The First Mix-First Volume Dragon Gate Inn Second Volume The Country of Daughters Chapter 19 General Worry-Free

  The most frustrating thing in the world is being surrounded by a group of "perverts" and yet no one pays attention to me. I'm baffled, even someone like Wu Yin has people who are interested in her, but a handsome guy like me doesn't have anyone interested... I'm so fed up with this country of women!

  Three knocks and two knocks, when we arrived at the city gate, it was already closed. The soldiers guarding the city were patrolling on the city wall with torches in hand. Seeing someone approaching, they immediately shouted: "Who is it?"

  Ma Jing took out a token and shouted loudly: "Open the door, we are Fei Feng Army!"

  "Ah yo." The person on the city wall shouted, hastily ran down, simply checked Ma Jing's token, nodded and let down the drawbridge to let us in. Ma Jing didn't get off his horse, just slightly nodded at the guarding officer and soldier, then urged his horse to move forward.

  I couldn't help but whisper: "Wow, Feifeng Army is so powerful?"

  Ma Jing said with a smile: "What's this? Not to mention entering the city, even the Women's Country is not a place that our Flying Phoenix Army can't go."

  This is my second time in the capital of Women's Country, and it's not yet curfew. The city is still brightly lit, and the inns, restaurants, and night markets are welcoming the last wave of customers. Men and women in fine clothes are hurrying to and fro, creating a scene of prosperity. It seems that Women's Country is currently at the height of its power. Occasionally, a group of ordinary soldiers on patrol would walk towards us, and upon seeing Ma Jing and the others, they would quietly move aside. However, I couldn't help but take a few more glances at a man who was mixed in with the group. I'm afraid of being misunderstood again, so I quickly lowered my head... If I were to be mistaken for that criminal again, I'd rather die than go through that ordeal!

  Ma Jing saw that the sky had completely darkened, and hastily said: "Sisters, slow down, I'll go inform them. And then told me: "The general's military duties are busy, it seems that you won't be able to see him today." With that, he urged his horse to leave.

  I strolled slowly with the remaining female soldiers on the street, where young women in luxurious clothes appeared from time to time. They all looked ambiguous and it was not difficult to guess their purpose for going out anywhere. However, this is a matriarchal society, so although they would eventually do the same thing, "selling" became "buying". I couldn't help but think with a smile: "If I could bring men from outside in, wouldn't they be thrilled to death? The girls here are too easy to handle! However, I don't know if they will develop psychological shadows after realizing they were being whored. Men can sometimes be quite fragile, some would rather spend 50 yuan on an old and faded woman to satisfy their desires than have a young, beautiful, and wealthy woman ask them to be kept."

  As I was lost in thought, several horses came galloping towards me. The people on the horses were all wearing Fei Feng Jun military uniforms. They rushed forward at high speed and didn't slow down even when they reached my side. Just as it seemed like they would collide with my horse, the warhorse raised its front hooves high in the air. A female general who was leading them had a calm expression and asked: "Is Long Yang here?" I said: "I am."

  The woman spoke with a serious expression: "Follow me, the general wants to see you." A female officer who followed her said: "Isn't this Zhao Wei, is the general going to summon Long Yang tonight?" Zhao Wei nodded and said: "Yes, ladies, General Ma has already finished his report, please go back and rest!" The female officer bowed and said: "Then we'll trouble Zhao Wei, we bid farewell."

  Zhao Huwei returned a courtesy, looked at me and said, "Let's go." He led the way in front, and this group of women walked quickly, all carrying long knives, more solemn than Ma Jing and her companions. I rode my horse, stumbling and staggering behind them, and after running for about half an hour, my stomach was almost turned upside down when we finally arrived at our destination. Suddenly, I looked up to see that we had already arrived in front of a magnificent mansion with a deep red gate, on which there were three large golden characters that I recognized as "Jiangjun Fu" (General's Mansion). On one side of the gate, there were 16 door nails the size of human heads, and on both sides stood two white jade stone pillars that seemed to touch the clouds. In front of the General's Mansion was a vast open space, with a long row of dismounting stones on either side of the pillars, stretching far away into the distance, and I couldn't see where they ended.

  Zhao Huwei arrived here and didn't dare to slack off, flying down from his horse and handing the reins to the guard at the door. The entire process was carried out in silence. When he saw me standing still, he whispered: "Quickly get off your horse, don't you want to live?" I only then came to my senses and got off my horse. A guard silently took over the reins. I guessed that getting off one's horse in front of the General's mansion must have some meaning or be some kind of rule. Anyway, those two rows of dismounting stones were already enough to make me dizzy. It seems that it is a dead rule for military officers to dismount and for civil officials to get down from their carriages in front of the General's mansion. This great general has an impressive presence! It's not hard to see that this is truly the core department of the female nation's military, and no one dares to touch the general's whiskers.

