Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Liu Huiniang's eyes reddened, her expression full of pitifulness.

Seeing her like this, Qiongying, who was not far away, immediately muttered, "Vixen."

Zhao Yuan countered with a question,

"Ah Xiu, do you think this trick will work on me?"

"whispering sound,"

Liu Huiniang pursed her lips, and the pitiful look she had given off vanished instantly.

She asked dejectedly, "Brother, don't you know how to cherish a woman?"

"Ah Xiu, I once heard a saying,"

Zhao Yuan laughed and said, "The more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to deceive people."

"Which bastard said that!" Liu Huiniang gritted her teeth in anger.

"Alright, how about this: if Liangshan and your father ever go to war, you can temporarily retreat and don't need to offer any advice or strategies to Liangshan."

Zhao Yuan assured him, "As long as you don't interfere, I can promise to spare your entire family's lives after Liangshan wins."

"Brother really has faith in Liangshan,"

Liu Huiniang pondered for a moment, then nodded: "Alright, let's leave it at that for the second one."

After saying that, she turned to leave.

"Ah Xiu, weren't there three conditions? What's the third one?" Zhao Yuan called out to her.

"I haven't thought of the third condition yet,"

Liu Huiniang put her hands behind her back, leaned forward, and looked up at Zhao Yuan, appearing charming and alluring as she spoke.

"I'll tell you when I remember!"

"......,All right,"

Zhao Yuan could only respond with a sound of agreement, then he remembered a question and asked it casually.

"Since you're so eager to come down the mountain, why don't you come find me? Maybe I'll send someone with you to Tokyo to find your relatives?"

"Hehe.117......"

Liu Huiniang chuckled, "Brother is so cunning. Even if you agree, I wouldn't dare go down the mountain. What if I run into some bandits on the way...?"

"Hey, where am I scheming?" Zhao Yuan asked in surprise.

"Putting everything else aside, just look at the matter of Chief Zhu Gui. Didn't you deliberately let Shi Xiu take on the role of the hotel's intelligence chief?"

Liu Huiniang snorted, "Because Zhu Gui didn't pay attention to the information about the disaster victims in Hebei, he almost caused Liangshan to be destroyed. Naturally, you are angry with him, but he is a veteran of Liangshan, and you only joined Liangshan halfway through."

“If we rashly deal with Zhu Gui, people in the bandit community will say that my brother is looking for an excuse to eliminate dissidents.”

"So the elder brother first used Shi Xiu to temporarily take over his position as a warning to Zhu Gui, and then pretended to be magnanimous and gave him a lenient punishment. In this way, Zhu Gui, who originally thought he would be severely punished, would naturally be grateful to the elder brother."

Liu Huiniang countered, "With all these schemes, brother, you not only got Shi Xiu involved in the hotel's intelligence network, but you also made Zhu Gui feel grateful to you. Doesn't that count as being cunning?"

"I......"

Zhao Yuan looked completely bewildered. He had only thought of asking Shi Xiu to help him because he saw that Shi Qian was too tired. He never thought of all this.

Indeed, in the eyes of a cunning person, even the simplest thing can be analyzed into countless conspiracy theories!

Chapter 203 Qiongying's Whispers

Liu Huiniang took her leave and departed.

Zhao Yuan was still somewhat amused and exasperated.

It turns out that in the eyes of this clever young girl, he was also a scheming person!

"She's long gone! Since you're so reluctant to leave, brother, why don't you just go with her!"

Qiongying snorted coldly, her little face full of displeasure.

"What's wrong? Who upset my sister again?"

Zhao Yuan pulled the girl to sit down and coaxed her, "Tell your brother what's wrong, and your brother will take care of it for you!"

"Hmph, besides you, who else dares to make me unhappy!"

Qiongying huffed angrily, then seemed to remember something.

Her eyes were red, and two lines of clear tears gradually flowed down her cheeks.

"Girl, what's wrong?"

