The Slender Waist-Chapter 597 - 431 Pei Family’s Past

The Pei Family was also a noble and prominent household in Dajin, and Pei Chong, holding the Pei Family army in his hands and occupying a high position, never once slighted Pei Jue. So how could he be considered as having a tragic background?

Feng Yun could not understand what Pei Yao was implying, gazing over with probing eyes.

Realizing her slip of the tongue, Pei Yao lowered her gaze, picked up her tea cup, and took a dainty sip.

After a pause, she set down her teacup and sighed,

"Our mother passed away early, and at the time, Ajue was still very young. Although he was deeply loved by our father, who was frequently away, the lack of a mother’s care and absence of grandparents in the house... there was still something fundamentally lacking..."

Feng Yun’s eyes shifted.

With this explanation, it was somewhat understandable.

However, Pei Yao’s evasive gaze seemed to hide some unspeakable emotions, making it somewhat puzzling.

Feng Yun laughed softly, "In these times, people displaced by famine, war, and chaos are everywhere. Having an elder sister like you to take care of him, he can’t be considered pitiable."

Famine, war, chaos, displacement.

A sudden pang in Pei Yao’s heart brought forth some distant memories.

She did not know everything about Pei Jue’s background.

But she was much older than Pei Jue and had memories from an earlier age.

She remembered how her mother had weakened after giving birth to her, and after that was never quite the same.

There were no sons in the Pei Residence, no heir to the Pei Family army. She had heard plenty of gossip from an early age.

Back when her grandmother was still alive, a young Pei Yao often heard her loudly chastising her father,

Pressing him to take a concubine.

Forcing him to take a concubine.

Her father naturally refused.

One after another came advising him, and the concubines sent over were each more beautiful than the last...

Eventually, even her mother couldn’t withstand the pressure and personally persuaded her father to take a concubine, even going so far as to arrange his concubine’s chamber herself...

This angered her father, who quarreled fiercely with her grandmother.

From then on, her mother’s health declined day by day. Already weakened by childbirth, she was nearly hollowed out by years of worry; gaunt and frail, a shadow of her former self.

More than once, Pei Yao heard her mother say to others, "Maybe when I die, the master will be willing to take a concubine. When I’m dead, he can remarry, take a new wife to bear legitimate sons. Once I’m dead, the Pei Family will have a son."

Hearing this often, Pei Yao would sometimes pray comically, hoping that heaven would suddenly send her a little brother...

That way, her grandmother would not pressure them anymore, and her mother would no longer be in such pain.

In the matter of Pei Yao’s own marriage, according to Pei Chong, they had originally intended to take a son-in-law into their family, but her grandmother firmly opposed it and would not agree.

No family of equal standing was willing to send their son to be married into another household...

Her grandmother used to say that a son-in-law taken into the family would have to come from a lower status, and their character and abilities were uncertain, whereas a child from the well-known Ao Family was preferable.

Her father, loving her as he did, agreed.

That very year Pei Yao married Ao Zheng, the war between Jin and Qi Country broke out, and her father went to battle.

He did not manage to attend his daughter’s wedding.

The war dragged on and on.

Every day, Pei Yao waited anxiously for news from the front, hearing of the many deaths, her heart suspended, never quite able to rest.

It wasn’t until Ao Qi was born that her father returned home, dragged down by injuries and illness.

He was carried into the house by two guards.

The doctor said he would never stand again.

Her grandmother cried until she was blind.

The Pei Family was left with no heirs.

She felt guilty towards her deceased husband and toward the ancestors of the Pei Family...

As a result, her grandmother fell seriously ill.

And her mother also became consumed with self-blame, with her health deteriorating further.

A pall of gloom and despair hung over the entire Pei Residence...

Within half a month, the grandmother passed away.

On her deathbed, barely able to speak, she muttered through labored breaths, fixated on the grandson she had not lived to see, passing away with eyes not yet closed...

That day, her father was wheeled in front of her grandmother’s sickbed, and before everyone, he suddenly bowed his head to admit his wrongs.

Both to the grandmother and to her mother.

He confessed that in his younger years, while on campaign, he had a fleeting encounter with a woman from Qi Country. Afterward, he led his troops away, never giving her another thought.

This time passing through Qi lands, he found that the woman had borne him a son...

That day the grandmother passed away with a smile, finally appeased.

Her father wept inconsolably.

They all knew that he felt guilty towards his mother.

As for the child born from that fleeting encounter, everyone thought the story was a fabrication, a lie made up by her father to please the grandmother in her final moments.

No one expected that within just three days, her father’s personal attendants would bring back a child...

Upon hearing the news, Pei Yao hurried back to her parental home, cradling the still-nursing Ao Qi...

This was the first time Pei Yao saw Pei Jue.

He was very pale, very thin, dressed in a gray-green tunic, with an unfathomable coldness in his dark eyes, and the hostility rarely seen on a child’s face...

Her father said he was only eight years old, but he was tall for his age, standing half a head taller than her ten-year-old cousin.

Pei Yao was filled with curiosity. Holding Ao Qi, she stepped forward to teach him to call her uncle. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

But this little uncle was too silent.

On the day he entered the residence, Pei Yao did not hear him utter a word.

