8
Inside the bathhouse, the air was thick with mist, filled with the faint herbal scent of soap beans.
Two servant women were helping the girl immersed in the wooden tub wash her hair and body. One of them evenly applied expensive rosewater essence inch by inch to Ruan An’s jet-black hair, finding it thick and silky smooth.
So, this was what “hair like silk” meant.
The other servant woman slowly poured slightly scalding water over Ruan An’s snow-white, rounded shoulders. Her fingertips inadvertently touched the inch of fair skin on the beauty’s fragrant shoulder—it was like warm jade to the touch, delicate and smooth.
The girl possessed the foundation of a beauty with snow-white skin and jet-black hair, as well as sweet, gentle features—delicate brows, a soft nose, and rosy lips. Ruan An appeared slender, but her figure beneath her clothes was well-proportioned and supple, not at all bony.
After regaining consciousness, Ruan An found herself immersed in this ebony wooden tub. With a calm expression, she thought deeply for a long while, carefully observing her unfamiliar surroundings—
The servant women attending to her were uniformly dressed, all wearing dark green narrow-sleeved dresses and high coiled buns that obscured their eyes. They didn’t seem like the kind of servants one would find in a bandit’s lair.
Soon after, Ruan An finished bathing.
The servant women changed her into a light purple large-sleeved robe made of luxurious silk. The exquisite hezi skirt was embroidered with elegant, understated camellia flowers. Several weeping crabapple jade hairpins were inserted at an angle into her high-waisted cloud-like bun.
After passing through a redwood folding screen intricately carved with mythical birds and auspicious beasts, Ruan An found the interior of the hall ornately decorated, more like the inner quarters of an official residence. Doubts arose in her heart.
With this thought, Ruan An asked a servant woman behind her, “Where am I?”
The servant woman respectfully replied, “Reporting to the madam, you are in the stronghold. This is also where the chieftain usually lives.”
Madam?
Chieftain?
Ruan An couldn’t help but furrow her brows. As she had suspected before losing consciousness, she had indeed fallen into a bandits’ lair.
But she hadn’t anticipated that she would become the chieftain’s wife here!
The servant woman gestured for Ruan An to look at the eight-immortal table not far away and said, “Madam, the meal has been prepared. Please take a seat. The chieftain said he will come to accompany you for the meal at shen hour.”
After sitting down, Ruan An looked at the table full of delicacies. Although her stomach growled loudly, she didn’t dare pick up her chopsticks, afraid that the food might be drugged again.
The only chieftain with such financial resources was probably the bandit leader who had seized all the medicinal herb fields in Jiazhou—Qi Yixiong.
Ruan An’s heart was filled with resentment towards Qi Yixiong.
Over the past six months, he had not only cut off the livelihoods of herb gatherers and some itinerant doctors but also caused the price of medicinal herbs in Jiazhou to skyrocket. Ordinary people, when ill, found it increasingly difficult to afford prepared medicines.
Qi Yixiong had done every evil deed for his own selfish gain. She could not submit to such a man for the sake of wealth and comfort, no matter how splendid.
Even less did she want to be touched or defiled by such a man.
After surveying her surroundings and seeing over a dozen bandit soldiers stationed outside the window, the girl bit her lip, a moment of dejection flashing in her eyes.
With her limited abilities, escaping from this luxurious room was impossible.
Ruan An tried her best to remain calm. Just as she was pondering how to deal with Qi Yixiong, a familiar, clear, deep male voice reached her ears—
“Ah Xu.”
She looked up to see a young man in a moon-white robe, with a handsome, clean-cut face, striding towards her. The closer the man got, the clearer his features became.
After Ruan An recognized his appearance, her eyes widened in disbelief.
It was him!
The Prefect of Jiazhou—Chen Yunzhong.
What was Chen Yunzhong doing here?
Startled, Ruan An stood up from the eight-immortal table. Chen Yunzhong walked over to her. After stopping and looking down at the girl before him, a flicker of admiration passed through Chen Yunzhong’s eyes.
