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Ning Yingying is grown up enough to admit that maybe sometimes Shen Yuan is faster than her, but that is mostly due to him being a cheater with his long legs. Luckily for her, he seemed a little too flustered at the mere mention of marriage that he flounders a little on his initial take off. So Ning Yingying has no issue with keeping him from fleeing.

Again!

She does this in the most sensible, mature way possible and only flinches a little when her knees bang on the hard floor as she tackles Shen Yuan. It causes him to squeak out a “Hey!” that she ignores because…hey, isn’t this a little familiar?

Sure, last time it was A-Yuan who was sitting on top of her, but still. It’s really a shame that her shidi had to cheat by throwing sand in her eyes. It made her too mad to really appreciate the view and maybe even tease him about their position. This was good too though, seeing him getting all flustered and cute just from her pinning him down.

She settled more of her weight on his stomach, making his ranting that she's fully ignoring stop dead in their tracks.

“Why does Shidi keep running away from me?” she asks, mostly teasing him, but a pinch of hurt does accidentally show up in her tone. It at least get A-Yuan to look a tiny bit guilty under all that red.

Good.

They had just made up. There was no need to be all dramatic and run away at the first mention of something as silly as marriage. Marriage should be seen as a good thing. Not something that should make A-Yuan to run away each time she mentions it!

Ning Yingying isn't stupid, unlike what some people might think. She noticed that each time marriage or kissing is brought up, A-Yuan gets all weird about it. Okay, maybe it could be argued that she might have pushed a little too hard the first time she brought up the idea of marrying A-Yuan and making A-Luo their concubine. But it in her defense, it really is a good idea! And it was so cute seeing both of her Shidis looking so cute and flustered.

Ning Yingying is also very patient.

Sort of.

She has at least tried to be patient with her Shidis! Ning Yingying might have said that idea as a joke, but she couldn't get it out of her head now. It is a good idea but also the thought of having A-Luo and A-Yuan with her forever makes her whole body feel warm and anxious, but in a weirdly good way? 

Ning Yingying knows they liked each other before she started liking them. So she wanted to try and wait for her Shidis to tell her they're together until she asked to join because...it just-it would just be special and romantic to wait for them to tell her.

It's not like she's scared they would say no or-

She likes A-Luo, he's really sweet and really really pretty. Unfairly pretty. Also, he's a really good cook! And he's always so nice and gentle with her, but at the same time, he never treats her like a baby. It's also really fun to spar with him! He doesn’t hold back with her and it’s so thrilling to watch Luo Binghe fight.

She likes A-Yuan too. He's pretty as well, and will only get prettier if he keeps looking like their Shizun as he gets older. Yes, he could be very stupid at times and stubborn and he only read boring books. But he’s also funny and smart. She remembers how fun it was watching him argue with their masters, watching them flounder as A-Yuan refused to stand down. She's pretty sure he made one cry. He's also kind to a fault.

It’s not weird that she likes them both. Ning Yingying has heard of men having multiple wives and concubines, so why can’t she? Why can’t she like both of her best friends? Besides, the fact that they also like each other only worked in her favor!

Ning Yingying has a feeling that they might possibly also like her too.

A-Luo blushes a lot around her, especially lately when she leans in a little too close. It's cute seeing the back of his neck turn pink so she does that a lot. A-Luo also only cooks for her and A-Yuan. He never makes anything for anyone else, and Ning Yingying swears she never told him what her favorite foods are yet he seemed to instantly figure it out. He also only acts himself around them, never putting on that fake politeness that makes Ming Fan so mad unless he's teasing them.

A-Yuan must like her too. Why else would he only really let them be so touchy with him? Not like the kind of touchy that that guy from Qian Cao but really touchy. The kind of touch that he leans into like a cuddly kitten. She wondered if he even noticed how he always ends up putting his weight on them whenever she or A-Luo are sitting next to him or how he tightens his hands in theirs. He still does that. Whenever she squeezes his hand he always does it back, even now despite how that demon had-

And after everything with the little ghost, he started blushing a lot around her, especially whenever she would show off the scars on her knee or bump her shoulder against his.

Which was good! This was all a very good thing! Because she likes them a lot and Yingying knows that A-Yuan likes A-Luo and A-Luo likes A-Yuan. She's read enough books to know what signs to look out for and those two so obviously want to kiss each other! 