When a wet nurse coaxed him to call her mother, he just pursed his lips tightly, remaining silent...

Mother indeed was magnanimous, forbidding others to berate him harshly.

She told Pei Yao that after all, the younger brother was born of another woman, and it wasn’t right to usurp that birth mother’s place.

Who exactly was Ajue’s birth mother? Pei Yao had never met her, nor had her father ever mentioned her...

Her father had given him the plain name ’Jue,’ and under a strict order, prohibited anyone from speaking of Ajue’s origins, claiming to the outside world that he was born of him and Mother. Due to a clash in their horoscopes, the child needed to be raised elsewhere until the age of nine before returning to the residence to ensure his safe upbringing.

Her father preserved Mother’s dignity and also found the perfect excuse for not taking concubines or having children for many years.

Mother repaid the favor, treating him as her own son, concerned about his comfort and afraid of neglecting him in the slightest...

Gradually, no one spoke of this matter.

But despite having a new family, Pei Yao never saw her brother smile.

To this day, he still hasn’t.

At first, Pei Yao thought he missed his birth mother, which is why he didn’t smile.

Later, she felt that perhaps this younger brother was simply one who was naturally incapable of smiling.

However, Pei Yao had seen him cry—

At Mother’s funeral.

Without anyone teaching him, he knelt down, called out ’Mother,’ and silently shed tears.

That day, Father also cried, holding him and saying to Mother’s casket, "Su Su, did you hear that? Your son called for you."

Mother’s regret was that she hadn’t borne Father a son.

She also hadn’t heard her son call her ’Mother.’

"My mother was a very good person, it’s just that she left too soon... I remember at her last moments she kept reminding me, repeatedly making me promise to take good care of my brother," Pei Yao said haltingly, then perhaps because the talk of her birth mother, she clasped her hands tightly, and her gaze swiftly turned lonely.

Feng Yun knew she missed her deceased mother and silently offered her a handkerchief.

"This person is gone, Sister, please compose yourself."

Pei Yao took the handkerchief and wiped the corners of her eyes.

The mist grew thicker, as if it would never clear.

She gave up trying to dry her eyes and said faintly:

"Speaking of which, although my mother’s life was short, she received Father’s entire love, respect, and affection. Father treasured her like the most precious pearl and never had any scandalous affairs..."

Therefore, she often suspected privately that Ajue was a child her father had picked up from somewhere else.

The tales of him and that woman were fabrications by her father.

Feng Yun also sighed upon hearing her speak of her parents.

"The saying goes, ’Heaven dislikes fullness; humanity dislikes perfection.’ Sometimes, being too perfect is in itself a great risk and an imperfection too..."

-

After dining at the Ao Family’s, Feng Yun and Pei Jue saw Pei Chong and his daughter back to their residence and then headed back to Huaxi Village on their carriage.

Ao Qi’s biological parents had arrived in Andu; there wasn’t much need for her involvement anymore.

Feng Yun, relieved from her burden, felt a significant weight lift off her shoulders.

"Next, all I need to do is look forward to the wedding feast."

Pei Jue gently tucked her hair, "You’ve worked hard during this time."

Feng Yun smiled, "This is what Lord Chief Historian should do, to share the sovereign’s worries is my duty."

Pei Jue curved his finger and gently flicked her forehead.

"Say that again, and you will be punished."

Feng Yun glanced at him sidelong, "What wrong have I done? Surely the sovereign doesn’t intend to renege on the appointment of Chief Historian?"

Pei Jue said, "That cannot be reneged upon. The imperial decree will arrive tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Feng Yun leaned her head against his shoulder, "Thank you, my lord."

Pei Jue was slightly startled.

She rarely addressed him so affectionately; not calling him ’Pei Gou’ was a sign of a clear conscience. Thus, this ’my lord’ was precious, soft and gentle, it was like feathers stroking the strings of the heart, a spell triggering certain emotions...

"Lady Yun..."

Pei Jue lowered his gaze onto her trembling lashes.

As if tracing the outline of a rare treasure, his black eyes beneath his arching brows, flickered with a heated gleam.

"Do you so wish to hold office?"

Feng Yun looked up at him, shaking her head.

Pei Jue inquired, "Then what is it?"

Feng Yun gracefully reciprocated the favor he had granted her with the greatest goodwill she could muster.

"I only want the office given by the sovereign."

"You woman..." Pei Jue knew full well she was speaking nothing but sweet lies and yet couldn’t help the ripples in his heart.

With the beauty by his side, warm as jade, soft as a fragrant breeze.

His palm reached out to her waist, drawing her into his embrace through the layers of thick clothing, pressing her so tightly as if wishing he could blend her into his being...

"How should I treat you rightly?"

Feng Yun couldn’t move within his overpowering strength and managed only a strained smile.

"Your kindness to me is enough."

"You still dare to deceive me..."

What did he mean by that?

Feng Yun, with an innocent expression and a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, replied, "The sovereign must not slander without cause; when have I ever deceived you? Show me the evidence..."

Before she could finish, only her whimpers remained, her complaints swallowed by the man as she dragged her gentle voice, the rest of her words consumed in his embrace.