340 Folklore

"Of course I smell!" she said, wriggling away from his hold but achieved no success. "Do you know when was the last time that I had not taken a bath?"

"More recently than I think?"

Tianshi Xue shoved him and was able to step back. "It was probably years already! It is so hot here. It's like an oven! How do you even survive? I started to sweat the moment that I went out of the palace walls. THE PALACE WALLS, ALRIGHT? Not the Heping walls."

"It's summer," he said because it was the only explanation. "Come back to my tent. It's cooler there."

"I'm not going back there!"

"Why not?"

"What would the other people think that you're bringing me back there?"

"You're my wife."

"And your wife is dressed in these clothes?"

He took her arm and started to take her out of the tent. "Stranger things have happened."

"What do you mean? Do you, like, hire people here? Men and women for your soldiers?"