"You're a master now, why are you still so shameless?" Dongfang Muxue rolled her eyes and couldn't help but snort.
"Who asked me to have such an unrestrained heart?" Song Qingshu didn't feel ashamed at all and replied with a grin, "How about it, do you want me to help you recover your cultivation?"
Dongfang Muxue was silent for a long time before she said, "Answer a question of mine first."
"What is it?" Song Qingshu thought to himself that no matter what she asked, he would answer her in a way that suited her heart.
"If I kill Ren Woxing one day and Ren Yingying wants to kill me to avenge her father, who will you help?" Dongfang Muxue spoke casually as if killing the Cult Leader of the Sun Moon God Sect was a very simple matter.
Song Qingshu was instantly speechless. Why did women love to ask him questions like this? Even though he wanted to say something nice, he didn't want to say something that went against his heart.
Song Qingshu rolled his eyes and came up with an idea, "Of course I'll help Ren Yingying. With your martial arts skills, you can kill her with a single finger, why would you need my help?"
"You're quite clever," Dongfang Muxue chuckled, "Then you should know my answer too?"
"I know." Song Qingshu laughed bitterly. He knew that his best choice just now was to completely stand on Dongfang Muxue's side. That way, their relationship would be even closer and he wouldn't have to worry about Dongfang Muxue not being on the same side as him.
However, he couldn't convince himself. In his previous life, Ren Yingying was one of his favorite heroines when he watched The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. Even though this Ren Yingying was a different person from the one in the original novel, he still didn't want to hurt her.
Even though Song Qingshu was much more successful in this world compared to his previous one, he still missed his previous world. He vaguely had a feeling that if he could really be heartless towards Ren Yingying, the person he once liked very much, it would mean that he had completely cut off the memories of his previous life. These memories were extremely precious to Song Qingshu, and he was even unwilling to forget every time his heart palpitated …
Dongfang Muxue took a deep look at him and said expressionlessly, "I've had a great time being the Emperor, so I probably won't return to Blackwood Cliff anytime soon. You still have enough time to seriously consider this question. I hope you'll have a different answer when the time comes."
"Maybe …" The look in Dongfang Muxue's eyes made Song Qingshu smile bitterly in his heart. Even though the main reason why he allied with Ren Woxing was because of his feelings for Ren Yingying in his previous life, he also wanted to keep Dongfang Muxue in check. After all, she was too talented, and she didn't seem like the kind of woman who was willing to be a good wife.
Dongfang Muxue must have also seen through this point, but she chose not to point it out. Naturally, Song Qingshu could only pretend that he didn't know. The room suddenly fell into a very strange silence.
Qu Feiyan, who was watching from the side, was anxious. One of these two people was her lover, and the other was her Master who was as important as a mountain to her. She didn't want to have any estrangement between the two of them. She suddenly had an idea and immediately broke the silence in the room, "Brother Song, did you just ask Wu Sangui why he sent these assassins into the palace to assassinate you?"
"Yes." Song Qingshu looked at Qu Feiyan gratefully. With Dongfang Muxue's personality, she naturally wouldn't put down her pride and speak softly.
For a moment, he didn't know what to say. Between the two of them, there was nothing better than Qu Feiyan acting as a lubricant.
Dongfang Muxue coughed lightly, "Thanks to that Brother Song of yours, the Manchurian Qing army of one hundred thousand was almost completely annihilated. It was really a serious blow. The three border defenses have always had the intention to rebel. Encountering such a good opportunity, it was inevitable that they wouldn't have any ideas."
Seeing that she obviously wanted to explain to Song Qingshu, but in order to save face, she only said it to herself, Qu Feiyan couldn't help but secretly laugh. She didn't expect that a person like her Master would have such a childish temper.
Qu Feiyan held back her laughter and turned to Song Qingshu with a serious face, "Brother Song, Master wanted me to tell you that because you defeated the Manchurian Qing army of one hundred thousand, it caused the hearts of the people in the imperial court to waver. Ping Xi Wang and the others also had some ideas that they shouldn't have."
Even if Dongfang Muxue was cold and aloof, she couldn't stand being teased like this by her disciple. She couldn't help but feel ashamed and angry. She fiercely glared at Qu Feiyan, "Does he not have ears? Why would he want you to repeat it again?"
It was rare to see Dongfang Muxue reveal a shy side. Song Qingshu looked at her white jade cheeks with great interest.
Noticing Song Qingshu's playful eyes, Dongfang Muxue suddenly felt a little flustered. She couldn't help but angrily say, "What are you looking at?"
"It's rare to see you reveal this expression, naturally I want to look a little longer." Song Qingshu replied with a smile. Qu Feiyan, who was at the side, quietly gave him a thumbs up.
"If you want to look, then look." Dongfang Muxue was not an ordinary person and quickly returned to normal, "If you've seen enough, we'll get down to business."
"Peerless beauty, it's not enough to look at for a lifetime." Song Qingshu stared at her with a love-struck look.
