When Nan Lan woke up the next day, although there was Song Qingshu’s smell in the bed, the person himself had already disappeared.
With a sigh, she got up and began to dress herself. As she looked at her now rosy cheeks in the mirror, Nan Lan’s heart thumped. After a moment of guilt, she felt a hint of sweetness.
*****
After leaving Tian Mansion, Song Qingshu didn’t return directly to the Sifang Pavilion, but walked alone on the streets of Shengjing City.
He had to save Xia Qingqing, Tian Guinong, Red Flower Society, and find the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters. Song Qingshu felt that there were already a lot of scattered fragments in his mind, but he desperately needed an opportunity to connect them together, so he needed some time to quietly organize his thoughts.
Suddenly, there was a loud noise in front of him. Song Qingshu looked up and saw that he had unknowingly walked to the vicinity of Prince Bao’s Palace, and a group of people were pointing at a sign.
“The palace is seeking a famous doctor with a reward of thousands of gold.”
“I heard that many famous doctors went in before, but they all came back without success.”
“Could it be that someone contracted a strange disease?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who in the palace is sick?”
“Some people say it’s the Prince’s concubine, and some people say it’s just an ordinary woman working in the palace.”
“Hey, would they spend thousands of gold to seek medical treatment for just some ordinary woman?”
*****
Song Qingshu walked over curiously and looked at the notice on the wall. It turned out that there was a woman in the palace who had a strange illness. She had a high fever and a pain in her chest. Many doctors came to treat her, but were helpless.
“It’s just a fever, no matter how bad ancient Chinese medicine is, it should be able to handle this much, right?” Song Qingshu was greatly surprised, and suddenly a flash of light flashed across his mind, ‘Could it be that illness…’
Looking at the notice on the wall, Song Qingshu showed a triumphant smile. He found the opportunity he had been looking for!
*****
At the Wanhao Inn in the east of the city, Su Quan looked at Song Qingshu in front of her and showed a tender smile, “Young Master Song came to look for me so soon, did you miss me?”
Sure enough, when he didn’t even see her but only heard her voice, his body reacted. This woman was charming, but gentle and sweet. She was obviously bewitching to the point that it turned the worlds of all living men upside down, and he could also vaguely feel a little youthful energy of a young girl.
Song Qingshu sighed in his heart, ‘If Su Quan was born in the modern age, became a voice actress or something, and dubs Pan Jinlian. I’m afraid she would seem more coquettish and sultry than Ji Guanlin’s voice. I don’t believe that Wu Song would really be able to stand it.’ (G: Characters in the 17th-century Chinese novel Jin Ping Mei (The Plum in the Golden Vase), and a minor character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.)
The expressions of everyone in the Mystic Dragon Cult turned strange. The Fat and Thin Venerebales looked at each other and had the same thoughts, ‘This who*re!’ ‘This adulteress!’
“Madame is joking. This Song just came to discuss the matters about saving Tian Guinong.” Song Qingshu adapted his usual persona of acting like a rogue in front of a woman from a good family and a gentleman in front of a seductress.
Su Quan glanced at him in surprise, and wondered in her heart, ‘My seductive skills seemed to have no effect on him. Is it because of his profound realm in martial arts or because this guy is really a humble gentleman?’
Hearing Song Qingshu’s words, Su Quan smiled and said, “After I came back last night, I thought about it for a while. The palace is quite heavily guarded, and I felt it would be too dangerous to help you save Tian Guinong, and I’m also not sure that Tian Guinong really knew about Prince Bao’s plans. If we shed our blood to rescue him, only to find that the Young Master was just using us, we would’ve lost everything.” There was a hint of anger in her voice.
‘Don’t you get tired of using that beauty tricks…’ Song Qingshu cursed endlessly in his heart. This woman was very good at teasing, so he had to be careful, so that she wouldn’t be able to get her way. Suddenly, Song Qingshu became stunned at a particular realization. Although he wasn’t swimming amongst thousands of flowers, he wasn’t a man who was a pure virgin either. ‘If Su Quan wants to seduce me, I’ll just let her try. Why do I have to act so cautious?’ Thinking of this, the whole persona became more natural.
“Young master, you are laughing at me.” Su Quan said in an aggrieved tone.
“When did I do that?” Song Qingshu was taken aback.
“I saw the corners of your mouth lift up just now! You must be laughing at me in your heart.” Su Quan looked like she was about to cry, and even Lu Gaoxuan, who usually feared her like a tiger, couldn’t help but feel a little swayed.
Song Qingshu frowned, and thought, ‘I’m in a hurry to complete the task at the moment, how can I have the time to flirt with you?’ Then said, “The Madame’s beautiful voice is more sweeter than honey. Although I have the urge to talk more, we have to talk about business first.”
Su Quan took a breath. Her Charming Technique was proving to be ineffective over and over again, and it gave her the feeling that she was just being seen as a monkey by this man, so she couldn’t help but snort, “As I said just now, the risk of saving Tian Guinong is just too big.”
Su Quan’s voice had returned to being normal and clear. Song Qingshu secretly praised her ability to change and smiled, “You are breaking your promise. Is Madame not afraid of ruining the reputation of the Mystic Dragon Cult?”
“I don’t admit it, what can you do?” Su Quan smiled coldly.
“Then, what if I use the Sutra of Forty-Two Chapters to cooperate with you?” Song Qingshu didn’t care much about how quickly the other party’s attitude changed, and threw out an offer that she simply couldn’t refuse.
Sure enough, as soon as the words came out, the breathing of the members of the Mystic Dragon Cult in the room quickened a bit. Su Quan suppressed the excitement in her heart and pretended to be calm, “It’s just a Buddhist scripture, what’s the use of that?”
