MHNEB 27 (1/2)

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

Chapter 27: The First Companion <2> [Part 1 of 2]

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After this matter had passed, A-Dan ZhiQi went secretly to the place where the accident had happened to lift the wooden pillar. A-Dan ZhiQi felt it was extremely hard just to make the wooden pillar move.

The wood used for the wooden pillars in the army was the thickest and strongest.

After the incident of experiencing the strong winds that day, Hua Mulan continued his military life as if it had never happened. Once in awhile, A-Dan ZhiQi asked about that day with a sigh. He scratched his face and asked him puzzledly:

"What had happened? What happened that day? "

"I’m talking about the day you lifted the pillar…..."

"Eh? Captain, is it because that day, the gale was too strong, and you were confused due to old age? No one can carry the pillar!" Hua Mulan looked at A-Dan ZhiQi with a smile and continued to train as if nothing happened.

A-Dan ZhiQi is merely twenty-five years old, not fifty-two years old, so he will not be confused due to old age. There is such a huge potential in the companion who has such a huge strength, but he doesn't show any signs of it at all. Due to being him also being a soldier, the suspicion and curiosity in A-Dan ZhiQi's heart grew larger and larger, and he even felt hysterical at times.

He began to pay attention to everything about Hua Mulan.

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One night, the soldiers of the newly-built barracks fell into a deep sleep because they were too tired with training during the day. In the middle of the night, A-Dan ZhiQi woke up without any reason and found that Hua Mulan in the same tent is not there.

At last, he caught him!

He was excited like a vulture circling in the sky that finally found it’s prey. He went out of his tent and went out to look for traces of Hua Mulan. 

He knew that he might discover some secret of this companion of his tonight.

The assembly yard, horse barn, kitchen……In order to search for any traces of Hua Mulan, A-Dan ZhiQi, avoided many patrolling fellow officers, but he never found any traces of Hua Mulan. 

About half an hour later, when he went to a shooting range in the corner of the barracks, Hua Mulan, who was practising arrows alone, appeared in his line of sight.

Under the dim torchlight of the shooting platform, the lanky figure of Hua Mulan looks so thin. That is also one of the reasons why A-Dan ZhiQi is so curious. 

How can such a weak-looking man lift the wooden pillar?

Unless he knew the "immortality cultivation" of the Han-ren?

A-Dan ZhiQi lightened his footsteps and quietly observed him at a relatively close distance.

Hua Mulan heaved a long breath, took out a feathered arrow from the big quiver beside him, and pulled on the bowstring gently.

There is also a campfire near the grass-made target in the distance. The light sources in the shooting platform and the grass-made target become the only light source in the archery range.

Hum......

The arrow shone under the firelight from Hua Mulan's hand left the bowstring and shot straight to the target. At last, the arrow remained in the target centre straightforwardly. 

The arrow was so deep in the target made of the haystack that it looked like it was shortened by half the length of the arrow. 

This is not the most surprising thing for A-Dan ZhiQi. Xianbei-ren are known to be good at horse riding and shooting, and there are many men who are good at those skills in the army. What he felt was marvelling at is the standing position of Hua Mulan and his amazing eyesight.

Within an arrow’s range refers to a hundred steps. That is why it's said that "If one shoots within a hundred steps, one shoots with precision".

But Hua Mulan stood far behind them during their shooting training. He stood about 150 steps away and arched his bowstring akin to the shape of a full moon. Then, he shot out the arrow under such tension!

Heavens, he shot the arrow at night!

As expected, his strength is different from that of ordinary people.

When he shoots an arrow, he's very calm.

Hum-hum, Bang……

Hua Mulan continued to shoot more than ten arrows. Except for one arrow which was slightly skewed due to a sudden gust of wind, other arrows were shot straight on the target. The grass-made target looked like the back of a hedgehog.

A-Dan ZhiQi doesn't know what kind of mood he is hiding in the dark.

Was he envious? Jealous? It felt a little……more like anger. 

Hua Mulan's bowstring finally broke.

Yes, every time he strung the bow to its limit. Even people in the army can’t pull a bow with such a hard bowstring.

As the sound of breaking the bowstring sounded, Hua Mulan released his hand like a conditioned reflex, letting the bow fall to the ground.

If one is hit by the broken bowstring, one’s fingers will be cut deeply by the bowstring, and one will experience severe pain at the same time. If you have a hand injury, you can't take part in the next day's training.

Seeing this habit of Hua Mulan, A- Dan ZhiQi knew that Hua Mulan was hit by bowstring not once or twice.

Is that how he practices shooting at home?

