MEET ME ON THE BATTLEFIELD

CHAPTER 13 - DEVELOPMENT

  Upon returning, LiZhao called QianDu over, "These four women are courtesans, they'll explain to you what they can do. Take them to the record keeper and have him sort them out."

  QianDu looked at the four pair of curious eyes on him and nodded hesitantly, "Yes General... Ladies, this way please." 

  Cui's eyes sparkled as she said, "He called us ladies!"

  Lan rolled her eyes and Fei said, "How cute." earning a blush out of QiandDu.

  Mei, on the other hand, turned to the YuLin who was smiling with a red face due to all the blood rushing to his head. "Thank you, YuLin."

  "Hehe, anything for beautiful ladies." YuLin retorted as his red eyes flashed at Mei playfully.

  Mei blushed, "Hmph, what a shameless playboy!" And she grabbed the arm of Lan and stalked off following QianDu.

  YuLin giggled and thought he heard LiZhao mutter something. "What was that?"

  LiZhao replied, "Nothing." When in fact, he had mumbled under his breath, shameless indeed.

  By then night had fallen and the two were back in General's tent.

  "Um... general, don't you think you should untie this fancy string so I can tend to you?" YuLin asked, tugging at the string.

 "No need, it will expand at my will."

  "Ooh..."

  LiZhao looked at the youth kicking up dust in the corner. He felt slightly off balance today, he wasn't himself.

  "I need a bath," LiZhao stated before walking off into a side tent. Of course, pulling YuLin along.

  They entered a steamy tent with a tub already filled to the brim with hot water. 

  LiZhao dipped his finger into the water and said, "Do what you did  to it last time."

  Knowing what he meant YuLin smiled and boasted, "Of course, my bath concoction is made to be perfect in every way ha!" and he proceeded to the small shelf containing few vials of essence and herbs.

  LiZhao watched the busy body open vials and sniff at them before mumbling to himself and then proceeding to the water. He watched YuLin's slender arm and fingers extend into the steam rising from the water with practised movements. He watched the revealed part of YuLin's face smile and observed how his messy hair covered so much of his face.

  "Why are you so messy?" He found himself asking.

  YuLin paused in what he was doing and said, "Well, I never really owned a mirror. Living in the wilds most of the time you'll also find that you don't really care about your appearance. Survival comes first."

  LiZhao remained silent. He felt like he actually wanted YuLin to cut off his overgrown bangs so that he could constantly look into those red eyes.

  "Why might General be asking? You want to see how handsome I am underneath?" YuLin asked with a laugh.

  LiZhao smirked, "Shameless!"

  After a while, YuLin swirled the water and announced, "It's ready."

  LiZhao walked over and stood in front of YuLin. This time, YuLin remembered his job. He reached up and pulled the general's cape from him, setting it aside, he began working on the armour.

  "I don't like this armour."

  "..."

  "It hurts me every time I'm near you."