The General Under the Skirt - Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Huo Zhao, his face dark, handed the finished product to a blushing Shen Roujia.
“I’ll go to boil some water,” he said curtly and left.
As soon as he was gone, Shen Roujia stood up. Fortunately, she hadn’t stained the stool.
Back in her room, knowing that Brother Yu wouldn’t come in, she quickly cleaned herself. But then she realized that she had no clean clothes to change into…
It was the most embarrassing moment of her life!
After much internal debate, she took a deep breath and called out in a low voice, “Brother Yu…”
Huo Zhao had a feeling that this wasn’t good. He tossed the firewood into the stove, left the kitchen and asked, “What wrong?”
Shen Roujia blushed even deeper.
“I-I don’t have any clean clothes…”
At least it wasn’t something more embarrassing.
Huo Zhao breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Wait.”
Shen Roujia’s clothes were stained with blood. She was embarrassed to appear in front of him like this, but she couldn’t very well go without clothes. As she waited, Huo Zhao’s voice came from outside.
“I left some clothes behind the curtain. I’ll go check the water.”
It turned out that he hadn’t intended to come in at all.
Shen Roujia thought that Brother Yu was really considerate.
He obviously didn’t have any women’s clothes, so he’d given her his own: a long shirt and a pair of trousers.
They were much too big for her, but she had a good figure and even in those oversized clothes she looked elegant.
Feeling much more comfortable, she secretly glanced out of the window. Brother Yu was still in the kitchen. She fidgeted with her clothes, then hesitantly lifted the collar to her nose and inhaled the scent. She quickly dropped her hand, her face burning.
Brother Yu’s clothes smelled so good.
Shen Roujia had never been attracted to the pale, scholarly men of the capital.
She had grown up in a sheltered environment, and logically she should have been attracted to the refined, well-educated, handsome young noblemen, or perhaps even the elegant and noble princes.
But she preferred men who were strong and rugged, with broad shoulders and a commanding presence. Perhaps that was one of the reasons she admired Huo Zhao.
He was strong and untamed.
Her thoughts wandered, and despite her limited experience, she felt a wave of shame.
Huo Zhao thoughtfully brought her a cup of water and asked, “Shall I buy some pig’s blood tomorrow?”
He added, “Or duck blood if you prefer.”
Shen Roujia was shocked. She had never eaten animal organs, let alone those things. She quickly shook her head and said, “No need to bother, thank you, Brother Yu.”
After a pause, Shen Roujia looked at Huo Zhao again with doubt in her bright eyes and asked, “Why do you want to buy that?”
Huo Zhao remained expressionless. Shen Roujia wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but it seemed to her that Brother Yu’s gaze had lingered on her for a moment.
“Isn’t there a saying that you should supplement what you lose?”
“…”
Why did he bring that up again? So embarrassing!
Her face turned red in an instant. She wanted to say that it was okay, that it was perfectly normal. But when a person gets nervous, they tend to panic, and when they panic, they tend to blurt things out. So the moment she opened her mouth, her words came out like this:
“N-no-no, I don’t need to supplement anything, I’ve got plenty of blood…”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant. I just think it’s unnecessary. I don’t have much blood…” she stammered.
“I mean…”
Oh god, what was she saying?
Fortunately, Brother Yu was as understanding as ever. Just as Shen Roujia wished she could lock herself in her room, bury herself under the covers and never see anyone again, Huo Zhao said, “I understand.”
Shen Roujia almost burst into tears. Good, he understood.
She doubted that the blush on her face would fade anytime soon. But then again, she had already shown him her most embarrassing side, so this wasn’t much worse. Huo Zhao, a hint of amusement in his eyes, said, “Go back to your room and rest first.”
Shen Roujia looked up at him, her naturally beautiful face even more captivating with the blush, and asked, “Are you going out, Brother Yu?”
Huo Zhao nodded and said, “I have something to do.”
Shen Roujia was very tactful and did not ask Huo Zhao what he was going to do. She nodded very obediently and said, “Goodbye, Brother Yu.”
After he left, Shen Roujia drew some water from the well and washed her bloodstained clothes. It took a long time to remove the stains, then she hung them up to dry.