Ruan An was already extremely beautiful, and now, carefully dressed up, her appearance was even more fair and radiant, breathtakingly ethereal.
He gently reassured the girl, “Ah Xu, did I scare you? Don’t be afraid. I won’t harm you.”
Ruan An parted her soft lips, unsure how to respond, but suddenly realized the truth in her heart.
So, the reason the bandit problem in Jiazhou remained unsolved wasn’t because the officials were incompetent and corrupt, but because the officials and bandits were protecting each other.
Qi Yixiong must be Chen Yunzhong’s alternate identity. Local military power in the various prefectures was limited, but Chen Yunzhong’s ambitions were not small. By disguising himself as a bandit, he could privately recruit more soldiers, thus evading the watchful eyes of the Jiannan Circuit and the imperial court.
Because Renowed Physician Sun had once cured Chen Yunzhong’s mother of a chronic illness, Ruan An had known him since childhood. Chen Yunzhong’s mother had always been in poor health. After Ruan An returned to Jiazhou from Lingnan, she had also treated his mother several times.
She could tell that Chen Yunzhong harbored some admiration for her. However, to consolidate his power, Chen Yunzhong had long been betrothed to the daughter of a powerful local family in Jiazhou.
Ruan An still remembered how Chen Yunzhong had once asked her solemnly: “Ah Xu, could you bear to be my concubine temporarily… I have no love for that woman. When the time is right, I will divorce her.”
“Can you wait for me, give me some time? I will eventually make you my wife. You won’t have to be a concubine for long.”
In truth, Ruan An hadn’t previously disliked Chen Yunzhong.
It was only after he said these words to her that her opinion of him turned sour.
Chen Yunzhong was considered an outstanding figure among men, but he was using his primary wife’s family’s power while planning to divorce her in the end.
Although Ruan An was not his wife, she still felt deeply disheartened.
Which woman would want to live under the scheming of the person lying beside her, also enduring the fact that his heart held another woman?
But after all, he was a high-ranking local official. Although Ruan An had clearly expressed her refusal to Chen Yunzhong, she also didn’t dare to have a complete falling out with him.
Seeing that Ruan An didn’t speak, Chen Yunzhong dismissed the servant women with a cold expression. He gestured for Ruan An to sit down and patiently said again, “Eat something first. I had them make all your favorite dishes.”
Ruan An’s delicate, pale hands did not pick up the chopsticks. Although she was hungry, she still worried that Chen Yunzhong might have drugged the food.
Seeing this, a fleeting sinister look passed through Chen Yunzhong’s eyes. He quickly concealed it, his tone still gentle: “Ah Xu, I won’t force you. I won’t do anything to harm you.”
“Prefect Chen…”
Chen Yunzhong placed a bite of food on Ruan An’s plate with his chopsticks and said indifferently, “I would prefer you call me Furui.”
Ruan An knew that Furui was Chen Yunzhong’s courtesy name, but she thought to herself, what was Huo Pingxiao’s courtesy name?
He must have one, too.
Just as she was thinking, Chen Yunzhong’s tone suddenly deepened: “That fiancé of yours, he suddenly came back to find you?”
Chen Yunzhong also had some influence in Meishan. He must have heard the news that Huo Pingxiao had spread.
“Has he touched you?”
Chen Yunzhong’s tone grew even darker.
Ruan An didn’t want to provoke Chen Yunzhong. She also knew that this man was gentle on the surface but ruthless at heart. Based on her understanding of him, if he knew she was still a virgin, he might be able to restrain himself for a few days before touching her.
But if he found out that she and her so-called fiancé had been intimate, he would inevitably do something crazy.
Therefore, the girl feigned a bit of maidenly shyness and replied in a faltering tone, “He and I haven’t formally married yet… The village chief hasn’t chosen an auspicious date and time, so naturally… naturally…”
At these words, Chen Yunzhong’s expression relaxed slightly.
The man’s tone became gentle again: “Ah Xu, since you’re unwilling to lower yourself to be a concubine, just be the chieftain’s wife for now. The villagers here will all regard you as a legitimate wife.”
