"When a Xie girl gets handsome, the men don't stand a chance."
By a twist of fate, the Xie and Shen families became next-door neighbors, with just one wall between them.
The first time they met, both fathers immediately took a liking to the other's child, thinking, "If only this little one were mine."
So the Xie family took Shen Liuzhen on as a student, while the Shen family took Xie Yuan on as an apprentice.
Shen's father was shocked and furious. After cursing Xie's father for being so crafty he could wrap a dumpling with all those schemes, he began to lament bitterly. He tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep, then slapped Shen Liuzhen awake and scolded him:
"Lazybones! I told you to learn martial arts, but you wouldn't. The Xies outrank us, and Xie Yuan is better at fighting than you. You'll be the one getting beaten from now on!"
Young Shen Liuzhen rubbed his eyes and said innocently, "Father, Yuan has a good character. He wouldn't go around hitting people."
Who could have known that years later, the words "General Xie has arrived" would make Shen Liuzhen, who could keep his composure even as Mount Tai crumbled before him, go weak in the hand and spill his wine?
He tried to act calm as he wiped the wine off the table, then glanced at the person beside him, whose thumb rested on the hilt of a saber, and said with a sheepish grin, "Yuan, you're so impressive... I, Shen, really didn't do anything."
