The Slender Waist-Chapter 747 - 535 I’ll Support You_2

Wife not quite a wife, husband not quite a husband, son not quite a son, daughter not quite a daughter.

This family is indeed absurd.

Puyang Yi watched with troubled and chaotic feelings in her heart.

Not until she saw off the group of people could she take a deep breath of relief.

Finally, they have left!

She asked, "What does my husband think?"

Wen Xingsu’s expression remained calm, his eyes smiling.

"Let’s go back, you can have some more sleep."

Puyang Yi: ...

That wasn’t what she was asking about.

But if her husband didn’t want to say, it seemed she shouldn’t ask further.

Mother said that once a woman marries, she must follow her husband.

The haughty and domineering Lord of Pingyuan County is learning to be the good and virtuous wife of Wen Xingsu.

-

After daybreak, when the people of Huaxi awoke, they found all the guests at Wen residence had left, and the elusive Emperor of Qi Country had also left Huaxi without having been seen.

At the end of December, during the festive season, every family is preparing new year goods, children also rest at home with their own joys.

After discussing for a while, they soon forgot about the matter.

Once the bustling New Year’s celebrations had passed, a job posting was put up under the old locust tree outside Changmen.

Huaxi’s schoolhouse is looking for a scholar to teach.

Changmen’s furniture shop, garment workshop, coal ball workshop, and mountain kiln not only need craftsmen and odd-job men, but also accountants and managers.

Changmen is expanding its business again, seeking new and talented individuals.

The notice was posted not only at the crossroads of Huaxi but also at the city gates of Andu County.

Only then did some people realize that many had come to Huaxi, but just as many had left.

The Prince of Danyang returned to Xijing before the new year and did not come back.

The mysteriously drowned Lady Wan, whether suicide or homicide, remains a subject of divergent opinions, with no consensus to this day.

Kong Yun’e of the garment shop also suddenly left before the holiday.

She told a few close sisters that she was going back to her hometown for the New Year, then treated everyone to a meal at the garment workshop, committed her poultry and other livestock to Ying Rong, and left Huaxi with Hengyang and his cat.

However, after promising to return after the holiday, she was never heard from again.

Some speculate that she and her daughter encountered misfortune on their journey, which caused much sighing and lamentation.

Ying Rong went to find Feng Yun to talk about this matter, and Feng Yun only responded indifferently that life and death are predestined. Ying Rong sensed Lady Feng’s moodiness, but since she didn’t speak of it, it was not Ying Rong’s place to pry further.

Then, people discovered that the most respected and learned sage Mr. Ren from the village school had also disappeared.

His son, along with his servants and menial workers, vanished without a trace.

The residence Mr. Ren built in Huaxi stood empty and deserted, yet in the courtyard, there were traces of paper having been burned...

Worried students, fearing something might have happened to him, rushed to Andu City to find Mr. Ren’s tea house, hoping to find some answers.

Shops in the neighborhood resumed business on the fifth day of the New Year, but only Mr. Ren’s tea house remained closed...

No one knew what had happened, and the students taught by Ren Rude bravely approached Lady Feng to ask...

Feng Yun said: "Mr. Ren has had a death in the family, and he has gone back for the mourning. It’s uncertain when he will return."

"A death?"

"Yes, several are dead indeed."

The first month of the Third Year of Tianshou thus passed amidst these perplexing speculations.

In February, Pei Jue returned to the capital.

He did not ask Feng Yun if she wished to accompany him; before departing, he merely told her not to worry.

He also said, "If there’s a chance, I’ll bring His Majesty to Huaxi to keep you company."

He was comforting her.

Actually, Feng Yun had nothing to worry about. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

News from the capital before the new year reported that Yuan Shangyi still could not recognize people, and due to the fall at Yongshou Palace, his brain could not recover.

He grew older but seemed to be regressing, forever stuck at the age of a three-year-old child. Yet, after a year of meticulous care by the Imperial Physicians, his body has become much healthier...

