Flower Stealing Master

Hu Fei was also very happy to hear that Song Qingshu admired his father so much, but when he saw his mother's smile, his eyes rolled, "Who knows if you deliberately said those kind words about my father after seeing us, lone mother and son."

"Never!" Song Qingshu's expression was solemn, and his tone of voice was natural, "Nowadays, the title of ‘hero’ seems to be littered on the streets. But there are only a handful of people in the whole of Jianghu, who can truly be called a hero."

"Oh, are there so many heroes in the world? Can I know who are these handfuls of people to have this honor?" Madame Hu was also interested in this, so she asked while changing to her cold expression from before.

"Guo Jing, who guards Xiangyang, serves the country and the people, and a hero deserving the name." Song Qingshu then thought in his heart, but unfortunately, Gou Jing’s energy was all spent on national affairs, and he was somewhat neglectful of duty to his family.

"Master Guo is indeed a once-in-a-generation hero." The mother and son nodded one after another.

"Another one would be," Song Qingshu deliberately sold out Guanzi and said, "It is Wu Liuqi, the beggar in the snow, who if once received the favor of others, will never forget it. He is also an extraordinary person." As for the reason why. Half of it was because Song Qingshu couldn't tell whether Wu Liuqi of this world was the Wu Liuqi in Jin Yong's writing or the Wu Liuqi from history.

"Although I have never heard of this person, it’s as you have said, he is indeed a hero." Madam Hu usually admired this kind of heroic person the most, and her eyes couldn't help but show a slight twinkle.

"Is there another one?" The child couldn't wait to hear more. So, when Song Qingshu didn't continue speaking, Hu Fei asked quickly.

Song Qingshu didn't speak clearly. Instead, he recited a poem,

"There is a hero in Liaodong, 

The hero wields a sword. 

His martial arts known in the world, 

and his heroic spirit reaching the sky. 

With loyalty, as much as heaven and earth, 

and full tenderness is in his heart. 

It arouses the envy of scholars,

and respect of the millions."

(Goblin: Translating a poem is never easy, but I tried)

Madame Hu's beautiful eyes expressed her joy. She looked at Song Qingshu deeply, "This one is thankful to the young hero for offering a poem to my husband." Now she really felt relieved about the matter of whether the other party was really familiar with and admired  Hu Yidao's life or not. If he was deceiving them, it would be impossible to make such an appropriate poem. With just a few lines, Madam Hu seemed to hear her husband’s heroic laughter again, and she couldn’t help but feel sore in her heart.

Now Song Qingshu looked more and more pleasing to Hu Fei’s eyes. Hearing his poems full of fateful regrets, Hu Fei’s heart burst with pride. He pulled on Song Qingshu's sleeves and solemnly said: "I admired your self-respect in the restaurant just now. Although you don’t even have the power to hit a chicken, but there is an iron will in your bone. If father saw you, he would want to be your friend. But alas it’s too late for that. After feeling the regret in your tone, I am willing to form a friendship with you on behalf of my father. I wonder if you are willing?"

Madame Hu was shocked and quickly tried to cover her son's mouth: "Fei'er, don't go fooling around!"

Sure enough, he’s the Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain. He’s already so arrogant and solemn since childhood. Song Qingshu smiled heartily: "Sure enough, as expected of the son of Master Hu! I am more than willing." After speaking, he pulled up Hu Fei and knelt down towards the northeast. He even grabbed a bundle of yellow grass as a joss stick. 

"I am Song Qingshu from the Song Dynasty, I admire the character of Hu Yidao from Liaodong, and I am willing to form the pact of the sworn brothers with him. Heaven and earth as witness, a friendship as great as mountains and rivers, and the emperor of heaven and earth will know my heart."

Hu Fei also knelt down, solemnly spoke, "I, Hu Fei, the son of Hu Yidao hereby proclaim that from this day onwards my father and Song Qingshu are sworn, as brothers. And well… they both will live and die together from now on…" Hu Fei was still young after all, and couldn't think of anything to say for a while. Taking an oath is not an easy matter, it’s not like what you hear in the drama, where they just open their mouth and it comes out.

