The General Under the Skirt - Chapter 20
Chapter 20
“I came by yesterday, but no one seemed to be home.”
Shen Roujia was slightly embarrassed.
“He was out yesterday, I guess I didn’t hear you, I’m sorry.”
The young woman didn’t mind and said, “That’s all right. We’re practically the only ones here, and as they say, a close neighbor is better than a distant relative. We just moved in, we may have to ask for your help sometime.”
Shen Roujia smiled and replied, “Of course, we’ll help if we can.”
As a woman, Su Yue couldn’t help but admire Shen Roujia’s beauty. She hadn’t grown up in a remote village, but she had never seen anyone so beautiful and elegant. Shen Roujia’s beauty wasn’t intimidating, but rather gentle and approachable.
Beautiful people were always likeable. Su Yue handed her the basket and asked, “What’s your name?”
Shen Roujia thought for a moment and said, “Just call me Xiao Jia.”
Then she asked, “And you?”
“My surname is Su and my first name is Yue. You seem young, so if you don’t mind, you can call me Sister Su Yue.”
Shen Roujia readily agreed and immediately called out, “Sister Su Yue.”
Shen Roujia looked at the basket in her hand and said, “I’ll ask Brother Yu if we have something to transfer these into, you can take the basket back.”
Su Yue nodded and said, “That would be great.”
Shen Roujia took the basket to Huo Zhao.
“Brother Yu, this is from our neighbor. Do we have something to put these in?”
Huo Zhao usually avoided interacting with people here to minimize the risk of exposure. But looking at Shen Roujia’s face, he couldn’t bring himself to tell her to return the food.
The little girl must be bored at home; it would be good for her to have a neighbor to talk to. He took the basket and glanced at the woman standing at the gate. “Wait,” he said softly to Shen Roujia.
After transferring the contents of the basket, Shen Roujia handed it back to Su Yue.
“Thank you!”
Su Yue glanced at Huo Zhao in the courtyard with obvious surprise in her eyes, then lowered her head and whispered to Shen Roujia, “Your husband is so tall and handsome.”
Shen Roujia blushed furiously.
“H-He’s not my husband.”
Su Yue smiled and said, “Don’t be embarrassed. Newlyweds, right? You’re a perfect match.”
Shen Roujia’s blush deepened. She glanced nervously at Huo Zhao and saw him looking at her, one eyebrow raised in question. She quickly turned back to Su Yue, lowering her voice for fear that Huo Zhao would hear.
“…Really, he’s not. W-We just live together.”
This explanation seemed even more ambiguous.
Su Yue smiled meaningfully.
“Living together, huh? Then I wish you a happy marriage soon.”
“Sister Su Yue…”
Su Yue chuckled and said, “Okay, I won’t tease you anymore, but you two really are a perfect match.”
She could tell that the beautiful girl had feelings for the man. Feelings she might not even be aware of herself.
After Su Yue left, Shen Roujia returned, her face still flushed. Huo Zhao asked casually, “What did she say? Your face is as red as a monkey’s butt.”
Unexpectedly, the little girl’s reaction was particularly strong. She waved her hands and said anxiously, “No, no! Sister Su Yue didn’t say anything! I explained to her that we are not married yet!”
“…” Oh, that’s it.
After Shen Roujia finished speaking, she wanted to disappear in front of Huo Zhao. She covered her mouth and didn’t dare look at Huo Zhao’s face.
It’s so embarrassing! So embarrassing!
She didn’t want to talk anymore. She always felt that there was something wrong with her brain.
Huo Zhao didn’t think anything of it. It was normal for a shy little girl to blush when such a topic was brought up. But seeing her like this, Huo Zhao found her rather cute. He put down what he was holding, bent down slightly and leaned close to Shen Roujia. They were very close, so close that Huo Zhao could smell the faint scent on the little girl.
He lowered his gaze, his voice husky, and whispered in her ear, “Not married yet? Do you want to marry me?”
His words took her by surprise. Her mind went blank, replaying his words, ‘Do you want to marry me?’
Shen Roujia looked up and her gaze collided with Huo Zhao’s eyes, which now held a faint trace of amusement. Those eyes were now filled with a teasing and ambiguous light. Unlike their usual expression, which was filled with an almost imperceptible cold sharpness and cruelty that exuded an invisible pressure. It was as if a lofty immortal from the heavens, one who had always looked down upon the mortal world with indifference, had suddenly been dragged down to the dust of the human realm. Stained with emotions and desires, stained with the mundane.
“You…”
“Just teasing you, little girl.”
Before Shen Roujia could even finish speaking, Huo Zhao rose to leave, the corners of his lips quirking upwards, his tone light and easy.
Shen Roujia breathed a sigh of relief, her fists clenched, her face still flushed. “Brother Yu…” she said reproachfully, her voice trailing off.
Huo Zhao reassured her. “It’s alright, there’s no one else here. No one will know you stayed with me when you go back.”