Ning Yingying had been so sure that they were together in some way and were just keeping it a poorly kept secret for some reason. But now she's not so sure anymore, which is really stupid. If you like someone you should just go for it!

Like she really wanted to.

Like she should!

She can't be acting as silly as A-Luo and A-Yuan.

So maybe it was time for her to stop being good and patient and just go for it!

“A-Yuan, are you thinking about marrying me?”

Shen Yuan only replies with a squawk, which just makes her giggle.

“I wasn't kidding before.” Ning Yingying tells him, voice full of giddy confidence. She slowly bends down just the tiniest bit, enough that she’ll have to put her hands on the floor or A-Yuan if she leans in anymore. “We really could marry and A-Luo coul-”

“Absolutely not!”

“But you like A-Luo.”

“I…what-”

Yep, being patient is overrated. Ning Yingying makes sure she doesn't break eye contact as she takes in a deep breath, holding it in long enough that Shen Yuan goes from flustered to confused before she yells Binghe's name. It has the predictable effect of making A-Yuan start to really struggle now. But that's okay, Ning Yingying just has to lean in a bit and try to take Shen Yuan’s hands in hers to keep him from getting away.

She’s only able to grab onto one in the split second between her yelling and A-Luo bursting through the door, looking like he’s there to save them from a monster or something.

Both Ning Yingying and Shen Yuan look over at Luo Binghe and oh! His face does a lot of interesting things. Mostly it goes white for a tiny second before shifting to a really pretty red, nearly the same shade as A-Yuan's.

Weirdly, though, he looks like he might turn around and leave. Which isn’t good! That is not part of her plan! Not that she really has one, but making it up as she goes should still count as one. Besides, doing it this way is way more fun and totally not nerve racking.

“A-Luo, don't you want to kiss A-Yuan?” she quickly asks before he decides to leave and wow! He got even redder.

A-Luo looks like he might say something and she really hopes it's 'yes, I would like it if Yuan kissed me' but he gets rudely interrupted by A-Yuan yelling. "Stop that!"

Ning Yingying flinches back a little from his yelling, nearly causing her ears to ring.

"Don't yell in my ear!"

"Wha- you yelled first!"

"But not in your ear!"

"What's going on?" Binghe asks, sounding dazed.

Oh, right.

Ning Yingying sits back up, still on Shen Yuan because it's honestly fun, and smiles brightly at Luo Binghe.

"Both you and A-Yuan need to kiss already, and I want to join!" There, she said it! No backing down now!

Shen Yuan jumps, causing her to bounce a little and stutters out a protest that she ignores while Luo Binghe's ridiculously pretty eyes go very wide. It looks like he's completely frozen. Ning Yingying is about to ask him again before something seems to snap him out of it and he quickly moves to close the door before coming closer.

"Shijie, please get off of Yuan." Binghe asks quietly as he kneels beside both of them.

"But If I move, A-Yuan will run."

Binghe says "Please?" again.

At least she thinks he does. A-Yuan drowns out his words by yelling "Who wouldn't run!" at the same time.

"You can't keep running away all the time." Ning Yingying pouts down at Shen Yuan.

He turns his head away from both of them, making a face that is eerily similar to their Shizun when someone breaks a string during guqin class. "Stop talking about kissing and I won't run."

"Why?" Ning Yingying asks, unable to hide some of her nervousness from her tone, but she does move off of him, relying on Luo Binghe to catch him if Shen Yuan runs again. Shen Yuan quickly takes the chance to sit up; and scoots away from her, nearly bumping into Binghe. "You really don't want to kiss A-Luo?"

She doesn't take her focus off his face and watches as his eyes flicker to Luo Binghe then back to her, then down at his hands, pulling his sleeves so hard over them he might finally tear the fabric this time.

"No! I-I don't?" Well that didn't sound convincing. Ning Yingying quickly looks over at Luo Binghe and good! He isn't buying it either.

"Well, what about me? Do you want to kiss me?"

"Wha-"

"You'll have to kiss me if we get married."

There's a bit of awkward silence between them as she watches Shen Yuan think and oh wow, is he thinking hard! So many different emotions fly over his face, some old and familiar, but a few are delightfully new. They finally settle on a confused nervousness that makes his tilted mouth twist up. That one she's seen plenty of times, but the addition of his bright pink ears is a nice touch.

“You're supposed to marry Binghe.” he mumbles and what is that supposed to mean?

