Legend of the Female General- Novel Ending

• In the novel, Minister Xu was not aware of the identity switch between our heroine and her cousin so when it was exposed on an imperial feast that He Rui Fei had not only stolen General Fei Hong’s career but had killed the real general He Yan, Minister Xu was utterly stunned like everyone else. Dragged into the whole mess when He Rui Fei went down, Minister Xu was thrown into prison as well. Up to this point, Minister Xu still believed his trusty disciple Chu Zhou would rescue him. Well aware that he needs the support of Minister Xu’s remaining allies, and to not look like a heartless jerk, Chu Zhou actually asked the emperor to still marry Miss Xu to him. Granting Chu Zhou’s wish but feeling that Minister Xu’s daughter is no longer worthy of Chu Zhou, the emperor gives Miss Xu to Chu Zhou as his concubine.
• In the novel, Chu Zhou’s character is a much more complex character and truly shockingly heartless at times. While Chu Zhou did fall in love with our heroine but he never tried to get out of his marriage with Minister Xu. Miss Xu was a nasty girl in the novel and would torture and kill any woman who showed interest in Chu Zhou. Chu Zhou was so sicken by Miss Xu’s nasty personality that he would actually have to forcefully suppress the urge to throw up after seeing her. Despite all that though, Chu Zhou’s ambition was too great for him to even consider ditching his engagement with Miss Xu. Therefore, while Chu Zhou was indeed upset when our two leads got engaged, he didn’t make any move to try to break their union. At the end of the day, He Yan was Chu Zhou’s moon, the one he yearned for but never did truly think he had a chance to obtain so deep down, he had no expectation that someone deep in the dark gutter like him could deserve someone bright and shinny like our heroine.
• Side rant about the drama: Can I just say how dumb it was that the scriptwriter had the emperor change his mind abruptly regarding our two leads’ marriage just because Chu Zhou pointed out that it wasn’t wise to have the empire’s two best generals married to each other? How dumb would the emperor have to be if that thought had never occur to him until Chu Zhou said something? Moreover, both in the drama and the novel, the empire was in desperate need of generals so the emperor really couldn’t afford to alienate them. In fact, if either Xiao Huai Jin or He Yan had said “Sure, go ahead and take my army.” the emperor would soon be the one asking them to take the army back again.
• Since He Yan as General Fei Hong did really die in the novel, and she was in a new body, there was no giving the title of General Fei Hong back to our heroine. And honestly, I am not sure that was what our heroine would’ve wanted even if it was possible. He Yan really cherished the second chance she had been given so I am more inclined to believe she would have rather become a new general with a different title, one she had earned completely as He Yan.
• There was actually a fight for the throne in the novel, one where the emperor didn’t survive. In the novel, Minister Xu was actually conspiring with the crown prince who was so inept that being the oldest son was really the sole reason he was made the crown prince. Used to listening to whatever Minister Xu told him to do, the crown prince began to painc after Minister Xu’s fall and became fearful that the 4th prince (emperor’s only capable son) would replace him as the crown prince.
• Determined to get rid of Chu Zhou’s pretty maid before she marry him, Miss Xu convinced the crown prince to ask Chu Zhou for Ying Xiang (his maid). While everyone expected Chu Zhou to at least protest especially since the crown prince is well known for his perveted cruel ways when it comes to dealing with women, Chu Zhou only pause for a second before agreeing readily to the crown prince’s request. When he got home that night to Ying Xiang’s greetings and a cup of hot tea waiting for him, Chu Zhou simply said, “Ying Xiang, the crown prince had asked for you.” Equally calm, Ying Xiang also paused for a moment before replying calming that she will get ready to leave.
• After becoming the crown prince’s favoirte concubine, Ying Xiang was instrumental in convincing the crown prince to start relying on Chu Zhou’s advice after Minister Xu’s fall.
• Despite knowing the crown prince is an extremely poor choice as the next emperor, Chu Zhou felt stuck since he knew the fourth prince would not consider accepting him especially since the 4th prince would be actively trying to gain Xiao Huai Jin’s support. Feeling he had no choice to throw his lot in with the crown prince, Chu Zhou is nonetheless stunned when the crown prince start considering killing his own father so he could take the throne. Chu Zhou tried to disuade the crown prince from doing such a foolish thing (he is already the crown prince, but by killing his own father, he would give others the justification they needed to take the crown from him), but the foolish crown prince still ended up killing his sick father in a fit of anger.
• Knowing the crown prince was most likely going to do something extremely stupid no matter what he said to him, Chu Zhou made the difficult choice of going to 4th prince and offer his help in exchange for two things: for his life to be spared and to be able to take Ying Xiang with him.
• As Chu Zhou expected, the 4th prince was able to easily dispose of the crown prince once he killed the emperor. (Side note: 4th prince’s mother was a very formidable woman and was quite instrumental in him being able to obtain the throne. She was also quite impressed with He Yan’s story, told her son to never underestimate a woman and that given the right chance, women could become his generals and his officals. Growing up seeing first hand how impressively smart his own mother was, 4th prince promised that he would remember what she had taught him.)
