The Slender Waist-Chapter 168 - 123 Surprising Dream on the Tower Ship (Double Release)_3
"Kill Pei Jue!"
"Kill—"
A rider sped from behind, blocking the icy spear, and turned to shout, "Uncle, run! I’ll cover you!"
"Uncle..." Ao Qi gasped for breath.
His eyes were bloodshot, and he panted with rage.
"Stop chasing! Uncle, just let her die!"
"She’s a spy, a spy sent by Qi Country, let her die!"
Feng Yun saw the hatred in Ao Qi’s eyes, just the same as when he usually looked at her, filled with contempt and indignation, but the scene at this moment was clearly different.
It was as if she had developed eyes everywhere, able to see the entire battlefield, able to see everyone’s expressions...
But where was she at this moment?
She realized she was drenched in a cold sweat. Where was she now?
She was sitting on a ship, not a pleasure boat...
It was the warship Xiao Cheng had sent to Shiguan Dock to take her back to Qi Country...
"Don’t be scared, war is just like this, someone always dies." A hand gently caressed her hair, that gentle voice right by her ear, and the person seemed to fear she would catch cold, draping his robe over her shoulders.
"You’re shaking, are you cold?"
He looked into Feng Yun’s eyes, his gaze cooling, but a smile curled at the corner of his mouth, patting her shoulder in comfort.
"Still worried about your eldest brother? Don’t be nervous, General Wen is brave and good at fighting, Qi Army has five hundred thousand elite troops, and with Han, Chu, and Hu, three generals, coordinating from inside and out, we will surely win this battle..."
That hand, slender and fair where the bones met.
The person’s demeanor, refined and noble...
This was the Qi Emperor, personally leading the campaign.
Several guards stood beside him, one named Jin Ge, another Tie Ma.
All of their faces were unfailingly cold and ruthless.
Only Xiao Cheng was gentle and refined, as pure as a monk in a bamboo grove or a friar beneath a cloister.
Feng Yun could hear the shouts from the battlefield, longing to open her eyes to see what was happening, and to figure out what this was all about. Why was she seeing Xiao Cheng at this time, out of the blue?
"Feng Shi Er Niang! Listen to me, I, Ao Qi, I, Ao Qi, will one day kill you..."
"I will tear you to pieces, quarter you, I will make you suffer death after death for all eternity!"
"You traitor, you shameless traitor!"
"Ah—"
Ao Qi’s curses pierced through the Qi Army’s arrow formation, through the armoured infantry and cavalry, reaching the warship...
Behind the thick curtains, Feng Yun shouldn’t have been able to see anything...
Yet, she saw clearly in front of the Qi Army formations, her eldest brother sitting high on his horse, pulling his longbow, an arrow flying from his hand, striking Pei Jue’s chest with great force.
"Kill Pei Jue!"
An endless rain of arrows flew across the sky like rainfall... 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
"Uncle!"
"Great General!"
Ao Qi was screaming heartbreakingly.
The Beiyong Army soldiers surged forward with a roar like a tidal wave.
"Brothers, charge, cover the Great General’s retreat."
The setting sun’s afterglow fell on Pei Jue’s stern armor, with a scent of fresh blood, indescribably solemn and chilly. The light seemed like fire, as if it wanted to burn into Feng Yun’s heart...
Feng Yun felt weak all over; she wanted to shout but couldn’t.
She wanted to get up, but she couldn’t move at all...
Pei Jue was injured.
The arrow shot by her eldest brother hit him right in the chest.
Yet he seemed not to feel the pain, expressionless, he cut off the arrow feather, and continued to ride his tall, black horse towards the warship at the shore, his eyes seemingly about to spill out blood.
To his left and right, guards fought desperately to protect their fallen commander...
Feng Yun saw Zuo Zhong, Jiu You, saw Ye Chuang, Cao Kai, saw many familiar faces from the Imperial Guard Camp.
Some shouted as they raised their swords and spears.
