MHNEB 13 (2/2)

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

包工头木兰

Chapter 13: Chief Labour Contractor Mulan [Part 2 of 2]

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Translated by Pierrot

Edited by Granny 

A moment later.

“We’re here.” He Mulan and DuGu Nuo arrived at the town’s open market.

Liang Prefecture is to the south of Wei. (4)  It’s different than the capitol Ping City in the north and it's surrounding six towns in that it’s based on agriculture, and therefore the market has more variety of goods sold than the north. Even so, things like horses, armours, and weapons weren’t readily sold like it was in Hua Mulan’s old home in HuaiShuo. (5)

The soldier who was draft from a military family is different than those who were publicly drafted. Once a person born in a military family he gets drafted by Northern Wei, everything, from something as small as sewing thread to bigger things like armour and warhorse, needs to be prepared and brought from home by themselves. Usually, if the drafted soldier has good armour, it’s most likely handed down from the elders. That year when Hua Mulan was drafted, her weapon and armour were the ones that had been used by her father when he was still in the military. However, her father’s warhorse was too old, therein and bridle was falling apart, that’s why Mulan had “bought the horse at the eastern market and bought the saddle and saddle pad at the western market”.   (6)

Because they are in the southern part of the country, there are fewer chances of battles ensuing. Therefore, the sight of citizens defending the city, dogs on the road, naughty kids who are not that different than dogs, and trenches or mud pits created by farm animals or wagons are not uncommon.

There aren’t that many Xianbei-ren because the Xianbeis fought wars while the Hans farm the lands. If there are adult Xianbei men who laze around in the market, people will criticize him behind his back.

Today, there are two tall Xianbei men who weren’t fighting in the north and shopping around in the market.

DuGu Nuo looked at the fresh dog poop on the ground, then looked at the mischievous kids running away with running nose and teary eyes, he frowned his brows and made a tight fist.

This is nothing.

He’s just buying groceries.

He’s walking together with General Hua, and he’ll be willing to bear all suffering.

“Thanks to you, we don’t have any corn or grains at home anymore.” He Mulan looked at DuGu Nuo then stared at the muscles on his arms that are tightly bound of her old smaller outfit and nodded her head.

“In the past, I’m the one that did all the heavy lifting. Even though it was easy, but it was uncomfortable being constantly stared at. Now that you’re here, I can carry things like the normal folks.”

He Mulan’s “now that you’re here” made DuGu Nuo’s heart explode, and he laughed with confidence.

“Leave it to me. I, DuGu Nuo, who was known as “Bear” because of my great strength!”

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Two hours later. 

What a huge miscalculation!

How could he have forgotten the god-given strength of General Hua Mulan!

“Are you alright? Should I take a bag from you?” He Mulan, concerned, looked at Dugu Nuo who first lifted up the bag then changed to carrying it, then switched from carrying to hugging it, then shifted from hugging to dragging it on the ground.

“No… no need…” Gudo Nuo said through gritted teeth. He’s afraid that if he said one more word, his breath would give in and the bag of beans would fall.

Why did the horses have to eat beans and wheat! Why did they bring so many horses?

They totally shot themselves in the foot.

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The bigger objects have already been placed on the cart that a labourer drove over. However, precisely because they had a cart since the people here mostly use human or mule pulling carts, a horse-driven cart would stand out too much. Another thing is that most of the wares where sold laid out on the ground, so a horse cart would disturb the people.

Therefore once they arrive at the market entrance they had a labourer watch the horse care, the went into the market on foot to purchase things like grains and meat.

He Mulan had to admit that she purposely bought a lot, but it was also because she thought she could count on DuGu Nuo’s strength. Over here no one eats noodles, but rather something called wheat rice that’s horrible tasting, so she wanted to buy some wheat back home to see if she could grind it into flour.

Yup, there’s a stone grinder at home, and there are readily available men to do all the labour, then there’s no need to tire out the mule, so let the men grind the flour.

Wasn’t he as strong as a “Bear”?

