Chapter 53 The man my sister-in-law spoke of—it was him.
"sister in law."
Pei Duo strolled over, a cryptic smile playing on his handsome face.
As he gradually approached, Jiang Ninghui's legs, which felt like they were filled with lead, finally regained feeling.
She took two steps back, creating some distance between herself and Young Master Pei, to prevent him from suddenly approaching and making inappropriate advances on the busy street. If someone who knew Young Master Pei and her husband saw them, it would be difficult to explain.
Pei Duo noticed her subtle attempts to avoid him like the plague.
He asked her, "Sister-in-law, are you here to buy a pen at Wenzhai Pavilion?"
The young man's voice was extremely cold, as if it contained sharp, shattered ice, so cold that chilling air seeped from the very marrow of one's bones.
Jiang Ninghui: "Mm."
The two stood a step apart as they walked back towards the courtyard.
Jiang Ninghui never expected to run into Young Master Pei at the Wenzhai Pavilion by such a coincidence.
She looked down at the shadow moving forward on the ground: "Why did Young Master Pei leave the school so early today?"
Pei Duo lifted his thin eyelids and glanced at the clinic in front of him, uttering two words in a very calm voice: "Headache."
Jiang Ninghui suddenly looked up, her almond-shaped eyes filled with worry: "Does it hurt badly?"
The young man lowered his eyes, remained silent, and only nodded slightly.
Then, he raised his hand, spread his five distinct knuckles, and pressed on both sides of his forehead, as if to relieve the pain.
Jiang Ninghui: "The clinic is just ahead. Why don't you go there and have a doctor take a look at you, Young Master Pei?"
Thanks to Jiang Ninghui's concern, the gloomy and resentful look that had been building up in the young man's eyes faded considerably.
He said, "No need, I can feel better after I go back and rest for a while."
"Sister-in-law, may I take a look at this pen?"
Pei Duo spread his hands, his cold eyes glancing at Jiang Ninghui.
Jiang Ninghui placed the pencil case in his hand. She couldn't bring herself to say "This pen is for Young Master Pei" on the street, so she pursed her lips and remained silent, intending to say it back in the courtyard.
Pei Duo opened the pen case and glanced at the wolf-hair brush lying inside.
It is entirely black, with gilded floral patterns at the junction of the brush body and the bristles.
A cold mockery gleamed in the young man's eyes.
My sister-in-law is really generous.
She was reluctant to spend money on food, clothing, and daily necessities on herself, but she was willing to use her savings to buy this pen for her husband, without being afraid that he would ask her where the money for the pen came from.
Pei Duo closed the pen case, then suddenly tightened his grip on it with his two knuckles, and a very faint cracking sound came from inside the case.
He handed the pencil case to Jiang Ninghui, a faint smile on his handsome face: "This pen looks quite valuable. Sister-in-law, please keep it safe and don't damage or lose it."
Jiang Ninghui took the pencil case and stuffed it into her sleeve: "I understand."
Back in the courtyard, Jiang Ninghui went to the kitchen to boil water, preparing to make a pot of tea for Pei Duo and send it over.
For the past few days, Pei Duo has been giving her a pill every day, saying it's to nourish her body.
If she didn't eat, he would stare at her, as if he would feed her himself if she didn't eat. Every time, Jiang Ninghui had to put the pills he handed her into her mouth in front of him, chew them, swallow them, and then hold the candy he offered her with his fingertips in her mouth to get rid of the bitterness.
She didn't know what the pill was for.
All she knew was that over the past few days, she felt a surge of warmth coursing through her body.
Moreover, I used to experience unbearable lower abdominal pain every month when I had my period, but since taking the pills, I haven't felt any pain at all during my period a few days ago.
Jiang Ninghui prepared the tea and brought it out of the kitchen. She glanced at the closed doors and windows of Young Master Pei, hesitated for a moment, and then went up to knock on the door.
She had just raised her hand when the closed door suddenly opened from the inside.
Upon seeing Young Master Pei standing inside the house, Jiang Ninghui instinctively wanted to back away.
Knowing why they had come, they endured it.
She handed him the tea: "Young Master Pei, have some hot tea, it might help relieve your headache."
The young man's gaze was undisguised and aggressively fixed on the woman's delicate and beautiful face. Jiang Ninghui felt a tightness in her scalp and a thin layer of sweat inexplicably break out on her back. She had no choice but to lower her head, her long eyelashes concealing her panicked and helpless almond-shaped eyes. Her fingers, holding the teacup, curled up, her fingertips tense, she was in agony.
"Thank you, sister-in-law."
Pei Duo reached out, his strong, calloused fingers resting on Jiang Ninghui's taut fingers.
