The Slender Waist-Chapter 66 - 53: Who is Jealous

The maiden’s thoughts were on the brink of revelation.

Pei Jue watched her with cold eyes, as if seeing her for the first time, lips pressed tightly together, the surprise in his dark pupils impossible to conceal.

But Feng Yun did not spell it out, merely smiling with her lips curved, lightly and ephemerally.

"A treasured sword is easy to obtain, but a great commander is hard to find. The General knows, the more capable the person, the prouder the heart, and if you can’t win over my elder brother wholeheartedly, then his surrender would be meaningless."

Pei Jue grabbed her wrist and slowly raised it, so high that Feng Yun almost lost her balance and had to lean on him, her entire body pressing up against him.

Only then did he say, "Do you truly wish to persuade him to surrender?"

Feng Yun: "Indeed."

Pei Jue paused for a moment, "State your conditions."

Feng Yun calmly said, "My elder brother is upright; it will certainly take him time to come around. I only hope the General, no matter what, can spare his life..."

Pei Jue looked down at her fixedly, silent for a long time, as if weighing the true purpose behind her actions.

"I have conditions too," he said.

Feng Yun was not surprised in the least and was even willing to listen.

Self-interest is real, making a condition is true.

"Please speak, General."

Pei Jue stared at her unblinkingly, desire coloring his gaze.

"I want you," he suddenly said.

There was no expression of shock, only the heat that erupted from their skin on contact, more scorching than a raging fire.

In this moment, the Pei Jue reflected in Feng Yun’s eyes seemed to transform into a beast, gripping her so tightly it was as if he wanted to snap her slender waist...

Their eyes met, and Feng Yun felt a little short of breath.

Yet her response was without hesitation, "Then you shall have me."

She accepted Pei Jue’s condition without feeling any disgrace.

In her previous life, she was too proud, too concerned with other people’s views and criticisms, which was why she was manipulated over and over again. Now shameless and heartless, Pei Jue was just a tool in her eyes, no different than Chunyu Yan; when he was useful, she would use him...

Seeing Pei Jue unmoved, she wrapped her hands around his lean waist.

"Whenever, wherever, you decide, General. Or perhaps, now, at this very moment, here in the camp, before everyone?"

Pei Jue remained immovable, his eyes piercing hers like blades, as if he intended to drill several large holes through her, his body even more rigid than before.

"General?" Feng Yun’s eyes, brimming with confusion, looked up at him in a manner that begged for pity.

"Repeat offender," Pei Jue said.

"Are you speaking of me?" Feng Yun laughed, her palm stroking over Pei Jue’s rigid armor with a wicked glint in her eye.

Perhaps it was the tight encasing of the armor that increased her desire for destruction. She very much wanted to peel it away, to tear it to shreds, to expose the primal bestial nature hidden underneath General Pei...

She asked, "Why does the General constrain himself? It’s heartbreakingly unnecessary. Not just me, there are a dozen or so lovely ladies at the residence eagerly waiting for the General’s favor..."

His restraint only made Feng Yun more intent on pushing him to lose control.

So she blinked, asking with a mocking smile, "Does the General have someone in his heart? Otherwise, I cannot believe anyone could be so composed..."

Feng Yun had seen him lose his composure. When his intrinsic resolve was torn asunder, he was no longer the calm and self-possessed General Pei; he would turn into a wolf—a wolf that devoured its prey without spitting out the bones...

But at this moment, he was terrifyingly calm.

His gaze was icy cold to the bone, especially at such a suggestive moment... Feng Yun thought Pei Jue was a bit off.

Unconsciously, her thoughts drifted to the past.

In the beginning of their time together, they barely spoke a word. Every time Pei Jue came to her for the night, he would arrive after dark and leave before dawn. He was also very restrained in those matters, traditional and by the book.

Back then, she was very timid, terribly afraid of Pei Jue. With closed eyes she pretended to be a pig in a slaughterhouse, letting him do as he wished...

Then one day, Empress Dowager Li unexpectedly summoned her.

Feng Yun was picked up by a lavish carriage and taken to a separate courtyard where she met the Dajin Empress Dowager, who had arrived in a simple disguise.

Before the meeting, she naïvely assumed the Empress Dowager would be an older, stern, and proper figure. She dressed plainly, hoping to leave a good impression. But instead, she met a young woman with exquisite makeup who seemed barely a few years older than herself, dressed in sumptuous clothes, exuding an overwhelming presence.

What exactly Li Sangruo said at their first meeting, Feng Yun could not quite remember. What stuck with her was Li Sangruo’s lofty, condescending look—a superior’s disdain and indifference toward an ant.

And the scent of Mei makeup on that snowy day, so distinctively fragrant.

On Li Sangruo, she smelled the same fragrance that lingered on Pei Jue.

Li Sangruo casually drew back her robe and said to her, "The General just left."

At that time, she was still somewhat naïve.

It was only when she saw the Empress Dowager’s broad clothes in chili-red, curves revealed through thin layers, yet starkly empty, and the trail of red marks extending downwards from her collarbone... that she understood.

She knew what those marks were.

Her skin was fair; Pei Jue’s grip, even the slightest bit firm, would leave traces on her body, but Li Sangruo was different. There were finger marks, lip marks, even teeth marks—as if gnawed on by a beast, it was clear how forcefully the person had treated her body and the depth of passion there...