"You naughty boy, your dad…" Madame Hu couldn't hold him back a while ago, and now that she saw that his oath was really inappropriate, she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

"Sister-in-law, don't get in the way. This younger brother of the past died long ago, and now I just want to live a new life." Song Qingshu didn't lie, the real Song Qingshu was indeed dead.

Seeing him suddenly call her sister-in-law, Madame Hu’s heart couldn't help but jump a little, and she spoke in an unnatural tone, "Fei'er is too foolish."

"I really admire that he has such a heroic spirit from childhood. If it hadn't been for the elder brother, I would worship him as a sworn brother instead." Song Qingshu said with a smile, "Fei'er, we'll talk about the things among similar generation privately."

Hu Fei used his father's name to worship him as a sworn brother on a whim. And now, out of thin air, he was suddenly a younger generation. Hu Fei felt depressed. But he was overjoyed when he heard what Song Qingshu said later, and he stepped forward and shouted, "Good brother!”

Seeing a big man and one small boy playing around like that, Madame Hu also closed her eyes in pain and had to change the subject: "Brother…Brother-in-law, I see that you seem to be short of breath. With your young physique, this shouldn't be the case. ."

Song Qingshu was a little dazed by her ‘Brother-in-law’ shout, and quickly replied: "Sister-in-law is observant. I was severely injured before, and now my meridians are all broken…"

Madame Hu was startled when she heard the words: "Can brother-in-law let me check his pulse?" Seeing that he had already bowed to her husband as a brother, she didn't care so much about the difference between men and women.

Although he knew that it wouldn't help, Song Qingshu politely reached out his hand. When Madame Hu's soft and white fingers touched his wrist, Song Qingshu only felt a smooth and icy touch, and he couldn't help but feel a tremor in his heart.

"Who gave such a cruel blow to brother-in-law?" Not long after, Madame Hu's face changed drastically.

Song Qingshu reluctantly retracted his arm, and smiled bitterly: "I committed a big mistake before, so I deserved it, and sister-in-law doesn’t need to take it to heart."

"You know it clearly." Seeing Song Qingshu's open-mindedness, Madame Hu glanced at him in surprise. Then her eyes lit up as if she had suddenly thought of something, "By the way, we are going to visit the King of Venoms. He is also adept at healing people. Maybe he can heal brother-in-law’s injury."

"What a coincidence, I also came to Dongting Lake to find him." Song Qingshu sighed thinking that it was really fate.

"If brother-in-law doesn't dislike it, we can travel on the road together." Madame Hu said softly.

"I dare not refuse!" Song Qingshu was overjoyed. How could he dislike it? But, realizing that he was a little too much happy, and he quickly added, "I wonder if sister-in-law knows where the King of Venoms is at now?"

"Us mother and son have been searching for him for many years. We only found out a few months ago that he was in the Dongting Lake basin area, but the exact location is still unknown." Madame Hu raised her pair of delicate eyebrows and helplessly said.

"I know that he is in the White Horse Temple near Dongting Lake, but where exactly is this White Horse Temple, I have asked many people but no one knew." Song Qingshu was also troubled.

"Mother, when we were passing by a small town a month ago, wasn’t there a place called White Horse Temple?" Little Hu Fei suddenly exclaimed.

Her many years of doubts were about to be answered. Madame Hu couldn’t help but smile a bit. Song Qingshu also let out a long sigh of relief and ran to the lake to freshen up. After wiping off the bloodstains from all the kicking on his face, Madame Hu looked at him in surprise. ‘Very handsome’, she thought to herself, ‘Brother-in-law is such a handsome man, but I did not expect that his heart would be as arrogant as my elder brother as well.’

"Sister-in-law, why are you two looking for the King of Venoms?" Song Qingshu wiped the water on his head, looked at Madame Hu, and asked.

"At that time, Brother Hu died of poisoning. I later found out that the poison in him was the secret medicine of the King of Venoms, the “Black Evil Cold Ice”. However, we never had any direct enmity with him, and so there is no reason for me to harm him. I just want to meet him. It’s very likely that medicine was taken away by others, so I want to ask him in person to find out who else has this highly toxic substance." Recalling her husband, Madame Hu's pretty face could not conceal the sadness in her heart.