MHNEB 2

Book 1: Now we don’t hear the loom shuttle; we only hear our daughter sighing. 

镇宅木兰

Chapter 2: Protector Mulan (0)

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Edited by Granny

Sometimes, He Mulan suspects that the original Hua Mulan was so much angered that (her soul) disappeared.

From the venerable and glorified general that had the power to lead over thousands of soldiers to an old woman who returned to back home that relied on matchmaking to get married off, if it was her, she would not be able to handle the big psychological change.

In particular, when she looked through the memories of “General Hua ” which was counted as jinguo heroine (1), who showed fortitude in battle and had a strong personality. In the army, she was regarded with a high level of prestige.

She was already well over 30 years old. Even her fellow comrades probably would have married a wife and had their own children. As she had her own pride, she was unwilling to let her comrades know of what happened in her hometown.

With Hua Mulan’s original personality, she would have probably silently kept everything to herself and not disturb others.

That is what she wanted ultimately – to lead her life without taking other’s life.

Nevertheless, after she replaced Hua Mulan to live out her life for a period, she felt unsettled in her heart. If Hua Mulan really experienced all these, would she really be strong enough to not be hurt by these?

What would those former comrades think of her, if they knew what happened back in her hometown?

The peaceful life that she was dreaming of, actually turned out to be like this.

There are no fresh flowers, no applause, there are only feelings of all sorts of inexplicable irritability.

Afraid that it was because of this, Hua Mulan did not keep into contact with her former confidants. Instead, she chose to quietly live out her life in the countryside.

Despite that, her quiet and peaceful life was about to be destroyed.

She was mystified into a monster by the villagers, the tributes of farm fields and cloth and silk textiles were coveted by others, if she was single till the end of her life, it was a crime. Would Hua Mulan be sad if she knew these?

He Mulan did not dare to think about it, and would not bear to think about it.

Liu Township was not far from the Yingguo Township that Hua Mulan lived in. However, “not far” was from an ancient standard of area and walking distance. In fact, she walked for more than an hour.

This made He Mulan curious about the real motive towards why Liu family’s lad wanted to invite a matchmaker down to her house. Unexpectedly, he actually came over to the neighbouring township to find this “Tiger Back Bear Waist” (2) Hua Mulan to become his wife. Besides that, he also added all his family’s possessions and properties as the betrothal gift.

The Liu family’s lad that was seeking for a marriage alliance lived in the east of the Liu family house that was along the small pavement that will be reached in a few moments time. He Mulan glanced at the surrounding farm fields. She does not know the reason why when it is currently winter, but there are still some crops that have not been harvested yet.

Could it be a family of lazy bastards?

Or a man with crippled hands and feet?

When she reached the Liu family house, in a distant, He Mulan heard a man’s shout from behind a few fence walls. That faint cry sounded with panic and despair.

“Murderer! Murderer! ”

 “Gentleman Hua, today might be inconvenient, let us come at another day……”

The sound of Granny Wang’s footsteps stopped. As one heard her voice, it felt like she wanted to pull “Hua KeHu” away.

He Mulan twitched her eyebrows disapprovingly.

She was trying to find out what sort of person was Liu family’s lad exactly, but as they say, “it’d be better to come coincidentally than to come early”. (3)

If she does not scout at this time, when should she scout?

He Mulan tugged Granny Wang towards the Liu family house. There were a few muscular men holding bats guarding the fence door of the Liu family house entrance.

Once they saw a Xianbei man entering the house, they were first flustered then they hollered: “The Liu family is settling their household matters, outsiders, please leave! The emperor has ordered that the Xianbei-ren cannot harass the Han-ren!”

“Who cares what kind of household matters you’re settling, I’m just here to see what the buzz is about.”

He Mulan stretched her head out into the inside of the house.

The people at this place might have suffered from malnutrition problems. The men and women here were not tall. Men’s height that was above 1.7m was considered a tall man, while the average height was between 1.65-1.68m. Hua Mulan’s build among men was considered slightly above average. In front of these “muscular men”, it didn’t appear that she would lose out to them.

She saw what happened inside clearly, at this moment as she stood outside the fence.

With a single glance, He Mulan was not able to endure!

There was a fierce man (8) dragging a boy aged around 7-8years old preparing to use a stick to hit him in the Liu family house!

There was a skinny and weak-looking man trapped on top of the tree in front of the room, as he helplessly watched the kid being dragged out from the room.

“Stop!”

“I’ve already told you that you can’t enter!”

As the men guarding at the door saw the Xianbei man barging into the house, they picked up their bats and headed towards him to knock him out. As Granny Wang saw that the situation was awry, she immediately ran.

He Mulan stretched her hand to grab the wrist of the man. With a slight use of force, the man that was swinging the bat was suddenly blocked. This made the man scared to continue their actions.