“I still say the same thing. I have no feelings for that woman. In my, Chen Yunzhong’s, heart, there is only you, Ruan An.”
The latter half of this sentence made Ruan An feel even more disgusted and repulsed.
But the girl still feigned innocence and nodded, pretending to comply obediently with Chen Yunzhong’s arrangement.
After finishing the meal, it was still early.
Chen Yunzhong took Ruan An to a medicinal herb mountain not far from the deep stronghold. In her childhood, Ruan An had often come here to gather herbs with her mistress and Renowed Physician Sun.
The mountain scenery was just as she remembered it—cold, elegant, quiet, and beautiful, like a fairyland on earth.
Chen Yunzhong glanced at the soft, gentle young girl beside him and said with emotion, “Ah Xu, the first time I saw you was here.”
In his memory, the young Ruan An, carrying a herb basket while gathering herbs, looked like a fairy in the wilderness—lively and adorable.
Ruan An gazed into the distant mountain view but did not reply to him.
She finally understood why Huo Pingxiao had abruptly appeared in Jiazhou.
Chen Yunzhong and Huo Pingxiao were former schoolmates, born in the same year and month. Chen Yunzhong’s father had been a capable general under Huo Pingxiao’s uncle’s command. When the two were thirteen years old, they had both studied martial arts in Jiazhou.
Therefore, the place where she first saw Huo Pingxiao was also in this medicinal herb field.
Back then, Ruan An actually hadn’t liked this young man from Chang’an. She detested his arrogant, unruly eyes and thought his manner was overbearing, as he had injured many of the wild monkeys in the mountains.
She had spent considerable effort treating those injured monkeys and also believed that Huo Pingxiao’s behavior was excessively violent, only knowing how to use brute force and martial prowess.
That day, seeing Huo Pingxiao lying in the grass dozing lightly, Ruan An had hoisted her herb basket, run up to him, and questioned in a childish, milky voice, “Why did you injure those monkeys?”
Huo Pingxiao was thirteen that year, and the scar extending from his left neck to his shoulder was already there. The dappled sunlight gradually fell upon the young man’s handsome face.
Hearing the girl’s voice, the young man didn’t open his eyes. His expression was indifferent, and he merely replied lazily, “Why don’t you ask those wild monkeys why they always have to forcibly seize the mountain people’s supplies?”
Back then, Ruan An was dissatisfied with Huo Pingxiao’s explanation and pressed him with several more aggressive questions.
After yawning lazily, Huo Pingxiao finally looked up at her. His dark, ink-like eyes were as sharp as thorns.
Intimidated by his piercing gaze, the young girl heard the teenager coldly utter two words: “Stop yapping.”
From then on, Huo Pingxiao became the person Ruan An disliked the most.
Later, he saved her life in Fengzhou, and it was then that her opinion of Huo Pingxiao began to change.
After the army of the Great Li arrived at Fengzhou, Huo Pingxiao maintained strict discipline over his subordinates, absolutely forbidding soldiers from looting the people’s silver and possessions. Huo Pingxiao not only quelled the chaos but also stayed in Fengzhou for a while, helping the survivors of the city’s massacre rebuild and restoring stability there.
Perhaps, at that time, his intention was simply to establish order and rules.
The wild monkeys’ many actions had indeed posed a threat to the lives of passing mountain travelers, which was why Huo Pingxiao resorted to force against them.
From that point on, no further incidents of wild monkeys harming people occurred there.
Seeing the young girl beside him seemingly lost in recollection, Chen Yunzhong’s gaze also fell upon the nearby medicinal herb mountain. He said, “This place is considered a treasure trove of Jiazhou. Many valuable medicinal herbs grow on that mountain. The great medical families of Chang’an send people here every year to purchase herbs.”
Hearing Chen Yunzhong mention the herb mountain, Ruan An snapped back to the present.
Their eyes met, and Chen Yunzhong added meaningfully, “But, if a mountain fire were to break out, there wouldn’t be any herbs left here at all.”
