Ge Bi's heart trembled when she heard this. She blushed and answered subconsciously, "Why … why did he tell you this?"
Ge Bi was not stupid. She was just confused by Zhao Min's unexpected question and didn't respond for a moment. When she saw Zhao Min's shocked expression, she suddenly realized, "You … you lied to me."
Zhao Min smiled and said, "Don't blame me for this, sister."
Ge Bi suddenly stood up and bit her lips. She was most worried that her carelessness would affect Song Qingshu. The more she thought about it, the more worried she became. She hurriedly turned around and trotted out, "Qingshu, Qingshu!"
"Hey!" Zhao Min wanted to stop her, but Ge Bi wouldn't listen to her at this time. She ran out without stopping, leaving Zhao Min to groan inwardly. She was now soaking in the bathtub. If Song Qingshu came in, she would bump into him.
She hurriedly looked around for clothes, but everything was prepared in a hurry. There were no clean clothes around. Looking at the dress that had been taken off, Zhao Min frowned slightly. She was a clean person and didn't want to wear it again. Of course, if it was another man who came in, she would put on old clothes even if she didn't like it. However, it was Song Qingshu who came in, so she subconsciously didn't resist so much, so she was a little hesitant.
Just as she was hesitating, Song QingShu rushed in after hearing the news. Zhao Min let out a soft cry and immediately shrank into the bathtub. She hid her body under the water, leaving only her head above the surface.
"I'm sorry, I was careless …" Ge Bi followed behind Song Qingshu and was still hurriedly apologizing.
Song QingShu smiled. "You don't have to blame yourself. Miss Zhao is as cunning as a fox. How could you possibly be her opponent?"
"But …" Ge Bi's heart was still filled with guilt.
"It really doesn't matter. Miss Zhao and I are old friends. It's not a big deal if she finds out my identity." Song Qingshu saw that she was still worried and couldn't help but say, "How about this, you go and prepare a change of clothes for Miss Zhao. I'll have a good chat with her."
"Mm." Ge Bi nodded and walked away, feeling uneasy.
Seeing Ge Bi leave, Zhao Min bit her lip and said, "Send her away. Now there's only one man and one woman left. Do you want to take advantage of me?"
Song Qingshu returned to his original voice and said gloomily, "If I really wanted to take advantage of you, I would have done so long ago. Why wait until now?"
Thinking back to everything that had happened since the two of them met, she had to admit that the man in front of her had indeed had many opportunities to take advantage of her, but he had very gentlemanly given up. Zhao Min couldn't help but blush and snort, "Take off your annoying mask. It looks weird."
Since she had already seen through him, there was no need to continue pretending. Song Qingshu directly took off his mask. Looking at the familiar face in front of her, Zhao Min sighed and said, "You're really something. You put on a big beard and no one in the entire Daxing Manor recognized you."
"Tang Kuo's disguise is so obvious." Seeing that Zhao Min didn't realize the subtlety of his disguise, Song Qingshu wasn't stupid enough to take the initiative to explain. He was worried that if he continued to dwell on this issue, she would find out sooner or later. He immediately changed the topic and said, "To be honest, I admire you more, Princess. I thought you were cunning enough to trick me with words. I didn't know that it was just a cover. You've been targeting Ge Bi since the beginning."
"Of course," Zhao Min proudly raised her smooth chin and said, "It's impossible to get anything out of an old fox like you. But it's much easier to get something out of Ge Bi."
As she spoke, Zhao Min's expression suddenly changed and her tone became a little unfriendly. "I don't know what you did, but the first beauty of the Jin Kingdom knows that you are Song Qingshu, but she still treats you as her husband. I'm afraid you've been enjoying all this time."
"Personal charm, I can't help it." Song Qingshu shrugged and made a helpless expression, which made Zhao Min's teeth itch.
"What's wrong? Are you jealous?" Noticing her expression, Song Qingshu laughed.
Zhao Min's expression changed slightly. "Hmph, why would I be jealous? I'm just fighting for Zhou Zhiruo."
"You're fighting for her?" Song Qingshu looked strange. "When did you become so close to her?"
"I just think that Zhou Zhiruo and I have been fighting openly and secretly for so many years, but in the end, an outsider has taken advantage of her. I'm not happy." Zhao Min snorted and turned her head away.
"Really?" Song Qingshu looked at her with a faint smile.
Zhao Min blushed. "Hey, I'm still taking a bath. It's not gentlemanly of you to stare at me like this."
Song Qingshu laughed. "I'm not a gentleman to begin with."
"Uh," Zhao Min held her breath and quickly changed the topic. "When are you going to let me go?"
Song Qingshu shook his head. "I haven't decided yet."
Zhao Min suddenly became anxious. "You can't lock me up for the rest of my life, can you?"