Dachang’s social customs were relatively open, but a woman living with a man was still frowned upon. If it became known, Shen Roujia’s reputation would be ruined. It did not matter whether anything had happened between them.
She would be considered tainted, a disgrace to her family, the laughingstock of the capital.
Shen Roujia had always been aware of this.
But she rarely thought about such things. If she had faced it at first, she would have thought the sky was falling. As a noble daughter of a prominent family, her most valuable asset was finding a husband who could raise the status of the Shen family. If she lost even that value, her existence would be meaningless.
However, she no longer thought that way.
Being alive was a beautiful thing in itself. Things like bringing glory to her family name or the honor and disgrace of her clan, which she had once valued so highly, now seemed less important than simply being alive. Once a person was dead, there was really nothing left.
It was only because she had always been living that she had believed that these distant ideas of wealth and family honor could transcend life itself. But when even the premise of being alive became precarious, these things proved to be illusions.
To see the sunlight of the next day, to wonder if tomorrow would bring good weather – these were truly happy things.
She understood gratitude. She knew the preciousness of being saved.
Shen Roujia lowered her head, a bittersweet smile on her face, and said, “Even if no one knows, there will still be gossip when I return.”
Huo Zhao looked at her in silence.
A little girl abducted by a group of ruffians returned on her own a year later.
Gossip could be cruel, the whispers and judging eyes like invisible blades, cutting deep.
***
Shen Roujia never imagined she would live with a man for so long.
It has been nearly half a month since she arrived.
Their life together had been surprisingly harmonious. Brother Yu took care of her, and she had discovered that he wasn’t as cold and distant as he seemed.
In the afternoon, Huo Zhao went out again.
She didn’t know what he did every day.
If he farmed, why didn’t he take tools with him? And his clothes were always clean, no trace of dirt. He didn’t seem to hunt either. But what else could he be doing in such a remote place?
Shen Roujia couldn’t figure it out, so she just didn’t think about it. Whatever Brother Yu did when he went out was not something she could interfere with.
Her feet were much better now, she still limped a bit, but the pain was manageable. She had changed into a new dress this morning and hadn’t washed her old clothes yet. If Brother Yu saw them, he would probably wash them for her, but she didn’t want to trouble him. Besides, washing clothes was a private matter.
She took the clothes outside, drew water from the well and began to wash them. She had never done laundry before, but she could do it. It was just a matter of cleaning the fabric. After a long time, her hands wrinkled from the water, she finally felt they were clean.
Her clothes from the day before yesterday and Brother Yu’s clothes were drying on the clothesline. She dried her hands, collected her clothes and Huo Zhao’s, folded them neatly and took them inside. Then she hung up her own clothes.
She sat in the courtyard. It was late afternoon.
The sun, already weak, had disappeared behind the clouds. The sky was darkening and there was a slight chill in the air, unusual for early summer.
She had nothing to do, so she tidied up the courtyard and drew some water from the well to water the bamboo planted on the west side of the courtyard.
Su Yue had brought them some home-made sausages for lunch, already dried. Brother Yu had placed them in a wooden basin. Looking at the sausages, Shen Roujia thought about what had happened earlier that day.
She realized that she knew very little about Brother Yu.
Everything she knew came from the few words he had spoken. He wasn’t like the other villagers; she couldn’t imagine him growing up in this remote place.
Looking at the sky, she thought he would be back soon. He usually returned around this time.
She remembered him saying he would make porridge for dinner. Although she didn’t know how to cook, she didn’t want him to come home tired and have to cook. So she decided to try it herself.
After thinking it over, Shen Roujia decided to open the locked gate first. No one would come in anyway. When Brother Yu came back, he could just push the door in.
As she walked towards the gate, she accidentally stepped on something and twisted her still-healing ankle.
She cried out in pain and fell to the ground, right in front of the gate.
It was a small stone.
The wound, which had been scabbed over and almost healed, suddenly burst open and the blood slowly soaked into the white cloth that was wrapped around Shen Roujia’s ankle. She was in so much pain that cold sweat broke out on her forehead. She couldn’t even move her injured foot.
The courtyard wall wasn’t like the high, tiled walls common in the capital. It was a simple fence of branches, and the gate was low.
She sat there for a long time, recovering from the pain.
She couldn’t just sit there forever. She tried to move her leg, but a sharp pain shot through her ankle. Panting, she pushed herself up with her hands and tried to stand.
Slowly, she crouched down, then, holding on to the gate, she bit her lip and pushed herself up, her ankle throbbing. She stood there, bent over, one hand on her leg, the other on the gate. She took a deep breath, then slowly straightened.
As she looked up, she saw a woman standing just outside the gate, staring at her.
The woman was fat, with small, beady eyes that shone with malice, thick lips, greasy hair pulled tightly back, and a loose dress that clung to her thick arms.
It was the fat woman.
***
“Got you, you little bitch,” the woman sneered.
