The Long Mansion was quite large, with many courtyards and winding paths leading up to one another. Even with Ju Mu'er's exceptional ability to find her way around while blind, she couldn't memorize every single path in the Long Mansion. But this gave her something to do, and she walked through it again and again with great interest.
Seeing that she was getting into it, Long Er started causing trouble.
Even though the garden was clearly to the left, he insisted on going straight. Ju Mu'er walked for ages, almost bumping her head on the courtyard wall. Then, even though his study was clearly just ahead, he insisted on turning left. Ju Mu'er stood at the fork in the road, hesitating for a long time, finally concluding that the Second Master was just teasing her again.
She sighed, "Second Master's house is really big; it's too difficult to remember the way."
Long Er poked her head: "What 'Second Master'? Call me 'Husband'."
"My husband's house is really big; it's too difficult to remember the way."
Long Er poked her head again: "What husband's house? From now on, it's your house too."
"My house is so big, it's too hard to remember the way."
Long Er crossed his arms: "Are you going to tease me again?"
"No, no, I remember the first rule of the family."
Long Er gently pinched her cheek: "You remember I committed the same offense? You must be thinking of using family discipline." He lowered his voice, speaking in an extremely ambiguous tone.
Ju Mu'er blushed upon hearing this, unable to utter a single word for a long time. Long Er laughed heartily, feeling smug. Sure enough, now that he had married her, he would have the upper hand.
While Long Er was enjoying his new marriage, his bodyguard Li Ke was starting to have some troubles because he was being pestered by a girl.
The girl was none other than Su Qing.
Ever since Su Qing was rescued by Li Ke, she had been pondering something. During the New Year holiday, she brought some food to the Long residence to find Li Ke. Li Ke was surprised, but the young girl said she had come to pay her respects on a belated New Year and to thank him for saving her life on the mountain that day.
Li Ke was taken aback. The Lantern Festival had already passed, and Miss Mu'er had become his second wife. Su Qing's New Year's greetings were indeed quite late.
Li Ke accepted the gifts and thanked her, but Su Qing didn't leave. "I still want to chat with Brother Li for a bit."
Narrative?
Li Ke scratched his head. Having worked in the Long household for so many years, he had indeed had maids and young women shyly approach him for conversations. He knew the intricacies of these conversations; aside from his own experience, he could understand the meaning behind a young woman's words to Long Er. But for some reason, while there were girls who sought him out, they always stopped after a few times, and he ultimately failed to find a wife through these conversations.
But when Su Qing spoke to him frankly, Li Ke felt that it didn't mean that. Firstly, because Su Qing was young, and secondly, because this girl had spent a lot of time with Ju Mu'er, Li Ke always felt that she was just like that Ju girl, quick-witted and cunning.
So she must be different from the maids and girls of the past. And thankfully she was different, which is why Li Ke dared to agree to "talk" with her.
Li Ke lived in the guards' courtyard and felt it would be inconvenient to take a young girl back with him, so he simply took Su Qing to tour the Long Mansion. Su Qing looked around curiously but not enviously, only casually asking where this was and that was, and then there was nothing more to say.
Li Ke waited for her to speak, thinking that she probably wanted to ask about the Second Master and inquire about it for Miss Ju. But after waiting for a while, Su Qing finally got to the point, saying, "Brother Li, please take me as your apprentice."
Li Ke was so shocked that his mouth dropped open.
Su Qing then said, "If you teach me martial arts, I will become your disciple."
Li Ke remained silent. As a loyal and upright guard, he did not think it was appropriate for him to establish a master-disciple relationship with his master's wife's adopted sister.
Su Qing could tell he was unhappy, so she added, "I'll give you the money."
Li Ke was suspicious. Wasn't this girl dirt poor? Where did she get the money? Su Qing understood his look again and said, "I don't have any money right now, but I will later. I can support my master in his old age."
Li Ke was speechless and questioned the heavens. Although he was not talented, he still earned a considerable amount of money each month. He was healthy and had all four limbs, and he would never fall into the tragic situation of needing a flower-selling girl to support him in his old age.
Heaven didn't reply, but Su Qing emphasized again: "Really, I can take care of Master in his old age."
Looking at her seemingly sincere face, Li Ke finally managed to squeeze out, "Girl, just take good care of your mother."
"So, my master doesn't need me to support him in his old age to teach me martial arts, is that right?"
"No." Li Ke really wanted to escape.