  After dismounting, Zhao's guard gave some instructions to the guards at the gate, and the side door opened. It was still her leading the way, and I finally entered the General's Mansion. However, after entering, I was stunned again. Behind the gate was not a deep and luxurious mansion as I had imagined, but another vast square, even larger than a general public country. From one end to the other, it seemed like a mirage. In the distance, tall buildings and pavilions stood, and in front of me was a magnificent four-eaved palace with three large eaves on its roof. However, I didn't recognize any of them this time. Under the palace steps, two rows of guards stood, but their weapons were arranged like halberds, making them look more like an honor guard.

  Zhao Huwei held his breath and gazed at me, leading me to the Angle Gate, passing by three smaller palaces along the way. We stopped in front of a cluster of relatively low-rise residential houses, pointing to one of them he said: "Go inside and wait, if General doesn't come tonight you can stay here first, we'll talk again tomorrow morning."

  She took me to the place and went ahead, I entered the house and there were two guards waiting at the door with their hands on the hilt of their swords. I curled my lip, isn't this treating me like a thief?

  I looked around the room and saw that apart from a local eight immortals table and four square stools, there was nothing else. The space was not small, about 50 square meters. In the corner of the room, several flower vases were simply placed as decorations, with patterns of golden armor and iron horses, but the generals in the paintings were all women. This place obviously only received low-ranking visitors, but amidst the simplicity, there was still a hint of the soft and gentle atmosphere unique to the Women's Country, as well as a bit of the straightforwardness typical of a general's background.

  I sat there waiting for a long time, but no one came to see me. I decided to take matters into my own hands and arranged the four stools in a row to prepare for sleep. Suddenly, I heard footsteps outside the door, and a woman who looked like a housekeeper rushed in with a male servant carrying tea water behind her, followed by two guards. As soon as they entered, she said hastily: "The general is coming to see you right away, do you have any weapons on you?"

  I patted my pocket and said, "None."

  The woman steward said: "As usual, when seeing the general, you have to be searched. Don't blame us if we offend you." She waved her hand at the male servant, and I hastily said: "Wait!" The woman steward frowned and said: "What's wrong, don't you agree?" The two guards behind her immediately put their hands on the handles of their knives...

  I glanced at the old-looking male servant and said with a bitter face: "I'm not used to being touched by men."

  The housekeeper smiled and said, "Do you want me to search? No matter who you are, after all, you're a guest. I don't want the general to blame me for being rude to a guest."

  It seems that here, women searching men's bodies would be suspected of taking advantage of them instead.

  I saw that the woman manager was no longer young, but still had a few points of good fortune with delicate skin and tender flesh. She smiled and said: "I'm not afraid..."

  The woman manager smiled and said, "A man like you is rarely seen. Since that's the case, I won't be polite." However, in the end, she didn't take action herself, but instead instructed a female soldier behind her to search me. The female soldier first politely nodded at me, then came over and thoroughly checked me from head to toe. Although her hands were light, she carefully pinched every corner of my clothes. Finally, she took out my phone, wallet, lighter, and other items from my body and asked me, "What are these things?" I could only say, "They're useless, you can take them away if you don't trust me, but please leave the bracelet for me, I need to show it to your general later."

  The housekeeper took out the things on the tray according to her words and handed them over: "These we will temporarily keep for safekeeping, and they will be returned intact afterwards."

  After those people left, I sat there for another half a day. It was said that the great general would come, but still no sign of her arrival. Two servants came to refill tea and water, but I didn't expect it to be so complicated just to see her. I spaced out for a while, then heard footsteps outside and slightly lifted my head, but I didn't have much expectation in my heart, thinking it was just some idle person again. However, I saw a woman in her forties walking towards me with a calm demeanor. She wasn't wearing any decorations that showed off her status, just a simple green dress, her hair tied back, and thin lips pursed tightly together, but the corners of her mouth were slightly raised. Her skin was pale, with only faint fine lines at the corners of her eyes. The whole person looked calm and gentle, not like a powerful general who held absolute power, but that aura of dignity and authority was the most unique among all the women I had seen. I knew, the great general had finally arrived.

