Chapter 71 I have to follow you anyway, can you press me again...
Shen Jiansheng turned his head, looked at him, and smiled softly, "Just say it."
Fuxi raised an eyebrow, took a sip of tea, and then slowly said, "The dike in Yuzhou was blown up. Yes and no. It's not clear in the account book."
"However, the Northern Dynasty Queen Mother's tone is clearly showing that she's taking more than she's taking. The court is extremely anxious. If we hadn't been so smart and lured them to the snowy mountains, they would have tied you up and sent you straight to Dragon City."
"The incident of the dike explosion in Yuzhou." Qing Guiyu asked again, emphasizing in a deep voice.
What happens to her is secondary. Yuzhou is the real deadly trap set by Shen Juansheng.
But Chen Juansheng was lowering his head, and at some point, he gathered some pine nuts in his hands and began to peel them carefully.
Fuxi frowned. "This is exactly the same thing. The idea of using saltpeter to blow up the dike was indeed a proposal. The Empress Dowager of the Northern Dynasty was also a decisive and ruthless person in her youth, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to maintain her throne."
"Now she's old and sick, and her suspicions are growing. She doesn't trust her grandson, the emperor, nor does she trust her other sons who watched her die."
"I'm afraid she wants to send a big gift to the Southern Dynasty before she passes away, so that her useless grandson can gain more advantages in the troubled times."
These words were spoken lightly, but hidden within were flashes of swords and rivers of blood.
Qing Guiyu's heart was even more anxious after hearing his words.
She looked at Chen Juansheng suspiciously. However, the latter seemed not to hear her. He just carefully pushed a handful of peeled, white, round pine nuts, placed on a white handkerchief, to her hand. Following Fuxi's words, he continued softly,
"But if the Empress Dowager dies first, the situation will change drastically. Breaching the dikes and invading the south will only enrich the princes. The young emperor of the Northern Dynasty will surely want to recuperate, bide his time, and grow up safely."
Qing Guiyu stared at him, Fuxi nodded,
"It is indeed as Pavilion Master sees. The turmoil in the royal court is evident at a glance."
"The Queen Mother is seriously ill," Fuxi returned to the topic, cleared his throat, and knocked on the table.
"He's getting worse. I sent a message to Chaofeng Tower this time, and they've already started quietly preparing for... his funeral. I think the saltpeter dealers are so anxious that they even dare to use my Tianji Pavilion's connections."
This is no longer a feud between the martial arts world, but a struggle for national destiny.
She was just a wandering doctor, but she was made the driving force behind such a huge vortex by Young Master Jin Sheng.
Seeing that she ignored the handful of pine nuts, Shen Juansheng frowned in disappointment behind her.
Fuxi's eyelids twitched, and he quickly continued, "It's half true and half false, but there are also many falsehoods. Tianji Pavilion doesn't have the spare time to help the northerners fight the Southern Dynasty. We intercepted part of that batch of saltpeter at Baidukou as early as now, and we are still able to return part..."
He raised his chin in the direction of Shen Juansheng, "Didn't the Pavilion Master personally give General Helan a warning on the official road?"
Shen Juansheng nodded and looked at her expectantly.
Qing Guiyu paced back and forth in the room, biting his fingers.
"How can I trust your one-sided statement on this matter?"
"Madam is right," Fuxi suddenly imitated Shen Juansheng's tone and called her "Madam." Shen Juansheng turned a cold look, and Fuxi smiled brightly in response. "Empty words are naturally not reliable. But there are people who know better than me."
He turned his gaze towards the desolate snow-capped mountains outside the window. "Do you still remember Huo Erniang, the 'Iron Scale Bones' of the Cao Gang and the head of the Scale Hall?"
Qing Guiyu nodded. She had lived in Yuzhou for a long time and had heard of her long ago. She had also seen her at the Cao Gang’s birthday banquet. The image of the generous woman with her hair cut and tied in a skirt and wearing a fine iron wristband appeared in her mind.
Fuxi said, "She has long suspected something fishy is going on at Jiaotang. This time, she brought people to the Northland under the pretext of the 'Secret Treasure of the Snow Mountain,' but in reality, she got the information and tracked them down all the way here."
"At the foot of the snowy mountains, there's a mix of good and bad people. There's a newly opened gambling house in the Tianji Pavilion, where all sorts of people gather, and they're well-informed. She's there right now."
He pondered for a moment, then leaned forward and said, "Elder Lei of Jiaotang is a fake Jiao, but this woman is a real dragon rising from the river. Although she is rough and uncouth, she is extremely loyal. If you ask her about this matter involving saltpeter, she will definitely tell you everything she knows."
After Fuxi finished speaking, he stood up, drank the tea in one gulp, and nodded towards Chen Juansheng.
"Pavilion Master, Fuxi has brought you this message. You should enjoy your life to the fullest. I think the feng shui of Tangquan Villa is very nourishing, but it's a bit sour."
After he finished speaking, he actually didn't even turn his head back. His figure flashed and he disappeared outside the door in such a dashing manner.
