On the training ground, He Yan slowly drew her bow.

With eyes covered, she could see nothing. Unable to see the prey, she could only “listen” for it.

And nothing could hear the world’s sounds more clearly than a blind person.

During her time being blind, she had felt dejected. A blind person faces many inconveniences in this world, unable even to care for themselves, let alone excel among others. She had always worked hard, compensating for average talent with diligence. But this sudden calamity instantly took away all her efforts, making even “average” talent seem like an impossible dream turned to ashes.

She remembered when she was desperate and unwilling to accept her fate, someone had told her, “If you truly want to be strong, what does blindness matter? Even blind, you can be the most extraordinary among the blind.”

It wasn’t particularly comforting words, yet somehow they stayed in her heart. When she practiced doing things without sight, she often remembered these words about “being the most extraordinary among the blind.”

She didn’t know if she was the “most” extraordinary, but she was certainly different from ordinary blind people. She could care for herself and even others, practice swordplay with servants, throw dice, and even be mischievous, secretly hiding children’s slingshots to shoot birds.

A blind person, compared to other blind people, she hadn’t lived too poorly.

If she could do these things while blind, now should be even easier. She was merely returning to that time for a moment.

The gong sound in the forest startled countless birds into flight. Against the vast sky appeared the silhouettes of birds. The blindfolded youth smiled, drew her bow, and shot – the arrow following the birds’ trail straight into the clouds!

A sparrow chirping in flight was struck by the arrow and fell rapidly, the blue-feathered arrow contrasting beautifully with the yellow blindfold across the youth’s eyes.

He Yan reached up to untie the blindfold. She didn’t even look at the fallen arrow, as if she had known she would hit her target. She handed the ribbon to Wang Ba, smiling, “Your turn.”

All around was silent. Wang Ba didn’t reach for the offered blindfold.

He Yan remained motionless. After a while, Wang Ba dejectedly lowered his head. Without looking at He Yan, he said softly, “No need. I can’t do it. You’re skilled. I’m not your match.”

His words held both anger and genuine acknowledgment – anger at losing to He Yan and losing face, but acknowledgment of He Yan’s blindfolded archery skill, which he truly couldn’t match and might never equal even with practice.

One must acknowledge their limitations.

The new recruits finally came to their senses, but instead of cheering, first came a wailing voice: “My dry biscuits, my dry biscuits are lost! How tragic!”

Another voice: “I’m worse off – I borrowed ten, and they’re all gone!”

Soon, laments rose from all around. In all of Liangzhou Garrison, it seemed no one had bet their dry biscuits on He Yan’s victory. Even with Little Mai and his two friends’ support, after balancing wins and losses, they had nothing to show for it.

But then, a delighted voice rang out, “Ah! I won! I bet ten pieces of dried meat. Ha ha, I told you I, Cheng Lisu, have always been good at judging people!”

He Yan was about to leave when she heard this and stopped, turning to look at Cheng Lisu. On second thought, who else in Liangzhou Garrison would bet so generously? Xiao Jue? As if he would participate in such gambling.

Cheng Lisu rushed to He Yan’s side, eyes sparkling as he looked at her: “Well, Brother He Yan, thanks to you, I finally won something. You don’t know, but in the capital, I couldn’t do anything right – not academics, not martial arts, and I only lost money at gambling houses, never won once. Today is my first win. Brother He Yan, I must become your sworn brother. Today will be our brotherhood day – I want to treat you to wine!”

“Ahem,” Instructor Liang cleared his throat, hand raised to his lips. “No alcohol allowed in camp.”

“Then I’ll treat you to tea!” Cheng Lisu grabbed He Yan’s hand, looking at her as if she were a long-lost relative, with genuine closeness.

“That’s not necessary.” He Yan withdrew her hand and returned the hair ribbon to him. “Almost forgot this – thank you for lending it, Young Master Cheng.”

“Between us, no thanks needed.” Cheng Lisu grinned. Then, suddenly remembering something, he turned to Wang Ba: “Hey, you! Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“What?” He Yan asked, confused.

“You forgot about your bet!” Cheng Lisu said urgently. “You bet that if you lost, you’d become a cook, and if he lost, he’d have to call you boss. Now that he’s lost, he needs to fulfill the bet!”

Wang Ba’s entire body stiffened.

The crowd around burst into laughter. Instructor Liang turned away – what happened next wasn’t his concern. Little Mai and Hong Shan leaned together watching the show as He Yan raised an eyebrow, looking at Wang Ba.

Wang Ba walked step by step to He Yan. He was much taller than her; He Yan looked exceptionally small before him. His face was flushed red, even the old scar on his face now seemed as if it might drip blood.

He Yan noticed his tightly clenched fists and inwardly sighed. Perhaps being a leader made one value face more? Asking him to call her boss might be harder for this man than killing him. He Yan was about to say forget it when Wang Ba spoke in a low voice: “…Boss.”

He Yan: “…”

She looked up at Wang Ba, who thought she was going to make trouble, and angrily burst out: “I already called you that! If you didn’t hear it, that’s your problem. I won’t say it again!”

“I heard you.” He Yan smiled. “I’m just surprised you said it.”

“A man’s word is worth a thousand gold, and four horses can’t chase back spoken words. How could I be someone who breaks promises!” Wang Ba snorted coldly. “You got lucky this time. In the future… in the future, don’t provoke me!” After saying this, he seemed to feel he had lost too much face to stay and quickly left.

He Yan pondered for a moment, thinking silently that this Wang Ba indeed had some backbone and could be both unyielding and yielding when necessary.

“Brother He Yan, you’re something!” Cheng Lisu pressed close again. “To celebrate, come on, let me treat you to tea!”

Before He Yan could refuse, she was dragged away by the joyful youth.

…

“Young Master Cheng took He Yan away,” Shen Han said from the tower. “Commander, should we have someone bring him back?”

“No need.” Xiao Jue said. Having watched the competition, he seemed weary and turned to leave. Shen Han hurriedly followed, thinking of something as he glanced at Xiao Jue, silently calculating.

The Commander had said He Yan was the unruly one, and he hadn’t believed it at first, but now it seemed true. Despite He Yan’s small and thin frame, she had already made a bandit leader call her boss – wasn’t that hard to handle? At this rate, she might even become a sworn brother with the Commander.

However, Shen Han glanced at Xiao Jue’s cold face – the Commander probably wouldn’t look favorably on this kid.