The General Under the Skirt - Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Shen Roujia took a bite of the cucumber and asked, “Brother Yu, have you always lived here?”
Huo Zhao said, “Yes.”
“Don’t your parents live with you?”
Huo Zhao paused for a moment and said, “My parents died young.”
Far away in the capital, in the Duke’s mansion – so grand and resplendent that even the carpets seemed to scream the words ‘can’t afford’ – the Duke and the Duchess sneezed in unison. One of them shot a look of disdain at the other, and the Duchess, who was still elegant and charming despite being nearly forty years old, moved a little further away from Duke Huo and said, “I told you to stay away from me with your cold! And you still came over! Why did you even come here? Now you’ve infected me! Are you just waiting for me to die so you can marry your new bride?”
The Duke looked miserable. He rubbed his nose and moved closer, pleading, “My love, don’t you know my heart? If you were gone, do you think I could live alone?”
The Duke’s wife was not enchanted by these sweet words, and her expression was indifferent. She said sarcastically, “That woman came to the mansion with a child, claiming you’re the father. Have you forgotten so quickly?”
The Duke leaned closer and said, “It is not my child! How could I have known that woman, who seemed so gentle and delicate, would turn out like this? When I met her, she was so refined and elegant…”
Before he could finish, his words provoked the Duchess’s anger.
“Refined and elegant? Don’t disgust me!” she snapped. “Fine, I’m the shrew. I’m not worthy of you, the great Duke of Huo!”
Duke Huo knew he had caused trouble and regretted it so much that his insides turned green. He hurriedly saved the situation by saying, “You’re worthy! You’re worthy! Even if you have a bit of a temper, I really love you…”
The Duchess’s expression darkened.
“A temper?! I have a temper?! So, you still prefer those gentle and delicate women,” she said, her voice cold.
With a flick of her sleeve, she uttered the dreaded words: “Let’s divorce.”
The Duke of Huo looked utterly incredulous, struck dumb, his expression as if the sky had fallen. He quickly recovered and exclaimed, “No!”
The matter was actually very simple.
The Duke of Huo, a wealthy but somewhat foolish man, was travelling on official business. He came across a damsel in distress who was being harassed by a group of thugs. The Duke roared, and his men chased the thugs away.
The rescued damsel wept profusely, a picture of vulnerability. She was exquisitely beautiful. Her voice was soft as she told the Duke that she had been forced to take a drug and desperately needed a man’s help. Her limbs were weak, her clothes dishevelled, as she clung to the Duke, softly begging him to help her.
Despite the girl’s pitiful condition, the Duke immediately summoned a physician. As the effects of the drug wore off, a wave of relief washed over him. He comforted her and then arranged for her to be sent home. But this fleeting moment of peace proved deceptive.
A shadow of foreboding fell, signaling a darker turn of events.
The girl became pregnant and appeared at the Duke’s mansion, claiming the child was his. She didn’t want marriage, just an acknowledgement of his responsibility.
The entire capital was abuzz with gossip.
The Duke was bewildered, the Duchess furious.
“If she didn’t know who you were, why did she come to you after being drugged? Why not the thugs? Oh, right, because you’re handsome!”
The Duke hadn’t slept for days because of this.
Shen Roujia realized she had hit a nerve and quickly apologized.
“I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to.”
“It’s fine,” Huo Zhao said.
After a moment, she changed the subject.
“Brother Yu, are you going out again this afternoon?”
“Not sure yet. Why? Are you afraid of being alone at home?” he asked.
Shen Roujia was a little scared, but she shook her head.
“No, I’m not afraid.”
“Good,” he replied.
“Brother Yu, what do you normally do for a living?” she asked.
Huo Zhao improvised.
“Hunting.”
“Wow, you’re so skilled!” she exclaimed.
Shen Roujia wasn’t usually talkative, but Huo Zhao was even less so. She didn’t want them to sit in awkward silence. She felt a strange sense of admiration, gratitude and something else she couldn’t quite define for Huo Zhao. She wasn’t particularly sensitive. Otherwise, she wouldn’t keep trying to start a conversation with him despite his lack of response.
Huo Zhao, used to her chatter, was surprised by the sudden silence.
He looked up to see that the girl’s smile had faded. She was holding her chopsticks motionless over her bowl, her forehead furrowed, her expression uncomfortable.
Huo Zhao sensed that something was wrong and asked, “Does your injury hurt?”
