(This is a BL)
To save his father's life and prove his worth Fa Ping takes his father's place and joins the army. This was a choice that would bring many difficulties and perhaps, even death.
Fa Ping expected that, but what he didn't expect was to...
Shang took a deep breath to calm his nerves. His master had always said; Breathing, Shang. Keep your chi flowing. In, out, always. He robed himself in his plain tunic and tied up his hair, ready to start the first official day of training; he regarded yesterday's rice incident a warm-up for what was to come. Shang grimaced over the complete and utter lack of discipline these men showed; they were nothing but small-town animals with limited knowledge of the art of war.
But if anyone can train them, Shang thought as he stepped out into the morning sunrise, I can. His father believed he could, and if a great man like that thought so, it must be true.
He heard the chatter from numerous men rise as he turned a corner and saw another brawl already on the way. Gods, couldn't they behave like men instead of children?
Again, it was centered around that boy; Fa Ping, he had said his name was. Yesterday Shang had examined him for a moment before informing him they were not taking any children into the army. At this his face reddened.
"I'm eighteen," he mumbled, scratching his head, his left eyebrow twitching with irritation.
Shang found it hard to believe that the great Fa Zhou could produce only this child, who looked more like a flat-chested girl than a man.
Today the short one, Yao, was about to punch hm in his face, most likely payback for the rice last night. Here we go.
"Soldiers!"
He rang out in a confident voice. The men instantly stood tall and formed in a straight line. "You will assemble swiftly and silently for my command each morning."
Ping felt a mixture of gratitude and miniscule fear when the captain address them. Sure, it got Yao and Ling off his ass, but he had a feeling his little rice-incident was grounds for punishment.
"You will assemble swiftly and silently for my command each morning."
Why couldn't he have a voice like that? Deep, strong, masculine. Peeking over the protruding gut of the man next to him, Ping snuck a glance at Shang and found him taking off the thin robe that covered his torso, leaving him with only pants on. He was impressively muscled, with taut skin and broad shoulders.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
He made Ping feel like an insect.
"Anyone who acts otherwise," Shang continued, walking down the line with a bow and quiver of arrows, "will answer to me."
"Ooh," everyone heard Yao mutter, "tough guy."
Shang raised an eyebrow-Ping had seen that look before-and knocked an arrow.
"Yao." He pulled back the string and took aim at Yao's head; everyone else stood back with a surprised grunt. Ping felt panic rise in him.
He's not actually going to-
Shang tilted the bow up and let the arrow fly, impaling it into the wood at the top of a pole, more than twenty men tall.
"Thank you for volunteering," Shang mockingly conveyed, setting down the weapon. "Retrieve the arrow."
