Chapter 1

Cheer up Meimei!

Zhang residence:

“Zhang Meiyin! Get off the horse this instant!”

“Eh?” the shout from her father startled both Meiyin and the horse. The horse runs wildly and Meiyin lost control of it. One of the house maid run towards where Meiyin’s father was standing and freak out as she saw what was going on, “Oh my heavens!” she exclaimed. Before her father could run over, one of the house worker had already reach her, hopped on the horse’s back, and help her to calm the beast down. Once the horse has calmed down and came to a stop, the house worker jumps down and helped Meiyin off the horse.

“Young miss, are you alright?” The house maid rush over and check her for injuries.

“I’m alright Madame Lin” she smiles at the maid but her smile soon disappear as she saw her father approaching, “well, not for long I guess.”

“Zhang Meiyin! How many times do I have to tell you that you’re forbidden to do these boyish activities?” her father scolded

“But father…”

“No buts. No horse riding, no martial arts training, no running around in boy’s clothing! Be a proper lady!”

“Why father?! I clearly have no interest in those girly stuff”

“Zhang Meiyin! You are grounded. Do not step out of your room until I say so!”

“Fine!” she stomps away “and I know my name is Zhang Meiyin, you don’t have to keep shouting it out loud!”

“What am I going to do with her?” the father let out a long sigh as he watches his daughter make her way back into the house, “Why is this so hard? If only you were here Yiling.”

“Dear sir” the house servant spoke up to get his attention

“Madame Lin, you must be laughing at me for doing such a poor job as a parent”

“No sir, I think you are doing fine,” she smiles to reassure him “it will get easier with time”

“Yes, I hope you’re right”

----

Meiyin stomp towards her sister’s room rather than her own, causing the other house servants to panic “Young miss, please go to your room since the master has ordered it”

“Just leave me be! He’ll be happier knowing I’m with elder sister anyways” she shooed the servants away.

“But miss…” they begged as she angrily pushed the door to her sister’s room open.

Upon seeing Meiyin enter, Yueyin smiles “It’s alright, leave us” she said to the servants waiting outside the door. They reluctantly retreated and left. Yueyin put down the book that she was reading and pour Meiyin a cup of tea.

“They only listen to you” Meiyin said bitterly as she accepted the tea

“If you act with proper manner befitting your status, they will also listen to you”

“Jie, I’m not here to be lecture” she whines

Yueyin laugh lightly “I thought father would have given up on you by now,” she takes a sip from her own cup of tea and asks, “What did you got caught with this time?”

“I was trying to master horse riding” Meiyin pouted “Why is father so strict with me anyways?”

“He’s trying to tame you so that you’ll be easier to marry off” Yueyin joked, expecting a fiery response but when it didn’t come she look over at her sister. Meiyin had her head on the table and arms hanging loose at her side.  

“I’m never going to be able to be like mother or you,” she looks up at Yueyin, “There’s no way I can sit still in one place all day and behave like a proper lady.”

“A proper lady doesn’t have to sit still all day long, you know that.”

“Yueyinnnn,” Meiyin tackles her sister in a hug, “You know I can’t handle those womanly stuff”

“That’s right, the few times you actually tried you broke the teacher’s precious guzheng, you also got the art teacher really mad and quit because he doesn’t want his reputation ruin for having you as a student, I don’t even have to mention your story about sewing and Madame Lin” she let out a sigh, “In the end, they all ran off and the only one left that have enough patience to deal with you is the Chess* teacher, and that’s because he’s father’s old time friend.”

“Why you!” Meiyin grab hold of Yueyin’s neck lightly and shake her back and forth.

“Aha, so violent” Yueyin laugh, “Maybe I should run off as well”

“Fine!” She let go of Yueyin and sat down angrily in her own chair, facing away from Yueyin.

Yueyin reach over and pet Meiyin’s head gently, “You know you don’t have to be like anyone,” she turns Meiyin around to face her, “Just be your usual active self. Father love you just the way you are. He’s not being hard on you but more so on himself, because he feels responsible and trying to do mother’s share as well.”

Meiyin still pouting “Stop sounding so mature, you’re only one year older than me”

“Tell you what, I’ll take you to meet someone that will really cheer you up”

“Who could possibly cheer me up, and I’m grounded remember?”

“Since when do you actually listened to father?”

Meiyin thought for a moment, “That’s true.”

