Chapter 132 if-Pei Line (6): She is my lover and my child.
The air in the living room remained thick and ambiguous.
Faced with Pei Yanxi's question, which was almost tantamount to flirting, Yun Zhan was completely speechless.
Her mind went blank, and she could only stand there like a broken doll, letting Pei Yanxi look at her blankly.
Those bright red, watery eyes, like those of a startled deer, were filled with confusion and helplessness.
Yun Zhan has almost forgotten what kind of person she used to be. Now she is like Pei Yanxi's rag doll, and can only be manipulated by her.
Seeing her pitiful state, completely ruined by her own actions, Pei Yanxi's last bit of violence dissipated, replaced by endless tenderness.
She released her grip on Yun Zhan's nape and gently, with a soothing tone, patted the top of her head.
"Alright, go sit on the sofa or go back to your room."
Pei Yanxi's voice returned to its usual calm: "I'm going to take a shower, and I'll come see you later."
After saying that, she stood up, completely unconcerned about her open collar, and walked straight to the bathroom. Her posture was calm and elegant, as if the game that had just taken place, filled with punishment and feeding, was just an ordinary daily occurrence.
"Clatter".
The bathroom door closed, leaving Yun Zhan alone in the empty room. Yun Zhan was still kneeling on the carpet, his body icy cold, but his cheeks were frighteningly hot.
After a long while, as if all her strength had been drained, she curled up and buried her head deeply in her knees.
In the bathroom.
Warm water gushed from the showerhead, washing over Pei Yanxi's body and carrying away the lingering sweat and warmth of her thoughts from her skin.
The steam blurred the mirror and her expression.
She closed her eyes, letting the water wash over her long hair and cheeks, but the scenes from just moments ago kept replaying in her mind.
Yun Zhan was forced to admit his mistake, and he felt wronged when he was whipped with bamboo. In the end, he looked like a child, innocent and completely dependent in his arms.
Every scene stirred a subtle mix of joy and tenderness in her heart.
Just then, a rather familiar synthesized voice rang in her mind.
“Miss Pei, Yun Zhan’s emotional state has fallen below the safe threshold. You should be nicer to her.”
It's 21, Yunzhan's system.
21 really couldn't bear to watch anymore. She had never seen Yun Zhan look so aggrieved, so pitiful, like a stray kitten.
Pei Yanxi didn't open her eyes, but simply responded in her mind, "She's fine."
“No! According to my emotional model analysis, your behavior just now has gone beyond the scope of normal punishment, and is closer to a kind of... mental reshaping.”
21 calmly said, "Miss Pei, as Yun Zhan's system, I need to know what you really consider Yun Zhan to be."
Its voice paused, as if searching for the most suitable word in a database.
"Is it a lover... or... an object?"
This question, like a sharp knife, precisely dissected Pei Yanxi's true inner self beneath layers of pretense.
Pei Yanxi paused.
She slowly opened her eyes, and water streamed down her long eyelashes; it was hard to tell if it was tears or water droplets.
She looked at the mirror in front of her, which was blurred by water vapor. Her reflection showed a beautiful face, but her eyes were as deep as a bottomless, cold pool.
After a long while, Pei Yanxi lowered her eyes, her thick eyelashes casting a shadow beneath them, concealing the incredibly complex emotions that flashed through her eyes.
“You’re wrong, 21.” Her voice was very soft, almost inaudible amidst the rushing water.
"She is my lover..."
Pei Yanxi recalled Yun Zhan's smile in the sunlight. She had no relatives or close friends and had been a lonely person for eighteen years. Yun Zhan was one of the few bright spots in her life.
"...is also my child."
She recalled Yun Zhan's pitiful, helpless, and dependent appearance after she made him cry. That feeling gave her an unprecedented urge to meld her into her very bones.
Pei Yanxi reached out and touched the spot on her body that had just been sucked, where a tingling sensation still lingered.
You don't understand.
Pei Yanxi's voice echoed deep within her consciousness. She squinted as she recalled the scene: "Sometimes she's like a kitten that hasn't grown its claws yet."
"She is strong and intelligent. Sometimes she will show her claws and try to scratch people. She looks fierce and aggressive. Like today, she will fight back, push me away, and stare at me with her clear eyes, full of defiance and stubbornness."
At this point, Pei Yanxi's lips unconsciously curved into a very faint, wistful smile.
"But what's the use? Her claws can't even scratch my skin, they only leave a few painless red marks. To me, her resistance is like a kitten whining, fragile and ridiculous. You only need to use a little force to easily subdue her and make all her struggles futile."
"That sounds more like a description of a toy," 21's electronic voice calmly pointed out.
"No, you don't understand the difference."
