The General’s Delicious Wife – Chapter 5 Scared to the edge

Chapter 005: Scared to the edge

"Ni Er's Mother, what did you give me?" Xia Yue Chu flips that piece of fabric out curiously. She finds that is it a brilliant red undergarment embroidered with mandarin ducks playing in water.

Madam Sun swiftly stuffs it back within the rolled up clothes, whispers with a grin. "This is in my dowry when I married here, it is never been worn before, brand new. It will not fit me anymore and leaving it in the trunk is a waste, instead, it is better for your use. "

"For, for my use?" Xia Yue Chu has a scare.

Looking at the bright red undergarment, all of a sudden she comes to a realisation.

Xue Zhuang is her "legal husband", if the other party has any expectations of marital duties, that will be completely reasonable.

In this type of deep mountains where skies are high and authorities are far away, even more so in the ancient era where the status of men are superior and women are insignificant, if she rejects, what kind of consequences will she face…

Her face turns white and dare not linger in her thoughts.

Madam Sun does not know what Xia Yue is thinking, she gives her a bump and whispers with a tease. "It is something every woman will go through, you don't have to be so afraid, you will be alright."

For Xia Yue Chu, she is not merely afraid, she has an urge to run away from this house without regards.

But she understands, it is so cold outside, without a family register and without anyone to vouch for her, escaping from this kind of deep mountains will only put her into more danger.

Her mind is busy as she returns to the west wing room, also she forgets to take out that piece of undergarment, passing the entire bundle of clothes to Qin Zheng. She goes to the brick bed to remove her bedlinens and moves her things into the small inner room, planning to leave the outer room with the brick bed to Xue Zhuang and Qin Zheng both.

Still, she feels so insecure, she goes to the yard looking around and finds two thick shafts, bringing them into the small inner room. She plans to use them to block the door from the inside when she goes to sleep at night.

Qin Zheng carries those clothes into the side annex for bathing, he shakes out the clothes to assist Xue Zhuang in wearing them. Never has he thought that a bright red thing will fall out from it.

He takes a look and blushes hard in an instant.

Qin Zheng is a real deal of a spring chicken, has not even touched the hand of a lady, less to say has seen something like this. He is lost in what to do with this awkwardness.

Xue Zhuang dries himself off and is waiting for Qin Zheng to help him up, but he cannot sense any movement at his back.

"What are you dazing for?"

Qin Zheng pinches the undergarment up by its strap and throws it at Xue Zhuang as if he has been burnt.

"What is this…" Xue Zhuang is sitting in the wooden tub, with a flash of darkness, a piece of soft silky fabric covers his face.

He takes it off and beholds, it is an undergarment embroidered with mandarin ducks playing in water.

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"Nonsense, didn't I tell you to get some clothes that I can wear, what is this?"

"This, this is from Sister-in-law, it is together with your clothes…" Qin Zheng's voice becomes as quiet as a mosquito. "Could it be, she is thinking of, with you…"

"She doesn't know but you clearly know everything. Don't bring up this subject anymore!" Xue Zhuang turns rigid and lowers his voice in rebuke.

He sighs deeply as he sees the undergarment he is holding, and it feels unbearable, like something heavy is weighing down his heart.

"Keep it aside for now!" Xue Zhuang throws it back to Qin Zheng, "Just pretend that we have never seen it!"

After Xia Yue Chu finishes preparing her bedding in the small inner room, suddenly, she is reminded that she has forgotten to remove that undergarment just now. She becomes all fidgety and uneased.

She goes outside to change the bedding for Xue Zhuang and Qin Zheng, at the same time trying to listen in to what is happening inside the side annex. Upon hearing footsteps coming into the room, her anxiety becomes prominent.

Xue Zhuang is pushed into the room by Qin Zheng, and he sees Xia Yue Chu preparing the bedding. Two set of blankets rolled up side by side on the brick bed.

Qin Zheng pokes Xue Zhuang in the back, asking in his quietest voice. "What to do now?"

Xue Zhuang stiffens his body, unsure of how to react.

Xia Yue Chu turns around after she is done with the sheets, and without any warning at all, she witnesses a picturesque scene of a dazzling beauty fresh from the bath.