The other man also wanted to swing his bat, but because his companion let out an ear-piercing shirk before collapsing onto the floor, it made him fearful to continue swinging the bat.

Although He Mulan wanted to properly dispose of those men who waved their weapons at her, she knew that for now, the most crucial thing to do was to deal with that fierce man who was about to hit the child. She tossed that man aside and gently pulled open the fence door. However, it looked like the whole fence was mowed over by a cow instead.  Just like this, He Mulan rushed into the opened fence door, with a swift action she picked up the boy who had been beaten up.

“You are……” that fierce man swept his eyes down He Mulan’s attire. He did not try to explain himself. Instead, he just glared at the skinny and weak man on the top of the tree.

“I heard that you wanted to marry the ‘female general’ over in the next village, now it appears that this seems to be true? Why, to deal with me, you would rather marry……marry……” That fierce man took a glance at He Mulan’s look of hostility, as he swallowed down the words “that mother bug”.

“I will tell you now that it does not matter who you marry! I have the land deed, this house belongs to me, so you better scram earlier!”

He Mulan hugged the boy who was frightened, as she got the rough idea of the situation in her mind. There were only two types of disputes between civilians-either because of money or because of love. If this fierce man got the land deed, most likely he would be hogging the house.

Even though she pitied the man who was tied down on the tree, but this belongs to disputes between civilians. She was neither the village head nor a village elder nor was she a court official working for the yamen. She did not have the ability and capability to interfere in this matter.

Being able to protect his children from being beaten up, was already considered an act of righteousness.

He Mulan swept her gaze up and down at that fierce man as she stared at him. She only felt that ‘the statement-looks are relative to the heart’ was true.

“Today I came to seek him for some matters, if you want to settle the feud, come another day. This lad is innocent, why would you bully a child for!”

“This child almost burnt down my house, so what if I hit him a few times! If my family’s kid was burnt to death, today I’ll be wanting his life!” that fierce man grunted coldly. It appeared as if that man was without fear.

He Mulan looked at the child in her arms, unable to believe that the weak child in her hands can do such a thing.

The child looked flustered. He buried his head into her embrace harder. Especially when his face was full of tears and snot, as he pouted here and frowned there, making her thoughts run all over the place, causing her to feel restless over the look.

Sure enough, whether it’s in the ancient era or in modern times, she was unable to like children.

It’s a wonder how Gu Qing was able to live her life surrounded by kids every day.

He Mulan carried the child over to the side of the big tree. She placed the child down; she raised her hand to pull off the ropes that were trapping Liu family’s lad. The ropes let out a “crunch” sound as the fierce man winced. That fierce man looked at his companions who came together with him standing at the door holding their wrists and appearing that they are in pain, he unsatisfactorily left.

He was a Han-ren, even if what he did was reasonable, he did not want to fight with a Xianbei soldier.

In Great Wei, among the six military camps, the general of the garrison defence was either Xianbei nobility or central plain’s Han-ren who had the backing of those powerful clans. Rumour has Hua Mulan’s father was with the army that moved from Huaishuo county. Seeing the man’s capable prowess, without even knowing his background, he understood that man couldn’t be offended.

The people who can read the trend of the time are smart. In any case, the Liu family would not be able to run away, as the core of the family will always remain. (4)

He Mulan threw the rope that she held in her hands, coldly watching the fierce man taking his few companions away. The kind gets bullied and the evil gets feared- that’s the way this world works. This rule is still universal, regardless of the era.

She should be thankful that she transmigrated into a strong and superb in martial arts Hua Mulan, and she inherited her bodily memory towards this aspect. Otherwise, if she wanted to meddle into other’s business, she would have to see if she has the capability to do so.

As He Mulan saved the young and old of Liu family, she naturally got their gratitude.

He Mulan came to discuss Liu family’s lad’s situation, but now that she looked at the situation, this Liu family was not only not a good match, and the matchmaking candidate was as weak as a chicken. His family was also embroiled in financial disputes. Not only the He Mulan who transmigrated into Hua Mulan was unable to accept the man, even Hua Mulan herself would not accept the man.

After she received the weak and skinny man’s kowtow out of his gratitude, she got a rough understanding of what happened.

This Liu family’s lad is the sole child of the Liu family. His mother passed away when he was 9, and his father never remarried. He singlehandedly raised him up. Later, he was contracted with a terminal illness. They spent a huge sum of money trying to invite a “renowned doctor” to treat his illness, but he eventually still passed away.

As he had to take care of his father who was ill, he was too preoccupied to harvest the crops in his family’s farm field. His father then loaned the plot of the field to his clansman’s family who was living in the same hometown with the same surname (5). That fierce man was responsible for cultivating the crops while the production would be divided in the ratio of 8:2. The rental cost of the field was not high, but it was enough to maintain daily living expenses.

