The Slender Waist-Chapter 287 - 200 Going Crazy in the Rain

It seemed like an instant, yet also as if a long lifetime had passed...

"Hmph."

Ta Xue snorted loudly in the rain.

With rain this heavy, not to mention people, even horses would be uncomfortable.

But the three people in front of him seemed completely unaware of it.

Feng Yun stood in the rain for a moment, walking slowly on the green stone slabs that had been washed clean by the rain. Pei Jue and Xiao Cheng both stood there, no one knew toward whom she was walking. The short distance seemed as vast as the separation between heaven and earth.

Pei Jue did not move.

His face in the rainy night was overcast with clouds.

Wind lanterns hanging under the eaves of the distant farmhouse’s gate swayed in the cold wind, casting a dim yellow light on his face that was solitary and cool.

Feng Yun did not know what he was thinking, whether he was suspecting her of secretly meeting with Xiao Cheng, or if he had already seen through her little trick.

Through the misty rain, several servants carried out wooden chairs from the farmhouse and brought blankets to place under the gate’s eaves. Chunyu Yan lazily sat down, enjoying the comfort, staying out of the affair.

No one paid him any attention.

The rain was heavy.

All three of them were drenched.

Feng Yun walked up with her umbrella, just standing there in the rain, watching them—two men she had been with in her previous life, at sword’s drawn.

She suddenly felt like laughing.

"Do you really understand me? Do you know what I want?"

"What do you want?" Xiao Cheng said.

Feng Yun looked at him coldly.

"Certainly not Le Zhengzi’s brush. Ha..."

Xiao Cheng listened to her laugh and his throat caught.

"Blame my dullness. That year in Qingfeng Garden, when you said you were practicing the ’Letter of Recovery’ and couldn’t write it well, lacking a good brush, especially wanting Le Zhengzi’s goat hair brush, I had someone find the old master..."

Feng Yun just watched him, not interrupting.

Because she too was curious.

What was the mindset of the then young Prince of Jingling when he obtained that brush.

"I had Ping’an deliver the brush to the back courtyard for you, not knowing it would stir up such a commotion..."

"And so what? You did nothing as well," Feng Yun retorted coldly.

"If you’re saying these things to soothe your scant conscience, you needn’t bother."

She slowly turned to look at Pei Jue.

"My lord, let’s go."

Pei Jue had been silent until now, not asking her why she came to see Xiao Cheng, nor, like Xiao Cheng, pressing her about what she wanted. He simply listened quietly, listening to them talk about Le Zhengzi, "Letter of Recovery," those past events that he did not understand and could not partake in.

He sat on horseback, proudly erect, leading soldiers like an unstoppable force, yet as solitary as the wind lantern under the eaves, the chaotic rain turning him into a stiff sculpture.

When Feng Yun called "my lord," he regarded her quietly.

After a moment, he extended his hand, his voice calm and suppressed, "Alright."

Feng Yun smiled faintly and walked over.

"Don’t!" Xiao Cheng watched her approach Pei Jue, saw her hand placed in Pei Jue’s palm, and suddenly called out sharply, his eyes full of violent rage.

Rain streaked down his cheeks, his soaked disarray was as if he were weeping.

"Ayun, listen to me!"

Feng Yun looked up at Pei Jue.

This face she had once been infatuated with, so gallant and outstanding, was especially silent, exceptionally cold tonight, like an arrow piercing into the bone. His silence made her furrow her brow, easing her breath.

"My lord, wait a moment, let me speak with him," she said.

Pei Jue glanced at Xiao Cheng.

If looks could kill, he would’ve been dismembered several times over.

"Hmm." His cold response was drowned by the rain.

Feng Yun turned back, "Speak. What do you want to say?"

"Ayun, I was wrong before," Xiao Cheng suddenly felt quite candid.

He wasn’t accustomed to apologizing in the past, and ascending the throne meant there was no need to apologize to anyone.

But after his heart had been stabbed to the point of being riddled with injuries, in front of Pei Jue, he spoke the words that made him feel ashamed, powerless, yet unstoppable.

Xiao Cheng looked at her and said, "If there’s someone in this world whom I hold dear, for whom I would willingly risk my life, it must be you."

After his rebirth, he had thought about the events of his past life many times, the good and bad of how he treated Ayun, the twisted, awkward years they had spent together, and the constant emergence of anger and melancholy. He had never truly sorted out his own feelings...