Shen Roujia never expected this to happen at this moment. Sitting on the stool, she felt both shame and urgency. While she was still thinking about what to do, Huo Zhao asked the question.
She didn’t want to lie to him, but it was too embarrassing to explain. “A little…” she mumbled.
Huo Zhao frowned. He had been injured countless times on the battlefield. She had taken her medicine and was resting, some pain was inevitable. After a moment, he said, “…just bear with it.”
He added, “If it’s really bad, I can boil some water for you.”
Shen Roujia didn’t want to bother Brother Yu, so she said, “No, no need to bother.”
“Oh, then I won’t.”
“…”
Actually, warm water would be nice.
She couldn’t eat properly now. She sat still, afraid to move, afraid of staining her clothes and embarrassing herself in front of Brother Yu.
He lived alone, he wouldn’t have any menstrual belt.
Seeing her discomfort, Huo Zhao asked, “Where does it hurt?”
Shen Roujia hesitated for a long time and finally said, “…My stomach hurts.”
Huo Zhao couldn’t remember any injuries to her stomach. Maybe it was something else.
“I have some medical knowledge. If you don’t mind, I can check your pulse.”
It was just a formality. He had seen her whole body when he had treated her injuries, he had even carried her. What was a little hand holding?
Shen Roujia didn’t know if her menstruation could be diagnosed by taking her pulse, so she quickly said, “No need, it’s not that bad…”
Huo Zhao put down his chopsticks, his eyes darkening and narrowing slightly.
The little girl was lying.
What was she hiding?
Shen Roujia, who had been through so much trauma in the past month, was experiencing a stronger flow than usual. Even when she sat still, she could feel the warmth trickling down.
Her clothes were probably stained, and she was wearing such thin fabric.
Brother Yu, with his sharp perception, sat across from her with a serious expression on his face.
This is so embarrassing.
Huo Zhao had saved her out of instinct. He wouldn’t look down on anyone. No matter how miserable their circumstances, as long as they didn’t cross him.
But he wasn’t one to pry into other people’s business unless it affected him.
Firstly, it was too troublesome, and secondly, it was unnecessary.
Perhaps it was his serious expression that made Shen Roujia break down.
She didn’t want to upset him.
Her eyes filled with tears, her delicate face pale, her lips trembling slightly. She looked at him with such a pitiful expression.
She was on the verge of tears.
Huo Zhao shifted uncomfortably, feeling that he was bullying her.
He hadn’t done anything.
“You…”
Shen Roujia lowered her head, not daring to look at Huo Zhao. Her lips moved a few times, and she said in a voice as small as a mosquito, “I’m having my period…”
Huo Zhao didn’t hear her and leaned closer.
“What?” he asked.
Shen Roujia’s pale face turned crimson. She might as well just say it. She blurted out, “I’m having my period!”
Huo Zhao was startled, and then they stared at each other in awkward silence.
He understood what she meant. But it was a natural occurrence for women; talking about it was just embarrassing.
Shen Roujia was at a loss and whispered, “What should I do?”
How could he know what to do? He didn’t have a period. Huo Zhao, his face still blank, looked at her for a moment.
“…I’ll go and boil some hot water for you.”
But the question remained, what to do without a menstrual belt?
Shen Roujia blushed and said, “Brother Yu, do you have any unused clean clothes at home?”
Huo Zhao said, “Yes.”
“Could I borrow some?”
Huo Zhao certainly wouldn’t mind, he went back to the room and took out a clean piece of his own clothes and asked, “Is this okay?”
Seeing that it was his own clothes, Shen Roujia blushed even deeper, a faint crimson spreading across her neck.
“Y-Yes, thank you.”
“Do you have any cotton or clean ashes?”
Huo Zhao finally understood what she needed. His hand holding the robe stiffened slightly.
“Yes,” he replied.
Shen Roujia stammered, “I want to make… make… Do you have needles and thread?”
She tried to stand, but her stomach cramps and the dampness between her legs made it difficult. Seeing her struggle, Huo Zhao relented.
“Stay there, I’ll do it.”
Shen Roujia’s blush deepened.
Huo Zhao, his forehead twitching slightly, took the clothes and went back to his room without a word. He had never seen anything like that before. Years of military experience hadn’t taught him how to make a menstrual belt, but he had a good understanding of how things worked, and he could imagine how it should be done.
As his fingers skillfully maneuvered the needle and thread, he thought, ‘What the hell am I doing?’