Chapter 140: An Outrage Against Heaven and Earth

When Wang Pu returned to the warm chamber, Chen Yuanyuan was leaning against the kang alone, her hands gently stroking her heavily rounded belly. She was gazing in a daze at a pair of tiger-head shoes on the small table, a captivating look of happiness faintly playing on the corners of her lips.

Wang Pu gave a light cough.

Roused from her blissful reverie by the sound, Chen Yuanyuan turned her head and, seeing it was Wang Pu, exclaimed joyfully, "My lord, you're back?"

Wang Pu walked over to the edge of the kang, sat down beside Chen Yuanyuan, picked up the tiger-head shoes from the table, and asked, "Did you make these?"

Yuanyuan gave a soft hum of assent and asked, "Are they pretty?"

"Pretty, and so fluffy and cute," Wang Pu said. "They'll look adorable on our daughter's little feet."

"How do you know it'll definitely be a daughter?" Chen Yuanyuan pouted playfully, protesting, "First Sister-in-law always has big, chubby boys, and this concubine wants to bear a son for my lord too."

"Silly girl." Wang Pu gently pulled Chen Yuanyuan's "plump" and delicate body into his arms, saying softly, "Whether it's a son or a daughter, I love them all the same. But I'd still prefer a daughter—when she grows up, she'll be as beautiful as her mother, and by then she'll surely captivate all the young men under heaven, hehe..."

Chen Yuanyuan rested her pretty head lightly on Wang Pu's shoulder and murmured softly, "Then this concubine will bear my lord a daughter."

Wang Pu suddenly uttered a sound of surprise and asked, "Where is Nenniang? Why is it just you in the warm chamber? Where has this little lass gone?"

"What?" Chen Yuanyuan raised her lovely face, asking with a smile that was not quite a smile, "Have you only been apart for this short a while, and you're already missing her so eagerly?"

"Ahem, listen to you," Wang Pu hurriedly explained. "I mean this little lass should be here in the warm chamber keeping you company. How could she leave a pregnant woman like you to run about all over the place?"

"I sent her to prepare wine and food."

Chen Yuanyuan displayed a trace of jealousy but stopped herself immediately, saying softly, "My lord, you've been staying at the garrison headquarters for over half a month now. You must feel quite uncomfortable all over, right? You should take a bath first. The wooden tub and hot water are all ready for you in the bathhouse inside."

"Alright."

Wang Pu acknowledged. He hadn't felt it much before, but now that Chen Yuanyuan mentioned it, he truly felt an intense itch all over. That was the price of leading troops; when one was in the military, going ten days or half a month without a bath was a common occurrence. Most of the subordinate officers at various levels were the same, rarely having the opportunity to bathe.

The common soldiers had it even worse, with barely a few chances to bathe throughout the entire year.

Stepping into the bathhouse, Wang Pu saw four stoves placed at the four corners, and a wave of comforting warmth rushed toward his face.

Although it was already the end of April and approaching summer, the weather in Datong was still somewhat chilly. To prevent Wang Pu from catching a chill, Chen Yuanyuan had specially ordered the servants to light the stoves in the bathhouse.

Wang Pu's exclusive wooden bathing tub stood in the room. Steam billowed, and numerous rose petals drifted on the surface of the water, releasing a faint fragrance of roses that lingered in the air. Wang Pu quickly shed his soiled garments, strode naked to the side of the tub, and stepped right in.

As the hot water completely enveloped his body, Wang Pu couldn't help letting out a long sigh.

After one's spirit and nerves had been stretched to the absolute limit, taking a hot bath like this felt simply marvelous! It would be even more wonderful if someone could help scrub his back and massage his shoulders. Of course, it would be even more delightful if the person scrubbing his back and massaging his shoulders happened to be a charming and lovely beauty.

Suddenly, a rather absurd notion popped into Wang Pu's head: if selling bank drafts failed to turn a profit, opening a few chain bathhouses in the major cities of Jiangnan might actually make a fortune. In the late Ming era, there were brothels, teahouses, and bathhouses, but there were no entertainment venues that integrated back-scrubbing, bathing, and leisure all into one.

Jiangnan in the late Ming was wealthy, especially the landed, hypocritical gentry of the literati class, as well as the immensely rich merchants with money to burn. These people were both wealthy and dissolute, and their demands for luxurious pleasures were hardly any less sophisticated than those of modern rich folks.

If he could really set up a chain of bathhouses and find a few famous courtesans from the Qinhuai River to act as hostesses, would he need to worry about these literati gentry and wealthy merchants failing to fall obediently into the trap?

Just as Wang Pu was lost in thought, a pair of small hands really did rest upon his shoulders, beginning to knead them gently. Wang Pu groaned in comfort and, without turning his head, asked, "Wife, is that you?"

Before Chen Yuanyuan became pregnant, the two of them had frequently taken baths together, and Chen Yuanyuan often scrubbed Wang Pu's back and massaged his shoulders, which was why Wang Pu assumed the person massaging him from behind was Chen Yuanyuan.

The person behind him did not reply. Suddenly, Wang Pu felt that the technique of the massage seemed somewhat unfamiliar, as if it were not Chen Yuanyuan. A sudden jolt of surprise hit him, and when he turned his head sharply to look, he was stunned, unable to recover his wits for a long time.

The person standing by the bathhouse tub massaging Wang Pu's shoulders was by no means Chen Yuanyuan; it was clearly Nenniang. The little lass must have had some wire crossed in her brain—not only had she sneaked into the bathhouse, but she was also draped in merely a single layer of thin white gauze. Through that transparency, Wang Pu could see the intimate scenery underneath in full view.

The little lass's figure had already developed quite well. Although not as voluptuous as Chen Yuanyuan's, her curves were full and exquisitely contoured. Moreover, being a maiden, she possessed an added aura of pristine freshness. In particular, her slender and straight legs, pressed tightly together, resembled those of a character in a cartoon, giving off a thoroughly surreal sensation.

After a long while, Wang Pu finally regained his senses. He swallowed hard and said, "You little lass, what are you trying to do?"

Wang Pu was simply asking a redundant question; he knew perfectly well what Nenniang was here to do.

It would be a lie to say Wang Pu was unmoved. Nenniang herself was an alluring little beauty embryo, and furthermore, she was willingly offering herself to him. What made it even harder for Wang Pu to resist was that even Chen Yuanyuan intended to bring about this happy match. Most fatally of all, Wang Pu hadn't touched a woman in over two months, and by now he was already fully aroused!

With the right time, favorable geographical location, and harmonious human factors all aligning, if Wang Pu were still to reject Nenniang's affectionate embrace, it truly would be an outrage against heaven and reason.