Master Chu took Song Wan Yue to the back of the hill and pointed down, “I remember you promised me before you left for the capital that you would not slacken your practice, now let me see, to what extent have you practiced?”
Song Wan Yue sensed Master Chu’s coldness, she didn’t know why Master Chu would be so?
She glanced downwards, the mountain was straight and apart from the small trees growing out of the gaps, there was hardly any place to lend her strength.
She took a deep breath and without hesitation, she flew down the mountain, leaping a little towards the bottom of the mountain by means of the small trees.
Something flashed quickly in Master Chu’s eyes, and he too leapt down, catching up with Song Wangyue in a few moments, following her.
Sweat soon broke out on Song Wangyue’s head, and the tremendous inertia of her body as she descended nearly caused her to fail to step on the small trees on several occasions.
Master Chu reached for his sword scabbard, but when he saw that she had stepped on it, he put it back again.
As she was about to reach the bottom of the mountain, Song Wan Yue stepped out of the way and fell straight down. Master Chu leapt to catch up with her and carried her to the ground, his voice even colder than before, “Practising kung fu is all about perseverance, it’s taken you so long to get to this point, you’ve let me down. From tomorrow onwards, you will practice with me on the mountain for an extra hour every day.”
“Yes, Master.”
Master Chu’s face eased a little and he released her, “We’ll go up in a quarter of an hour.”
……
Gu Yi kept standing at the door without going in.
It was only a little over half an hour later that he saw Song Wan Yue’s figure and hurried over, seeing her face red and sweating profusely, he painfully took out a handkerchief to wipe her, “Is everything alright?”
Song Wan Yue shook her head. Going up the mountain was much more exhausting than going down, and she couldn’t make it halfway up the mountain, it was Master Chu who brought her up.
Seeing that she was so tired that she didn’t even want to speak, Gu Yi was even more distressed and bent down in front of her, “Come up, I’ll carry you.”
Song Wan Yue leaned up and Gu Yi carried her back to the courtyard where she lived.
Daya was cleaning the courtyard and was about to salute when she saw Gu Yi enter with someone on her back.
“Go and boil water.”
Daya hurriedly put down the broom in her hand and ran to the kitchen.
Gu Yi carried Song Wan Yue inside and put her on a chair, came out again and fetched water and brought it in, put it on the table, wet a handkerchief and wiped her again, seeing that she was too tired to move and her lips were tightly pursed together.
He knew that Master Chu was angry, not because the little girl had slacked off in her practice, but because he had deliberately almost revealed his identity in the capital, alerting the Duke of Qi and disrupting their years of planning.
After wiping, he brought the copper basin down, wiped his own hands clean and poured a cup of water and handed it to Song Wangyue.
Song Wangyue didn’t even want to lift her hand and drank it through his hand, her head leaning softly against the table.
Gu Yi’s lips pursed even tighter, “I’ll go and tell Master Chu, tell her not to be so harsh on you, inner strength is not meant to be achieved overnight, it takes years of practice, it’s good that you’ve achieved this after such a short period of practice.”
“It’s still not good enough.”
Song Wangyue was clearly chagrined, “I couldn’t raise my internal strength when I got halfway up, it was far worse than Master, I did slack off.”
“Young master, the water is boiling.”
Daya reported from the doorway.
Gu Yi carried Song Wan Yue to the bathing room, placed her on a stool, waited for Daya to bring in her clothes before exiting, and went back inside to spread the bedding.
Inside the bath room, when she saw Song Wan Yue almost turned into a puddle of mud, Daya was very distressed but did not dare to ask, so she silently helped her finish her bath, helped her out of the tub, dried her body, put on her clothes and helped her out.
Gu Yi waited at the door, bent down and picked Song Wan Yue up, carried her back into the house, put her on the mattress, pulled the thin quilt over and covered her up, “You take a nap, I’ll call you before it gets dark.”