"What is it?"
"I...I can't just take on any apprentice."
"I didn't tell you to collect things randomly; I told you to collect them carefully."
Li Ke took a deep breath and finally came up with a sentence: "Well, you know, I am a guard of the Long family, not a martial arts master who runs a martial arts school on the street and takes on students."
“I know, I think you’re more trustworthy than the martial arts instructors who run martial arts schools. Besides, martial arts schools need to collect money upfront.”
Li Ke sighed inwardly. So it wasn't a matter of trustworthiness, but rather that she couldn't use the retirement scheme to extend credit. How did she come up with this? There really wasn't a single ordinary person around this Miss Ju.
Li Ke thought for a moment and then said, "What I mean is, I am a guard of the Long family, under the Second Master's command, so whether I can take on disciples is not up to me; the Second Master has to give his approval."
The reason was quite valid, and Su Qing accepted it after thinking about it. She said, "Alright, then I'll go talk to my sister and Second Master. Master, wait for my good news."
Who is your master? This can hardly be good news.
Before Li Ke could react, Su Qing waved goodbye gracefully and left.
On the sixth day after Ju Mu'er's marriage, Long Er accompanied her on her homecoming visit, returning to the Ju family's wine shop. Su Qing secretly told Ju Mu'er about her desire to learn martial arts, asking her to whisper in the ear of the Second Master and persuade him to agree. Ju Mu'er's heart stirred; she understood Su Qing's meaning.
This girl is very clever. After hearing the story of the little bird, she didn't ask any more questions, as if she hadn't heard anything at all, but now she was making preparations to guard against it.
Ju Mu'er readily agreed. She had been a burden to Su Qing, so she felt she should do something for her. Learning some martial arts for self-defense would be a good idea.
Unexpectedly, when this matter was mentioned to Long Er, Long Er was inspired. His Mu'er was frail; after just two days of being disciplined by the family rules, her arms and legs ached, so she should strengthen her muscles and bones.
So, Master Long gave the order that Li Ke would take Su Qing as his apprentice from that day forward. As for Master Long himself, he planned to personally teach his wife martial arts.
Author's Note: I have some news to share: this book has been signed for physical publication and will be published by Meili Xinqingfang.
There will be no interruption in online updates, so please don't worry. The physical book is a single volume with word limits, so it will differ slightly from the online version. I will revise it based on the online version. The extra chapters will be reserved for the physical book first. I'm letting everyone know this in advance.
This is the first book I've signed a contract for publication in mainland China. Thank you all for your support. I hope it will be completed smoothly. And please, let's get rid of Calvin Crawford!
50 random martial arts moves, Second Master regrets
Ju Mu'er, from a young age, displayed her intelligence and wit. She had a photographic memory, could distinguish sounds from music, was well-read, wrote with great skill, and her piano playing was beyond question. However, she had one flaw that could perhaps be considered a weakness—she was a heavy sleeper and didn't like to move around.
She could sleep for half a day and play the piano for half a day, but she wouldn't enjoy running and jumping for half an hour. She was talented in reading and writing, but had no interest in martial arts or dance.
So when Ryuji announced that he would teach her martial arts, her reaction was one of utter astonishment.
Long Er repeated himself, and she remained frozen in shock.
Long Er poked her head: "You need to study and practice seriously, understand? Don't waste my time."
After being poked, Ju Mu'er's expression changed from blank to furious, her face contorting into a look of wanting to cry but having no tears.
Although Ju Mu'er didn't dare to explicitly say she wouldn't practice, Long Er knew her too well. Seeing her dawdling appearance, and thinking of her frail little body, her love of sleeping and not liking to move, and her slow walking, he was certain that his wife was definitely not happy about it.
But you can't refuse; this is when the real men need to show their iron fist.
So the matter was settled, and there was no room for argument. Of course, Madam Long Er wisely refrained from raising any objections, instead giving Master Long Er a pitiful, miserable look on her face.
Long Er went to great lengths to get Ju Mu'er to practice martial arts seriously. First of all, what she learned and practiced had to be simple, because she was blind, so no moves or leaps would be useful to her. After thinking for a long time, he decided to have her practice horse stance, kicking, and punching first.
Ju Mu'er herself was extremely reluctant to move, and had prepared various excuses to refuse when the time came. However, that day, Long Er went to the government office again to inquire about the robbery and learned that Qiu Ruoming still had no clue, the case had made no progress, and the two escaped robbers were nowhere to be found. On the Long family's side, the spies had not found any useful clues either. This made Long Er very unhappy.
