The Slender Waist-Chapter 329 - 231: Late Night Disturbance

The scout, in plain clothes, paced back and forth anxiously in the parlor.

Upon seeing Feng Yun emerge, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and turned to bow to her.

"Please forgive my intrusion so late at night, madam," he said.

Feng Yun waved her hand slightly, "State your purpose."

The man seemed relieved to hear this.

"I am Pang Gui, a personal attendant of Master Wei. Tonight, upon nightfall, the Empress Dowager summoned my master to Cuiyu, and sent me away. I didn’t dare go far and have been waiting outside Cuiyu, but until this hour, my master still hasn’t come out..."

Personal attendants differ from the other members of the Imperial Cavalry Division; they are usually domestic slaves from the master’s residence, extraordinarily loyal to their master.

Feng Yun glanced at him.

"And why have you come to me?" she asked.

With a bow, Pang Gui spoke in a low voice, his head lowered,

"Master told me that he has offended many people recently, is anxious about his safety, and fears for his life. He specifically instructed that if he met with misfortune or if there was an emergency and he didn’t know what to do, I should seek out Madam Feng at Chunmeng Hall."

Feng Yun fell silent.

Pang Gui held his breath as he watched her.

After a long while, seeing that she didn’t react, he knelt down with a thud.

"Madam, please save my master," he begged.

Feng Yun signaled Ge Guang to help him up, her brows slightly furrowed, "Cuiyu is the Empress Dowager’s palace, not like any other place. It’s not that I won’t save [him], it’s that I am powerless to do so..."

Tears welled up in Pang Gui’s eyes, and he murmured to himself in distress,

"If madam cannot save [him], what should we do... what should we do..."

Feng Yun asked, "How are you certain that your master has met with trouble?"

Pang Gui replied, "Whenever master has an audience with the Empress Dowager, he usually comes out after at most an hour. It’s deep into the night now; the Empress Dowager should have retired to rest, there’s no reason to keep master overnight..."

Overnight?

Feng Yun’s eyelashes fluttered slightly.

What is Li Sangruo calling Wei Zheng for?

Being so eager to arrive in Xinzhou ahead of time, shouldn’t she be anxiously searching for Pei Jue?

When there’s something abnormal, there must be a demon at work.

Feng Yun sensitively sensed that there was something unusual going on.

Normally, she wouldn’t bother with such affairs.

But it was because that person was Li Sangruo.

And because of Luo Yue...

She went back to her room and asked Xiaoman to light the lamp, then found the box that Luo Yue had entrusted Wei Zheng to bring from Central Capital.

Inside it were all of Luo Yue’s thoughtful gifts.

Eatables, wearables, playthings, ornaments, anything she fancied, she had sent them all to Feng Yun.

She had fulfilled her promise from when she left Huaxi Village; having good days, she didn’t forget Feng Yun’s earlier kindness.

The funniest thing was, the box also contained a pair of brand-new children’s tiger head shoes that were particularly cute. One could tell at a glance it was prepared by Luo Yue for her soon-to-be-born child. Feng Yun wasn’t sure whether it was accidentally included or intentionally a show-off, but at the time, seeing the little shoes, she even found some amusement.

But now...

She picked up the tiger head shoes and inspected them under the light, but couldn’t force a smile.

"My lady."

Xiaoman shivered at her stern expression.

"Why are you staring at those shoes?"

Under the light of the lone lamp, the bright red tiger head shoes, along with her deathly pale face, created a somewhat creepy scene.

Feng Yun glanced sideways.

"Go call Guard Ye, and take me to see the General."

-

A group of people rushed out of Chunpei Academy to Pei Jue’s military camp.

To their surprise, Pei Jue was not in the camp.

The guard said, "The General left at night and hasn’t come back yet."

Ye Chuang looked at his madam’s face and secretly felt nervous for the General.

"Did the General say where he was going?"

The guard appeared clueless and shook his head, swallowing nervously as he looked at Feng Yun.

"Wasn’t he going to find you, madam? I wouldn’t dare to inquire about the General’s whereabouts..."

Ye Chuang knew he was right.

But with the madam in a foul mood, he naturally had to glare at him on her behalf.

"Idiot! Remember to ask next time."

The guard laughed bitterly, "Yes, yes, yes."

Feng Yun couldn’t be bothered with Ye Chuang’s facial antics and lifted her skirt to head back to Chunmeng Hall.

As soon as the door shut behind her, she had Ge Guang call Pang Gui over.

"Do you want to save your master or not?" she inquired.

Pang Gui nodded vigorously.

Feng Yun questioned, "Are you afraid of the Empress Dowager?"

Pang Gui nodded again.

"What if you had to offend the Empress Dowager to save your master?"

Pang Gui’s eyes reddened slightly.

It was evident that he was both nervous and scared, but he shook his head regardless.

"I’m not afraid anymore."

"Good. I’ll give you a plan," Feng Yun gestured for him to come closer and then passed the pair of red tiger head shoes to him.

"Go to Cuiyu at once and say that someone from the Wei Residence in Central Capital has come, Luo Ji is having signs of miscarriage, with blood showing, and urgently requests to see your master..."

Pang Gui seemed to half-understand.

"What if the Empress Dowager won’t let me see him?"

Feng Yun smirked coldly.

"The state has its laws, your master is a senior official of the Imperial Cavalry Division, not a servant in the Empress Dowager’s private household, whom she can beat or kill at a whim. Even if Master Wei has committed a capital offense, it must be adjudicated by the Dali Temple before punishment is meted out, do you understand?"

Pang Gui understood this time.

