Didn't Know General Was Female Chapter 3

[Expanding my horizons a bit with some GL, lol. I a.s.suming it’s dropped since it’s been half a year since the OG translator’s posted anything, so here we go.

The full t.i.tle of this is Didn’t Know General Was Female. I don’t know what the update schedule on this is going to be like, but I can’t say it’ll be a priority – especially because this author’s writing style is really hard for me to read for some reason, and the chapters are pretty long. I’ll shoot for once a week.]

It’s a shame that though Rong Jiahui saw the legendary Zhongli Luo, she didn’t get to say more than a few words to him. Rong Chen told her to rest well and left with the others. He’d originally been brought over just so she could learn his face, after all.

Rong Jiahui has silently made the decision to use this proximity to gain his favor, but she’s not in a hurry at the moment. She knows very well that this person will live in her family’s home later. In the past, though she hadn’t found out why, she had a general idea of what had happened to Zhongli Luo’s home, and knew that her dad was familiar with Zhongli Luo’s dad. Forty years ago, her paternal grandfather had been a marquis that’d helped stabilize the country, and his own father had fought for the Dynasty Founding Emperor in Jiangshan, establis.h.i.+ng many outstanding military achievements. Back then, that Emperor frequently praised the Rong family’s pretty young general.

However, it de-stabilized some years later, and his pretty young general who wasn’t yet 20 years old was no more. Until many years ago, when an army had invaded the border, her grandfather had lived through twenty years of peacetime. Somewhat wanting to stretch out his muscles, he volunteered to head into battle, and brought in pa.s.sing his own disreputable, all-take-no-give, unstable-horse-stance son; her father, Rong Chen. Zhongli Qing, Zhongli Luo’s father, was a young general within her grandfather’s troops at the time. Her grandfather didn’t care too much about his son, immediately having him go under Zhongli Qing’s command.

Her dad had only been a 16-year-old boy at the time, Zhongli Qing being 10 years his senior. He acted like an older brother, being very thoughtful of him, and from then on a deep friends.h.i.+p was forged. In a few years’ time, the invading army was beaten back step by step, and handed over a letter of surrender. After they each returned to their respective families, their correspondence lessened over the years.

Zhongli Qing is someone naturally deposed to melee combat on the front lines, becoming a 5th or 6th ranking young military official there later. Because his personality was more than blunt enough to offend people, he was eventually removed from that position. Not many years of living in humble circ.u.mstances later, his wife pa.s.sed away, leaving him heartbroken with grief. After escorting her body to her hometown, he himself fell ill, leaving Zhongli Luo an orphan.

With Zhongli Luo’s temperament, even if Rong Jiahui’s parents are fine with it and life in this rich estate is cozy, he likely wouldn’t want to depend on someone else’s charity. Unfortunately, a plague had broken out in his family’s area 20 years prior, all of his relatives either dead or escaped, leaving him unable to find anyone from his father’s family. Even if he did find them, who would be willing to look after him?

Thinking about this, Rong Jiahui can’t help but sigh. She really was too ignorant and small-minded at this age, and regarded too highly. Always having a cold voice and cold face and pus.h.i.+ng blame onto others – who could laugh merrily at something like this? Her att.i.tude was too much for others to bear. Choking to death on watermelon served her right.

Thinking of watermelon, she lightly felt her own neck, having a vague lingering fear. She won’t be eating that anymore, at least.

She reached out her hand to grab another pastry to eat only to find that she had already devoured all of them when she was thinking of Zhong Liluo earlier, and what was in their place was a large plate of cut-up watermelon, scarlet, glistening, and enticingly fragrant.

“Young Mistress, here’s your favorite watermelon,” said the barely-fourteen-years-old Bai Lu sweetly.

When she heard the word ‘watermelon’, Rong Jiahui could only feel a pain in her throat. She nearly turned her back to it, forget looking at or eating it. She waved her hand and said, “I won’t eat it. You all can have it.”

Bai Lu stared. This is… a change in weather? The Young Mistress always used to love eating watermelon the most, but all the watermelon in the marquis’ house is kept away from her, the Young Master keeping it all in the back row. Why is this trait of hers going in the opposite direction?