The two of them changed into casual clothing that will keep them from standing out among the more common folks. Yueyin changed into a two shades neutral dress made from a much courser material than the ones she usually wears around. She took off all of her accessories and redid her hair into a more village girl style, securing it in place with a simple wooden hair pin. Meiyin on the other hand, dressed herself up in a village boy outfit, complete with bun-up hair male-style with a matching color hair sash.

“Are you sure you want to dress like that?” Yueyin asked as she look Meiyin over.

“Yeah, this way is better than having two girls walking around alone on the streets.”

“We could have just brought along a house worker”

“No, don’t bring anyone else along” she says as she straps a small knife inside her shoe, “They’ll just ruin my mood further.” With that said, the two of them sneak out the back door of the house.

They made their way through the city, enjoying its livelihood before making it out of the central city. They continue towards the forest to the west off of the main path. When they got a little deeper inside the forest following a small path, Meiyin ask as she look around at the surroundings, “You’re not taking me to some secluded hermit, from some random legend, that only feast on vegetables and never sleep are you?”

Yueyin rolls her eyes “Yes, yes, I am going to trade you to the hermit so I can get the famous Moon Drop guzheng from the legend”

Meiyin laugh lightly, happy that her sister is playing along “I always knew that you’re more evil than the good sister image you let on.” She was expecting some witty comeback but instead Yueyin reply with “We’re here.” Meiyin look past her sister to see a small cottage just a little ahead of them. What caught Meiyin’s eyes wasn’t the cottage though, but rather the tall boy that’s sweeping to the side of the cottage. She notices his sweeping motions as they got closer. Her eyes are so fix on him that she didn’t notice she had overtaken her sister and barged past the bamboo fence, trespassing into the cottage.

Yueyin, a little surprise, quickens her steps to catch up to her sister. Once she also entered the bamboo fence, she quickly looks to the stone table on the other side of the cottage and bow politely to the person sitting there, “Hello Master Wong, please excuse our sudden visit”

The old man looks up from his book and smile at her “Ah, Yueyin it’s good to see you again,” he offers her a cup of tea and motion for her to have a seat “So you’ve brought a guest today”

She sat down and politely accepted the tea “Yes, I’ve brought along my…” before she could finish the sound of a knife leaving its scabbard caught both Master Wong and Yueyin’s attention. They quickly turn towards the sound to see Meiyin attacking the young man with her knife. Shock, Yueyin immediately stood up and was ready to rush over to stop her sister. But Master Wong put out his hand to stop her.

“It’s alright, he can handle it” Master Wong said and motion for her to sit again. True to his words, minutes later the young man had Meiyin pin to the ground, disarmed with her arms bend behind her back. He tightens his grip on her arms and she let out a painful yelp.

“Tao” Master Wong called out and the young man let go of Meiyin. He back up a few steps from her as she straightens out and massaging her arms.

“Master Wong, please excuse my little uh…” She caught Meiyin looking and signaling her “…brother for his rudeness” Yueyin apologize to the young man and Master Wong.

“Don’t worry about it, his skills are not bad and it looks like he had master his basics” Master Wong smiles, “seems to be a talented young man.”

Meiyin smiles and greeted Master Wong, “Thank you for overlooking my rudeness, I wanted to test his skills after seeing his display of sweeping motions,” she bows to the young man slightly “and clearly I was no match”

“Let me introduce you, this is Master Wong Jianjun, a superb martial artist” Yueyin then looks towards the young man, “and this is Zitao, Master Wong’s only disciple.”

Meiyin’s eyes widens upon hearing Master Wong’s name “The famous martial artist Wong Jianjun?!” she looks over at Yueyin with disbelief, “How did you…”

“It’s a story I’ll share with you later” Yueyin says to Meiyin. She then turns her attention to Master Wong, “my little brother is deeply interested in martial arts, I was wondering if you could do me a favor and give him some pointers or advices?”

“I, Wong Jianjun, will never return a big favor with such a small one” He says, “In repayment for the favor you have done for me, I’m willing to take on your younger brother as my second disciple.”

“Master Wong, would that not go against your principle of having only one disciple in this lifetime? I couldn’t possibly have you break your own principle for me” Yueyin says worrily, she never wanted to trouble him that much. She just wanted to cheer up her sister by letting her get some advice from a top martial artist, but she didn’t think that Master Wong would go that far just to repay her. “You can just help to straighten out what he has already learned, please do not trouble yourself so much over repaying....”

“Nonsense, I made that principle, of course I can break it myself when I see fit,” he cut her off, “besides, I can see that this young man have some great potential and affinity with martial arts” Master Wong smiles, “I should thank you for bringing me a great candidate to pass on my skills.”