A-Luo makes a sound like he’s choking on air, which is something Ning Yingying would have expected from A-Yuan, and goes back to looking as flustered as he did when he first walked in.

"I'm…so confused.” Binghe quietly chokes out, his eyes quickly look at a very quiet Shen Yuan and then back at Ning Yingying. "Doesn't Shijie like Yuan?"

Oh, he could tell?

"So?"

Shen Yuan let out a tiny squeak that sounds a little like he’s saying “You do?”

“I do!” Ning Yingying chirps while walking on her knees, ouch, so she can sit next to her Shidi-didi. She tries to do this slowly, so she doesn't startle him because Binghe is right, he really is like a skittish kitten. A-Yuan, luckily, doesn’t seem to notice he’s now stuck between Yingying and A-Luo.

Perfect!

“And since we both think A-Luo is handsome, we should practice kissing before we get married and A-Luo becomes our concubine.” She takes a quick peek at A-Yuan, hoping he would appreciate she took his advice and didn't say 'cute' despite how cute Binghe is. However, judging by the still stunned look on his face, Shen Yuan probably didn't hear anything she had just said. He's also blushing so hard Ning Yingying swears she can feel the heat coming off of his face. She wouldn't be surprised if his brain has melted or something.

Cute.

“What do you think, A-Luo?” Ning Yingying asks while pulling a frozen and quiet Shen Yuan closer so she can really lean into his side and wrap one of her arms around his shoulder. She also slowly extends her legs out a little to the side. They might not be as long as A-Yuan's, but she likes to think her legs are still very nice! Ning Yingying mostly just really hopes she’s copying one of the sexy poses she read about correctly. 

Judging by the way Binghe's eyes go oh so very wide, she thinks she must be doing something right.

Smiling brightly, Ning Yingying leans her head against A-Yuan's shoulder. "Don't you want to be our concubine A-Luo?" Ning Yingying tries her best to sound seductive despite the little nervous giggle in her voice that she can't seem to keep away.

"A-Ying!"

and A-Yuan is back to being loud again.

He starting to be all squirmy but at least A-Yuan isn't trying to run so she can forgive him for yelling in her ear again, especially with the way A-Luo is looking at them now. His eyes have gotten so dark and are fully focused on them. So that's what they mean by 'heated' look.

It's starting to make Ning Yingying's heart race.

“Yes.” Binghe's voice is quiet but firm. There's some determination in his tone that makes Shen Yuan stop squirming and Ning Yingying bounce and giggle, unable to hold in her excitement at hearing this.

Finally!

"We should start practicing right away!"

Luo Binghe gives a solid nod in agreement and shifts so that he is sitting with his back straight and his hands resting on his thighs like he’s prepared for some boring lecture in class. This time though, he doesn’t look like he’s pretending to listen. He seems fully focused on her words.

Ning Yingying wastes no time in getting Luo Binghe caught up with everything she had already told Shen Yuan, along with some ideas for their wedding. At first Luo Binghe just nods along during her lesson but eventually starts to add in his own idea and is determined to have his own version of a wedding ceremony with both of them. She isn't sure people do that with concubines, but A-Luo looks close to tears when she says that and oh well, it could be fun to make up a whole new celebration just for Binghe!

“Shijie says to practice on others before you kiss someone you like, but I don’t think that’s right. It should be someone you like.” Shen Yuan makes a funny little sound at that. “I’m sure people like to be kissed in different ways, so why waste time learning how someone you don’t like prefers to be kissed when you’ll never kiss them again.”

Huh, she guesses that makes sense and it's not like she wants to run off and kiss someone else now that both of her Shidis are right here.

“Well, I like both A-Luo and A-Yuan!”

Luo Binghe nods, looking right into her eyes and, though he is still blushing, his voice doesn’t falter when he says. “I like Shijie.” And before she can even register how much that makes her chest warm and stomach feel all funny, A-Luo moves his focus on A-Yuan. “and I like Yuan.”

Shen Yuan decides to be weird and responds to their confessions by making a strangled squeaky noise and looking more stunned than she has ever seen before.

“But-but that's not how-”

“Yuan?”

And now A-Luo is starting to look sad. Good job Shidi-didi! Ning Yingying is about to ask A-Yuan why he's acting like this when A-Luo quietly moves towards him, closing in that already small gap between them. She watches him carefully reach out for Shen Yuan’s hands and slowly helps him let go of the tight grip he has on his sleeves.