Pei Yanxi retorted in her mind, her eyes deepening: "I love her, I love everything about her. Playthings are cold, lifeless, and can be discarded at will. But Yun Zhan..."
Pei Yanxi's heart skipped a beat.
"She's so cute, so cute it makes me feel uneasy."
Images of Yun Zhan flashed through Pei Yanxi's mind.
"She's fragile. 21, have you ever seen her? Like crystal. She looks clear and translucent, with sharp edges, seemingly very hard. But if you find the right spot and use the right amount of force, a gentle tap will shatter her completely."
"And I..."
Pei Yanxi's voice lowered, tinged with a morbid infatuation: "I am both the one who wants to shatter her and the only one who can piece her pieces back together."
This contradictory desire made her feel both thrilled and excited.
She enjoyed the process of loving Yunzhan, and was even more captivated by the unique comfort and protection she received from him after her breakdown, as if he were a savior.
"I possess her love, I crave her as my lover, to be entwined with her in bed, to feel her beauty when she blossoms for me. This is the possessiveness between lovers."
Pei Yanxi paused, then changed the subject, her tone carrying a deeper and more subtle emotion.
"But at the same time, I want to make her my child. I want to feed her myself, comfort her, wipe away her tears, and protect her under the wings I have built myself, shielding her from all the storms and harm from the outside world."
"So when I saw her crying, when I saw her standing there helplessly, I could no longer bring myself to hurt her."
She raised her hand and looked at her long, slender, fair fingers.
These same hands had just inflicted punishment, yet also bestowed special love.
"I want to protect her. This protective instinct is so strong that I want to break her wings so that she can never fly to anyone else again, so that she can fully understand that in this world, only here with me is the safest harbor."
Only my embrace can stop her from feeling pain and crying.
"This is an extreme and dangerous desire for control." 21's judgment was calm and accurate.
"Yeah?"
Pei Yanxi chuckled softly, the sound ethereal and eerie in the steamy air: "Perhaps. But I like the way she depends on me, I like the feeling that she can only find solace in me. That gives me more peace of mind than any vow or promise."
Pei Yanxi turned off the shower, and the sound of water stopped abruptly. Only her soft breathing could be heard in the bathroom.
"She is my lover and my child."
Pei Yanxi picked up a bath towel and dried her body. In front of the mirror, which was blurred by water vapor, she looked at the unfathomable darkness in her eyes and mentally finished the last sentence, word by word.
"He is someone sent to my side by heaven to accompany me for the rest of my life."
...
After that harrowing "feeding" incident, Yun Zhan fell into a prolonged state of numbness.
"You should rest well at home recently. I've asked for a week off for you."
Pei Yanxi didn't do anything excessive to her anymore; in fact, she was incredibly considerate. Every day, servants would deliver three nutritious meals on time, and Yun Zhan only needed to play games and read comics in the villa.
Yun Zhan spent most of her time curled up on the sofa in the bedroom, hugging a pillow and closing her eyes to rest. She dared not recall everything that happened that day. The strange touch seemed to linger on her lips, and the sweet and fishy taste often rose in her mouth.
She neither resisted nor ran away.
Yun Zhan suddenly realized that he had completely lost the right to resist in this relationship.
Pei Yanxi was like an impenetrable net, and she was the butterfly whose wings were already bound inside.
The days passed by in this calm yet oppressive atmosphere.
About two weeks later, Yun Zhan's mental state finally recovered somewhat.
As her senses gradually returned, she began to act like a normal person, picking up her phone and aimlessly refreshing social media, trying to fill the emptiness in her heart with this chaotic information from the outside world.
As her fingertips slid across the cold screen, a news headline that had topped the local trending searches caught her eye.
#Mington College Admissions Director Zhang Zhengyuan suspected of massive embezzlement; several people taken away for investigation#
"The Zhang family?"
Yun Zhan's heart skipped a beat, and his trembling fingers clicked on the news link.
The report detailed Zhang Zhengyuan's crimes over the years, including illegally seizing school assets, engaging in insider trading, providing admission pathways for underqualified children of elite families, and accepting huge bribes. The chain of evidence was astonishingly complete.
All of this happened too suddenly, the evidence was too detailed, and it seemed as if someone was manipulating things behind the scenes, just waiting for the right moment to make it public.
The report also included photos taken by Yun Zhan earlier. Yun Zhan clicked on one and realized it was definitely a photo he had taken himself...
So, did Pei Yanxi take it?
At the end of the news report, Yun Zhan saw a photo of the once-spirited admissions director being taken away, looking ashen-faced and utterly disheveled.
The entire Zhang family was on the verge of collapse overnight.
This is Pei Yanxi's work.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