Such uninhibited intimacy wasn’t possible unless joy had seeped into one’s bones.

Feng Yun’s self-respect was shattered to pieces.

That day, she was so lowly and insignificant.

Without uttering a single coarse word, Li Sangruo made her feel utterly humiliated.

Crushingly, she was tread into the dust.

She returned to the General Residence in a daze, sitting in front of the bed until midnight when Pei Jue finally returned...

She remembered that it was the first time she questioned Pei Jue about his whereabouts.

"Did you go to see the Empress Dowager, General?"

Pei Jue was silent.

His gaze wandered.

Without looking at her, he said, "I did."

At that moment, Feng Yun knew.

Everything she had seen, heard, and smelled in the secluded courtyard was true.

Pei Jue had never been unable to look at her before.

But with that one glance, Feng Yun saw guilt in his eyes.

Feng Yun took the initiative to help him loosen his clothing and saw the scratch marks on his neck...

They had been left by a woman.

How frenzied must one be to dare do such a thing?

At least, she never dared.

Even when she could not stand it, she could only bite the back of her own hand, not daring to leave the slightest mark on him.

She thought of Li Sangruo’s contemptuous and condescending smile.

Her heart ached like it was being sliced by knives.

But what could a concubine from an enemy country do, even if she knew everything?

The only revenge Feng Yun could think of was to leave similar marks on his body, to be as unrestrained as a beast, to bite him, to gnaw on him, to take advantage of the entanglement, while he was not in a fury great enough to strangle her, and to willfully shatter her pitiful self...

She was like a caged beast with no way out, tearfully biting him.

Pei Jue, as expected, did not strangle her.

But the eternal ice mountain had melted, and from then on, it was beyond control. She never again saw the restrained and conservative General Pei of the past...

Both of their bodies were covered in scars. She received as many marks as Li Sangruo carried, and Pei Jue even used more ruthless and deeper methods to tear apart all of her.

She tasted the bitter fruit of her own making.

It was also after serving him for a year that she came to understand that he had once been tender and careful, and she also realized that the affairs of men and women could be very different...

It was she who had stripped away Pei Jue’s facade of abstinence, and it was she who had spun her own cocoon, fully aware that his heart was not with her, yet unable to control her descent into the abyss.

She once thought she only liked Xiao San.

It turned out that long-term companionship could also stir emotions.

On the day she left, Pei Jue simply sent someone to deliver medicine, but he did not come back.

Feng Yun washed her face with tears, her thoughts finding no way out, without any confidants in the residence. She was like a bird trapped in a cage, knowing nothing of the outside world.

It wasn’t until half a month later that she found out Pei Jue had gone to battle and had been injured...

She had later seen that injury, right on his ribs.

She suddenly glanced at the space between Pei Jue’s ribs—

Her gaze fixated on it for a moment, and she smiled amusedly.

If mentioning Li Sangruo could arouse his emotions, why not give it a try?

Feng Yun smiled and asked, "Who is the person in the General’s heart? Is she as good as me? Does she like the General’s... body as much as I do?"

She blew a breath at Pei Jue’s throat.

Then she watched with satisfaction as his Adam’s apple bobbed heavily, struggling between madness and restraint, her interest deepening.

"Fine, if the General won’t say, then let it be," she said.

She closed her eyes and placed Pei Jue’s hand on her waist, "The General can treat me as if I were the person in his heart, I don’t mind."

He was a tool, and she was a walking dead. Feng Yun truly did not mind. If this could cause the composed General to lose control, it would be an accomplishment.

"Get out!" Pei Jue suddenly spoke.

Not very fiercely.

But rather with that familiar calm, indifferent, and disdainful aloofness.

Had she indeed provoked him?

Without receiving the passionate response she had hoped for, Feng Yun’s eyes brimmed with expectation, yet she smiled even more joyfully.

She was like a heartless monster, eager to cool the boiling blood of the General.

"Perhaps the General should consider it more seriously?" she suggested.

The air stilled for a moment; Pei Jue looked down at the woman in front of him, his dark eyes seeming to brew a tempest.

"Leave!"

Acting as if startled, Feng Yun looked up at his cold, unmelting icy gaze, slowly backed away, and bowed ceremoniously.

"Miss Feng takes her leave."

She turned and left without any attachment.

The curtain was pulled back and fell, making a series of heavy, muffled sounds.

As silence returned to the surroundings, Pei Jue turned his head and let his gaze fall on the dining table.

Among his dishes was a bowl of duck soup with a few greens cooked in it, which smelled delicious, but not a single piece of duck meat was present, all of it scooped out.

It was placed right in front of Wen Xingsu.

—

After leaving, Feng Yun found Ao Qi, her smile brimming as she departed from the camp.

She was not embarrassed by the rejection; she only knew that she had escaped another calamity.

What man does not wish that a woman is willing to give herself to him out of deep love and admiration? Even if he does not love this woman, he feels the same way psychologically.

She was willing with every sentence, yet every sentence made General Pei embarrassed.

The pride of General Pei did not allow him to be so...

As long as she acted sweetly and asked for mercy from time to time, and then sincerely persuaded Wen Xingsu to surrender, it was likely that she could temporarily save her elder brother’s life...

Pei Jue valued talent. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

If her elder brother was willing to stay, Feng Yun would actually be happy to see it happen.

After all, following Xiao Cheng might not lead to a good end.