The General Does Not Want Me To Leave

Long Zhao Feng stood up abruptly and stepped out of the bathtub. The only light came from the torches outside, otherwise, it was dark inside the tent so Xiao Yue could not see his lower region at all, but she screamed even louder out of reflex. Long Zhao Feng tugged at Xiao Yue's arm hard. The latter was helplessly drawn toward him and pressed against the man's chest. Long Zhao Feng turned her around swiftly, put an arm around her waist, and the other hand over Xiao Yue's mouth.

"Stop screaming," he hissed angrily after muffling Xiao Yue. "What are you screaming for? Why did you not at least announce your arrival before entering the tent? You..."

Long Zhao Feng did not continue. It was common courtesy, wasn't it? Those who spent their lives in tents should know about it! The problem was that Xiao Yue did not expect anyone to be inside at all so why bother knocking??

Outside, the sound of rushed footsteps was heard. A group of concerned soldiers came over after hearing Xiao Yue's scream. The area they camped at for the night was still within the Hong Kingdom's border so they did not expect anything unusual to happen. That was why the guards were more relaxed than usual.

"General? General, is everything alright? We heard..."

The person who spoke suddenly turned red. It was a woman who screamed, wasn't it? And this was the general's tent after all... His comrades started to clear their throats, feeling extremely uncomfortable for overreacting.

What to do? They could not just scatter, right? They had to be dismissed. The general was just having a secret meeting with a lady and they unfortunately were disturbed to such an extent. How embarrassing.

The lady might be too overwhelmed by the general's prowess in bed that she failed to keep her voice down... Should they just wait outside all night and listen to whatever was going on inside the tent? The soldiers were not sure whether they should pity the General or themselves.

Thankfully, the General was also not interested to have a bunch of men listening in on them. Long Zhao Feng let out a little cough before dismissing them.

"Everything is fine. Return to your positions."

"Yessir!!!"

The soldiers did not need to be told twice. They quickly dispersed like a bunch of cats after being shooed away by an old auntie for preying on dried fishes.

Inside the tent, Xiao Yue's back was plastered against Long Zhao Feng's naked body. She was still fully clothed with armor on, so the situation was much better than the last time in the hot spring. Long Zhao Feng's strong arm held her in place, and she felt Long Zhao Feng's warm breath, blowing at her left earlobe when he exhaled out of relief. They remained locked in that position while Xiao Yue breathed in and out a few times to calm herself down. Then she pulled at the hand covering her mouth.

Long Zhao Feng let go. Xiao Yue retreated a few steps, averting her gaze away from the naked man.

'How is this shameless guy not the least bit embarrassed about being naked around a woman? For heaven's sake can you not cover yourself with something?'

Long Zhao Feng was not done with his bath, so he sank back into the water and leaned against the bathtub wall, spreading his arms around the edge like a king while cocking his head at the shy young lady who walked in on him while he was taking a bath.

"What do you want?"

"I-I just... want to grab some towel."

Long Zhao Feng raised an eyebrow at her. Why would this silly woman look for a towel in his tent? Was the general's tent also known to harbor some bathing supplies? Did it mean that he should expect some more visitors to his tent tonight?

"This is my tent," he said, emphasizing the word 'my'. He just did not continue with "It is not the storage for bathing supplies. Will the customer please grace other stores with her presence, thank you."

Well, Xiao Yue could not have known that, could she! She thought that this large tent was large because it was used as a storage place for all of their personal belongings. Besides, it was not like she did not ask first. She asked! And that foot soldier, that foot soldier pointed out this tent for her! Xiao Yue did not know what she would like to do first : kick the foot soldier or bang her head against a block of hay.

Alas, regret always came late.

"Sorry," Xiao Yue weakly said. "Can you tell me where they store our stuff then?"

"..."

This girl did not know much about military ranks, he thought. Why would you ask the general where your towel was stored? Did the general not have anything better to do than knowing where towels were stored? Maybe he should also find out where the soap bars were stored. Oh, forget it. The more Long Zhao Feng thought about it, the more aggrieved he was.

His expression spoke a thousand words. Even without him saying anything, Xiao Yue realized that she might have asked too much. She was the fool. Did Long Zhao Feng not already draw a line between them? During the war period, he was the general and she was only a squire. The gap between them was too large. They had no business with each other. She should leave. Right away.

"Excuse me," she said, swallowing the bitterness.  Xiao Yue already reached the tent entrance when Long Zhao Feng spoke again.

"Wait."

Xiao Yue stopped in her track, but she did not turn around. She did not want to look at the half-naked man. It was too indecent. The sound of water splashing told her that Long Zhao Feng got out of the bathtub. He dried himself and draped an inner robe around his body before he placed a hand on Xiao Yue's shoulder and turned her around to face him.

"You cannot leave tonight."