Didn't Know General Was Female Chapter 45

[Alternate t.i.tle: Ever After
Please read for free on the source site, chichilations, and not support an aggregator or content thief. Reposts are not allowed anywhere or for any reason.

TW for an excessively long author/translator says at the bottom lol]

The lower reaches of the river were deep in the wilderness. The subordinates brought their people along the sh.o.r.e to search, and Jiahui, who firmly believes nothing's there, takes others to bore through the forest.

The woods are immense, as if they go on forever with no border. She doesn't know many s.h.i.+chens pa.s.s as she presses onwards.

“Madam, let's take a rest first,” one of her personal maids suggests.

Jiahui is so tired that her legs have gone weak. She found a place to sit, and after drinking some water, she barely managed to recover some of her strength.

She wiped the sweat from her brow. After hardly any sitting, she stood up again.

“Keep looking! Maybe she climbed out of the water and collapsed somewhere.”

There isn't anyone here who thinks that there's still a possibility that Zhongli Luo is still alive, but they're unable to say anything to Rong Jiahui's face.

For a wife, and a newly-wedded one, the matter of being widowed at such a young age is always something they can't accept. With her n.o.ble birth, however, it wouldn't be hard to find another home.

They go round and round within, the meandering making them dizzy as it seems to them like they're wandering in circles. As for seeing anyone… they don't even see any rabbits around here.

They went deeper and deeper, the terrain getting somewhat steep and treacherous. Protected by her escorts, Jiahui walked very carefully.

After more than a s.h.i.+chen, her firm resolution from the very beginning turned into true, desperate worry.

Could it be…

She simply couldn't think about the outcome that might just drive her mad.

As she pondered, she suddenly felt something ticklish on her leg. Looking down, her soul was nearly scared out of her body and into the afterlife, because there was a four or five cun long giant centipede crawling on her ankle.

She shrieked in fear, raising her leg to throw it off. As a result, the centipede was gone, but she was also rolling down a hill among everyone else's screams.

She didn't know how long she had tumbled for, but the action made her head swim, her body hurting all over, with some blades of gra.s.s sticking out of her mouth. Touching her face, it seems like it had been sc.r.a.ped, as the scorching pain told her.

She tidied up her bird's nest of hair, pulling a few small twigs out of it, then pulling out a few small leaves, shaking herself as she stood up. Fortunately, her fall was smooth-sailing and she didn't come across any hazards, or she'd probably be done for.

As she parted the underbrush before her, thinking to find a way out for herself, what she saw was the one she had been yearning for all this time.

Zhongli Luo was frighteningly pale, her lips dry. Jiahui bounded over to her to check her breathing, and mercifully, she still was. She could swim extremely well thanks to being a girl from the South. Were Jiahui the one to fall in, her little life definitely would've been over.

However, the wound on her arm is dreadful. Jiahui tore the clothes covering it off; while it was no longer bleeding, the swelling was severe, and the edges of it had gone white from being soaked.

She quickly helped Zhongli Luo up into a sitting position. Once again being grateful that she'd worn so many extra layers on an extremely cold day, she took off her overcoat and placed it on the other woman to have her be as warm as possible.

Perhaps sensing the familiarity, Zhongli Luo slowly opened her eyes. Seeing the one before her, she said weakly, “Am I dreaming?”

Jiahui shook her head. “No, I'm here. I couldn't stop worrying about you.”

Zhongli Luo frowned. “If you keep running off for no reason, you're going to anger your parents to death sooner or later.”

Jiahui smiled at her, though her tears flowed without end. “It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. My running off was wrong before, but this time it was right. Mom and dad can be mad, that's not important. Your life is what is.”

Zhongli Luo saw the smudges of dirt and b.l.o.o.d.y traces on her face. “Were you hurt?” she asked with worry. “Where did you fall from? Did anything happen?”

Jiahui pouted. “It's nothing. I got hurt, but seeing you like this makes my heart hurt even worse.”

Zhongli Luo sighed. “Don't joke around right now.”

“I'm not joking around!” Jiahui wiped her tears. “You're the one saying nonsense. Can you walk? Let's hurry and go so we can bandage your wound.”

She gingerly supported Zhongli Luo's arm to get her to stand up, but she frowned in pain after her legs moved only slightly.

Jiahui keenly sensed her abnormality. “Is your leg injured?” she inquired.

Without waiting for an answer, Jiahui pulled back her clothes and saw that her ankle was stained with blood, perhaps from getting smashed against rocks when she was plunged into the water.

Zhongli Luo forced a smile. “I can still walk.”

Jiahui's eyes went red. “Shut up!”

It hadn't even been a few days, and this woman had let herself become like this. If she hadn't come, would she just be dead deep in this no-man's-land?!

“Don't cry. Seeing you cry makes me sad, too.”

Jiahui suddenly wiped at her eyes. “I'll carry you.”

