“It’s because…”
Oh, Mountains! He didn’t want to do this. “…It’s because you’re a warrior and huge.”
Never mind; he said it anyway. Fu Lin wanted to scuttle somewhere far away from this demon and bury himself alive so that he could die peacefully of suffocation before this man tore his limbs apart piece by piece. He wouldn’t mind dying as long as it’s not painful, you know?
Fu Lin did not dare to look at the General’s face right now. What if he gets provoked after looking at his face and says something like, “You dare raise your head after saying something so offensive?” But before he could worry about anything, the General’s fierce voice pierced his ears.
“Excuse me?!”
He… he looks really angry.
“What does my size have to do with you running away?”
Fu Lin had to clutch at the wall behind him to stop the jiggle in his legs and keep himself upright. This man had the power to bring people to their knees by just standing there—what an oppressive aura. Fu Lin wanted to evade the question. He couldn’t possibly tell the General that he’d done everything he did, and the General’s size bothered him because he was too much of a chicken.
Fu Lin opened his mouth helplessly to lie his way out of it. However, just as he was about to do so, he saw the lock-like eyes of the General, which usually seem so dead-set on their duty, were now unforgivingly set on him.
“Please don’t look at me like that,” Fu Lin thought as he gulped. “I might shit my pants, you know?”
And so, before he knew it, the truth had flowed out of his mouth. “You… you’re huge, right?”
What?! What had he done? What in the rat’s ass has he done? “Look at those hands; they’re like elephant feet!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Yt Vtla! Vbwfybvs…jcsybvs, rjnf tlw! Lf vlvc’a kjca ab rjs atja. Qts kjr tlr wbeat jikjsr rb ibbrf? Me Olc rlifcais yfujc rfjgmtlcu lc tlr wlcv obg atf yfra ugjnf ibmjalbc obg tlr ybvs ab gfra qfjmfoeiis joafg atf Xfcfgji kjr vbcf klat tlw.
“P tjnf jikjsr yffc r—rmjgfv bo qfbqif ktb’gf ragbcufg atjc wf yfmjerf atfs mbeiv fjrlis ygfjx jc jgw bg akb jcv P’v yf vlrjyifv obg ilof, rb P ags ab rajs jkjs ogbw atfw jr wemt jr qbrrlyif. P wfjc, P vlv xcbk sbe kfgf jc Pwqfglji Xfcfgji jcv atfgfobgf wera yf rbwfktja ijguf, yea P vlvc’a atlcx sbe’v ibbx atlr ragbcu.”
Fu Lin did not know what he said beyond that. He’d probably spouted some bullshit that’d embarrass himself for a lifetime anyway; he never actually considered digging himself a grave and burying himself within it as he did now. Sure, he had always been a coward, and his actions were openly parallel with that notion. Everybody around him knew what a chicken he was.
But never in his life did he have to explain how lame he was through his own mouth in front of another person. Not even his royal brothers had interrogated him this badly. All he knew right now was that he had done what probably nobody in their lifetime would ever want to do anyway.
Give a five-minute speech about how pathetic they were, that is.
He closed his eyes and resigned himself to his fate. It’s fine. It’s fine if he lost an arm… or two.
No, it wasn’t! He didn’t want to lose an arm or two! But this demon might cleave his head off if he didn’t let him have his revenge. So he kept standing, shaking and shivering at the thought of walking around without an arm or a leg—or maybe both legs.
But several minutes passed in succession, and nothing happened. The main hall had gone eerily silent, and just as Fu Lin kept on fluttering about in fright like a leaf caught in the wind, the General too stood still like a silent iceberg.
Don’t tell him… that the General was offended about being called “elephant hands?”
Wait, that was an exaggeration on his part. No, um, a slight exaggeration maybe? Fu Lin considered his hands… they were bigger than the average person or even a warrior, no matter how one looked at them. That was when he saw that the General had his hands balled up—as if he were about to smash somebody’s head.
Startled, Fu Lin whipped his head up to look at the General’s face. His face…looked deadly. And the gaze with which he looked at Fu Lin was like he was something that he didn’t want to exist in the world. Such venomous and undisguised hate.
What did he do to deserve something so horrible? Was him being a coward something that warranted such fury?
He didn’t know why, but even before he knew it, subconsciously he had opened his mouth to apologise, “I am sor—”
“Don’t bother.” Fu Lin flinched at the sheer disgust enunciated through every word of the General, “I have no regard for the apology or worthless words that might come from the lips of a coward.”
Fu Lin shut his mouth and fell into contemplation. What’s he so pissed about? Why does he look at him like he stole half his fortune and took a dump on his food plate or something? He didn’t know what was happening, and he didn’t know what the high and mighty General was thinking. But he wanted to know why he was getting hated this badly.
“Imperial General,” he called hesitantly, “Why… do you seem so angry?”
The General nearly blew up in fury and glared at him, seething. “You’re asking me? What an absolute piece of—.” He struggled as if he’s unable to say the dishonourable word and finally gave up. “Do you have any idea what depravity you’ve brought to the Zhou family’s reputation? Never in my entire life did I face the scorn and contempt of those around me as I did within these two days that I got married to you. Whatever remnant of dignity I held as a General has been sullied, and whatever honour I had as a man has been buried in the mounds. Satisfied, Your Highness, the Seventh Prince? Do I need a better reason to hate you, perhaps?”
