No Repeats

Spars with the general

I hurriedly scampered behind the giant boulder, heart pounding and a ringing sound exploding in my ears. My hair and face drenched with sweat rolling down my neck. I looked down at my clothes drenched in sweat and torn in many places and winced in pain.

Damn! Every month my uniform is torn so badly, my wardrobe is full of patched clothes that I could easily pass as a beggar. Compared to the other officers in the division I am the worst dressed! My division leader shakes her head every time I come to the music and calligraphy classes.

Imagine a scenic atmosphere where beautifully dressed celestials in blue and white dressed sit in rows of four and playing the guqin. All with beautiful deadly smiles and fluently plucking the notes on their instruments and making harmonious music.

Then there's me, a dressed in obviously patched up clothes without even a single hair ornament apart from a stem of whatever fresh flowers I could find that morning.

Truth be told, I'm not half bad on the guqin, since I learnt the four arts in my last life. But the clothes is just depressing! The rule in the special forces unit is that each officer are issued with ten new uniforms sets each year and that's it.

Obviously the set comes with corresponding undergarments, shoes and concealed weapons, but it then becomes the responsibility of the officer to ensure the standard issue lasts the whole year. No amount of begging will break this rule.

This is fine with the senior officers who have been training since they turned five, but for me, I only started at thirteen. For the last four years I have gone through a hellish training routine.

Waking up before dawn to run and do basic exercises before joining the foundational martial arts training. These classes where not too bad as I was able to master the basic stances and moves in a relatively short period.

The miniature size of my training opponents also helped. Training with four and six year olds was quite fun. Whilst I am very fond of children it does hurt when they kick and punch you!

After martial arts training, we have classes in the four arts, music, calligraphy, painting, and chess. The classes recommence again after a short lunch break with poisons, politics and weapons. I'm the lucky one who gets to continue martial arts training after dinner, when everyone has free time. Everyday I drag my exhausted self back to my room and crash after a quick bath. In my mind I curse Yu Li and his people for making me go through such hellish training for no reason.

After one month my body eventually got used to the schedule and I started to make new friends. The seniors are originally stand-off but I tried my best to blend in. After all, I have accumulated over ten years of interpersonal skills. I would be ashamed if I can win over these fifteen and sixteen year old girls!

While I felt regret that I couldn't save my village from the plague but at least my family is safe. I had debated whether I should ask Lu Tai to help but who would be believe me? Hence, after agonising inside, I decided to put that rock down and leave them to their fates.

After all, I myself is a captive and escape is futile, I have tried my best. I've also lost my identity, I have been renamed with the combined names of my division master and Lu Tai. I am now Lu Bai, white as plum blossoms.

Since Yu Li had said that my training period will be five years, I thought my years of training will go on without much interruption. I had looked forward to not seeing much of Yu Li, but at the end of the first month I realised I had assumed wrong!

That morning I was packed into a carriage and sent to a field at the top of an isolated mountain. When I disembarked the carriage I saw Yu Li standing tall and handsome as ever waiting for me. No one is around us, apart from the carriage driver who promptly retreated.

"Lu Bai, now that you have received training, each month I will spar with you. I want to see visible improvements otherwise there will be consequences."

Your mother! How can I spar with a general known for his unrivalled martial arts? I've only have one month of training, barely even breaking the basic stances!

True to his word, every month I have been sparring with him. No, sparring is just a representative word, it a more like a one sided thrashing! My clothes are all torn and my body bruised from his training. These sessions are like fire lit on my body, motivating me to push my limits and hopefully minimise the thrashing. But the gap between us is too immense!

This is when I truly accepted that this Yu Li is completely different from the last and I will not be able to predict the future based on my previous life. I know Yu Li holds back when he is with me but the pain that I feel is real! What is worst is the embarrassment of having to return with ripped clothes and being dirty to boot.

Today is our forty ninth spar and I have been feeling confident. I decided my tactic is to hide and do sneak attacks. I have been running around trying to find an opening to land a punch or better a kick. Each time Yu Li stood still in the centre of our makeshift arena and block each of my moves with a twist of his palm.

The last time was when he caught my ankle mid air before my kick could land on his back! With a twist and flick I was thrown backwards and landed hard into a bush. The thick plants broke my fall but it still hurts like hell!

I quickly struggled to get up on my knees while looking at the burning incense stick. It's only half burnt, that means the beatings will have to continue. Thinking hard, I spotted the large boulder on my left, maybe it could be my refuge so I can take my breath and replan my attack. I quickly flew behind the boulder blindly hoping that he wouldn't notice.

Slightly leaning towards the right behind the boulder, I tried to see where Yu Li is, but he had disappeared from the spot he was before. Bewildered at the turn of events, I looked around and couldn't find him. Where can he be? I'm the one normally doing the hide and seek game, Yu Li just patiently waits for my attack.

This time he made a move, I think I'll be done for! I hear a slight rustle behind me and turned instinctively to that noise. As I turned around I bumped up to Yu Li's rock hard chest. He has snuck up to me without me noticing and now has me pressed against the boulder.

I held my breath and my body tensed up ready to block any of his attacks. Our height difference is also an intimidating factor but Yu Li lowers his head to move his face closer to mine. Locked in an ambiguous position, with his warm breath against mine makes my heart pound rapidly. I became too shy to look into his eyes directly and feared that he could read my thoughts.

I tried to look away and moved my body slightly left but his arms blocked my movements.

Yu Li slowly raises a hand to lift my chin so that my eyes lock in with his. Taking in a deep breath, he finally said softly, "where are you hurt?"

I nearly spat out blood at those words! Can't he see how battered I am? Everywhere, your mother! I've learnt more curse words now since I've been my fellow officers. Our training has been so draining that the only way to express our dissent was through silent curses!