Some were pierced by long spears from front to back, falling under horse hooves, in puddles of blood...
"Ah—"
Feng Yun wanted to scream madly.
But no sound came from her...
Just then, the big black horse went down.
Feng Yun remembered the horse was named "Ta Xue," all black except for its snow-white hooves, with smooth fur and a robust body, very beautiful, which is why it had a bad temper. Its eyes, just like its master’s, were filled with the coldness of "strangers not welcome," and pride.
Pei Jue treasured it, cared for it as one would a child...
Ta Xue cried out in anguish, whinnying long and loud before rolling on the ground.
Pei Jue, who had been on horseback, was thrown off.
Soldiers from both sides surged forward as if mad...
Amidst the roaring that was like a mountain cry and tsunami, only Ao Qi’s voice was shrill and agonized, and Feng Yun could not avoid it, the pain piercing her heart like a needle.
"She’s not worth it, Uncle, she’s not worth it!"
Feng Yun closed her eyes, and tears fell like rain.
She had never felt such pain before, as if the arrow that shot through her chest had struck her own heart...
In the three years in Jin Country, she lived in perpetual fear, kidnapped, framed, targeted for assassination, surviving death again and again...until he personally chased her out of the Central Capital, subjected to ridicule, humiliation, belittlement, as if any person from Jin could spit on her, step on her.
Having tasted every imaginable hardship, she was still just "General Pei’s concubine," a concubine from the enemy country, without a shred of respect...
In his eyes, she was not worth it...
In everyone’s eyes, she was not worth it.
Who was worth it, then?
Was it the delicate lady sitting on the lush grass by the Andu River, her cheeks flushed, holding a freshly picked kapok flower, watching a girl fishing in the river from afar, listening to her sing a clear and moving love song, summoning the courage to ask the man in military attire beside her...
"General, after the battle is over, what do you plan to do?"
She longed for a share of his future.
He didn’t answer, only saying,
"It’s getting dark. The wind is strong by the river, let’s go back."
Was it the canary in the General’s Residence in the Central Capital, who because of worry, couldn’t sleep all night, hugging her quilt, waiting anxiously, relieved to see that person enter the door, anxiously asking:
"Are military affairs busy? Coming back this late... General, did you go to the palace?"
He stood in the lamplight, looking at her expressionlessly.
"What time is it? Go to sleep."
Was it during those dark and frantic nights, overwhelmed with passion, the concubine yearning for a child, for protection, gazing at him eagerly.
"General, I want a child, please give me a child..." was her breathless plea, her persistent demand.
He would always quicken his pace, breathing with measured restraint, pulling away resolutely at the critical moment amidst the overwhelming pleasure...
"Not yet," he’d say. "Wait a little longer."
In her helpless trembling and desperate gaze, he would crush her hopes time and again with a rejection so cold, it was almost cruel.
She didn’t know what he was waiting for.
Perhaps he was waiting for such a person, a woman worthy of bearing his offspring.
If not, he would rather remain childless...
He had never said anything too harsh.
Most of the time, he treated her quite well...
But she was truly hurt, her heart slowly worn through.
On her way from the Central Capital to Andu, the words "discarded wife" were etched onto her, and amid countless scornful and contemptuous glances, her heart seemed to be being sliced apart by him...
She probably wasn’t worth it.
But she never wanted him to die...
Even as she established connections with Xiao Cheng and enticed the three generals, she never thought Pei Jue would die in war, would fall from Ta Xue’s back.
Could such an iron-hard man also fall?
The blood from the spreading flames of war made her shiver all over.
Chaotic memories blurred in the melee at Shiguan Dock, appearing in Feng Yun’s mind like phantoms, like dreams...
Pei Jue must not die...
If he died, who would there be left to hate her?
She was about to go back to Qi Country to become Empress.
If he died, how would he see her glory?
She wanted him to know that she was not just the canary kept in the General’s Residence, no longer the mud under Li Sangruo’s feet...
All this, she wanted Pei Jue to see!
