Chapter 65: Maiden of Yue Sword

What was the old routine?

The old man understood very quickly.

He watched as his precious granddaughter abandoned him, kicked off her shoes, and sat on the edge of the bed. She placed Liu Jing’s legs across her lap and began to massage them gently.

"Well! Look at you, kid, knowing how to live the high life," the grandfather said with great envy. His precious granddaughter had never treated him like that.

"I am her benefactor, and this is how she repays me." Liu Jing didn't feel the slightest bit embarrassed, and even took the opportunity to direct her, "Ah, yes, a bit lower down, use a bit more strength."

"You really are shameless, trading on your kindness to exact service," the aunt said, looking at him with utter disdain.

"Those who do favors without expecting returns are definitely harboring ulterior motives. She is ugly, clumsy, and poor—what could I possibly want from her? Just help me massage my legs." Liu Jing was entirely unbothered, then suddenly let out a sharp gasp, "Hiss! Anfeng, are you taking revenge? Why are you pressing so hard?"

"Rotten log, if you say one more word, I'll make you stay in the hospital a few extra days," Sissy said fiercely, completely abandoning her usual gentle demeanor.

"Auntie, I want to eat grapes, seedless ones." Liu Jing didn't dare talk back, blaming the aunt for meddling.

"Why don't you eat a pomegranate? Those can be de-seeded too," Zhang Min said with a beaming smile.

"Sister Min, help feed me some water. Make sure the temperature is forty-two degrees." Liu Jing didn't let Zhang Min off the hook either, daring to harbor ideas of raising this young master.

Liu Jing was adept at employing people and even better at delegating.

Zhang Min chuckled softly, sat at the head of the bed, and let Liu Jing lean against her shoulder while she actually went ahead and fed him water.

Sissy paused for a moment. For some reason, while she used to find such a scene completely ordinary, watching it now suddenly made her feel rather uneasy.

"Old man, you're blocking my sunlight." Liu Jing squinted his eyes, feeling thoroughly comfortable. He almost wished his injuries would take longer to heal.

Should I try self-harming again? Without an injury, there's no way to get this kind of treatment.

"Young people nowadays..." The old man shook his head, walked away with his hands behind his back, feeling that the scene was quite harmonious after all.

"Sissy, do you really want to be an actress?" After hesitating for a long time, Liu Jing finally asked.

"Then what else should I do? What else can I do?" Sissy asked in return.

"You really are quite useless." Liu Jing was stumped by the question. Thousands of professions flashed through his mind, yet every single one seemed fraught with the risk of being bullied.

Sissy took a deep breath and let it out slowly, secretly warning herself that the person before her was a patient, and she would settle scores with him only after he was discharged from the hospital.

"You could be a doctor, a diplomat, a boss..." The aunt didn't really want her niece to become an actress either.

"I think being an actress is quite interesting. You get to portray different characters and experience different lives. In a role, I can also be a doctor, a diplomat, or a big boss," Sissy replied softly.

"Tsk tsk, my fault, because of me..." Liu Jing sighed heavily, but before he could finish, Sissy interrupted him, "Don't be so narcissistic. What kind of garbage do you even act in?"

"Am I not your idol?" Liu Jing felt deeply wounded.

"Heh, my idol is Audrey Hepburn," Sissy mocked.

"What are you laughing at? Massage properly! You have no strength at all, didn't you eat?" Liu Jing couldn't hold on to his dignity and refused to save face.

"Are you worried that I'll get bullied in the future?" Sissy fell silent for a moment before suddenly asking.

"You are my face, and I am your backing. Walking the pugilistic world, if someone bullies you, they are bullying me. You're my little underling—ouch..." Liu Jing stopped himself, realizing she really dared to act; he suspected the meat on his calf was turning black and blue.

Through this conversation, Liu Jing finally set his mind at ease. It seemed the ugly girl had not been left with any psychological shadows from the blows of the past few days.

"I have a little brother—well, she's actually a girl. We met on the set of *Fist of Fury*. She’s basically a child king, even more mischievous than a boy. Back in kindergarten, she had a whole group following her, and she was the only one bullying others." Liu Jing suddenly thought of that little buddy, who used to pour tea, serve water, and massage shoulders much more perceptively than Sissy.