Without a verdict against his master, a concubine suffering a miscarriage or childbirth was a serious matter; the Empress Dowager had no reason to prevent him from seeing [his master], let alone stop him from leaving.

"At least, this will allow you to probe the situation."

"I understand now," Pang Gui said excitedly, holding the tiger head shoes and bowing again and again to Feng Yun.

"Madame Feng Yun, I shall go at once," said the servant.

Feng Yun nodded her head.

"I await your news."

Pang Gui left the room.

Feng Yun called for Ge Guang and whispered several instructions before having Xiaoman dispose of the extinguished charcoal in the brazier. After replacing it with fresh coals, she tucked it under the blankets and finally felt a bit warmer.

She was particularly susceptible to the cold in winter.

Yet the one who warmed her bed was nowhere to be found.

Oh, Pei Wangzhi!

You had better not disappoint her.

Otherwise, she feared she would have to bury him with her own hands.

-

In the Warm Pavilion of Cuiyu.

Li Sangruo’s long, black hair cascaded down, revealing her curvaceous figure. She deeply inhaled the subtle scent of "hezhi" incense, reveling in the intoxicating fragrance with half-closed eyes, yet she bit her lip fiercely, daring not to utter that name.

Wei Zheng was not Song Shou’an.

She could not call out Pei Jue’s name in front of him.

But without calling Pei Jue’s name, that sticky longing in her heart could never be soothed, unreachable, as if dangling from a thread, swinging her to and fro, never finding solace.

She decided to close her eyes.

In her heart, she called out to him again and again...

Over and over, she envisioned Pei Jue’s face, his tall frame, the impressive bulge she had seen on the military training ground...

Inside and outside the room, there could be no better man in this world than Pei Jue...

"General..." she suddenly grabbed Wei Zheng’s arm and softly called out as if she had indeed received the man she desired, satisfying her imagination to the extreme.

Fortunately, calling Wei Zheng ’General’ was not inappropriate.

She breathed heavily, drenched in sweat, clinging to him at the peak of passion...

"Master, Master!"

A shrill voice pierced the air from outside the Warm Pavilion, filled with desperate agony.

"I beg you, let me see our master..."

"Master! Urgent news from Central Capital."

"Luo Ji is bleeding; she’s going to miscarry!"

The last sentence was cried out by Pang Gui, who risked his life to shout it loudly towards the Warm Pavilion against the Temple Attendants’ attempts to stop him, strident and piercing.

Wei Zheng’s body tensed up, and he suddenly stopped.

Li Sangruo looked at him unhappily.

The man’s face was flushed, experiencing the effects of "hezhi" for the first time and was clearly not as accustomed or resistant to it as she was, his expression already hazy and confused.

But that wretched servant’s words had brought him to a halt.

Li Sangruo’s face darkened.

"What is the commotion outside?"

"Replying to Your Highness," the attendant outside the Warm Pavilion stuttered, "a messenger from the Imperial Cavalry Division came looking for Director Wei, holding a pair of tiger-head shoes, saying that Director Wei’s concubine is bleeding and might miscarry..."

A concubine’s miscarriage was hardly a grave matter.

Li Sangruo was somewhat irritated.

The people from the Imperial Cavalry Division had free access within the inner palace, so her romantic moment had been interrupted by a lowly servant.

"Quickly take that person away."

After giving her command, she grabbed Wei Zheng’s shoulders.

"What are you thinking, Wei Zheng?"

Wei Zheng remained motionless as if he was seriously contemplating the words from outside.

Li Sangruo hummed in dissatisfaction, winding her arms around Wei Zheng’s neck, pressing tightly against him and moving closer weakly, whimpering softly.

"Don’t listen, don’t listen to that wretched slave’s nonsense, nothing has happened... Aren’t you feeling good now... That’s all that matters..."

"Luo Yue." Wei Zheng, with a vacant look in his eyes, pressed down on Li Sangruo’s hands and found a moment of lucidity amidst the chaos.

Luo Yue was about to miscarry.

Their child.

His first child.

He had longed so eagerly for the arrival of his child.

And now, as Luo Yue was about to miscarry, what was he doing?

Wei Zheng felt like he had been punched hard, his body rigid as if struck by lightning. He grasped Li Sangruo’s waist and forcefully pushed her away. Without waiting for her response, he withdrew from her and hurriedly got out of the bed.

"I deserve to die," he said.

Then he bowed deeply to Li Sangruo.

"I must attend to an emergency at home, please allow me to leave, Your Highness."

Li Sangruo’s eyes widened in disbelief.

"What did you say?"

At that moment, she lay there completely naked, and a man in the heights of passion was leaving because of a single sentence?

Even the most heartless have desires; no man could resist such temptation.

Unless the woman was truly unbearable.

Right now, she was that unbearable person.

Li Sang was so infuriated that she found it difficult to breathe, her eyes reddening.

"Have you thought this through, Wei Zheng?"

Wei Zheng’s face was etched with urgency, "Your Highness, I must... I must take my leave now. When I return, I will beg for Your Highness’s forgiveness."

He did not wait for Li Sang’s consent, quickly dressing and scarcely casting her another glance. He turned and left, moving so fast as if a ghost were chasing him.

Li Sang was that ghost.

A ghost that could kill in a fit of frenzied hate!

Her cheeks, which had been flushed with passion just moments before, gradually grew pale.

Sitting empty and listless, her expression was one of pain and incredulity...

The scent of hezhi drifted lightly through the air.

It was still the same aroma.

Suddenly, she began to gnash her teeth madly, pounding her abdomen forcefully, choking back sobs, her behavior that of a lunatic...

"Damn curs!"

"All of you, go to hell!"

"Bastard! You little bastard!"