She didn’t really want to wear them again. They were the ones the fat woman had given her. They were a little too big, but not too big. The woman was so fat that she definitely couldn’t wear them, so maybe they were the old man’s clothes.
The thought disgusted her.
But she had no other clothes. Brother Yu had taken her in, she couldn’t impose on him any more.
So, despite her disgust, she carefully washed the clothes.
She shouldn’t have used cold water. It would make her cramps worse, but she didn’t think about that.
Now all she had to do was wait for Brother Yu to return.
Being alone was boring.
But she didn’t want to go outside.
Or rather, she was afraid to go out alone.
The shadow of the past few months had left its mark. She was like a frightened bird, trusting no one but Huo Zhao. When he was around, she would talk to him. When he was gone, she waited for him.
She drank another cup of warm water, her cramps easing slightly. She felt like she should be doing something. She couldn’t just sit around, even though that’s what she’d been doing for several days.
Her injuries were getting better. At least they weren’t as painful as they had been a few days ago. Shen Roujia began to try to clean the courtyard. She didn’t know how to work, but as they say, you’ve seen pigs run before you’ve eaten pork. The courtyard wasn’t messy to begin with, so it wasn’t that difficult to clean.
She found a rag and meticulously cleaned the main room, sweating with the effort.
Shen Roujia stood in the living room, facing the room where Brother Yu slept, frowning and thinking.
Should she clean his room as well?
Now she had cleaned everything but Brother Yu’s room. Should she also clean Brother Yu’s room? But isn’t it against etiquette to enter someone else’s room without permission?
It was just cleaning, sweeping the floor, wiping the table, it shouldn’t be a problem.
She dismissed the thought immediately. She couldn’t just walk into Brother Yu’s room. It was not proper for a woman to enter a man’s room, especially his bedroom, a private place.
Let’s wait for Brother Yu to come back.
Thinking of this, Shen Roujia was about to turn around, wash the rag and hang it up.
“Is anyone there?”
Someone shouted from outside the courtyard gate. Shen Roujia was startled, and the rag in her hand fell directly to the ground. Panicking, she hid in Huo Zhao’s room.
“Is anyone there? I’m from next door.”
Shen Roujia didn’t dare to speak, and her body even began to tremble uncontrollably.
The door to the main room was open. The gate to the courtyard was closed, but it was low, no higher than an adult’s chest, and the fence wasn’t very sturdy. Anyone outside could see that the main room was open and assume that someone was home.
Shen Roujia’s heart pounded, her fingers clenched so tightly that her nails dug into her skin. She barely dared breathe.
There was a young woman outside.
Shen Roujia could tell by the sound of her voice. She had hidden instinctively, afraid of being seen, afraid of being tricked, afraid of being taken away again.
Even though it was just a young woman, she didn’t let her guard down.
She stayed hidden, silent.
“Is anyone there?”
The young woman called again. Shen Roujia remained silent.
After a while, the voice faded and Shen Roujia finally relaxed, the tension draining from her body. But she still didn’t dare leave the room.
The shadow of the past six months was too deep.
As she calmed down, her fear subsided. She realized she had overreacted, the young woman probably meant no harm. Then it dawned on her that the young woman was probably looking for Brother Yu.
She certainly wasn’t looking for her.
Shen Roujia hadn’t seen the young woman, but her voice was clear and melodious, so she must be pretty.
A young woman visiting an unmarried man… Shen Roujia couldn’t help but think about the situation.
Were they a couple? Or did they have feelings for each other?
Would a man like Brother Yu have such strong feelings for a young woman?
It was hard to imagine.
Shen Roujia suddenly felt lucky that she hadn’t gone out just now. What if Brother Yu and the young woman really had something and she went out and the girl found out that Brother Yu had another woman hidden in his room? Wouldn’t that be very embarrassing and ruin their relationship for nothing?
Shen Roujia sighed and looked out the window.
The morning had been sunny and clear, but now, in the afternoon, the sky was overcast and it looked like it might rain.
Perhaps the gloomy weather was affecting her mood, she thought.