Chapter Text
Shen Qingqiu was not a good person.
He had stopped being one when he first saw death while living on the streets; the start of the death of his innocence. He stopped being one when he was put into the slave trade and endured all the horrors that entailed.
He stopped being one when he presented as a kunze and had to deal with the torture the Qiu’s oh so generously gave him.
He stopped being one when Qi-ge left.
—-------------
Nothing was supposed to come of it. It was nothing more than a one night stand…or at least it was supposed to be.
Shen Qingqiu heaved into the pot next to his bed, just as he had been doing for the past month. He gasped for air as it finally ended. He had been stupid, letting that qianyuan into his arms that night barely two months ago. They had gotten drunk, and decided to lay together. And now he was feeling sick.
Shen Qingqiu wasn’t stupid. He knew what that meant.
But he needed to confirm it. It wouldn’t feel real otherwise. But it wasn’t like he could go to Mu Qingfang, there was every chance the doctor would spill his secret to the whole sect and then where would that land him? Every time someone discovered that he was a kunze and not the zhongyong he pretended to be, it ended badly.
The Qiu’s tortured and raped him repeatedly.
Wu Yanzi threatened to sell him to a brothel and groped him at every chance.
Even Yue Qingyuan started to treat him differently, acting like he was fragile and would break at a moment's notice.
Who knew what the rest of the sect would do. Would they kick him out? Remove him from the mantle of peak lord because kunze were too weak and fragile to be in power?
Keep him locked up in a gilded cage like a trapped song bird?
No. He couldn’t allow that to happen. He had worked far, far too hard to get to his position for that.
There was only one other option.
The brothel.
Yes, that would be the best option. The jiejies there wouldn’t spill his secret, not after so many years of silence.
Digging through his closet, Shen Qingqiu found the weimao he bought after his last trip down the mountain. It would help hide his identity, mostly from Liu Qingge. He didn’t want the brute to break into the brothel to yell at him.
Again.
Thinking about it, he quickly changed into some ill-fitting robes, and hid Xiu Ya in its scabbard to further hide his identity. Using the cover of darkness, Shen Qingqiu quickly fled down the mountain and ran into the city. It didn’t take long for him to reach the brothel, it was actually quite close to the entrance of Cang Qiong, which was lucky for him.
As he reached the street, Shen Qingqiu slowed down from a run to a walk, not wanting to draw attention to himself. Looking around at the nearly deserted street, he quickly walked to the back of the brothel, his body releasing tension the closer he got. The familiar smell of incense and heavy perfume calming his nerves.
Reaching the back door, he knocked three times, waited for a heartbeat, and knocked twice more. Almost immediately the door opened to the grinning face of Wen Su, one of the younger girls employed there.
“Jiu-ge!” she chirped, far too happy, “You’ve finally returned!”
Shen Qingqiu’s severe face softened. Wen Su was young and one of the few girls he didn’t mind calling him gege. After all, she did it out of genuine affection–the others did it to tease him in good fun.
“Hello, A-Su,” he greeted, “I’m sorry, but this isn’t a social visit. Would you mind getting the brothel doctor for me?”
Wen Su’s grin dropped into a concerned frown. She knew better than to ask if he was okay, he would lie and say he was; he always did. She knew he did it so as to not worry the girls, but it still frustrated her.
So she simply led him to his usual room at the very back of the brothel before leaving to get the doctor. Shen Qingqiu sat primly down onto the bed, waiting for the doctor.
He came quickly enough, opening the door and openly scowling at Shen Qingqiu. The doctor was an older man with long white hair tied up in a half knot. Shen Qingqiu knew the man had once tried to enter Qian Cao before the Ming generation had ascended, but had failed and held great resentment towards the peak lords for the next fifty or sixty years. Shen Qingqiu didn’t know how long it had been exactly.
But the man still did his job and he did it well, even if he was rude while doing so.
“You are in need of my services?” the doctor raised an eyebrow, scanning Shen Qingqiu up and down with a lecherous look. The man knew he was a kunze, since he was the one who supplied Shen Qingqiu with suppressants. “You don’t look like it.”
Shen Qingqiu scowled underneath his weimao before thrusting out his arm. He had forgotten how much he hated this man. Truly, the madam needed to hire a new doctor.
“Check to see if I’m pregnant,” he snapped, wanting to get this whole thing over with. “And do it quickly.”
The old doctor rolled his eyes, but took his pulse anyway. A couple of minutes passed before the doctor smiled nastily and confirmed his suspicions.
“Congratulations, Immortal Master Shen, you’re pregnant.”
Shen Qingqiu frowned. He had thought so but to have it confirmed was a whole new matter all together. He quickly dismissed the doctor to have a few minutes to think about everything.
He should terminate it. It would be the responsible choice, there was no way that he would be a good mother. And his martial family would terrorize him over whelping a bastard, but he just…couldn’t.
