she's more dominant compared to Chen Yin.
Ying told Chen Yin that he should not tell Fan Li that she's learning how to use a crossbow. Unfortunately, one day when she's practicing under Chen Yin's instruction, Fan Li arrived home earlier. He was enraged to see them.
Fan Li angrily said, "Chen Yin, you know she's one of the women who will be sent to Fuchai. Are you crazy that you're teaching her how to use a crossbow?"
"I…I..," Chen Yin didn't know how to answer Fan Li.
Fan Li knew that Chen Yin was either liked Ying that he was nervous and didn't know how to refuse her, or Chen Yin was afraid of her. He knew that he better not force his friend.
"Ying, how are you going to explain to me? You supposed to know that most likely; you will be sent to be the king's woman. How could you spend time with a man?"
"Minister Fan, I know my status. You're also a man, but there's no hindrance for us to spend time with you. Besides, these days you teach us how to dominate men, how to manipulate them to get our benefit. Therefore I thought that I need to practice what I have learned," Ying innocently said. She smiled happily and said, "Minister Fan, are you not supposed to be happy? It means that I pass my lesson! I'm a good student!"
Fan Li didn't know if he should be angry or laughed. He knocked Ying's forehead lightly with her knuckle and said, "Naughty girl! Luckily that you only learn how to use a crossbow. Otherwise, I will surely punish you! Now, go back to your quarter!"
Ying laughed and stuck her tongue out, teasing Fan Li and turned her body to leave the place. She stopped and said to Chen Yin, "Mister Chen, you should tell Minister Fan how good I am in shooting a crossbow. I'm also your good student, right?"
"Yes, yes! Minister Fan, Ying is a very good student!" Chen Yin said.
After Ying left the courtyard, Fan Li scolded him and said, "How could you just obey what she said? She's just a little girl! Tell me, do you like her or something?"
"Well, she's…interesting!" Chen Yin said.