“You're supposed to-I'm a-“

“Does Yuan like me?” Luo Binghe’s voice is so incredibly soft when he asks, eyes focus down at Shen Yuan’s hands and Ning Yingying can’t help but find it so sweet how Binghe rubs his thumb over Shen Yuan’s palms. It reminds her of how he always does that to her knuckles whenever they hold hands.

A-Yuan should say yes, he’s pretty much already has said yes! Okay, not exactly, but close enough anyway. They're always together and so touchy. Ning Yingying is still surprised that they haven't kissed already, especially since they share a room.

So many wasted opportunities!

“I’m a boy.”

“Does that matter?”

Shen Yuan's head shoots up to look at Binghe, clearly offended for some strange reason. And has he really not noticed that A-Luo likes him? How weird.

“Yuan is Yuan.” he says before Shen Yuan can make any sort of rebuttal. Ning Yingying doesn't know why, but this makes A-Yuan let out a surprised laugh.

"Using my words against me," her Shidi grumbles. "Binghe isn't playing fair."

"but it's true. So…"

"So?"

"Do you?"

 After a few seconds, Shen Yuan finally gives Luo Binghe the teeniest tiniest of nods.

“And you like me too, right?” Ning Yingying quickly asks.

Shen Yuan hesitates for a moment, looking between both Ning Yingying and Luo Binghe before he swallows and she has to bite her lip to keep from letting out too loud of a laugh when he nods again.

"That means we can kiss you, right?" she needs him to say yes. It'll only be fun if A-Yuan actually wants to kiss.

Shen Yuan looks back and gapes at her, just like those mushrooms again.

"Right?" she pushes.

She can hear his teeth click together as he finally closes his mouth. This time he doesn't look at either of them, eyes focused on the corner of the room.

After what feels like forever, Shen Yuan shrugs.

…close enough!

Ning Yingying very gracefully scrambles to move in front of Shen Yuan and she hears Luo Binghe inhale sharp gasp as she leans in. She doesn't go for a quick peck, but it's still a simple kiss since she doesn't think they should try anything special right away. Still, the light brush of lips against her makes her smile.

So this is what kissing is like.

It's nice, and she wants to do more, however…it's a good thing she read all those books. Her Shidi-didi really should have borrowed them when she offered. Then he would have known you don't tense up like this while kissing. It was like kissing her hand! Which she maybe sort of might have done once to practice before she felt too silly to ever try it again.

When she pulls back, Ning Yingying is met with Shen Yuan looking all wrinkled with how tightly he's squeezing his eyes shut. She can't help but smile and kiss his nose. It makes his eyes open up to glare at her. She wonders if Shen Yuan is aware of how pretty his eyes are. If he had Luo Binghe's eyelashes, Shizun would truly lock A-Yuan up forever like in some of those stories.

She turns to a stunned-looking Luo Binghe who is still holding onto A-Yuan's hands, which is sweet, and takes his very warm face in her hands and kisses him. Ning Yingying shouldn't be so shocked at how soft his lips are, but it still takes her by surprise. It's a little unfair how plush they are, but whatever, at least only she and Shen Yuan get to know that.

Speaking of which…

Ning Yingying pulls away and pushes Luo Binghe to Shen Yuan, who has officially started to turn purple with how hard he's blushing now.

Ning Yingying watches bemused as they just stare at each other for what feels like forever. She's about to help give them a little shove when Luo Binghe makes a move by letting go of one of his hands to place it on Shen Yuan's shoulder. He keeps it there for a moment before moving up to cup his cheek and A-Luo looks so pretty as he leans in and kisses A-Yuan and okay so he needs to learn to close his eyes.

Her Shidis would be helpless without her!

"Wow, you both really need to practice more." Her words cause them to break apart and glare at her. "A-Yuan, don't be so scrunched up and A-Luo, close your eyes!" she says, pointing at each of them.

"But I-" Binghe starts, but Shen Yuan interprets by pointing back at her.

"Stop acting like you're some expert! Have you ever kissed before?"

"Nope, but I've studied!"

Shen Yuan stops pointing to instead run his hand down his face. "Please tell me you're not talking about those books," he groans, voice muffled by his hand. "There's no way they actually taught you anything."