"I won't go that far," Song Qingshu replied after thinking for a while. "But I can't let you go in the near future. I don't want you to ruin my plan."
Zhao Min grabbed the edge of the bathtub and leaned her body against the wall. She seemed to be in deep thought. After a while, she said, "What are you planning in the Jin Kingdom? Tell me. Maybe we have the same interests."
"Princess, you are now my prisoner. Why don't you tell me what your plan in the Jin Kingdom is?" Song QingShu looked at the large patches of snow-white skin around her exquisite collarbone that were exposed to the air and shifted his gaze away somewhat unnaturally.
Zhao Min seemed to realize something. She snorted and then shrunk back into the water. After a long time, she calmed down. "Actually, it's not a big deal to tell you. Now the Ruyang Mansion is responsible for governing the Jin Kingdom and the Qing Kingdom. Our main army has been recruited by Genghis Khan and led by my brother Wang Baobao to the west. During this period, we can't take any military action against the Jin Kingdom and the Qing Kingdom. But we can't let the two countries be too comfortable."
"Now, you have swallowed 100,000 elite soldiers of the Qing Kingdom. Then, there is the rebellion of the three border defenses. No matter who wins in the end, they will be greatly weakened. They are nothing to worry about."
"So, only the Jin Kingdom is left. We don't want to see a unified and stable Jin Kingdom. So, I came to the Jin Kingdom to provoke the kings to fight for the throne. The more chaotic the Jin Kingdom is, the better."
Song Qingshu was stunned. He didn't expect that Zhao Min would be so honest. She easily revealed all her plans. Judging from the information he had, what Zhao Min said should be similar to what she actually thought.
He soon realized that all of Zhao Min's plans were open and aboveboard. It didn't matter even if others knew about it. Because everyone's desire would be infinitely magnified in front of the throne. Wanyan Yong, who supported Zhao Min, couldn't guess what her purpose was. But so what if he knew? Compared to the throne, what was the threat of the Mongolians in the future?
Seeing him fall into silence, Zhao Min giggled and said, "What do you think? Our interests should be the same, right? The Mongols want the Jin Kingdom to be more chaotic, the better. I'm afraid your Golden Snake Battalion also thinks so."
Song Qingshu's heart suddenly moved. Although Zhao Min was smart, she was not omniscient. Because she didn't know the relationship between him and the Qing Kingdom, there was a big deviation in her judgment.
Indeed, from the perspective of the Golden Snake Camp, the more chaotic the Jin Kingdom was, the better it was for the Golden Snake Camp. But the Golden Snake Camp was only one of his forces. The interests of the Golden Snake Camp didn't represent his overall interests. It should be known that in his heart, Mongolia was his biggest enemy.
But he was not stupid enough to tell all of this to Zhao Min. He followed her words and said, "Yes, our interests are indeed the same to some extent."
"Then shouldn't you let me go?" Zhao Min smiled sweetly and kept winking at him.
"I can let you go, but …" Song QingShu changed the topic. "I went through a lot of trouble to capture you, and I can't just let you go like this. Besides, according to your Mongolian customs, the captive needs to pay a ransom to redeem himself."
"Ransom?" Zhao Min breathed a sigh of relief. "That's no problem. The Ruyang Mansion may not have much, but we can afford a ransom."
"Don't be so arrogant." Song Qingshu said with a smile, "I want a lot of ransom. 200,000 taels of gold and 1,000,000 taels of silver. Princess, you know that most of the Golden Snake Camp used to be bandits. They lived a life of blood and poverty. Now that they have a bigger territory, they can't rob the people in their territory anymore. As a result, the daily expenditure of the army's provisions is an astronomical figure. So I have no choice but to ask for money from you."
Zhao Min gasped when she heard this. "Song, do you think my family has a mountain of gold and silver? The Southern Song Dynasty only gives 250,000 taels of silver and 250,000 bolts of silk to the Jin Kingdom every year. You're asking for too much."
"Can't pay? Then there's no other way. " Song Qingshu shrugged and pretended to leave. "It seems that you have to stay here for a while. I'll let you go when the Ruyang Mansion pays the ransom."
"Hey, wait!" Thinking that she had to stay in the secret room for a long time, Zhao Min's face turned pale. She hurriedly stopped him. "But you're asking for too much. We can discuss it again."
Song Qingshu shook his head. "There's no room for discussion. Unless …"
Zhao Min looked happy. "Unless what?"
Song Qingshu turned around and looked at her with a faint smile. "I have a strange problem. I love my country, but I love beauties more. If you're willing to kiss me, I might consider waiving your ransom."
"Shameless!" Zhao Min said angrily. But after a moment of silence, she suddenly asked, "Is what you said true?"
Song Qingshu raised his eyebrows. He thought that Zhao Min wouldn't sell her beauty based on her proud character, so he nodded and said, "Of course it's true."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
