The Years I Pretended to Be a Female General

【The main story is expected to end at around 650,000 Chinese characters. It has undergone extensive revisions, and some chapters have been rewritten. Please refer to the latest version.】 Yu Qingshang is a science and engineering student. She spent five years in a combined master's and doctoral program in civil engineering. Aside from traveling around the country with her advisor to work on projects, she was a construction-site grunt. She firmly rejected every invitation to dinner or a movie that might derail her studies. Then one day, she transmigrated into the body of an ancient female general who shared her name. She was completely bewildered. “A female general? Me?” She had imagined a general as someone mighty and imposing, invincible and untouchable! But the general she became had disguised herself as a man, lost a battle, and was now trapped in a besieged city, gravely wounded and on the verge of death. Every possible debuff had piled up. She hadn’t even figured out how to be a woman, and now she had to be a man. She was a coward who had to put on a tough-guy act. She woke to the enemy army bearing down on her. She knew nothing about military strategy, yet had to stubbornly hold the city. No golden finger, no System. She opened her eyes and got straight to work. Forget this. She decided to die and go back to being a construction-site grunt. She was just about to put her neck through the noose when the handsome military inspector swept into the tent. “Prefect, what a lovely pastime. What are you doing?” The civil engineering grunt came up with an idea in a panic. “...Inspecting the roof beams!” She realized that dying wasn’t an option, but living meant she had to get the job done. In the first battle to defend the city, she faced bald Beile tribesmen scrambling up ladders with bloodcurdling yells. Yu Qingshang set up a furnace and smelted iron. The instant she poured the molten metal made from pots, pans, and bowls down on them, her mind inexplicably filled with the brain rot left behind by watching short videos in the modern world: “Pour it! Pour it!” How could that possibly make sense?! Yu Qingshang had hoped to lie flat and keep her head down, but she discovered that holding one city was only the beginning. Having taken over the original owner’s body, she had to share in her miserable life, too. When life starts out in hell, it just keeps getting worse... No! She’d smash her way through it all! * Xie Huaijue was ordered to serve as military inspector in Tiejicheng. There, he discovered that the general defending the city had awakened from serious injuries with a completely changed personality. They said she liked taking risks in battle, but every move he saw her make was cautious and passive. They said she excelled at offense but not defense, yet he saw her digging trenches, pumping in grout, and setting diagonal supports like a master builder. Curious, he went to see for himself, only to catch her trying to hang herself from a roof beam. The female general made jokes and changed the subject, oblivious to the fact that he had already uncovered her secret: she was a woman pretending to be a man. The emperor’s favored son was proud and prejudiced. Then one day, he discovered that another man knew her secret, too. He went mad with jealousy. He couldn’t sleep. Suddenly, he wanted to be a better man. He never imagined that one day he would anxiously press the female general he once disliked: “Do you have feelings for me, too? What is it about me you like? Surely it can’t be just my looks! Hurry up and tell me!” * Reader’s Guide: 1. The heroine grows over time. She doesn’t start out ready to take on the whole world. 2. A monogamous couple, both with no prior romantic experience. This isn’t a conventional power fantasy; the plot takes center stage. 3. Important: The heroine accidentally reveals her true identity to the hero early on, but she doesn’t realize she has given herself away! She resumes living as a woman at the end of Volume Two. 4. The setting is an alternate world loosely inspired by the Song dynasty, with a few blended elements. 5. Please keep feedback friendly and civil. Don’t stir up trouble or attack the author. If I see rude comments, I’ll be at home furiously crying, screaming, and crawling around in the dark in helpless rage, then randomly pick a reader who phrased something poorly and passionately argue with them (＾ν＾) Theme: Knowledge is power