The Slender Waist-Chapter 84 - 68: Concocting a Crime

Feng Yun returned to Huaxi Village and immediately became busy.

The rumors about the Empress Dowager and Wei Zheng were becoming more intense, so she had to make some preparations in the village, in anticipation of Wei Zheng’s retaliation.

Feng Yun didn’t particularly care about Pei Jue’s illness and had no energy to be concerned. As long as Pei Jue wasn’t going to die for the time being, that was fine. His suffering and pain did not evoke her empathy.

Having not seen her elder brother for a long time and having received no news about him from He Qia, Feng Yun was somewhat agitated. Unexpectedly, Pei Jue suddenly rode into Huaxi Village the next afternoon.

Unlike before, when he usually arrived after dark and brought only two guards, Zuo Zhong and Jiu You, this time he brought more than twenty people.

Pei Jue had not yet arrived, and Feng Yun had already been informed.

By the time Pei Jue reached the entrance of the village, she was already there waiting with her people.

Their gazes met in midair for a moment, and Feng Yun bowed to greet him.

Pei Jue dismounted without a word, handed the reins to the approaching Ao Qi, glanced at Feng Yun, and walked silently towards the inside.

Feng Yun turned and followed his steps.

Neither of them spoke as they entered the main house, one after the other.

Feng Yun turned and ordered the maidservants, "Close the door and wait outside."

Daman and Xiaoman responded in unison.

Pei Jue must have hurried over, dusty and weary, without even having had the time to change out of his armor, which shone from the friction, making him look especially stern.

Feng Yun’s gaze fell on him.

"Would the General like to change out of his armor?"

Though fall had arrived, the heat of the Autumn Tiger was still formidable. Feng Yun, wearing her loose gown and thin skirt, felt hot, let alone him.

Pei Jue hummed and raised his arms towards her, "Do you know why I have come?"

Feng Yun’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.

Not because of what he asked, but because of his forthright gesture.

Pei Jue was waiting for her to help him remove his armor.

Feng Yun slightly regretted her offer. Why should his overheating be her concern?

Forget it, she thought, as they say, she’s just a grasshopper on the string of his playing. Letting him overheat isn’t temporarily in her interest...

Feng Yun slowly approached him, her eyes downcast as she fumbled with the heavy armor, intentionally clumsy and seemingly troubled.

"Never mind. I will leave in a while." Pei Jue’s expression didn’t change much, but his eyes were sharper than before, as if he had seen through her little stratagem.

Feng Yun stepped back and took a deep breath.

Pei Jue casually poured himself a cup of cold tea.

"How is the reclamation of the barren land progressing?"

"The speed is extremely fast."

Feng Yun glanced at his cool demeanor and countered, "General, you came because of General Wei and Her Highness the Empress Dowager’s matter, didn’t you?"

Pei Jue gave her a look, his face sporting an unrestrained chill, bringing with it a kind of unprovoked oppression, making one feel there was no place to hide.

"Wei Zheng’s matter, it was your doing."

"The General flatters me." Feng Yun gracefully curtsied, speaking frankly.

"Even if I had divine powers, I wouldn’t have been able to sneak into Her Highness the Empress Dowager’s boudoir and witness such intimacies. How could it be my doing?"

She lazily raised her head again and glanced at him.

"If the General feels that the rumors are inappropriate and disgrace the imperial authority and the Empress Dowager, I can issue an order that from now on, not a word about the Empress Dowager shall be discussed in Changmen Village. But as for the villages and the common people outside, that’s beyond my control. If the General wishes to silence them, I’m afraid he will have to deploy an army to suppress them..."

She intended to sound calm and even-tempered.

But she couldn’t contain the pleasure she felt, taking delight in calamity, and exuding a taunting tone.

The frustration of two lifetimes was, at that moment, vehemently slapped back onto Li Sangruo’s face.

What goes around comes around, why wouldn’t she feel elated?

If it weren’t for Li Sangruo summoning her in haste during their last life to show off those marks of affection, she wouldn’t have had the chance to discover such a secret and turn this weapon against her, to use her own spear to pierce her own shield...

But as for Pei Jue...

Holding a favorite woman who entertains other men, with his private affairs becoming the talk of the town, such a taste must not be pleasant.

A chuckle escaped her! Just thinking about Pei Jue enduring both the pain of being fried in oil and heartache made Feng Yun want to laugh...

Pei Jue’s stern gaze swept over.

Feng Yun regained her composure, her expression changing faster than flipping a book.

"General, your visit today couldn’t be to accuse me on behalf of the Empress Dowager, could it?"

Pei Jue approached her, "Why did you invite Wei Zheng to the banquet?"

Feng Yun smiled gently at him, "Wasn’t it discussed with the General? To turn hostility into friendship. Offending General Wei does me no good. I sincerely hosted a banquet to apologize; who would have thought General Wei would behave inappropriately after drinking, going after the General’s concubine?"

Pei Jue: "She is not my concubine."

Feng Yun: "But the General is displeased."

Pei Jue’s gaze darkened slightly, a cold harshness on his face.

He reached out to wrap his arm around Feng Yun’s waist, pulled her close, and pressed her against his chest, "It seems I have indulged you too much, allowing you to be so reckless."