Do you need to explain Chapter 3 to me?
Hua Lang's adaptability was much stronger than Zhan Yunmei had imagined. Although he sat in the courtyard without moving every day, his complexion recovered a lot after a few days, and he was willing to live a normal life, even though he ate only cat food at each meal.
It was a day of light snow. Disagreements arose over the allocation of soldiers in the Beijing garrison. Several generals and their adjutants disagreed. People from the Beijing garrison came and invited Zhan Yunmei to the drill ground early in the morning.
Yao Shuniang stood at the doorway. The wind and snow were heavy outside, so she asked, "General, would you like to wear another coat?"
"No need," Zhan Yunmei said, inserting the silver hairpin into her hair ornament. Because she had gotten up in a hurry and was in a rush, she inserted it haphazardly. She could only judge whether it was neat or not by touch. As she went out, she raised her hand to feel the position of the hairpin and instructed Yao Shuniang, "Keep an eye on Hualang. He's been half-dead all day long. His frostbite is hard to cure."
Yao Shuniang followed behind Zhan Yunmei, saying, "This servant understands."
Passing through the flower hall from the side room to the gate, when Zhan Yunmei arrived, Hua Lang was already awake, sitting on a bench under the eaves of the hall, looking up at the sky with his eyes raised in a compassionate manner, which softened the gloom on his face.
Hearing Zhan Yunmei's footsteps, Hua Lang slowly blinked, her pupils returning to the center of her eye sockets. She glanced at her, but did nothing.
Yao Shuniang was still worried that Zhan Yunmei would get cold, so she carried a velvet-lined garment out of the mansion, put the clothes on the carriage waiting outside, and turned back to remind Zhan Yunmei, but she didn't see her. Then she saw that Zhan Yunmei had gone to the flower hall.
Deputy General Chen lifted the carriage curtain, peeked out halfway, and asked in confusion, "Why are you the only one here? Where is the general?"
Yao Shuniang retreated into the mansion, and as she answered Vice General Chen, she closed the door, saying, "The general is still tidying up, please wait a little longer, Vice General Chen."
Deputy General Chen nodded and lowered the curtain.
Yao Shuniang glanced at the flower hall, knowing that Zhan Yunmei was sensible and wouldn't interfere, so she went about her own business.
Meanwhile, Zhan Yunmei had already walked up to Hua Lang. Under his emotionless gaze, she lowered her head slightly and pointed to the top of her head, "Help me check if my hair ornament is on straight."
Hua Lang said calmly, "It's a little crooked."
"Help me adjust it," Zhan Yunmei looked up and smiled at Hua Lang. After a moment of eye contact, Hua Lang reached out and helped her with her hair ornament.
After tidying up her hair, Zhan Yunmei said, "I'm going back to my residence tonight. Wait for me to have dinner together."
Without waiting for his reply, she left on her own.
Once inside the carriage, Deputy General Chen began to recount the events of the Beijing Garrison.
With the military pay distributed normally, the next step was to decide how to allocate the soldiers. Now that the new dynasty was newly established and its foundation was unstable, Geng Qi believed that the soldiers should be concentrated to prevent chaos.
Deputy General Chen disagreed, saying, "Concentrating troops will cost a lot of money, and the national treasury is currently empty. How can we afford it?"
Zhan Yunmei asked, "What did Geng Qi say?"
Deputy General Chen clicked his tongue, "What can he say? He keeps arguing about the new dynasty's early days, saying that the concentration of soldiers does more harm than good. Why doesn't he use his brain? He really is a reckless military officer."
Zhan Yunmei smiled and patted Deputy General Chen, whose face was flushed with anger, "Don't worry."
Upon meeting Geng Qi, Zhan Yunmei got straight to the point, advising that the soldiers should be dispersed, with three-tenths used for defending the city and seven-tenths for farming, while returning to the rear to stabilize the finances.
"These are all soldiers and civilians who have fought in wars. Going back to cultivate the land? Wouldn't that be a waste of talent?" Geng Qi was in a bad mood the moment he saw Zhan Yunmei. Today, she came and opposed him again. Was she really going to make things difficult for him? She wanted to claim credit for what happened before the founding of the country, and she wanted to claim credit for what happened after the founding of the country? Wasn't she afraid that her achievements would overshadow the emperor and arouse his jealousy?