“What?” Zhongli Luo responded with alarm.

“What do you mean what? I said I'll carry you!”

Saying so, Jiahui turned around and pointed to her back.

Zhongli Luo didn't want to have her carry her, of course, but there's no other way out of this situation. All she can do is reach out for her.

In all the decades Jiahui has lived, apart from carrying around a few small children, she's never held an entire person on her back. She made every effort to keep going forward as she carried her.

Her steps were teetering, as if she would fall over at any time.

“Am I really heavy?” Zhongli Luo said anxiously. “Go ahead and put me down, okay?”

Jiahui smiled. “Yeah, I'm carrying the whole world on my back. It really is heavy.”

Zhongli Luo lets out an involuntary laugh. The way this silly girl spoke was always so against the grain. Though… it really was great that she could meet the beautiful Jiahui. With her at her side, no matter what she goes through, she feels at ease.

They didn't know how far they'd gone until they finally found someone who was out looking for them.

“We're over here!” Jiahui shouted.

They all promptly rushed over, rescuing Jiahui, who was on the verge of collapse from exhaustion.

Zhongli Luo's subordinates had always guessed that Rong Jiahui was pampered and treasured Young Mistress, her delicateness permeating every bit of her being. They were astonished from their far-reaching search when they saw that she was carrying their Great General on her back. The heartwarmingness of it could not be surpa.s.sed. Ah, this is what a deep, meaningful relations.h.i.+p looks like.

The injury on her arm had been steeping in the water for a very long time, and as for her ankle, a few bits of bone could be seen through it.

Because of those, Jiahui ordered her to take bedrest for a very long time before she was finally willing to bring her back to the capital. That stupid mob really had been riled up by someone else; she shut Zhongli Luo up all day, firmly disallowing any outside forces in, thusly getting addicted to grasping this ultimate power as time went on.

On the way back to the capital, she put her hands on her hips and fervently made demands of Zhongli Luo. “After this, you have to take me with you wherever you go. You can't be even half a step away from me! Got it?”

“But, what if the troops rebel on the battlefield…”

“You can't!”

“It doesn't matter if I die, I'm just afraid that…”

Jiahui pinched her face. “You want to try saying the word ‘die' again? You die, I follow. If you die before I do, I'm immediately fighting my way into the underworld to have a debate over that.”

As soon as she said that, she couldn't help but giggle. She pressed her forehead against Zhongli Luo's, speaking softly, “As long as I'm at your side, I could stand on a mountain of blades or under a sea of fire and get through them with a smile. It's better, as long as you're at my side.”

Seeing the one within her reach and hearing such words makes Zhongli Luo's heart feel full.

She didn't want to leave anymore. She'll just stay in the capital, keeping Jiahui company forever. She didn't want to go somewhere far away again. She's tired, and Jiahui is her sole harbor.

“You're great, Jiahui,” she murmurs.

Jiahui's eyes curved up as she smiled. “Well, then, you're pretty lucky to be able to come across someone as great as me.”

After that, she gently put her arms around Zhongli Luo's neck, smiling as she b.u.mped her nose against hers. Her red lips lightly stamped on Zhongli Luo's chapped ones, the final sigh in this kiss drowning everything else out, as if telling of her deep love for her…

In reality, being able to go back to being twelve that decade ago makes her the one that's pretty lucky.

The author says: Please hit me… really… it's all done… _(:з」∠)_ I'm already a lazy potato… at this stage, I'll make edits to the full text and try hard to not have it be such a mess. I thought this idea was very good at the beginning. It was nothing short of perfection in my head, and the outline was good, but it wasn't long until my old nemesis struck again: letting myself kind of go all out. I decided before to write it all quickly, going all out and out, then come back and piece it together and I could edit the text very convenient-like. Or, I could just let it all directly out~ This time, the breakdown was too grave, and I feel like I've especially let the reader dears down. It started to fall apart after a little more than ten chapters. _(:з」∠)_ I felt that I could still piece it together, but the result was… I pieced it and pieced it and pieced it and it didn't come together. After the total breakdown, it got further and further out of my control. Compared with my original outline, apart from the beginning and a pile of names, they're two completely different stories, leading to me getting to this point and then drawing a complete blank. _(:з」∠)_ I'll bow to you all over and over again; I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry… this book wasn't well-written, it's a real big mess. This novel will have a further three extra. The first is modern-times setting and standalone short-story. A warning in advance that it's knifey, like countless arrows piercing your heart _(:з」∠)_ The two after are sugary.
The translator says: …I mean, sure, this isn't a Super Fancy novel, but I don't think it warrants the label of ‘real big mess'.
The first two extras are slightly longer than average, and the 3rd extra is 5 times longer than average at a nice 19k. I have no set release schedule for them, and the 3rd is probably going to take a while!
Stay tuned~ Stay tuned~ Our adventure's not over just yet~