Pillow Talk Persuasion
The power of jokbal was absolute. Cai Yan, who had been suffering severe morning sickness after her pregnancy and could barely eat, drank the jokbal broth like soup and then devoured the meat dipped in sauce to her heart’s content, feeling full for the first time in ages. Yuan Jing, Qiao Xuelan, and Lu Ming all begged to learn the recipe so they could eat it every day. Cai Yan ate happily for the first time in a long while and slept soundly, which put my mind at ease.
The other children also enjoyed the four pig trotters, and once they had gone, I called for Daqiao again. I took her hand and led her straight into the bedroom.
“Ah—?!”
She was startled. My return had been sudden, the household was still in disarray, and now she found herself chosen for the night and pinned beneath me. I lifted the hem of the light, flowing skirt she wore around the house and raised both her legs high. When those pale, smooth thighs rested on my shoulders, I saw the thin strings of her undergarment. She always wore something provocative underneath, no matter the time or place. Perfect.
I pulled the string panties aside and lowered my trousers, pushing straight in. Her tightly closed folds were forced open by the head, and the pressure inside was intense.
“A… aah!”
She had been dragged into the room without warning and now lay on the bed with nothing but her skirt flipped up, being taken roughly with no foreplay. Her mind went blank, and the moment I began to move, her cries grew louder.
“Ah… aaah… ngh!”
She squeezed her eyes shut, bit her lip, and turned her head. She had always considered it her duty to receive me after I returned from the battlefield, but the pain seemed sharper than she remembered; tears welled in her eyes. It had been too long, and she was tighter than usual. Even as her walls belatedly grew slick, I thrust without mercy.
“Hngh… hhk!”
“Daqiao. No—Qiao Xuehua. Xuehua.”
“!!!”
When I called her by her given name instead of her title, her tightly shut eyes flew open and met mine. I pulled her soft, supple body into my arms and whispered against her ear.
“I love you. I truly love you, my Jiangdong’s Daqiao, Qiao Xuehua.”
At that moment her insides clenched violently. Her legs, which had been raised in the air, wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer. Her hands clung to me as well, her face melting from pain into pleasure as she looked up at me.
Soft kisses. Wet sounds. The bed creaked and the room filled with the lewd, rhythmic noises of our joining.
I embraced her once more, then loosened her front ties. Her large breasts spilled free, heavy and swaying. If Xiaoqiao was all about the hips, Daqiao’s greatest asset was undoubtedly these breasts. I pinched the pink nipples, squeezed the overflowing flesh with one hand, and buried my face between them while continuing to thrust.
I hammered against her cervix again and again, driving deep. She had already surrendered completely after the first round and now panted helplessly in my arms. I pulled her close, built to my peak in one powerful motion, and slammed into her like a pestle.
“Haaah!”
Electricity shot through my lower body as I flooded her womb with a massive release. I pushed as deep as possible, making sure not a single drop escaped onto the sheets.
“Haa… haa…”
Daqiao was already breathing hard. I brushed the damp hair from her face and caressed her cheek. She looked up at me with dazed eyes, and that expression alone was enough to stir me again.
“Eugh?! W-wait! It’s moving… inside!”
Even after climaxing once, I was already hardening again inside her. Daqiao reflexively clutched her lower belly and squirmed, but I captured her mouth.
“Mmph?!”
Our lips met and her tongue eagerly sought mine. She was a woman of heavenly beauty, and now she was my wife—mine to take whenever I wished. I savored the feeling of conquest, thrust harder, and held her tightly. She wrapped her legs around me once more, moving to draw every drop deep into her womb.
The second release was even thicker and more abundant than the first.
Afterward I turned her onto her stomach and lifted her hips. Her swollen, reddened folds, still sealed tight from the rough treatment, parted slightly, and my seed trickled out. I gripped her plump backside and entered her from behind.
“Haa… haa…”
She had surrendered her body completely to pleasure. Her face was as flushed as her intimate parts. Her half-lidded eyes avoided mine as she panted, yet whenever I gripped her waist or fondled her breasts she reached for my hand and sucked on my fingers, desperate to stay connected. That eagerness excited me even more. I took her a third time to my heart’s content before finally letting her collapse.
She lay face-down, trembling, unable to move even a finger.
“Uuu…”
Her skirt was still only flipped up, her undergarment discarded. The hem was already soaked with our mingled fluids, and more continued to spill onto the sheets. I fetched a warm herbal towel and gently cleaned her myself, parting her cheeks to wipe away the overflowing evidence. As I wiped, her small, wrinkled entrance twitched, and below it her swollen folds slowly closed again.
“Still the prettiest little hole no matter how many times I see it.”
“…!”
She jerked and trembled at the words, clearly mortified.
After such an intense session, I lay comfortably on the bed and held her, stroking her gently.
“Earlier… when you called my name during…”
“Mm.”
