I'm really not an old sword

"I want to know your purpose."

Fujiwara Akiko smiled slightly, turned her head, and looked in the direction of Qingliang Palace in the moonlight. Her skin was whiter than snow and her eyes were bright.

"I want to be queen."

Chapter 14 Murasaki Shikibu Cowardly Retreats

Hearing her say this, Lin Qingsu couldn't help but look at her again.

Fujiwara Akiko's expression was calm, and her eyes were looking straight at him. Most importantly, he could feel through the rules that her emotions at this moment were very pure.

She means it.

After being slightly surprised for a moment, Lin Qingsu no longer cared. Whether she wanted to become the queen or not had nothing to do with her. Whether she succeeded in ascending the throne or failed and died, these were things in the future and would not affect her at all.

"What are you going to have me do?"

Lin Qingsu has always adhered to the principle of equal exchange.

She helped him protect Fujiharako, so he naturally had to do something for her.

Of course, before the exchange, it is still necessary to confirm her idea of 'ascending the throne'. If she must be the queen and is extremely paranoid, then Lin Qingsu is not interested in handing Fujimoto over to her, as that would harm Fujimoto instead.

"I don't need you to do anything."

Fujiwara Akiko's answer was beyond Lin Qingsu's expectations, and her expression was indifferent.

"I just need you as a person."

Lin Qingsu asked curiously, "Who am I?"

"Minamoto no Raikou has recognized you. If you stand on my side, then the Minamoto family will stand on my side."

Lin Qingsu couldn't help but laugh: "Do you think Minamoto no Raikou would drag the entire Minamoto family to die with you just for me?"

Fujiwara Akiko smiled, and that calm smile made Lin Qingsu feel as if she was seen through, and her subsequent answer directly confirmed Lin Qingsu's feeling.

"I had no intention of going against my father."

"You can rest assured on this."

"I want to be a figure like your country's Empress Wu, but I know my own limitations. I know my greatest advantage isn't the Emperor or Empress, but the fact that I'm the daughter of my father, the daughter of the current regent, Fujiwara no Michinaga."

"My father will retire in ten or twenty years. Ten years later, he will slowly hand over power to his descendants."

"And all I want is to take that power away from my brothers and prove to my father that I can do better than them..."

Fujiwara Akiko explained her plan step by step, and Lin Qingsu felt relieved after listening to her.

Fujiwara Akiko was very ambitious, but he could feel that her emotions were as sincere as her words, and she did not necessarily have to become empress.

She just wanted to have more power and be like her father.

If things cannot be done, then she will not force it and will just be content to be an empress or queen mother. However, since Lin Qingsu's "opportunity" is right in front of her, there is no reason for her to refuse it.

"Sure." Lin Qingsu pondered for a moment, thinking about the nine-tailed fox, and suddenly said, "Maybe I can help you."

Fujiwara Akiko was stunned and looked at him suspiciously.

Lin Qingsu smiled and said, "Let's talk about it later."

If she could control the nine-tailed fox and let her help Fujiwara Akiko, it would be much easier for her to become the empress.

If he can't control it, he will die, and the flood will be overwhelming even if he wants to.

There is no rush for this matter. Tamamonomae has not figured out how to solve it yet. For the time being, he just wants to cooperate and try to get Minamoto no Raikou back as soon as possible. However, whether Minamoto no Raikou can solve the problem of Tamamonomae's mother is still an unknown with a very low probability.

Anyway, Lin Qingsu personally felt that unless Minamoto no Raikou and Abe no Haruaki joined forces, even if Tamamonomae was seriously injured, they would not be able to deal with her alone.

Seeing that Lin Qingsu didn't continue speaking, Fujiwara Akiko didn't ask any more questions.

There was a sound behind the door and it quickly disappeared. A smile appeared in Fujiwara Akiko's eyes and she turned sideways and mouthed something.

"Then I will go to the side room to rest first, and I won't disturb you anymore."

Lin Qingsu's favorable impression of Fujiwara Akiko's "understanding" increased, and she smiled, nodded, and thanked her.

Fujiwara Akiko turned and went to the inner courtyard, while Lin Qingsu recalled what he had just said, calmed his thoughts, opened the door and walked in.

As soon as I opened the door, I heard a cry of "Ah!" from inside.