The spring chill, still carrying a hint of cold, crept into the girl’s sleeves. Her expression changed drastically.
Chen Yunzhong was threatening her!
If she tried to run away or did anything to defy him, he could destroy the herb mountain at any time.
Ruan An gritted her silver teeth secretly.
He truly knew how to strike at the heart.
The next morning.
Ruan An had been unable to sleep all night. It wasn’t until the horizon began to glow with the light of dawn that she finally felt some drowsiness.
The girl wore a thin undergarment, her two small hands raised defensively in front of her.
In her hazy state, Ruan An felt someone take her hand, seemingly about to lead it away.
She awoke with a start. Opening her eyes, she saw Chen Yunzhong sitting by the bed. The man’s expression appeared gentle but was mixed with a hint of extremism.
Ruan An struggled against the man’s large hand, pleading softly, “Don’t… don’t be like this. Didn’t we agree? After we choose an auspicious date and hold the wedding… then we can be intimate…”
Chen Yunzhong released the girl’s slender, fair little hand, his expression displeased: “Just a touch of your hand, and that’s not allowed?”
Ruan An lowered her eyelashes shyly and replied softly, “After we’re formally married, you can do whatever you want.”
But in her heart, she thought, no.
Nothing would be allowed.
She loathed his touch and even more so, the way he looked at her.
Chen Yunzhong was temporarily appeased by Ruan An’s “whatever you want.” He was about to let the startled Ruan An sleep a while longer when a bandit soldier arrived outside the room to report.
After the bandit soldier, his face panicked, finished relaying the news, Chen Yunzhong’s expression darkened instantly, and his voice turned vicious: “Isn’t Huo Pingxiao dead? Wasn’t his body gnawed down to just a skeleton by dogs?”
“But… according to the sentries, the Jiannan army is indeed not far outside the mountains.”
Chen Yunzhong left in a fit of rage, his sleeves billowing. Before leaving, he specifically ordered the bandit soldiers outside to keep a close watch on Ruan An.
After Chen Yunzhong departed, Ruan An breathed a slight sigh of relief. She slowly rose from the four-poster bed, and suddenly, memories of that day came flooding back to her.
Fragmented images gradually emerged in her mind. That day, Huo Pingxiao had also grabbed her hand and interlaced his fingers with hers. The strength in the man’s palm was powerful, his body temperature scorching hot.
She remembered him suddenly raising her arm above her head, his dark, murky eyes gazing intently at her face, his voice hoarse as he commanded, “Don’t move.”
“Bang—”
As the abrupt sound faded, the rosewood window with water caltrop flower carvings collapsed in an instant.
Ruan An smelled the thick scent of blood, carried into the room by the fierce mountain wind. The memory was forcibly cut off. She stood up in a fluster, the thin, soft wrap draped over her shoulders becoming disheveled, slipping across her skin and falling to the floor.
Iron boots struck the ground with a resonant clang. Huo Pingxiao walked towards her, his back to the morning sun.
The man wore a suit of black iron armor, his figure tall and imposing. The plumes behind his fierce beast helmet were magnificently colored, and the intricate small scales on his shoulder guards shimmered brilliantly.
Ruan An recognized the familiar, handsome face of the approaching man and met his proud, deep-set eyes. Her emotions began to sink uncontrollably.
“Forgive the presumption.”
As soon as Huo Pingxiao’s deep, low voice fell, his powerful arm suddenly swept around Ruan An’s slender waist. The man’s warm breath brushed past her ear. The girl’s neck and side gradually grew itchy and numb. Her half-exposed calf, peeking out from her skirt, lightly grazed his cold black iron armor.
Ruan An couldn’t withstand this shiver-inducing chill and couldn’t help but curl her small foot slightly.
Huo Pingxiao was intentionally restraining his strength, ensuring he wouldn’t hurt her. Yet, after Ruan An’s soft belly landed on his broad shoulder, for some unknown reason, a faint, dull ache began to throb within her.
**