The Slender Waist-Chapter 560 - 400 Open Your Heart

"Why?" Pei Jue’s palm reached out, creeping up her slender waist, the calluses on his fingertips chafing Feng Yun’s scalp numbly. She hmmed in discomfort and pressed his hand down.

"Empress Dowager Li offended me."

Pei Jue, "How did she offend you?"

He was just asking.

Cold and devoid of any emotion.

Feng Yun heard it in her ears, yet it seemed like he was subtly speaking up for Li Sangruo...

"You tell me, how did she offend me?" Feng Yun glanced with her eyes, a hint of mockery curling on her lips.

"Your Highness, this is feigning ignorance."

Pei Jue’s brows furrowed slightly, but he said nothing.

Feng Yun said, "She took your portrait and went looking for courtesans. Isn’t that an offense and a violation against me?"

"It is," Pei Jue said.

"Then will Your Highness kill or not kill?"

As Feng Yun looked up and asked, she saw Pei Jue was silent. She forcefully and decisively pushed against his chest, and in the moment of his bewildered trance, she let out an indifferent snort of laughter.

"Pei Jue, let’s divorce."

The use of his full name indicated the utmost resoluteness in her words.

A fleeting moment of dejection crossed the depths of Pei Jue’s eyes. Without thinking, he exerted a little force in his arms and pulled Feng Yun back, hugging her tightly into his embrace.

Feng Yun was taken by surprise, her feet suddenly off the ground, her hands firmly clinging to Pei Jue’s neck to avoid falling...

Then, she seemed to provoke defiance within herself.

"What are you doing?"

Her eyes cold, her voice frosty, each word seemed to crush any affection between them. One of her fingers, shapely as a green onion stalk, almost dug into the flesh of his neck.

"If you’re unwilling, then be it; why the anger? I know you’ve always protected her, turning a blind eye to all the slander and traps she set for me in the past. Even when she wanted my life, you tolerated it over and over again.

Given that, why not simply be with her? Once you marry her, Li Zongxun would rest easy, and she would stop her scheming. With you two united as one, Dajin wouldn’t be divided; it would spare the people from being displaced, save lives from ruin, prevent war, and avert famine... Look, if we just divorce and you share a bed with Li Sangruo, all could be resolved perfectly—it’d be like doing a great deed for heaven..."

She said all this in one breath, without even catching her breath, her words so heated she almost convinced herself...

"In the end, the conflict between you and the Li family all started because of me. You must blame me in your heart for causing disputes and turning you into enemies..."

The more she spoke, the more justified she felt.

The more justified, the harsher her tone.

"You clearly hate me, so why pretend? Why restrain yourself and feign kindness towards me? You say I’m ambitious and have always been wary of me; don’t think I don’t know."

She looked coldly at Pei Jue.

This was supposed to be an unintended argument...

But at this point, all the dissatisfaction from her past and current life came to the surface, accumulated together into a massive fireball, and exploded at this moment.

False.

Pei Jue’s kindness was an illusion.

If it was this way in the previous life, would it change in this life?

Feng Yun pressed down the resentment she had harbored deep inside; her beautiful eyes dimmed, and she withdrew her hand from his neck, silently placing it on the back of his hand.

"Your Highness, since we’ve come to such mutual distrust, why not tear up the marriage agreement and go our separate ways?"

By now, Pei Jue had carried her to the wooden couch. He looked down at her, bent down to set her down, then leaned over her.

Feng Yun inhaled deeply, "Pei Jue, I’m trying to discuss the matter of divorce with you."

"Shut up." Pei Jue lifted her chin, touched his forehead to hers, and gave a soft peck of a kiss...

Feng Yun tried to struggle.

Only to be abruptly seized...

The controlling force, the posture of conquering cities and defeating enemies.

He just wouldn’t utter half a word of explanation.

Feng Yun pushed against his shoulders, immovable.

She pinched him with force, still no reaction.

She took a deep breath and started groping him aimlessly...

At that, Pei Jue’s arm softened, and he slightly loosened his hold. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Seizing the opportunity to catch her breath, Feng Yun braced his shoulders and said breathlessly, "There’s really no need for such anger. I just didn’t want to make it difficult for you, to give you and her my blessing..."

Pei Jue pulled away her hand, his gaze clear and faint, "It’s you who are angry."

Feng Yun, "I’m not angry; I just can’t stand to see Your Highness’s guilty conscience... If you want to protect her, do so openly and honestly, without any false emotions..."

Pei Jue looked down into her eyes, his voice low and husky.

"What does she amount to that Lady Yun should care?"

Feng Yun let out a scoff, her look mixed with scorn as she watched him, "No matter how insignificant she may be, she sure has caught the attention of the Prince of Yonghuai, doesn’t she?"

