Chapter 60
Chapter 60: Secondary Husband
Seeing how stunned Hu Qing looked, Hu Zhuo broke into a smug grin, ready to launch into a full account of his “great contributions,” when a heavy bang thundered outside.
“Did someone just smash our front gate?”
The three of them didn’t believe it. The Hu family’s gate—who would dare?
Did Zhaohua Sect stop existing or something?
So for a moment, nobody moved. Then—bang. Another crash. It really was the gate.
Hu Qing shot to her feet. A second ago she’d looked weak and listless; one hit to the gate and she stood straight as a spear.
Shui Xin half rose too, then touched his face and sat back down. Fine. He’d hold the fort.
Hu Zhuo had already sprinted out, cursing himself. He’d been so pleased with himself he’d forgotten to open the barrier.
Now the gate stood forced open—and smeared with blood.
The exquisite, imposing doors yawned wide. One panel was stained dark red, the blood trailing downward to a woman slumped there, half leaning, half collapsed.
Hu Zhuo thought she looked familiar but couldn’t place her—until his eyes dropped to her belly. His face went white. He drew his sword on instinct, the tip aimed at the man outside climbing the steps.
Behind him, Hu Qing was still strolling out, calling in a long, lazy drawl, “Whooo is it?”
“A pregnant woman!” Hu Zhuo shouted back.
Whoosh—Hu Qing was there.
She stared at the woman braced against the door, shock flickering across her face. Her mind spun twice before the name finally surfaced. “Xun Ru Tang?”
One of Baoping Ward’s top ten families—the Xun family.
Years ago, Hu Qing had made a tidy fortune off the Xun family’s eldest miss, enough to drag her out of a financial pit. The eldest miss, Xun Ru Mei, had broken off her engagement and entered Zhaohua Sect to cultivate. After that, Second Miss Xun Ru Tang became the family head heir, took a husband into the clan, and even sent Hu Qing an invitation.
Hu Qing hadn’t gone.
But she had sent a gift.
“Second Miss Xun,” Hu Qing asked from three paces away, careful not to step closer, “what happened to you?”
Times were too messy. These days even a dead body could try to frame you if you touched it.
Xun Ru Tang’s face was as white as paper. The moment she opened her mouth, blood spilled down her chin. “Save… save my child—”
Hu Qing took in the weakness, the resentment, the hatred that refused to die in her eyes. Her brows drew together.
“Hu Zhuo. Do you have jade heart pill? Give her a few.”
Pregnant bodies were different. You couldn’t just swallow anything. It had to be gentle.
Hu Zhuo answered quickly, sheathed his sword, and took out the pills. He supported Xun Ru Tang and helped her swallow them.
Hu Qing glanced at the curve of her belly. The pregnancy was real, and that looked like eight months. Seven months lived, eight months might not—she hoped it wouldn’t go wrong.
Then she turned to the group outside.
A young man stood at the front with more than a dozen cultivators behind him. Hu Qing didn’t recognize him.
He stared at her for a beat, then hesitated and cupped his hands. “Family Head Hu?”
Hu Qing nodded. “You’re fighting and you bring it to my Hu family? This place is out of the way.”
The man choked.
The Hu family was “out of the way” not because of location, but because it had no people.
Back when it had been the Chun family head estate, it had been packed with masters and servants, carriages coming and going all day. After the surname changed, the compound went quiet. There were only a few scattered residents, and even the handful of masters who still belonged here were rarely home. In other top ten families, even the gatekeepers outnumbered the people living inside.
Aloof. Unreachable. Other clans couldn’t even find an opening to build ties.
So why had he ended up here? Because that wretch had run this way. Did she think Family Head Hu would stand up for her?
Dream on.
The Xun family had fallen. The He family was rising. With an immortal behind them, even if the Zhaohua Sect’s Sect Master came in person, they would still have to give the He family face.
With that confidence swelling in him, the young man said coolly, “Sorry to disturb you, Family Head Hu. I’ll take her away now.”