Seeing Bai Lu standing there motionless like a moron, she instead looks at the plate of watermelon next to her that’s as red as blood. So red. It’s making her sick.

Though she’s never been angry with the person next to her, an inexplicable flare of anger rises from her heart for a moment. She slaps the table and speaks urgently, “I said take it away, now!”

Seeing the always even-tempered Young Mistress had a rare moment of true anger, Bai Lu came to her senses and took the watermelon away with haste.

Watching her retreating back, Rong Jiahui sighed in relief. She finally didn’t have to look at the watermelon that killed her that day.

This is truly Nature’s tricks. Watermelon was her favorite food, now she can’t even look at it. She will forever be unable to forget that feeling of not being able to breathe, even if… there is simply no better fruit to stave off the midsummer heat than watermelon.

Summer heat…

She looked at the harsh sunlight outside her window, heart souring. If she can’t eat watermelon in this weather, what else can she eat? It’s getting hotter and hotter, she really wants to build herself an ice room to live in! Yeah, ice!

With a suffering expression, she turned to Shuang Jiang who was fanning herself behind an ice chunk and said, “You, go talk to Gu Yu and have her bring some more ice over.”

Qiu Fen, that one scheming, improper maid that she doesn’t miss seeing at all, is someone she’s been casually looking for a justification to make her mom and dad drag her back by the collar, so as to avoid that bighead from getting people to gang up on her again. To expel Qiu Fen, she’s only promoting the naive and dutiful-looking sort like Gu Yu, which actually puts her heart at ease.

However, a quarter of an hour pa.s.sed and the ice still hadn’t come. That Gu Yu came running back over in a blind panic.

Rong Jiahui looked at her hands that were as empty as the void and said with annoyance, “The ice? Did you run into trouble?”

Gu Yu stood in front of her, gasping and unable to breathe. She put one of her hands on her chest, the other taking the water pa.s.sed over by Han Lu, and spoke after gulping it down, “Young Mistress, the Young Master has returned from the Jingguo post!” [1]

Rong Jiahui is nicely surprised upon hearing this. “Really?”

Recalling the mischievous troublemaker from her memory, she can’t help but smile. Her darling Jiaze’s finally come back. He had loved to stick to her side when they were young, and as the age difference between the big sister-little brother duo isn’t too great – less than two years apart – they’ve played together since childhood, and their bond is especially strong.

Now that she’s heard her little brother is coming back, her anger at Gu Yu for not bringing ice rushed straight off to Java.

She rebuked her, “Why don’t you go and bring that little rascal to me?”

She really wants to pinch her 10-year-old brother’s fat little face. That bright child is going to be far from cute once he grows up.

After a moment of hesitation, Gu Yu pointed timidly outside. “I just now saw Young Master Zhongli… throw him down to the ground…”

All around the whole estate, Jiaze is always the only one to bully others, and now, he’s the one getting bullied by others! So that’s why she was in such a rush to come back and report this!

Jiahui listening about her baby brother getting thrown down and had the color scared out of her face. “What did you say?”

Without waiting for Gu Yu to answer, she stood up and took a large stride to stand in front of the maid and demand, “Where is he now?! Take me there, quick!”

“In the garden…”

Jiahui paid no more attention to her upon hearing this, and didn’t even open a parasol as she jogged down the path, the scorching sun beating upon her head.

Entering the garden, she saw Zhongli Luo standing there with his curled fists at his sides, and her precious brother, her poor little brother, was currently sitting on the ground and wailing, a boyservant at his side trying to console him and failing.

Jiahui’s heart hurt for her brother, and was suddenly boiling with rage, anger rus.h.i.+ng to the crown of her head. Her baby brother, who she wouldn’t be willing to change even a finger of no matter how naughty he was, was now being bullied by someone else like this!

She hurriedly went to help him, distressingly wiping his tears away for him as she coaxed him, “Ah-Ze, are you hurt? Big sis has nothing else to do, so tell her who bullied you, and she’ll help you hit him back!”

As she spoke, her eyes homed in on Zhongli Luo’s expressionless face.

Seeing his beloved older sister came, Jiaze immediately felt that he had a solid ally. He pointed to Zhongli Luo and cried, “Sis, it’s him! He hit me!”

