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I WILL DEFEAT YOU
Translator: Sylph
Editor: SilverAndGold
Everyone stared at He Yan’s movements.
He Yan walked over to the crossbow which looked gigantic compared to her small frame. She picked up the crossbow, took out an arrow from the quiver, and put her finger on it.
Wang Ba looked at her with disdain and said, “Put some effort into it, don’t be like yesterday –  putting up a fight for half a day and then finally coming to say you can’t pull it off.”
He Yan behaved as if she hadn’t heard him, but Hong Shan was a little nervous and sweated secretly for He Yan. These new recruits in the army were inherently strong, and according to him, He Yan was not a woman, so people would not have any thoughts of pitying him. They would only feel that he was weak, and the weak inherently didn’t deserve sympathy, but if you add a trait of a person who likes to talk big, it would only make people look down on him even more, just like He Yan did yesterday. If he couldn’t do it today, not only would the instructor secretly despise him, but in the future, the people in the barracks would be ashamed and wouldn’t be friendly to him.
Yesterday, he gave up without even drawing, but today will he be able to pull the bow?
The young man gazed at the target of the arrow, and from this direction, his hand was extremely steady, his sinking eyes looked like those of a hunting beast, who was waiting quietly for the moment of leaping. The bow was drawn.
Little by little, not easily, but slowly, without any trembling, it was pulled. Unlike yesterday, you could tell the bow was slowly opening up.
“It’s moving
,” Mak excitedly tugged on the corner of Shi’s clothes, “Brother, Brother He has drawn the bow!”
He knew that If He Yan said he would be able to do it, he would do it –  it had been proven so for how many times?!
Wang Ba was stunned at first, and then immediately felt angry at being hit in the face. He stood there with his teeth clenched as he wanted to see what kind of superb shooting skills He Yan could display. On the other side, Instructor Liang, who originally had no hopes, was also attracted by He Yan’s actions.
This kid could do it. Yesterday he said he could draw the bow today, and today he really did it. Could it be that yesterday he was playing with a pig and eating a tiger[1], and simply said he wouldn’t, just to be in the limelight right now?
In the midst of the discussion, the bow had been opened nearly halfway, and He Yan stopped moving, and did not continue to draw down any further.
This was already her limit. She let go of her hand and the arrow steadily, swiftly went towards the target! The crowd couldn’t stop their stares at the tail feathers of the arrow intently. The feathered-arrow headed towards the arrow target did not reach the target, and fell weakly in the middle. The watching crowd let out a regretful sigh, as if the arrow should have undoubtedly hit the center of the target.
He Yan withdrew her hand.
Mak was the first to jump out. He ran to He Yan’s side, his eyes shining as he said, “Brother He, you really drew the bow!”
“Remarkable!” Hong Shan also came over and patted He Yan’s shoulder, “There you go!”
Although Shi didn’t say anything, he smiled, showing that he was happy. Instructor Liang also gave He Yan an affirmative look.
The surrounding recruits who watched the fun discussed the proceedings.
“He really pulled it off, and it doesn’t look like he’s lying.”
“It’s luck, it just happened to be a lucky pull.”
“Luck is also a form of strength, and he did what he said, not bad.”
Wang Ba was a bit confused.
He had come to watch He Yan make a fool of himself, how come in the end, it was as if he made He Yan the center of attention. He looked at the arrow that had fallen in the middle –  He Yan hadn’t even hit the target’s edge. This would be considered a very poor result if done by anyone else, so why did the people here clap and celebrate for him?
Did he make a mistake? Wang Ba was unconvinced, “Isn’t it just drawing the bow? There are many men in this barrack that can pull the bow. I’m afraid it’s all but you. Where’s the greatness?”
“Me?” He Yan pointed at herself and laughed, “But I’m the exception that can’t pull it, I couldn’t pull a day ago, and a day later I did, that’s called amazing.”
She curled her eyebrows and laughed happily. This smile fell in Wang Ba’s eyes, and it turned his heart over in anger. He said, “I’m not convinced!”
“What are you dissatisfied with?” He Yan asked.
Wang Ba was a bully who worshipped the strong and despised the weak. He looked at people who were ‘frail’ like He Yan with a bad eye. In addition, there was a history of bad blood between him and He Yan, so he was unhappy that he didn’t find something wrong with He Yan.
“How can someone like you become a recruit and train with us?” Wang Ba turned to Instructor Liang, “Instructor Liang, I’m not convinced!”
Instructor Liang looked at them without moving a muscle as he did not intend to intervene. He was the instructor, not their superior. After this batch of new recruits were trained here, they might be stationed at the Liang Zhou Guard, or they might follow Xiao Jue to other places, but they were not his people anyway. His duty was simply to teach them basic skills, pick some good seedlings, and at the end of the line, it was all up to the generals.
Who would want to lose Wang Ba who was very talented with a crossbow for a He Yan who didn’t look particularly good?
“You don’t need to embarrass Instructor Liang.” He Yan took one look at Liang Ping and knew what he was thinking. The instructor here was very cunning. There must be trade-offs at times like this. She looked at Wang Ba, “Tell me what you want.”
Wang Ba sarcastically smiled, “You go and be the guerilla soldier.”
“No.” He Yan refused without further thought, “On what grounds?”
“On what grounds?” Wang Ba, “Just because you couldn’t pull the bow yesterday, even if you pulled the bow today, you shot so poorly and your friends actually cheered for you. In the future, when it comes to the battlefield, will all the soldiers and generals be like you, with their crossbows in disarray, unable to kill a single enemy, and still need someone to cheer for them? What kind of soldier is this!?!”
Wow, He Yan couldn’t help but applaud Wang Ba in her heart. It was said that the big old bandits were poor in literature, now it seemed that they placed their words rightly. When she had just entered the barracks, she was not so eloquent yet she was worthy of being the leader in the mountain. If she couldn’t bluff, how could she be the boss?
Fortunately, she had been in the barracks for so many years, and it was not that she had never seen this battle.
“Yes, you’re right.” The young man brushed away a lock of hair that had fallen on his forehead and paused before he spoke, “But as you can see, yesterday I couldn’t pull the bow, but today I can. Yesterday you shot this target with arrows, and today you still did the same.”
The crowd looked at her, not understanding what she meant by that.
“I’m getting stronger day by day, but you’re just the same after a day. In this case, ten days later, I can hit the straw target, but you, you will still be the same, hitting the straw target just as before.”
“In ten days, I will win over you.” She said as she punctuated every word.