Despite holding a military rank, Zhan Yunmei was not a reckless fool. Geng Qi's words were aggressive and showed great dissatisfaction. It was unclear where his hostility came from.
She frowned and invited the generals standing outside the drill ground into the official hall, ordering hot tea to be served, hoping to calm Geng Qi's restlessness.
Unexpectedly, he became even more impatient, not even taking a sip of tea. He glared at the generals the whole time, as if threatening them with his eyes. The hall was completely silent.
Zhan Yunmei and Deputy General Chen exchanged a glance, and Deputy General Chen then said in a friendly manner, "Deputy General Geng, you don't need to do this. You've frightened everyone."
Geng Qi ignored Deputy General Chen and went straight to Zhan Yunmei, "General Zhan, what do you think of my idea just now?"
“Military settlements are not a waste of talent,” Zhan Yunmei said. “Soldiers are only used when there are extremely serious external threats or in very small countries. After Yu the Great unified the four seas, all places submitted to the new dynasty. Concentrating them would be redundant and wasteful.”
Upon closer examination, what she said made some sense. And upon further examination, previous dynasties had also done the same thing when they were founded. Geng Qi had simply misunderstood the situation.
Geng Qi was unconvinced. He refused to admit that his ability to allocate soldiers was inferior to that of Zhan Yunmei, a woman. This was his pride as a man; in his heart, women could not be superior to men.
After thinking it over, Geng Qi's face darkened, his brows furrowed, he was unconvinced but had nothing to say.
Geng Qi stopped arguing, and Zhan Yunmei stood up and bowed to the eunuch commander who came to ask for the emperor's opinion, "Since that's the case, then do as I just said. Please go back and report to the emperor."
After much debate, a decision was finally reached. The eunuch and the commander returned the salute with gratitude, saying, "Then I'll return to the palace now."
After seeing off the palace officials and the commander, Geng Qi also got up and left, unwilling to stay any longer. He just couldn't swallow the anger in his heart; the frustration and irritability made him so annoyed that he wanted to smash the wall.
Geng Qi didn't notice the person coming towards him, and their shoulders bumped together. He snapped out of his anger and stared wide-eyed. It was Hua Lang!
Last night he encountered the madman in white. At first, he was drunk and not in his right mind, thinking it was a ghost. Later, after running far away, he realized that the man looked familiar and seemed like he had seen him before.
Now that he has met Hua Lang, Geng Qi remembers that the person he met last night was Hua Lang.
"Aren't you in prison?" Geng Qi grabbed Hua Lang's shoulder and pushed him out of the crowd. He looked Hua Lang up and down. Hua Lang didn't look disheveled after being tortured. Instead, he still had some vitality on his face. Even a down-on-his-luck eunuch who was hated by everyone was happier than him.
Hua Lang didn't answer Geng Qi. She pursed her lips and looked back nervously.
Suddenly, Geng Qi grabbed her by the collar and slammed her against the high wall at the entrance of the alley. With a pain in the back of her head, Hua Lang turned around, raised her hand to slap Geng Qi, and said in a cold tone, "You dog, what are you doing!"
Having been bullied by Zhan Yunmei in the training ground and by Hua Lang in the market, Geng Qi could no longer tolerate it. He strained to raise his knee and kick Hua Lang, but his kick went astray and barely hit Hua Lang's thigh. "You lowly eunuch, you dare to be mean to me? You don't really think you're the same as before, do you?"
Hua Lang was kicked so hard that he bent over in pain. The force surged from his leg into his whole body, and slowly, his whole body trembled.
"Tell me, did you escape from prison?" Geng Qi forcefully pulled Hua Lang straight up. They clearly had no grudge against each other, but he wanted to find a place to vent his anger today.
"Get out! Don't touch me with your filthy hands!" Hua Lang struggled to draw his sword despite the excruciating pain, but Geng Qi was strong and powerful, and the first strike did not penetrate deeply.
It wasn't deep enough. The moment Geng Qi relaxed his grip, Hua Lang kicked him away and ran into the city streets. He had imperial permission and wasn't afraid of being caught.
As they reached the street, a carriage passed by. Hua Lang stopped, staring blankly at the carriage as it pulled up beside him. The driver opened the door.
