Sentimental General

From early morning after breaking camp and pulling out, they had ridden on horseback and by sunset, the army had reached the city outskirts of Haizhou.

Because this was a routine training operation, after He Mu Li had ordered the army to return to their barracks, he led his team of personal guards to enter the city and return to Hou Mansion.

When they arrived back at Hou Mansion it was already in the evening when the lanterns were being lit.

Outside the Hou Mansion, in addition to the Housekeeper and the Nanny who were waiting in front of the gate, there were also two rows of guards and servants waiting for their Young Master's return.

However, this time when Hou-ye came back leading his team of personal guards from the routine training operation, they noticed there was something special in the situation which was a little different from the past. Everyone was very surprised when they saw He Mu Li got down from the horse carrying someone in his arms, especially the Nanny who had taken care of him since he was a child. They had never seen him doing such a thing before.

Because De Xue's foot was sprained and at this moment, she was in a deep sleep, He Mu Li could not bear to wake her up, so he decided to simply carry her as he got down from the horse. Anyway, in his opinion, she was very light.

However, Hu Ma*, the Nanny felt excited and quickly took a few steps forward to confirm. Holding up the horn lamp* high in her hand, she looked carefully.

(Hu Ma means Hu Mother. She is not the biological mother but only the Nanny who is respected and loved by HML and this is the way HML addresses her. Since his parents had pa.s.sed away, the Nanny would be his closest 'relative' and has no one else except for her as he is an only child.)

(Horn lamps are lamps made from material processed from horns and the finished effect has a translucent feature and a strong illumination transparency. In ancient times, this kind of lamp was only used in the Palace and n.o.ble households.)

She did not see anything wrong, did she? The little face exposed under the folds of the Young Master's cloak actually belongs to a girl! Their Young Master actually brought back a girl with him?

She thought of the Young Master who always display a dark gloomy face with a stern and cold expression and had always shown a cold reception to all visiting families. Over the years, many of the relatives who came to propose marriage had been rejected sternly by him. She and the Housekeeper had wanted to match-make for the Young Master several times, but they were all strongly rejected by the Young Master. It seems today, the Young Master himself had actually brought a girl home!

Could it be G.o.d had heard her prayers? Young Master had finally found a girl he likes! Thinking of this, Hu Ma could not help but show a gratifying smile.

He Mu Li was surprised when he saw the Nanny with a happy smile.

"Young Master, who is this girl?" Hu Ma asked a little excitedly.

Looking at her, He Mu Li could vaguely guess that she was thinking too much. All these years, Hu Ma had been nagging him to find a girl quickly to settle down and told him it was time for him to carry on the name of the He Mu Family.

"I captured her." Only in front of Hu Ma, he would show his soft and playful side.

When she heard his words, Hu Ma's expression did not change. Instead, she cast a meaningful look at the girl in his arms who was showing signs she was about to wake up.

"She sprained her ankle......." Under such circ.u.mstances, He Mu Li had to explain the reason why he was carrying De Xue.

When she heard the girl favored by the Young Master had hurt her foot, Hu Ma immediately turned around and ordered the servants to summon the best doctor available.

"There is no need to look for a doctor, Hu Ma. Just get the military doctor to come and take a look. She had only sprained her ankle, nothing serious." Sprains and bruises, these kinds of injuries were light which the military doctor could handle. He Mu Li felt that this matter was not so serious that a doctor had to be specially invited to come.

"What do you mean by 'nothing serious'? Young Master, she is a girl. Do you think she is like those crude rough men you have in your army? Young Master, a girl must be loved and pampered. How will you be able to pursue anyone like this?" Hu Ma anxiously warned him.

While Hu Ma and He Mu Li were speaking, De Xue had already woken up. She realized that she was being carried by someone and she also heard someone's harsh words. She felt embarra.s.sed and angry. So she did not dare to open her eyes.

When she heard Hu Ma talking and taking her side, she felt moved. In her heart, she felt there was at least a normal person here but Hu Ma's last sentence made her blush instantly. Who said He Mu Li is pursuing her? She was actually kidnapped by him!

"Who am I pursuing?" He Mu Li coldly refuted.

At this moment, Hu Ma saw De Xue blus.h.i.+ng and thought that she was angered by the insensitive Young Master. So, she quickly lowered her voice and said. "Young Master, you can't do this. A girl must be cajoled. You must not grab someone back just because you like her and then pretend everything is alright. You have to cultivate feelings with her!"