It was selfish but he craved the idea of something, some one loving him and only him. Of someone who would never leave and would see him as their whole world.
The door creaked open once again, this time the owner of the brothel, Zhang Hua, entered. She was a more mature woman in her late forties, who was given ownership of the brothel from the previous owner. She sighed as she entered, walking up to him and removing his weimao. She frowned at the look in his eyes.
“Oh, A-Jiu,” she breathed, stepping close and rubbing her scent glands on his cheeks, enveloping him in her scent. “Tell this old friend what’s wrong, won’t you?”
Tears almost fell down his face for the first time in years. The two laid together as Shen Qingqiu told her everything. She had known about his tryst from two months ago, but the news of his pregnancy seemed to shock her. Even more so the fact that he wanted to keep it. All the while the madam pet him softly while purring.
Shen Qingqiu fell asleep with tears in his eyes.
—--------------------------
Shen Qingqiu refused to let his sect know about his pregnancy. He didn’t think he’d be able to handle it, so he hid it. He started to bind his stomach, which wasn’t one hundred percent needed. He had found out during the sixth month of his pregnancy that his baby was positioned in such a way that the bump wasn’t as noticeable.
The next few months passed by in a blur. Between secret visits to the brothel to check on the health of his baby, eating foods he would normally never eat, and avoiding Yue Qingyuan and Liu Qingge (both of whom had impeccable senses of smell and would no doubt figure out his pregnancy), Shen Qingqiu was exhausted.
But he had to go on this stupid mission.
It should have been simple enough, simply plucking the flowers that grew on the Ten Thousand Leaf Miracle Tree. They were needed for a project that Mu Qingfang was working on; a safe abortive that would be distributed to the common people.
It was supposed to be a simple mission, however the Ten Thousand Leaf Miracle Tree was surrounded by man-eating flowers, also known as just kunze flowers. The reason they were known by that name was because of their vicious nature, only being docile for kunze. They were fascinating flowers that were only supposed to be plucked by kunze. Any other disposition would have the flowers growing to insane heights and becoming bloodthirsty. There was a reason they were called kunze flowers by some. However, there was a way to trick the flowers. If one used scent blocking patches and sprayed themselves in mock-kunze scent, then there was a chance that the flowers would let them pass.
(Luckily for him, he had plenty of scent blocking patches, and had gotten a new perfume bottle of mock-kunze scent for this mission. Of course, the brothel supplied both that and his usual mock-zhongyong scent perfume for free, no matter how much he protested it.)
They could be fought of course, but they were too advanced of an opponent for any of the disciples currently attending Cang Qiong.
That was the only reason two peak lords were sent out on this mission (Shen Qingqiu had the sneaking suspicion that he was only sent because he was a kunze). He was being sent out with the beast peak lord, Yu Qingtao. Luckily, Shen Qingqiu didn’t absolutely hate him. Despite being a qianyuan, the man was quite docile and didn’t take every chance he could to antagonize him.
Shen Qingqiu frowned as a small cramp shot through his pelvis. He had been feeling the pain since last night, but he ignored it, simply running his qi through that area and feeling the pain dissipate.
But he couldn’t focus on that. He needed to get this mission over with so he could continue to prepare to go into seclusion so he could give birth in peace.
(He didn’t know what he was going to do next. How he was going to hide his baby. He was supposed to be the strategist of the sect, but couldn’t even do this one thing. How pathetic.)
Leaving his bamboo house, he stepped on his sword and flew to the entrance of the sect where Yu Qingtao was already waiting for him. He slowly descended and waited until his partner looked up to throw a couple scent blocking patches at him. The Qianyuan yelped and scrambled to get a hold on them, before looking at Shen Qingqiu confused.
“Er, Shen-shixiong…what are these?”
Shen Qingqiu rolled his eyes. Of course the man didn’t know what they were. Quickly he stepped off his sword and sntached the patches out of his hands.
“Scent blocking patches. The Ten Thousand Leaf Miracle Tree is surrounded by kunze flowers. Now, unless shidi wishes to be eaten alive, I suggest letting me put these on you.”
Yu Qingtao grinned sheepishly, baring his neck and letting Shen Qingqiu put the patches over the scent glands on his wrists and neck. Then he pulled mock-kunze perfume out of his qiankun pouch and sprayed it over the two of them, making Yu Qingtao cough.
He didn’t understand his shidi’s aversion to the smell. The scent was actually quite nice, smelling like spun sugar. Even though he preferred his own scent of green tea and bamboo, it still was pleasant to his nose.
Sniffing the air, Shen Qingqiu considered the scent to be natural enough and immediately turned around to head out, not bothering to pause for Yu Qingtao. The other man squawked and ran to catch up with him. Shen Qingqiu sighed.
This was going to be a long mission.