Chapter 618 - 390: Awakening from a Deep Sleep

Chapter 618: Chapter 390: Awakening from a Deep Sleep

When she woke up from her sleep, she only felt clear-headed and refreshed, all her exhaustion swept away.

But before she even opened her eyes, she caught a whiff of a sour stench. Damn, it was way too much.

She hurriedly sat up, then froze. Where was this? She actually wasn’t in a tent, but in a simple and spacious room.

There was a sound at the door: "Is Miss Jiang awake? This servant has prepared hot water and food. Would you like to bathe first or eat something first?"

Xiaomi snapped back to herself and quickly said, "Bathe, bathe, I’ll bathe first."

At the same time, her stomach also growled. She secretly tossed a piece of chocolate into her mouth, chewed a few times and swallowed it, and felt much better in an instant.

The door was pushed open, and a middle-aged woman came in holding clothes. "Miss Jiang, please wait a moment, it’ll be ready right away."

Behind her followed a few soldiers carrying buckets of water, hot and cold together, which they poured into a wooden tub to the side.

When the middle-aged woman left, she did not forget to pull the screen over to block the view of the tub.

"Miss Jiang, please bathe first. I’ll go warm up the food."

"Oh, okay, thank you."

Without caring too much, she hurried over to soak in the bath.

She had been too tired before and slept too soundly to notice, but now she realized how uncomfortable her whole body felt. Her clothes were sticky and clinging to her, and it felt like someone had dumped a bucket of mud and ash over her head.

Her body reeked of sweat, blood, and gasoline, all mixed together, it was enough to stink a person to death.

She stripped off her clothes and jumped into the tub, dunking her whole head under the water, only tilting back her head to expose her nose, wetting herself all over. She picked up the jar of soap pod paste placed beside her, grabbed a handful, and rubbed it into her hair.

The soap pods used for washing clothes and hair had all been processed in advance—dried, ground, boiled into a thick sticky liquid, poured into jars, easy to scoop out when needed.

She did have all kinds of body wash and shampoo in her space, but after using soap pods for so many years, she just didn’t like those industrial fragrances anymore.

After a good rub and scrub, the clean water turned into pitch-black filthy water.

In the end, she even took a bathtub out from her space, filled it with water and washed herself again before changing into the clothes that woman had just prepared.

They were new, not very well-fitted, looked like they’d just been bought.

Xiaomi didn’t mind; after all, her old clothes were still off to the side emitting waves of stench. She definitely didn’t dare put them back on.

She dried her hair, used Spiritual Power to bake the remaining moisture out of it, casually pinned it up, packed away the bathtub she’d taken out, and stepped out from behind the screen. The sour stench instantly lessened by half.

"Phew, I wonder how Little Brother is doing."

Xiaomi muttered to herself as she opened the door and stepped out, just in time to see that same middle-aged woman approaching.

The woman gave a slight curtsey. "Miss Jiang, the food is ready. This way, please."

As she spoke, she led the way ahead. Xiaomi followed and asked her, "Auntie, what is this place? Where are the others?"

The woman said, "This is the General’s Residence. Two days ago, Chiliarch Wei brought you here. The General ordered us to take good care of Miss Jiang. Chiliarch Wei is up front discussing matters with the General."

Xiaomi nodded. So this nap of hers had lasted two or three days.

She just didn’t know how things were over at the Stone Forest. With those maps, there probably shouldn’t be any major problems, right?

The woman soon led Xiaomi to a small room next door. On the table were some simple dishes prepared. From here she could see the room she’d just slept in, where people were already moving in and out, cleaning and changing bedding and so on.

The meal was plain congee with light side dishes and a bit of scrambled eggs, no other meat.

The woman explained, "Miss Jiang has gone hungry for several days. It’s not advisable to eat greasy food right now, so we only prepared some light dishes."

Xiaomi nodded to show she understood.

Though simple, the food tasted pretty good.

The woman soon left, and not long after, the sound of firm footsteps came from outside. Xiaomi’s eyes lit up, and right after that she saw Wei Ziang walk in.

"Xiaomi’s awake? How is it? Anywhere uncomfortable?"

Wei Ziang’s eyes were smiling as he sat down across from Xiaomi.

"I’m fine now. How about you? Oh, did you send a letter home? Father and Mother are really worried about you."

Wei Ziang nodded. "Don’t worry, I had someone send a letter home as soon as we got back."

Xiaomi looked at the food in front of her, then at Wei Ziang. "Have you eaten?"

Things had been so tense before that the two of them hadn’t had time to catch up. Now that they could finally sit in peace, they suddenly didn’t know what to say.

After all, they had been apart for a full four years.

Wei Ziang didn’t say whether he had eaten, just let out a light sigh. "What’s this, you and your Little Brother are strangers now?"

Being called out, Xiaomi gave an awkward laugh. "Not really, it’s just that too many things have happened too fast lately, my brain can’t keep up."

Four years wasn’t that long but not that short either. Her biggest feeling was that the bratty, immature kid from back then had suddenly grown up and become a Chiliarch commanding over a thousand men.

Thinking of what she’d seen before, most of the people were older than Wei Ziang, yet all of them regarded him as someone powerful, someone who could protect them.

Especially when Wei Ziang faced the enemy—decisive, ruthless, showing no mercy. The contrast with the gentle "Little Brother" in her memories was a bit stark.

Because things had been urgent before, she hadn’t had time to dwell on it. Now that she’d relaxed, she was shocked to realize that in just four short years, such a huge change had taken place.

Wei Ziang leaned forward and stretched out his arm to ruffle Xiaomi’s hair.

"It’s fine. After you eat, get a good rest. This afternoon I’ll take you around the city, and from now on you’ll stay over at my place."

His gentle smile was the same as ever, and Xiaomi suddenly felt as if she’d gone back to those years before they parted.

She slapped his hand off her head at once, pouting and humming, "Don’t touch my head. If you touch it, I won’t grow taller."

With a "pfft," Wei Ziang couldn’t help but laugh out loud. "Xiaomi, how are you still this cute."

The slight awkwardness between them melted in an instant, and the two of them suddenly felt like they’d gone back to how they used to be.

Xiaomi kept up her stubborn mouth. "Because I just am."

After they finished laughing, Xiaomi was also full. "By the way, Little Brother, about what happened that day—did General Song say anything?"

By now, whatever distance there’d been between them after so long apart had completely vanished.

Wei Ziang smiled and countered, "What does Xiaomi think the General would say?"

Xiaomi glared at him. "Do you even need to ask? Of course it’s about the maps, and the food I sent you that day."

Wei Ziang straightened his back a bit. "What’s so strange about that? Xiaomi has Xiao Ba who can send messages a thousand miles away, so you had people prepare things in advance and send them over. It’s not like that’s impossible."

Xiaomi’s mouth fell open in surprise. "That works too?"

Who would believe that? Don’t think she didn’t know—when she came out of the Stone Forest that day, she’d heard others say that not long after she went in, General Song had already ordered people to guard the area around the Stone Forest.

Wei Ziang said, "Why not? Xiaomi drew the map of the Stone Forest, and that alone is a great merit. What’s more, you saved hundreds of soldiers. If Xiaomi were a man, getting directly appointed as a Chiliarch would be no problem at all."