Flower Stealing Master

Chapter 134: Treacherous heart

When Wei Xiaobao heard it, he felt like a lost person, and became very depressed, ‘Itʼs over, my Ake, how come you have become someone elseʼs wife… No, no, Xiaobao, you must cheer up! It has been like this with you all your life—you must not give up. Even if she has been married eighteen times, you have to marry her for the nineteenth time!’

Song Qingshu, however, was very calm, ”I wonder if Your Highness has exchanged letters of betrothal with Prince Bao?”

Wu Sangui hesitated for a while, but decided to tell the truth, ”No.”

He just decided on this intention, and Prince Bao did not officially become his in-law. As soon as this matter was investigated, it would be clear that Wu Sangui did not tell lies. If someone in the court caught him lying, although he was not so afraid of the crime of deceiving the Emperor, it would still be a bit troublesome.

”Since there is no formal promise, Your Highness may wish to reconsider Lord Wei. He already holds an important official position at a young age. At present, the emperor himself trusts him the most, which can prove his boundless future.” Song Qingshu calmly said. By saying that, he subtly used Kangxi to oppress Wu Sangui.

Wu Sanguiʼs face twitched, and he smiled quickly, ”This one will consider it carefully, because he has to discuss with his wife, how about I give a reply to the two lords in a few days?”

”That is natural.” Song Qingshu said along with a toast with a glass of wine, ”Come, let us lower officials offer a toast to His Highness.” With that all the awkwardness and fear during the banquet were swept away, and everyone sang their merits, bragging, and cheering.

Wu Yingxiong personally accompanied Wei Xiaobao back to Anfu Garden and sat down in the hall. He put two brocade boxes in both of their hands in turn and said, ”Here is some small silver. Lord Wei and General Song, please keep these as our expression of gratitude. After returning home, my father has other intentions to reward you two lord’s hard work.”

Wei Xiaobao and Song Qingshu looked at each other and said with a smile, ”Youʼre welcome. When I left the capital, the emperor gave me an order saying, ‘Little Guizi, everyone says that Wu Sangui is a traitor, so this time you can see with your own eyes whether he is loyal or a traitor. You have to take a closer look, and donʼt overlook anything.ʼ I said, ‘Your Majesty Wanʼan, the servant opened his eyes wide, and looked at it from the beginning to the end.ʼ Haha, little prince, is it loyal or traitor? Donʼt you say it with your mouth?”

Wu Yingxiong couldnʼt help but secretly get angry, ‘My father helped you take all the land in the Qing Dynasty. But, after that event was settled, you are ungrateful enough to come and ask us father and son whether we were loyal or traitors? It seems that the princessʼs marriage is also not a good thing. There may not be any kindness in it.’

But outside he said, “Us father and son are loyal, we have served the emperor wholeheartedly, and are immensely grateful for the emperorʼs kindness.”

Song Qingshu noticed Wu Yingxiongʼs expression of anger. He did not dare to speak, and sighed in his heart, ‘Wu Yingxiong is handsome in appearance, vigorous in his steps, and indeed has the demeanor of the son of a general, but it is a pity that after all, he is young, and he has not yet cultivated himself. He has a long way to go. If he knew that his fiancee had been played in various poses by Wei Xiaobao during this time, I wonder if he would be able to hold himself back?’

Wei Xiaobao raised his legs and said, ”Yeah, I also know that you are the most loyal. If the Emperor didnʼt trust you, he would not choose you as his brother-in-law. Prince, once you become the emperorʼs brother-in-law, you will be promoted eight levels in a row. Itʼs really like ascending to heaven.”

Wu Yingxiong said, ”That is thanks to the kindness of the Emperor. I am very grateful that Lord Wei can have this opinion.”

Wei Xiaobao said in his heart, ‘I can train your wife to be obedient during this time. I wonder if you would be grateful?’

After sending Wu Yingxiong out, the two of them opened the brocade box and saw that there were ten silver bills, which amounted to a total of 200,000 taels of silver. Wei Xiaobao was surprised and delighted, turned around and said to Song Qingshu, ”Brother Song, this little turtle egg is very generous, he gave us 200,000 taels of silver, just for pocket money. If we wanted to ask for real, how much would he give? One million, two million?”

Song Qingshu put the brocade box aside and didnʼt care. Instead, he frowned and said, ”Brother Wei, Iʼm just afraid that we will get the money, but we will have no lives to spend it.”