“If the Madame continues to test like this, I’ll just turn around and leave, and find someone else to cooperate with.” Song Qingshu actually walked out of the house after speaking.
“Wait a minute!” Su Quan knew that she had lost the initiative as soon as she opened her mouth, but as long as she could get the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters, she couldn’t care less. “What are the terms of our cooperation?”
“I’ll give you a thing, then you can go to Hongli and exchange it for the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters in his hand.” Hearing Su Quan’s words, Song Qingshu showed a triumphant smile on the corner of his mouth, and turned to look at her.
“Hmph, what is so precious that can be exchanged for the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters in Hongli’s hands?” Su Quan showed an expression of obvious disbelief.
“It’s naturally not a normal treasure, but what if it’s his direct grandson?” Song Qingshu thought of the two babies he rescued at the ruined temple, at that time he didn’t expect that they would play such a big role now.
“His direct grandson?” Su Quan gave him a strange look, “Fukang’an’s has no heirs.”
“Fukang’an’s official concubine naturally didn’t give birth to any heirs for him. However, by chance, Fukang’an had seduced a pheasant woman in the past, who gave birth to twins for him.”
Ma Chunhua, who was kidnapped by the bandits in the ruined temple, was precisely the young woman who had become fascinated when she saw Fukang’an, a handsome and elegant young man from a noble family. In her moment of fascination, she actually lost her purity to him. What’s more, after only one night of love-making, she became pregnant with Fukang’an’s children, and gave birth to the twins.
If his guess wasn’t wrong, that group of bandits was probably Fukang’an’s subordinates. It was possible that he had suddenly remembered that beautiful pheasant woman who he had a one night stand with, and feeling lus*tful, he sent someone to bring her back. It’s a pity that he didn’t know that she had given birth to a pair of sons, which caused his subordinates to almost kill his heirs.
“Are they really Fukang’an’s sons?” Su Quan thought it was a bit too coincidental, and subconsciously suspected that Song Qingshu was lying to her again, “Besides, how can such a woman who is not even a concubine give birth to an heir?”
“When the time comes, you will just have to send a letter to find out. If they ignore you then it’s fake, but if they come to contact you, it would naturally mean that it’s true.” Song Qingshu said lightly, “According to common sense, this pair of twins can only be regarded as illegitimate children, and their identity shouldn’t even be acknowledged. But it just so happens that Fukang’an has no other sons. There have long been rumors and speculations about his inability in the palace. It’s very likely that the twins will be the only sons Fukang’an would have in this life. As the heir of Prince Bao, Hongli would naturally not watch them just die. It’s most likely that he will make Fukang’an’s concubine adopt these two children, claiming that they are her sons.”
Seeing that his analysis was reasonable and sound, Su Quan had already believed it quite a lot, but she quickly thought of another question, “If that is the case, why don’t you do it yourself?”
In her opinion, what Song Qingshu had was a rare opportunity, but he was giving it to the Mystic Dragon Cult, so it was normal for her to be suspicious.
“I have other things to do, and I have no time to do it myself.” Song Qingshu explained in a hurry, “Although it’s possible to use those twins in exchange for the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters, Hongli will definitely not stay still after being blackmailed. Once the twins are in his hands, I am afraid that he will set up a force to hunt you down. Great rewards come with great risks, so the Madame should consider it carefully.”
Su Quan smiled and said, “You do have some conscience, I thought that you would deliberately avoid speaking about the risks involved. Don’t worry, if my Mystic Dragon Cult can’t even do this much, then we might as well cease to exist.”
Song Qingshu nodded with satisfaction, “That’s good, but I want half of the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters. When you give me what I want, I will give you the twins.”
“So you don’t plan to give the twins to us first?” Su Quan’s voice froze.
“That’s natural, otherwise you would just run away with the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters. Where would I find you then?” Song Qingshu looked into her eyes as he spoke as if it was obvious.
“But do you know that without the twins in hand, how difficult it would be to blackmail him?” Su Quan said angrily.
“That’s the problem you have to solve.” Song Qingshu said with a faint smile.
“Hmph, I now understand what you’re thinking about.” Su Quan looked suddenly enlightened, “You just want to use us to distract the attention of the Palace, and move the tiger away from the mountain, so that you can save Tian Guinong!”
“Sure enough, I can’t hide it from Madame, but this is not called ‘using’, it’s called mutual cooperation, where each gets what they need.” Song Qingshu replied.
Su Quan stared at him for a while, then suddenly smiled and said, “Okay, may I know which half of the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters the Young Master wants?”
“Hehh… the first half.” Song Qingshu hesitated and said.
“Oh? But what if we also want the first half, how about giving you the second half?” Su Quan said while staring at his eyes.
A hint of joy flashed on Song Qingshu’s face, and he deliberately gave a helpless look, “A gentleman shouldn’t argue with a beauty. Since the Madame wants it, then I won’t refuse.”
“Forget it, since the Young Master likes the first half, then take the first half.” Su Quan smiled like a clever fox.
“This…” Song Qingshu couldn’t hide his frustration, “Let’s talk about the distribution after everything is done.”
*****
Seeing Song Qingshu disappearing into the street, Lu Gaoxuan closed the window, looked at Su Quan and said, “Madame, was it possible that Song Qingshu was deliberately playing tricks just now, but what he really wanted was the first half?”
“Heh, you men, you have a head full of useless thoughts. I am too lazy to guess what he thinks. Wouldn’t it be better if I keep the whole thing?” Su Quan giggled after saying that.
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The title is spelt wrong I think.
Unless Eact is a word.
Oh….got it. Thanks
Fixed. Thanks again.