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Chapter 4- Three Guys and a Hot-Headed Princess

"He has no chance..."

Lu Meng looked at his friend Gan Ning, who had just spoken. They were sitting in the courtyard underneath a blossoming plum tree, watching as the other generals took it in turns to spar each other. They were watching Taishi Ci against Huang Gai, and they knew that Ci would lose. Huang Gai was just too strong- no one could beat him (except maybe Sun Jian after a drink!). Taishi Ci had nearly cried when his name was drawn out of Lu Xun's multi-purpose hat.

"I don't know Ning- cut him some slack! Okay, he's nowhere near as big as Huang Gai, but one of us has to. I mean, he is getting old now."

"I suppose. But still...no chance!"

Ning was right. After a few short minutes Taishi Ci had been beaten by the huge man, and was now nursing a few cuts and bruises. He went to sit next to Sun Quan, rubbing where it hurt. "Ouch!" the others heard him say. When the victorious Huang Gai patted his back, Ci nearly fell backwards, pleading for mercy!

"Alright then!" called Lu Xun. "I'll pull two more names out of the hat for the next round." He pulled out a small piece of paper, and unfurled it. "Ok, we have Lu Meng..." Lu Meng took his halberd, walked over to the sparring area, and stood in his starting position. "And your opponent will be... me? Oh, alright then..."

"Let's see what you've learnt!" said Meng as his opponent faced him, with his twin sabres at hand. He brought his halberd close, ready to attack.

"Don't underestimate me because I'm young!" Xun replied as he took his stance.

"Are you two ready?" Sun Quan called from the tree. The two, glaring at each other, nodded. "Ok then, GO!"

The pair lunged at each other, weapons in hand, striking each other. Lu Meng spun his halberd round, trying to knock over the young general, but Lu Xun was good, and was deflecting the blows with his small swords. Meng knew that Lu Xun's defence was strong, but how to break it? CLASH! A sabre hit the halberd's blade just before coming down on Xun. CLANG! The halberd pushed the sabres to the side of Xun.

Then, using what power he had left, Lu Meng side stepped, and pushed the halberd pole against Xun's back, causing him to fall forwards, flat on his face. He then put the end of his pole on Xun's back, and raised his fist in the air in triumph. Everyone cheered, and then Meng helped Lu Xun back on his feet.

"Good round Lu Xun!" said Lu Meng as they shook hands. Lu Xun nodded, and after the shake, brushed the dusty dirt from his red Wu uniform. They walked back over to the tree, where Sun Quan was now in possession of the hat. He had already gone against Zhou Tai and won, so was feeling quite smug with himself!

"Ready for the next pair?" The generals nodded. Quan took out two pieces of paper, and read them. "we have Gan Ning, and he'll be against......okay, how did this get in here?"

"How did what get in there?" asked Zhou Tai in his deep voice.

"This!" Quan waved the paper in the air. "Sun Shang Xiang!"

The generals then turned their heads in the direction of Sun Shang Xiang, who was sitting quite innocently next to her father holding her two chakrams. She gave Quan a sweet smile.

"I want to fight you guys properly! You go easy on me- how am I meant to learn when you lot do that?" She then looked at Gan Ning, and stood up with her weapons. "Ready to fight?"

Gan Ning raised his eyebrows. "No way am I fighting you!"

"Why the hell not?"

"I don't think any of us want to see you cry! Besides, I'm too strong for you and you know it..."

Shang Xiang put a hand on her hip, and pointed at the sparring area with her left chakram. "I think you're chicken! Afraid you'll lose to a woman?"

If Gan Ning couldn't resist anything, it was a challenge (wine and boats came a close second!). He grabbed his massive sword from his side, and got to his feet. He then walked to the sparring area. When he got there, he took his fighting stance. "Don't say I didn't warn you princess!"

Shang Xiang smiled, and ran to her place opposite him. She took her stance. "Don't worry about me- I'd be more worried about the state of your body when my chakrams are finished with you!"

"Don't hurt my baby girl!" Sun Jian shouted from the side to Gan Ning. "Go easy on her!"

"Don't listen to him!" Shang whispered to Ning. "Because I won't go easy on you!"

"Ready...GO!"

On Sun Quan's command, Shang Xiang began to circle the ex-pirate, attempting to confuse him, but whenever she tried to use her chakrams, his sword would knock them back. She would block his attacks- it was easy, as he wasn't using his full strength against her. Their weapons clashed for a second.

"Is that all you've got?" she taunted.

Ning retaliated by swinging his sword around- it came dangerously close to her. Now this was the type of fighting she wanted! She smiled and spun her chakrams around so that Ning had to duck to avoid them. Shang then cart wheeled away as he got up and started to slash the air with his blade. Sun Jian closed his eyes- what if she got hurt? She obviously didn't care much, for she was the fearless warrior princess! Back on her feet, she decided to make one final attempt to bring him down while he was getting exhausted.

She ran towards him and their weapons clashed again- they ended up in a power deadlock. Gan Ning, pushed his sword against her, trying to get her to fall over. Shang Xiang dug her feet into the ground, and pushed as hard as she could. She didn't want to admit that he was stronger than her, but her hot-headedness got in the way as she tried to win. The sweat poured off her face as she felt her feet moving in the dirt. Ning now had that look in his eye, and he applied just a little more force...

