Hi! I just want to give you a heads up. In the first few chapters everyone thinks that the ML, Ying Wutu, is a woman, but everyone refers to him as a “he” anyways. The author probably wanted to avoid confusion later on. Now I will let you read~
However, the torches outside the Jiang family army camp remained lit.
Inside the camp, people were raising their cups and drinking merrily.
This war had lasted a full six months and was extremely difficult.
Jiang Shouzhu, the General, called The Female Eagle of Jin State, led an army of 100,000 soldiers and should have swept through the enemy in half a month with overwhelming force. However, the enemy commander used guerrilla tactics[mfn]tactics, in which small groups of people create ambushes, do hit-and-run attacks and so on. You can call it petty warfare[/mfn] to drag the inevitable on for six months.
Although the final result was a great victory, Jiang Shouzhu had a tough time over the past six months. In the early stages, she often led her troops directly into battle, but saw no sign of the enemy, only to be ambushed later. Fortunately, her soldiers were as brave as she was, and even though they retreated early on, they were not severely harmed.
As a result, she had to re-evaluate the enemy’s tactics, focusing mainly on studying the cunning enemy commander, Ying Wutu, who had multiple strategies up his sleeve.
She thought about it during the day, at night, and even in her dreams.
No! It’s not tactics she was thinking about in her dreams!
Jiang Shouzhu wielded a heavy sword and had faced Ying Wutu three times in direct combat.
The first time, she knocked off Ying Wutu’s helmet with one stroke, and his waterfall-like long hair flowed in the wind.
Both of them were momentarily stunned.
Jiang Shouzhu had never imagined that under the heavy armor, the young General Ying would be so handsome, and at that moment when his hair scattered, his expression… was it shyness?
But Jiang Shouzhu only paused for a moment before her next strike sent Ying Wutu tumbling off his horse.
In that battle, Ying Wutu still escaped. His figure vanished like smoke in the battlefield’s haze.
He had pre-dug a tunnel and led his soldiers into it. The tunnel automatically collapsed behind them. Despite escaping in disarray, he managed to keep his life.
That night, Jiang Shouzhu had a strange dream.
She dreamed of pressing Ying Wutu beneath her, roughly grabbing his long hair and forcing him to look up at her.
She saw tears filling Ying Wutu’s trembling eyes and noticed his slightly parted red lips, mumbling something.
She leaned in to listen…
“Gently… please…”
Jiang Shouzhu finally realized what she was doing!
She woke up with a start!
Crazy, truly crazy!
Who was Ying Wutu? He was her enemy! The enemy who had given her the first taste of defeat in her twenty years of life!
Although it was a minor defeat, caught off guard by surprise attacks.
But Jiang Shouzhu never made excuses for her failures; she was determined to defeat Ying Wutu!
So why did she have this strange dream tonight?
Ying Wutu was clearly a woman.
Not even a trace of masculinity.
Jiang Shouzhu wasn’t a person driven by desire. Could it be that being away from home for so long, without her attendants, had left her feeling frustrated?
But there had been longer periods away from home, so why this strange dream now?
She had never been obsessed with such things.
Angry, Jiang Shouzhu dragged her heavy sword out of the tent. Even though it was still dark, she began practicing her swordsmanship furiously in the camp.
The fifty-pound heavy sword whirled with a fierce wind, but Jiang Shouzhu’s ears kept replaying Ying Wutu’s gasps from the dream, and that plea—”Gently.”
The heavy sword plunged into the ground, and Jiang Shouzhu wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve.
Why “gently”?
She had four delicate young male attendants at home, chosen by her mother or gifted by the emperor. Occasionally, she would summon them, but she was rough and unrefined, even in this aspect.
In other words, she only cared about her own pleasure and didn’t consider others’ feelings.
Even if the delicate young men begged for mercy, she would at most coax them with words but never stop.
Jiang Shouzhu pulled herself out of her memories, gripping the hilt of her heavy sword. She pulled the sword from the ground, the loose soil spilling out with the motion. At that moment, she thought:
If she were to do that with Ying Wutu, would he beg for mercy too?
He wasn’t delicate.
He seemed quite resilient!
