Didn't Know General Was Female Chapter 20

[I really wish the author named the chapters, this is kinda boring.
Remember to read on chichilations. Reposts are not allowed anywhere.]

The ninth of the first month was the day Rong Jiahui reached fifteen years of age. As a Marquis's pampered daughter, Marquis Zhenguo and Duke Jingguo's residences have gone nuts for her ceremony, with not a link allowed to be out of place on the hairpin.

For her ceremony, her mother acted as host, her uncles and Duke Jingguo are supporters, her aunts, Madam Duke Jingguo, and Mrs. Liang are guests of honor, her cousin Yu Yixiang is a supporter, her friend Yang Qianyu is helping manage things, and there's countless other attendees; it's a real lively scene.

Jiahui knelt obediently on a mat, silently feeling Mrs. Liang combing her hair to add the hairpin in. She saw the gentle expression her aunt had that was the same as the last time she had her fifteenth birthday, and felt that it was over a lifetime ago.

There are only minute differences between this ceremony and the one in the past. Last time, Zhongli Luo didn't return from the Northwest, only remotely sending a few meaningful things, and this time, not only did that person not come, but he didn't send anything, either. She at least isn't as fake as that little white-eyed wolf, Zhongli Luo! b.a.s.t.a.r.d, b.a.s.t.a.r.d, b.a.s.t.a.r.d!

After Mrs. Liang finished arranging her hair into a bun and pinned it, she returned to the east room, seething. Switching into plain clothes to match the hairpin, she then came back to pay respects to her parents, then once again knelt on the mat, waiting for the guest of honor to take down her bun and put on a hairclip.

Just then, she suddenly heard the long voice of a boyservant reporting, “Young Master Zongli has returned.”

His voice isn't loud, but it was picked up by Rong Jiahui's sharp ears, and her original annoyance and unbearable vexation was gone, her eyes lighting up and strength renewed.

Mrs. Liang had just put the hairclip on for her when she lost her patience and stood up, disregarding the astonished look on her aunt's face right in front of her as she sprinted out.

Whatever on the ceremony! It's not the first time she's done it anyways, if it's interrupted it's interrupted! She'd known that Zhongli Luo wouldn't not pay her any attention and wouldn't not care about her fifteenth birthday. He's very good to her. Always is.

She giddily ran like mad out the entrance, and upon faintly seeing that familiar figure, she beamed, but not a word had left her mouth when she noticed a young girl in the prime of her youth at Zhongli Luo's side. Her smile loosened, her entire body stopping stiff.

She's 16 or so years old and in simple clothing, but it's difficult to cover up that she's an endlessly lovely miss. Standing beside Zhongli Luo, they're a talented youth and pretty woman pair, completely matching, and their matching… is displeasing to look at…

At that time, Zhongli Luo caught sight of the la.s.s she's always fretting about and immediately broke into a dim-witted smile. Rong Jiahui is no longer that short, childish, and round-faced young lady from her memory; she's grown a lot taller, lost a lot of weight, and her rounded chin has sharpened up, with only her pretty, s.h.i.+ning eyes being the same as they were before. She was wearing a gorgeous hairclip that didn't go with her plain clothing, and she didn't have any makeup on, yet her face was as pale as if it had lost all blood. As if she was a painting of dead n.o.blewoman. Her soul can't help but jolt at that.

Looking at them, Rong Jiahui was unable to calm down for a very long time. The emergence of this good-looking girl splashed her joy with a bucket of cold water in an instant, the fire in her heart gradually cooling down.

Zhongli Luo… came back with a sweetheart?

She suddenly found with horror that the dream she'd made up in the past was too good and too beautiful, and led herself to believe that so long as she didn't marry and kept being good to Zhongli Luo, the other would settle down with her. The certified proof ended up being that she was wrong, excessively wrong, forever excessively mistaken! Even better for her, he turned his head and brought back a lady that's even prettier than her!

Her lips pursed up and nearly wept. How could she had ever expected that she'd suffer such a thorough, crus.h.i.+ng defeat on the day of her rite of pa.s.sage…?

Those two years of effort were nothing…

Having not seen Rong Jiahui for two years, Zhongli Luo barely repressed her excited mood, calling out, “Jiahui-“

“Shut up!” Jiahui's stern voice cut her off.

