Flower Stealing Master

“Don’t worry too much, Zhiruo — I’m right here in front of you, perfectly fine.” Song Qingshu reached out and stroked his wife’s hair gently, keeping his voice deliberately light.

“If you were truly fine, you wouldn’t have had to… to finish outside just now.” Zhou Zhiruo’s cheeks coloured faintly. She had always been perceptive to the last degree, and she was not about to be brushed off so easily.

“It’s genuinely not as serious as it sounds. The poison is still in my body, yes, but it’s stabilised — and I’ve found a way to purge it. Given enough time, I’ll drive it out completely.” Song Qingshu gave her the broad outline of events, glossing over certain details in a few carefully vague words.

“Wan Qili. Wan Gui.” Zhou Zhiruo’s expression went cold as frost. “When we get back to Lin’an, that debt is getting settled properly.”

“Wan Qili is a senior minister of the Southern Song — he travels everywhere with heavy protection. Please don’t do anything rash,” Song Qingshu said quickly. “There’ll be time enough to settle scores once my cultivation is restored.”

“I’m not reckless and you know it.” Zhou Zhiruo’s eyes glimmered, and she shifted to a teasing note: “Although — Qingshu, you’re usually so careful. To walk into such a disaster on Li Kexiu’s account… could it be that you took one look at his daughter and got so excited about becoming his son-in-law that you lost all sense of direction?”

Song Qingshu managed an awkward smile under the weight of his wife’s scrutiny. “That’s not it at all. The Heavenly Devil Flower’s poison gives no warning — by the time you smell it, you’re already poisoned.”

“I don’t care about the particulars. If Li Kexiu dares do this to you, one day I’ll make sure there isn’t a soul left standing in that household.” Zhou Zhiruo’s voice dropped to something cold and quiet. In that moment she resembled an angry leopardess, her words carrying real killing intent.

Song Qingshu felt a chill. Day to day, Zhou Zhiruo looked like the most gentle and harmless creature in the world. When she turned dark, she was genuinely frightening. And yet knowing that all this fury came from fear for his safety — he felt warmed by it.

“It doesn’t need to go quite that far,” he said. Coming from the future as he did, he had gradually grown accustomed to this brutal world — but he still directed his anger at those directly responsible, not their entire households. “And besides, Yuanzhi did save my life.”

He told her about Li Yuanzhi risking her own reputation to get him out.

Zhou Zhiruo gave a light sniff. “Wherever you go, you accumulate a trail of romantic debts.”

“She and I are nothing more than brother and sister —” Even as he said it, he could hear the weakness in his own conviction.

“Is that so. Knowing you, you’d probably end up in bed with an actual sister, let alone a sentimental one.” Zhou Zhiruo’s expression made clear she had considerable opinions about his years of roaming affections.

“I am a man of integrity!” Song Qingshu straightened his expression with great dignity.

“Oh, please~” Zhou Zhiruo gave him an eloquent look. “Fine. For Li Yuanzhi’s sake — because she saved you — I’ll spare the rest of the Li family. But Li Kexiu himself answers for what he did, in blood.”

“But —” Song Qingshu looked pained.

“What — afraid that killing Li Yuanzhi’s father would make her hate you for the rest of her life?” Zhou Zhiruo seemed to read his mind, one corner of her mouth curving.

Song Qingshu retreated at speed. “Let’s leave this particular question for later deliberation. Much later deliberation.”

“Fair enough — Li Kexiu commands substantial forces. Dealing with him won’t be simple.” Zhou Zhiruo relented without pushing further. Then something else occurred to her, and she asked with sudden curiosity: “The Heavenly Devil Flower’s toxin is so severe — how exactly did you escape at all?”

“After Li Yuanzhi bought me the opening, Ding Dian, Xin Qiji, and several others moved in the shadows to help. I got out of the city, the poison struck — and fortunately I ran into Xiao Longnu…” Song Qingshu told the story from beginning to end. Zhou Zhiruo’s expression shifted through a dozen shades as she listened; even knowing he was sitting right here before her, her heart was in her throat the entire time.

“Qingshu — we’ve both been too careless. You have the futures and lives of tens of thousands of people resting on you, and you’ve been going everywhere alone. It’s far too dangerous.” Zhou Zhiruo’s fingernails had pressed into her own palm. “When we get back, I’ll speak with Ah Jiu and Qingqing. We’re arranging a guard detail for you.”

“A guard?” Song Qingshu laughed wryly. “Am I protecting them, or are they protecting me?” He had always gone alone, and with movement arts unmatched in the world, a guard would struggle to keep pace with him regardless.

“Your skills are extraordinary — and extraordinary skills have still run aground before, as this occasion proves,” Zhou Zhiruo said, brooking no argument. “If someone had been with you, you would never have come within reach of disaster so many times.”

Song Qingshu gave a resigned sigh. “All right. Though finding the right people for the task won’t be easy.”

“I have some thoughts already. I’ll work out the details with Ah Jiu and Qingqing and come up with a proper arrangement.” Her private thinking on the matter was that the ideal guards were herself, Ah Jiu, and Qingqing — trustworthy, highly capable, and conveniently placed to ensure that Song Qingshu’s habit of collecting admirers wherever he went was kept within some reasonable bounds. At the rate he was going, she shuddered to think how many more sisters would be arriving to quarrel over him in the years to come.

Then the earlier worry fell away, and something else floated to the surface of Zhou Zhiruo’s mind. “Xiao Longnu — is she the one the martial world has been talking about these past two years? The Ancient Tomb Sect master they’re all calling the most beautiful woman in the martial world?”

Song Qingshu’s expression tightened at once. “The martial world is full of exaggerations and half-truths. Your appearance is no less remarkable than hers — if she’s the most beautiful woman in the martial world, then you’re the most beautiful woman in all the world.”

Zhou Zhiruo flushed and gave him a scornful sound. “Shameless.” She knew he was flattering her deliberately — and felt quietly pleased about it all the same.

“Speaking of which, Qingshu — you mentioned you’d found a way to purge the poison. What is it, exactly?” Zhou Zhiruo’s attention returned to the matter that actually concerned her, and she asked with real care.

Song Qingshu’s face went a little warm. “The method is a touch… unconventional. Don’t get angry when you hear it.”

Zhou Zhiruo gave him a look. “You’re my husband. As long as it cures the poison, I’d stand by you even if you’d burned down a city. Why would I get angry?”

“It’s not nearly that dramatic…” Song Qingshu cleared his throat and gave her a somewhat sheepish account of how he had stumbled on the discovery that nursing m!lk could temporarily suppress the toxin, and how Qi Fang had been helping him drive the poison out in the time since.

“WHAT!” Zhou Zhiruo’s brows shot up. Her expression went through several extraordinary evolutions.

“You just said you wouldn’t get angry!” Song Qingshu said quickly.

“I’m not angry. Not at all.” Zhou Zhiruo’s teeth were audibly grinding. A smile spread slowly across her face — sweet on the surface and furious underneath. “I’m simply noticing that wherever you go, beautiful w0men really do just throw themselves into your arms.”

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