Meiyin, who was still wide eyes and shock from Master Wong’s identity, immediately got on her knees and bow down to him, “Sifu, please accept a bow from your new disciple,” she then put up her right hand, “I swear upon my life to always uphold your honor and teachings.”

Master Wong laugh “Such a smart child, you didn’t give your sister any chance to convince me,” he stood up, grab onto her shoulders and pull her up to stand. He waves Zitao over to stand next to him, “Quick, bow to your senior brother”

Meiyin smiles and bow to him, “Senior Brother, please take care of me”

“For now, he will help me to teach you the important basics and some other skills he had learned, once I’ve determined which of my martial arts form fits you best I will personally teach it to you.”

“Thank you Sifu”

“It’s your sister you should be thanking,” he smiles and turn to Zitao, “Zitao, show him around the training ground behind the cottage and get acquainted with each other.” Zitao nodded and lead Meiyin away towards the back of the cottage. Master Wong and Yueyin watches the two of them go before he turns to her, “I admit that I am a bit secluded, but not so much that I wouldn’t have heard anything about the famed Strategist Zhang having a son.”

Yueyin smiles, knowing from the start that it was useless to lie to him about Meiyin’s identity “I might have spoil her a bit too much.”

“It’s quite amusing, I’ll just play along,” Master Wong sat down in his chair and motions for Yueyin to have a seat as well, “that boy needs some color in his life anyways.” The two of them proceeds to small talks and enjoying tea as they waited for the other two to return.

-----

Zitao led Meiyin on a small path behind the cottage. The two of them walk in silence for awhile until they reach an opening in the forest. Zitao steps aside to let Meiyin takes in the view. It was a large clear ground surrounded by tall bamboo trees. The field was only deck up with a few wooden training tools and a rack of wooden swords and spears. Another rack held bows and arrows. Meiyin walk towards the arrows and pick one of them up, “Do you only train with wooden weapons? Even the arrow heads are made of wood and quite dull”

“When you are skill enough, anything can be turn into a deadly weapon,” Zitao said, “since you already have a solid foundation we can start training on the first set of moves on your next visit.”

“Yes, Senior Brother”

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

Meiyin didn’t even realize she was just staring at him, “Oh um… it’s just that this is the first time I hear you talk, sorry Senior Brother”

Zitao clears his throat, feeling a bit shy “D..Don’t keep calling me Senior Brother, my name is Zitao, you can just call me that.”

“Ok, Tao dage!” Meiyin smiles at him “and you can call me *Xiaoyin”

Zitao stood there staring at Meiyin’s bright smile. Thinking to himself why there is such a pretty looking boy. “Xiaoyin, you have quite a small frame, almost like a um…it’s quite surprising that you’ve got such great foundations” he wasn’t sure if he should say that Xiaoyin’s frame is small like a girl, he didn’t want to wound the boy’s pride if it happens to be something he’s sensitive about. Zitao decides that Xiaoyin is probably just a late bloomer, with more training he’s confidence Xiaoyin can become sturdier. “So who did you learn your martial arts from before?”

“I’ve learned the basics from my uncle and some move sets I’ve sneak learned from some other martial arts master of my cousin.”

The two of them chat with each other and trying to set up a training schedule on their way back to the cottage. Once they’re back the Zhang sisters bid farewells to Master Wong and Zitao. Then they headed back to the central city towards home.

Author's Notes: 

Meimei - little or younger sister

Jie - older sister

Sifu - Master (the teacher/person that teaches you their specialties)

Dage - eldest brother (this is often used in family or also used to refer to the more senior person in a sect). Dage is a bit different to Senior Brother, which is the person that has joined a martial art sect before you so he is more senior...Am I making any sense at all? trying to explain...but is now confusing myself...haha XD for this case, just think of Meiyin calling Tao dage is a less polite but more endeering way than calling him senior brother. (sorry since I do not know the pinyin for the word senior brother so I am just doing litteral translation)  

Xiao* - can mean little or small, it is an endeering way and a way to seem less distant or less like a stranger to refer to someone when use with someone's name....confusing? hahaha me too.

guzheng - is a Chinese string music instrument.

Chess here refers to the Chinese Chess or the Chinese Go. It's a game of strategies and deep thinking. It's a battle on a wooden board.

AAANNNNDDDD the first one to make his appearance from exoot12 is Tao! Guess who are the two main OCs?!