Upon hearing this news, Ju Mu'er swallowed all her excuses for not wanting to practice martial arts. She decided to listen to Long Er and give it a try.
On the first day, Long Er taught her the simplest thing—the horse stance.
He patiently helped her adjust her posture, but she could only squat for less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before her legs started trembling as if she were having a cramp. At night, she would howl in pain at the slightest touch, making him, as her husband, feel like a beast if he wanted to "use family discipline" on his wife.
He was certainly not a beast. So, suppressing his resentment, he helped his wife soak her feet and massage her legs. As he massaged, his wife cried out in pain, while he felt unbearably hot. The couple were so distressed that they didn't fall asleep until midnight.
The next day, Master Long decided to have her practice punching instead. It couldn't be simpler: throw a right punch, pull it back, then throw a left punch, and pull it back again. But practicing this still required a horse stance, but remembering yesterday's disastrous experience, Master Long offered to make things easier for Ju Mu'er, saying that she could just practice with her legs spread apart and there was no need to worry about the horse stance.
He stopped being particular, and Ju Mu'er was even less particular. So she just stood there casually and started practicing, throwing punches left and right.
Long Er watched for a short while, then couldn't help but rub his forehead and turn away. Yesterday his stance was awkward enough, but today, just throwing a punch, he looked like he was possessed by a ghost!
Just as he was about to burst into tears, he heard a loud thud. Startled, Long Er turned around and saw Ju Mu'er had fallen to the ground. He rushed over to help her up and saw that Ju Mu'er's clothes were dirty and she was pouting with a wronged expression.
Long Er was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but want to laugh. Being possessed by a ghost was one thing, but being able to throw himself down while standing still by throwing a punch—such skill, well, he couldn't think of any suitable words to describe it.
Long Er laughed incessantly, while Ju Mu'er continued practicing with a flushed face, not even deigning to give him a disdainful look.
That night, Ju Mu'er's legs ached, and her arms hurt terribly too. Master Long was furious; besides massaging his wife's legs, he also had to massage her arms. After a whole night of this, he didn't receive any reward as a husband. The couple didn't fall asleep until midnight again.
On the third day, Master Long was in a bad mood. He woke up in a rather irritable state. Ju Mu'er was sleeping in, so he didn't disturb her. He washed up, ate breakfast, and went to the study to work. While working, he kept getting distracted, thinking that this couldn't go on. If he continued practicing like this, his Mu'er wouldn't make any progress, and he was afraid he would get sick from frustration. But if he gave up after only two days, what would become of his authority in front of his wife?
He still hadn't figured out a solution by the afternoon. But it was time for Ju Mu'er to practice her martial arts again. Long Er went over listlessly; he didn't want her to do any stances or punches today. He thought for a moment and decided to let her just move her arms and legs casually.
Since Ju Mu'er is blind, Long Er couldn't demonstrate the movements for her, nor could he contradict himself by saying, "Just move around however you want." So he pretended to be very serious and guided Ju Mu'er's arm, helping her to adjust her posture and pose.
Ju Mu'er gritted her teeth, enduring the pain in her legs and arms as she tried her best to learn, but unfortunately, her dance moves were still nothing short of atrocious. She herself was well aware of this, and her face was full of bitterness and frustration.
Long Er sighed inwardly, realizing that his idea of having her learn martial arts was absolutely terrible. Not only did she have absolutely no talent in this area, but worse, it seemed he had shot himself in the foot.
Sure enough, for three days in a row, Ju Mu'er was in pain all over her body. Master Long, on the other hand, only had one spot that ached so badly it made his heart tremble, and he was filled with remorse.
On the fourth day, Master Long earnestly told his wife to rest for a few days. Ju Mu'er's fighting spirit had indeed been exhausted by the previous three days, so she took a few days off, eating and sleeping, and resting her aching arms and legs. As soon as the soreness subsided a little, Master Long threw her onto the bed and carried out "family discipline".
The couple danced in the spring sunshine for two days and nights in a row, practicing their enchanting skills. After all this, Ju Mu'er felt that the physical exertion was no less than that of martial arts training.
On this day, a visitor came to the Long residence, saying that he wanted to see the Second Madam, Ju Mu'er.