When Fu Lin heard these words hurled at him, he almost hooted out in laughter. He looked at the General. Whatever respect Fu Lin for him as the man who risked his life for his country, dissolved into the abyss.
What respect? Fu Lin scorned him in his mind.
He was no different from those ministers who tried to suck face with his father, the Emperor of Silver Mountain, by going on and on about honour, reputation, and such shit. He had always despised those who put on a show of being magnanimous and honourable for the sake of it. They would speak, act, and uphold dignity in front of a crowd and hold bargains with the devil and engage in debauchery behind people’s backs. It was a well-designed facade that nobles loved to engage in. What reputation? They pretend they’re all that worried about reputation when, in actuality, they want nothing but to spit in their superior’s faces and not give a flying fart about dignity.
He found the honesty of a butcher who cusses every day and lives his life with sincerity towards himself much more endearing than the shitty ministers who act all mighty, worrying about how people saw them instead of who they actually were. They were hypocritical, with not an ounce of actual propriety or loyalty.
Just like this man—the General. He obviously wanted to call him a ‘piece of shit’ just now, but didn’t. Typical of ‘honourable men’ without any sense of integrity that comes from a place of genuine loyalty.
“Oh yes, there is something else I want to tell you.”
Fu Lin’s thought process broke down when he heard the General’s voice. He looked at him fearfully, because even if he were to lose respect for him within himself, the man was thrice his size and could crush him with one hand, so his cowardly nature was acting up again.
“From today onwards, you are grounded within the house for a month until you prove yourself to be trustworthy enough for me to not think you’d start running away the moment you’re let out.
Also, if you think my mood or feelings will ever affect your life here, you’re very wrong. I am an honourable man who is respectful enough to feed and house his spouse and fulfil your physical needs.”
With that, he turned to walk away. Fu Lin felt something very ugly churning within himself as he watched his back go.
‘Honourable man’?
Ha! The hate wasn’t just the General’s to bear.
The feeling is mutual.
I’ve brought Fu Lin’s perspective of things here because, the last chapter we’ve covered the General’s feelings about Fu Lin. (￣▽￣)ノ And really, it’s just a dog eat dog situation between them right now.(づ◡﹏◡)づ I saw some interesting questions in last chapter’s comments. So ladies and gentleman, IT’S TIME to lay down your theories! And what are your thoughts about Fu Lin so far? Do you like him or… dislike him??
Thank you for reading and commenting! (つ≧▽≦)つ I’ll be back with the next chapter on Wednesday.
Merry Christmas everyone!
To our lovely KoTo, thank you for today’s chapter!! 🩷🫶
Getting Fu Lin’s POV was a good move, though quite surprising. His thought process is very different than what I would’ve expected ; he has more hate/judgment than I expected him to have ahah.
Concerning my feelings surrounding his character, it isn’t quite fixed yet. Seeing how full of prejudice he seemingly is, it makes me curious about his background. He is more cunning than I expected him to be, and isn’t forgiving AT ALL in his thoughts. XD
I would say that for now, I don’t really like him. He does make me laugh, but I find him to be quite immature, as he is there to represent both peace AND his country. Plus, he keeps on taking hasty decisions without being realistic ; quite the impulsive man!
All in all.. good luck to them both, gotta figure things out, boys!! 😭
They’ll soon(?) become the definition of “never judge a book by its cover” (right, Fu Lin?) & opposite attracts. I’m so curious about how you’ll deal with them getting closer and letting go of their prejudices.
Thank you so much for Fu Lin’s POV. Now that I can understand his character properly, as the seventh prince, people loved to feed him in his country, so he became somewhat less of a useful person and a spoiled brat.And both the general and Fu Lin are being prejudiced about each other, thinking the other person might be just like everyone else, and this is how people actually think in real life. I really am liking this novel so much. Thank you for the update.
For some reason, Fu Lin is…very annoying/frustrating. Maybe because I am more like the General in real life, so a person like Fu Lin is making me see the haha. Well that’s good, the General and I are going through the same emotions, so I will be understanding the story through his perspective.
Thank you very much for the update 🍀
The audacity to come to a new place and expect everyone to treat him like how he was treated at home?
I’m really believing he actually might be dumb. He might think badly about the ministers obsessed with honour, but he can’t even seem to differentiate a farce with common human decency.
The general is being too kind in my opinion lol.
I just generally despise people who do things without considering how it would affect others. I don’t even care that he’s the biggest coward, it’s his selfish nature and how he can’t seem to see other’s perspective is what’s bothering me so far 😅. So I’m honestly just pissed off at the character (props to the writer’s talent for making me feel so strongly 👍).
I’m praying to the BL gods that his personality improves.
Nah man Fu Lin not mah cup of tea 😭 but I’ll give him a chance coz he’s our Main lead.
General is very stiff in his beliefs , but he’s rational too . Which would make communication much easier then talking to Spoiled brat.
Prince the type of person rather than helping they make mess out of it . 🤦
Condolences my General.
People like this 🦟 is really annoying to deal with in real life.. They do things without thinking of the consequences and often drag others down with themselves..