Before he could catch his breath, a hand reached out from behind the curtain, grabbed his hand, and pulled him into the carriage with a jolt, throwing him into a warm embrace.
The door then closed.
"Do you want to explain to me?" A gentle female voice sounded from above. Hua Lang tried to get up, but she pressed down on his back, preventing him from standing.
Even in winter, her clothes were not thick. She practiced martial arts all year round and was not afraid of the cold. As a result, Hua Lang could clearly feel her firm legs.
The carriage was moving fast and swaying, and Hua Lang was swaying along with it. In the midst of this jolt, he slowly calmed down. Remembering that she had pressed him down again, he had no choice but to lie there like that.
She was sitting in the carriage, probably unaware of what had happened in the alleyway. He didn't want to talk about it, feeling like he was tattled on her, but he didn't want to complain to her.
Hua Lang spoke through the fabric, “I didn’t intend to run away. I told Yao Shuniang beforehand. I just came out to buy some clean underwear. My body is special, so I need to prepare more. It’s not appropriate to let the servants take care of it.”
It was already unprecedented for him to speak so calmly at once, let alone say such shameful things.
Hua Lang felt a chill run down his spine when he didn't hear a response from Zhan Yunmei immediately. What she said was true, although he still harbored a slight desire to run away.
If Zhan Yunmei gets angry, Hua Lang won't be able to handle it. But that's fine too, it's enough to show that her kindness to him is only temporary. He was right not to choose to rely on her. People just can't stand being relied on.
Hua Lang clenched her fingers.
"Next time, bring some people with you to protect you," Zhan Yunmei said without asking why Hua Lang was injured. She helped him up and touched the painful spot, which was swollen. She pressed lightly with three fingers and asked, "Does it hurt here?"
While she was massaging him, she keenly noticed his discomfort and quickly determined the location of his discomfort.
Hua Lang was stunned for a moment.
When Zhan Yunmei checked Hua Lang's condition, she didn't expect that her strength was greater than she had imagined, and she also didn't expect that Hua Lang was less tolerant of pain than she had imagined. With just that little bit of force, Hua Lang shrank her head in pain, closed her eyes, groaned softly, and her face turned mostly red.
Upon hearing this, Zhan Yunmei paused noticeably, then quickly resumed her normal actions, taking a back pillow and placing it under Hua Lang's kicked leg. "Elevating your leg will help the blood flow back and reduce the swelling. I'll treat it properly when we get back to the manor. Just make do with this for now."
Hua Lang took a deep breath and stared blankly at Zhan Yunmei. He was very unhappy with her touching behavior, but she looked calm. He couldn't find a way to curse her as a bastard.
In the end, he gave up, closed his eyes, and leaned to one side, pretending to be dead.
Zhan Yunmei carried Hua Lang back to the main house. He wasn't heavy, so carrying him wasn't difficult, but he was taller than her, so she had to lift his legs a little higher.
"Don't move, or I'll throw you on the ground and you'll have to crawl back to the house yourself," Zhan Yunmei said, weighing you in her hand.
Hua Lang's eyes flashed with anger and resentment. She was so shameless, forcing him to carry her on her back, especially in front of so many people. He desperately wanted to pull out the knife from his sleeve and stab her, but he couldn't. Her reflexes were too quick; he couldn't outpace her no matter what.
“Zhan Yunmei, I wish you were dead,” Hua Lang said, grabbing Zhan Yunmei’s shoulder.
Zhan Yunmei didn't care at all, and smiled with her eyes crinkling, "Hua Lang, why do you threaten someone by touching their ear? Your mouth touched me."
Hua Lang was surprised. How did he manage to touch her ear?
He didn't want to kiss her.
Who knows, maybe he got so angry he didn't notice?
While he was repeatedly trying to recall whether he had touched her ear, he had already been placed on the couch by her.
Zhan Yunmei leaned closer and pulled off his belt, wanting to check his leg injury again. His heart jumped, and he panicked and rushed forward, instinctively resisting.
A crisp slap rang out, and Zhan Yunmei stopped.
Hua Lang belatedly realized that he had been too arrogant, and opened his mouth to explain and apologize.
"Smack!"
Hua Lang was gripped tightly and pressed down on the couch again, and her hand slapped him hard. It all happened in the blink of an eye, and he didn't have time to recover. His vision went white, and tinnitus and dizziness followed.
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