Introduction
In the first part, Legend of the Female General: Drama Info and Recap Episodes 1 to 6, Xiao Jue found out that He Yan was a female (in Episode 4). She was wounded after killing wolves and released her chest binder to bind her wound. Xiao Jue picked her up and sat her behind him. Because she was exhausted after the fight with ferocious animals, she passed out leaning on him. That was how he found out that she was a female, ehem. That easy! I liked that scene, especially watching his facial expression, so used the scene as the featured image for the second part.
This second part was fun, because He Yan disguised herself as different characters for the sake of missions. We’ll see how long she can hide her identity in Legend of the Female General ( 锦月如歌 ).
The cute secondary couple, Cheng Li Su and Song Tao Tao, was introduced in the second part, too. Although their screentime might not be much. FYI, the original actor was face-swapped with the current actor. Because of an incident with the original actor after the drama finished filming, he was removed from the cast.
Recaps Episodes 7 to 16
Episode 7
He Yan secretly followed Ding Yi, while Xiao Jue secretly followed He Yan. Eventually, she found out that Xiao Jue was following her. Ding Yi went to a brothel and rented out a private lounge. He ordered some dancers to come to his room. He Yan disguised herself as a dancer and followed the dancers. However, the brothel manager forced her to dance in the main hall instead of entering Ding Yi’s room. Since she only knew how to play with a sword, He Yan decided to do a sword dance.
The Second Male Lead, Chu Zhao, happened to be in the brothel with his maid/guard Yin Xiang. They recognized He Yan, who had met them before, disguised as a male fortune teller. Now they have found out, this dancer was a woman disguised as a man before. Duh… this He Yan was easily recognizable as a woman, lol!
While dancing, He Yan suddenly saw Xiao Jue among the guests. Before, she thought Xiao Jue, a man of high morals, wouldn’t enter the brothel. He Yan was nervous and lost her concentration; luckily, Chu Zhao helped her get the dancing rhythm back by playing the flute. Xiao Jue met Chu Zhao for a talk. Chu Zhao kept staring at He Yan, and Xiao Jue wondered if they knew each other and if he knew she was a woman.
In this episode, we also met the Second Female Lead Song Tao Tao, Li Su’s fiancée. She was held in the brothel because Magistrate Sun’s son, Sun Ling, abducted her and wanted to take her. Tao Tao ran away after stabbing Sun Ling. He Yan recognized her as the daughter of the head of the Imperial Hospital, who was almost betrothed to her!
He Yan rescued Tao Tao and brought her to the inn, but they were followed by Sun Ling and his people. He Yan was back as Cheng Li Su. Sun Ling didn’t believe Li Su’s uncle was the mighty General Xiao Jue. Not that after Xiao Jue returned and Magistrate Sun arrived that the situation was clarified. Tao Tao was shocked when he heard the name Li Su, as he was her fiancé. But she heard that Li Su was a weak man, so automatically, her hero who rescued her was not Li Su! She wanted to meet Li Su, so he could cancel the marriage agreement. She didn’t want to marry him, and flirted with He Yan instead, haha!
Episode 8
Chu Zhao attended the banquet, too. He Yan, who recognized him, was surprised that he was the Inspector of the Minister of War! Chu Zhao recognized He Yan, but didn’t say anything.
After the business talk came the entertainment. While the dancers were dancing, He Yan saw Ding Yi, her enemy, pour wine into Xiao Jue’s cup. He Yan noticed that the situation was suspicious. Her gut feeling told her that the wine was poisonous. She knocked down Xiao Jue’s cup. Right away, they saw that the wine was poisoned. Seeing this, the dancers attacked Xiao Jue. They were assassins sent by Ding Yi. Xiao Jue single-handedly fought the assassins. Poor He Yan, since she pretended she was Li Su, she couldn’t help Xiao Jue fight. However, when she saw Ding Yi make a hand gesture with the assassins, He Yan stepped in front of Xiao Jue. The assassins threw powder at them, and He Yan ended up being blinded. The assassins then committed suicide.
Aha, Magistrate Sun, Ding Yi, and Chu Zhao apparently were in cahoots in killing Xiao Jue. Earlier, the magistrate only called the guards softly, so nobody came. Chu Zhao promised Xiao Jue that he would investigate the matter thoroughly, but after the incident, he scolded the magistrate not to implicate his master, Prime Minister Xu. Ding Yi said that Li Su seemed familiar.
