Chapter 4: Linking Fingers and Sealing the Deal
The village was different from the capital city. Meng Jun encountered several men on the road, none of whom wore veils. The villagers did not find anything amiss with this.
Li Ruantang finally felt slightly relieved.
The young male concubine had left in a hurry earlier, and his tied-up hair was a bit messy. Now squatting by the river, he was instantly upset again. He turned his head and accusingly pointed at Li Ruantang, “How could you not tell me!”
“Tell you what?” Li Ruantang squatted by the river with him, a soap ball in her hand.
The male concubine frowned, so annoyed that he wished he could bite her a few times. He had walked around half the village with his messy hair, yet she remained completely unaware.
See, he knew Li Ruantang was reckless and careless.
Meng Jun glared at her reproachfully and reached out to untie his hair ribbon. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Li Ruantang’s fingers about to grab his dirty clothes.
The male concubine’s face turned pale with fright. He quickly slapped the back of her hand, “I’ll do it myself!”
His voice was quite loud.
Li Ruantang slightly furrowed her brows. Before she could speak, the guilty male concubine grabbed her little finger as if to make amends.
“Wife-master, wife-master.” Meng Jun slightly lifted his eyelids, sneaking a peek at Li Ruantang’s expression. “These are a man’s clothes. When has there ever been a woman in the Great Jin who does these chores?”
His palms were sweaty with nervousness, fearing that Li Ruantang would become suspicious of his earlier action.
“……”
Li Ruantang lowered her eyes, seemingly gazing at the little finger he tightly held, or perhaps just glancing over casually.
Meng Jun’s heart trembled. Oh no, could she have noticed that his hand felt different?
“Wife-master.” The male concubine gritted his teeth, stretched out his fingers, and slipped them into her palm, holding it tightly. “Are you angry with me?”
His face was full of grievance, his heart filled with apprehension.
Li Ruantang shook her head slightly. The fingers the male concubine had inserted into her palm were slender, with long joints, not at all like those of someone who had done manual labor.
She sighed softly, “Jiu Jiu, I know what you’re worried about.”
“But this is not the time to differentiate between men and women. If I weren’t penniless, you wouldn’t have to suffer like this.”
“But……”
The male concubine was hesitant and irritated. He was merely borrowing her name, so how did they end up getting closer and closer?
He gloomily looked at the happily gurgling river, unable to directly tell Li Ruantang that he had never been concerned about her reputation.
“Jiu Jiu, have you used this soap ball before?”
Meng Jun pursed his lips and shook his head. Li Ruantang chuckled and no longer hesitated. “Then I’ll try it first and teach you once I’ve learned.”
She said she would teach him, but by the time the male concubine understood how to scrub, the two or three pieces of clothing had already been washed spotlessly clean.
It was also Li Ruantang’s first time doing laundry. She rinsed the scrubbed clothes in water for a long time, her fingers turning red from soaking, before picking them up to show the eagerly squatting Meng Jun. “Jiu Jiu, do you think this counts as being rinsed clean?”
“Clean.”
Several male concubines had come by at some point, watching them for a long time. They now eagerly spoke up, smiling, “Madam, you’ve washed them clean enough. Judging by your attire, you don’t seem to be from our village. Are you here from the town to have fun?”
The villagers were simple and honest. Seeing that Li Ruantang wore no jade ornaments, they assumed she was just a wealthy lady, making it more natural to strike up a conversation.
“I see that Madam is injured. Could it be that you went hunting in Changshan Gully a few days ago and got hurt?”
Li Ruantang smiled faintly and nodded at them.
“Madam is not from our village, so you probably don’t know how dangerous Changshan Gully is. Now that you’ve escaped with your life, you mustn’t go to Changshan Gully again in the future.”
They glanced at the male concubine hiding behind Li Ruantang and winked, laughing, “Otherwise, I’m afraid someone will cry their eyes out.”
Although these men didn’t specifically name anyone, Meng Jun’s face still turned red. He clutched her sleeve, feeling extremely uncomfortable, and turned his face away.
Hmph, no way. He wouldn’t cry for Li Ruantang.
The male concubine hid behind her awkwardly. Li Ruantang casually placed the wrung-out outer garment into the bamboo basket and patted his arm before smiling, “My husband and I have just arrived here. We originally came to admire the beautiful scenery of Changshan Gully but unexpectedly got injured. How could this place be so dangerous?”
