MHNEB 9 (2/2)

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

第9章 磨刀小弟

Chapter 9: Little Bro Sharpens His Knife [Part 2 of 2]

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Edited by Granny


“My family’s hall is a little small, and my mom is a bit timid. Forget it, why not all of you follow me to my house.” He Mulan felt that bringing them over to here was a mistake. She lifted the curtains and brought them over to her tiled-roof house.

As Hua Mulan was a little taller than ordinary men, the house over there was built to be more spacious.

When they passed by the courtyard, a group of soldiers all glanced at Hua MuTuo who was sharpening his knife. Their stares made him can’t help but shiver.

“Little bro, what are you doing?” He Mulan was not able to suppress her desire to question him.

“Sharpening my knife, killing pigs, serving it to our guests.”

Everyone’s heart was put at ease with his answer. Du GuNuo put up an even better response by heartily laughing: “Hua younger brother you don’t have to be polite to us, this time when we came we brought a lot of rations, we do not have to trouble you……”

 “That would be great……”

Hua younger brother’s response held a trace of happiness. The pigs and cows were all raised by him. He raised them for about a year and the animals had finally grown a bit fatter. He was waiting to raise them till the end of the year to slaughter them. It was just the start of winter; it might be a pity to slaughter them now.

After hearing what Du GuNuo had said he was planning to throw the knife away. But Hua father who had to reluctantly part (with the animals) called him out: “There are guests coming. It wouldn’t be logical for them to eat their rations. Although my family is not very well to do, we can still fill their stomachs.”

Since there’s hot soup and hot rice to eat, who would want to eat their dry rations? Hearing what Hua father had said, the 14 horsemen all wore smiles on their faces. They first thanked Hua old man for his hospitality. Then, they turned over to Hua younger brother and ceaselessly repeated “Much obliged”.

Unexpectedly, each one of these men from the military are all thick-skinned!

Hua younger brother who had a stiff smile on his face and Fang-shi who had just managed to coax her daughter and was preparing to head towards the kitchen stove to boil water had seen what had transgressed. Seeing this, they can’t help but feel like punching someone or cry to their heart’s content.

This……

There are so many people to feed, but there isn’t such a big pot at home!

He Mulan’s house was much bigger and had simple furnishings. In the family hall, other than the small benches that He Mulan had someone to make it, there was only one table.

The 14 horsemen took off their shoes at the porch.  After they entered the house, they sat on the floor as they curiously size up her house.

She is able to tell that in the eyes of these people, they were very unhappy with the living environment that Hua Mulan had lived in, especially the few descendants of influential clans who had exquisite clothes.  Other than the sight of the stool, which caused them to spare a longer glance, all of their expressions had “Sigh, does the house that I just entered really belong to Hua Mulan? Am I mistaken?”

He Mulan sat down in front of them. She started to voice out her doubts:

“I had already removed my armour and returned home. My old comrades and fellow mates are still doing their best in the army. I had once ordered that if all of you in the army do not have anything urgent, you shouldn’t look for me. The right thing to do is to focus your efforts on protecting the nation. Where did you hear the rumours from and why did you come here to seek for me?”

Hua Mulan (5) was at the age of 30 when she removed her armour and returned home. She was one of the few rare people in the army who had “retired” so early as a general. Her comrades were all not female. As forcing the Rourans to retreat in the war was an act of merit in the military, most of them who deserved to be promoted were promoted. Those who had converted into civilians have become a civilian, and they were either at the Sixth Town or went to join the military troops located at the borders.

Today, the group of them, including Du GuNuo, were either working under the Great Wei emperor as his personal palace guards, or they should be at the border guarding and defending it. There should be a motive behind his actions, for the fact that he brought so many handsome men together here today.

She doesn’t believe that if one picks men randomly in the Xianbei military, it would be of this standard!

If every one of them is as good-looking as them, their full-bodied physique as slender as them, their temperament as good as them, the army would be long full of women who dressed like males. It would not be her turn as a “heroine”!

“General Hua, when those rumours had spread, Hua KeHu received the family’s letter when he was acting as general. But it was because initially, you did not treat it as an issue, so that was why the brothers didn’t come to find you to seek trouble for you.” Du GuNuo supported his forehead as he said, “but later the rumours got worse as it spreads, it was to the extent whereby the head had written a letter to send it to the capital. This way, all our brothers were unable to sit still.”

He pointed towards the 13 horsemen behind him.

“These people are the nobility from the Sixth Town, among them there are descendants from the great clans of Han-ren, and all of them admire General Hua’s character and martial arts skills. We sincerely came to seek your hand in marriage.”

“I did not use my brute force to force them here. I also do not have the capability to force them against their will, that’s why General Hua……”

Eh?

He saw that He Mulan was laughing but trying not to laugh at him. Du GuNuo immediately got what she was laughing at. He breathed out in provocation: “I-I-I-I, of course, I was sincere! I don’t have a wife now!”

“A man of character need not worry about not having a wife, surely, you would find someone who does not mind your boringness.”

He Mulan was all smiles as she played the “good person” card.

She’s not a good wife ah.

The 13 horsemen heard what she had said and laughed. DuGu Nuo’s face was bright red as he stared at the YuLin lads standing behind him.

“All of you can continue to laugh, laugh, and laugh. Even if your laughing faces look like a flower General Hua will not be interested in you! If General Hua doesn’t want me, she surely wouldn’t want you guys too!”

“Eh, General DuGu, even if she doesn’t want us, you were the unwanted one first.”

“That’s right, that’s right, at least we were unmarried and our wife didn’t run away too.”

“Someone said ‘that if humans have five longs, they must have one short.’ (6) General Dugu, is the reason why your madame abandoned you and left to return home because you’re short of something?

“Scram!”

As He Mulan was wearing a full attire of menswear and the way she was speaking was humorous and witty, the initial nervousness of the group of people flew away. The atmosphere became light and pleasant and even started making raunchy jokes after that.

He Mulan wore the expression of coquetry in her eyes. She felt as if she had returned to the past with her gang of policemen mates, as they sat together making fun of each other.

But after a while, He Mulan was unable to laugh.

DuGu Nuo first found out that He Mulan’s complexion does not look good. Instantly, he asked her in concern: “General Hua, what’s the matter?”

He Mulan sniffed, after confirming that she had definitely smelled it, she pointed towards the shoes in front of the door, and raised her eyebrows: “That……my house doesn’t have so many rules……”

“All of you should put your iron shoes back on.”

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(5) Hua Mulan: the text wrote He Mulan instead, but I think it might be a mistake.

(6) If humans have five longs, they must have one short: According to the theory, the head, face, body, hands, and feet of the five parts of the human body are long, and the one short here refers to a short body part. The phrase might be making a jab at when someone is tall, has longer fingers etc, they have a short dick.

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