https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-317-Lu-Xiaofeng-So-I-Know-Nothing-/12536531/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-319-Suspicions-Pointing-to-Lu-Xiaofeng-as-the-Embroidered-Flower-Thief/12536535/
Chapter 318: The Secret of the Red Shoes
Chapter 318: The Secret of the Red Shoes
Lu Xiaofeng was so angry that he didn't even feel like talking to them.
But he still asked, "So, Jin Jiuling doesn't know much either?"
Gongsun Daniang let out a cold laugh. "Don't be fooled by his high martial arts skills and fame. The position of Chief Constable of the Six Doors is an official government post, and no one would fully trust him with their secrets. At most, he might have some inside information about merchant caravan routes and wealthy families."
"But didn't he become the chief steward of the Pingnan Royal Palace?" Lu Xiaofeng asked.
"Just like Jiang Zhongwei, they are both stewards of the outer court, which is essentially just a figurehead position. They don't even have access to the backdoor dealings. How could they possibly know the secrets of the Pingnan Royal Palace?" Gongsun Daniang explained with a smile.
She turned to Lu Xiaofeng and said, "Take Jiang Zhongwei, for example. As soon as he lost his eyesight, he was cast aside. If he truly knew the secrets of the Pingnan Royal Palace, they would have silenced him long ago."
Lu Xiaofeng fell silent, but Su Shaoying asked, "Aren't you afraid that the Pingnan Royal Palace will try to silence you?"
Gongsun Daniang glared at Su Shaoying and said, "If they want to silence me, let's see if they have the guts to bear the consequences!"
Even in this secret collaboration, the top experts had a certain degree of autonomy. Otherwise, how could He Xiu have established the Qingyi Building, Gongsun Daniang have her Red Shoes organization, and the Honest Monk become one of the Four Great Monks of the martial arts world?
Moreover, compared to the overt cooperation between the Emei Sect and the Shu Royal Palace, the clandestine collaboration yielded even greater benefits. For instance, the Red Shoes organization received an annual operating budget of 1.8 million taels, far surpassing the income of the Emei Sect.
Of course, there were always trade-offs. He Xiu lost his freedom to do as he pleased, and the Red Shoes organization lost their reputation. Otherwise, with the martial arts skills of the sisters, they should have been famous in the martial arts world by now.
As for what the Honest Monk had lost, Su Shaoying wasn't quite sure yet.
Additionally, even in this covert collaboration, they weren't completely at the mercy of the powers behind them. They had more self-preservation abilities than typical scapegoats.
To put it bluntly, whether it was He Xiu or Gongsun Daniang, their martial arts skills were genuine. If it came to a point of no return, even the royal palaces would find it hard to deal with them. That was why the powers behind them usually wouldn't target them during their prime.
He Xiu's death was due to his own excessive ambition, which led him to provoke Lu Xiaofeng, He Tianqing, and Dugu Yihe.
Gongsun Daniang's death, on the other hand, was because the Pingnan Royal Palace was planning something too big. After all, she wasn't solely working for the Pingnan Royal Palace, and Ye Gucheng suspected that she and Ouyang Qing might have discovered the palace's secret, so they had to be silenced and framed.
Lu Xiaofeng asked, "What about your sisters? Do they know a lot?"
Seeing Lu Xiaofeng and Su Shaoying looking at her, Gongsun Daniang felt a twinge of envy. She sighed and said, "I didn't expect you to care so much about the Fourth and Fifth Sisters. Rest assured, they haven't come into contact with the core secrets."
Lu Xiaofeng breathed a sigh of relief, and Su Shaoying nodded.
Although Ouyang Qing was in charge of the intelligence work in the brothel, she probably didn't know much either. Otherwise, she should have already sensed the abnormality of the meeting between the Royal Palace's Grand Warden and the Grand Lama of Daxue Mountain Temple.
Having learned about the Red Shoes organization, Lu Xiaofeng and Su Shaoying were satisfied and didn't intend to dig deeper. After all, everyone had their secrets.
Moreover, they truly had no interest in the secrets related to the royal palaces. If they heard something unpleasant, would they really go and stir up trouble for the royal families?
There was no truly clean place under the heavens!
"So, even if Jin Jiuling, the new chief steward of the Pingnan Royal Palace, dies, the palace won't care," Su Shaoying said with a smile.
"Of course, they won't care, especially since he's the Embroidery Thief," Gongsun Daniang added with a laugh. "He even dared to plot against me, someone from the Pingnan Royal Palace."
Su Shaoying suddenly understood why in the original story, when Lu Xiaofeng discovered Gongsun Daniang's body, she was found strangled to death while in disguise, with almost no signs of resistance or struggle.
Since Gongsun Daniang also worked for the Pingnan Royal Palace, and she was unaware of their rebellion plans, and given her usual pleasant collaboration with the palace, she never expected that Ye Gucheng, representing the Pingnan Royal Palace, would kill her! Coupled with the fact that Ye Gucheng's martial arts skills were indeed superior to hers, she was killed almost without putting up a fight.
Otherwise, with Gongsun Daniang's martial arts skills, while Ye Gucheng could still kill her, it wouldn't have been so easy and straightforward.
Lu Xiaofeng pouted, "But if you really fell into Jin Jiuling's hands, and he framed you as the Embroidery Thief, the Pingnan Royal Palace still wouldn't intervene."
"What happens in the martial arts world stays in the martial arts world," Gongsun Daniang said coldly. "If I really fall into Jin Jiuling's hands, it would be my own incompetence."
What happens in the court stays in the court, and what happens in the martial arts world stays in the martial arts world.
If Gongsun Daniang, who secretly collaborated with the Pingnan Royal Palace, failed, or even if Dugu Yihe died at the hands of other martial artists, the Shu Royal Palace would not speak up.
"So, Jin Jiuling won't have any scruples when dealing with you, and he'll more easily reveal his secrets to you," Lu Xiaofeng nodded in agreement.
"Exactly," Gongsun Daniang said.
...
After a day and a night, the three of them returned to Yangcheng from the South China Sea.
Su Shaoying quietly left, while Lu Xiaofeng took Gongsun Daniang to find Jin Jiuling at the Snake King's Tower.
"You're back?" Xue Bing stood up anxiously when she saw Su Shaoying return and asked, "How are Lu Xiaofeng and the others?"
Su Shaoying scanned the room and noticed that Hua Manlou and Shi Xiuxue were also present. He didn't answer Xue Bing's question but instead asked Hua Manlou, "Jin Jiuling has returned to Yangcheng. Have you seen him?"
Hua Manlou nodded. "Yes, his disguise was very convincing. If I didn't know the truth, I wouldn't have noticed anything amiss."
"Did he notice Xue Bing?" Su Shaoying asked.
"Of course not. Xue Bing hasn't left the room these past few days," Shi Xiuxue interjected, then hurriedly asked, "What happened in the South China Sea? Did Jin Jiuling deliberately poison himself?"
"Of course, he did it on purpose. He dared not go against Gongsun Daniang," Su Shaoying said, not prolonging the suspense. "Lu Xiaofeng has already made a plan with Gongsun Daniang. They are just waiting for Jin Jiuling to take the bait."
"What plan?" Xue Bing asked anxiously.
"A plan to make Jin Jiuling admit that he is the Embroidery Thief, of course," Su Shaoying smiled.
Shi Xiuxue didn't understand. "How will he admit that he's the Embroidery Thief?"
"Do you want to know?"
"Yes!"
"Then let's go and see," Su Shaoying suggested with a smile. "But we agreed that Xue Bing shouldn't show up."
"Okay!" Xue Bing readily agreed.
(End of Chapter)
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