Didn't Know General Was Female Chapter 11

[No drunk shenanigans here, folks. Sorry if you were looking forward to that!
Be sure to read this on chichilations. Reposts are not allowed at any time.]

12-ish-year-old girls always grow very fast, and the 12-year-old Rong Jiahui finally started to grow out of her short plumpness she'd always hated before. Just a few months of effort, and she turned drew out at the age of 13, no longer seeming to be herself from when she was 12 and finally starting to look like a maiden.

It's just a pity, she thinks as she looks resentfully at Zhongli Luo beside her at the table. She's getting tall, but this person's never stopped. Though she's growing a bit quicker, she's still a lot shorter than him like before.

Is it because he eats more? She thinks so as she looks at the second bowl of food he's eating.

She was immediately a bit tempted to go get another bowl, but she looked at her still-round waist and forgot about it. She's really afraid of become a fat ball.

She looked at Zhongli Luo's distinct pigging-out appearance and bit her chopsticks, asking resentfully, “You eat so much every day. How come you're not fat?”

Zhongli Luo's hands paused, and he questioned her with a distressed face, “I've been thinking about this problem all the time, too. Do you think I'm too thin, Jiahui? I don't know why. I eat a lot, but I only grow up, not out.”

He'd barely said this when there was a bang sound, Jiahui's chopsticks being slammed onto the table for some unknown reason. Seeing Zhongli Luo jump in fright, Jiahui had to hang up a smile on her face, explaining, “I wasn't being careful, not at all.”

Jiahui grabbed the clean chopsticks a maid handed over, but couldn't eat another bite.

Must be great for him to be lacking in that department. Why does she have to get fatter if she eats more, and find it hard to lose that weight?! She stroked her round chin, feeling wronged.

But that can be put to the side for the time being, she still has something she wants to say. She pulled at the sleeves of the still-eating Zhongli Luo and said in a small voice, “Come with me to the Lantern Festival!”

“Where's that?”

Blockhead!

Rong Jiahui keeps down her temper, her voice as warm and soft as before. “On the mainstreet, of course. Have you never taken a walk to see the lanterns?”

Zhongli Luo shook her head. Her upbringing had been very strict, and she'd really never taken a stroll, but… as far as these novelties go, she's a bit curious.

“What does it look like? Tell me about it.”

After Jiahui stared for a long time, she had to honestly admit that: “I've never been, either.”

There's no night curfew on the Lantern Festival, the mainstreet filled with unusual liveliness as people come and go, but at the same time there's crooked fish mixed with honest dragons. Her parents weren't at ease at all and never let her go. She herself was frightened by her parents' made-up stories and didn't dare to go. With great difficulty, as she grew up, her courage also fattened up, but she ended up turning her head and getting married. What would a young married woman go aimlessly mixing about with others for?

Zhongli Luo looked at her expectant face and proceeded to nod. “Okay.”

Seeing him agree, Jiahui elatedly rushed to her parents like a little kid. Though Zhongli Luo is thin, he can inexplicably make elders feel at ease, so Jiahui insists on pulling him along.

Sure enough, Rong Chen and Mrs. Yu only said a few words on not running around w.i.l.l.y-nilly, and to bring a bit more helpers just to be safe.

However, on the night of the Lantern Festival, as Jiahui watched a certain tagalong, she can't help but think dejectedly; why did mom and dad insist on them bringing Rong Jiaze along? If they were only coming out to play it'd be fine, but babysitting is babysitting!

On the mainstreet during the Festival, it really was as filled with liveliness as she'd always imagined. Every type of lantern imaginable was hung up all around the city, the lightshow making the night sky invisible. There were also all kinds of sideshows lining the street, like and other interesting acts.

Stepping down from the carriage, Rong Jiahui looked here and there, eyes like a child's and filled with unending curiosity. She looked through the thousands of different-looking lanterns, wishing only that she could bring them back. After being choosy, she bought three patterned lanterns and gave one each to Zhongli Luo and Rong Jiaze, dragging the both of them to randomly walk everywhere. The maids followed very close behind, fearing that if they weren't careful they'd wander off.

Jiahui and Jiaze truly deserve to be called siblings of the same mother; whenever they caught sight of snacks being sold they stopped in their tracks. They originally sat down to eat them, but afterwards, when they thought no one recognized them, they stopped caring and ate as they walked.

However, when Jiahui turned around to look at the empty-handed Zhongli Luo, she thought: what's the sense in having him go hungry when they're eating their fill? So she raised her paper bag to him, “They're chestnut puffs. Do you want one?”

“This…”

Seeing him get embarra.s.sed, she takes out a piece and shakes in front of his eyes. “Here. It's sweet.”

Watching the chestnut puff put right up to her mouth, she's forced to cautiously avoid Jiahui's fingers as she takes a bite of it. She's really thankful that it's nighttime, and even with the bright candlelight, and no one can see the dark red washing out her face now.

The chestnut puff… really is sweet.

Jiaze was watching on the sidelines with resentment, overwhelmingly envious. He pulled at his older sister's sleeve and said childishly, “I want to eat too!”

Jiahui gave him a blank look. “The ones you have aren't any different than mine!”

Jiaze wrinkled his nose in thought. Lowering his head and eyeing the paper bag he held in reluctance to part with it, he then clapped it into into Zhongli Luo's arms. Jiahui smiled like a buffoon.

She pat him on the head, praising, “My little brother has finally grown up, knowing how to share. Good boy.”

