That morning when Fan Li went to see Ying at her house, he saw Ying was practicing swordsmanship with two soldiers. He noticed that Ying used a wooden stick to fight the two soldiers who were attacking her.
Ying won them easily.
"Super swordsmanship skills!" Fan Li said and clapped his hands. "Ying, you're a good swordsman!"
Ying smiled, "I challenged those soldiers to get to know their skills. And honestly…although they're good. Their sword skill is a bit odd!"
"How come?" Fan Li asked.
"They are using swords, but sometimes, the way they attack, just like a spearman using a spear rather than a swordsman with a sword."
"That's because…the one who trained them, actually was first a spearman rather than a swordsman," Fan Li laughed. "It's my wife who trains our soldiers. She's a natural warrior, an excellent swordsman and a spearman."
"You…you have a wife?" Ying shocked. "I thought that you only loved Xi Shi."
Fan Li looked at Ying and said, "I still love Xi Shi. But I also love my wife!"
"You promised Xi Shi that someday you would free her!"
"I still remember my promise. And I will keep my promise to her!"
"Does your wife know about you and Xi Shi?"
Fan Li shook his head.
"Then…will she be happy if later you bring Xi Shi back with you?"
"I think she will be fine. She could not bear any child, so she forced me to take a concubine to give her some children!"
"Oh!" Ying smiled politely. "She's very tolerant!"
"Hmm!" Fan Li said.
Ying felt something odd. She could feel that her heartbeat was not usual. There's another immortal around her. Ying rose from her seat and looked around, trying to find out if there's an immortal around her. She could not find any, as the immortal who peeped her had left the place.
Fan Li's wife, Yue Maiden, was not as tolerant as Fan Li previously thought. When Yue Maiden heard that Goujian commissioned Fan Li to work with was a woman, she was depressed. She had heard that the woman was one of the beauties supposed to be sent as a tribute to Fuchai. Therefore that day, she followed Fan Li and checked out the woman who worked with her husband.
Yue Maiden didn't expect that the 'woman' was a young girl who was dressing as a young man. Yet even with her short hair like a man, she still looked beautiful.
Yue Maiden was angry as she saw the young girl was talking with her husband and gazing at him with eyes full of admiration. She could tell that the young girl was admiring her husband.
That night, when Fan Li was at home, Yue Maiden asked Fan Li: "Husband, I heard that the one that King Goujian assigns to forge swords for our army was the Yue beauty who was supposed to be sent to Fuchai."
"Yes, she was!" Fan Li said. "Unfortunately, she was kidnapped by bandits at that time, and I did not manage to save her. I'm glad that she's alive and unharmed!"
"This morning, I saw you both were chatting. She's beautiful!"
"She's one of the girls who were chosen to be sent to Fuchai. Of course, she's beautiful."
"I could tell that she likes you. She's beautiful. I wonder if you like her also!"
Fan Li laughed, "She's beautiful, but that doesn't mean that I like her!"
"What about Xi Shi? Do you still like Xi Shi? I heard…that you had to abandon that beautiful sword-forger to save Xi Shi."
Fan Li didn't reply.
"Many people said that Xi Shi was your lover!"
Fan Li laughed and shook his head, "We're not lovers like what people said."
"That sword-forger is a beautiful girl. I wonder if Xi Shi is more beautiful than her!"
"Twelve years ago, Ying was more beautiful than her!" Fan Li said.
"But you abandon her to save Xi Shi. Isn't that proof that you liked Xi Shi so much?"
Fan Li said nothing.
Yue Maiden sighed and said, "I'm not a sophisticated woman like Xi Shi. I know that deep inside your heart, you look down on me!"
"My wife, what are you talking about?" Fan Li asked. "I've never looked down on you!"
"My husband, do you know…that often time in your dream…you're calling out her name?" Yue Maiden's voice choked. "For all these years, you've never truly loved me."
Fan Li dumbfounded and could not say a word.
"Once in your dream, you said that you would wage war against Wu to release her from Fuchai!"
"I had promised King Goujian to win the war against Wu…long before I met Xi Shi. Then she's under my training to be one of the beauties who were sent to Fuchai. I didn't even realize that I loved her until she was about to leave. I asked King Goujian to release her, but there's no one suitable for the mission but Xi Shi. So I had to let her go for the sake of Yue. I sacrificed her. Therefore I promised her that one day when Goujian wages war against Wu, I would do to the utmost to liberate her!"
Yue Maiden shed her tears, and Fan Li clutched her hands, asked, "What's wrong with you? You forced me to take a concubine, although I didn't want it. But then now…you are jealous of a woman - who was part of my past! Listen, no matter what, you're my formal wife, my first wife! Alright? Don't cry, my wife. My heart breaks when I see your tears!"
Yue Maiden still cried.
Fan Li hugged Yue Maiden and said, "Yue Maiden, please…don't be jealous of Xi Shi! She's part of my past, and I could not just easily erase her from my mind. She's still alive and having a hard life because of me! King Goujian had promised her and Zheng Dan that someday we would bring them home!"
"Will you be happy if I have another man?" Yue Maiden sulked.
Fan Li laughed and said, "My wife…you said that I often dream of Xi Shi and call out her name. Hmm…I wonder if you ever realize that you often call me Ejun? In your dream…you also often call his name!" Fan Li pinched Yue Maiden's cheek lightly. "You have even never told me who is Ejun!"
Hearing that word, Yue Maiden's face changed. "Ejun…he…," Yue Maiden closed her eyes. "Ejun,…"
Yue Maiden started to question her sanity. For all of these years during her marriage with Fan Li, she convinced herself that her memory of Lord Ejun was just her mere imagination or a dream. But then now Fan Li said that often she called him Ejun, and even in her dream, she sometimes mumbled Ejun's name.
Yue Maiden was not aware of her immortality. Therefore she became restless.
Meanwhile, Fan Li had to work intensely with Ying to forge weapons for the Yue soldiers.
Ying split two hundred blacksmiths into two groups to work in two shifts. She supervised all the blacksmiths by herself. She's a perfectionist, and if any of the blacksmiths made a mistake, she would scold and disciplined them. Although she's very strict, everyone obeyed her as she's a good leader and led good examples.
The furnace in the workshop worked days and nights, non-stop. Every day Ying only slept for four hours, and the rest, she just worked. Goujian and Fan Li could not understand how a young woman like Ying could work like that; even most men could not work at a pace like her's.
Fan Li often brought food and had Ying have lunch or dinner with him. He also frequently played music with her.
"Ying, you surely haven't practiced music for a long time," Fan Li said. "I could tell from the sound of your qin!"
Ying laughed, "For many years, I don't have a qin. Also, I guess my hands are destined to work hard and forge these weapons instead of playing music and do embroidery!"
Fan Li noticed the young woman in front of him. She's no longer a girl, but she just looked like a girl. With her short hair, she looked like a very handsome young man.
He laughed and said, "It's still hard to believe that you are Ying-er, the naughty girl who tricked Chen Yin to teach you archery! Oh, by the way, Chen Yin cried for three days and three nights when we could not find you. We thought that you died!"
Ying smiled plainly and said in her mind, "I indeed died! And resurrected!"
"Ying-er, why do you choose to return to Yue? This is not your battle!"
"It's probably…my destiny!" Ying said in a low voice.
"Ying, you're a woman. That you want to forge the swords for us, that's already a great help for us. But why do you insist to join the battle?"