He Yan was indeed blinded, but luckily, she still had her master’s medicine to cure her eyes. But she used the chance to pretend to be blind, because Xiao Jue felt guilty and took care of her. However, he soon discovered that she could actually see, but didn’t say anything. Being blind before, He Yan’s acting was top-notch. When Xiao Jue took her back to Magistrate Sun’s home the next day, she even pretended to trip on the stairs. Xiao Jue left her to look for the magistrate’s tax ledger to prove his corruption. She was bullied by Sun Ling and his people, but Chu Zhao rescued her and brought her to his room (as a guest, he stayed at his magistrate’s home).
Episode 9
Magistrate Sun wanted to kill Xiao Jue and He Yan, so he ordered Ding Yi to kill them by putting poison into He Yan’s incense sachet around her waist. She ran out and told Xiao Jue about it, then pushed him and herself into the water to neutralize the poison. Ding Yi was suspicious that He Yan pretended to be blind.
At night, He Yan sneaked out to spy on Magistrate Sun and Ding Yi, but was overheard. Not only He Yan, but Xiao Jue was also spying on them. While escaping from Ding Yi and the magistrate’s men, she entered Xiao Jue’s room and saw that he was taking a bath! Ding Yi and the guards arrived in front of Xiao Jue’s room, and she didn’t have any other way to escape than jumping into the bathtub and dived in, omg! Xiao Jue couldn’t kick her out because Ding Yi had already entered his room. Xiao Jue scolded Ding Yi for disturbing his private time. After Ding Yi left, Xiao Jue kicked her out right away, haha!
Later, He Yan killed Ding Yi. First, to avenge herself. Second, because he wanted to kill Xiao Jue. Xiao Jue followed her and was surprised that she called Ding Yi, as he had suspected she was He Rufei’s spy. He called her “Miss He”. Luckily, her master did a double identity proof. Not only did he prepare paperwork for her as a man, but he also prepared another piece of paperwork, just in case she was discovered to be a woman. She retired from Fuyue Army (her army before) after her commander discovered her identity. So, He Yan lied through her teeth that when her mother was pregnant with her, a seer told her mother that if it were a baby girl, her mother would be unlucky, so her mother made her a boy. He Yan told Ding Yi before his death that she was a ghost he had murdered. When Xiao Jue questioned that, He Yan said she only wanted to scare Ding Yi.
Since He Yan was injured, Xiao Jue took her to attend to her wound. She blackmailed him so he wouldn’t kick her out of the army. She said she had seen a mole near his private part when she hid under the water, haha! If she spread news about it, his reputation would be tarnished since he kept a woman.
Episode 10
Fei Nu, who buried Ding Yi’s body, discovered many female bodies at the burial site. Those women were abused and killed by the Suns. Both Xiao Jue and Chu Zhao found out about this injustice, but nobody wanted to step in to deal with the Suns. Chu Zhao would only take advantage of this matter. Xiao Jue’s top priority mission to meet the magistrate was to ask for funds for the military rations and military expenditures. So he refused to deal with the Suns’ immorality. He Yan wanted to uphold justice on her own.
However, Xiao Jue had another plan to tackle this matter. During a banquet with Yezhou’s local businessmen, he showed them the abandoned temple full of bodies. Many of the victims were also the daughters of these businessmen. In distraught, they asked for justice. Magistrate Sun and his son refused to admit to murdering these women. Fei Nu brought Song Tao Tao, the living victim, to testify. They still refused to confess. During a commotion, Magistrate Sun was assassinated… by Chu Zhao’s people. Chu Zhao also took advantage of the chaos to send Yin Zhao to steal Magistrate Sun’s tax ledgers.
Xiao Jue buried the bodies and gave them a proper burial. The parents and family members of the victim were grateful to Xiao Jue for seeking justice for the victim’s murder and took the initiative to raise military expenses for the Yezhou Guard. Yay!
Before departure, Chu Zhao asked He Yan’s identity, because she was definitely not Li Su. When she said she was Xiao Jue’s subordinate, Chu Zhao hinted that He Yan was a woman. Tao Tao went with them back to the army camp. Li Su was shocked to see his fiancée, the one he called “venomous woman”. Tao Tao overheard that, and she chased him around to beat him, haha! I love this secondary couple!