"That's nice," Sissy said flatly.

"Her personality is better than yours, and she's prettier too. Uh, I don't mean to denigrate you. Pretty as a child doesn't necessarily mean pretty as an adult." Liu Jing quickly tried to make amends, considering his leg was still in her hands.

"Is that so?" Sissy applied two extra parts of strength, mentally noting this down in her little ledger.

"You can tell what someone will be like at three just by looking at them at one. By the way, she also has a dream of becoming a big star."

"Oh."

"If people in this world try to emulate me, it's like entering the demonic path. If she were as unrestrained as I am, sooner or later she'd be ruined by the lifestyle. Only now do I understand why child stars usually end up fading away. Relying purely on natural talent is only temporary. If it isn't transformed into one's own foundation..."

Listening to Liu Jing expound eloquently while watching Sissy massage him with concentration, the aunt and Zhang Min exchanged a glance, both feeling something was rather peculiar.

"When I get out of the hospital, you're going to practice martial arts with me." Liu Jing patted his head, having been so lost in memories of that little buddy that he almost forgot the main business.

"I'm not taking a master."

"I am granting an exceptional favor; you don't have to kowtow as a disciple. I possess a set of sword techniques that, since ancient times, have only been passed down to women and never to men. Once I'm discharged, I'll pass it on to you."

"Passed down to women and never to men?" Sissy looked skeptical. Are you kidding me? Do you take me for someone who hasn't read martial arts novels?

"The Maiden of Yue Sword." Liu Jing replied. This was the genuine Maiden of Yue Sword technique, naturally inherited from the playboy predecessor.

"What maiden sword?" Sissy was puzzled.

"Yue what sword?" Zhang Min was astonished.

"Yue maiden what?" The aunt hadn't caught it clearly.

"I had a friend whose ancestors..." Liu Jing organized his thoughts, reshaping the playboy's experience of learning the Maiden of Yue Sword into a new script.

His expression turned absent-minded as he suddenly realized that the playboy's memories seemed somewhat distant now.

If he didn't recall them carefully, many things were fading. It seemed he needed to speed up the process of writing his book.

After listening, Sissy curled her lip, finding it utterly fake. "Didn't you say it's passed down to women and not men? Was that friend of yours a woman? Or are you a woman?"

"Just massage properly, why do you have so many useless words?" Liu Jing's face flushed slightly; the story had indeed been somewhat embellished.

In order to learn the Maiden of Yue Sword, the playboy had seduced the descendant of the technique, only to end up being hunted down across the entire world.

"That story of yours is quite good. We could turn it into a script," Zhang Min said thoughtfully.

Her dream of becoming a producer had never faded.

Hong Kong cinema was in decline, and the mainland market had not yet fully risen, which was why she had never found an opportunity.

Zhang Min had considered producing television series, but the television market was even more complex and required joint ventures with state-run institutions.

Dealing with those organizations was indescribably difficult, and sometimes it wasn't even a matter of money.

"Ah! Indeed! King Goujian of Yue, King Fuchai of Wu, tasting gall and lying on firewood, Xi Shi washing silk, three thousand Yue armor, burning Gusu, hair turning white overnight, Wu Zixu throwing himself into the river, the Battle of the Lize, the death of Yayu, Fan Li sailing away in a boat, hiding the bow when the birds are gone..." The more Liu Jing spoke, the brighter his eyes became, until finally he was murmuring to himself as if enchanted.

Sissy wore a blank expression, having understood hardly any of those idioms.

She suddenly felt that in front of this rotten log, she was practically an illiterate.

A wave of dejection washed over her heart. Every exam, she placed in the top three of her grade.

And the rotten log? He barely spent a few days at school all semester, yet he still ranked around the top ten in the class.

Wait! He barely went to school, and he was still in the top ten of the grade? Thinking about it this way, she really must be rather stupid.

But she was in the top three of her grade, which meant she wasn't stupid—they were the stupid ones.

Yet if she wasn't stupid, why couldn't she understand a single word of what the rotten log was saying? She had even clutched a dictionary and read it, though admittedly only for a few minutes.

Forget it, it must be the rotten log who was stupid.