Chapter 88 Pei Duo: Sui Sui, where can you run to? ...
Jiang Ninghui trembled repeatedly as Pei Duo bullied her.
The blanket was soaked with water, dripping water, and soon a circle of water stains appeared on the floor.
The young man's firm, warm chest pressed tightly against Jiang Ninghui's slender back, and he whispered seductively in her ear, "Suihui is not a person who breaks her word, is she?"
"Sui Sui has agreed to marry me, is that right?"
“Sui Sui, look, you responded to me again.”
Jiang Ninghui's face was buried in his hands, and she couldn't utter a single word because he was bullying her.
She was forced to let him do whatever he wanted to her.
This absurd farce didn't end until almost 7 PM. Jiang Ninghui was soaked in a thin layer of sweat, her body completely exhausted. Like a boneless person, she was picked up by Pei Duo and placed into a wooden tub prepared by the servants.
She leaned against the wooden tub, closed her eyes to avoid looking at Pei Duo, and let him bathe her while she listened to his lewd words that made her blush.
As Jiang Ninghui listened, she really wanted to plunge into the bathtub and never come out.
He got increasingly risqué as he talked.
She simply couldn't bear to listen to it anymore.
By the time we finished cleaning up, it was already dark.
Jiang Ninghui gently tugged at Pei Duo's sleeve: "I made you meat soup dumplings."
Pei Duo pecked her lips: "Sui Sui still cares about me the most. She knew I wanted to eat the meat soup dumplings you made today."
Jiang Ninghui didn't dare say that this was the last meat soup dumplings she made for him before she left.
She was afraid that if she told him, he wouldn't let her leave.
She lowered her head and said softly, "Eat more if you want to."
Jiang Ninghui had a servant bring over the hot meat soup dumplings. She insisted on getting off Pei Duo's lap and sitting on a chair to eat the dumplings with him. The soup was delicious and the meat was fresh, with a rich and flavorful taste and no fishy smell.
She asked, "How does it taste?"
Pei Duo: "What Sui Sui made is of course excellent."
After having dinner, Jiang Ninghui, having been up for a while, felt sleepy and went to bed early.
At night, Pei Duo skillfully broke open the door, lay down on the couch, and embraced the sleeping person in his arms.
The person in his arms was sleeping soundly, completely unaware.
The young man's lips lingered greedily on Jiang Ninghui's cheeks, leaving wet marks.
He grabbed her wrist, held her fingertips in his mouth, and stared intently at the woman's sleeping face with his dark eyes.
A moment later, he gently bit her fingertip and murmured softly.
"Sui Sui, don't even think about leaving me behind."
"No matter where Sui Sui goes, I will haunt you like a ghost."
"I will cling to Sui Sui forever, tightly and firmly."
"Sui Sui, if you want to escape, where can you escape to?"
Jiang Ninghui did not sleep soundly.
She always felt as if something like vines was tightly binding her, those warm vines starting from her ankles, climbing up one by one, wrapping around her calves, the backs of her knees, her thighs, and climbing all the way up...
Jiang Ninghui wanted to turn around but couldn't move.
She felt incredibly hot, as if she had been thrown into a scorching oven and repeatedly roasted.
The feeling of being bound didn't completely disappear until dawn, and she fell into a deep sleep again.
Since moving into the Pei residence, Jiang Ninghui's life has been much better than before.
She was served in every way, and all she had to do each day was to learn to read, study, and practice her handwriting.
And... being bullied by Pei Duo at will.
Since Pei Duo entered the court, he had to attend court every day. Apart from court, he spent all his other time at home with her. Jiang Ninghui really didn't know what Pei Duo liked about her.
She was older than him and was a divorced woman.
In terms of social status, she was just a country woman; in terms of appearance, she was not as good as the noble ladies of the capital.
Jiang Ninghui couldn't find any redeeming qualities in her. She felt that Pei Duo's feelings for her were probably just a passing fancy. Once his interest wore off, he probably wouldn't be fond of her anymore, nor would he think of her again.
Jiang Ninghui had been considering leaving for a long time.
After much deliberation, she finally decided to leave quietly today.
Perhaps after she's been gone for a while, Pei Duo will gradually forget about her.
Jiang Ninghui woke up at the beginning of the hour of Mao (5-7 AM). She lay quietly on the couch, listening to the footsteps passing by outside the door.
This time of day was when Pei Duo went to court. She would only get up after the footsteps had faded into the distance.
Jiang Ninghui changed into her old coarse cloth clothes and packed a few more pieces into her bundle. But then she thought that the servants might find out she was leaving and tell Pei Duo. If that happened, it would be difficult for her to leave.
Left with no other choice, Jiang Ninghui changed back into her gorgeous clothes and put away the thirty-odd taels of silver she had saved.
She took out the letter she had written to Pei Duo and placed it on the table, pressing it down with a paperweight.
Jiang Ninghui bit her lip, her almond-shaped eyes, wet with tears, looked away from the letter and glanced around the room.
She had lived in this house for half a month and had memorized every part of it.
The room was filled with a faint scent of cedar.
It was a scent unique to Pei Duo.
Jiang Ninghui took a deep breath, as if trying to memorize the flavor.
As if pricked by a needle, a dense, uncontrollable pain surged in her heart. The fine, dense ache spread from her heart to her limbs and bones. Jiang Ninghui felt as if her heart was being pulled by a tightly bound rope with every breath.
The pain was throbbing.