Qu Feiyan, who was at the side, looked at Song Qingshu with an exaggerated expression. She thought to herself: When it comes to the thickness of one's skin, I'm afraid there aren't many people in this world who can compare to Brother Song. But this trick seems to be quite effective. Even a person like Master has been made to look like a shy little girl by him …
Even though she knew that Song QingShu was just spouting nonsense, Dongfang Muxue still enjoyed his compliment more or less. Her expression gradually returned to normal. "I'm really scared of you. Do you still want to know about Yue Le?"
"Yue Le?" Speaking of business, Song Qingshu suddenly became serious, "How did the imperial court deal with him?"
The army of a hundred thousand was almost completely wiped out. As the commander-in-chief, Yue Le definitely could not escape the blame. Even though Song Qingshu had received some news, it was not as direct as asking Dongfang Muxue, the 'Manchurian Emperor'.
"Yue Le's prestige was too high. The imperial court was quickly divided into two factions. One faction felt that the failure was largely the fault of the various commanders and should not be too much blamed on Yue Le. The other faction felt that as the commander-in-chief, he should bear all the responsibility for the failure. Both sides had their own reasons and were in a stalemate for a while." Dongfang Muxue answered.
"Actually, the key is how you want to deal with him." Song Qingshu had been in the imperial court for a long time and was no longer the novice who knew nothing about the politics of the imperial court.
The battle of policy, the battle of status, and so on and so forth were all pretexts. At the end of the day, it was a battle of power.
The main reason why there were so many people protecting Yue Le was that the 'Emperor', Dongfang Muxue, had not expressed her opinion. The people below could only guess what 'Kangxi' was thinking based on various clues in order to cater to the Emperor.
It meant that the Emperor saw him in a new light.
Some officials felt that the Emperor would not let Yue Le go after such a crushing defeat, so they advocated for severe punishment. Others felt that the Emperor had brought this matter up for discussion, which meant that he had the intention to let Yue Le go. So they all submitted petitions to defend Yue Le.
After arguing for so long, to most of the officials, Yue Le's life or death was no longer important. What was important was whether their views could gain the support of the Emperor and obtain the final victory.
"Yue Le cannot be left alive." Dongfang Muxue said coldly.
"Why?" Although the imperial court's army was defeated, Yue Le decisively retreated and preserved the strength of the imperial court. Song Qingshu felt that he was a talent. Although he would not be used by the Golden Snake Camp, he might be used by the 'fake Kangxi', Song Qingshu. After all, the Manchurian Qing would need this kind of talent to deal with the Mongols or the Southern Song Dynasty.
"Do you know what was the first thing Yue Le said when he came back and talked to me in secret?" Dongfang Muxue's face was solemn.
"What was it?" Seeing Dongfang Muxue's expression, Song Qingshu was also shocked.
"He said there was a spy in the imperial court, and his position was quite high!" Dongfang Muxue repeated with lingering fear. When she first heard Yue Le say this, her first reaction was that her identity had been exposed.
"What?" Song Qingshu was also shocked.
Dongfang Muxue answered in a deep voice, "Yue Le is a famous general who has experienced hundreds of battles. The imperial court's army was defeated in the southern expedition against the Golden Snake Camp too strangely. Your series of performances may be amazing to others, but from Yue Le's point of view, he acutely realized that there must be a high-ranking official of the imperial court tipping you off. Otherwise, it would be impossible for you to be so clear about the movements of the imperial court's army and be able to grasp that fleeting opportunity every time."
"And there are only a few people in the imperial court who are qualified to know such detailed information. Yue Le suspected that the spy was Songgotu, Mingzhu, or one of Prince Kang, so the first thing he did when he came back was to talk to me in secret. But he never expected that the 'Kangxi' in front of him was the real spy." Dongfang Muxue still felt some lingering fear when she thought about it. If it wasn't for the fact that she had impersonated Kangxi, Yue Le might have already seen through her and Song Qingshu's biggest secret.
"Then why didn't you get rid of him earlier, and still let the officials discuss?" Hearing all this, Song Qingshu also sucked in a breath of cold air.
"Yue Le's prestige is very high, and he is friends with many of the civil and military officials in the imperial court. If I directly issued an edict to punish him, there would definitely be many people who would plead for leniency for him. Unless the other officials had a grudge against Yue Le, they would only watch from the sidelines. In that case, it would be very difficult to sentence him to death." Dongfang Muxue laughed lightly proudly. "But the situation is different now. After this period of quarrel, at least half of the officials in the imperial court want Yue Le dead. At that time, I just need to reveal a little bit of information, and it would be easy to punish Yue Le."
"Dongfang Muxue's level of playing tricks is indeed much higher than mine." Song Qingshu laughed bitterly in his heart. With a simple move, she had turned Yue Le's problem into a power struggle, and without leaving a trace, she had obtained the support of half of the officials in the imperial court. And those people were being used without even knowing it.
"Although the time was ripe before, to deal with Yue Le, I had always been lacking an opportunity. I didn't expect the opportunity to deliver itself to me today." A mysterious smile appeared on Dongfang Muxue's face.
(End of this chapter)
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