  I don't know why, but when she took her first step into the house, my heart inexplicably skipped a beat. This feeling was strange, as if I had sensed something before my eyes could see it, but only got a hint of it, and it was still playing hide-and-seek with my heart. I stood up in confusion, staring blankly at her, and she also paused for half a step, with a flicker of indistinguishable emotion in her eyes. We just silently stared at each other for three seconds, neither of us speaking. Three seconds is actually very short, not even enough time to light a cigarette, but this moment felt like half a century to me. It seemed as if we both had a thousand words to say to the stranger in front of us, yet were completely at a loss for what to say, with our thoughts wildly racing in our minds.

  She finally came back to her senses first, pressed her hand towards me and said: "I'm sorry to keep you waiting for so long."

  I hastily said: "No need for courtesy, it's I who disturbed General."

  This Q&A is quite awkward. Although we seem to be on the same page, it feels like both of us are still distracted, as if we're just talking for the sake of talking. A moment later, we fell into silence again...

  To break this awkwardness, she immediately cut into substantial issues when she spoke again: "You said you wanted to talk about the terms of surrender, go ahead."

  I spread out my hands and said, "No need to, actually when I set out for your place they had already moved from Lí Shén Fēng Mountain to somewhere else." She subconsciously asked, "Where did they go?"

  "I smiled and said: 'I can't tell you.' I had a strange feeling that no matter what I did, she wouldn't hurt me."

  She didn't seem angry at all, and with her hands behind her back, she said: "You're really something, aren't you?"

  "I was surprised and said, 'You know this idiom too?' In the Daughter Country, when they say our idioms, many of them can be understood. The Daughter Country also has quite a few idioms that are close to ours in terms of usage, but I've never heard one that is exactly the same as ours before."

  The general slightly frowned and said: "Since you are unwilling to be reorganized, then leave. Why must you come see me again? Are you afraid that I won't agree with your departure?"

  "Yes."

  The general sighed and said: "Since they've left, you can leave too..."

  "I asked: 'Where am I going?' I was afraid that her 'go' meant sending me on my way, those big shots like to talk in circles."

  The general said, "Wherever you come from, go back there. As long as you don't harm the people and threaten the imperial court, I won't want to wipe you out completely." After she finished speaking, she walked towards the door, seemingly unwilling to stay with me any longer.

  "Hurry up, General," I said.

  "Anything else?"

  "I said: 'Actually, the most important thing I came to find you hasn't been said yet, and this matter is related to where I come from and where I go.'"

  "Oh, what's that supposed to mean?" I asked straightforwardly: "Your Su Jing has gone to find another reincarnation of the Sword God, you know about this, right?"

  She nodded, her face showing puzzlement.

  "I'm the one you're looking for, I am the Sword God!"

  "What nonsense!"

  "If it wasn't for this, how would I have known you guys went to look for the Sword God?"

  The general said, "This has already spread throughout the mainland and everyone knows about it. You think you can deceive me with this?" I picked up the bracelet on the table and said, "And what about this? This is Su Jing's thing, you can find someone to identify it, she was able to find me because of it." The general took it over and examined it carefully, suddenly bursting out laughing: "If you're going to fake something, at least put some effort into it. Don't try to deceive people with a broken piece of junk!" He pointed at the cracks in the bracelet and said, "At least bring a complete one next time."

  "I said, 'Those cracks were made by me using 502 glue, and the bracelet was broken before.' The general's expression suddenly became tense and he asked, 'What about Su Jing?' I replied dejectedly, 'He was left in my world.' Then I immediately became spirited again and said, 'So you must hurry up and send me back. Otherwise, you will lose even your only Sword God, and it will be a mess.' The general asked, 'Since you are the reincarnation of the Sword God, why did our people capture you and put you in the men's prison camp?'"

  I sighed and said, "It's hard to explain. Your people sent my former strength over, but an accident happened. Now I'm just a Sword God with no sword energy. Su Jingzhen is helping me find it, but somehow I ended up here."

  The general's expression changed greatly, and he hastily asked: "What kind of world is the one you're talking about?" I said: "According to our calendar, it was 2010 AD. In our world, men are in charge."

  The general's son shouted: "I know this one, what nationality are you?"

  I said: "China, officially known as the People's Republic of China..."

  Before I could finish speaking, General shouted abruptly: "Which province?"

  I reported the name of the province.

  "Where is this place?"

  I reported the city name again, and I also felt something was off, muttering: "You seem to be familiar with our administrative divisions...", The general held my arm: "How old are you this year?" "23..."

  The general's face changed and said: "So you were born in 1987?" I muttered: "General, your math is really good." She suddenly asked me a very strange question: "Are there many people with the surname Long in your place?"