This is the first time Rong Jiahui had shouted at Zhongli Luo, and she promptly went dumb. She had thought that Jiahui would have been very happy to see her come back. After making the journey as fast as she could, she was weary and tired, afraid that she wouldn't make it in time, and the end result was that… this person didn't want to see her at all?

Jiahui pointed a trembling finger at Cen Biling and asked, “Who are you? Zhongli Luo's maid? Or…”

She wanted to say ‘a bed-warmer' after that, but this is out in broad daylight, and her private tutor still does not allow her to speak unbelievably frank words like that. The last half of her question was hatefully dropped.

Cen Biling is merely a merchant household's daughter, and had never ever thought there would come a time where she would set foot in a Marquis's residence, so she had no idea what do with herself. She also hadn't thought that the little girl who had bared her teeth and fangs those years ago would be the treasured daughter of a Marquis. Such a n.o.ble girl really would have the means to be a henp.e.c.k.e.r.

Upon the extremely honorable Young Mistress of a Marquis ask her something, she quickly saluted her and said, “Young Miss Rong, this little girl is Cen Biling. Thankfully, Zhong-“

She hadn't finished speaking when a large group of rus.h.i.+ng over interrupted her. The hairpin-ceremony of a woman reaching adulthood is unfathomably important; how could Rong Jiahui be allowed to run out willfully like this? Everyone talked up and down until they got an extremely annoyed Rong Jiahui to go back.

When the guests dispersed, Rong Jiahui was as fuming mad as she was before, and she's getting angrier and angrier thanks to Zhongli Luo! Going on a trip to the Northwest and actually bringing back an absolute beauty! After all, he can still accomplish his goals while going pleasure-seeking, so really, he might as well not come back! What a good pretense of coming to celebrate her birthday and also conveniently coming to discuss marrying that beauty! She's angry enough to die, this ceremony of pa.s.sing into adulthood and a ceremony of getting bullied are about the same thing!

However, Rong Chen and Mrs. Yu had noticed the pretty girl Zhongli Luo had brought when they were rejoicing that he'd come to their daughter's birthday, and only felt that their blockhead sworn son had finally gotten things straight. We were simultaneously looking at the Zhongli Luo-Cen Biling pair and secretly nodding, their whisperings full of satisfaction towards Cen Biling.

Rong Jiaze would be thirteen years old several months from now, and was getting curious about girls. He was also unable to take his eyes off the gorgeous Cen Biling, thinking that sister-in-law Zhongli was much prettier than his big sister.

Looking at Rong Jiahui's cold face, Zhongli Luo somewhat awkwardly pulled out a finely carved wooden case. “For your birthday.”

Jiahui humphed, turning her head away. “I don't want anything from you!”

Rong Chen frowned, scolding, “Jiahui, is that how you speak to your older brother? Think of how hard it was for him to come from over a thousand li away!”

Brother? Who made it so he was her brother? She might childishly yell ‘brother' to pull him to come closer, but who made Zhongli Luo her brother? She never treated him as a brother in her last life, and it's even more impossible to treat him like that in this one!

Thinking of that, Rong Jiahui goes red around the eyes. “My surname is Rong and his is Zhongli,” she talks back. “My ancestral home is Liaoning and his is Hunan, we're not even a bit related to each other.”

Rong Chen held his forehead. “What's going on with you today, girl? Was it something you ate?”

He didn't know what evil was plaguing this girl, being disobedient and insensible like this, baselessly ruining her own coming of age celebration by making a fuss.

Cen Biling wasn't getting it. What's with this big brother, little sister stuff? Why was it so different from what she knew?

Looking at this atmosphere of acute hostility, she opened her mouth and spoke unbearably weakly, “Are Young Master Zhongli and Young Miss Rong… not an unmarried couple?”

As soon as she said that, everyone's gazes fell upon her one by one, and she immediately felt like she was sitting on pins and needles. In hindsight, she gets the sense… that she seems to have said something wrong.

Rong Jiahui stared at her dumbly, then asked blankly, “What unmarried couple?”

Cen Biling quickly covered her mouth and shook her head. “Biling got confused. Young Miss Rong, please act as if she's said nothing.”

Everyone heard it. How could that sentence count as having not been said?

