After a while, she had more or less finished washing. She felt clean and refreshed, yet, she was still as dark as ever.
Looking at the skin on her arms, pitch-black and not just the face or the hands, even the skin usually hidden under the clothes was as black as coal.
"Knock, knock, knock—"
There came a knocking at the door.
Yixuan asked from the other side, "Do you need more hot water?"
"Oh, no need, I'm done washing, thank you." She hastily tidied up and then rushed to the door, removing the bolt.
Then, Yixuan entered the room and caught a glimpse of the lukewarm bathwater in the tub.
Dong Huiying felt her face heat up, utterly embarrassed.
The water was just too dirty, turned to a grey color, with mud clumps floating on the surface—it looked as if she hadn't bathed in hundreds of years, and she felt absolutely mortified.
She slapped her forehead, not daring to look at Yixuan, avoiding his gaze.
Yixuan chuckled lightly and was about to clean up the tub.
Dong Huiying started hopping, "No, no, no, leave it, I'll do it." How could she trouble him any further? She had already been enough of a bother. So she rushed toward the tub first, but just as her tiny hands grasped the edge, the whole tub suddenly flew up??
Splash!
The dirty water from the tub poured all over her.
Great, her bath was in vain.
She had to rinse off again.
But, she was bewildered once more.
The feeling was like... expecting something to be very heavy, only to lift it up and find it lighter than a feather??
...…
The man strode in with the confident gait of a dragon or tiger, a bundle of firewood on his back.
He was tall and majestic, his skin a robust and beautiful bronze, exuding a rugged, unrestrained charm.
Men of the Dayuan usually wore ancient topknots, but this man sported neatly cropped short hair.
He shook off the water droplets from the tips of his hair, with an aura fully charged with masculine wildness and fierceness.
His raspy voice conveyed frustration as he said, "This damned weather, two downpours in a row, the game in the mountains is hiding from the rain, all of my efforts today have been for nothing."
Yixuan approached him, "I just made some ginger tea. The air is damp on rainy days and you should be careful not to catch a chill."
She helped him remove the wet firewood from his back and handed him a clean towel to wipe his face.
The man roughly wiped his face with the towel and then patted his stomach, asking, "Yixuan, is there anything to eat at home? I haven't eaten anything since lunch yesterday, I'm starving."
"Yes, wait a moment. There are a few steamed corn bread leftover from this morning; I'll warm them up on the stove."
There were six brothers in the Liang family, and Liang Yixuan was the youngest, holding the sixth place. And this ruggedly handsome man was the fifth brother, Liang Yuening.
Although Liang Yuening's name contained the character for 'peace', his temperament was anything but peaceful. He was rough, irascible, notorious, and seen as a bad example in the surrounding ten miles. However, he himself did not care the slightest—after all, reputation couldn't fill an empty stomach, so what was the point of worrying about it?
Moreover, the Liang family's situation, when compared to other families, could truly be considered exceptional.
In the Dayuan Dynasty, women were the dominant force. Typically, women managed external affairs while men took care of the home. Women were the head of the family, responsible for earning and providing, with husbands addressing their wives as 'wife master'. Men rarely appeared in public, and in crowded places, they even had to wear veil hats to cover their faces; otherwise, if they brazenly showed their faces, they would be scolded for being shameless and indecent.
Father Liang died early from the plague, leaving behind six young children. At the time, the eldest brother was ten years old, and the youngest, Yixuan, was only four. During Father Liang's funeral, on a rainy day similar to this one, Mother Liang had a fall that broke her spine, leaving her paralyzed thereafter.