Episode 11
Back at the camp, He Yan pondered on the fact that she had found that she, as General Feihong, had arrived late to help Xiao Jue’s father, Xiao Zhongwu, during the Ming River battle. This was the cause of Xiao Zhongwu’s demise and the Xiao army’s defeat. He Yan remembered she rushed to the battlefield as soon as he received the letter of help. He Yan suspected a conspiracy against General Xiao. He was upright in the court and often bluntly refuted Xu Jingfu. But Prime Minister Xu was narrow-minded and vindictive. He must’ve held a grudge against Xiao Zhongwu. As for his stepbrother, who wanted to kill Xiao Jue, she felt that because Xiao Jue was once her classmate, her stepbrother was afraid Xiao Jue would discover his true identity. He Yan made up his mind to never let He Rufei continue to make trouble with Xiao Jue and her.
Although Xiao Jue no longer suspected that He Yan was a spy, he still wanted Instructor Shen Han to keep an eye on her and report to him. That was because he knew she was a woman. So Xiao Jue was in shock when he found out that He Yan’s colleagues took her to the hot spring. He Yan tried to refuse, citing that her back wound was not healed yet. When she was about to pull into the water, Xiao Jue came to the rescue. He forbade everyone from taking He Yan to the hot spring, EVER, because she was physically weak. Although they obeyed their boss’s command, her colleagues didn’t believe Xiao Jue’s word and made a fuss about it. The entire camp heard about He Yan being physically weak. She was unhappy since Xiao Jue ruined her reputation, haha! When she complained to Xiao Jue about it, Xiao Jue let her be his guard, thus stayed close to him in a spare room next to his room. When Fei Nu, Xiao Jue’s guard, asked about it, Xiao Jue just said he had to keep He Yan close to monitor her tricks, haha!
I didn’t want to write much about the palace politics in this drama, but FYI, Chu Xiao found that his master, Prime Minister Xu, embezzled a large amount of military rations and military pay behind His Majesty’s back. I had a feeling he would use this finding secretly against the prime minister.
There was a plea for help from Litai, that was attacked by the Wutuo tribe. Xiao Jue brought the Nine Banner Battalion and left behind the recruits, including He Yan. Tao Tao felt sorry for He Yan, so she went to the woods to collect herbs and found a wounded man. Tao Tao brought the man back to the camp.
Episode 12
The man turned out to be a spy from the Liehe tribe. He also worked together with another recruit, He Yan’s colleague. They killed an instructor and framed He Yan. She realized that they were a spy, and most likely the Liehe tribe would attack the camp. Now, not only Xiao Jue and the real soldiers not present, but also their instructor was dead, and the strongest recruit in the camp, she, was imprisoned. He Yan saw through the enemy plan.
Sure enough, the Liehe tribe arrived to attack the camp. He Yan stood between her army and the enemy’s army. She, as General Feihong, defeated and killed the leader’s brother before. He Yan knew the army at the camp was weaker than the enemy’s army, so she bought time until Xiao Jue came back. She proposed a duel with the leader, and the way she fought reminded him of General Feihong. He Yan refused to be compared to General Feihong aka He Rufei (since he was not her anymore). The enemy cheated by taking Li Su and Tao Tao as hostages. He Yan managed to rescue Tao Tao, but was stabbed by the enemy. She finally killed the leader and ordered her fellow soldiers to attack.
The duel is really cool! A whip versus a scimitar
Fortunately, Xiao Jue was quick to figure out that he had been tricked by the enemy and rushed back to the camp. He and his army came at the right time, as Hei Yan and the rest were defending their camp with all their might. They won, but He Yan was injured. Xiao Jue took her back to her room and asked Li Su to check on her. When Li Su checked her pulse, he realized that He Yan was a woman. Li Su was too shy and asked Xiao Jue to tend her wound. But not after teasing Xiao Jue that he was so accommodating and attentive to He Yan, he must be in love, haha!
Episode 13
After being in a coma for days and nights, with Xiao Jue by her side, He Yan finally woke up. Instructor Shen Han asked for an apology. Through Tao Tao, He Yan gave him a defense layout she drew herself to defend the camp against the enemy, but the instructor ignored her. Xiao Jue saw the map and understood that only a military strategist could make this layout. He questioned He Yan, but she lied that she had been there at the camp for a while and remembered the area. Finally, Xiao Jue didn’t want to probe her further.