  I hesitated for a moment and said: "Not many..."

  Then she said something that seemed very foolish: "Your father's surname is also Long, right?" I was a bit dazed and replied: "That's natural." I looked at her with some trepidation, this great general's expression was manic, and the person was already somewhat unhinged.

  She pressed both hands on my shoulders and asked in a trembling voice: "Is your real name really Long Yang?"

  I stuttered: "Later changed a bit..." She suddenly pressed my mouth, her whole body trembling and said: "You don't talk, listen to me, I used to have a son named Longyang, his birthday was March 23rd, later renamed Long Yangyang, from the year he was three years old, I haven't seen him again...

  I was stunned like being struck by lightning, how did she know this?

  Just as I was about to speak, she pressed my mouth again, somewhat terrified: "No matter if you are him or not, don't speak first, just let me treat you as him for a moment!" I stopped struggling and looked at her quietly, with an overwhelming dizziness that left me speechless.

  She covered my mouth for a very long time, seemingly fainting as well. Finally, like a bomb disposal expert who has just defused a bomb but is still unsure if it will explode or not, she slowly released her hand, and in a dreamy tone said: "Now do you know who I am?"

  I felt my whole body was paralyzed, like being nailed to the ground by a giant wooden stake. After a long, long time, I managed to muster all my strength, and my lips trembled out a word: "Mom?"

  The general's tears burst forth like a dam breaking, and with great difficulty, she squeezed out a few words: "Yangyang, how have you been these years?"

  I threw myself into the woman's arms, letting out an earth-shattering, blood-curdling scream: "Moooom..."

  "Son!"

  The two of us simultaneously lost all our strength, embracing each other with the upper body, and fell to the ground with a thud. The guards at the door heard the unusual noise, grasped their knives, and rushed in, seeing us like this, full of suspicion.

  "My general's old mother weakly waved her hand and said faintly: 'Get out!' She didn't have the strength to say any more words."

  I was three years old when my mother passed away due to illness, and this has always been the biggest shadow in my mind. Aunt Meng is not a bad person, but after all, she is not my biological mother. Moreover, looking at the current situation of Gao Xiaowei, it's clear how terrible her education for children is. Losing one's mother at a young age is a great misfortune. From what I remember, I've always felt that half of my life was missing. The only remaining trace of my mother in our home is an old photograph. In my dreams, I often see the woman in the photo. No matter how old I am, in my dreams, I'm still an infant in swaddling clothes. She keeps smiling at me and touching my face with her hand, but I can't say a word. Sometimes I think this might not be just a dream, but a recollection of past memories. Although it's said that children as young as I was shouldn't have any memory, who can really understand the nature of such things?

  I never thought that this eccentric old mother of mine would actually abandon me and run off to the land of women to become some kind of general. My heart is filled with both sadness and joy, it's as if I'm still in a dream. The two of us cried for a long time before parting ways, but then at the same time: "How did you...". Mother's face turned red, saying: "You ask first."

  I wiped away tears and said: "How could you abandon me and run off to become a general?"

  Mom smiled and scolded, "How can you say such a thing? Is it up to people whether they live or die? When I got sick back then, my body and spirit were getting worse day by day. One day, I suddenly opened my eyes and my body was fine, but I couldn't go back, even my identity changed. I became this woman named Zhao Fanghua. What's strange is that she was the same age as me when I died. She was a female archer in the Flying Phoenix Army of the Nationalist government. From then on, I could only live in a daze, but there wasn't a single day when I didn't miss you."

  I exclaimed in surprise: "Mom, you've also crossed over?"

  "Time travel?"

  "Oh, this is a term that has only been popular in the past two years. It refers to your situation, where you have entered another world, but what you are experiencing is soul transference." I muttered indignantly, "What is Zhang Xiaohua trying to do? Doesn't she know that double transference is a major taboo in tailoring?" I added, "You're speaking too lightly, what does it mean to become a general in a muddle-headed way?"

  "My old mom's face turned red as she said, 'From our world to this one, we have some unique insights. At that time, the Flying Phoenix Army was just an ordinary unit. In this world, women are in charge, and I've worked my way up step by step - from a humble soldier to a general, and now even a great general. The Flying Phoenix Army has also become the most elite unit of the Women's Country.'"

  I curiously asked: "How did you do it? My dad said you were an accountant by profession, how could you understand military affairs?"

  "Cut it out. Although I'm an accountant, don't forget what your dad does for a living - he's always leading people in fights, and I've learned a thing or two from him."

  I burst out laughing and said: "So it seems you, great general, still fight like a street urchin."