Wei Xiaobao was taken aback and recovered from his joy, ”Why is Brother Song saying that?”

”Brother Wei, do you know why I had to pass on a false message today and propose marriage for you?” Song Qingshu asked.

”Brother Songʼs kindness, this Xiaobao will keep in his heart. After I return to Yanjing, this brother will naturally calm everything down, and the emperor will not blame you.” Wei Xiaobao thought that he was worried about the false message today. In this world, this was a serious crime of disrespect, so when Song Qingshu opened his mouth tonight, even if there was no imperial decree, no one on Wu Sangui’s side would doubt it.

”Your Majesty is wise and understanding, as long as I explain the whole story, it will be fine.” Song Qingshu didnʼt care about that, ”Iʼm talking about another matter, Wu Sangui intends to marry his daughter into Prince Bao’s household.”

Wei Xiaobao stood up at once, ”Yes, if Big Brother Song did not act today, the Emperor and us would have been kept in the dark.”

”I also got the news early this morning, so I deliberately brought this up in front of Wu Sanguiʼs civil and military officials.” Song Qingshu thought to himself, ‘Although I don’t want to see Kangxi clean up Wu Sangui and Hongli so quickly, I also don’t want Wu Sangui and Hongli to unite. Only maintaining this balanced internal friction is for my best interest.’

”Just looking at the attitude of the old turtle Wu Sangui, Iʼm afraid he is not willing to give Ake to me.” Although Wei Xiaobao was fascinated, he still had a sense of reason. The lowly gangsters who came out of the brothel really have no advantage. (G: Remember, Wei Xiaobao was born and raised in a brothel.)

Song Qingshu smiled without saying a word, but thought in his heart, ‘I am just trying to destroy the political marriage between Fukangʼan and Ake. As for whether Wu Sangui sees your value or not, what does it have to do with me?’

*****

In the palace of King Pingxi, Wu Sangui was discussing with several confidants.

”My lord, now that the emperor has also sent someone to intervene, who should we betroth Ake to?” Wu Sanguiʼs son-in-law Xia Guoxiang asked. While talking Akeʼs peerless face appeared in his mind, and he became annoyed in his heart, ‘My wife is also the daughter of King Pingxi. So, why is the one I married so different from her?’

”If we reject Kangxiʼs wishes, it would be fine if Ake married someone else, but if she married the heir of Prince Bao, Iʼm afraid Iʼd completely tear up our relation with Kangxi. Now the time is not ripe, Iʼm afraid it will be bad for our future plans.” Wu Yingxiong said in a deep voice.

”I donʼt care, anyway, I wonʼt marry that shameless bastard.” At that moment, Ake pushed the door open and said bitterly.

”Nonsense, who let you in!” Wu Sangui glared at her.

Ake was a little afraid of her father since she was a child, so she timidly shrank behind her brother Wu Yingxiong. Wu Yingxiong hurriedly changed the subject and said, ”Ake, how did you feel when you took a peek at that Fukʼanggan today?”

Thinking of the arrogant young man who she secretly saw in the afternoon, Akeʼs pretty face became colored with a red cloud, and she said with a bit of embarrassment: ”He’s not bad, but heʼs better than that Wei Xiaobao.”

During these years, King Pingxi and Prince Bao fought together against Mongolia in the north. Ake was born in the north, and was very familiar with the rumors. She heard that Prince Baoʼs son Fukʼanggan was a great hero who was very good at fighting. But she was concerned about his appearance, so she never dared to agree to this marriage. This time she even ran away from home, saying that she was going to travel around to relax, and she even thought that she would quietly go to Shengjing to see what Fukʼanggan looked like.

All of the people in the scene were old foxes, when they heard her words, they couldnʼt help laughing, which caused Akeʼs face to flush. Wu Yingxiongʼs eyes lit up, and he stepped forward and said, ”Father, your son, I have a plan. Not only can we form an alliance with Prince Bao, but it will also not hurt Kangxiʼs face.”

Goblin:In case you havenʼt noticed, $1 monthly membership is now available on Patreon. So, if you want to support me, you can choose to become a $1 Patron, which wonʼt hurt your pocket!

Please turn off your Adblocker to support the site.

Patrons please visit the patreon page for your advanced chapter.

Want to read more? You can sponsor a chapter at BuyMeACoffee or become a patron at Patreon to enjoy advanced chapters!

Do you enjoy reading this novel? Show your support! Buy me some Coffee! And, please rate the novel at NU and leave a review if you have the time.