35 I'm Your Wife

"..."

Xiang Ling noticed that the man hadn't moved at all and she turned to face him with a questioning look. "Didn't you hear me? I asked you to take off your clothes."

Li Xian was at a complete loss for words and just stared at her with a baffled look on his face. One moment she was checking his pulse and showing concern for his health and the next moment she was demanding him to take his clothes off. What was wrong with this woman?

Xiang Ling let out a sigh before speaking - "What are you thinking about? If you can't do it then let me." saying that she stepped closer and her hands moved to get a hold of the band around his waist that was keeping his outer robe in place.

Li Xian hurriedly moved back and placed both his hands to cover his upper body as much as possible. The sudden action left Xiang Ling baffled who stared at the man in surprise.

"W-what are you - doing?" Li Xian asked while stammering as he stared at her with almost a scared look in his eyes.

"What else? I'm helping you to take off your clothes since you still haven't done it on your own." Xiang Ling answered while taking a step toward the man only for him to step away from her immediately as if he was scared of her proximity.

She opened her mouth to speak but Li Xian was quicker than her. "Lady Chen, please don't - "

"Lady Chen?" Xiang Ling didn't give him the chance to finish speaking as she was just too surprised to hold herself back. "I'm your wife. Why are you addressing me so formally?" She probably didn't feel this baffled when she first heard Zhe Yuan addressing her as Lingling but the moment Li Xian called her Lady Chen, she was unable to hide her shock.

Li Xian completely ignored her words and continued - "Lady Chen, sorry to disappoint you but I'm in no state to serve you tonight. Just like you said, my body and internal energy are weak. I'm afraid I will not be able to satisfy you." He kept his eyes fixed on the floor as he spoke those words.

"Satisfy me? Weak body? What-"

Xiang Ling was about to ask what he meant by those words when the realization suddenly dawned on her and she found herself totally flummoxed at the direction of the man's thoughts. "What rubbish are you talking about? When did I... I mean when did I say that I want you t-to serve me...? "

To say that Li Xian was surprised by her reaction would be an understatement. He observed how her cheeks turned bright crimson and so did her ears. She was looking anywhere but at him and her embarrassment was more than evident on her face. Since when did she start feeling shy or embarrassed? That was not how Chen Xiang Ling usually behaved.

"You just asked me to take off my clothes." He reminded her while recalling Xin Cheng's warning for not falling into her act. She just asked him to get naked and then she pretended to be shy. It was too suspicious.

"I..." Xiang Ling finally looked up and stared at the man's face before continuing, "... wanted you to take your clothes off so that you can take a medicinal bath. Your body needs to be detoxified before you can start taking medicines to regain your health."

Silence took over the room as the two just stared at each other without saying anything for a while. It was Li Xian who finally broke the silence after a few moments and only whispered a small - "oh!"

Letting out a sigh, Xiang Ling turned away from him and started moving toward the wooden partition on the other side of the room. Behind the partition was an empty bathtub.

"I will prepare the bath for you and leave. You make sure to stay in the bath for four hours before stepping out. I will check on your pulse again in the morning." She informed the man who was still on the other side of the partition with his back facing her.

Feeling assured that he wasn't looking at her, she quickly cast a water spell to fill the bathtub with warm water before she took out the pouches of herbs from the cottage in her space. Thankfully, she had shifted these herbs to the cottage on the first day in the Mortal Realm because she wanted to take an herbal bath, otherwise, they would have gotten sealed along with the herb valley and herbal hall that she had built in her space.

It took her barely five minutes to prepare the bath before she returned the pouches of herbs to the cottage and walked back to where Li Xian was standing. "The bath is ready. Go and detoxify yourself." She didn't wait to hear his response and just walked out of the room.

It was already quite late at night and it seemed like everyone had retired to their rooms. Knowing fully well that she wouldn't be welcomed by any of her husbands, she decided to rest in the pavilion built over a pond.

She took a seat on the wooden bench next to the guardrail of the pavilion and stared into the pond that was reflecting the stars in the sky. There were a couple of lilies blooming and their subtle fragrance filled the slightly chilly night air.

After such a long and tiring day, she was feeling tired and it didn't take long before she fell asleep while still sitting on the bench. She probably fell into a deep slumber because she didn't notice when a man suddenly entered the pavilion and picked her up in his arms.

He quietly and gently placed her on one of the seats arranged around the stone table in the center of the pavilion, making her rest her head on her hands that were placed on the table. He then took out a fur cloak and covered her to keep her warm from the cold air.

Once he made sure that she was in a much more comfortable position than before, he turned around and left.