Hu Qiandai was unlike ordinary little girls who loved dolls.
She had absolutely no interest in the things those little girls liked.
What she liked were swords.
While girls her age played house with dolls, she would wield wooden swords and sabers daily, frolicking around.
Listening to the sound of the wind sweeping over the wooden swords and sabers in her hands.
She felt immense joy.
So much so that, before she was even seven, she quietly sneaked into her father’s study.
There, there were real swords and sabers!
She wanted to touch the real swords and sabers!
No sooner had she entered the study than her father caught her.
Then, she received the harshest scolding ever since she was born.
Because her father thought such behavior was very unladylike.
Entering the study without permission was really not good.
Especially since she was explicitly told not to.
As the daughter of the Uesugi Family, naturally, she was expected to be a lady.
To have good manners and be well-educated.
She could not act recklessly or arbitrarily.
Nor could she engage in disgraceful activities.
And her ’mistake’ this time proved that her usual education was a failure.
After that most severe scolding in her memory, her confessions bore no more harsh reproaches but rather a face filled with self-reproach and guilt—because her father believed that it was his lack of attention and love towards her that led her to such excessive behavior.
For a considerably long time afterward, her father joined her in her lessons, reading, and even chose to have picnics outdoors on pleasant afternoons every week.
She also confessed her feelings at the time.
Upon hearing her words, her father laughed.
Patting her head, he sighed deeply.
Even now, she remembered what her father had said at that time—
’I liked swords too when I was young.’
’The charm of a sword doesn’t differ between men and women most of the time.’
’They are sharp and carry a fatal attraction, who could resist them?’
’But times are advancing!’
’Gunpowder has appeared!’
’Firearms have appeared!’
’In the Warring States period, you would have to be a warrior woman, even if you didn’t want to learn, I would force you to learn swords, archery, and horseback riding, because they would be your essential foundations for survival.’
’Even if you practiced swords for ten years, you still couldn’t stop a bullet.’
’What’s more important is, swords are not our foundation for survival.’
’Our society has become ’civilized’.’
’Some things are never put on the table.’
She believed her father was right.
After all, her awareness told her so.
The information from television and newspapers all conveyed this.
No one can resist a bullet with a sword.
And her likeness for swords?
Is probably just as her father described.
She was attracted by the weapon itself.
Although she was curious why she didn’t have the same fondness for firearms, this did not hinder her from learning everything that a lady of high status from the Uesugi Family should learn.
Jewelry, clothes, tea ceremony, horse-riding, shooting, and so on.
Over the years, she mastered all of these.
Moreover, she excelled and became outstanding in them.
At this time, her fondness for swords had already been buried deep within her heart.
Such cries appeared in her ears.
She asked subconsciously and started moving in the direction from which the cries came.
As the daughter of the Uesugi Family, she couldn’t just stand by and watch someone die.
This was what her father had told her.
And her father also led by example.
So, Hu Qiandai did not hesitate.
What puzzled Hu Qiandai was that no matter how she ran towards the direction of the voice, she seemed unable to get close to it.
Moreover, what surprised Hu Qiandai the most was—
She, her mother, her father, they were all having the same dream.
How could there be such a coincidence?
She and her parents didn’t believe it.
Her father immediately took action.
Using the Uesugi Family’s connections and financial resources, they had some news by the same day.
It was the first time she saw astonishment on her father’s face.
That was a disbelief kind of astonishment.
’Hu Qiandai, maybe I was wrong.’
That same night, her father mysteriously apologized to her.
Without asking further.
She already guessed what it was.
Outside her and her father’s awareness, there was a ’normal’ world.
In that world, ’tradition’ was preserved.
In fact, that was the case.
In the following few days, as her father brought back more and more news, a brand new ’world’ filled her vision.
And many more gifted and unique individuals.
Among these people, some could very easily use swords to fend off bullets.
Simply slash the bullets.
This was the reason for her father’s apology.
’Sorry, Hu Qiandai, I was too self-centered, too arrogant back then.’
Her father apologized once again.
Shaking her head, she signaled her father not to continue in that manner.
Because, her father was a good father.
He gave her everything she should have.
And even more, much preferential love.
Who could guarantee that liking swords would definitely make one a master swordsman?
In the Inside World, sword masters are also rare.
More are just swordsmen using their bodies as blades, in life-and-death moments.
Bursting with blood as they carry a cruel romance.
These swordsmen pursue such a path.
But, in her opinion, nothing was more important than family.