Song Wan Yue closed her eyes.
Gu Yi moved a stool over and sat down, guarding her bedside. After Song Wan Yue had fallen asleep, he got up and went out, instructing Daya to go inside and keep watch, and Xiao Si to keep watch at the courtyard gate while he went to find Master Chu.
Looking at his face, Master Chu knew it was because of Song Wan Yue, and said coldly, “This is not negotiable, she must train for an extra hour every day.”
Gu Yi pursed his lips, “The little girl is still young, why should Auntie be so strict with her?”
“Young? Don’t you forget, you could practice when you were three years old and have suffered much more than her.”
“She is different from me, I have a blood feud to avenge, she ……”
“She is the same, ever since you insisted on being betrothed to her, she is destined to be tied to us, if she is not strong, she will be your weakness in the future, and I will never allow that to happen.”
“Auntie ……”
“Get out!”
……
“Little girl.”
Gu Yi shouted softly.
Song Wan Yue opened her eyes and looked at the sky outside, the afterglow of the setting sun was spilling over the window pane, it was obviously not early anymore.
She sat up.
Gu Yi bent down and picked up her shoes to put them on, but she blocked her, “I’ll do it myself.”
Gu Yi let his body go, and when she was dressed and out of bed, he said, “I’ll take you back, tomorrow you’ll rest at home for the morning, and I’ll have Xiao Si go over to pick you up at noon.”
“No, this batch of pills needs to be made quickly for Uncle Grandfather’s people to get rid of, Master alone can’t do it, I’ll go home and get a good night’s sleep again, nothing will happen in the morning.”
“It doesn’t matter if the pills are later, the ones Uncle Grandfather took away are enough to last him some time.”
“I’m really fine, don’t believe me ……”
Song Wangyue jumped a few times, she was indeed much better after this sleep, “I’ll go back and get a good sleep again, I’ll be back to full blood in the morning.”
“Full-blooded resurrection?”
Song Wangyue explained without the slightest hint of weakness, “Just alive and well.”
Gu Yi understood and raised his hand to stroke her head, “Then tomorrow morning I’ll have Xiao Si pick you up as usual.”
“Good.”
……
The Song family.
Song San Xiao pretended to sweep the yard, his ears kept pricking up to listen to the movement outside, when he heard the sound of the carriage, he immediately put his broom aside and ran out, “Yue’er, you’re back.”
“Third uncle.”
Gu Yi shouted.
Song San Xiao casually waved his hand, “Yue’er has been delivered, go back and be careful on your way.”
Gu Yi got on the carriage, the driver had just turned over the front, Song San Xiao couldn’t wait to pull Song Wan Yue to the side, “Yue’er, what did Miss Qi say to you today?”
“What did she say?”
Song Wan Yue pretended that she couldn’t remember and raised her hand to knock herself on the head.
Song San Xiao was so anxious, “Aiya, Yue’er, don’t tease Third Uncle, quickly tell Third Uncle, what did Miss Qi say to you?”
“She ah ……”
Song Wan Yue stretched her voice and looked around before she whispered, “She told me to call out to Third Aunt.”
Song San Xiao was ecstatic, “Really?”
Song Wan Yue nodded her head, “Of course it’s true.”
Song Sanxiao happily spun around several times in place, “Does that mean she has me in her heart?”
He knew he wasn’t good enough for Miss Qi, and he knew she had Song Si in her heart, but he just couldn’t help but like her.
Song Wangyue shook her head, “I really don’t see this, but Third Uncle, are you really sure you want to marry Sister Qi?”
“Of course, third uncle’s heart you understand best ……”
Before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by Grandma Song’s bellowing voice, “What are you doing there?”
Song San Xiao was scared and immediately silenced.
Song Wangyue turned around and walked back as if nothing had happened, complaining as she went, “Third Uncle misses Sister Qi and came to the mansion today to look for me, insisting that I come over to see her.