Fujiwara Akiko had been eavesdropping at the door. The conversation between the two just now made her feel happy and worried. Suddenly, when she could no longer hear their voices, she couldn't help but stick close to the door to try to hear clearly. Unexpectedly, she not only failed to eavesdrop on the conversation, but was caught red-handed by Lin Qingsu.

As the door opened, she staggered and fell into Lin Qingsu's arms due to inertia, and a man's big hand hugged her.

"Our renowned and talented Heian-kyō woman actually has a habit of eavesdropping?"

Hearing Lin Qingsu's teasing tone, Fujimoto felt embarrassed and panicked, and quickly denied it.

"No, no!"

In fact, Fujiwara no Namiko also felt that eavesdropping on other people's conversations was not a good thing, but it was Princess Fujiwara who arranged for her to do so.

"I will bring Mr. Lin to the yard and ask him what he thinks of you."

At first, Fujimoto still felt that something was wrong and that she had deceived Lin Qingsu, but she really wanted to know what Lin Qingsu thought of her. She felt that if she couldn't get the answer, she would be so annoyed that she would go crazy, so she agreed in a daze.

When she first eavesdropped, she felt guilty and didn't want to listen, but what Lin Qingsu said attracted her and made her unable to leave the door.

Just when she was hearing the word "wonderful", it suddenly stopped, which made Fujiwara no Nakamiya very curious. Even though she was worried about her own future, she was also worried about the future of Lin Qingsu and Fujiwara no Nakamiya, who treated her like a sister. That's why...

However, she didn't want to say, "It was the Empress Dowager who told me to do this."

This not only betrayed Empress Fujiwara, who treated her like a family member, but also acted as an act of shirking responsibility. Fujiwara no Nakamura has always disdained such behavior.

"me..."

"I think Murasaki Shikibu is well aware of the consequences for a maid who is caught eavesdropping on a conversation between adults, right?"

Lin Qingsu's deliberate words to scare Fujimoto didn't scare her, but instead earned her an extremely resentful look.

"Am I just a maid in your eyes?"

Lin Qingsu was speechless and amused. He had never seen a woman who loved to fantasize so much and who loved to look down on him so much.

He knew exactly why Fujimoto was resentful.

In feudal society, maids were inferior to concubines.

A concubine, to put it nicely, is a little wife, and to put it bluntly, is a plaything bought home by an aristocrat on a whim. If they are lucky, they may be the aristocrat's canary, and be the aristocrat's private favorite in their best years, but will be abandoned when they are old. If they are unlucky, they may meet a pervert, and of course, they are the main theme of the aristocracy in the feudal era.

They could be exchanged or even played with by nobles at any time, and were only slightly better than prostitutes in brothels.

Even when the owner is not at home, there is always the risk of being sold by the mistress.

——When Xu Xiake was traveling, his pregnant concubine was sold by his wife.

But Lin Qingsu didn't understand. Didn't she just listen to the entire conversation between her and Fujiwara Akiko? How could she be sad about this?

Lin Qingsu said with a smile: "You didn't hear a single word I said to the Empress just now?"

"I am just a lowly maid, how could I possibly understand?" Fujihara said bitterly, "Who knows if you are lying?"

"Okay, then I'll tell you again."

Lin Qingsu sighed, then bent down seriously in Fujiharako's panicked eyes.

"I may suddenly and irresponsibly disappear in a week, a month, or a year, and you may never see me again until you die."

"Then let me ask you, Ms. Fujihara, will you marry me?"

Fujiharako is different from the heroic spirits. They have passed away long ago, and perhaps the next time they meet is just a matter of opening and closing their eyes. But she is a living person.

She is also different from Irisviel.

After all, Irisviel lived in the same era as him, the time difference between them was only ten years, while the time difference between her and himself was a lifetime.

Therefore, Lin Qingsu always maintained a cautious attitude towards her.

Lin Qingsu did not deny that she was lustful, nor was she ashamed of it at all.

As a capable man in the prime of his health, he felt that his behavior was normal. If other men were as charming and capable as him, at least 99% of men in the world would be like him.

But he didn't want to impose his will on her.

