The General's Delicious Wife Chapter 057: The Loaches' Fault
Xue Zhuang was angry at first, and he was thinking in his heart that this woman was really getting bolder and bolder. In the beginning few days, she still lowered her eyebrows meekly, but now she actually dared to glare at him.
Then he realized that his dark face (Meaning: Dark expression) had frightened the two children, and the expression on his face suddenly stiffened.
Xue Zhuang knew how powerful his dark face (Meaning: somberness) was.
Back when he was still in the army, as long as his face sank, all the people under him did not dare to let out a whimper.
If it weren't for Xia Yue Chu being here today, the two little girls would had run away crying.
Thinking up to this point, Xue Zhuang suddenly realized that those soldiers in the army were afraid of him, and even the wicked old Madam Sheng was afraid of him.
However, only Xia Yue Chu had no fear of himself, and after she became familiar, she became all the more informal.
If this continued, he estimated that she would soon be ordering him around.
Sure enough, before going to bed, Xue Zhuang got a little agitated when he saw Xia Yue Chu enter the house with a footbath, he frowned and said curtly, "I just said, no need to soak my feet tonight!"
"You are already an adult, why are you acting like a child?" Xia Yue Chu put the footbath on the ground as if she had not heard him, and stretched out her hand to take off Xue Zhuang's socks, "Be obedient, don't create trouble."
"Who's making trouble!" Xue Zhuang bellowed even more angrily, what did that tone meant for coaxing children meant?
"The doctor said that you must take a foot bath and massage every day, now that you have finally regained some senses, how can you give up halfway!"
Doctor Tang was pretty advanced in his skills. After this period of treatment, Xue Zhuang's legs could feel the hot and cold temperatures and the pressing pressure, but he still could not move around.
And it was precisely because he was still unable to move, that Xia Yue Chu could take off his socks without any effort and put his feet into the basin of water.
Xia Yue Chu asked while splashing water onto his calf, "How is the water temperature? Is it hot?"
Xue Zhuang leaned back on the chair a little violently, not wanting to answer her question.
Xia Yue Chu did not get angry when she did not get an answer, instead she mimicked what Qin Zheng would do, pressing hard with her thumb at different points over his calf.
The skin on her hands was not delicate, in fact, due to her permanent long labor hours she had a thin layer of calluses.
But it was such a pair of hands, kneading and pinching all over his legs, that made him gradually feel numb from below the knees, up along his legs, there was a comfortable tingling sensation, he could even feel his bones itching which made him wanted to hammer his legs with a couple of solid hits.
Xue Zhuang became more and more uncomfortable, his upper body gradually stiffened, and he clenched his teeth unconsciously.
Although Xia Yue Chu had not massaged Xue Zhuang before, she watched Qin Zheng do it every day. So far, she learnt to be on point, lifting her head, raising the corners of her lips and saying playfully, "I'm doing pretty well with this massage, right? Ai, I'm so smart and cool!"
Xue Zhuang did not know if he should be laughing or crying, after being distracted by her, that familiar yet mysterious feeling disappeared in an instant. He thought that it was pretty good let her massage like this.
But when the calf massage was over, Xia Yue Chu's hands fumbled up along his knees.
Xue Zhuang stiffened as if he had been struck by lightning, the knowledge that his thighs were kneaded by a woman's hands made the hair follicles on his entire body contracted and raised.
"Ai, you relax a little, how can I pinch when you are being so tensed."
Xia Yue Chu's face was bitter, and she could not squeeze Xue Zhuang's tight thighs no matter how much effort she made, and it made her so tired that her fingers ached.
He was truly someone who had been a soldier, that muscle could not have possibly been trained simply or casually.
"You, you don't mess around..."
"Who's messing around? Ah Zheng was pressing it exactly like this." Xia Yue Chu retorted, slapping Xue Zhuang on the leg. "Relax!"
Xue Zhuang only felt that his throat was dry and itchy, and he struggled to swallow some saliva, but found that his mouth was dry and his tongue was dry, and he could not secrete any saliva.
He subconsciously looked down at Xia Yue Chu, and from this angle he could only see her hair whorl on the crown of her head.
