Flower Stealing Master

"Qingqing?" Hearing the word "Qingqing" and connecting with the meaning of the song, it didn’t take Song Qingshu that long to understand who was blowing the flute, so he quickly changed his direction and walked towards the lake. [Goblin: In the song from the previous chapter, the line before the last line the word “green” stands for “Qingqing” (青 青), which points towards Xia Qingqing.]

Sure enough, it didn't take long for Song Qingshu to see Xia Qingqing sitting on a stool, leaning against a big tree, her long skirt brushing on the ground, her belt fluttering in the wind, a small white flower on her temples, and her brows were filled with endlessness feeling of sorrow.

"A woman needs to be both pretty and filial." Xia Qingqing, who was in a snow white dress, looked like a fairy from heaven. No one knew if it was due to the rising sun, or her  blushing cheeks, but when he saw half of her pretty face, it really looked like a spring peach.

"Madame Yuan." With outsiders present, calling her intimately would ruin her reputation, so he didn't dare to be too rude, and shouted from a distance.

Hearing his voice, Xia Qingqing turned around in surprise. When she saw the beautiful girl behind Song Qingshu, her expression changed slightly, but she quickly covered it up, "You finally had the time to come."

Li Yuanzhi looked at the charming young woman before her, and then looked back at Song Qingshu with a strange expression. The thought in her heart, ‘This young woman is dressed in mourning attire, listening to the meaning of the flute and song just now, she should be missing her husband who might have just passed away. But the expressions of these two people just now were clearly… they clearly have something going on between them.’

How could Song Qingshu know that Li Yuanzhi had regarded them as adulterers, so he looked at Xia Qingqing and asked, "Madame Yuan, did you stop Gui Xinshu and his wife?"

Xia Qingqing shook her head, "I traveled day and night, and finally found them before they could act. They delayed their plans for a few days too, but yesterday, for some unknown reason, they suddenly decided to enter the palace to assassinate Kangxi. I couldn't stop them either. Thinking that you will be here in a few days, I decided to stay here and wait for you to see if you can save them."

Song Qingshu hated Gui Xinshu and his wife quite a lot in the original novel. They were extremely narrow-minded, and they were extremely blind towards their own shortcomings. Later, Wu Liuqi was killed because of their misunderstanding. 

Usually Song Qingshu would be too lazy to save them, but now that Xia Qingqing had spoken, he softened his heart and asked, "When did they enter the palace yesterday?"

"Last night, they seemed to have kidnapped that noble friend of yours and forced him to bring them into the palace." Xia Qingqing replied, "I was worried that Wei Xiaobao would see my face if I showed up, and that would harm you later, so I have been hiding in the dark."

"Wei Xiaobao is a clever man, and he will definitely trap them into the palace. It should not be too late now. Let's enter the palace together and see if we can stop them in advance." Song Qingshu pondered in his heart. According to the plot of the original novel, all three members of Gui Xinshu's family were plotted by Wei Xiaobao and lost their lives.

Unexpectedly, Xia Qingqing showed hesitation, "To take me into the palace, aren't you afraid of being caught by Dongfang Bubai?"

Song Qingshu smiled indifferently, "Don't worry, the battle is imminent, Dongfang Bubai must be in seclusion to recuperate. Before the full moon night, he will slowly adjust his state to the peak, so how can he be concerned with these trivial matters."

Xia Qingqing nodded lightly, and suddenly turned around and stared at Li Yuanzhi, "Then what should she do?" 

The two of them mentioned such a big thing as assassinating the emperor. Li Yuanzhi was horrified when she heard it, thinking that Song Qingshu was the inner palace guard, but who knew that he actually interacted with these rebels. Seeing the two of them looking back at her, Li Yuanzhi smiled awkwardly, "You guys go and do your work, don't worry about me." 

Seeing this quirky girl being so frightened, Song Qingshu smiled, "How can I do that? You heard that we were conspiring, and you are a lady of the official family. How could I let you go…"

As Li Yuanzhi stepped back, she explained in a panic, "Brother Song, we are so familiar, stop joking, I promise to keep my mouth shut about today's affairs. Hey, don't come close…whether you are with the Heaven and Earth Society or the Red Flower Society… I and the leaders of the Red Flower Society are very familiar, and I also know the people from the Heaven and Earth Society… woohoo, don't kill me!"

Song Qingshu spoke with a smile, but not a smile, "You are a lady from an official house, and you are entangled with these anti-Qing and rebel organizations, aren't you afraid that I will expose you?"

"Aren't you too…" Li Yuanzhi muttered.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you, I just need you to enter the palace with us. I promised your father to bring you to the capital, but I dare not let you be alone in the capital. If you manage to get yourself chosen to be a concubine, your father has to work hard for me." Song Qingshu said.

Li Yuanzhi was secretly proud in her heart, ‘Hmph, men are so easy to deceive, I will survive this ordeal by pretending to be pitiful…’

"Madame Yuan, is everything ready?" Song Qingshu asked.

"They are ready." Xia Qingqing took Li Yuanzhi's hand and said, "This girl, please come into the room with me and change into the clothes of the inner palace guard."

After a while, the two women walked out, Song Qingshu's eyes lit up, and he praised, "Small and delicate, with soft and silky skin. If you two are put into the military camp, such handsome and lovely soldiers would definitely drive those scu*m men crazy."

Xia Qingqing was already familiar with Song Qingshu's speaking style, so it was no surprise to her. But Li Yuanzhi was a little girl, and her face turned red when she heard it, and she felt that his words were too bold and explicit.

Arriving at the palace gate, seeing the solemn expressions on the guards' faces, Song Qingshu stepped forward and asked, "What happened in the palace?"