Zhao Yuan panicked and hurriedly used his sleeve to wipe away her tears.

"Brother, do you remember what I said to you when I joined Liangshan?" Qiongying suddenly asked.

"Of course I remember."

Zhao Yuan pondered for a moment: "I remember back then, you asked me to promise you something, and you said that this matter was a secret and that you would tell me privately later."

"It's good that my brother remembers."

Qiongying nodded, took Zhao Yuan's hand, wiped her tears with his sleeve, and then continued.

“Brother, I am not Wu Li’s daughter.”

“I remember she should be an adopted daughter?” Zhao Yuan said.

"If only things were that simple,"

A look of hatred appeared on Qiong Ying's face: "In fact, Wu Li and Tian Hu are both people I have a blood feud with for killing my father and mother!"

The girl slowly revealed her background.

It turns out that her original surname was Qiu, and her father's name was Qiu Shen. Her ancestral home was Jiexiu County, Fenyang Prefecture.

Qiu Shen was quite wealthy, and although he was already fifty years old, he still had no children.

After his first wife passed away, Qiu Shen remarried to Song Youlie's daughter from Pingyao County, and they had a daughter named Qiongying.

When Qiongying was ten years old, her maternal grandfather, Song Youlie, passed away. Qiongying's mother then accompanied her husband, Qiu Shen, to attend her father's funeral.

Although Pingyao County and Jiexiu County are adjacent, they are more than 70 li apart.

Because of the long distance, Song left her daughter Qiongying at home and instructed the household manager, Ye Qing, and his wife to take good care of her.

The couple then traveled to Pingyao County for the funeral, but unexpectedly encountered a group of bandits on the way.

They killed Qiu Shen, dispersed the farmhands, and kidnapped Song Shi.

A servant from an enemy's estate fled back and reported everything to Ye Qing.

Although Ye Qing was only a supervisor, he was highly skilled in martial arts and extremely loyal to his master.

Upon learning of the murder of Qiu Shen and his wife, Ye Qing first informed Qiu's family and relatives.

They then reported the incident to the authorities and arrested the bandit, while simultaneously burying the head of the household's body.

The Qiu family relatives selected one person from their clan to be Qiu Shen's adopted son and inherit the Qiu family business.

Ye Qing and his wife, Madam An, were responsible for taking care of their young master, Qiong Ying.

More than a year later, Tian Hu rebelled in Hebei, attacked Weisheng, and sent Wu Li to lead troops to plunder.

When these bandits reached Jiexiu and Mianshang, they robbed people of their wealth and abducted men and women.

The heir of the Qiu family was killed by the mutinous soldiers, while Ye Qing and his wife, along with Qiong Ying, were all captured by the bandits.

Wu Li had no children, and after seeing that Qiong Ying was pretty, he took her to see his wife, Ni Shi.

Ni had never given birth, but upon seeing Qiongying, she took a great liking to her and treated her as if she were her own daughter.

Qiongying was intelligent from a young age. After being adopted by Wu Li, she knew she couldn't escape and had no relatives or friends there. So she pleaded with Ni Shi, who loved her dearly, to allow Ye Qing's wife, An Shi, to also enter Wu Li's household.

From then on, Qiongying and An were inseparable, relying on each other for survival.

When Ye Qing was captured by the bandits, she actually had a chance to escape.

But then he thought of Qiongying's young age, and how his master, Qiu Shen, only had this one child.

If he escapes on his own, how will he ever find out about Qiongying's situation?

In order to take care of the old master's youngest daughter, Ye Qing had no choice but to submit to Wu Li.

Afterwards, Ye Qing made meritorious contributions in battle, and Wu Li recommended Tian Hu, who then appointed him as the chief steward.

His wife, An, was also able to freely enter and leave the marshal's mansion to deliver messages to Qiongying.

After Ye Qing became the steward, he was sent by Wu Li to Shishi Mountain to collect wood and stone.

