78 White Tiger

The East room of the courtyard was filled with steam; the air smelled heavily of herbs.

It was the usual place where Chu Li and Xue Ling would take their showers.

A wooden bucket as tall as a man was placed in the middle of the room, and below it was a furnace that was made from cobblestone. Although Xue Ling was dressed in a white robe, she squatted beside the furnace and added firewood from time to time. The way she squatted made her spine curved beautifully.

The pile of firewood burned with ferocity such that at times, you could hear popping sounds from the burning flames, and a thick cloud of white steam swirled above the wooden bucket. Soon, the thick herbal smell had spread throughout the whole house.