From those warm fingertips, it seemed as if countless fine spiderwebs were emerging, climbing up and down Jiang Ninghui's wrist inch by inch, wrapping her up, binding her tightly, and trapping her firmly in the narrow spiderweb. The spiderweb, so fine that it was invisible, crawled into her collar, sleeves, and trouser legs, caressing her skin little by little...
Jiang Ninghui's fingertips trembled, her forearm shook, and she almost dropped the freshly boiled tea.
Fortunately, Pei Duo caught it in time.
The young man looked puzzled, but a dark smile crept into his eyes: "Sister-in-law's hand seems to be shaking, is it burned?"
Jiang Ninghui quickly withdrew her hand: "It's...it's a little hot."
She took out a pen case from her sleeve and handed it to him, not daring to look at Pei Duo: "Young Master Pei, this pen is for you."
The young man's dark smile suddenly stopped.
The mocking expression on Zhang Fengshen's handsome face froze instantly.
He lowered his eyes, his dark pupils fixed on the pencil case in the woman's pale fingers.
After a long silence, he seemed to find his voice again: "This pen, was it bought for me by my sister-in-law?"
Then, Pei Duo saw Jiang Ninghui nod her head slightly.
He pressed his lips tightly together, a strong and extremely unfamiliar feeling of elation washing over him.
The young man felt a violent tremor in his heart.
He seemed to smell the sweet, metallic scent emanating from his blood when he was excited.
Stirring | sticky | thick.
It was filled with restlessness.
Pei Duo took the pencil case, his brows furrowed with deep regret, wishing he could kill himself from just fifteen minutes ago!
I recalled the conversation I overheard between my sister-in-law and the shopkeeper outside.
My sister-in-law said it was bought for her husband.
It turns out, this gentleman is not the same as that gentleman.
The man my sister-in-law was talking about—it was him.
It was him.
But he had secretly destroyed the pen, breaking it into three pieces.
Pei Duo gripped the pen case tightly, placed the tea on the table, and said to Jiang Ninghui, "Sister-in-law, I'm going out for a bit."
After saying that, the young man had already left the courtyard.
Jiang Ninghui was puzzled; she had not yet told Young Master Pei the reason for giving him the calligraphy brush and the blessing.
Well, the things have already been sent, so I won't think about them anymore.
She closed the door to Young Master Pei's room and turned to go to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
Pei Duo didn't return until dusk, and soon after, his lover also returned.
With just over half a month left until the provincial examination, Jiang Ninghui could see that her husband had been tense and serious these days, and had lost a lot of weight.
She knew that her husband was nervous, worried, and lacked confidence because of the upcoming provincial examination.
She couldn't help her husband with his studies, so she could only make sure he ate well every day.
After dinner, Zhao Zhixue threw himself into his books to catch up on his studies. Jiang Ninghui watched helplessly as he did so. She sat by the couch, looking at her husband's tense expression, and dared not disturb him.
"Knock knock—"
The knocking broke the tense atmosphere in the cabin.
Before Jiang Ninghui could get up, Zhao Zhixue got up first and opened the door. Seeing Pei Duo outside, he seemed to see a savior and hoped that Pei Duo could help him understand some things he didn't understand. Pei Duo held a few pieces of insight in his hand: "Perfect, I've written some insights myself, and I'll explain them to you in detail tonight."
The tension on Zhao Zhixue's face vanished instantly.
He almost burst into tears of joy: "In that case, I'll trouble you, Brother Pei."
Zhao Zhixue stepped aside: "Brother Pei, come in quickly."
Pei Duo nodded, and as he entered, he lifted his thin eyelids to glance at Jiang Ninghui sitting by the couch, and called out with great tact, "Sister-in-law."
Jiang Ninghui responded, then guiltily looked away.
After breaking through that thin veil with Young Master Pei, she felt extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed whenever she heard him call her "sister-in-law," as if she were having an affair with another man behind her husband's back.
"Brother Pei, please sit down."
Zhao Zhixue pulled out a chair and invited Pei Duo to sit down.
Pei Duo: "No need, I'll just stand. Brother Zhao, please sit down."
Seeing that Pei Duo really wouldn't sit down, Zhao Zhixue had no choice but to sit down himself and ask Pei Duo some questions he didn't understand.
Jiang Ninghui sat quietly by the couch, feeling very reserved and uneasy because of Pei Duo's arrival.
Fortunately, Young Master Pei and the young master were discussing things at the table.
The topics they were discussing were too profound for her to understand. However, she could tell that Young Master Pei seemed to know everything. He would answer her questions and give her some pointers.
Jiang Ninghui's gaze unconsciously fell on Pei Duo.
The young man stood with his back to the bed, tall and imposing, with broad shoulders and a head of jet-black hair half-tied up with a jade hairpin, the dark strands cascading down his back. He had changed into a dark blue cross-collar robe, and his undulating shadow on the ground mirrored his own—
Tall, mysterious, and exuding a sinister aura.
