Second Time Around

19. Needles and Sabers

Wen Qing smothered a groan of frustration. The young woman sitting in her exam room had expressed concern that she was not pregnant after several years of marriage. After taking the pulse, Wen Qing could not find anything wrong with the woman's body. When asked if she raised her hips on a pillow after being intimate with her husband, the young woman replied that she usually just rinsed her mouth out as she didn't enjoy the taste. Wen Qing refrained from yelling, somehow. "He uses your mouth."

"Of course! How else would his seed get into my stomach to make a baby?"

Mentally cursing all mothers who left their daughters ignorant of basic biology, Wen Qing handed the young woman a book on intimate relations and sent her home to properly seduce her husband. How did mothers explain menstruation without mentioning how babies were made?

Wen Qing resumed her position at the shop, hoping against hope that the day would get better. The young man browsing made her brows furrow. Gray and green silks with gold accents. Good quality silk like she used to wear. Ornate braids. No sword. No saber. This was definitely a young master and most likely from the QingheNie Sect. But where is his saber? She didn't recognize him. It appeared that her brother didn't recognize the young master, either. She fingered her needles in her sleeves. If he made even the slightest move to harm her brother, she'd kill him before he could finish the thought.

The largest man she'd ever seen blundered into the shop. "A'Sang!" he yelled. "What are you doing?" Then he drew his saber and pointed it at Wen Ning. "You! Wen dog! A'Sang get away from him!"

The Sang person backed away from A'Ning, right towards Wen Qing. "Ge..." he wheedled. "It's not like that. These are good people." He bumped into a table, knocking the contents to the floor with a loud crash. "Ge... put Baxia away before someone gets hurt."

Wen Qing whipped her needles out of one sleeve and pressed them against the Sang person's neck. "Put the sword down," she ordered calmly. Her other hand moved another set of needles into a throwing position. The man holding Baxia declined to obey his younger brother and advanced on Wen Ning. "Stop right there or this one's dead," Wen Qing ordered. "You make another move on my brother, and I'll take you both down."

The big man smoothly turned to look at her, at the needles pressed against his brother's neck. "Wen Qing!" he roared. "Get away from my brother or I'll cut you where you stand."

Nie MingJue. She recognized him now from her uncle's court. Which meant the man she held hostage was Nie HuaiSang, a rather decent friend to Wei WuXian. Damn. Wei WuXian would not be happy if she had to kill him. "It will be rather hard to cut me down when you're dead. Drop. Your. Blade." It was a stalemate she knew she would win. Sort of. In the breath it would take him to throw the saber at her, she would have already killed Nie HuaiSang, and sent her other set of needles flying. Unless he was practiced at swatting tiny objects out of the air, (and she had seen him fighting years ago when he wasn't; he relied on brute strength rather than grace) he was a dead man before the saber could reach her. She'd die, too, but at least A'Ning would be safe.

And she'd be free of dealing with A'Xian's wrath, anger, and heartache both for killing his friend and for dying.

Wei WuXian burst into the store room, "QingJie! What happened?" He skidded to a stop, Chenqing in hand and stared at the stalemate. Behind him strode Lan WangJi, a sheathed Bichen held at the ready.

The big man looked at the Wen siblings, at his brother, at Wei WuXian, and finally at the flour covered Lan WangJi. "Will someone tell me what the Hell is going on here?"

Wei WuXian laughed nervously. "Perhaps you could put Baxia away first? Then QingJie will put her needles away. And then Lan Zhan can make us all a nice pot of tea. Hmm?"