Rong Chen and Mrs. Yu were also struck stupid. The stared flabbergasted at Zhongli Luo and didn't return to their senses for a very long time. Did this brat seriously have the audacity to go outside and ruin their daughter's reputation like this? Unmarried couple? Even though Jiahui really did have a fiance once, his surname was Liu and not Zhongli! Furthermore, it was called off! If word of this got out, how would their daughter be able to carry herself with dignity, and where would they be able to use their thick skin?

Rong Jiahui still hasn't let up her intense stare at Biling. She doesn't know why, but Cen Biling saying ‘unmarried couple' actually gave her a sudden sense of familiarity with her, as if she'd seen her before.

She went on a little journey into her mind, and after unpacking a lot of things from it, she covered her mouth as she'd nearly cried out in astonishment.

Her hand trembled as she pointed at Cen Biling. “You're that chick who insisted on stuffing your jade pendant into Brother Zhongli's hands! Did you yourself say that your weak body wasn't a match for him?! Yet you've actually still dared to come wrap yourself around him!”

She knew this girl wasn't a good person! Her ill intentions hadn't died even after so many years and she still ran off to the Northwest to find Zhongli Luo! Her fighting spirit was suddenly burning bright!

Noticing the abnormal look her parents were giving Zhongli Luo, Jiahui stopped paying attention to Cen Biling and hurriedly explained for Zhongli Luo. “The fiancee thing is something I said.”

Rong Chen and Mrs. Yu looked at her, then instantly fell apart. “What?!”

Rong Jiahui knew she was wrong, and somewhat fearfully twisted her fingers in her sleeves. “It was two years ago at the Lantern Festival,” she continued on. “This strange one called whatever-Biling got snared by Brother Zhongli's looks when she first saw him. I got impulsive and lied to her that I was Brother Zhongli's fiancee only so I could fool her into leaving. We didn't know her at the time anyways, and it was only a little lie. It's not like someone would know.”

Rong Jiaze nodded along right then. “I remember that. Big Sister Biling was crying at the time.”

Hearing her little brother form the words ‘Big Sister Biling' had Jiahui ferociously glaring at Jiaze frightening him into quickly shrinking his head back.

Experiencing so many lousy things in one day had Rong Chen's beard shaking with anger. He abruptly slammed on the table, scolding angrily, “You've made a complete fool of yourself!”

Jiahui immediately trembled in fear. Though her dad never once did anything to her, she still fears his anger.

With great misfortune, Cen Biling seems to be intent on adding fuel to the fire, adding another sentence, “Then, Young Miss Rong, are you Young Master Zhongli's fiancee?”

Zhongli Luo resentfully looked at Cen Biling who was eternally ruining everything. “That was fake,” she said. “General Mu Qian insisted on me keeping Miss Biling, so I pulled out a lie and said that my fiancee would not allow it.”

“Yet you still kept her,” Jiahui said solemnly, “and made no secret of bringing her back.”

The moment she'd first seen the beautiful Cen Biling, she felt she was dangerous, the kind of beauty that could hook a nation. Now, when she thinks about being in someone else's place, if she had this young lady's tender-hearted, limpid eyes starting at her so devotedly, her own heart would probably be moved, let alone someone else's!

Zhongli Luo was about to explain herself when Rong Chen, the one sitting at the head of the table, coughed. “Jiahui, this is not something you should meddle with. I know that you have a good sibling relations.h.i.+p, but you're not small anymore and should avoid incriminating things.

For a little sister to still care about her older brother's bedroom affairs; what would people say?

Siblings, siblings, who's siblings with him! Jiahui got annoyed upon hearing that word and was increasingly feeling mistrated. She didn't want to stay here a moment longer, hatefully looking at Zhongli Luo with Cen Biling. “I'm tired from today. I'm going to bed.”

After that, she fled like she was outrunning a calamity, not looking back once.

The author says: I finished writing so much nonsense for this little trifle (:з」∠) In any case, Cen Biling has thoroughly kill-greened the return home. By the way, I consulted my dear Mister Editor a few days ago and decided that Tuesday we'd enter VIP, which is three days from now （t_t）I might take a day off tomorrow, I'm trying to squeeze a 10,000 character count out of my liver…(:з」∠)
The translator says: Yeah, that means the next chapter is long as h.e.l.l. It's also Very Good. Stay tuned~ stay tuned~