Which military family has such a warrior? He should have been sent to the army early to make contributions.

Why did he hide his ability?

Since he didn't want to show his ability, why did he sneak over to practice archery in the middle of the night?

One question after another rushed to his mind.

A-Dan ZhiQi felt that he is going to be choked alive by these questions.

Seeing the broken bowstring, Hua Mulan reluctantly tries to connect the bowstring again. When he found that there is no way to fix it, he seems just like a thief, mixing his hard bow into a pile of training bows.

Towards his prior actions, he smiled like a child that carried out a successful prank. 

Subsequently after, A-Dan ZhiQi watched Hua Mulan trot to the grass-made target, pulled out the arrows on the target one by one, changed the hay on the target again, held the torch next to the target, ran back to the shooting platform and extinguished the two torches and put them back in their original positions.

His actions are akin to floating clouds and flowing water. (0)

His actions are conducted with such ease. 

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"Your archery is really the best amongst the select best."

A-Dan ZhiQi, who was about to suffocate himself, finally walked out of the darkness.

What he thought at this time is to see if Hua Mulan at this time will say "Ah, the wind has caused you to confused" or something akin to that. 

Sure enough, Hua Mulan was stunned.

“Capt……captain?”

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Hua Mulan and A-Dan ZhiQi sat side by side on the dark shooting platform.

Hua Mulan knew that when he was seen by his captain this time, he would not be able to perfunctory reply to him by saying "you are mistaken”. 

Che, how bothersome!

This Lord Captain is very indomitable.

"Why did you hide your strength?"

A-Dan ZhiQi is a typical Xianbei man. His skin is dry and chapped by the desert sand. Even his gentle voice becomes unpleasant in roaring everyday in their training.

Every soldier who starts as a recruit in the midst of a desert sandstorm has a voice that doesn’t sound pleasant. 

Hua Mulan remained silent. 

Originally, he was the most reticent person in the barracks.

"Why?" A-Dan ZhiQi asked again.

Towards A-Dan ZhiQi's queries, Hua Mulan knew that he could not drag in telling the truth, so, he quietly replied:

"I don't want to die. I don't want to go to the vanguard barracks."

At that moment, A-Dan ZhiQi seemed to lose his ability to speak.

Many young men in the army had dreamt to enter the vanguard camp that was in the northern border.

The Winnowing Eagle Army that’s flanking the middle, The Energetic Tiger Army that’s flanking the right, The White Horse Calvary Army that is flanking the left, the three vanguard armies, are the sole existence that almost everyone in the army looks up to. Countless of times, they were the ones charging ahead and they were like an existence like a bright light. They were akin to one of Great Wei’s ensign.

Where the three armies are, there are no battles that are unable to be won. 

This is infuriating to him, to hear Hua Mulan’s, "I don't want to die”. Towards his words, he only felt a deep sense of disgust. 

All the previous considerations towards Hua Mulan like “maybe he has a story behind it” or the like were all thrown into the desert out of the YinShan Mountain.

Previously, if A-Dan ZhiQi had a high amount of expectations in regard to this matter of Hua Mulan, now, he felt that a high amount of disgust for him. 

"You say you're afraid of death? If you’re so afraid of death, why are you still practising archery?!” 

A-Dan ZhiQi stood up angrily and looked at his companion as if his companion were a stinky bug. 

With such talent, how can he fear to go into a battle?!

"It’s not that I’m afraid of death, I just do not want to die." Hua Mulan's amber pupils looked very gentle in the moonlight. "To practise archery is to increase my chance of living."

He felt as if he saw a ghost! 

He actually felt that Hua Mulan's eyes were very gentle when he said, "I just do not want to die"!

"What's the difference?!"

Who said that when one goes to the vanguard barracks, one will die?!

What's more, they were from the military families who had inherited the generation after generation of legacy from their families, they should have long had the awareness of "not dying in a woman's arms"!

"Captain, have you ever heard of this idiom of the Han-ren, ‘it’s better that the jade was broken, and the tile was left intact’? (1)

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(0) 行云流水: Floating clouds and flowing water: A natural and flowing style (action)

(1) It’s better that the jade was broken, and the tile was left intact (Short form: 玉碎瓦全, long form: 宁为玉碎，不为瓦全) – meaning: death is preferable to dishonour. 

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Fleur's Corner: 

Please note that this chapter is in A-Dan ZhiQi's perspective, so Hua Mulan would be 'he'. If you spot any grammatical errors, please leave a comment. Thank you!

Next update on Mon or Tues. 

Please stay safe, everyone! 

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