Jiang Shouzhu didn’t tell anyone about this because she felt ashamed.
Military regulations prohibited anyone from bringing men to avoid disrupting the morale.
Jiang Shouzhu led by example, pretending she never had that dream.
Until the second confrontation with Ying Wutu.
Riding on horseback, she forced Ying Wutu to the edge of a cliff, striking his armor with her sword.
Ying Wutu’s armor shattered into pieces, revealing the golden silk undergarment and the layers of… bandages around his slender neck?
Why would a woman like Ying Wutu wrap her neck?
Typically, only young men would wrap their necks because the Adam’s apple is private, not to be seen by anyone but their wife.
Just as Jiang Shouzhu thought she could end the war this time, Ying Wutu used a pre-prepared zip line to escape.
The zip line was short but very fast, and the bandages around Ying Wutu’s neck fluttered in the wind like a ribbon waving at Jiang Shouzhu.
By the time Jiang Shouzhu dismounted and cut the zip line with her sword, Ying Wutu had already escaped, covering his neck.
He escaped again!
However, after this battle, Ying Wutu’s defeat was certain; he had only 3,000 elite soldiers left.
From a numerical perspective, as long as Jiang Shouzhu surrounded the mountain and gradually tightened the encirclement to search the mountain, catching Ying Wutu would be like catching a turtle in a jar.
She wanted to capture him alive!
That night, she had another strange dream.
In the dream, she unwrapped the bandages around Ying Wutu’s neck, layer by layer. Although Ying Wutu resisted fiercely, he was no match for Jiang Shouzhu.
Just as the last layer of bandage was about to slip off his fair neck, Ying Wutu suddenly grabbed his own throat, preferring to strangle himself rather than let Jiang Shouzhu see.
Such determination.
Jiang Shouzhu easily pried Ying Wutu’s hands away and saw it clearly.
Ying Wutu had an Adam’s apple!
In the latter part of the dream, Jiang Shouzhu was choking Ying Wutu’s neck with one hand while doing something intensely pleasurable.
Of course, she was immensely strong, choking Ying Wutu until his eyes rolled back, bringing him back from the brink of death several times.
Until the absurd dream ended.
Jiang Shouzhu felt something was wrong. She suspected that the cunning Ying Wutu had used some kind of bewitching drug on her, so she called the military doctor to check her.
She wasn’t poisoned or ill.
Their third confrontation was at dawn today.
Jiang Shouzhu finally analyzed the terrain and deduced the hiding place of Ying Wutu and his remaining troops.
Ying Wutu’s defeat was certain; Jiang Shouzhu only needed to wait for the right moment.
When all of Ying Wutu’s escape routes were cut off, he had no choice but to surrender.
As he surrendered, Ying Wutu removed his armor, his hair disheveled, holding his sword above his head with both hands. Barefoot in the snow, he wore only thin inner garments and walked step by step towards Jiang Shouzhu.
Jiang Shouzhu, mounted on her tall horse, looked down at the cunning little rabbit approaching her.
Ying Wutu kept his head down, his vision filled with white. Uncontrollable tears trickled down his cheeks, leaving small pits in the snow.
In the end, he was still defeated, still couldn’t beat her.
Even when he knelt before her, Ying Wutu kept his back straight, his voice trembling but still loudly pleading, “I have surrendered. I beg General Jiang to spare my soldiers’ lives.”
After he finished speaking, without waiting for Jiang Shouzhu’s response, he suddenly raised his head, drawing a short sword from its sheath.
As the blade flashed, Jiang Shouzhu, mounted on her horse, had already drawn her bow, the arrow aimed squarely at Ying Wutu’s brow.
She knew that the cunning Ying Wutu wouldn’t surrender so easily.
She didn’t want to kill Ying Wutu with an arrow; she wanted to capture him alive.
But in the next moment, Ying Wutu, instead of moving forward to assassinate her, turned the blade towards his own neck.
He was about to commit suicide!
With a “whoosh,” the arrow left the string but missed by a fraction.
It didn’t aim for his brow, but his palm.
The arrow pierced through Ying Wutu’s right palm, causing the short sword in his hand to fly into the snow and disappear.