She took a few breaths, raised her hand to wipe the moisture from her eyelashes, and turned to walk out of the room.
The servants were waiting outside. When they saw Jiang Ninghui come out, they asked her when she would have breakfast. Jiang Ninghui was not good at lying and was afraid that the servants would see through her lie, so she lowered her head and whispered, "Later, I want to go out for a walk first."
Noticing the servants following behind, Jiang Ninghui paused, not daring to turn around, and quickly whispered to stop them, "Don't follow me, I want to walk by myself."
Seeing that the servant had indeed stopped, Jiang Ninghui secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She was afraid the servants would notice, so she didn't dare to walk fast, and she almost walked with her hands and feet moving in unison due to nervousness.
The moment Jiang Ninghui stepped out of the Pei residence, she seemed to have done something wrong. She dared not look back, nor did she dare to walk quickly. As usual, she walked slowly, looking back as she went. Only when she saw that no one was following her did she quicken her pace.
After walking out of the long street, Jiang Ninghui looked back again and found no one following her, so she quickened her pace and ran towards the city gate of Kyoto.
A few days ago, she learned from a servant that the city gate of Kyoto was located on Xuanwu Street in the southeast.
Jiang Ninghui didn't stop for the entire journey, and only caught her breath after leaving the capital city.
She turned to look at the majestic city gate before her.
Two months ago, she went to the capital with her husband and Pei Duo. At that time, she never thought that she would be divorced by Zhao Zhixue, nor did she think that Pei Duo's status would be so noble. She was still naively thinking that after the palace examination, she and Pei Duo would go their separate ways.
At that time, she and her husband will live out the rest of their lives peacefully and without worries.
But everything that happened in the past two months was completely different from what she had imagined.
This bustling capital city is not a place for her to stay.
The person Pei Duo should like should not be her.
The majestic city gate before her gradually blurred, and tears welled up in her eyes, rolling down her cheeks. Jiang Ninghui raised her hand to wipe away the tears and turned to walk towards the official road.
Pei Duo —
May you live a peaceful and safe life for the rest of your days.
May you find the one you truly love in this lifetime.
That person should be a noblewoman from Kyoto, or a daughter of a wealthy family; in any case, it shouldn't be her.
Jiang Ninghui walked and cried the whole way.
She didn't know where to go.
She couldn't go back to Hongshan Village, nor could she go back to Xiping Village. She stood alone at the crossroads, gazing blankly at the fork in the road ahead.
Which way should she go?
Jiang Ninghui noticed that people passing by occasionally glanced at her, so she quickly lowered her head, gritted her teeth, and randomly chose a path to walk on.
That's fine, I'll just go wherever I end up.
No matter how vast the world is, there will always be a place for her to settle down.
Jiang Ninghui walked for more than an hour.
At 1:15 AM, the court session ended.
After the court session, Pei Duo was summoned to the emperor's bedchamber.
The uncle and nephew sat on chairs. Master Xie picked up his teacup, glanced at his nephew opposite him, and said, "I have arranged everything for your wedding. Your parents will arrive in the capital in a few days."
The man parted his lips, a hint of teasing in his otherwise calm tone: "Has your dear sister-in-law agreed to marry you?"
Pei Duo raised an eyebrow slightly: "Indeed."
Master Xie said meaningfully, "Oh?"
He tapped the tea leaves on the top of the cup with the lid: "I just received some news, would you like to hear it, Brother Duo?"
Pei Duo's dark pupils narrowed slightly for a moment. Even without Xie Erye explaining the news, he seemed to already know. Without saying a word, he got up and left the bedchamber, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Master Xie put down his teacup and chuckled, "You little rascal, you run really fast."
Pei Duo left the palace before 3:45 AM.
The Pei family's secret guards had been waiting outside the palace. When Pei Duo came out, they quickly told their master exactly what had happened: Jiang Ninghui had secretly left.
The young man's face was grim, and his sharply defined jawline was taut.
He asked, "Which way did she go?"
The guard lowered his head: "Madam Jiang has headed towards Lingzhou. Our men have been secretly following and protecting her. Without our master's orders, we dare not easily stop her and bring her back."
Pei Duo lifted his eyelids and glanced southwest, which was the direction of Lingzhou.
Sui Sui still left.
They left so resolutely.
Just abandon him like that, don't want him anymore.
She has such a cruel heart.
Did she ever think about what he would do without her?
No, she never thought about it; if she had, she wouldn't have left.
But—Sui Sui, where can you run to?
—I said, no matter where you go or where you are, I will follow you like a ghost.
—Sui Sui, you can't get rid of me.
—We were born to be together.
Pei Duo ordered his guards to prepare horses. He returned to his residence first and learned from the servants that after he left, Jiang Ninghui said she wanted to go out for a walk alone and didn't want them to follow her.
She left and never came back.
A sinister smile crept across the young man's lips.
Even the honest and obedient Sui Sui has learned to lie.
Pei Duo picked up the letter that was being held down by a paperweight on the table. He tore open the envelope, took out the letter inside, and unfolded it.
The letter told him not to look for her and to forget her.
The last three characters written were "Jiang Ninghui".
She told him not to worry about it.
The young man's dark eyes stared at every word on the letter, then he tore them to shreds.
—SuiSui, wait for me.
—I'll come find you soon.
—You can't escape.
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Author's Note: There's a red envelope in this chapter! Update before 7 PM tomorrow night! [Sprinkling flowers]
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