The Fortunate Lady and Her Mountain Man

Chapter 216: Chapter 216: Major Project

Completely unaware, Ji Huan continued to tend to the fire under the pot.

It wasn’t actually cold enough to need the heated bed anymore, but she would still feel a chill after bathing. Besides, she needed a lot of water. After washing her body, she still had to wash her hair—it was going to be a huge undertaking.

To be honest, though, while the earthen house looked like a dilapidated shack from the outside, the heated bed was actually quite well-built.

Ji Huan didn’t know much about construction. She just saw that the clay on the surface of the bed was slathered on messily, looking no different from any ordinary earthen bed. But after tapping and inspecting it, Hu Liang said it was built with high-quality bricks and a sophisticated design.

It seemed Dabao’s grandfather must have had some money on him when he first settled in Dafeng Village.

The strange thing was, if he had money, why didn’t he build a better house? That way, Dabao could have been spared a few years of hardship...

Ji Huan shook off the impractical thoughts and focused on adding firewood to the stove.

Time passed bit by bit. During this period, Hu Liang opened the door to change the water twice because the vagrant was simply too filthy.

After the third change of water, a long time passed with no further sounds. Ji Huan went home to check on Dabao twice, and when she returned, the main room door was still closed.

Just as she was about to fall asleep while squatting by the door, it finally opened.

Hu Liang was soaked from head to toe, a complete mess. He stood in the doorway looking at Ji Huan, giving off the illusion that he was on the verge of tears but couldn’t cry.

"Is he clean?" Ji Huan stood up and rubbed her face hard to drive away the sleepiness.

Hu Liang nodded, looking completely drained.

Ji Huan understood. It was a huge undertaking, after all.

"You’ve worked hard, you’ve worked hard."

Hu Liang wanted to say it wasn’t physically tiring, just mentally exhausting, but Ji Huan had already entered the main room.

The vagrant, now in clean clothes, sat looking refreshed on a stool next to the wooden tub.

Ji Huan was about to praise Hu Liang a bit more when her gaze suddenly fixed on the vagrant’s left wrist.

She strode forward, bent down, and peeled back the outermost layer of oilcloth, which was soaked through. Then she glared at the vagrant, her eyes blazing with fire.

With his hair covering his face, the vagrant didn’t seem to notice. Hu Liang, however, was already guiltily averting his gaze.

"Liangzi, did he use his hand again?"

"Er, well..."

Ji Huan had guessed correctly. Just as Hu Liang had soaked the washcloth, a hand reached out from behind him and, without any explanation, took the cloth from him.

Hu Liang had wanted to stop him, but for some reason, he didn’t quite dare to speak up.

’What’s so scary about a vagrant? It must be the atmosphere of this place.’

Besides, the vagrant had used his left hand, not the right one Ji Huan had strictly warned him to be extra careful with... So, Hu Liang just stood there awkwardly, watching the vagrant wash himself. That was why it had taken so long.

Now, facing Ji Huan’s questioning, he could have easily pushed all the blame onto the vagrant. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but his tongue betrayed him.

"N-No, he didn’t move it. It was me... I was careless... and got it wet."

Under Ji Huan’s suspicious gaze, Hu Liang forced himself to look calm, not even daring to blink.

Ji Huan didn’t spot any cracks in his composure, so she couldn’t press the matter.

The man had come all this way to help; she couldn’t just turn around and blame him.

"It’s fine. Even though the oilcloth is wet, it’s still somewhat waterproof. I also wrapped it in three layers of gauze, and the innermost layer is still dry, so it’s not a big deal. Besides, this hand isn’t the one with the serious problem."

Hu Liang let out a long sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "As long as it’s fine, as long as it’s fine."

"But..."

Hearing that there was more, Hu Liang’s nerves tensed up again.

"You were washing him for so long, how come his hair..." Ji Huan had thought his hair would have been washed as well.

Hu Liang’s face flushed red, and he stammered, unable to explain.

’Never mind whether the vagrant would even let him get close. Even if he did, I wouldn’t dare!’

’Washing hair isn’t like washing a body. You have to face the vagrant’s face!’

’I already said this house feels creepy. Even though I’m a grown man, in an environment like this, I can’t handle being scared by a living ghost-face.’

Ji Huan had obviously guessed the real reason but didn’t expose him. Instead, she put on an approving expression. "Liangzi, you’re so thoughtful. Washing his hair like this would get water everywhere. It really is inconvenient."