Pei Jue held her even tighter, "Forget about divorce."

"If you don’t want to divorce, then kill Li Sangruo for me." Feng Yun forcefully lifted her hand, pushing him.

As their eyes met, Pei Jue looked into her almost fiery gaze, unhurried, and kissed her forehead, "I won’t kill; I’ll leave that to Lady Yun."

Bullshit!

Feng Yun scoffed coldly.

"Even Your Highness has learned to lie and placate."

Pei Jue’s expression involuntarily softened, "Then could you... kill Xiao Cheng for me?"

Feng Yun, "I cannot."

A shadow fell in Pei Jue’s eyes.

"Do you think killing an Emperor is like slaughtering a rabbit? That you can just kill whenever you want?"

Pei Jue, "Killing the Empress Dowager isn’t like killing a chicken either."

As they locked eyes, it was unclear which nerve had been struck, but Feng Yun suddenly burst out laughing, her cold gaze softening.

"Of course, I know she’s not easy to kill, but you could have humored me, tricked me, saying we’ll act when the opportunity arises. Why put on such a stern face..."

Pei Jue, "You didn’t humor me either."

Feng Yun laughed even louder.

Unrestrained.

As if emotions had suddenly breached a dam, her laughter brought tears streaming down her face, reddening her eyes, which shimmered with a moist glint.

Pei Jue squinted slightly, "So funny?"

Feng Yun, "The way you speak so seriously, yet tell jokes, it is indeed very funny."

Pei Jue hadn’t been joking at all.

He looked at Feng Yun.

Suddenly, he grabbed her soft waist, pinned her hands, and with a push over her head, the forceful weight of him pressed down upon her body.

Feng Yun’s smile froze.

"You..."

She could react even during an argument?

Pei Jue was as impassive as ever, showing no hint of a smile. His face under the dim nightlight was as cold as a deity’s, betraying no sign of the desire that was quietly rising beneath his robes.

This man...

A fire seemed to burn inside Feng Yun’s heart.

It was the same for Pei Jue.

He held Feng Yun’s slender waist and slowly separated her.

"Don’t," Feng Yun’s low voice sounded not so much like a refusal, but more like an invitation.

She could never resist...

So be it.

There was no reason not to eat the meat that was handed to him.

She would settle accounts with him later!

Pei Jue, "Apart from laughing, your mouth can do other things..."

Feng Yun bit him hard, and soon, she was panting and gasping, staring wide-eyed, with only a string of surrendering whimpers remaining.

"Pei Gou... Pei Gou..." Accompanied by the man’s thrusts, a series of low moans came from behind the beaded curtain, "No more, no more, I won’t talk about divorce next time... Mm... Can’t take it..."

Pei Jue’s arm reached out, supporting her, as he gritted his teeth by her ear.

"I’ll just kill you."

Feng Yun felt a chill in her heart.

Here it was again.

That feeling that Pei Jue actually hated her...

She distinctly sensed the danger.

He really wanted to kill her.

Feng Yun fumbled in a panic, pinching and kicking him, but the man was like an immovable fortress; her little tricks had no effect... until he had fed her all of the stored antidote and that violent energy finally dissipated.

"Lady Yun, are you alright?"

"Get lost..."

"..."

Couples fight at the head of the bed and make up at the foot. Feng Yun was beginning to understand this adage.

Pei Jue, without a word, let her curse him as he buried his head and lifted her up, poured water for her bath, and attended to her personally, as gentle as the kindest husband in the world, completely unlike the bestial Pei Gou from before—it was like they were two different people.

Half an hour later, the light behind the latticed windows went out.

In the dark of the night, a long silence fell between them.

But the atmosphere was different from when they were arguing.

Pei Jue’s hand, always holding hers, imprisoned her without allowing resistance, as if afraid she would run away.

Feng Yun lay motionless, exhausted after the bath, sprawled lazily there, and only after a long while did she sigh softly.

"When will you open up and share your true feelings with me..."

Pei Jue was silent for a long time.

Just when Feng Yun thought he wouldn’t reply, he spoke:

"I have nothing in my heart."

"Do you have secrets then?" Feng Yun asked.

"Do you, Lady Yun?" Pei Jue countered.

"Yes," Feng Yun answered honestly.

Pei Jue remained silent.

This in itself was a kind of heart-to-heart communication; at least they had both disclosed to each other that they harbored secrets unknown to the other.

Moonlight fell on the window, gently rustling the light curtains.

Two blurry figures lay side by side beneath the hazy canopy...

Feng Yun, looking at the canopy, suddenly said:

"Let’s make a pact, shall we?"