"More than you know! Here, you're Shijie show you," Ning Yingying declares as she moves back in, putting her hand on his cheek. She must have done that too fast because she feels him flinch, Ning Yingying freezes but doesn't move away. When it seem like he wont pull away she slowly starts to lean in, keeping her eyes focused on his face for any signs of him wanting to stop. Ning Yingying watches as he looks away for a moment before closing her eyes. He's still a little too tense, though. "Relax, Shidi-didi." Ning Yingying whispers, moving her hand to tilt his head while making sure she doesn't touch his hair. A-Yuan grumbles a little but lets her, and this kiss is a lot better. He's still not as relaxed as she would like, but he does eventually kiss her back, even if his movements are a little timid and clumsy.

When she pulls away, Shen Yuan isn't as alarmingly red anymore. His eyes seem a little unfocused before they quickly snap back into clarity and he clears his throat while looking away. She wants to keep kissing him, but that wouldn't be fair to A-Luo, who looks like he might lose it at any moment if he's not kissed. Which is why it doesn't surprise her one bit that when she turns towards him, Luo Binghe quickly moves in to kiss her, but she dodges it.

"You need to close your eyes first, Shidi!" she tells him, which just makes him pout.

"Why?"

"Because it's weird." A-Yuan says for her.

"Yuan!"

"He's right," Ning Yingying ignores how smug A-Yuan starts to look at her saying that. Whatever, she'll pay him back for that later. "So close your eyes."

Luo Binghe continues to pout but does as he's told. While Shen Yuan was slow to kiss her back, Luo Binghe instantly starts moving his lips along with hers and oh! She's allowed to touch A-Luo's hair! Ning Yingying gleefully puts her hand into his curls to help him tilt a little bit more. She loves it when Shen Yuan puts his hair up in a ponytail like this, it always makes his curls extra bouncy. Binghe also slowly starts to move his fingers through her hair It suddenly occurs to her they both have Shen Yuan's braids in their hair. That thought makes her heart feel all warm and fluttery and Ning Yingying can't help but laugh, which, she'll admit, makes it harder to kiss, but Luo Binghe is smiling as well so it's not so bad. As they continue, Ning Yingying gets a little carried away and accidentally pulls too hard on his ponytail while trying to direct him. She would have felt bad if not for the sound Luo Binghe makes, which causes Shen Yuan to make an equally as interesting sound and isn't that amazing!

She pulls away, feeling a little lightheaded, and gets a good look at both of them. Luo Binghe looks just as dazed as Shen Yuan had, maybe even more so, while right now Shen Yuan eyes are so wide and it almost looks like she had just been kissing him instead of Binghe.

They're both so pretty.

"Remember, don't be so tense and close your eyes," she tells them, her voice not really sounding like herself at all right now. It sounds deeper and like she had just run several laps.

Ning Yingying keeps her hand in A-Luo's hair as she moves him towards A-Yuan. She lets her fingers linger in the curls as Luo Binghe wastes no time in kissing A-Yuan with the same enthusiasm he had while kissing her.

It's nice to kiss her Shidis but Ning Yingying is learning that it's just as nice to watch them and oh wow, they're really getting into it. She lets go of his hair and moves to sit where she can get the best view. Ning Yingying can't help but feel awestruck as she sits with her head in her hands, admiring the way Shen Yuan slowly moves his hand to copy what Ning Yingying had done, though he doesn't pull as hard as she had, it still has a similar effect on A-Luo. Ning Yingying feels like she could watch them kiss for hours and...wait a minute! Ning Yingying gasps when she sees a hint of A-Luo's tongue sliding past A-Yuan's lips, which is not fair. Yingying wants tongue too! She quickly scoots even closer to brush one of Luo Binghe's curls over his red ear so she can get a better view.

She watches fully mesmerized as Binghe's tongue keeps sliding in and out of A-Yuan's mouth, causing a lot of drool to drip down their chins. That, and the way Binghe sometimes just shoves all of his tongue into A-Yuan's mouth causing his face to get all scrunched up again, is something they definitely need to work on. Which she will gladly help with.

Sadly, their kiss ends a little too quickly for her liking when Binghe bites his lower lip, making A-Yuan push him back.

"Binghe, don't bite!" A-Yuan yells with a voice that sounds similar to how hers had before. If anything, he sounds even more out of breath.

"He can bite a little." She says, unable to keep the almost dreamy tone from her voice. Ning Yingying knows there can be biting, so many books have mentioned it. At first she thought it was weird, but the more she’d thought about it and read about it, the more it sounded like it would feel good.

"That wasn't a little." Shen Yuan touches his lip. Oh, he is bleeding a little. Well, that can be their next lesson!