One of his soldiers pointed to a hill and said, “There is a beautiful stone here, as white as frost and snow, without a single flaw. The locals wanted to mine the white stone, but a thunderclap startled them half to death. It took them a long time to recover. Therefore, the people here warn each other not to go near it.”

After hearing this, Ye Qing went with the soldiers to the foot of the hill to investigate.

Unexpectedly, after the soldiers pushed over the white stone, they suddenly exclaimed, "Underneath this white stone, there is the skeleton of a woman!"

Ye Qing stepped forward to check, but her expression immediately changed.

Because the gold and silver jewelry worn on the skeleton clearly belonged to its former master, Qiu Shen.

The woman's skeleton was naturally the remains of her mistress, Madam Song!

Ye Qing understood all this, and was on the verge of tears when...

One of his soldiers was originally a groom under Tian Hu.

After seeing Song's remains, he explained in detail the reasons why Song was kidnapped and died.

“When the king first raised his army, he captured this woman in Jiexiu. The king originally intended to make her his wife. Unexpectedly, the woman tricked the king into untying the ropes binding her. When they arrived here, the woman suddenly ran out and jumped off the cliff on the high hill, and immediately fell to her death.”

After hearing this, Ye Qing quickly held back his tears so that the soldiers wouldn't notice anything unusual about him.

Afterwards, he ordered his soldiers to bury the remains of his mistress, Lady Song.

After finishing his business, Ye Qing returned to Weisheng.

He secretly had his wife, An, tell Qiongying all about Tian Hu killing Qiu Shen, kidnapping Song Shi, and Song Shi's suicide by jumping off a cliff to uphold her chastity.

When Qiongying learned of this news, she felt as if a thousand arrows were piercing her heart. She wept secretly every day, thinking of avenging her parents.

Whenever Wu Li practiced martial arts in the mansion, Qiong Ying would find an excuse to watch and serve her from the sidelines.

Wu Li thought this was a sign of filial piety from her adopted daughter.

Little did they know that every day after returning to her room, Qiongying would lock the door tightly and secretly practice the moves and stances she had learned from Wu Li, and with Ye Qing's guidance from the An family,

Over time, Qiongying also mastered martial arts.

Later, during an outing, Qiongying met an elderly master and learned the technique of throwing stones as a hidden weapon from him.

One day later, Qiongying practiced throwing stones in the garden of Wuli's mansion using pebbles on the ground.

But he accidentally smashed the roof ornament to pieces.

The owl tail was a beast-shaped decoration on the roof ridge. After Qiongying broke it, it naturally alarmed the people in the mansion.

Wu Li's wife, Ni, came over to inquire.

Qiongying naturally dared not say that she was practicing martial arts so that she could avenge her parents in the future.

(Got it)

So she made up a story, saying that when she fell asleep at night, she dreamed that a divine being told her that her adoptive father, Wu Li, would have the opportunity to become a king in the future.

Therefore, the divine being came to teach Qiongying martial arts so that she could help Wuli achieve her great goal.

The owl tail was accidentally broken by Qiongying when she was practicing throwing stones.

Upon hearing this, Ni was naturally surprised and reported the matter to Wu Li.

At first, Wu Li didn't believe it, so she summoned Qiong Ying to test her skills.

After seeing that Qiong Ying was indeed skilled in martial arts, and that her throwing stones were always accurate, they realized that Qiong Ying was indeed skilled in martial arts.

Wu Li was overjoyed, feeling that he was truly blessed to have a divine being come to teach his adopted daughter so that she could help him in the future.

From then on, Wu Li grew increasingly fond of Qiong Ying.

The Wu family also spread the story of Qiong Ying, which is how Qiong Ying came to be known as "Qiong Arrowhead"...

P.S.: The original version of Zhang Qing appearing in Qiong Ying's dream was too mythical, and the fact that Zhang Qing appeared in Qiong Ying's dream always gave the feeling that the protagonist was being cuckolded, so I slightly changed Qiong Ying's background story.