Jiang Shouzhu lowered her bow, the echo of the bowstring still in her ears. She leaped off her horse and walked step by step towards Ying Wutu.
“You are my prisoner. Without my permission, you are not allowed to die.”
At that moment, a heavy snowfall began, swirling and engulfing the sky and earth.
Snowflakes fell into the torches, disappearing in an instant.
Ying Wutu watched as the rival he had fought for half a year approached him. He lowered his head, staring at the arrow-pierced palm, blood dripping onto the snow like blooming red plum blossoms.
Ying Wutu shook his head, letting out a cold laugh, and suddenly stabbed the arrow into his own chest.
Jiang Shouzhu, with her sharp eyes, saw Ying Wutu’s movement. She thought he was making a desperate last attack and was ready to kick him away, but to her surprise, Ying Wutu was determined to die!
Ying Wutu coughed up a mouthful of blood, his voice muddled as he whispered three words, “Jiang… Shouzhu…”
His teeth clenched.
These were genuine words of blood and tears.
Even in death, he wanted to remember the name of the woman who defeated him.
Jiang Shouzhu rarely showed her emotions, and her face revealed nothing. She immediately ordered the military doctor to stop Ying Wutu’s bleeding and treat his wounds.
She knew Ying Wutu wouldn’t die; the arrow pierced his right hand, which had little strength left, so the injury shouldn’t be too severe… right?
It was already late at night, and the Jiang family army’s victory celebration had been going on since the afternoon.
Just now, when Jiang Shouzhu sent someone to ask, the military doctor replied that Ying Wutu hadn’t woken up yet.
He couldn’t really be dead, could he?
Jiang Shouzhu absentmindedly played with the short sword in her hand.
This was Ying Wutu’s sword, made entirely of black iron, sharp enough to cut hair. She had it retrieved from the snow.
Just then, another soldier came to offer a toast, and Jiang Shouzhu put down the short sword, raised her cup, and drank it all.
Her empty cup was refilled with wine. At that moment, the military doctor ran in from the entrance of the tent, leaning down to whisper in Jiang Shouzhu’s ear, “General, that person has woken up, but…”
The military doctor hesitated, looking troubled.
Jiang Shouzhu pressed, “But what?”
Could he have tried to commit suicide again? Or did he escape?
Hadn’t they already chained Ying Wutu up? With his injuries, what else could he do?
The military doctor gritted his teeth, lowering his voice so only they could hear.
“He… he’s a man!”
The cup on the table overturned.
Jiang Shouzhu suddenly stood up.
Everyone in the tent stopped drinking and looked at her.
Jiang Shouzhu casually inserted the short sword into her belt and said calmly, “Continue eating and drinking. I’m going out to sober up.”
As Jiang Shouzhu walked out of the tent, she found the wind and snow had intensified. She walked towards the tent where Ying Wutu was being held, undeterred by the weather.
The tent flap opened, and the wind and snow rushed in before Jiang Shouzhu, almost extinguishing the charcoal fire inside.
Jiang Shouzhu waved her hand, signaling the guards to leave.
Her usually stoic face now showed a mix of complex emotions.
Three parts shock, three parts hostility, three parts joy, and one part… admiration.
She played with the short sword in her hand as she walked towards the bed.
Ying Wutu’s wrists and ankles were chained to the bedposts. He wore only underpants, with his upper body bare except for the bandages wrapped around half of his chest. The rest of his body was exposed, especially the Adam’s apple on his neck, which moved up and down nervously as he swallowed.
Jiang Shouzhu reached the bed, her aggressive gaze unabashedly scanning Ying Wutu from head to toe, inside and out.
Ying Wutu tried to avoid her gaze, wanting to curl up, but his struggles only made the chains clink.
He closed his eyes in despair, lowering his head and shoulders, trying to expose as little of his body as possible.
The next moment, Jiang Shouzhu grabbed Ying Wutu’s chin, forcing him to look up. When her fingers lightly touched his Adam’s apple, she felt him trembling.
“Are you afraid? I heard you’re a man? Let me check…”
Before Jiang Shouzhu could finish her sentence, her fingers hadn’t even reached his chest when she suddenly groaned.
Her hand had been bitten.
Bitten by Ying Wutu!