Given an out, Hu Liang naturally chimed in, "Right, right, that’s exactly it."

Ji Huan suppressed a laugh. "In that case, Liangzi, could you help me get him onto the heated bed?"

"So... we’re not washing his hair?"

"We are. I’ll wash it for him."

Hu Liang hesitated, feeling it wasn’t quite right.

But if Ji Huan didn’t do it, he would have to...

’Forget it. I’ll just watch from the side. That should be fine.’

After helping the vagrant lie down on his back on the heated bed, Ji Huan gestured for him to scoot forward until his shoulders were at the edge and his head was hanging completely off.

The stool he had sat on earlier was moved underneath. When Hu Liang brought over a wooden basin of water at a suitable temperature and placed it on the stool, the height was just right.

Ji Huan supported the vagrant’s head with one hand and used her free hand to push the hair away from his face.

Seeing this, Hu Liang quietly took two steps back, then another two, retreating all the way to the doorway where he pretended to be observing the weather.

Ji Huan was in no mood to laugh at him anymore, because the smell coming from the vagrant’s hair was simply...

She held her breath and quickly began splashing water on it. Only after all the hair was soaked through did she turn her head to take two deep gasps of air.

The matted locks of hair, now wet, clumped together into knots that were impossible to untangle.

She tried yanking at them a few times, pulling out quite a bit of hair, and her own scalp started to ache in sympathy. She gave up on using force and bent down to scoop a handful of soapberry liquid from its jar, slathering it on and rubbing vigorously with her eyes closed.

’The reason I didn’t bring over the soap bar was that I had anticipated this situation. Washing his body already used up half a jar of soapberry liquid; how many bars of soap would it take?’

Fortunately, the soapberry liquid was a powerful cleanser. After a bit of rubbing, the knotted hair slowly began to loosen. The water in the basin, however, was now too disgusting to look at.

While Hu Liang was away changing the water, Ji Huan’s gaze fell on the vagrant’s face as he lay with his eyes closed. She suddenly spoke.

"You got your left hand wet yourself, didn’t you? Quite capable, aren’t you? How did you manage to scare Hu Liang?"

The vagrant didn’t respond, not that she needed him to. She snorted and continued talking as if to herself.

"Let me tell you something. I couldn’t care less if you live or die, but since I’m the one treating your injuries now, you have to listen to me. You pull that two-faced act on me again, and I’m done with you!"

’Does he really think I’m that easy to fool? With Hu Liang’s terrible acting, who was he trying to kid?’

To be honest, Ji Huan was a little annoyed.

’Patients who act on their own are the worst. But smug, self-righteous patients who think they know better? They’re the absolute, rock-bottom worst. I’ve worried so much about his injuries, and yet he treats them like nothing. Does he really think I have nothing better to do? If he really pisses me off, I’ll just drop the whole thing and walk away, see if I don’t!’

"If you want to live like this for the rest of your life, then just pretend I said nothing."

As she finished speaking, the vagrant’s eyelids twitched.

Just then, Hu Liang walked in with a basin of fresh water, and Ji Huan stopped talking.

After three applications of soapberry liquid and four rinses with clean water, his hair was finally, completely clean.

Ji Huan went from fumbling frantically at the beginning to becoming so skilled by the end that she could almost rival a salon assistant.

As she wrung out the clean hair and wrapped it in a dry towel, she had the sudden, absurd impulse to ask, ’Hey buddy, want to sign up for a membership card?’

After tidying up the room again, Ji Huan surveyed the results of her and Hu Liang’s half-day of hard work with satisfaction.

He was still wearing patched clothes, his face still covered in scars, but he looked much more pleasant to the eye. Standing this close, you could no longer smell the odor that would make one keep a wide berth.

Her gaze circled around and finally settled on the lower half of the vagrant’s face.

An adult man’s five-o’clock shadow appears if he doesn’t shave for a day. After wandering outside for so long, one could only imagine what the vagrant’s beard looked like.

A face full of scars was already scary enough. Add a thick beard to that, and he looked just like a ruthless, high-seas pirate who killed without batting an eye.

Ji Huan was tempted to let it go, but her obsessive-compulsive side flared up, and she insisted it had to be shaved.

Hu Liang, on the other hand, wished the man’s entire face was covered in a beard.

But Ji Huan had spoken, so he had no choice but to go home and fetch the razor he normally used.

After sending Hu Liang off, Ji Huan crossed her arms and scrutinized the vagrant.

"Hey. We need to talk."

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