After listening to Hu

Grabbing people is definitely not right! But what is the meaning of grabbing someone back and cultivate feelings with her? What kind of ghostly place is this? Did she fall into a bandit's den?

He Mu Li lifted his eyebrows and looked at the Nanny. He thought for a while and then replied. "So that is why I am bringing her back to cultivate feelings."

He automatically changed the words the Nanny said regarding pursuing the girl. He changed it to training a new swordsmith in his mind. Well, that sounded more pleasing to his ear.

People with this kind of talented skill were more troublesome to handle, so it would be better to treat them with courtesy and respect. If De Xue could really repair 'Hurricane', he did not mind fulfilling all her wishes. A talented person had to be cajoled. He understood the Nanny's meaning.

"That is great, Young Master. Old Master and Old Madame in heaven will be very happy when they know about this. Finally, our He Mu Family will have descendants." Hu Ma was deeply comforted and could not wait to immediately burn incense before the memorial tablets* of Old Master and Old Madame to report the good news.

(Memorial tablets are flat pieces of wood engraved with the names of the deceased, placed on the altar for family members to offer prayers. This is a simple tablet. The wealthy families usually have more elaborate ones.)

De Xue now only had the thought of 'let me die' floating in her head. The barbaric man actually said that he wanted to cultivate feelings with her! That Hu Ma was even more outrageous by saying 'He Mu Family finally will have descendants'! What has He Mu Family's descendants to do with her?

"Um......" He Mu Li answered.

After 20 long years, He Mu Family finally has a swordsmith again. Presumably, his parents will feel very happy in Heaven since 'Hurricane' is the most important precious sword in the Family.

***#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#***

In this way, De Xue was eagerly and fervently accepted into the Family and from then on lived in Hou Mansion.

Since the first day De Xue stepped into Hou Mansion, she had received excellent hospitality from the He Mu Family. Except for He Mu Li, everyone knew that she is the girl favored by Hou-ye. Hoy-ye likes her and had brought her back to cultivate feelings with her.

So Hu Ma and the Housekeeper ignored the fact that the two people did not have any status* nor were they engaged to be married and arranged for De Xue to stay in the west wing of He Mu Li's courtyard. They put into practice the idea of 'one who is on the balcony gets the moonlight first* and tried their best to bring the two people together.

(One who is on the balcony will get the moonlight first is a presumption that one will reap benefits or conveniences due to proximity to certain people.)

(Status is the relations.h.i.+p between the two leads. In ancient times, the family members of a rich household had their own private courtyards which housed their bedchambers, study room and their own private garden which was not accessible to anyone other than the family members. Guests would be put in a different section of the house grounds. So putting DX in HML's courtyard was inappropriate but this fact was ignored by his well-meaning servants. Since HML's parents had pa.s.sed away, the Nanny had taken upon herself to be responsible for HML. The Nanny in a rich household is respected, someone with authority and she usually stays with the Family to look after the children until she opts to retire or dies.)

Moreover, in order for them to spend more time and develop deep feelings for each other, Hu Ma also arranged for the two people to have their meals together every day.

Because He Mu Li believed that the Nanny should be a better person to understand the preferences of women and since he wanted to coax De Xue so that she would be willing to repair 'Hurricane' for him, he totally left everything to Hu Ma. He had expressed that as long as De Xue is happy, it will be alright.

When Hu Ma heard that she felt very gratified. She felt that this time, Young Master was serious about getting married and so she spent more effort in arranging everything painstakingly.

She called for the brocade retailers to send their collection of colorful satin, silk, and brocade to Hou Mansion for the tailor to make new clothes for De Xue. She also requested the jewelers to gather their precious gems and jewelry and the other retailers selling their rouge, powder, etc., to bring their goods to Hou Mansion. She wanted De Xue to dress well. She was very kind towards De Xue and took good care of her.

Hence, only after a few days of work, He Mu Li found that the kitten had changed totally. Huh.....how does one say? She became more beautiful. Hu Ma was really amazing.

After staying a few days in Hou Mansion under Hu Ma's tender care, De Xue who was originally fl.u.s.tered slowly became calm and settled down. She was now regarded as a guest and no longer had any grievances. Other than she could not move around freely, there was nothing that was disagreeable.

