Twenty li southwest of the lower capital of Yan, there was a village called Baiyang. A villager named She lost his father to bandits, but the county officials refused to open a case, claiming that “the killer was not a county resident.” Later, he met an old man who said he had once served as a retainer to a Zhao nobleman, and taught She the art of hand-to-hand combat. Three years later, whenever bullies caused trouble or powerful men’s retainers abused the people in any of the several villages around Baiyang, She would go and put a stop to it. He never failed. The villagers all said, “She, your skills are enough to make you a force to be reckoned with for a hundred li.” She agreed. He thought that was all the world there was.