"It turned out to be Lord Song. I heard that there were three strong martial arts assassins in the palace, and the guard captain ordered everyone to strictly guard their posts." One of the guards examined his waist badge and whispered, suddenly looking at the two people behind Song Qingshu in confusion, He asked suspiciously, "These two brothers are not very familiar, which shift are they on?"

Song Qingshu replied casually, "They are the young masters I have collected for the Emperor from various sects to enrich the palace guards." 

In this era, no one dared to falsely spread the emperor's spoken orders. However, as a transmigrator, Song Qingshu was different, and he was not so awed by the imperial power. He knew that this guard would not be able to reach Emperor Kangxi for confirmation.

As expected, the guards looked tense and did not dare to question him further, so they allowed the three of them through the palace gate.

"Brother Song, according to what they said, my brother-in-law and the others seem to have been discovered." Although Xia Qingqing had always disliked those two arrogant brother-in-law and sister-in-law, when she thought that they were trying to avenge her husband, and forced their way into the deep palace. She felt quite anxious.

The entire Forbidden City was so big that Song Qingshu didn't quite know where to go to rescue them. He hesitated for a moment, then pulled over a passing guard and asked, "Where are the assassins now?"

Seeing that it was Song Qingshu, a well-known expert in the palace, the other party saluted and said quickly, "Lord Song, I heard that the assassins have been caught and are being escorted to the imperial study by the imperial guard commander, and the Emperor will interrogate them in person."

Song Qingshu recalled that in the original novel, Gui Xinshu was lost in the palace and could not find any trace of the Emperor, so he pretended to be captured, and when he was brought to the emperor, he suddenly attacked.

"I really can't let Kangxi die at this time." Song Qingshu was feeling anxious. He had made so many plans, and he didn't want to let them be ruined now.

Song Qingshu hurriedly went straight to the imperial study. Just when had run a few feet, he turned around and saw the two women standing still. So he ran back quickly, supported the two women by their shoulders, and ran towards the imperial study with his movement technique.

With such close physical contact with Song Qingshu, Xia Qingqing was fine, but Li Yuanzhi was feeling quite uncomfortable, but she knew that the time was urgent, so she had to bite her red lips and endure it.

Hearing the sound of swords clashing in the imperial study from a distance, Song Qingshu felt even more hurry and quickened his pace. As soon as the three of them arrived at the door of the imperial study, they saw the three members of Gui Xinshu's family being hacked to death by swords.

"Ah!" Xia Qingqing exclaimed and was about to run ahead, but thanks to Li Yuanzhi's quick eyes and hands, she managed to hold her back.

Hearing her cry, Emperor Kangxi raised his head to find Song Qingshu, and said in shock, "It turns out that Master Song is back. If you had arrived earlier for these three assassins, you wouldn't be so arrogant."

"This Song is late for the rescue, and I hope the emperor will forgive me." Song Qingshu was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly pleaded guilty.

Duo Long and others knelt on the ground, drenched in cold sweat, "The incompetency of this official had almost harmed the Emperor."

"Forget it, this time thanks to Xiaobao blocking their knives, dragging them down, Xiaobao Qingshu stays behind, and everyone else go out." Emperor Kangxi waved his hand.

Seeing the corpses of Gui Xinshu's family being taken out like dead dogs, Xia Qingqing's mouth trembled and looked at Emperor Kangxi with hatred in her eyes. Song Qingshu patted her hand quickly and whispered, "I will make sure to take back their bodies. Trust me, you should go wait for me outside first." After speaking, he put his finger on her body to seal her acupoints while restraining the infuriating anger in her whole body. Seeing her eyes glaring at him, Song Qingshu secretly sent a voice transmission, "I'm just afraid you will do something stupid.”

“Miss Li, take care of her."

Li Yuanzhi nodded and helped Xia Qingqing out.

"Those bas*tards, when did this palace become a public toilet, they think that they can just come here if they want, and leave if they want!" Seeing that everyone had left, Emperor Kangxi yelled.

"Your Majesty, it is not proper to swear." Wei Xiaobao patted Emperor Kangxi on the back and handed a cup of tea to him.

"We won't drink!" Emperor Kangxi pushed aside the teacup in front of him, turned to look at Song Qingshu and asked, "How was your trip to the major sects?"

Song Qingshu saw Emperor Kangxi swearing in front of him. Not only was he not afraid, but he was full of relief. It seemed that the other party regarded him as someone close, and he quickly replied, "When the heads of various sects heard that their sons and nephews had the opportunity to be the imperial guards, not only did they not resist, they were also overjoyed and wished they could get a few more spots.”

Only then did Emperor Kangxi's expression improve, and he said, "Most of the imperial guards in the palace are from the Eight Banners, and their martial arts are really not up to the task. Last time they failed when We sent them to escort Xiaobao, and with this assassination incident, We finally understood their incompetence. We are really vulnerable in front of real masters.”

Song Qingshu replied, "Most of the imperial guards are from bannermen, and their martial arts are more focused on killing enemies on the battlefield. It is indeed a little insufficient to deal with people from the wulin."

"That's right," Emperor Kangxi stood up, "So I decided to let Duo Long select the most powerful in martial arts among the imperial guards, and set up a secret department called ‘Blood Drops', which is specially responsible for dealing with this group of ruffians."

"Blood Drops?" Song Qingshu was shocked at the time.

"Qingshu, you are such a good martial artist, it's too wasteful to leave you idle. I decided to let you train theis batch of disciples recruited from various sects and set up another secret department. What should their name be, hummm…" Emperor Kangxi pondered for a while, then said, "Let us just call them ‘Pole Arms’, and they will be responsible for hunting all the bugs in the palace, and help me monitor the waves in the wulin!"