Wondering where the bathing room was, Fan Zhu Xia quickly went towards the closet and with a wave of her hands; placed most of her robes and hang them
inside, only leaving a couple of them in the space of her storage ring. She did the same with the dresser and placed her other articles of clothing as well as a couple of other things.
She then made her way to the vanity table she saw earlier and opened a couple of the drawers before taking off her hairpins and accessories, placing them in different drawers before completely shutting them once she was free from all of the pins and accessories she was wearing earlier.
After that, she went ahead out of her room and walked until she found the other hallway that she passed by earlier and followed it.
Fan Zhu Xia noticed that it bordered the two unfurnished rooms she had entered earlier as well as had two more doors.
Going to the farthest one first, she slid the big double doors open and saw that it led to the back gardens of the courtyard so she just closed it back up.
Fan Zhu Xia then turned back and made her way to the other door that she passed and went to open it and stepped inside while closing the door behind her.
Just by the entrance was a built in shelf on the wall where there's a couple of baskets filled with different oils, extracts, salts as well as soaps and towels of different sizes. There also space to place your belongings and hang your clothes.
Quickly stripping, Fan Zhu Xia removed her clothes and her shoes before grabbing a small basket and placing a couple of different oils, salts and soap, along with a couple of towels and made her way towards another two doors; one was unlike the previous door that she entered which was made of the same spirit wood as the rest of the courtyard, was now made out of entirely with white jade and glass and the other was quite normal when compared to the jade door and was just made with the same wood as the rest of the courtyard.
Opening the other wooden door, she saw that it was a small but spacious room that serves as the toilet. There was a couple of buckets aside from the toilets as wells as a water pump and a tall table with a basin with a mirror hanging in front of it as well as a shelf filled with a couple of basins and towels as well as a basket of soaps and pots of potpourri which made prevented the room from becoming smelly.
Closing it, Fan Zhu Xia directed her gaze to the jade door instead.
The moment she pushed the jade door open, an involuntary gasp of surprise escaped her.
Steam rushed to her, and stepping inside, a soft warmth enveloped her. Looking down, she noticed that the walls and floor was the same white jade as the door and the heat in the room was perfectly distributed that even the floor was comfortably warm.
Because of the steam, Fan Zhu Xia's view was slightly hazy but looking around, she noticed that there were a several small slits on the top part of one wall where the steam seems to seep out which serves as ventilation. It was enough to let air filter through but not large enough for anyone to fit in and since it was placed in the upper part of the walls, it would also be hard for anyone to take a peek and this brought her a small sense of security.
Taking a fee more steps, Zhu Xia noticed that the bathing room was somewhat divided into two areas. One was for an area for washing were a couple of buckets and built in shelvings as well as jade stools where located alongside what seems to be an water pump while on the other side was a large curved pool with carved steps in the middle while it's bordering edge extended all the way to the wall; shaping it into a half-circle.
From what Fan Zhu Xia could see, the large pool is the one that generates the steam and this is also most likely the natural hot spring that the old man, Min Guo Ji told her about earlier.
Feeling a bit torn, Fan Zhu Xia decided to wash herself for a bit to make sure she was rid of any dust and dirt she had on her body due to their travels and being outside before going into the pool.
Placing her small basket filled with the soaps and oils earlier into one of the shelves that's been built into the jade walls, Fan Zhu Xia grabbed a bucket and one of the stools before sitting down near one of the water pumps and getting water from it.
The moment she poured water on top of herself, she exhaled in relief since the water wasn't cold but wa also comfortably warm.
Humming softly, Fan Zhu Xia cleaned herself happily. Using the soaps and various oils she got; the scent of it slowly mixed into the steam in the air which gave the whole room a relaxing floral fragrance which Fan Zhu Xia really enjoyed.
Amidst the steamy haze, her alluring figure could barely be seen as the sounds of water splashing to the ground along with her soft humming filled the room. The water which fell down the floor was being drained in several parts into dimly glowing lights from the floor.
Glancing at them curiously, Fan Zhu Xia's eyes widened slightly as she murmured, "Runes? Such extravagance for a bathroom..."
Shaking her head with a smile, she continued on bathing. The warm water was washing away the soap suds from her as it sluiced down her body, leaving a trail of water, making her snow white skin glisten as if it was a pale white flower petal with luminous dew drops on it.
After rinsing her hair one more time, she grabbed one of the towels she placed in the basket earlier and gently wrung the water from her hair while making her way to the pool.
Once she was close enough, she dropped the towel by the edge of the pool and slowly lowered her leg into the water one by one as she stepped in.
Standing waist-deep into the water, Fan Zhu Xia walked to the sides of the pool when she noticed that the same white jade used throughout the bathing room wasn't only used as a border for the hot spring since the border extended for a feet and a half once it was halfway deep under the water serving as a bench which followed the circular side of the spring.
Sitting down, Zhu Xia let out a contented sigh as she let her body relax while leaning her head against the upper part of the hot spring's border.
One by one, she could feel her muscles relax and the knots slowly loosening up until it disappears, making her feel extremely languid as she let her body sink in further with only her neck and head still exposed as her eyes fluttered close with relaxed smile filled with contentment on her lips.
Letting her mind wander, she remembered the last time she had enjoyed soaking in a hot spring.
It was a year before she was forced to jump off that cliff. Zhu Xia was only fifteen back then.
She was travelling with a handful of her guards, along with Ning Jun Qiao, her brother figure.
They had just come down from the mountains in Storm Blaze Country and entered one of their biggest cities, the Sear Spark City. It was a large bustling town that was filled with people of different backgrounds. Some were merchants, others were noblemen, commoners and even cultivators.
Everything was so vivid and new to her that she wanted to explore everything but Ning Jun Qiao managed to convince her that they should rest first.
When they found an inn they liked, they discovered that the inn where they decided to stay also had natural hot springs that they allowed customers to use.
Hearing that, Zhu Xia immediately wanted to try it out and since the hot springs was for the use of all customers, it did not provide that much privacy so Ning Jun Qiao was against her idea but Zhu Xia was persistent.
When she finally convinced him to let her use the hot springs, Ning Jun Qiao insisted to accompany her and told her that she could only use the hot springs if he was with her and as long as she only took her outer robes off and kept her inner and middle garments on.
Despite her protests, she wasn't able to win and ended up soaking in the hot springs wearing her inner and middle garments, soaking the clothes through while Ning Jun Qiao did the same with his back turned to her to give her privacy while guarding her and making sure no one tries anything with her.
Looking back at it now, Fan Zhu Xia couldn't help but smile with melancholy.
That was one of the happier memories that she had. Back then, even while soaking in the hot springs, she had bugged and teased Ning Jun Qiao but he only shook his head at her and laughed.
Instead of having a quiet and peaceful atmosphere, Ning Jun Qiao and her laughed and played in the hot spring with their clothes soaked but now, she was here naked and alone, just sitting down quietly and relaxing.
Back then, this is what she wanted to experience, a moment alone filled with peaceful tranquility but now, she would gladly give this up, just to be back there again.
Shaking her head, she wiped a stray tear that fell from her cheek and just emptied her mind.
Just focusing on the blissful feeling that this hot spring gave her.