56 Searing 110
Not even half the year and the year 110 had turned out to be a very eventful year especially where Shuai was involved. Whether it was having to deal with the big bully of the neighborhood which even the adults thought was done a little over the top, that rather violent game which the children came up with to get by the adults restrictions in response to the younglings desire for some weapons so they could take care of the next bully to come their way or, the brutal game which happened as a result of the adults not controlling the violent tendencies of their children which had even marred a girl's face- although she insisted it was because she did not practice properly to be good enough to dodge such hits sent her way and it was all her fault for it. Actually Shuai thought they had already gotten off scot free with that last game but since they had to find another place more suited to run it other than their usual playground but apparently one of the adults spied on the kids playing the game by chance and reported it to the rest of the parents. His father included although it had been quite a bit since then since the parents had to organize a meeting for all of them to get together for this issue which had surfaced among their children.Shuai's father after almost a season was at a loss because he did try to instill in his child the virtues of strength and responsibility when it came to using weapons, using stories from his old days as a duelist as an example to inspire his son, when he the violent nature of the children were increasing in the games they played together. Now he could just beat the shit out of Shuai with one of the fake wooden weapons the kids have been using. Doing it enough times should mean he may be able to beat the boy's desire to use weapons to fight right out of him and force it into a non issue for a long time but two things Youdu knew could happed as a result of this. His precious boy could end up hating him for a long time if not forever and House Chisuo would end up with a meek son easily controlled and influenced by the other nobles of Kalzasi in the future. While it was important his house would not suffer from such a weakness it was also important for him that Shuai would not be ruined in the future.
He had to do something about this son of his but at the same time have it done in a way which would not backlash on him. To quote a tactic, kill with a borrowed knife. That was right, he could just use someone else to quell Shuai's violent tendencies.
Very soon in the course of a few days he had arranged to have a teacher come to the Chisuo estate. Shuai who had no idea what he was in for was actually excited at the prospect of actually learning how to wield a weapon. He had lost all hope for a chance to do it as for the past two seasons his father had been adamant Shuai would have no part in having a weapon of his own whether it was real or fake. The boy wondered what would have changed his father's mind since it would be useful knowledge to use the next time he wanted something and with the change being so recent he could only narrow it down to a few things. First was the treats one of the merchant families brought to the house in a recent visit which could be the most likely reason as even Shuai enjoyed eating them. That new maid who was always in his father's study, a neat and organized workspace for his father could mean the man having a lot less stress. It could also be that thing which the elders were all yelling about everytime they were drunk, something about a new design they have devised for more efficient scrivening. That would be something harder for the boy to make use of as he had no designs to be a scrivener- he wanted to be a famous duelist ripping his will into the world with a sword.
He told his new teacher this when he was asked for the reason why he was so willing to learn how to use a weapon especially at such a young age. There were not a lot of children willing to do that for at least two more years according to the man's own experience although it would not be surprising that the son of the once storied Youdu wanting to follow in his father's footstep. However that motivation of his was not something his new teacher liked and together with whatever Youdu told him of the year thus far with Shuai, the man was already close to making the decision to not accept this commission even if he had already accepted the money and even if it meant potentially offending the house of Chisuo. Fortunately Youdu had not even hinted to the teacher that the decision to train his son or turn him away would not mean anything to him or the house because either decision would reach the conclusion Youdu was going for. Shuai embracing the ways of the sword in the way the man believed was right or Shuai being so rejected he would pursue something else entirely. There may be a little heartbroken sure, but he would only become stronger and the time he would take to recover would allow the boy to mature a little more.