Jiahui pat his head and soothed him softly. “There, there, don’t cry, Ah-Ze. Big sis has your back.”

After that, she turned around and puffed up her cheeks, raising her head aggressively to face the already tall and sprouting 15-year-old Zhongli Luo who towered a good chunk over her and said, “Why in the world are you picking on my little brother?!”

Zhongli Luo paid her no mind, promptly turning around in preparation to leave.

Seeing him walk away, Jiahui quickly grabbed him by the sleeve. “Oi, you’re too big to be hara.s.sing a 10-year-old kid! Do you feel no shame?! If my brother provoked you, tell me! Say something or you’re not allowed to leave!”

Zhongli Luo wanted to pull his sleeve free, only to find that she had a firm grip on it that wasn’t giving no matter how hard he struggled. A long time later, he had no choice but to turn back around.

Noticing he stopped struggling, Jiahui humphed. “You apologize to my little brother. Say you’re sorry, and I’ll stop caring about it! Otherwise… I’ll… I’ll tell mom and dad!”

She still doesn’t want to make too much of a fuss. If he can give a nice and authentic apology, then she’ll let it slide! This person is homeless, after all, and she kind of doesn’t want him to fall into bad circ.u.mstances.

After Zhongli Luo gave her a profound look, he suddenly pointed at her face. “You have crumbs on your face.”

“Hah? What’d you say?” Jiahui’s a bit slow.

Zhongli Luo pursed his lips, extended a hand out to touch her face. Jiahui immediately dodged it on conditioned reflex, looking alert. “What in the heck are you trying to do?!”

He didn’t respond, but rather continued to caress her face as if he was wiping something off.

Though Jiahui didn’t understand his intention, she still sighed in relief. She thought he was going to hit her.

However, this person’s hand is really warm, though that might be because the sunlight is too strong and s.h.i.+ning right on her, its heat somewhat searing. It’s different from her own soft and delicate hands, being a little rough, but its touch is still very good. Wait, what is she thinking about? This isn’t the least bit how a well-bred young lady from a rich family should be…

In a flash, Zhongli Luo took back his hand, and seeing that the hand Rong Jiahui had been tightly pulling his sleeve with had loosen at some unknown point in time, turned and walking away without ever turning back.

Looking at his tall and straight back, Jiahui stared, shortly after rubbing her burning hot face. She can’t keep from mumbling, “Why did he… touch my face for no real reason and then leave… was he trying to get me to give him a light sentence, or what.”

Even with that said, her face is still uncontrollably red.

At this time, Shuang Jiang who had been behind her this whole time spoke up, “Young Mistress, Young Master Zhongli appeared to have been wiping off the pastry crumbs for you just now.”

“What crumbs?” Jiahui says, puzzled.

Shuang Jiang pointed to her cheek. “You didn’t clean your face after eating those pastries before.”

Ah! Jiahui quickly covered her face. She actually hadn’t done that?!

She crouched down, feeling that she once again lost a lot of face. She thought she had a thick enough one to go and seize this strategic opportunity herself, and the result is that the crumbs on her face got seized! Looking like this is pretty much sprinting towards the frontlines to get slaughtered, Heaven knows how much that person is mentally laughing at her! Her image is so tiny right now…

Jiahui gnashed her teeth as she looked at Shuang Jiang. “For what reason didn’t you tell me I had crumbs on my face earlier?”

Shuang Jiang looks wronged. “I… forgot.”

Jiahui almost spurts out blood! What’s the use of her supporting a maid like this every month?! Might as well use a month’s worth of silver to buy two months worth of food for a dog. She’d at least wag her tail.

Forget it, forget it. Time marches on, and there will be a day when she can make a comeback from that image. It’s still not the most shameful, at least; after the previous disgrace of choking to death on watermelon, she’s actually much more tolerant as far as this is concerned.

Besides, looking at her younger brother who was still at odds, her heart hurts again. For that Zhongli Luo to actually strike a small child, he must not be as great as she imagined.

