The General Under the Skirt - Chapter 9
Chapter 9
The memories from before she lost consciousness flooded back and Shen Roujia tensed. She quickly looked down at her clothes.
They were intact, and apart from the headache, she felt no other discomfort.
She didn’t know if they had done anything to her while she was unconscious. But before she blacked out, she had heard Liu Gang curse angrily and buckle his belt.
Despite all that, she knew she hadn’t been violated.
There was no reason, she just felt that way.
Realizing this, Shen Roujia felt a sense of relief. She looked around.
She was in a simple, sparsely furnished room. She was lying on a bed facing the door. Outside she could see green trees and the bright sunlight.
She was off the ship.
“Little girl, are you hungry? I’ll get you something to eat.”
The man’s voice brought Shen Roujia back to reality. She didn’t let her guard down and moved further back.
“W-Who are you?”
The man smiled again, his eyes crinkling.
“Me? I’m your father.”
Shen Roujia said, “Nonsense! Who… who are you really?”
“You’re going to marry my son, so aren’t I your father?”
Shen Roujia’s chest heaved. A dawning realization filled her, but she still said, “I’m not…”
“Is he girl awake?”
Before Shen Roujia could finish, a shrill female voice came from outside. A fat woman waddled in, her flesh jiggling.
“Good that she’s awake. I thought we’d wasted our money if she didn’t make it!”
Shen Roujia huddled in the corner of the bed, realizing she had been sold. This wasn’t a good place, but it was better than being on that ship with no hope of being rescued. At least escaping from here didn’t require jumping into the sea. And it would be easier to escape from this couple than from those men.
She moved her legs, only to find iron chains around her ankles. Escape seemed impossible. Still, Shen Roujia felt it was far better than being on the ship.
A flicker of hope flickered within her, replacing the despair.
The old man smiled and said, “Little girl, what’s your name?”
Shen Roujia didn’t answer, but looked towards the door, thinking about how to escape. The woman was much sharper. Noticing Shen Roujia’s gaze, she sneered and slammed the door.
“Little whore, are you thinking of running away?! I paid good money for you, you’re not stepping out of this door!”
Shen Roujia’s palms grew cold with sweat. She calmed herself and said, “I was abducted and brought here against my will. My family is a noble house in the capital. If you let me go, I’ll reward you with gold and silver, anything you want. If my father’s men track me here, you’ll lose your heads!”
The woman wasn’t intimidated, she laughed instead.
“Don’t give me that noble family crap! I don’t care who you are, you’re here to bear children, so forget any funny ideas or you’ll lose your legs!”
“Alright, she’s awake, so she’s not dead. Let her starve for a few days, she’ll be obedient soon enough.”
With that, the woman glared at Shen Roujia and waddled out.
The old man stayed behind, staring at Shen Roujia’s neckline. She recoiled in disgust.
“You dead ghost, get out! What are you looking at?” the woman shouted from outside. The old man turned and replied, “Alright, coming!”
Then, he put his hands behind his back, looked down at Shen Roujia, smiled, and said, “Little girl, just tell me what’s wrong, uncle will help you.”
Shen Roujia moved further away and asked, “Will you help me get out of here?”
The old man shook his head and said in a lighter tone, “Isn’t it good to stay here? Marry my son and Uncle will take care of you.”
With that, he left, locking the door behind him and plunging the room back into darkness.
Shen Roujia didn’t need to starve to feel weak. She had barely eaten on the ship and had been unconscious for a long time. She moved her legs, the chains rattling. The chains looked new, probably bought especially for her.
She had to find a way out, or she shuddered at the thought of what those two would do to her. The chains couldn’t be opened without a key, and the key was probably on one of them. She needed to find a way to open the lock.
She searched the room but found nothing that could serve as a key, and despair crept in.
She examined the chains again and noticed that they were made of interlocking links. The point where the links joined wasn’t completely closed, perhaps due to the blacksmith’s shoddy workmanship. There was a small gap.
Shen Roujia’s heart leapt with hope. This meant that if she could manipulate the link, she could detach it from the chain.
Her heart pounding, she looked at the chain. Even with the gap, the links were made of thick iron. How could she bend them?
She searched the room again, but couldn’t find anything suitable. But her search wasn’t in vain. She found a thumb-thick piece of wood and a piece of scrap metal.
She spent the whole afternoon trying to pry open the connection. Her hands were raw, but she hadn’t succeeded. But she had managed to widen the gap. If she kept at it, she would succeed.