  "Never mind about me," his mother said impatiently, "tell me about you, how have you been all these years?"

  I let out a soft sigh, and she immediately tensed up, saying: "What's wrong, did your dad find you a stepmom?"

  I have to say that a woman's intuition is really sensitive, I just sighed and she felt it. The problem is that my sigh wasn't even because of my stepmother, I don't know how to explain this, all I can do is mumble: "The stepmother has been found, her name is Meng Lijuan."

  My mother's eyebrows twitched, and she said coldly, "Has the Meng family treated you badly?" As she spoke, the general's dignity reappeared, and I knew that if I just nodded my head, my mother would immediately mobilize millions of female soldiers to dig up the Meng family's ancestral graves...

  I tactfully said: "The one with the surname Meng is not bad to me..." Seeing my old mom's eyes widening, I quickly added a sentence, "But still can't compare to my own mother."

  "Little rascal, you always pick out pleasant things to say. What good would there be if I died when you were three?"

  I blurted out: "I dream of you every day."

  As soon as this was said, both of us felt embarrassed at the same time. However, being mother and son by nature, although we hadn't spent much time together, it seemed like a reunion after a long separation.

  It's no longer what I remembered, but if she were of the same age, Mom would have just turned 50. How did she spend these 20 years?

  "Your father isn't dead yet, is he?"

  "But you've been separated for 19 years and have long since divorced in all but name."

  Mom shook her head and said: "In all these years of hustle and bustle, who has the time to take care of this? In the blink of an eye, we're already 50 years old."

  I said: "You look like you can't be, others will definitely think you are my sister."

  My old mom gave me a stern look, but she was enjoying it. She said that when she left, it was still the early 90s, and this kind of flattery hadn't become popular yet, so hearing it now is both novel and comfortable. If you were to use this kind of talk on today's young mothers, they'd just laugh at you. She chuckled and said: "Everything in Women's Country is great, except that women often have three or four husbands... honestly, I just can't accept it..."

  "You're doing much better than my dad, just look at this house, it's probably worth tens of millions"

  "How's your dad?"

  "He's getting out of prison this month."

  "Has he been put in prison?" his mother exclaimed in surprise.

  I waved my hand and said, "Those who are in their line of work can't avoid it, compared to you, it's a small matter."

  "Then what are you doing now? You're not loafing around like him, are you?"

  I said: "I opened a small inn, self-sufficient, my dad doesn't let me interfere with his affairs."

  His mother let out a sigh of relief and said: "He finally did something reliable for once... no, wait, how could you do something as crazy as escaping from prison and robbing someone?"

  I said gloomily, "My building was bullied too much, I won't escape and will die there. As for that batch of military supplies, I didn't know it was yours before, I thought it was Su Jing's mother's goods, thinking that she wanted something was not excessive?"

  "Anyway, it's just a robbery, if Su Zhongwei dares to cause trouble for me, she'll have to compensate for the loss."

  "Mom, you're so cool!"

  "Let's get down to business then, so you really have seen Su Jing?"

  "I'm telling you, you have to believe me, I really am the Sword God."

  Mom looked at me with a loving glance: "Silly son, do you think you are important to mom?"

  "I asked with difficulty: 'So, are you saying I won't be going back?' If it were up to me, I wouldn't want to go anywhere for a while. Now that I've just reunited with my mother, I'd like to enjoy her care and love a bit more. Besides, if I went back, at most I'd be a black second-generation rich kid, but here I'm a prince of the Taiji clan - it's not on the same level! However, deep down I also know this is impossible. If I don't go back, others won't say anything, but what about my old man? Moreover, for now, I still need to go back and find Su Jing to discuss countermeasures. As for the Country of Girls, I can always come again."

  As expected, my mother said: "You'll go back anyway, you'll have to go back. Your father is 60 years old this year too, and if he loses his son again, he won't be able to hold on."

  I smiled and said, "It seems you still care about him a lot."

  "Don't be poor, you need to rely on a very special magic stone from the mainland to go back, this kind of stone is extremely hard to find. The women's country just spent all their effort to find enough stones for one-time transportation a few days ago. To let them willingly send you back, you must first make them believe what you said earlier, and first of all, make them believe that you are the Sword God."

  I said: "This is easy, just find Su Mei, only Sword Saint can identify the rank of Sword God."

  "Shu Mei Shifu?" The old mother thought for a moment and muttered, "You're wrong, this is not easy, it's not...". She seemed to have made up her mind, clenched her fist and said, "Alright, tomorrow we'll go try our luck and find Shu Mei!"