“…I liked it.”
She had an unexpected weakness for that. When we were with her sister she was always bold and seductive, but alone with me she grew shy again, and that contrast was delightful.
“Xuehua.”
When I called her by name she burrowed deeper into my arms and nodded.
“Yes, my lord.”
“I’ll have to return to Hebei soon. Before that, I have a favor to ask.”
“A favor…?”
“This is something only you can do.”
“What is it?”
After thoroughly conquering her, now came the real request—the classic case of pillow talk, except this time the husband was the one making the petition.
“The southern forces beyond the Yangtze will rise again eventually. The situation is unstable, and Lujiang is the only territory we still hold there.”
“My father was recently appointed governor there, wasn’t he?”
“With supplies and manpower both lacking, we’ll need the local gentry to contribute military funds. Of course, once the war in Hebei ends we’ll repay them in full.”
“Money… So you want me to deliver the request to my family.”
After such a passionate night, I was openly asking her to request military funds from her father and the local elites. She seemed to understand why it had to be her.
She let out a long sigh and nestled back into my arms.
“I’m a daughter-in-law of the Cao clan now. I suppose it must be done. Father has only been governor for half a year, and he already sacrificed half his fortune and sent his two precious daughters last time to help repel the Jiangdong army… but yes, it must be done.”
Looking at it that way, I really had stripped the Qiao household of everything valuable. Both daughters, most of their wealth turned into war supplies, and now, after the governorship, they were being asked for more.
I made her an offer.
“Next year around this time, let’s invite your father and his household. If we present him with three grandchildren, his heart will surely soften.”
“No matter how I think about it, that little sister of mine… how did she manage twins…”
She was quietly jealous that her younger sister had conceived two children while she had not. But tonight I would keep taking Daqiao, and I would make sure to create more opportunities.
***
The next day.
It was the first morning that truly felt like we had returned to Xudu. Unexpectedly, breakfast was jokbal.
“This is…?”
“Yesterday’s dish was so delicious that when I asked for the recipe, the merchant lady from the Wei Trading Company brought some over already prepared.”
Yuan Jing, heavily pregnant, held a piece of jokbal with both hands since chopsticks were insufficient, her face the picture of bliss as she ate. Qiao Xuelan and Cai Yan were also happily eating from their own portions. Lu Ming simply picked up an entire trotter bone with her hands and stripped every last bit of meat from it.
At this rate, jokbal would become a trend in Xudu, and the Wei Trading Company’s pleasure houses would gain a new menu item.
After breakfast, dressed in my official robes, I went to see Wei Hong.
“Young master—no, you are now Zhonglangjiang. My congratulations.”
“You may still call me as before. The Wei Trading Company works hardest for our household.”
“I am grateful.”
“Since returning from Hebei, I need to know how much military grain we must procure through the trading company.”
We discussed the most critical issue on the battlefield—logistics—and how much grain the trading company could purchase. Wei Hong immediately produced several bamboo slips and handed them over. When I unrolled them, they listed rice obtained through tuntian farming in the Central Plains, as well as barley, rice, and millet purchased from Xuzhou, Jingzhou, Yongzhou, Yangzhou, and Yuzhou.
“Ziyi will handle purchases in the south. Prices have risen sharply due to the war in Hebei, but no one is starving yet.”
“Hmm. Yesterday I spoke with my wife from Lujiang. Could we also reach out to that region?”
“Of course.”
Even if Daqiao wrote to her father Qiao Gong, the actual transportation of the grain would still require the trading company’s network.
“The Grand Tutor has also taken action recently.”
“Oh?”
“He ordered his household granaries emptied and the contents used to procure weapons and provisions for the Chancellor’s army.”
Well, well. Cao Song was making a grand move. With this, we at least wouldn’t be forced onto the defensive due to food shortages. In the original history, Cao Cao’s army had suffered greatly from supply issues during the Battle of Guandu. This should resolve one of our greatest vulnerabilities.
“Not only Hebei, but the lands south of the Yangtze are also a concern. We’ll need substantial grain to establish defensive lines there as well.”
“We will mobilize every distribution channel we have.”
I made that promise with Wei Hong. Not long after, a letter arrived from Qiao Gong in Lujiang.
“It’s from Father. What does it say?”
“He complains that marrying off his daughters and hosting a grandchild celebration will cost him dearly.”
“That means…”
“Ah, and gifts for you girls arrived as well. Dried eel from the Yangtze and tangerines from Wenzhou.”
“Waaah!”
Qiao Xuelan immediately tore into the tangerines upon hearing about them, and Yuan Jing, drawn by the scent, quietly joined her. Besides the letter and gifts, there was something far more valuable: a register of the local gentry’s private troops in the Lujiang region and a receipt for additional grain purchases.
This bill would ultimately be settled by Uncle Cao Cao after the Battle of Guandu… most likely.