Hu Qing stood just outside the threshold. She glanced back. Xun Ru Tang’s color had improved, but she was still rigid, clutching Hu Zhuo’s hand like someone drowning.
“Save my child… save my child…”
“The baby’s fine,” Hu Zhuo soothed. “I gave you jade heart pill. It stabilizes the pregnancy.”
“Not that,” Xun Ru Tang rasped. “My eldest son.”
Hu Zhuo blinked. “Uh…”
Outside, the young man let out a cold laugh. “If you don’t come back, that bastard won’t live.”
Hu Qing didn’t react with outrage. Instead, she calmly pulled out a chair and set it on the steps, angled so it didn’t block anyone’s path. She waved Hu Zhuo over.
She and Xun Ru Tang weren’t close. Not close at all. This wasn’t the kind of relationship that made you rush headfirst into trouble.
“That man,” Hu Qing asked quietly, “is he the husband you took?”
How would Hu Zhuo know? His circle didn’t overlap with the top ten families. He hadn’t even recognized Xun Ru Tang at first.
“Oh—right. I think I heard Family Head Xun is a woman…”
“Then that’s her,” Hu Qing said. “When I paid attention to the Xun family, the family head was her father. It’s only been a few—no, decades. Of course it’s her turn now.”
They spoke at just the right volume: not whispering, not hiding, clearly broadcasting that they didn’t intend to interfere.
The young man’s mouth curled. Family Head Hu really was sensible.
Xun Ru Tang, desperate, dragged herself forward and fell to her knees. “Family Head Hu, please help me. Please—on my sister’s behalf, help me.”
Xun Ru Mei.
Hu Qing did have a soft spot for the Xun family’s eldest miss. Back then, Xun Ru Mei had dug up proof of her fiancé’s betrayal and schemes against the Xun family, and she’d looked so triumphant she could’ve danced. Later, when the Xun family tried to latch onto Hu Qing, Xun Ru Mei had blocked them—and even came personally to tell Hu Qing not to get involved.
She’d been a decent girl.
“Why aren’t you looking for your sister?” Hu Qing asked.
Xun Ru Tang’s face went even paler, bitterness choking her. “My sister… she went traveling. She hasn’t returned.”
The man outside snorted. “Xun Ru Mei isn’t coming back.”
Hu Qing frowned at him.
For some reason, being looked at by her plain, level gaze made him uncomfortable. He forced himself through it. “I heard her soul plaque cracked.”
Was she dead?
Hu Qing looked down at Xun Ru Tang.
Xun Ru Tang’s eyes burned. “No. My sister is trapped somewhere and can’t get out for now. She will come back.”
The man shot her a warning look, then spoke in a low, heavy voice. “Come back with me. You’re still my wife.”
Xun Ru Tang’s jaw clenched so hard it trembled. “In your dreams.”
The man’s smile turned thin and ugly. “You know what things look like now.”
“What do things look like?” Hu Qing asked Hu Zhuo under her breath.
Hu Zhuo gave her a helpless look. He had no idea.
Hu Qing studied Xun Ru Tang’s stubborn, bleak face and, unable to stop herself, asked, “I even sent a wedding gift when you got married.”
How did it turn into this? It had only been a few decades. That wasn’t long.
Xun Ru Tang froze.
The man’s face went green.
He wanted to explode, but the other party was Hu Qing. Maybe she wasn’t famous to every street vendor in Baoping Ward, but anyone with connections couldn’t pretend they didn’t know her. He didn’t want trouble.
So he swallowed his anger and said through his teeth, “Family Head Hu means her wedding to Bai Guan, right? As for me… hmph. I’m He Jing of the He family.”
Hu Qing blinked. “What?”
He Jing’s jaw tightened, a sour flush creeping up his neck. Then he remembered the present. The He family was now Baoping Ward’s number one clan. Someday they might even move to Immortal Realm. All the humiliations he’d once suffered? Those were just trials the heavens had used to temper him.
He lifted his chin.
“I’m Xun Ru Tang’s secondary husband.”