Shen Roujia’s face paled, her legs weakening. She tried to scream, but no sound came out.
Her breath was ragged, her body shaking. The memories she had tried to suppress flooded back, bringing a wave of despair and pain.
The leering gazes, the brutal beatings, it was all happening again. She couldn’t scream; she couldn’t escape.
A broken whisper escaped her lips.
“B-Brother Yu…”
Her voice, barely audible at first, grew louder with each repetition.
“Brother Yu, Brother Yu…”
As she spoke, she dragged her bleeding foot back. The fat woman was too close to her. She had to escape. She couldn’t fall into her hands!
“You ran away from here. It was hard to find you.”
“She’s right here!”
Only then did Shen Roujia notice that at least four or five men were following the fat woman. Not all of them were strong and muscular, but they looked like rough laborers. They obviously had considerable strength, more than enough to handle a wounded woman like her.
She hadn’t managed to open the gate, but it offered little protection. The men carried machetes, they could easily break it down.
“Open the gate.”
“I’ve been looking for you for half a month, damn it. How dare he steal someone from under my nose?”
“I gave you a way out, but you refused to take it. Today I’m going to finish you off, you bitch.”
Shen Roujia turned and ran towards the main room, her injured ankle screaming in pain with every step. Terror filled her heart. The reopened wound bled freely, staining the floor.
“Brother Yu, come back…”
She ran as fast as she could, but her injured leg slowed her down. She didn’t hear the woman’s curses or the cracking of the gate, only her own desperate whispers.
“Brother Yu, please come back…”
“Brother Yu, come back quickly and save me…”
“What should I do…”
The gate crashed to the ground and the woman and her men burst into the courtyard.
“Catch her, the fucking whore, hurry!”
She had to reach the main room.
If she could get to the main room and lock the door, they might not be able to break it down so easily. She could hide inside, and Brother Yu would be back soon, he would save her…
There were more people, and they had knives, but Brother Yu was so powerful that he could definitely beat them off. She didn’t need to be afraid; she just needed to wait for Brother Yu to return.
She could also go to her room. The window faced the neighbor’s house, it was a bit far away, but if she shouted loud enough, they might hear her…
She quickened her pace, the blood flowing freely from her ankle. She ignored the pain as her foot slipped on the blood-soaked ground.
“Still trying to run at a time like this!”
“You think you can escape me again?”
Shen Roujia ignored her, her mind focused on reaching the door.
Almost there.
Just a little further.
She reached the door frame.
Yes!
She stumbled inside, but just as she crossed the threshold, she felt a sharp tug.
Someone grabbed her hair and yanked her backward.
“Ah!”
A searing pain shot through her scalp and she fell backwards, landing hard on the ground. A sharp kick to her stomach sent a wave of nausea through her. Before she could react, someone grabbed her hair again and pulled her up. The hairband Huo Zhao had given her fell to the ground.
Slap!
The fat woman slapped her face hard, the impact stinging.
“How dare you run away from me!”
“I paid good money for you, and you dared to run away!”
Shen Roujia tried to break free, but the man the fat woman had brought was holding her down, so she couldn’t even move, let alone run away.
“I’m telling you! There’s nowhere to hide from me in this area!”
The fat woman pinched Shen Roujia’s arm hard, and Shen Roujia screamed in pain. The woman slapped her again.
Blood filled her mouth and she mumbled, “…Brother Yu, save me.”
Slap!
The fat woman slapped Shen Roujia hard across the face. The impact stung.
“You dared to run!”
“I paid good money for you, and you dared to run!”
Shen Roujia struggled, but the men the woman had brought with her held her down, preventing her from moving or running away.
“I’m telling you! There’s nowhere you can hide from me in this area!”
The woman pinched Shen Roujia’s arm hard, and she cried out in pain. The woman slapped her again.
Blood filled her mouth, and she mumbled, “…Brother Yu, save me.”
“Brother Yu, please come back quickly. I beg you, come back.”
“Please come back quickly.”
The fat woman didn’t understand or care what she was saying. She turned to the men she had brought with her.
“This one here is the whore my family bought. Now that my son is dead, let her bear a child for our family. Then, you can have her.”
“Goddamn it! Trying to run?!”
“Rest assured, who else would you trust but me? Thank you so much today.”
“Alright, where’s the rope? Tie her up.”
“Blood’s flowing everywhere. Disgusting.”
Shen Roujia felt a wave of despair, but continued whispering, “Brother Yu, save me…”
“Yu Zhao…”
Tears blurred her vision as they tied her up.
Suddenly, she heard the sickening crack of breaking bone and felt someone scoop her into their arms.
The person smelled clean and crisp, a scent that made her feel safe.
Huo Zhao’s forehead throbbed, his face dark and his voice a low, menacing growl.
“You really dared?”
This little girl, whom he had cared for and nursed back to health for over ten days—this girl he was afraid to hurt, even when changing her bandages—had been treated like this while he was away.