Youdu was not off with the idea his son needed some more maturity although he undervalued the amount Shuai actually needed due to his son's young age. Had he been older, smarter or a little more mature, Shuai would have not been offended of the teacher's evaluation of him so easily and did the sensible thing any child would do when dealing with an adult which is to complain to another adult, kiss up to them or try to appeal to their nurturing tendencies. There was one thing Shuai learned from one of the girls too and he would have used too if shame was not a concern to him and the fact that it was more effective when done in public and, was a girl himself. One nice loud yell of pervert for everyone else to hear and he would have the adult wanting to do anything for the child to stop. However as a boy who had his own pride built from many wins in the games he played over the seasons and the confidence to succeed even if it was an adult he was dealing with, he instead issued a challenge.
"Give me a weapon and I'll show you why you'll want to train me!" Weapons after all were the great equalizer and if they could work well against the bigger kids, why not the adults too who were just kids but bigger too? But with money and stuff. The teacher laughed, but at least he did not laugh Shuai off and got him one of the training weapons he had. "Do you have anything a little smaller?" Shuai asked when he found it a little too heavy for him to wield properly and also a lot longer than the knife stand ins he and his friends used to use. The teacher asked Shuai if he was sure about not wanting something at least a little longer, he had those and they were not that heavy for a child but the boy declined, citing how badly they felt in his hands as the reason. Then to his teacher's surprise, Shuai asked the man to get a weapon too. The teacher asked why as he thought Shuai was going to demonstrate why the initial assessment he made was wrong but nothing changed with Shuai, he was going to demonstrate by beating up the adult man who did not know any better and get an apology out of him.
The teacher amused, obliged and asked Shuai which weapon the boy wanted him to take with a lot of hints to get the man to take a short weapon, like another knife or some knuckles but though Shuai noticed that he also mistakenly thought the teacher did not want the longer weapons because he thought the man was bad at those and had him take a training sword. The teacher asked the boy if he was sure, if he was very sure, if he was very very sure, if he was very very very sure but Shuai did not take the hint. Oy. There was no way he could get through the boy's thick skin so they went into the fight despite the teacher still trying to give the pitiful Shuai a few more chances to make some changes to his advantage so it would not be a completely humiliating stomp.
The fight began and the teacher decided to just go along with it to see how far Shuai would go before he admitted his mistakes and gave a play by play of the fight as it went on, perhaps the first and last lesson the boy would get out of him if only to return him the favor of the amusing show he put on for the teacher today.
Shuai charged with his knife not even making the effort to hide his intents and of where he was going to make his attack at.
Sloppy. The teacher simply hit the knife away without moving anything but his own sword. Against an opponent with a longer reach Shuai should have advanced slowly with the weapon out of sight and only committed to his attack when he saw his chance.
Not to be stopped by this little snag, Shuai just ran past the man to turn around and swing down the knife at the man while the other's back was still turned back to him.
Arrogant. After failing Shuai should have just retreated until he had a better chance to continue his attack because the counter attack by the superior weapon was coming for him. The teacher always had his eye on Shuai and knew when he had to lazily bring up his sword to block off Shuai's knife. It was too easy.
Weak. Shuai made the mistake of trying to power through his attack even after it was blocked off and the teacher growing tired, parried the knife away and with his other hand held Shuai by the head so the boy would be stuck, unable to advance or retreat anymore.
With nothing else he could do, Shuai wildly swung around with his knife which could not reach the adult who still kept the boy at arm's reach. In a final act of unyielding desperation, Shuai threw the knife at the adult in hopes that if it hit, it would end up doing something.
Stupid. In a real fight the knife would already be the back up weapon and having to toss it in a final attack would mean one has already lost. Shuai should have just taken one of the other weapons offered to him and picked an extra knife instead if he really wanted it. Now what was he going to do?
Kicking and punching into the air ineffectively, Shuai should have know to quit but refusing to give up and in a last ditch effort, he jumped right at the man to give him a headbutt. The entire force of his body was just enough to breakthrough the hand which held on to him but he overestimated it entirely and fell on the ground.
Loss. But not a total loss of Shuai or the teacher who finally decided to train him a little because it seemed like there might be some worth in teaching the boy. Their training would start in a few days and though he got what he wanted it felt like no victory to Shuai.