Thinking about how her own brother could be bullied for no reason at all, Jiahui grew annoyed. She again walked in front of him and asked the young boyservants at his sides, “Dong Zhi, Xia Zhi, you both tell me straight: what happened here? Be thorough, don’t omit even a little detail!”

At this, Dong Zhi and Xia Zhi look at each other helplessly, a bit undaring to speak.

Jiahui thought that they were afraid of being beaten up by Zhongli Luo, so she slapped her flat-as-prairie chest and pledged, “You two can rest a.s.sured and speak your mind. Everything will be on me and I’ll protect you, no one will dare to come for you.”

Seeing her say that, Dong Zhi and Xia Zhi simply hesitated over and over again, yet still obediently ignored Rong Jiaze’s look and explained the event in detail.

As the originally full of righteous indignation Jiahui listened and listened, her charming face became greener and greener.

Good on you, Rong Jiaze! Not only did he s.n.a.t.c.h someone’s jade pendant hanging from their waist, but he also threw it around to provoke them, and even threatened to break it! How could this not deserve a spanking?! She’s not the brightest, but she knows that items carried around on one’s person are likely very important. If this wasn’t her cherished younger brother, she probably would have given him the first smack.

Seeing Jiaze trying to sneak away, Jiahui grabs him by his collar and fiercely scolds him. “Rong Jiaze! You did something wrong, and now you want to run from it?”

Embara.s.sing! So embara.s.sing! A hero’s world-famous reputation destroyed by the dawn’s end! Her being unable to properly distinguish right from wrong like this is basically running into enemy lines to get killed, someone is probably angry at her now! Being sacrificed before the s.h.i.+p’s even sailed is completely this guy’s fault!

Rong Jiaze’s mouth flattened, then he promptly wailed from the injustice. “What are you being so mean for?! I just wanted to mess with him, who gave him the right to ignore me?! It’s not even broken! I gave it back to him in one piece!”

Rong Jiahui said, “It’s how you handled it! Behave a little, Ah-Ze, you need to empathize with others. His mom and dad have pa.s.sed away, is he not allowed to be sad? How could he be in the mood to go and play with you? Come, listen to your big sis and go apologize to him, okay? We’re going to be a family in the future, after all, and need to get on the same level. How could being enemies be good?”

“I won’t go!”

Watching this kid being so disobedient, Jiahui squeeze his ear to menace him. “You’re not going?”

Seeing his older sister being so ruthless to him for the first time, Jiaze’s eyes went red around the edges. He suddenly shoved her hand away and cry-yelled at her, “You suck! All you’re doing is helping an outsider pick on me! I hate you! I’m never playing with or being best friends with you again!”

Saying that, he ran away crying.

Seeing his figure staggering away, Jiahui stops and feels helpless. Fool boy, who wants to be friends with him? She’s his sister! However, it seems like she was frequently threatened with this back in the day… whatever, whatever, that losing-face event is still going unmentioned…

She turns to look at Dong Zhi and Xia Zhi’s unconcerned appearances and can’t refrain from taking in a long breath, and then rewarding them with an explosion.

“You two let that little brat get into trouble, and now that he’s run away, you’re not hurrying to catch up to him! If anything happens to Jiaze, you’re going to be in more trouble than you can eat!”

They were struck by her, and as if just waking up from a dream, rushed to give her a deep salute, and immediately got to work running after Rong Jiaze. “Young Master, wait for us slaves!”

[1] 靖国公府 – Jingguo (either to calm a country or the name for Yasukuni) gongfu (government post). I’m not 100% sure what this even is, but I’ll edit it if I figure it out.

To re-clarify: Zhongli Luo is a girl (not a spoiler, it’s in the t.i.tle lol) dressing as a boy. Other characters do not know this. This is actually really confusing in the original text, as the narrative refers to her as “she”, but when it comes to other character’s perspectives, it goes back to “he”, except sometimes it… doesn’t. I made it “he” all across the board, and it’s going to stay that way until the characters get with the picture.

The previous translator said that Rongrong ate “winter melon”; that’s not right. Winter melon is 1) not red 2) gross. The misunderstanding came from watermelon being literally “cold melon” in Chinese.

All the maids/servants thus far have names derived straight from the 24 Solar Terms… not sure if that means anything, but I’ll make a list later.