Saying that, Jiahui took out a chestnut puff, and Jiaze promptly opened his mouth in perfect contentment, only for her to swivel her hand around and stuff it into her own mouth.

She then turned around to keep on with her stroll. Jiaze's mouth flattened, having no choice but to s.n.a.t.c.h back his bag from Zhongli Luo while giving her a glare.

Zhongli Luo, looking at these two clowns, can't help but lightly chuckle.

This was the first time the neighboring few young maids and rich young ladies had seen such a pretty young man, and they instantly turn uncontrollably red, almost running into lantern stalls, a few sisters pushing and shoving, but all are too shy, none daring to step forward.

Noticing that their group was leaving, a bold young lady pushed away the hand of a maid that wanted to block her and jogged in front of Zhongli Luo. The young girl is only 14 or 15 years old and heart-movingly radiant, face pointed upwards with a small dab of blush and thin amount of sweat. She's obviously nervous, her entire person shaking a bit.

“Young Master…” the maiden gently called, voice trembling slightly.

Zhongli Luo looked at her with puzzlement, the look in his eyes hinting that she should say what she came to say.

The maiden received encouragement from her look, stammering out, “Th… this sl… sla… slave…”

Watching her ‘sl-slslave' for half a day, Jiahui called out impatiently from the side. “Does this… big sister have something to say or what.”

The maiden lowered her head, and after a moment of hesitation, roused up enough courage to take the jade ornament at her waist off. “This slave knows her body is weak as willow's and doesn't match with a person like Young Master. She doesn't dare make any unreasonable requests, only asking that Young Master accepts this and keeps it to remember her heart by. Then, this slave could die at ease.”

The lady's maid had finally run up to her side at this moment, and seeing her like this, said anxiously, “Fourth Young Miss, you absolutely cannot do this! If this spreads around, your reputation will be gone!”

The young lady is someone of pa.s.sionate personality. She stamped her feet and told the maid, “So what if it is?!”

A beautiful man is seriously a source of trouble!

A nameless fire immediately set in Rong Jiahui's gut. She pushed away Zhongli Luo who was standing there stupid and rushed at the girl. “Take back your lousy trinket, he's already engaged. And yeah, it's to me, the one right in front of you. You dared have the idea to go for my fiancé, yet did you ever ask me for my opinion?”

Hearing that, Rong Jiaze couldn't help but cry out, “Sis!”

Jiahui turned her head and gave him a glare, hinting that he should shut up.

The girl was greatly humiliated. When she'd looked at this group of three before, she'd believed it was a big brother with his little brother and sister.

After all, when she looked at Rong Jiahui's very pretty, yet chubby and childish appearance, other possibilities hadn't occurred to her.

Jiahui saw that measuring, slightly doubting gaze of hers, got annoyed, and decisively took Zhongli Luo's hand. “We were childhood sweethearts, how could we not be betrothed since then? Really, I can see that your family background is pretty good, being a concubine wouldn't be below you in our family. Too bad I'm not interested in being a good little wife and only want to be roaring lioness of one. If you're so shameless again, don't blame me for being rude.”

Jiahui's words are a bit unpleasant, and the maiden is a Young Miss of a wealthy family, so hearing someone talk like this promptly made her feel too ashamed to see people. She covered her face, burst into tears, and ran off crying.

Seeing that, Jiaze pulled repeatedly at Jiahui's clothes. “Sis, could you not be so mean? Look, she's crying.”

Jiahui unhappily glared at him. “Huh. You see a good-looking family girl, and you get protective towards girls, hm?”

Jiaze quickly shook his head. “No, I'm not.”

Jiahui noticed that she still had Zhongli Luo's hand and quickly pulled away, drawing out a slightly stiff smile. “I thought you wouldn't like getting tangled up with others, so I acted on a whim.”

Zhongli Luo raised his hand, and after hesitating for a brief moment, stroked her head. “You mustn't say stuff like that again.”

Jiahui was startled hearing that. This is… yet another mistake she's made, isn't it.. That girl had been beautiful and Zhongli Luo liking her would have been completely normal, but she acted like a dheog catching the cat's mice and stuck her nose where it didn't belong.

She had taken fiction as fact when she thought to transfer Zhongli Luo into her own belongings, simultaneously disallowing him from coveting anyone, yet she never once thought about what he would be thinking.

“I'm sorry,” she said in a small voice.

Her voice is very light, but Zhongli Luo still heard it. She sighed, saying whole-heartedly, “Jiahui, you don't always have to be apologizing to me. You really did fix that problem for me; it was my first time experiencing something like that and couldn't react much at all, so I thank you, but… you're a girl, and an engaged one. If others knew about you saying that, it wouldn't be good for your reputation.”

Oh. Jiahui stared. It's actually because… he's worried about her reputation?

The still-chestnut-puff-eating Rong Jiaze nodded right then. “Sis, this is the first time I think he's saying something reasonable-ish.”

Rong Jiahui's good-looking face goes red, and she viciously smashed the chestnut puffs in her hands into Jiaze's own face. “d.a.m.n brat! Shut up!” she roars.

However, as she stroked the hair hanging at the sides of her cheeks, she had a second thought. Her wedding contract with the Director of the Board of Rites' family is something she should think up a way to get abolished soon.

The author says: I'm dead. Tomorrow, I've determined to finish the early stage slice-of-life _(:з」∠)_ Into the main subject!