Wait. Taking her clothes off?
Zhang Zhixu sensed that something was wrong, and shut his eyes swiftly.
“Hey, who put my lamp out?” Chen Baoxiang reached her hand out but could see nothing, and began groping around.
“Wash like this,” he said.
“But I can’t see anything — how am I supposed to wash?” she complained, and was about to open her eyes.
Zhang Zhixu picked up her waist sash and neatly tied it over her eyes.
Chen Baoxiang tilted her head and suddenly had a great realization: “So this is how the noble households show their refinement? When bathing they don’t want to see the grime on themselves, so they cover their eyes and let servants scrub them?”
“……”
He gritted his teeth. “Aren’t you cold? You still have time to stand out there talking.”
Chen Baoxiang hurriedly felt her way to the tub and climbed in.
Zhang Zhixu was a man with a sense of propriety. Although Chen Baoxiang didn’t treat him as a person, men and women were different, and one ought not look at what was improper — so he covered his eyes to avert his gaze, only hoping she would wash away the filth from her body, and spare him the discomfort of enduring it himself.
But what he never anticipated was that the moment his eyes were covered, touch became all the sharper.
When she scrubbed her arm, he could feel the shape of her arm.
When she scrubbed her calf, he could feel the shape of her calf.
When she reached up to scrub her torso —
“W-wait. Wait a moment.” He scrambled to stop her.
But it was too late. Rough fingertips glided across full, rounded contours — the delicate sensation of skin amplified in his mind; both sides gathered up heavily in her hands, slick and springy beneath the lathering of the bath powder.
Zhang Zhixu: “……”
Chen Baoxiang went on scrubbing herself in the most natural manner, asking as she scrubbed: “Wait for what?”
There was utter silence from all around. The Great Immortal made not a sound.
Chen Baoxiang continued to ramble on: “I’ve never bathed in winter before. This is so wonderfully warm — my hands and feet are heating up all over.”
“Once you’ve soaked for a while, use the bath powder to scrub again.”
“Great Immortal, what were you saying about these wealthy families… Hmm? Something just fell on my hand?”
Chen Baoxiang lifted the waist sash to reveal one eye, and exclaimed in surprise: “Great Immortal, my nose is bleeding!”
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