MHNEB 24 (1/2)

Book 2: Generals die after a hundred battles; heroes return after ten years’ time.

 Chapter 24： The Drinker’s Heart (0) [Part 1 of 2]

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"Why did you drink so much..." Fang-shi rolled her eyes, as she went up to help Hua MuTuo. She thanked several fellow villagers for sending her son home. Then,  she "dragged" the limp Hua MuTuo to the house.

She is different from Hua Mulan, her great sister-in-law. Although she is also Xianbei-ren, her figure is not much different from the regular Han-ren. Naturally, she is unable to drag him in. In addition, she couldn’t get out and move about these few months, hence, she could only use all her might to shout. 

"Second sister-in-law, father and mother! MuTuo had drunk too much, come and help me! "   

As noon had just passed, He Mulan had just eaten lunch with Hua Father and was drinking with him in the room.

The alcoholic drinks a thousand year ago was not a type of distilled spirit. The liquor alcohol content of the wine was at most 20 percent. One is afraid that even Hua Father's rice wine did not even have 20 percent liquor alcohol content. Hua Mulan is a good drinker. He Mulan is a drinking master who will not collapse even after a thousand cups. While both her parents are joyfully drinking the wine cup by cup, Fang-shi’s high-pitched scream ringed out.

"MuTuo's wife is shouting. Let’s go out and take a look!" Yuan-shi placed the clothes that she was mending down, and immediately stood up to head out.

It is inconvenient for Hua Father’s to move his legs, so he could only glance at his daughter. Thus, He Mulan patted her legs and stood up. As she was about to step forward, she almost fell forward when she raised her feet. It was then she remembered that she had donned on a Xianbei narrow dress, and she was no longer dressed in men’s garbs, like in the past. She could only shake her head, and take small steps to trudge out of her house. 

"Why did you drink so much that you had to fall into such a state? At noon, the head......had instructed that he would be back just after a few drinks…… " Hua Mother, Yuan-shi, nagged as she held Hua MuTuo while frowning as she tried to bear with her son’s alcoholic scent that emanated from his body. "The old one drinks, the young one drinks as well, why don't all of you drink to your deaths?"

“Mother, allow me……” He Mulan swung up one arm to carry her younger brother, while she inched towards Fang-shi’s big house. 

It's just that the figure of a thin and tall woman "holding" a man in a long skirt looks extremely uncomforting. Fang-shi and Yuan-shi both frown as they felt a bout of unease. 

Fang-shi’s daughter sat on the small wooden bench in the room as she sucked her thumb while watching her second aunt carry her father in. She clapped her hands excitedly: "Second aunt, I want it too!"

He Mulan placed her little brother on the table. She grabbed the little girl, as she roughly tried to weigh her. Then, she throws her up, and she reaches out to catch the child as she heard the shrill scream of the child. Afterwards, she carried on lifting her up a few times.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

“Do you still want more?”

“I want more, I want more!” The little girl shouted out cheerfully. 

"No more, no more!" Fang-shi and Yuan-shi both covered their chests and felt breathless. 

He Mulan touched her nose and placed the little girl down. She smiled in embarrassment, "I'm just playing with my niece…..."

"I say, Mulan, it’d be better if you return to put on men’s garbs." Yuan-shi flipped the quilt and covered the quilt over her son. "I know you've put on women's clothes in consideration of my feelings, but every time I see your legs and calf slipping out from the dress, I worry that your dress would split open. The dress is made of good cloth. You can wear them on other special occasions next time…... "

This is Yuan-shi conceding as she tried to disguise.

Fang-shi looked at the long dress made of silk and brocade that He Mulan wore with envy. Xianbei women's dresses are different from Han-ren's Luoshan (1). The dress is heavy and simple in style, similar to Han-ren’s curving front-lined long coat (2).

If this dress is made of linen and hemp cloth, it will look old-fashioned. But once the material used to make the dress is of good material, the dress would appear very solemn and handsome. Yuan-shi cannot stand the sight of He Mulan in her clothes after she wore a few times. Now, the dress He Mulan had put on was made of a material that Yuan-shi had found after repeatedly turning over the boxes in her house. The style and material are very fitting.

It was just that the dress met a careless owner. 

When He Mulan heard that Hua Mother asked her to put on her men's clothes, she was very happy. Compared to wearing a narrow dress in the cold winter, she prefers to wear men's clothes. In a mere few days, the Hua family can't stand the sight of it. Her image in the past has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. In the future, there would not be a problem for her to choose to wear men’s or women’s clothes.

Recently, there have been fewer requests for her to get married. Wow, she felt so lucky!

He Mulan took Fang-shi’s daughter out of the house, leaving the two women to work around Hua younger brother. Sometimes, they would mumble a little, and it can be seen that Hua Mother was complaining. 

Momentarily, Hua Mother ran in and out to fetch water to wipe the face of the drunk Hua younger brother. Fang-shi knelt beside Hua younger brother and helped him remove his clothes. From time to time, she looked at her daughter with worry as she looked out from the door.

Although little ChangLe, the granddaughter of Hua family, couldn't help but beg to be thrown high up as her begs travels to He Mulan's ear, considering that Fang-shi’s head could be seen almost inching out of the house, He Mulan had to cruelly refuse her niece's request.

He Mulan's "not possible" was just uttered. Fang-shi daughter's smiling face was immediately akin to a sky covered with clouds. Then, it appeared like it thundered and rained, as tears and snivels fell all over her. It felt akin as if the tears and snivels were pasted to her skin.

"Who will help me…..."

He Mulan hurriedly held up Hua ChangLe and ran around in the yard, despairing to find that the little girl was crying harder and harder. She could already see a sign that “the floodgates were opening”. She frantically carried the little girl as she rushed into Hua Father’s rooms.

When she rushed to Hua Father's room and placed the little girl who cried for no reason into Hua Father's arms, she was relieved and couldn't help but pat her chest to calm her soul down.

Heave!

She doesn't like unreasonable people the most! She even dislikes unreasonable children the most!

Hua father touched little ChangLe's hair and soothed her with a warm voice. Seeing his daughter's face, he smiled and shook his head: "You are still as afraid of children as before."

He was so entrenched into the memories of the past, and once he is entrenched, there would be no going back.

"... I still remember when you said to me that you were so strong that you always felt that you could strangle a child with one hand, which is why you do not dare to hold the child. Now that you have control over your strength, how can you still be afraid of children? "

“Eh, Hua……previously, was I afraid of children too?” He Mulan was a little stupefied. 

"Ah, it can't say that you are afraid. You should probably be afraid that you can’t bring up a child properly?" Hua father patted his little granddaughter who had stopped crying, “When I held your elder sister for the first time, I always felt that I would accidentally break her bones. Once you interact with children more…... "

He Mulan was imagining her holding a child tenderly and lovingly. She could not help shivering. She waved her hands.

“I won’t be able to do it, father, please don’t continue talking about it.”

“Why wouldn’t you be able to do it, as long as you are a woman……”

“Is General Hua in?”

A familiar, soft call interrupted Hua Father's words, and He Mulan almost stood up like she was given amnesty.

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(0) The title, 醉翁之意 (The drinker’s heart), comes from the idiom 醉翁之意不在酒, which means The drinker’s heart is not in the wine-cup. It also reflects the drinker having something in mind or having an ulterior motive.

(1) Luoshan: pic here

(2) curving front-lined long coat: pic here

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Fleur's Corner:

Next Update on Saturday. 

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