During this time, it might be because she was finally able to eat enough. Xia Yue Chu's originally yellow and dull hair gradually began to have a jet-black luster, and her withering skin and bones appearance had also expanded much.
She was like a wildflower on the side of a mountain stream, slightly moisturized by the spring breeze and spring rain, and immediately radiated a different vitality.
Xue Zhuang leaned back uncomfortably, and said, "Then, what, you should be tired after pinching for a long time, let's stop here today, I..."
"It's okay, I'm not tired, I'll almost done." Xia Yue Chu's hands continued to move upwards, and Xue Zhuang caught her swiftly.
"I can massage the top portions myself!" Xue Zhuang refused resolutely.
If it went on further it would be the pelvis area, Xia Yue Chu regarded herself as a physician, and she could consider these personal care magnanimously, but he could not accept it calmly.
"Okay then." Xia Yue Chu also noticed that this position was a bit awkward and stopped insisting. She put a towel on her lap, wiped Xue Zhuang's feet clean and put them on her knees, and began to pinch his feet seriously.
Compared to the calf, the sensitivity on the soles of the feet was sharper, and the numbness that he experienced just now hit him again, making Xue Zhuang felt like he was sitting on needles.
"What? Did it hurt you?" Xia Yue Chu asked as she eased her movements.
The weakened strength was even more unbearable. Comparing to a foot massage, it felt more like a rubbing of the feet sole.
Xue Zhuang squeezed the armrests of the chair tightly, gritted his teeth and commented, "Haven't you had enough to eat? That's all... ..."
Before he finished his words, a familiar stream of heat converged to the middle of his waist, and his lower body which had not reacted for a long time, was about to move, having a inclination to raise up.
Xue Zhuang's face flushed unnaturally, and he did not know if he should be happy or shamed.
He pushed the table abruptly, making the chair that he was sitting on move back, dragging himself out in a screeching sound and saying miserably, "That's okay, don't pinch anymore!"
Xia Yue Chu was taken aback, and looked up at him inexplicably, her black and white eyes were full of questions.
Xue Zhuang clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, trying to suppress the heat flow in his body, but his lower body was not controlled by his will at all, instead it became more scorching and stiff.
Seeing that his clothes were about to fail in covering his embarrassing reaction, he hurriedly pulled the cloth towel on the side to cover the embarrassment between his legs, and controlled his tone as calmly as he could, "It's enough to have massaged for so long. You must be tired from working at the banquet today. Go to bed early."
Xia Yue Chu only thought that her massage technique was wrong, so she didn't force it. Only to say, "Next time when I go to the city for the follow-up session, I will also learn from Doctor Tang how to press correctly. We can't possibly depend on Ah Zheng for everything. What if he is not at home like today, wouldn't it delay your recovery?"
"This will not happen again in the future!" Xue Zhuang propped himself on the edge of the brick bed, slowly moved to the bed to lie down, pulled the quilt to cover the part that was still energetic, and he clenched his jaws so hard that his back molar teeth were almost broken, "In the future, whether it's raining, snowing or dropping knives, he must return home!"
"Why are you so unreasonable!" Xia Yue Chu splashed off the foot wash and came back to retort, "Didn't Ah Zheng go to town to make money and to reduce the burden on us. It's also appropriate for me to share some responsibility with him."
Seeing that the person on the brick bed was unresponsive, Xia Yue Chu said again, "I haven't told you before. When the snow just began melting a few days ago, the river was so cold, but in order to catch fish for you to nourish your health, Ah Zheng immediately rolled up his trouser and jumped into the water. If I have to say, so what of the brothers by blood lineage, how many can do up to this extend? This person is still a child, leaving his homeland behind and followed you here, we should be treating him nicer, don't you think?"
Hearing Xia Yue Chu's phrasing of "we", Xue Zhuang's shame gradually subsided, and he felt as if he could catch a clue from these words.
After some time, Xia Yue Chu returned to her room and when she was almost asleep, she vaguely heard Xue Zhuang growling angrily from outside, "It's all... ... the loaches... ..."
There were still loaches kept in the cistern from their last catch. She decided to cook loach and tofu tomorrow.
Xia Yue Chu was thinking about the menu for the next day in her heart as she entered a sweet dreamland.
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Translator Notes:
Translated by YellowBean.