Qing Guiyu looked at the bag of pine nuts on the table, then at the overly quiet and beautiful face opposite him, and the doubts in his heart turned into a thick fog.
All that Young Master Jin Sheng did, after many twists and turns, finally pointed to a way for her to escape and find the truth.
What exactly does he want to do?
This man is a bottomless fog, a carefully constructed trap.
You think you have peeled away a layer, but what you see underneath are deeper layers of chaos.
I'm so tired of feeling like I'm being led around by the nose by him.
Late at night, Tangquan Villa was shrouded in misty water vapor and white moonlight.
The moon on the snow-capped mountain seemed to have been washed by the extremely cold night sky. It was so bright without a trace of other colors, hanging straight in the sky. The light filtered through the fluffy hot spring mist and was stirred into a hazy milky white halo.
Qing Guiyu was still pacing in the room, feeling upset.
I opened the window, and the cold night wind mixed with the warmth of sulfur blew on my face, but it couldn't blow away the doubts in my heart.
Finally, he made up his mind, turned around and walked straight to Shen Juansheng's bedroom.
The door was ajar, letting in a soft light that was dyed a warm yellow by the lampshade.
She didn't knock, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open.
Shen Juansheng was sitting under the lamp, his black robe draped loosely, his long hair untied, scattered on both sides of his shoulders like ink.
Those sinister golden threads intertwined and entangled in his inky hair and pale skin, reflecting a beautiful yet dangerous glow like fireflies, weaving traces of light and dark on his body.
He was looking down at a book, and when he heard the sound, he slowly raised his head.
"Miss Qing," he said softly, with a hint of surprise, "It's so late, you..."
Before he could stand up, before his seductive face showed its usual disguised blush, she took a few steps forward, stretched out her hand, and pressed him against the wall behind him.
A muffled sound.
Young Master Jin Sheng was much taller than her, but at this moment he was forced to bend his body slightly by her sudden movement. His dark robe was completely spread out and piled up at his arms. The luster of the golden thread swayed in front of her, almost covering her entire body in his cold and dangerous shadow.
"Miss Qing..." He began, his voice thick and oppressed because his chest was pressed against hers. His cold breath, mixed with his bitter and medicinal scent, spread across her hair and cheeks.
"Shen Yansheng," she said, her voice clear and bright, "Why did you deliberately let me know this?"
The issue at this point was not whether the Yuzhou incident was true or false, but why he so easily presented her with the only reason that could make her willingly stay, and also considerately provided her with a method for verification.
This is not common sense. This is not what Young Master Jin Sheng would do.
Shen Jiansheng didn't answer her question. Instead, he raised a hand, his eyes moving away from her face. His cold fingertips trembled slightly as he carefully placed it over her hand, which was tightly grasping her clothes. The fabric there was wrinkled from her grip.
"...Does your hand hurt?" he asked in a low voice.
"Don't play dumb." Qing Guiyu was a little flustered by his gentle, yet evasive tone. She added a bit more strength to her hand, pressing him even tighter against the wall. She could almost clearly feel the hard outline of his bones. "You can talk now."
Chen Juansheng was originally just looking at her, but suddenly he moved a little closer, his cold lips almost touching her forehead. His gaze passed over her shoulder and turned to the misty and hazy night outside the door.
"Because..." He spoke softly and sighed again.
"Because I think that the days I can keep Miss Qing... like this by my side may have reached their limit."
These words were so sad that she was so frightened that the strength in her hands loosened a little, and she had to quickly put more strength in.
"Miss Qing," the young man with the golden voice finally lowered his head, his black hair and golden threads flowing down on both sides surrounding her, forming an intimate and imprisoned posture. He looked at her in a trance, as if looking at an illusion that could shatter at any moment.
"You don't want to be with me either."
He gave a low, short laugh.
"Then... Miss Qing and I can only be together."
"Wherever Miss Qing goes, I will follow." A cold breath brushed against her ear, and the voice was so gentle, "I will... follow you after all."
It's really a bandit-like idea and a gangster-like mindset.
But it is indeed something Shen Juansheng would do.
That's it.
Finally unable to bear the suffocating atmosphere filled with sadness and coercion, she suddenly let go of her hand and took a step back.
Shen Juansheng lost his support, and his body, which was bound by the wall, swayed, but he did not stand up immediately. Instead, he leaned back slightly, with his back against the wall, as if he had not yet recovered from the thrilling confrontation just now.
He raised his hand and awkwardly touched the collar of his shirt that was wrinkled and messy because of her grip. His eyes were wandering and he didn't look at her. His slender neck formed an arc in the loose collar.
Then, he finally turned his eyes and looked at her, his lips moving as if he was skillfully organizing his words.
In this villa, the bright moon shines on the snow, just like mist and water mixed with the spring breeze.
After a long while, he just tried to speak in a voice so low that it was almost inaudible and trembling,
"Just now... Miss Qing was holding me like that. It looked... so cute."
Just when Qing Guiyu was frightened to death by the words "very cute" and had not yet reacted.
He looked around, put his hands over his heart, blushed, and continued in a lower, softer, pleading tone with obvious embarrassment,
"Can you... hold me down for a while... like you did just now?"
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