Chapter 54: The General Sells His Bow

What the heck!
Is she hitting on me?
Lu Chuan felt a bit surprised.
Does this woman fancy him?
Unlikely. From their previous encounter, although this Zhuyin was somewhat curious about him, she definitely held no other feelings whatsoever.
Yet this time.
When this woman saw him, her attitude had shifted dramatically.
While not quite to the point of ingratiating herself, there was completely no need for her to say so much to him.
As the saying goes, when things are abnormal, there must be a demon!
This woman does not seem like a good soul!
Lu Chuan muttered inwardly.
However, he did not say much out loud.
Following Zhuyin, he finally entered the Gathering Treasure Pavilion.
This time, however, they did not linger in the front courtyard for long, as Zhuyin led Lu Chuan into a room in the back courtyard.
Once Zhuyin opened the door,
what came into view was a variety of weapons, arranged in an orderly fashion, looking just like an armory!
"Oh, my goodness?"
Lu Chuan stood there in a daze, a trace of surprise flashing in his eyes, before he continued, "Is this the armory of a military camp?"
"To be precise, pretty much!"
Zhuyin smiled.
Then she went on, "As you know, Bingzhou has been through quite a few twists and turns over the years. The previous Prince of Bingzhou sold some items, some of which leaked out, while another portion fell into the hands of the Gathering Treasure Pavilion!"
"However!"
"My young master probably wouldn't care for the items here. Come with me!"
With that,
Zhuyin walked slowly up the stairs nearby.
After taking a few steps, she turned back with a look of surprise and asked Lu Chuan, "Young master? What are you thinking about?"
"Nothing! Coming right up!"
Catching up,
Zhuyin led Lu Chuan to the second floor.
The setup here was much simpler, with a few weapon racks, three of which were racks for bows and arrows.
Lu Chuan focused his gaze on the bow racks.
He walked over slowly
and took down the bow from the first rack.
"You have a fine eye, Young master. The name of this bow is Profound-Breaker! It was the personal bow of the previous Chanyu of the Xiongnu."
"What a tacky name!"
Lu Chuan muttered helplessly, looking at Zhuyin before him, and said with a slight headache, "Though I certainly didn't expect such an illustrious background for this item!"
"Still, this bow is indeed quite good!"
The overall weight of this bow was around twenty catties, which was actually a bit heavy. It was more suitable for someone with strong arm strength.
Moreover, both its flexibility and the strength of the bow body were more than sufficient.
However, in Lu Chuan's view, using such a bow for hunting was somewhat wasteful.
To put it bluntly, up in the mountains, the strength of a bow should not be excessively high. Furthermore, for an average hunter, carrying such a heavy bow on top of game would actually become a burden.
This thing was better suited for the battlefield!
Not the mountain forests.
Thinking of this, Lu Chuan shook his head with a helpless smile.
"What? You don't like it?"
Zhuyin asked with a hint of surprise.
Lu Chuan shook his head helplessly: "I like it well enough, but I'm using it for hunting. Bringing this bow into the mountain forest would be a bit of a waste."
After saying that,
he walked over to the second bow.
"The name of this bow is Army-Breaker!"
"It also came from a military camp, except that its master was not as renowned as the previous one. He was a general, and he is still alive today. The reason he wanted to sell this bow was because of a sudden tragedy at home! Having no other choice, he pawned this bow. It's just a pity that when the time came, no one came to redeem it!"
"A general selling his bow..."
Lu Chuan sighed. Just how desperate must a military commander be to sell his own bow?
"Forget it!"
Lu Chuan left the bow where it was, raised his head to look at Zhuyin, and said, "Put this bow away. Could I ask you for a favor?"
"Please speak, Young master!"
Zhuyin asked, looking somewhat surprised.
"When a general sells his bow, it is almost always out of utter necessity. Even if he is impoverished now, he must still be yearning for this bow in his heart. I won't take what someone else holds dear. I'd like to ask if you could keep this bow safe."
"If one day this person comes looking for it, return this bow to him. How about that?"
"Click!"
At that exact moment,
Zhuyin felt as if something deep within her soul had been gently struck.
A faint mist of tears welled up in her eyes.
Quickly regaining her composure and pausing for a moment, she then softly spoke, "You truly are a righteous and public-spirited man, Young master!"
"I wouldn't call myself righteous and public-spirited!"
Lu Chuan shook his head. "I just understand what doing something like this means to a person!"
The light in Zhuyin's eyes gradually dispersed.
"Very well!"
"Since the young master is willing to play the good guy, Zhuyin will seal this bow away!"
Zhuyin sighed. "It's just a pity that the young master will be missing out on a fine bow. This bow is indeed exceptional, crafted entirely from fine timber and having undergone numerous processes."
"It should have met the young master's requirements!"
Zhuyin said with a smile.
"Isn't there another one over here?"
Lu Chuan pointed aside, a trace of confusion in his eyes.
Because that bow was placed rather far away,
and it was still covered with a layer of cloth, as if someone wanted to hide its true appearance.
"You misunderstand, Young master!"
Zhuyin shook her head helplessly. "That is not a finished bow, but a bow blank. The artisan who was crafting it passed away before it could be completed, leaving behind only this blank."
"May I take a look?"
Hearing this,
Lu Chuan immediately became interested.
"Of course!"
Zhuyin nodded and slowly lifted the red cloth off the weapon rack.
Then,
a somewhat archaic-looking bow body appeared before them.
Lu Chuan picked it up with a look of surprise.
The bow body appeared to be forged from a very strange metal, so Lu Chuan had originally assumed it would be quite heavy.
However, when Lu Chuan held it in his hands,
he discovered that it was much lighter than he had imagined.
"An alloy?"
Lu Chuan looked surprised.
Then he immediately shook his head.
The possibility of an alloy was quite low; alloys required special techniques and were unlikely to appear in this era.
That left only one other possibility!
A meteorite!
Damn it!
This was a bit dangerous.
At that moment, Lu Chuan hesitated. Many people believed that extraterrestrial meteoric iron possessed incredible powers.
Yet Lu Chuan, educated in modern times, knew deep down that this was definitely a huge hazard.