• While the disposed crown prince’s manor was in chaos, Chu Zhou went into the crown prince’s private dungeon and found Ying Xiang there. Chu Zhou had knew Ying Xiang would suffer at the crown prince’s hand once he found out that Ying Xiang was still working for him even after she had became his concubine, but even Chu Zhou was not prepared for what he saw. Her face completely disfigured from the countless knife slashes, Ying Xiang calmly rejected Chu Zhou’s offer to take her away and informed him that the crown prince had forced her to swallow a poison that would ensure an eventual painful death. Shocked when the only favor Ying Xiang asked of him was for him to kill her, Chu Zhou relectuently agreed. As she laid daying in his arms, Ying Xiang asked if Chu Zhou had always knew the crown prince would ask for her one day. Chu Zhou didn’t reply but Ying Xiang died after saying “I see….”
• After 4th prince became the new emperor, Chu Zhou left the capital and ended up in Ji Yang City (the city where our heroine found her master). Years later, at the end of the novel, our heroine would run into Chu Zhou in the street and finds out that he is the owner of a small store of calligraphy and paintings. While our heroine was chatting with Chu Zhou, our very stony faced hero showed up abruptly and cut the reunion short. Trying to appease the obviously very jealoused certain someone, He Yan showed Xiao Huai Jin the sugar tigar in her hand and put it by his mouth, “I spent a good amount of money to buy this. Here, it’s a gift of apology…” Xiao Huai Jin pushed her hand away and sneered, “You are not even willing to make a decent effort anymore when you lie?” “Who’s lying, should I stand on the roof top and yell that I, He Yan, like Xiao Dudu the most, we have even admired pictures together…” “He Yan…” Xiao Huai Jin stared at her for a good bit and finally gave in. Forget it, she always have ten thousand ways to coax him…
• War started soon after 4th prince took the throne. With the empire serverly devoid of generals, the new emperor had no choice but to go against the doubting voices of the court and made He Yan (not only would everyone still consider her a newbie soldier but the officials were still very doubtful of making a woman a general) a general leading General Fei Hong’s old troops. Knowing they will be sent in opposite directions, He Yan made our hero promise that no matter what news he receives of her, that he will keep his head and make the best choice for his troops….because that is what she will do no matter what news she receives of him. At first protesting, our hero eventually agreed to our heroine’s request.
• Four generals were sent out (He Yan, Xiao Huai Jin, Yan He, and someone else that didn’t get a lot of storyline) and the battle were fierce on all four sides. He Yan knew her enemies would underestimate her due to her age and gender (especially since everyone would believe she had little experience leading an army), and used it to her adventage. Despite He Yan’s skilled leadership, casualty was unavoidable and He Yan’s little group of friends from the training camp that had followed her onto the battlefied soon lost a few members. (Wang Ba, big guy used to be a mountain robber survived, and the youngest one of the two brothers also survived.) As the general, He Yan could not allow herself to grieve but force herself to keep going. The author did an exellent job in portraying the difference that He Yan had to hold herself to once she was the general. When she was just a soldier under Xiao Huai Jin, she could show her emotion and be caught up in little matters, but as the general, in charge of countless lives, not only did she not have the luxary to stop and mourn, but she had to be firm and be the unshakable beacon of hope her soliders needed.
• General Yan He was wounded by a poison arrow on the battlefield. Our hero’s best friend was with him but he was hopeless in coming up with an antidote for the poison despite working day and night. Going against the doctor’s orders, General Yan He kept on leading the army but also wrote a letter to He Yan asking for help. Having received word that He Yan had won her side of the battle, General Yan He asked our heroine to come take over his troop, being honest that he is about to die soon.
• Our heroine arrived after General Yan He had passed away but was given a letter containing everything Yan He could think of that would help her take over as smoothly as possible. Despite Yan He’s efforts, things didn’t go smoothly for our heroine. The situation was dire and in order to give them a fighting chance, He Yan made the decision to pretend to surrounder. Unfortauntely, General Yan He’s troop was as hot headed as he was and one of the soldiers ended up losing his temper when they were getting mercilessly mocked by the enemy soldiers while pretending to surrounder. The situation had become desperate and that was the news Xiao Huai Jin got from his best friend’s letter. Seeing our hero’s stony expression after reading his friend’s letter, Xiao Huai Jin’s man asked if they should prepare to go help He Yan but keeping his promise to her, Xiao Huai Jin focused on his own battle and stayed.
• Luckily, even though our heroine was badly wounded in the leg, she was able to return triumphently back to the capital… much to the relief of our hero who had been waiting impatiently for her return.
• Final scene: One night while walking home together, Xiao Huai Jin convinced our embrrassed heroine to let him carry her on his back.

