"Smooth-tongued and deceitful?" Song Qingshu's face darkened. "Am I really that bad?"
"Search your own conscience. Compared to Jing Gege, aren't you smooth-tongued and deceitful?" Huang Rong shot him an irritated glare.
Song Qingshu said seriously, "When it comes to being an upright gentleman and acting selflessly for the public good, I am indeed somewhat inferior to Great Hero Guo. But when it comes to expelling the Tartars and restoring China, I dare say I am not the slightest bit inferior to Great Hero Guo."
Seeing how resolute he was, Huang Rong could not help but freeze. After a long while, Youyou let out a soft sigh. "Not merely not inferior. In this regard, Jing Gege is indeed far, far beneath you."
This had always been the knot in her heart. For so many years, she and her husband had held fast to Xiangyang. Guo Jing was even more overwhelmed with daily affairs, leaving him almost no time for his family. Although they had repelled the Mongol Empire's attacks several times, she knew full well that such passive defense could not last forever. Sooner or later, the Mongol Empire would breach Xiangyang City, and the fate of her whole family was easy to imagine.
Although the world called her Zhuge Liang among women, and although she too had foreseen that bleak outcome, she remained powerless to change it. All she could do was delay the arrival of that day as much as possible.
Not until Song Qingshu had risen abruptly over the past two years, establishing himself among the major powers in just a few short years, seizing nearly half the realm from the Manchus and greatly striking at the soaring arrogance of those grassland empires, did she see a possibility. If she could obtain his help, perhaps she truly