When Long Er received the report from a servant in the library, he frowned. If the servants hadn't been unfamiliar with him, they wouldn't have bothered to ask him first. So Long Er put down his work and went to see him himself.
The visitor turned out to be Qian Jiangyi.
Long Er looked displeased. How could someone borrow a book from a young lady's mother's house and then to her husband's? Qian Jiangyi, seeing that it was Long Er, was also a little nervous. He bowed and greeted Long Er, then quickly explained his purpose: "A few days ago, the Ministry of Rites' Music Department sent someone to my qin (a seven-stringed zither) hall, saying that a troupe of qin players from the Western Min Kingdom would visit our country in a month. Ostensibly, they wanted to learn from each other's qin skills, but their intention to provoke and compete was obvious. Our Xiao Kingdom's qin and se (another seven-stringed zither) skills are renowned throughout the world, so His Majesty attaches great importance to this matter. He has issued a decree that, in addition to the qin players from the Music Department, some folk qin players should also be selected to participate in the competition and showcase our national skills."
Long Er was a little impatient. What was the point of talking to him about music and art? He nodded and said politely, "Young Master Qian's skills are outstanding. It is truly a cause for celebration that he has been selected by the Music Bureau."
Qian Jiangyi bowed and said a few words of humility, then said, "The Music Bureau asked me to recommend a few more people. I thought of Miss Ju..." At this point, he saw Long Er's eyes narrow and realized his mistake, so he quickly corrected himself: "Ah, it's Madam Long Er. I remembered that Madam Long Er is also quite famous in the art of playing the zither and lute, so I came to invite you to attend this grand event, which can also be considered as contributing to the honor and disgrace of the country."
Long Er frowned, disliking Qian Jiangyi's attempt to impose such a heavy-handed accusation. His family had three generations of generals who had fought on the battlefield; his grandfather was a founding general, his father had died for the country, and now his eldest son still held the title of a great general, protecting the nation. For this mere musician to lecture him about serving the country was utterly absurd.
Qian Jiangyi looked at Long Er's expression and felt uneasy. He didn't know why, but both times he met Long Er, he felt that his imposing aura made him feel nervous for no reason. But he was still thinking about the purpose of his trip, so he clasped his hands and bowed his head, saying, "I wonder if it would be convenient for Madam Long Er to see me?"
Long Er stared at him, originally intending to say a few words to him and send him away. But then he thought that Mu'er had been married into his family for almost half a month. Although she hadn't complained much, the things she did every day were different from what she used to do at home. He hadn't seen her play the piano yet. Would she be unaccustomed to it? Would she feel bored?
With that thought in mind, Long Er sent a maid to summon Ju Mu'er. If she was interested in competing in musical skills with a musician from another country, he would let her go.
When Ju Mu'er arrived, she listened to what Qian Jiangyi said, remained silent for a while, and then smiled and said, "I have been neglecting to practice the piano for quite some time now, and I am afraid I am not up to the task. Besides, I am now a wife, so it is better not to show my face in public."
Qian Jiangyi was very surprised and hurriedly advised, "Miss Ju, the chief qin player of Ximin Kingdom is a woman. Among the candidates recommended by the Music Bureau and us, apart from you, all the others are male qin players. I have thought long and hard and can't think of a woman with better qin skills than you. Please reconsider, Miss Ju."
Does this mean that men are afraid of fighting women, and even if they win the zither, it won't be impressive enough?
Ju Mu'er shook her head and said, "The art of playing the zither and lute is not limited by gender or age. Young Master Qian, please don't worry." As she said this, she reached out her hand in Long Er's direction and called out, "Husband."
Long Er instantly understood her meaning; she wanted to use him to smooth things over. Long Er was happy that she relied on him, and a smile curved his lips as he said to Qian Jiangyi, "Young Master Qian, my wife has made herself clear, and I myself don't really like her showing her face in public. I'm quite familiar with Minister Tian of the Ministry of Rites. If Young Master Qian feels this matter is difficult to explain, I can personally go to the Music Bureau to refuse it, so as not to put you in a difficult position. Is that alright?"
Upon hearing this, Qian Jiangyi hurriedly waved his hand. He understood the implication: since they had brought up Minister Tian of the Ministry of Rites, what could he, a mere commoner musician, say? He quickly bowed, took his leave, and departed.
Long Er escorted Ju Mu'er back to her dormitory, asking her on the way, "Do you really not want to play the piano?"
Ju Mu'er shook her head: "I only like to play for my husband."