Didn't Know General Was Female Chapter 8

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The two of them stood in the sunset and fed the fish. For a moment, there was a sense that time stood still.

Rong Jiahui lazily rest her head at an angle on her propped elbow, concentrating on the group of koi scrambling to the feed. She can't stop thinking back to it; this fish is so valued, how could you eat it?

She turned her head to see Zhongli Luo engrossed in feeding the fish, and suddenly felt some envy towards people who can out for a stroll every day. For what reason should she obediently do as she's told, staying in the nest of her home all day, taking her n.o.blewoman's courses? It's so boring.

To be able to go anywhere… must be great.

Sensing the intense gaze coming through the side, Zhongli Luo felt like she was sitting on pins and needles. She turned her head only to see Rong Jiahui with her head propped up and eyes staring at her unwavering, face envious.

Noticing her own foolish countenance was seen, Jiahui's face went red. She violently twisted her head back, almost spraining her neck, and held her face, giving Zhongli Luo a good look of the back of her head, not daring to turn it back around.

Suddenly, she felt what seemed like something about to fall off her head. She was about to feel about for it when a sparkling, milky white object slid past her eyes. Rus.h.i.+ng to reach out and grab it, she missed, and the thing dropped straight into the water.

She was at a loss, and only after feeling about her head and knowing what she felt did she react. “That was… my hairpin?”

Grabbing about her hair, she confirms that her jade hairpin is missing. She must have swung her head with too much force…

Zhongli Luo is clearly more worried about it than she is. He throws out the rest of the fish food, quickly asking her, “Was it precious to you?”

Jiahui nodded. “Yeah, it's carved mutton fat jade, very precious. I've always liked it a lot, b-“

She hadn't yet finished talking when she saw the young man turn around and jump off the bridge's guardrail into the water below.

Dumbstruck, she quickly and silently had to choke down the sentence “but if it fell, it fell, it's not like I don't have more” back into her chest.

No wonder her mother told her grandmother to her face that this guy was naive. If this isn't naivete, then what is it? How can someone think a hairpin to be important enough to warrant going into the water to dredge it up?

She holds the railing as she looks at the many severely disturbed fish on the water's surface, and was suddenly somewhat worried. She of course knows that Zhongli Luo can swim like a duck, as he'd already fished her up and she's much bigger, but… this kid will rush into water to catch her very small and maybe already broken hairpin, so what else could he catch? If it's an illness, then that crime is all on her.

Thinking of this, she hurried shouted into the pond, “Hurry and come up! The water's filthy, I don't want that jade pin anyways!”

Seeing no response from the water's surface for a long time, Jiahui's mind thrashes around and teeth clenched. She puts a foot on the guardrail with the intention of jumping down to find him, whereupon she was stopped and pulled back by the maids. If this ancestor goes into the water again, every body of water in the residence will probably be filled in.

The pulled-back Jiahui stamps her feet to vent her anger, tearing off every sort of hair ornament from her head, feeling guilty as she did. What is all of this fancy nonsense she's wearing for? It's not as if she's putting on a one-woman show of precious jewelry. Can't she even be a bit free in her own home?! If young Brother Zhongli dies accidentally or something, she's going to have to suffer that pain all her life.

She breathed in through her nose, eyes red, and after collecting herself she glared at the maids at her side that had just picked all those things up. “What are you picking those up for?! Get someone to help him out, now!”

Just as the maids seemed to be waking up from a collective dream and were about to move like a rescue force, a hand suddenly appeared at the side of Jiahui's foot.

Becoming aware of a small noise from the deck, Jiahui quickly lowered her head to look, and soon after, the upper half of Zhongli Luo's body slowly emerged from the water.

She didn't wait for the pleasant surprise to happen before she started to pull him, and Zhongli Luo had since already jumped back over.

Zhongli Luo's head was lowered as he stood in front of Jiahui, every strand of his hair dripping wet like a water ghost. His hand looked as if it was closed around something. He secretly lifted his eyes to gauge Rong Jiahui's expression.

Rong Jiahui is also casual about this. Seeing the water on his face, she used her sleeve to help him wipe it off.

She scolded as she wiped. “How can there be someone like you alive today? You actually jumped in when I wasn't even done talking. That scared me half to death. How could a hairpin be that valuable? What would happen if you caught a cold?”

Zhongli Luo stared, then looked at his own clenched fist. “You seemed like you'd hate to part with it.”

Jiahui was stumped for words. This guy… is more foolish than she imagined.

She looked at Zhongli Luo, mouth in a flat line and heart squirming, tears filling her eyes soon after. She had lived to 24 in her past life, and absolutely no one had been this way with her. Jumping into the water to get a hairpin is without a doubt stupid, who does that? How could she ever be so attached to a hairpin? If it drops it drops, where's the emergency? But even if this is completely stupid, she wants to cry.

Zhongli Luo saw her looking like she wanted to cry but couldn't and thought that she missed her pin, and guiltily extended his hand out to her. “It's a shame it's broken.”

Rong Jiahui rubbed her eyes and stared at it to see the breakage. The plum blossom-shaped decoration was separated from the the hairpin's body, snapped into two sections.

Red-eyed, she still pulled out a smile. “It doesn't matter if it's broken. It can be fixed up with gold. A gold-inlaid jade hairpin… is pretty good.”

The hairpin is valuable when it's in a complete piece. With this break, even if gold is used to patch it up, its value will drop by several levels, and Rong Jiahui would have deigned not to look at it before.

But now, she receives the fractured jade as if it's a priceless treasure.

She beamed as she held the pin. “Thank you, Brother Zhongli. I've always liked this hairpin the most. My heart was about to break when it fell just now, but luckily you helped get it back. This is great, I'll send it to someone to fix later.”

Worried that she would be sad, Zhongli Luo sighed in relief. “That's good.”

Jiahui looked at his soaking wet clothes, and pulled his hand as she walked towards her residence. “Let's put the hairpin aside. You, ah… hurry and go back to wash up and change clothes. Don't catch a cold.”

After that, Jiahui said to Gu Yu, “You, run quick and tell them to get some hot water boiled, and if there already is some, bring it over.”

“Okay!”

After Gu Yu ran a few steps, she thought about it, then twisted back and asked Jiahui, “Young Mistress, what if it's for the Master or Madam's use?”

Jiahui's mouth pulled up. This silly girl. She can't figure out how this one is acting as one of her personal maids.

“Move it over too!”

Gu Yu nods. After running a few more steps, she asks again, “What if the Madam's attending Jade Sisters won't give it?”

“Shuang Jiang, go with Gu Yu!”

After Shuang Jiang pulls Gu Yu to run into the distance, Rong Jiahui says to Zhongli Luo with embarra.s.sment, “That fool maid of mine is so irritating. How ridiculous.”

Zhongli Luo waved it off. “It's no trouble. It's fine, in fact. I've always wanted to have a little brother or sister, just like you… if Gu Yu's a bit of ditz, you can rely on me to protect her.”

Rong Jiahui, “……”

She really can't read people clearly. This Gu Yu is the same sort as Qiu Fen, which isn't a good thing!

She can't stop from pouting. “She's foolish inside and out. You think she's pretty adorable from seeing her once, try being around her for a long time. You'd get so annoyed that you'd want to throw a couple knives at her.”

“Ah?” Zhongli Luo gave kind of a non-reply. Why did she say all that kind of unhappily?

Seeing Zhongli Luo still standing there like a fool, Jiahui gloomily dragged him away, her walking speed accelerating as well.

“Don't you, ah- hurry and take your bath for me!”