What happened to the spy was apparently connected to a past incident involving Xiao Jue’s misjudgment as a general. This painful memory made Xiao Jue fall into deep self-blame and pain. He Yan saw him dancing swords wildly in the snow and vent his heart, but he was suffering from being unable to truly help him relieve the pain. He Yan put a robe on Xiao Jue and hugged him. Xiao Jue’s mood gradually calmed down under He Yan’s comfort, but then He Yan fainted again because of the new and old injuries.
The solo sword dance in the snow is so cool!
There was a secret letter confiscated from the Liehe spy. He Yan smelled a bitter smell, and right away she and Xiao Jue exclaimed, “Ginger soup”! It was a method invented by Xiao Jue’s father to reveal codes written with alum, by dipping the letter into ginger soup. He Yan was taught by Xiao Zhongwu himself, but of course, she couldn’t tell Xiao Jue that she was He Rufei. She just said that she read it in a book.
They found out that the signature of the sender seemed to be Xiao Zhongwu’s deputy general, Chai Anxi, who was supposedly dead in the Ming River Battle. However, He Yan thought the man might pretend to die.
Episode 14
Sure enough. Chai Anxi was still alive, a chess piece used by Chu Zhao. He was Xiao Zhongwu’s deputy general, alright, but he got close to him just to avenge his son, who was killed by the general, and his wife, who died from grief. But Chai Anxi never got any chance until the loss in the Ming River Battle, and Xiao Zhongwu was killed in the war. Because of his knowledge of the army, Chu Zhao could use him. Chu Zhao used him and the spy from the Yezhou camp to mobilize the Liehe tribe.
Because of Xiao Jue’s merit in quelling the Liehe tribe’s attack, His Majesty granted a large sum of money. Chu Zhao, who was the inspector of the Ministry of War, traveled thousands of miles to Yezhou Camp to convey His Majesty’s orders and commend Xiao Jue. He didn’t forget to take a chance to treat He Yan to food and drink. She became drunk. Xiao Jue had to carry her out before she revealed her identity. In fact, Chu Zhao wanted to use He Yan because she was close to Xiao Jue.
The drunk He Yan called Xiao Jue “Father”
Episode 15
He Yan and Chu Zhao planned a drinking ‘date’ at a certain place, but Chu Zhao had to leave to look for Chai Anxi. Xiao Jue thought that He Yan was brokenhearted, so he gave her osmanthus candies. When she found out that he gave osmanthus candies to a girl who wanted to commit suicide one time at a temple (that was her!), she felt elated.
Xiao Jue had a mission trip to Jiyang and would disguise himself as Cui Yuezhi’s long-lost nephew, Qiao Huanqing. Qiao Huanqing just got married to Wen Yuyan, a very talented woman. They were also a lovey-dovey couple. Xiao Jue asked He Yan to disguise herself as Wen Yuyan, but she must learn guqin, calligraphy, painting, and go game. The scene when Xiao Jue taught He Yan guqin was quite romantic, haha.
Luckily, He Yan got an unlikely help to be a noble lady, none other than Tao Tao. She found out that He Yan is a woman. Tao Tao dressed her and put makeup on her. Tao Tao and Li Su then accompanied Xiao Jue and He Yan to Jiyang. The ‘couple’ got their own room, and there were some romantic scenes ensued, including the usual trope of them falling on top of each other. The cute thing was when He Yan playfully asked Xiao Jue to draw her eyebrows, and he did it skillfully, heh!
Episode 16
I would rather watch life in the military camp than in Jiyang because they always put annoying characters who were in ‘married’ couples. This was a boring trope with the girl who liked Xiao Jue, although he was ‘married’. Xiao Jue and He Yan were really tested with their coupledom, for example, when she was asked in front of the public to play guqin, of course, with the addition of that jealous girl looking for any chance to ridicule He Yan. Xiao Jue calmly said that He Yan only played guqin for him, so he would play guqin in front of the public. So much I hated this upscale lifestyle, it was funny that He Yan tried hard to do her role as a newlywed wife by telling the noble girls the so-called art of taming a man, haha!
Conclusion
After disguising herself as a brothel dancer, a weak dandy Cheng Li Su, and a multi-talented newlywed bride Wen Yuyan, what else would He Yan do for the military missions? And when will her identity as General Feihong be revealed? Let’s continue to the third part! Legend of the Female General: Drama Recap Episodes 17 to 26