“Xiao Dudu.” He Yan’s voice was soft, her hot breath right next to his neck, tickling him, “Is this the first time you carried a girl on your back?”

Xiao Huai Jin’s voice was very cool, “Are you a girl?”

No one saw the slight upward curve at the corner of his lips and the overflowing tenderness in his eyes.

“Am I not a girl?” He Yan asked with puzzlement, “Then are you liking a man?”

Xiao Huai Jin stopped talking. Perhaps it was because she has been with him for a good long time now, He Yan’s ability to annoy is growing by the day. Sometimes, Xiao Huai Jin can’t win in an arugment against her, or perhaps, he is just too lazy to argue with her. (This is an ongoing joke He Yan had been pestering Xiao Huai Jin in the novel. She likes to tease him by asking Xiao Huai Jin if he had liked her back in their academy days when she was supposed to be a boy.)

She grinned happily after winning another round.

Laying on Xiao Huai Jin’s back, looking up at the moon, she calls out, “Xiao Huai Jin.”

“Hmm…” He replid then heard He Yan said, “What do you think? How will the moon be different from now, in ten, twenty or fifty years?”

“I want to see how the moon will be different in ten years.”

“I want to know too.” His gaze tender as he softly replied, “So…let’s see it together.”

To see it together in…ten, twenty, fifty years.

He Yan’s lips slowly curved upwards.

Later…what will it be like?

Perhaps the moon will not be different than it was tonight.

Or if it is different, then that’s not a problem either.

Ten years, twenty years, fifty years. The mountains and the rivers are far, people and things change, she has no way of knowing the future, but she knows…

She will forever like the moon.

“Let’s go home.” She urged with a smile.

“Alright.”

The END!

• Epilogue: Due to her injuries, our two leads didn’t have kids for a while but will eventually have a daughter together. True to her personality, our heroine loves to tease her daughter but our hero is a doting father who pretty much does whatever his little daughter wants.
• I liked the show quite a bit until the end. The story got a little wacky in my opinion. I will never understand why drama adaptations would change a perfectly good plot in the novel and replace them with a poorly written one. Other than the two rants I talked about above, I was also pretty speechless at how Chu Zhou’s maid died. This is a girl who is an expert fighter and a good assassin…but you want me to believe she got killed by a fragile lady who stabbed her once in the shoulder?! Still, I did enjoy the drama overall, and would probably watch it again but would just skip out on the last couple episodes.

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