MHNEB 14 (2/2)

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

迷惑木兰

Chapter 14: Confounded Mulan [Part 2 of 2]

-xxx-

Translated by Pierrot

Edited by Granny

He Mulan knew these type of people.

If it wasn’t because they can get something useful out of their target, they wouldn’t even pay them an ounce of their attention.

And this kind of person would care about a disaster that’s about to befall on a woman who had absolutely no relation to him, a female general who had already put away her armour?

Who would believe him?

“But you’re already in the midst of danger, General Hua.” Cui Lin maintained a polite smile on his face. “It was out of respect for a hero that I came to give a warning. However, this doesn’t mean that other people would show the same level of civility towards your bluntness.”

Cui Lin understood that Hua Mulan was very guarded against him. It didn’t matter, though, as he was only here today to get a read on her reaction.

As the situation became more apparent, he believes Hua Mulan will seek him out for answers.

“General Hua, do you really believe His Majesty is willing to give leave to so many imperial guards at the same time? Especially since every one of these charming men is from notable families with bright futures?” Cui Lin’s voice was as tender as a gentle stream.

“You’re a hero, someone who took her father’s place on the battlefield for twelve years, the warrior who challenged the five great generals of Rouran’s khan to single combat. It’s said that heroes are created from the right circumstances and the right time, and Great Wei needs a hero…”

“But this time, the hero is a woman.”

“A general’s hair will grey, a lady’s beauty will fade, nothing stays the same,” Cui Lin said. “When the hero became the topic of gossip for village wives and lazy bums, becoming the joke of the town, don’t you think this will make hearts of Great Wei’s soldiers turn cold? Or how much do you think the soldiers could be rallied by the very citizens they’re trying to protect when that’s how they treat one of our greatest heroes?

“General Hua, for each day you haven’t achieved happiness, His Majesty will try to give you happiness. At the very least, he’ll make you look like you’ve attained the kind of happiness that normal people should have.

“It’s precisely because you’re not an ordinary lady that I feel it’s a pity if you were to fall into the shackled life of a common woman. It greatly saddens me when I think about how you’re going to spend another year without happiness. Don’t you think this is the coming of a great disaster?”

Sitting properly behind the table, He Mulan’s face turned dark.

All at once, everything came together and became clear.

Why would so many of the emperor’s imperial guard like Dugu Nuo questioned about how she’s been doing lately, why these people came from as far away as the Capital wearing fancy clothes and bearing so much dowry, why they could use the military transport wagon and casually leave their post? It was all to accomplish a childish endeavour of giving her moral support.

At first, she thought these men came because of Hua Mulan’s unique charm and her fame in the military.

Perhaps those were the initial motivations, but it was more than that.

If Hua Mulan did indeed turn to despair because of all the rumours in the village, even if she couldn’t find one of the horsemen to be a companion, she could still start worrying about her marriage.

In order to not let her parents and brother worry, to not give her past comrade's concern.

Perhaps Hua Mulan was that kind of person.

Emperor Tuoba Tao had never forgotten her.

Hua Mulan was held in such high regard.

Never had they see her simply as “Hua Mulan”. They still saw her as “General Hua”.

Unwittingly, He Mulan became annoyed.

In her world, Hua Mulan had already died, and the only thing that survived was the “Ballad of Mulan”.

Even though, at first, it was a simple wish to not want her father to die. However, since she’s a woman, to begin with, and a woman who had survived the war, she was destined to never be ordinary.

In the future world, Mulan had become a symbol of feminism. The identity and individuality of the symbol were not important anymore.

Who would care about the will of the individual who became a symbol? The symbol, instead, was shaped by people’s imaginations and fantasies.

For the first time since she sat down properly behind the table, her mind started to wonder in all strange directions. She couldn’t even get angry that Cui Lin was able to finish his goal of a strategist exaggerating and misdirecting the situation.

It’s like she’s been splashed with a bucket of cold water. She sat there for a long time. She didn’t even notice when Cui Lin left.

Cui Lin and the county magistrate You Ke climbed up their horses after they left the Hua house, they quietly stood at the entranceway. When You Ke couldn’t stand the stares of the housewives and young ladies, which makes him want to run away, he finally said something.

“My dear friend, what are you looking at?”

“I am regretting…” Cui Lin looked at the men who were working so hard. Most likely, other than the Emperor, that’s no one else who’d be able to order these prideful men of noble birth to do these sorts of menial work.

And this Hua Mulan, all she had to do was rely on her renown.

He still took a risk to come here, even though he didn’t understand her one bit, banking on his natural confidence and his ability of persuasion. He’s also a warrior, fighting for the safety of the Cui family and the stability of Great Wei.

He’s going to push forward aggressively, to make his woman throw herself into a place that’s even more dangerous than the battlefield--the imperial court and the imperial harem.

However, it’s just as Hua Mulan said, “to a woman who had survived more than a decade of battles and violence, it’s not something that should be said by a gentleman who is benevolent or righteous.”

After all, he’s not like his grandfather who had been steeped in the centre of Wei politics for decades, who’s an old hand at manipulating people and exploiting power. There were moments when he felt regret.

However, it would only disturb his conscience for a split moment.

Hua Mulan and the country, who is more important, the choice is too easy.

Besides, Cui Lin felt that his approach would let Hua Mulan live a more luxurious life and would thus allow her to gain more respect from others.

She wasn’t an ordinary woman. She’s a warrior.

Cui Lin turns the horse, and under everyone’s scrutiny, started back to Yu City.

As to what follows, he’ll watch and act accordingly, and give her guidance if necessary.

.

.

.

Inside the house.

After a lot of thinking to no avail, Hu Mulan realized that she fell into mistaken conception.

Damn it. She got gypped by that sly little fox.

She’s He Mulan, not Hua Mulan.

Whoever Tuoba Tao is, wherever the Great Wei is, no matter whether it is the world or the moral symbolism behind it.

What’s it to her?

-xxx-

Author’s corner:

Cui Lin (scheming): Next, I’ll do this, then that, and then I’ll move her heart like this. Hmm, it might work…

He Mulan: What’s it to me? I’ll kick him out the next time he comes. What can he do, force me to marry?

-xxx-

Fleur's corner:

There might or might not be a chapter next week. There will be no guarantees. 

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