As evening approached, she heard a noise at the door. Shen Roujia tensed. The fat woman entered, carrying a gaunt young man who seemed too weak to even walk. Shen Roujia’s heart leapt. She quickly hid her tools and tucked her feet under her skirt.
“Son, look, this is the woman I found for you.”
The man seemed to struggle to even move his eyes. But when his gaze landed on Shen Roujia, a flicker of light appeared in his dull eyes.
“B-Beautiful. Mother, w-when will we get married?”
The woman laughed, seeing her son so pleased, and said, “She’s already ours. Just wait until you get better. You can have her whenever you want. By then, Mother will be waiting for her fat grandson.”
The man chuckled, the sound rough and unsettling to Shen Roujia.
“Alright, son, go back now. Dinner is ready. Your wife won’t run away from here.”
They left, and the room went dark again.
Shen Roujia gathered her tools. She had noticed earlier that the couple seemed overly confident in the chains. They hadn’t bothered to secure the windows. Once she was free of the chains, she could escape through the window.
Late at night, with a soft click, Shen Roujia successfully separated the section of chain around her ankle from the rest. Her hands were raw and bleeding in several places, but she ignored the pain.
As soon as she was free, she slipped off the bed. The short length of chain clanked softly on the floor. Moving carefully, she opened the window and, with some effort, climbed out.
The night was beautiful, a cool breeze caressing her skin. The scent of grass and trees filled the air, mingled with the earthy scent of soil. Her bare feet on the ground sent shivers down her spine.
It had been over three months since she had last seen the outside world.
When she was captured, it had been the depths of winter. Now it was early summer, with lush greenery and birdsong.
But she couldn’t afford to just stand there gazing. As soon as she landed, she made her way to the courtyard gate. The short length of chain still attached to her ankle clanked with each step. It forced her to slow down despite her urgency.
The closer she got to the gate, the faster her heart beat.
Suddenly she saw a yellow dog chained near the gate. Her heart leapt. Before she could react, the dog woke up.
Woof! Woof!
The fierce bark shattered the silence of the night. Shen Roujia had never seen a dog so ferocious. It bared its sharp teeth and she had no doubt it would tear her to pieces if it caught her. But the dog was chained. If she was careful, she might be able to avoid it.
Her legs trembled with fear. She could hear the sounds of the couple stirring inside the house. She knew this was her chance, she couldn’t miss it. Trembling, she opened the gate, barely an arm’s length from the dog.
“That damn girl ran away! Hurry up and chase her!”
“How dare she run away! I’ll beat that little whore to death if I catch her!”
Shen Roujia ran forward almost frantically, the pain of the stones cutting her feet not slowing her down. It seemed to be a sparsely populated village, with few houses and mostly fields and trees.
“She’s just ahead! Go catch her!”
Shen Roujia ran blindly, not knowing where she was going, unable to shake off her pursuers.
As she ran, she suddenly realized that there was no road ahead.
It was a large lake.
She didn’t know where to go, but she knew she couldn’t stop. She turned and ran back, finding herself on a narrow path with no cover. The voices of her pursuers were close behind her.
“She can’t escape!”
“This way! I saw her come this way!”
They were closing in. It was only an old man and a fat woman. Logically, Shen Roujia should have been able to outrun them, but she was at her limit.
She didn’t know how long it had been since her last meal. Her head was swimming, her steps were faltering, she felt like she might collapse at any moment. She was running on instinct, not logic.
Suddenly she saw someone approaching.
Shen Roujia seemed to see salvation, and it took almost all of her strength to run past the man.
It was a middle-aged man with a hoe in his hand.
“S-Someone… Someone is chasing me, uncle, can you please save me? I was sold here…”
“Save me…”
The middle-aged man put down his hoe. At that moment, the fat woman’s scream sounded again. The middle-aged man muttered, “The sickly one is getting married?”
Shen Roujia didn’t hear him. She clutched his sleeve, barely able to stand, and repeated, “Save me, please save me…”
The woman was about to catch up.
The man grabbed Shen Roujia’s arm and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll hide you.”
Hearing this, Shen Roujia felt relieved. But before she could smile, the woman’s voice appeared behind them.
“There she is, the little whore!”
Shen Roujia trembled, gripping the man’s arm tightly and pleading with her eyes.
“Save me…”
The man didn’t answer. He tightened his grip on her arm and turned to the woman.
“I say, Mrs. Liu, you should keep a closer eye on your purchases. It’s a good thing I ran into her.”
Shen Roujia’s hand went limp. She stared at the man, her hope shattered.