Chapter 259 – Back Scrub
Yan Xiaosi stopped in her tracks but didn’t turn around.
She had already brought the hot water and poured it into the bathtub. If she didn’t leave, could it be that His Highness the War King wanted her to scrub his back?
Sure enough, Long Yu’s next words confirmed her guess.
A lazy voice rang out.
“This king can’t scrub his own back. You stay and scrub this king’s back.”
Yan Xiaosi’s feet seemed to be rooted to the ground, unable to turn around.
“This commoner has coarse hands and feet and fears not being able to serve Your Highness well. This commoner will go out and call the Dragon Guards to come in instead.”
Her request was mercilessly rejected.
“Just you. Don’t forget, you are also serving as this king’s personal attendant. This is part of a personal attendant’s duties.”
Yan Xiaosi nervously gritted her teeth and had no choice but to slowly turn around.
Turning around, she was greeted by an extremely pleasing sight of a handsome man bathing.
Steam rose from the bathtub. The man was sitting lazily against the tub, his black hair dampened by the steam, sticking to his face and chest. The honey-colored skin, nourished by the steam, became glistening and alluring, especially those sculptured lips, coated with a layer of mist, like a luscious, tempting peach.
For a moment, Yan Xiaosi was stunned by the beauty.
Seeing the obvious flash of awe in her eyes, Long Yu’s mood brightened and he curled his lips.
“What are you standing there for?”
Yan Xiaosi came back to her senses and walked back to the bathtub with big strides.
What was there to fear? She was a man now. Besides, Long Yu was still wearing a pair of underpants.
In this era, bath loofahs were made from old loofah pulp, and body wash was soapberry liquid.
Yan Xiaosi vigorously scooped a handful of soapberry liquid from the soapberry box, went behind Long Yu, smeared all the liquid on Long Yu’s body, and scrubbed his back hard with the loofah.
Very quickly, Long Yu’s honey-colored back was scrubbed until it was all red.
The corners of Long Yu’s mouth twitched.
Was this little rascal treating him like a piece of laundry to clean?
Yan Xiaosi thought that for a warrior like Long Yu, scrubbing lightly would probably feel too weak for him, so she put more force into it.
Only after scrubbing Long Yu’s entire back until it was all red did she put the loofah in the water.
“Your Highness, may this commoner leave now?”
Long Yu was scared by her scrubbing. If she stayed and scrubbed him a few more times, his skin would be ruined.
Suppressing the twitching corners of his mouth due to the pain, he calmly said, “Go wait for this king outside the screen.”
Yan Xiaosi had meant to go back to her bed and bury herself inside her bedding. Hearing this answer, she was a bit dejected.
“Your Highness, what other instructions do you have?”
“Later, attend to this king while changing clothes.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
This was part of a personal attendant’s duties, so Yan Xiaosi had no choice but to wait outside the screen.
After waiting for about half an hour, there was still no sign of Long Yu coming out from behind the screen. Yan Xiaosi’s legs went soft from standing, and she was also very sleepy. Seeing a chair nearby, she yawned, walked over, and sat down.
When Long Yu finished bathing and came out from behind the screen wearing a clean pair of underpants, he found that his personal attendant had already fallen into a deep sleep leaning against his chair, oblivious to the world.
In all his years, this was the first time he had encountered such an odd and bold personal attendant.
Sighing slightly, he had no choice but to dress himself.
Perhaps it was uncomfortable sleeping while leaning against the chair, as Yan Xiaosi kept twisting her body from time to time, mumbling.
Long Yu finished dressing and had no choice but to carry her onto the bed, tuck her in, and then sit back at his desk to continue handling military affairs.
Yan Xiaosi had no sense of propriety as someone’s personal attendant. As soon as her body touched the tall bed, soft pillow, and silky quilt, she rolled over and continued sleeping soundly.
This sleep actually lasted past midnight.
Waking up in a daze, Yan Xiaosi felt something was amiss. She suddenly opened her eyes and discovered that she was actually lying on the bed, and it was the War King’s bed. The bed’s owner, the War King, was currently sitting upright at the desk, raising his eyebrows and looking at her.
“Awake?”
“Mm.” Yan Xiaosi’s mind turned, and she blushed a bit with great guilt, nimbly getting off the bed.
“Umm, this commoner was really too sleepy just now and accidentally fell asleep. But this commoner remembers sitting on the chair.”
“It was this king who put you on the bed.”
Yan Xiaosi breathed a sigh of relief.
Then it had nothing to do with her.
“Your Highness, why didn’t you wake this commoner up?”
Long Yu didn’t answer.
“Alright.” Yan Xiaosi didn’t really expect him to answer anyway.
“It’s late. This commoner will take my leave first. Your Highness, please rest well.”
This time, Long Yu didn’t stop her, watching her hurriedly leave the tent.
After seeing Yan Xiaosi off, only then did he rise from his desk, yawning with a tired look, and put out the light to go to bed.
The bedding where a certain personal attendant had lain still retained a bit of warmth and a faint medicinal fragrance. Smelling the light scent on the pillow, he actually felt incredibly comfortable. He, who always had trouble sleeping, actually fell asleep very quickly.
Yan Xiaosi hurried back to the military tent she was staying in and found that Wu Bin and the other two hadn’t slept yet, still waiting for her return in the dark.
She took off her shoes and outer garment, and was about to lift the covers and crawl in when she discovered three pairs of eyes staring at her.
Being stared at by three pairs of eyes in the hazy darkness was quite eerie.
“…Brother Wu, Brother Zhao, Brother Wang, why are you staring at me like that?”
Wu Bin said, “Xiaosi, you stayed in the War King’s tent until now?”
Zhao Xi said, “What did the War King summon you for?”
Wang Cheng said, “Xiaosi, you’ve got skills.”
Yan Xiaosi rolled her eyes, burrowed into the bedding, and wrapped herself from head to toe with the quilt.
“I owe the War King a favor and promised to also serve as his personal attendant. He was busy handling a pile of military affairs tonight and had me grind ink for him. Don’t you three have drills tomorrow? Why aren’t you sleeping yet?”
Being able to grind ink beside the War King wasn’t bad. Wu Bin and the other two deeply felt that Yan Xiaosi had limitless prospects.
The three decided that from now on, they would treat Yan Xiaosi even better. Who knew, maybe in the future they could follow Yan Xiaosi to success and prosperity.
Yan Xiaosi crawled into the bedding but couldn’t sleep. She thought about why Long Yu kept pestering her but couldn’t figure it out. In the end, she gave up thinking about it more, only to discover that the snoring beside her was already thunderous. Wu Bin and the other two had fallen into a dead sleep.
The ear-splitting snores made it even harder for her to sleep. She focused her mind and silently recited mantras to enter her Portable Space to cultivate.
The few stalks of sanqi and fleeceflower were still growing strong. The purple coral mushrooms sprouting out were as pretty as flowers. After a few more days, they should be ready to eat.
After cultivating for a while in the Portable Space and taking a short nap, she only came out of the space before dawn.
“Xiaosi, where did you go?”
When Wu Bin woke up, he found her bedding empty and thought she had been summoned by the War King again.
Yan Xiaosi walked in hunched over, clutching her stomach.
“My stomach didn’t feel good so I went to the latrine.”