Subsequently, his father still passed away. He wanted to collect the farm field back, but he discovered that the current land deed has changed from loan to “sale”. There is no rental fee being paid, but it turned out to be a contract to buy and sell the land deed.

Of course, Liu family’s lad was unhappy with what he heard. He brought several family members and relatives of his to make up a fuss there. That fierce man naturally had prepared for such a situation-he had helpers in his family. After the two families argued a couple of times, Liu JiaLang was not a match for the fierce man’s family. His own wife could not stand the fuss of the confrontation between the two families and left. He then brought up two of his kids to file a complaint towards the village elders and village head to get back the plot of a fa field that belongs to his family.

It was only that the fierce man had the land deed and had all the evidence of the agreement between both parties. Liu family’s lad was unsure what kind of contract his father had signed with that fierce man. That middleman had already moved out from that neighbourhood, and nobody knows where he moved to. The people in the village tried to help Liu JiaLang a few times. But even after their family’s children were beaten up (6), there still wasn’t a resolution to that issue. After that, they did not offer their help anymore.

“So this is to say, your father is illiterate, you are illiterate, your whole family is illiterate?”

He Mulan stood in the courtyard, as she stole a glance at the pair of children by his side.

After he ate such a big loss, he still wouldn’t let his children learn to be literate? Was it to the extent where you would allow your own family’s son to set fire to other’s house?

“We are common folks, there would be no use if we are literate……” Liu family’s lad bitterly said, “we are not a family of officials, even if we are literate, we cannot become officials. We still must spend money to learn to read and write, we are different from those official families.”

At this era, civilian literacy is useless because there is no imperial examination. (7)

‘Very good, the whole family’s illiterate.’

They dared to sign the contract even without knowing what the words meant. After eating a loss they still wanted to use brute force to settle the problem. Even if they had the deed in their hands, it’d be useless because is even their strength is inferior to the other party.

He Mulan nodded her head understandingly.

“So, you want to take my cousin back as your wife, the reason is that……she is able to fight well?”

He Mulan cannot help but think of it that way as the situation is displayed right before her.

“It is not true! I only feel that, for a strong-willed woman, she would not be frightened by the other’s family. If I head out to redress that issue, I can leave my children by her side with relief  .”

……

He might as well request for her to be able to fight well.

After wasting half of her day, he wanted Hua Mulan to be his protector, is it not?!

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(0): 镇宅Mulan: to be more specific, the literal translation would mean townhouse Mulan. But in historical context, 镇宅 would mean the cleansing or purify of the house. That’s why I initially chose the title of the chapter as Exorcist Mulan, but later I felt that Protector was more suited.

(1): jinguo heroine: in Chinese history, it refers to female heroines (knights, generals etc).

(2): Tiger back bear waist: literally what it means… to describe a woman who is very brutish and big sized. (As in ancient China, the petite, slim and soft-spoken women were preferred.)

(3): in a day to day situation, it was always good to come earlier if you are meeting someone. (for the sake of politeness, but it differs from cultures). But in this case, it was good to come coincidentally as you get to chance on what you’d never find out if you come earlier (with an appointment)

(4): the people who can read the trend of times are smart: it’s good to be flexible and aware of who you’re dealing with, and adapt to each situation and knowing your place

the core of the family will never change: In this situation, it is used as such that if Mulan marries into the Liu family, the situation will not change, as the core of the family (Liu family head/family) will never change. <this is my interpretation though>

(5): this refers to the fierce man, I assume

(6): again, this refers to that fierce man and his companions

(7): In Chinese history, the imperial examination allows civilians to take part in the exam. If they perform well in the exam, civilians may have a chance to become an official. In this era, the imperial examination was still not a thing. See here for more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_examination

(8) fierce man: the literal translation meant cross-cutted man. But I guess it’s probably a slang. A short Baidu search told me that it meant a fierce-looking muscular man. But it didn’t seem apt to put such a long adjective to describe the man. so I settled for a fierce man instead. (sorry, I almost forgot about this; so…, this no.8 is not in order)

Again, I’ve mentioned previously that the ‘-ren’ means person/people. E.g. Xianbei-ren=xianbei man/person.

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Fleur’s corner:

Also, I’m still looking for an editor. Please leave a message below, or message me through my ASK or message me at novel updates (fleurdelys). Thanks!

Anyway, Mulan is so suave. She’s so cool in this chapter. She used to be my idol when I was younger- regardless of my gender, I can achieve more than I think I could.

Thanks for reading! Leave a comment if you find any grammatical errors to let me know!

*For the schedule, I’ll probably release a chapter weekly or biweekly, depending on the difficulty of translating that chapter & how busy am I.

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