He watched as Shang Xiang slipped and fell backwards. He quickly moved forwards to grab her just before she landed flat on her back in the dirt.

"You okay?" he asked as he helped her back up.

"Yeah, thanks." She couldn't believe she had lost! She had given it her all, but what could she do about it? Train more? Study more? She had beaten Lu Xun and Sun Quan before, but the other generals were big beefy men! There wasn't a lot she could do!

"It was a good round- you did good for a woman!"

They walked back over to the tree, where Shang Xiang went to sit back next to her father. "Don't rub it in," she said quietly to him.

"I wasn't going to! It's just that I thought you did really well out there. Not a lot of generals last that long in a power deadlock, and besides, I didn't expect you to win. Gan Ning, like most of us here, is very strong. You, are a woman, and don't have the physical capabilities of a man, and-"

"Okay Dad, you can spare me the lecture!" She said before leaning against his shoulder. She put her chakrams down to the side.

Jian looked at his now exhausted daughter. "It's just that sometimes you let your fiery streak get in the way. But it's not your fault, you get it from your mother's side."

She nodded and watched as the others congratulated Gan Ning. At least he hadn't made fun of her, she thought, or rejected her challenge. She hated it whenever they saw her as weak. All she wanted was to be like them...

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Back with the guys, Gan Ning was leaning against the tree. He had to admit that had been a good match, even if it was with a woman! He was just relieved he hadn't hurt her (he was looking at Taishi Ci now, who was on the verge of tears!).

"Did Huang Gai beat you that bad?" Ning asked.

Taishi Ci moaned in pain again. "Yeah, and I was wearing armour as well! If I think it hurts know, it's going to be even worse tomorrow!"

Ning nodded, and started to talk to Lu Meng and Lu Xun. Together they formed the 'Wu trio'- they'd all hang out together, with Lu Meng acting as a 'leader', Gan Ning somewhere in the middle, and Lu Xun as a 'student'. Meng and Ning would teach Xun things that Zhou Yu wouldn't, such as where the best taverns where (Ning's idea!) and how to hunt. Basically they were teaching him how to become a man without having his little head stuck in a book. This also helped with avoiding Sun Ce and Taishi Ci's jokes! Just as they had finished a conversation about tigers (random subject!), over strolled Sun Shang Xiang.

Ning looked up at her. "I take it you want a rematch?"

She laughed at him. "Nah! I thought I could, well, hang out with you guys for a bit. That's if you don't mind..."

The three men looked at each other, and then, in unison, nodded to her. She smiled at them, and squeezed herself between Lu Meng and Gan Ning. They sat in awkward silence for a few moments before she broke the ice.

"So...what's new?" she asked.

Her reply- three different sounding grunts, which she interpreted as "Nothing".

"Ok then...how about we go and do something, just us four? It'd beat hanging around here all afternoon!"

"Shang Xiang," Lu Meng started, "we're three grown men. You're a young woman. There's not a lot of things we can do together!"

"Come on!" Shang protested, nearly hitting Lu Meng. "How about archery? I'm good competition- I beat my brothers last week. And I'm a damn good horse rider! Just because I happen to be female doesn't mean I can't join in!"

"We're not discriminating against you Shang Xiang," said Lu Xun, being careful with his words (in case she hit him!). "It's just that it's really a guy thing. I mean, why do you want to hang out with us?"

Shang Xiang was staring up at the clear blue sky. "You three are more fun than the others. You have your own little friendship group, and always go out together. Me? I have to stay under supervision, even when I want to go out of the castle. I mean, what's the worst that can happen?"

Lu Meng was quick to reply. "You could get kidnapped, murdered, get into an accident...the list goes on, and it's worse for you. You're a princess, and do you know what would happen if, say, Cao Cao got hold of you?"

She didn't say anything, because she knew he was right. Lu Meng was always full of knowledge, and she knew better than to go against his word.

"I suppose you're right. I just want to go out and have fun like you guys. So can I come with you today? I promise I won't be any bother...please?"

Lu Xun and Lu Meng exchanged slightly worried glances. Could they handle having Sun Shang Xiang around for a few hours? Lu Xun couldn't even handle her for a minute!

"I say she can."

Xun and Meng looked at Gan Ning. "Why do you say that?" Xun asked, also giving him a glance as if to say Are you nuts?

"Well, she's already proved herself sparring against me, and we can't have the little princess locked away in her castle all day can we? Besides, it might be good for us, having some female influence around us for once."

"Thank you!" Shang Xiang threw her arms around him, giving him a huge hug. After nearly squeezing the life out of the ex-pirate, she let go, to Ning's relief. "So what are we doing?"

After a few minutes of debating ideas, they settled on fishing. The men chose this on purpose, in the hope that she'd get put off by the guy lifestyle of sitting on a boat all day staring at the sea. Surprisingly, she said she couldn't wait, and hurried off to get ready for the trip!

"It's going to be a long day," sighed Lu Xun as he put on his hat.

"Let's just hope she loses interest after this!" said Lu Meng, standing up clutching his halberd.

Gan Ning just watched as Sun Shang Xiang disappeared into the castle. He had this strange feeling inside him, but he didn't know what it was. No, he hadn't drank any wine today, so that couldn't be it. And he hadn't eaten anything dodgy to his recollections. For some strange reason, he couldn't wait to see her again...