The Lost Bodice

Jiang Danhe slowly walked out of the darkness.

Li Shouji wiped his eyes and sized him up in disbelief. “So you are here.”

He knew it. Earlier on, he had been whining outside his door for a long time, but no one had come out. It turned out that he had come here.

“Why? Is there something you need from me?”

Jiang Danhe did not speak. He just continued to approach him slowly.

“What’s wrong?”

Li Shouji was finding it strange that Jiang Danhe was keeping quiet. “He usually hides in his room after receiving letters from Xiaoguo, and would only emerge from his room after a long time. Why is he acting so strange today?”

Although Li Shouji looked like he was expressing his concern for Jiang Danhe on the surface, his body had already reacted based on his instincts. As Jiang Danhe approached him, he started retreating.

Jiang Danhe lifted Li Shouji’s collar with one hand and said in an icy tone, “Don’t be afraid. Let’s settle the score.”

With widened eyes, Li Shoulji was dragged into the room.

It was late at night, therefore it was better not to alarm the other men.

Looking at the back of Jiang Danh’e head, Li Shouji said anxiously, “Settle the score? What score? Do we owe each other anything?”

Jiang Danhe was accumulating his strength, so he completely ignored the man.

Li Shouji leaned backwards and refused to follow him.

At this moment, his pain receptors are telling him that if he followed Jiang Danhe, it was not going to end well.

However, no matter how he resisted, it didn’t stop Jiang Danhe from dragging him forward.

Just like that, Li Shouji was dragged into the back room with a dumbfounded expression. Having been pushed to the ground with tears in his eyes, he was hoping that someone might pass by and save him. But with one merciless push, Jiang Danhe shut the door with his big hands.

A moment later, Jiang Danhe walked out with a carefree expression and disheveled clothes. His footsteps were noticeably much lighter.

After the figure disappeared, Li Shouji walked out of the door shakily.

The once dignified young master now looked like a demon from a painting.

His neat hair was now in a mess. On his tanned face, there were green and black bruises. The most eye-catching thing was the dark circles under his eyes. It was hard to imagine how the person who threw the punches could be so accurate that the resulting black eyes looked so symmetrical.

Li Shouji spat out the clothes in his mouth and walked out shakily.

As he walked, he muttered to himself, “Prepare the horses! How dare these b*stards lie to me. Just wait and see. These b*stards will will be the death of me…”

Hence, the homes of the military officers bustled with continuous activity for that night.

The next day, the people in the military camp discovered a strange phenomenon.

They were trying to figure out why the officers were all covered in injuries.

“Was this some special combat strategy?”

Not only was there an awkward atmosphere among the soldiers, but the atmosphere between officers was also very uncanny.

On the training ground, although most of Li Shouji’s attention was on the soldiers below, he could still catch a glimpse of the few people beside him with his peripheral vision.

Feeling angry, he couldn’t help but snort at the few people beside him, causing the several strong men to silently shrink their necks in fear.

They only relaxed when Li Shouji looked away.

This was well within their expectations—they had all become dead meat…

Da Mao was standing furthest away from Li Shouji. He was supposed to stand beside him, but after last night, he tried to stay as far away from him as possible.

When he saw Li Shouji, he could feel his entire body aching in response. He’s someone that they couldn’t afford to provoke. “It’s so terrifying, boohoo…”

The actions of these few men caused Xiaoguo to suddenly receive all the letters that Jiang Danhe had written at different times. And the contents of each letter were more sorrowful than the last.

—-

The woman that Jiang Danhe was thinking about day and night, was silently feeling worried at this moment.

After a fruitless search, Xiaoguo took out all the clothes from the cupboard in frustration and threw them onto the bed.

Then, she reorganized them piece by piece.

The purpose of doing this was not to sort out the clothes for the next season. Instead she was trying to find a missing piece of clothing.

“I clearly remembered that I had placed it here after the bath…”

Xiaoguo kept repeating to herself as she folded the clothes.

She had been rummaging through the same place several times and was starting to feel a little frustrated.

She had looked for the garment earlier on, but she didn’t manage to find it at that time.

Didn’t they say that the more you try looking for something, the harder it is to find it? If you stop looking, it will appear soon.

Hence, when she couldn’t find it the first time, she quickly stopped looking for it. She was hoping that it would appear soon, but the outcome was too disappointing. If she really stopped looking, it would completely disappear from her wardrobe.

That was in fact the most expensive and best-looking piece among her collection. Why did she misplace this piece of all items?

No, she couldn’t afford to misplace any of them. She had always kept her intimate items carefully. How could something disappear just like that? It was really strange…

Yu Ling and Xiao Zhu were outside, sewing and listening to the commotion coming from the

room.

“Sister Xiaoguo, what are you looking for?”

“I think she is looking for her bodice.”

Xiao Zhu repeated in disbelief, “Her bodice?”

“How did she manage to misplace such a private piece of clothing?”

Yu Ling nodded and said, “She has been looking for it for some time, but she did not manage to find it. I heard that it is her favorite and most expensive piece of undergarment.”

“Who did you hear that from?”

Xiao Zhu asked curiously. Why didn’t she know anything about this? They were clearly living under the same roof.

“Sister Xiaoguo said it herself just now. Didn’t you hear her? But then again, you’re so focused on your embroidery that you probably didn’t hear anything.”

“Xiao Zhu, help me check if the stitches are correct.”

After saying that, she nervously handed the purse she had sewn to Xiaozhu.

The two of them had only started learning needlework from Xiaoguo recently. At first, Xiaoguo didn’t want to teach them because her skills were not very refined. If they wanted to learn, she could hire a professional to teach them.

However, the two of them refused right away. It was not their intention to pick up any professional skills. They just wanted to sew and mend some items.

That was why Xiaoguo agreed to teach them. Putting everything else aside, just the sewing and mending that she usually did at home was still manageable for her.

Among the two of them, she had thought that Yu Ling would be more skilled since she was older. Unexpectedly, Xiao Zhu was the faster and more serious student.

Yu Ling was good with her hands, but her head hurt whenever she touched a needle and thread. She had no patience for such meticulous work, so it was difficult for her to sit still. Embroidery was torturous work for her.

On the other hand, Xiao Zhu could sit for an entire day without feeling tired. The little girl seemed very talented in embroidery. Whenever Xiaoguo taught her something, she was able to remember it and even figure out other stitching techniques on her own.

When Xiao Zhu heard Yu Ling’s words, she nodded in realization. She was always very engrossed when doing needlework. Once she starts on her embroidery, she would become oblivious to her surroundings. She only had eyes for the needles and threads in front of her.

She took the purse from Yu Ling and looked at it carefully. Then she nodded and said, “No problem!”

When Yu Ling heard this, she finally exhaled and said with relief, “That’s great…”

If the stitches were incorrect, she would have to take the purse apart and sew it back again. It was very tedious work.

Xiao Zhu snickered and continued to work on the pouch in her hand. How could such a fun thing be torturous for her? She would love to keep sewing forever.

Outside the room, it was sunny and windy. Inside, there was a storm brewing.

Xiaoguo was starting to feel numb from all the folding. She was on the verge of ripping the cupboard apart, but she still couldn’t find her bodice. Instead, she found a string of silver hidden in a corner.

Feeling helpless, she put all the clothes back neatly in the cupboard. She had to face up to the fact that the piece of undergarment was gone for good.

There were no outsiders in the house. Who would steal such an intimate item? Therefore, she ruled out the possibility of theft in her head.

Then she was left with one other possibility. That was… where had she stuffed her bodice?!