Xue Zhuang has shaved off his shabby beard, his damp hair draping on his back. Although his skin is of a healthy malt colour, she can still see that blushing red from the hot steam.

A water droplet outlined his well portioned cheek and drips off, running down the side of his neck and inside into his grey collar.

Just looking at his brows or his eyes, there are some resemblances to Xue Liang Ping, but in this entire combination, he is dazzling and handsome.

Xue Zhuang is at lost from being stared at, furthermore, seeing the two sets of blankets neatly placed side by side, his throat tightens and his Adam's apple moves under the stress.

Cough, cough. Qin Zheng clears his throat out of nervousness.

And Xia Yue Chu hastily retracts her line of sight, wears her shoes as she gets off the bed. "The blankets are laid out ready, you both can stay in the outer room, I will stay in the inner room."

Upon hearing this, Xue Zhuang and Qin Zheng releases the tensed nerves from their hearts in relief.

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Seeing no objection from Xue Zhuang, Xia Yue Chu is also able to rest assure, a little.

When she goes to sleep that night, she uses the two wooden shafts and positioning them behind the door in a dead lock. Even after doing so, she is not able to sleep well, any small little sounds from the outer room will make her jump in fright.

After going through this for a few days, Xia Yue Chu's poor health has gotten even worst.

It is fortunate that Madam Sheng receives those five taels of silver, her good mood is lasting for days and unprecedentedly she stops her beating and scolding towards Xia Yue Chu. It has saved her from so much trouble.

One day in the afternoon, Madam Sun is making clothes for Xue Zhuang and Qin Zheng in the room. Xia Yue Chu is not good with needles and threads but she is assisting from the side.

She can hear Madam Sheng speaking sarcastically in yard with her loud voice. "Aiyo, what kind of sweet wind blew my in-laws to our place?"

"Our arrival has been impudent, to be here without prior notice." A gentle voice of a mature madam resounded. "Mainly because we have heard news that Da Zhuang is back, we are so overjoyed that hurried over."

"We have troubled you to remember us like this!" Madam Sheng replies and shouts towards the room "Yue Chu ah, come quickly at look who is here!"

Xia Yue Chu hears this and briefly understands that her mother and father must have came to visit, she gets off the brick bed and goes out to welcome them.

There is a pair of middle aged couple standing in the yard, the man is lean, the woman on the other hand is blessed with a rounder countenance. Both of them have their hands full of gifts.

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When she sees them, the memories of the original jumps up at her, these two people are indeed Xia Yue Chu's father and mother, Xia Hong Qing and Madam Wu.

"Father, Mother, we live so far apart, it must have been inconvenient for you to make this trip." Xia Yue Chu cannot help but feels emotional, she rushes up to relief the weight from Madam Wu's hands.

Madam Sheng has been eyeing on these goodies ever since, she tries to intercept with an outstretched hand and offering them help. "In-laws are indeed particular in manners, just come if you want to, bringing over so much stuff makes us overly formal!"

Madam Wu goes along with her and hands her a package of snacks, telling her with a smile "I didn't know what Madam-in-law likes to eat, so I bought something that I would normally get for myself, these are snacks from Yong Shun Zhai in the town.

Madam Sheng's fake smile is faltering, her eyes are glued to what Xia Yue Chu is holding, there is fish and meat, and two defeathered chickens that are washed clean…

But Madam Wu pulls her daughter along into the room, and stores everything that she brings into the kitchen closet.

"Yue Chu ah, take good care of your parents, they travelled a long distance for this trip, keep them at your place for lunch!"

Madam Sheng perceives that there is nothing more for her to gain, so she ends her greeting casually and leaves. Carrying the snacks back to the main room in the east wing, pulls out a key from her waist and hides the snacks up in her chest and locks it up.

Fortunately, Xue Liang Ping is considerably welcoming, when he hears that the In-laws has arrived, he comes out with his box of tobacco immediately, sitting together with Xia Hong Qing along the edge of the brick bed, chatting and smoking.

After Madam Wu organises the groceries, she takes a simple tour around the rooms, understanding how their current situation is.

She drags Xia Yue Chu into the inner room, closes the door and her face sags. Asking accusingly "Why are you sleeping separately with Da Zhuang?"

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Translator Notes:

This is a fan translation.

Translated by Yellow. Aug 2022.