Until that moment just now.

When he saw Feng Yun walking toward Pei Jue.

She called him "my lord."

And said to him, "Let’s go."

There was no excessive affection, just like an ordinary couple. That scene cut into his heart like a knife, filling him with extreme hatred and fury, his emotions torn beyond recognition.

Seeing the real image of Feng Yun and Pei Jue together was different from what he had imagined. The shock he felt was manifold, and suddenly, he understood the misunderstanding of his past life...

It all stemmed from jealousy.

Jealousy had made him lose his reason.

He was jealous that Pei Jue was her first man, jealous that Pei Jue had her best three years, jealous that she couldn’t forget him even after returning to Qi Palace.

Especially because Xiao Qu resembled Pei Jue...

Every time he saw her gaze at the child with tender, smiling eyes, his heart felt as though it was being gouged out. He was jealous, deathly jealous, but he couldn’t voice it. His dignity and his pride made him subconsciously neglect her, to take revenge on her...

He walked over to Feng Yun, no longer caring about behaving like a gentleman. He just wanted to snatch her away and not let her take another step away from him.

Rain blurred his vision, and he was laughing.

"Ayun, do you remember that rainy day in Yueya Alley? You walked from one end to the other with an umbrella, back and forth... I would pass through there to the academy every day. I was half an hour late because I caught a cold for those two days, and you waited for me, a full half hour..."

Feng Yun watched him in silence.

Memories were stirred up and torn into pieces.

He said, "You held a small cup in your arms, saying it was medicine you had prepared, and you also said that every time you caught a cold in the past, your mother would use this recipe, and you would recover after taking it a few times..."

"Why talk about these things?" Feng Yun’s voice was not loud and carried little emotion, but was exceptionally clear.

Xiao Cheng smiled, his handsome features becoming disheveled by the relentless rain. He looked at Feng Yun beneath the umbrella, his pride shattered, his voice hoarse as if scraped by the cold wind.

"I mention these things to tell you that I remember every small detail of our time together. I also want to tell you..."

He glanced at Pei Jue, "It doesn’t matter if you don’t leave with me. I will wait for you, no matter how long. Just say the word, and if you want to come home, I will be here to pick you up."

The rain kept pouring down.

It was as if the scene had frozen, everyone watching him.

Feng Yun said, "I’ve already made myself very clear. You should understand my meaning."

Xiao Cheng looked at her, "I understand."

Feng Yun slowly bowed to him.

"Then, Your Highness, please return."

"Ayun..."

Xiao Cheng’s throat tightened, and in that moment, he saw a tender look on Feng Yun’s face, her voice soft, as if it could drift away with the wind and rain.

She smiled at him.

It blocked the myriad of words he had in his throat.

"I understand everything."

Xiao Cheng, maintaining a distance, bowed back to her.

Just like that year in Yueya Alley, his eyes not sure if they were filled with tears or rain, his voice choked with emotion.

"Do not make things difficult for yourself. I don’t wish to see you troubled either. I will leave."

He took two steps back, then looked at Pei Jue again.

"I came tonight without her knowledge. The fault lies with me, Ayun is innocent. Please, General, do not trouble her...."

After saying this, he took one last deep look at Feng Yun, turned briskly, and with Jixiang’s support, headed toward the anchored ship, his figure as lonely as an abandoned dog.

Jixiang wept.

Xuchi and Gongsun Jiong, two guards, also had red eyes.

They had followed Xiao Cheng for many years, always seeing him composed and aloof, a gentleman of refinement, dubbed a celestial being banished to the mortal realm—they had never witnessed him in such a desolate state...

A group of guards watched the Beiyong Army, following closely behind, their eyes fixed on Pei Jue as they retreated slowly.

"I can give you one opportunity."

The sound of the rain was loud, but Pei Jue remained mounted, the wind and rain brushing over his tall frame, drenching him and his voice, making it seem muffled and unreal.

"The only chance."

He slowly put away his bow and arrow, looking at Feng Yun.

"If you want, you can leave with him."

Feng Yun looked up sharply at him.

He stood in the rain, immovable as a solid post, his eyes intensely scanning her.

Xiao Cheng looked back.

All eyes turned to him.

Only he was silent, just watching, willing to give them a chance.

Feng Yun smiled, her face ghostly pale.

"Then, I must thank the General for his generosity."