The people of Xiping Village all say that Pei Duo, the son of the Pei family, is a prodigy and is destined to become a high-ranking official.
In fact, many people in the village secretly compared Young Master Pei with the young master.
Even if the young master is dull-witted and studies diligently day and night, he cannot compare to Pei Duo's effectiveness in studying diligently for even a day.
She had heard these words not only, but her husband had heard them too.
Therefore, the young lady was always jealous of Young Master Pei, though she didn't say it, she could tell.
Jiang Ninghui's pupils went unfocused, her thoughts wandering.
Suddenly, a pair of dark eyes fixed on her, making her shudder.
Jiang Ninghui focused her pupils and saw Pei Duo turn to the side at some point, his handsome and refined features smiling at her.
That smile—
It's quite meaningful.
It was as if it was saying, "Why is my sister-in-law staring at me?"
Jiang Ninghui blushed, hurriedly turned her head away, and nervously tugged at the hem of her clothes with her fingertips.
She couldn't sit still any longer, so she stiffened up and used the excuse of giving them a pot of tea to escape.
Jiang Ninghui stayed in the kitchen for half an hour before bringing in the hot tea.
As soon as she entered the room, two pairs of eyes fell on her.
One of them is my husband.
The other one is Young Master Pei.
Jiang Ninghui lowered her head and walked to the edge of the table, pouring a cup of tea for each of them.
"Brother Zhao, there's a mistake here."
Pei Duo held a wolf-hair brush, dipped it in ink, marked Zhao Zhixue's mistakes, and wrote down the correct interpretations.
Zhao Zhixue understood, and then noticed the wolf-hair brush in Pei Duo's hand.
He remembered this pen; it was extremely similar to the wolf-hair pen that Pei had tied to Liang Wentao's hair ornament that day.
Zhao Zhixue: "I remember that Brother Pei's pen seemed to be broken. Did you buy a new one?"
Jiang Ninghui's heart skipped a beat at her husband's words.
She lifted her long, curled eyelashes and glanced at the wolf-hair brush in Young Master Pei's hand; it was the very brush she had given him that day.
Jiang Ninghui subconsciously looked at Pei Duo, her slender white fingers once again unconsciously clenching the hem of her clothes.
She was afraid that Young Master Pei would say that she was the one who gave him the brush, so when she gave him the brush today, she wanted to ask Young Master Pei to help her keep this a secret and not let her husband know.
However, because Young Master Pei had to leave in a hurry today, she was unable to voice her requests in time. Now that her husband had asked, Jiang Ninghui's heart was in her throat, and her beautiful almond-shaped eyes were filled with a plea that only Pei Duo could understand.
Pray to him.
Don't tell your husband.
A faint smile played in the young man's dark eyes.
When his sister-in-law looked at him with pleading eyes.
Extremely beautiful.
Looking into the woman's moist almond-shaped eyes, he parted his handsome, thin lips slightly in front of Zhao Zhixue: "I did buy another one, but it wasn't me who bought it—"
A hint of affection seemed to emerge from the depths of the young man's eyes.
That is a perverse and immoral affection, an affection that is not accepted by the world.
Like a spider web, it slowly climbed up to Jiang Ninghui, entwining her in front of him and forcing her to drown in his trap.
Jiang Ninghui felt a chill run down her spine under his gaze. Before she could look away, she heard him continue, "This brush was a gift from someone I admire."
With a bang—
Jiang Ninghui felt as if she had been violently dragged into an abyss by an invisible hand.
Those unseen and intangible yet tangible shackles bound her limbs and strangled her soul, preventing her from breaking free or escaping.
It was as if I could hear voices that sounded almost like those of a demon: "Sister-in-law, let's sink together."
Zhao Zhixue was preoccupied with Pei Duo's words and did not notice Jiang Ninghui's unusual behavior.
He recalled that night of the Lantern Festival, when he saw Pei Duo tightly holding a woman in his arms at the lantern festival in Longchang County. There were several people with him, and they hadn't even seen a corner of the woman's clothes.
It must be that young lady.
Zhao Zhixue became somewhat interested and asked another question: "Do I know the person that Brother Pei admires?"
Pei Duo stared at the woman's rapidly breathing chest.
Listen to the sound of her rapidly beating heart.
Looking at those brimming, watery eyes, I saw a pitiful, damp mist welling up inside.
He opened his mouth and said, "Brother Zhao is someone I know."
Zhao Zhixue was genuinely surprised: "I actually know him?"
He quickly thought through all the women he knew who were around the same age as Pei Duo, and found that none of them seemed to be a good match for him.
They are either too young or already married and haven't found a suitable match.
He couldn't help but ask, "Brother Pei, would you be willing to reveal the young lady's name?"
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Author's Note: There's a red envelope in this chapter.
Here I am, sorry everyone, I had something come up and was late today. I'll update before 10 AM tomorrow~ [Please!]
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