Feng Yun sometimes wonders if this is the result Yuan Shangyi actually desired.

Not to be the Emperor.

He has achieved that in a roundabout way.

Not doing the Emperor’s duties, yet enjoying all the privileges and wealth...

It seems there’s nothing bad about that.

Then there’s the group from Yecheng, starting with Empress Dowager Li, all branded as "rebellious traitors," now imprisoned in the dungeons. With the year having passed, whether to execute or punish them, a conclusion should be reached.

However, the Imperial Court of Xijing has become a total mess.

The contention between the New Party and the Old Party has become white-hot; anything proposed by the New Party is obstructed by the Old Party, and vice versa. The factions, no longer reasonable or truthful, are at a point where they seem ready to tear flesh from their rivals.

Xijing needs Pei Jue, even more than Feng Yun does.

This land is defended by Pei Jue; Feng Yun does not want to see it ruined by political strife.

She smiles as she bids farewell, her words brimming with understanding, "This is a man’s duty. My lord, go ahead, don’t worry about me."

Pei Yao also returned to the capital with Pei Jue, bringing the reluctant Ayou and Azuo.

She who hated seeing couples separated the most, brought the kids to Huaxi the night before leaving and stayed in Feng Yun’s estate.

The two warmed up some wine, enjoyed a few snacks, and talked a lot.

The most sincere phrase was spoken under the influence of the wine.

"No matter how much money you earn, you need someone to spend it. Making money endlessly has no purpose... It’s time to have a child, to spend for you both..."

Feng Yun said: "Leave it to fate."

She always smiled, regardless of what Pei Yao said.

But Pei Yao could tell she wasn’t really earnest.

"Do you not want children? Or is it an issue with Ajue?"

Emboldened by the wine, she spoke frankly.

Seeing Feng Yun shaking her head with a smile but remaining silent, Pei Yao almost let slip about Pei Jue’s plans to build a royal residence for her...

Fortunately, she held back.

She only said: "The two of you being apart like this is not good... Sister-in-law, don’t take offense at my nosiness. Ajue is a man; wherever he goes, he is alone and isolated. It’s heart-wrenching. If you could be by his side, enjoying life together as a family, how wonderful that would be..."

Feng Yun understood the intention behind Pei Yao’s words.

The household of the Prince of Yonghuai needed a mistress to manage it.

But she couldn’t do it.

Watching the departing procession until it disappeared from sight, she couldn’t help but recall how Pei Jue had carried her back from the Cheng Yi Workshop right before the New Year, and how he had bathed her himself in the purification room.

At that time, Pei Jue had already set a date for his return to Xijing.

He was so diligent, such a big man, washing her as carefully as if she were a precious jewel, and then insisting again and again, powerhouse, wildly, as if longing to perish on her, finally pinning her from behind with such heavy weight, pushing all into her...

His body inside hers, yet his voice by her ear.

"If we had a child, when I’m away, there would be someone to keep you company."

Feng Yun, like a cat with its tail stepped on, barely endured and bit his hand, then repeated what she had told Xiao Cheng, with some modifications, during a kiss.

"Why don’t you take off your armor, return to the fields, and keep me company?"

He countered: "If I take off my armor and put down my weapons, what would I do?"

Feng Yun held his calloused hand, smiling, her breath fresh as an orchid, "Have children."

"But what will we eat? How will we survive?"

"I’ll provide for you."

That night, Pei Jue did not sleep.

He stood by the window, hands behind his back; the night lamp was dim, unable to illuminate even an inch of the courtyard. He should have seen nothing.

But Feng Yun, wrapped in the quilt, saw clearly his silhouette.

She thought, this was the greatest tacit understanding between them as husband and wife.

There was love.

After three years together, even pigs can develop feelings, let alone people...

But for this love, neither would put down their knife.

Because they both knew, a person without weapons, fighting against this world bare-handed, could easily be destroyed beyond redemption, dying without a place to be buried...