To be honest, if you put yourself in Fujiwara no Namiko's shoes, even though she was brought up as a feudal woman, she was both talented and beautiful, and was the most sought-after woman in the Heian period, which respected literature. After she created "The Tale of Genji", she became the woman that big figures like Fujiwara no Michinaga, who stood at the pinnacle of power in the Heian period, would spare no effort to pursue just to get her smile.

Such a woman wasted her best years and lived in loneliness for decades until she died of old age just to wait for him.

Lin Qingsu didn't think she was that charming.

So before things came to a head, he felt it was his duty to ask her wishes, and if she didn't want to then he didn't want to force it.

Of course, this question will have different answers at different times.

So after asking, Lin Qingsu used the law to calm her emotions so that she could give the most rational answer.

"I..."

Tears welled up in Fujinoko's beautiful eyes, and she almost subconsciously wanted to answer "I do".

Before she could finish her words, she suddenly felt her chaotic thoughts clear up, and her heart, which was filled with gushing love and emotion, was empty.

His expression gradually calmed down and he thought seriously about Lin Qingsu's words.

The short-lived sweetness may not be considered sweetness. He has a lot of things to do, and after he finishes them, he will leave without even being able to give himself a name. There is no such thing as the moonlit night with flowers and the harmonious relationship that she longs for, leaving her alone and helpless to waste her best years.

Looking at Fujiharako, who was so moved that she wanted to speak, but suddenly calmed down and thought about it under his rules.

Lin Qingsu suddenly felt some inexplicable emotions.

There are regrets. Lin Qingsu actually likes Fujiharako very much. To put it bluntly, she likes her face and her body. But how many men and women in this world don't start to contact each other because they like each other's face and body?

But even though she regretted it, Lin Qingsu just looked at her and waited for her answer silently.

"Did you do it?"

Fujihara asked about her sudden calmness.

She knew her own temperament very well, and had the "sorrow" unique to the literati of the peaceful period. She was always feeling sad and daydreaming about this and that.

And after hearing Lin Qingsu's heartfelt and respectful words, she should have agreed without hesitation.

But she suddenly became extremely calm, so calm that Fujimoto felt that she would never be so calm in her life from the time she learned literature from her grandmother and her father until her death.

Lin Qingsu nodded.

Seeing the tension in his eyes, Fujiharako smiled.

"Ever since I saw you at the hotel that day, I've fallen in love with you."

"After you risked your life to save me, I have been wondering why I couldn't have met you earlier."

"And after canceling the engagement thanks to you, my dear, I've been thinking about you day and night."

"I have always thought that you look down on me, but I never thought..."

Fujiharako's beautiful eyes shone with light: "No matter what the future holds, even if it's only a moment of joy, it's enough for me to remember it for the rest of my life."

Having said this, Lin Qingsu smiled with relief, looked at the beauty in his arms without hesitation, and kissed her.

Fujimoto had only seen this kind of thing in storybooks and fantasized about it before going to bed. Now, she encountered Lin Qingsu, a veteran in the world of flowers, for the first time. In just a short while, her eyes were filled with tears.

When they separated, the gentle and scholarly woman had a dazed look in her eyes and a crystal clear expression on her lips, no longer as calm as before.

It was just a subconscious murmur, and her little hands pushed him weakly, as if she was reluctant but also reluctant.

"Sir, don't..."

How could Lin Qingsu listen to her?

On the bed...

It’s not that Lin Qingsu doesn’t want to develop new postures, but the plump Fujimoto broke Lin Qingsu’s cognition.

Although she had a plump figure, her fighting ability was not proportional to her body at all. She begged for mercy in less than two cups of tea.

Lin Qingsu thought she was playing hard to get and planned to carry her to the window to try some new positions. However, Fujimoto saw that he ignored her and forced himself on her. She felt so wronged that she sobbed in self-pity.

This made Lin Qingsu feel both uncomfortable and angry, but she couldn't bear to do it.

It just so happened that Fujiwara Akiko had asked her maid to prepare hot water for bathing in advance, so Lin Qingsu took Fujiwara Akiko to take a bath, thinking that it would calm himself down or help Fujiwara Akiko recover. However, he did not realize that as his temper grew, Fujiwara Akiko actually fell asleep in his arms.

"What is this?"

Lin Qingsu felt extremely uncomfortable, but she could only wipe her body and then hug Fujimoto back and put him in bed.