Therefore, she was gentler when facing He Mu Li which made him admire his Nanny very much. She was even able to tame the kitten.

"Have you thought of the way to repair 'Hurricane'? If you need anything just let me know and I will get everything ready as soon as possible."

This day, after they have had their lunch, He Mu Li had asked.

In the morning, he had settled all urgent military affairs that needed his attention and especially returned to Hou Mansion to have lunch with De Xue. He wanted to settle the matter of 'Hurricane' while De Xue's mood was good and solve the problem of repairing the sword as soon as possible.

"Do you think you want the sword repaired and it will be repaired? If it is so easy, then you can do the repairs yourself!" De Xue snorted and stared at him with her crystal eyes.

Today she is wearing a pink short-top embroidered with red plums and from her slender waist down is a long pleated white skirt embroidered with elegant flowers. Her hair was knotted up into a bun and sticking out of it was a plum blossom jadeite hairpin with a feather of pearls which was carefully selected for her by Hu Ma.

(Feather of pearls means it looks like long feathers dotted with pearls like the pattern of a peac.o.c.k's tail.)

Being dressed up like this, De Xue looked younger and prettier. The bright green hairpin matched up with the snow-white skin on her small face gave her a delicate and tender appearance. Hu Ma could see the Young Master studying the delicate face of De Xue with fascination and she was thinking their wedding should happen very soon.

He Mu Li could see through Hu Ma's careful arrangements.

"You dressed like this......" He suddenly spoke. He looked at De Xue and then paused.

"What? What is wrong?" De Xue's heart was suspended with his words.

Because De Xue's mother died during childbirth, so she was brought up by her father and he loved her dearly. But he is a man after all and there were many things he is incapable of. In addition, they had been living in the mountains all the time and so she had never had the opportunity to dress up nicely like this. Therefore, she could not help but attach great importance to He Mu Li's opinion.

"It's hard for you to repair weapons." He made a pertinent suggestion.

"It is hard to repair weapons?......" De Xue muttered repeating what he had just said. Then she gathered her thoughts and glared at him fiercely.

After spending so much time to dress up, this man only has 'Hurricane' in his head! He even disdained her for not being able to repair the sword in her attire.

"This Lady just does not want to help you repair your sword!" She was jumping mad. "Stinky man! Barbarian! You can hug your sword 'Hurricane' for the rest of your life!"

When Hu Ma heard the commotion inside, she quickly entered the flower pavilion* and heard the last sentence De Xue said.

(Flower pavilion is a living room away from the main reception hall of an old style residence usually built in the courtyard or garden of the residence.)

When De Xue saw Hu Ma coming in, she calmed down and blushed.

This old Nanny is very kind to her and she also knew that Hu Ma placed great importance on He Mu Li. She would always catch hold of De Xue and tell her all about his misdeeds during his childhood. Now she had scolded him and said that he is a stinky man and a barbarian which Hu Ma had heard, she felt ashamed and felt sorry to the old Nanny.

When Hu Ma saw the look on De Xue's face, she smiled and knew that De Xue did not say those words deliberately. In her heart, she thought the little girl is still young and recalled that when Old Madame was just married into the Family, she was also very 'high-spirited'. Moreover, De Xue's words also reflected the worries of Hu Ma.

"Young Master, not that I want to reprimand you. It is true that 'Hurricane' is very important but it can't keep you company for a lifetime." Hu Ma knew that the men in He Mu Family treat 'Hurricane' better than their wives. The Old Master was like this and now Young Master is also like this. Which girl will tolerate this?

"Hu Ma.......Of course, 'Hurricane' can keep me company for a lifetime. It had also accompanied my grandfather and my father for 2 lifetimes." He Mu Li had always been tolerant towards his Nanny, allowing her to scold him, allowing her to nag him and will never get angry with her.

*Cough*......."Young Master, what I mean is 'Hurricane' can't help you carry on your ancestral line!" She knew the Young Master's thoughts were forever disorganized regarding such matters, so Hu Ma had to clarify in simple words.

"But 'Hurricane' can be pa.s.sed on to my next generation, ah......."

"Then......Young Master, first of all you must have the next generation, ah!.!......"

Hu Ma had looked after him for so many years, how can he defeat her so easily?!