Having been teased by Yang Kai, her face was flushed crimson, but she still gritted her teeth: "You don't need to worry about whether I'm hungry or not. I know for certain you've eaten your fill."
Yang Kai stared wide-eyed: "What nonsense! That's not the case at all. Your husband here is famished."
Zhu Qing regarded him with a knowing look: "I recall you once told me that back in that lower-plane Star Field, you had… hmm, four wives. What? Didn't you get to see them when you returned to the Star Field this time?"
Yang Kai scratched his face: "Well… I did. I did see them."
Zhu Qing said: "Come to think of it, you've been separated from them for quite a few years now. A long-deprived man and a dry branch meeting fire — surely something must have happened?"
Yang Kai let out two hollow laughs: "The weather on Dragon Island was rather nice."
Zhu Qing snorted, poking his chest with her finger: "And you still dare tell me you're hungry?"
Yang Kai caught her delicate hand and fondled it coaxingly, offering an apologetic grin: "Let's change the subject. Change the subject." This conversation was making him rather uncomfortable. Su Yan, Xia Ningshang, Shan Qingluo, and Xue Yue — those four women didn't bother him at all since they'd been together all along and were quite used to it. But he'd always had a bit of a headache over how to arrange a meeting between Zhu Qing and them.
His four wives were extraordinary existences in the Star Field, to be sure, but if compared to Zhu Qing, they fell considerably short.
After all, she was a dragon girl. Who could measure up to that status? He genuinely feared that Zhu Qing might harbor some unpleasant thoughts about it.
Zhu Qing shot him a reproachful glance, then suddenly withdrew her hand and carefully straightened his clothes for him. Her eyes lingered on his meaningfully: "Now is not the time. Wait until… the Third Elder and the others have left, and then we'll talk."
Yang Kai nodded repeatedly: "Sure, sure." Then he suddenly gazed at Zhu Qing with deep affection, his voice soft: "Qing'er, you're so wonderful."
Simple words, yet they surpassed any honeyed flattery. Zhu Qing heard them, and joy bloomed in her heart. Though not a trace of it showed on her face, the corners of her lips curled slightly upward: "Stop trying to throw me off balance. I'm going to take you to pay your respects to the Grand Elder and the Second Elder. When you meet them, you'd better rein yourself in."
"The Grand Elder and the Second Elder?" Yang Kai's eyes went wide. He shook his head vigorously: "Fine, I'll see the Grand Elder — but why would I see the Second Elder? No, no, absolutely not!"
That woman Fu Chun — he rejected her from the bottom of his heart. She was the one who had banished Fu Xuan into the Dragon Tomb. She was the one who had tried to force Zhu Qing into marriage with Fu Chi. Yang Kai didn't have a single shred of fondness for her.
Zhu Qing glared at him: "You're going whether you want to or not."
Yang Kai snickered: "You can't force a bull to drink water if it doesn't want to. Aren't you afraid that if I see that old hag, I'll pick a fight with her right there?"
Zhu Qing frowned: "What old hag? Don't talk nonsense. If the Second Elder heard you say that, she'd be furious."
Yang Kai craned his neck stubbornly: "If she's not an old hag, then who is? Qing'er, let me tell you — just for the fact that she tried to marry you off to that Fu Chi, I will never have a good word for her for as long as I live. Good thing that little punk Fu Chi was killed by Wu Kuang, or I would have killed him myself!"
Zhu Qing sighed: "I know you hold a grudge, but she is the Second Elder of the Dragon Clan, and I am a member of the Dragon Clan as well. You should know that our Dragon Clan faces great difficulty in reproduction. Every member bears the responsibility of continuing the bloodline. I hated her actions back then just as much as you did, but when viewed from the Dragon Clan's perspective, she did nothing wrong."
"Nothing wrong?!" Yang Kai's voice shot up. He stared at Zhu Qing indignantly: "She was going to marry you off to someone else, and you're telling me she did nothing wrong?"
Zhu Qing said: "I also said — from the Dragon Clan's perspective."
Yang Kai clenched his teeth: "I don't care about what you were before. Right now, you need to remember — you are my, Yang Kai's, woman first, and a member of the Dragon Clan second!"
Zhu Qing blinked her large eyes, looking at him blankly: "Are you… getting angry at me?"
Yang Kai huffed and puffed for a moment, then waved his hand dismissively: "Why would I get angry at you? I'm furious at that old hag."
Zhu Qing burst out laughing, stepping forward to hook her arm through his: "All right, all right. I remember. From now on, I'll consider you first in everything, and the Dragon Clan second."
Yang Kai's gaze swept downward, catching sight of her chest slightly deformed by the pressure of his arm, and his heart stirred. He swallowed: "What's with all this clinging? If you have something to say, just say it properly. Broad daylight like this… what sort of behavior is this!" With that, he looked around left and right, putting on a furtive air.
Zhu Qing ignored him entirely, pressing herself even closer. Her eyes were like silk threads: "Then agree first to come with me and pay respects to the two Elders."
Yang Kai looked down at her imperiously: "You think you can sway me with a bit of feminine wiles? How childish. I said I'm not going, and that's final — not if you kill me. Well… I suppose I could visit the Grand Elder alone. As for that old hag — she can stay as far away from me as possible!"
Zhu Qing's voice turned gentle: "Actually, after what happened last time, the Second Elder's attitude has changed a great deal. Otherwise, why do you think she didn't banish me into the Dragon Tomb? Back then, the Third Elder was exiled by her too — and the Third Elder was like a sister to her."
Yang Kai let out a cold snort: "What a lovely pair of sisters! The elder sister exiles her own younger sister into the Dragon Tomb and leaves her to fend for herself. If Lord Beast Martial hadn't arrived in time, the Third Elder wouldn't have survived. She ought to be grateful she made the wise decision in the end, or things wouldn't have ended well for her." He paused briefly: "Hmm, she must have felt the pressure. She provoked Great Emperor Beast Martial — if she also provoked me on top of that, she wouldn't have been able to handle it."