Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

Chapter 15 - 15: 13 Astonishing Soul (Part 2)

Gently peeling off her dress, Liu Sisi carefully folded them and stowed them aside, and then slowly immersed herself into the water.

The water was slightly hot as she settled into the large wooden barrel, she breathed out a long sigh of satisfaction.

Nothing could beat the feel of a warm bath!

She hurriedly first drenched her hair, but encountered a problem while scrubbing—she had completely forgotten to bring any bathing essentials!

She blamed herself for being so careless and forgetful. What did they use to bathe and wash hair during this era?

Despite Di Yelei waiting outside the door, Liu Sisi tried calling out several times but her voice just wouldn’t come out. She dejectedly sat in the large wooden barrel and continued to daydream.

Thump, thump!

A knocking sound echoed, instinctively causing Liu Sisi’s heart to tighten.

“Sisi, I’ve brought soapberries and bath beans for you. You can come and get them,”

Di Yelei’s deep voice echoed from beyond the door.

“Ah? Coming, coming!”

Liu Sisi was pleasantly surprised internally. It was like whatever came to her mind somehow became reality. Disregarding everything else, she hastily grabbed the clothes she had just taken off, haphazardly dressed, and then walked to the door. She only slightly opened the wooden door of the firewood room.

“Di, Ye Lei,”

Before Liu Sisi could finish speaking a large hand reached through the cracked open door, and Di Yelei’s voice came through the door panel, “Sisi, here are the soapberries and bath beans. I saw that you’d forgotten to bring them, so I purposely retrieved them for you.”

“Thank, thank you…”

Before she could finish her sentence, she quickly grabbed the things from him and promptly shut the door to the firewood room. She stood breathlessly up against the door, her heart pounding.

This was utterly embarrassing!

Under the dim light of the oil lamp, she inspected the two items in her hands, familiar with soapberries from her childhood, but as for these bath beans…forget it, if there’s no fish, shrimps will do, better to make do with what she had.

After a couple of steps, she looked back worriedly at the door, picked up a thick wooden stick and propped it against the door. Seeing that it was sturdy enough, she finally felt at ease and returned to her bath.

She first washed her hair, pouring the dirty water outside before slipping back into the large wooden tub for a proper bath.

Unbeknownst to her, the water she used for washing her hair ran down the slope of the land, flowed into the drain at the base of the wall, and seeped right into the roots of the wall.

There, a Stink Snake that was hunting for mice was disturbed by the flow of water and had to slide out from the wall base, wagging its tail and hissing as it moved against the flow of water…

At that moment, Liu Sisi was contentedly scrubbing herself, feeling so relaxed that she was humming to the tune of a light-hearted song called “Flying in Disarray”. Her sweet voice echoed from within the firewood room and each word distinctly reached Di Yelei, who was sitting outside on the stone steps.

Such a beautiful voice, greatly differing from the strange songs he’d heard on stage, naturally captured his full attention.

Even though he couldn’t understand the tune, he nonetheless instinctively enjoyed hearing Liu Sisi’s sweet tender voice. The melodious rhythm coupled with sweet lyrics had caught his heart; He couldn’t help but lean in to listen closely.

“Ahh!”

A shrill scream suddenly coming from within the firewood room interrupted the beautiful song. The previous melodious voice was now a terrified shriek that broke the night’s silence, startling Di Yelei. He immediately leapt up from the stone steps and with a swift stride, he was at the door.

“Sisi, Sisi what happened?”

Instinctively, Di Yelei tried to push the door but found it was barricaded from the inside.

Liu Sisi’s crying voice came from inside, “Di Yelei, help me, save me! It’s a… a…”

Immediately alarmed, Di Yelei didn’t think twice, stepping back before forcefully kicking the wood door.

Crash!

Wood chips flew and the door shattered into pieces! Everything inside the firewood room was suddenly in his view.

The sight of a small woman cowering in the large wooden barrel, her bare shoulders glistening, and the misty haze revealing a scene of spring temptation, standing off against a large, towering python snake.

Upon seeing him come in, Liu Sisi’s voice changed, “Help… save… me… ah!… save me!”