Certainly, he couldn’t be weaker than a mule.

Back at the Hua house at noon, the Twelfth Son of Cui Family who was escorted here by the band of thieves couldn’t believe his eyes.

In the courtyard of the Hua family, the good men of the royal guard were passionately doing their work.

Some of them with strong muscles yelled loudly as they raised their axe and… er, split wood. Just looking at their postures, one would think they’re cutting off the head of a bandit boss. The young ladies and housewives who gathered at the entrance all looked on timidly with red faces.

When these men saw that those who arrived were two young men, the axe-wielding men was greatly disappointed and returned to splitting wood with a heavy heart.

A few of the soldiers in the yard were… feeding pigs? Although it looks more like they accidentally let the pigs out when feeding, so they’re trying desperately to herd the pigs back into the pigpen.

One of the soldiers dragged on a pig’s leg, another pulled at a pig’s tail, and on the side a weak-looking young man who looked about to cry nagged, “Careful, gently, this is the last pig.”

It’s just that it seems that pig was traumatized by something prior, so it refused to return to the pen.

A few young men who were dressed in extravagant and opulent robes sat at the entrance surrounded by village men and old ladies. Even though it’s just entering winter, their foreheads were covered with sweat. One of the old ladies smacked at the table with frustration fuming that she had said it wasn't clear enough, why did he write in such gibberish that not just she didn’t understand and her son wouldn’t understand either.

Cui Lin turned his head weakly, and for the first time, You Ke realized that his friend, the “prodigy”, that he had known since childhood could show a “dumbfounded” expression.

The Twelfth Son of Cui family said with a dream-like voice, “Friend, I must have not slept well last time, I think I’m hallucinating… Do you think I’ve got hysteria?”

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Author’s Corner: 

Behind the scenes:

Hua Younger Brother: My pigs, my goats, my chickens, T-T

Fang-shi: My child, my child…. (sitting on Li family’s eighth son's shoulder, while pulling his hair)

Hua Mother: My roof, my tiles…

Hua Father: My youth, my youth…

Random Royal Guard (lifeless): My whip, my whip…

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(4) Refer here for more info: here and here
Wei or Northern Wei of The Northern Wei Dynasty was a dynasty founded by the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei, which ruled northern China from 386 to 534 AD. It encompasses about one-third of the Northern parts of China and part of Mongolia. 

(5)  One of the six towns around the capitol Ping City that’s located in Inner Mongolia. I’m sure some of the readers have already figured out that Hua Mulan exactly Chinese in that she’s not Han, but rather Xianbei people. 

(6)  This is a line from the “Ballad of Mulan”, where the legend of Mulan originates. The other two lines that are in the same verse is “[She] bought the bridle and rein at the southern market, and bought the whip at the northern market”. This showed that Mulan took her task of taking her father’s place in the military very seriously and wanted to put forth her best to make her father proud when she joins the military. 

Aside from being verses from the ballad, it’s also a saying to mean that the person is very diligent in shopping around to find the item at the best quality with the best price. Some say that the ballad didn’t mean she actually buy those different things at the different markets, but rather the four directions are used as a literary device. 

As a side, since the “Ballad of Mulan” was brought up, there is no conclusive historical evidence to show that Mulan as a person actually existed. Because the story is so heroic and became so famous, some people mistakenly believed that Mulan was an actual historical figure. The Mulan as we know of today originated from the “Ballad of Mulan”, but there is no record of that the Ballad was based on a real Mulan. However, since it’s a bit unusual to write about a heroic female figure considering the time, and also because nothing under the sun is new, the ballad writer might have based the story on real female generals. There was also a female prime minister who pretended to be made under a very lecherous emperor (can’t remember her name), and there was a famous Chinese opera about her. 

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Fleur's corner:

Hey! I realized I missed out the translator's notes for the previous part *insert shocked expression*. I was wondering why there weren't any translator notes as well... >_<

I'll upload the translator's notes today for the previous part.

There should be a chapter next week!

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