Luo Binghe looks like he might start crying, "I'm sorry, I-I don't know why I-"

"It's okay, your Shijie can show you how to bite the right way."

"There shouldn't be any biting." Shen Yuan huffs.

"Yes there should, I'll prove it!"

And she does prove it! She shows them both what she had read about and how you're supposed to bite. Which, how could she ever think this is weird? Each time one of them bit her lip it makes her almost do a full body shiver, and thankfully they notice it, so it keeps happening. 

One thing they all had to get used to pretty quickly was all the weird sounds that came from kissing. It seemed impossible to stop the somewhat embarrassing little breathy or whiny sounds they made or the wet noises their mouths created while kissing. Using tongue is also messier than she thought it would be even after teaching Binghe the right way to do it, but it’s still fun. It felt weird at first to have another tongue touch hers, almost like a tickling feeling but not quite. She finds out pretty quickly that kissing like that makes her heart feel like it wants to fly out of her chest, but in a weirdly nice way. It's beating so hard and that dizzy feeling from earlier just keeps getting stronger. It's almost like what she pictured being drunk would feel like. 

Ning Yingying doesn't know how long they sat there taking turns kissing each other and she honestly doesn't really care. Sure, it was probably long enough for someone to notice, but this was too much fun. Each of their 'lessons' started lasting longer and longer, and she found out a lot of fun information about her Shidis from these 'lessons'.

Once Shen Yuan had finally loosened up and got more comfortable, Ning Yingying noticed he seemed to be fine with her or Luo Binghe taking the lead, but he wasn't as timid anymore. If either she or A-Luo did something he didn't like, he would pull away and tell them or even guide them himself. Once he was happy, he would make a little pleased hum sound and go back to letting them take the lead. It was cute and she very quickly learned that he likes it whenever they suck on his bottom lip. The first time Luo Binghe had done it, Shen Yuan had made such a loud whiny noise it seemed to startle himself so badly that he shoved Luo Binghe away. He could hardly get any words out before she pounced to try it out herself. 

The only thing he really needed to work on was where to put his hands. Sometimes he was good, resting on their shoulders and, occasionally, in their hair. but often he would just let them hover around them. They would end up having to grab his hands to put them somewhere. For fun, Ning Yingying had once placed one of his hands on her chest and A-Yuan jumped back so fast that A-Luo couldn't get away in time, causing the back of Shen Yuan's head to hit him in the chin. Ning Yingying couldn't stop laughing at that reaction until Luo Binghe started kissing her.

Luo Binghe had a bit of the opposite problem at first. He was too enthusiastic. It was fun until both she and Shen Yuan had a bleeding lip and felt a little too slobbered on. But once that issue was settled, kissing Luo Binghe was a little overwhelming. His lips only seemed to get softer each time and the way his tongue would move against her was mind tingly good, even if it was still a little messy. But she was starting to not mind it so much, especially when he had his hands on her hips. Luo Binghe seemed pretty good at that, knowing where to put his hands and exactly how much pressure to use when he would eventually squeeze. It always had a strange effect of making both her and A-Yuan squirm. Though he stayed relatively respectable about where he'd put them. Which was a shame. 

He seemed to enjoy biting the most, something Ning Yingying kind of expected from A-Yuan. When she had voiced that, A-Luo laughed while A-Yuan argued it was different. Ning Yingying wished Shen Yuan would do more biting, but at least Luo Binghe seemed to make up for it. It felt like he couldn't go a few seconds without sinking his teeth into some part of them, especially their necks. That was how Ning Yingying found out that if either of them bite just below her ear, she can make a noise very similar to the one A-Yuan had made.

It was way too much fun kissing them, but watching them was absolutely thrilling. Shen Yuan seemed to melt completely each time they kissed, and she noticed that Luo Binghe was slowly touching his hair more and more. It wasn't enough that Shen Yuan seemed to notice and she really hoped that if he kept doing this each time they kissed, maybe Shen Yuan would be more open to them playing with it. And maybe one day she could also brush it over his shoulder so she could kiss more of his neck, like Luo Binghe did every chance he got. She was a little jealous though. A-Luo wouldn't touch her chest, but he couldn't keep his hands off of A-Yuan's. He nearly had one of his layers pulled off when Shen Yuan had stopped him, mumbling about slowing down before going right back to kissing A-Luo, his hovering hands deciding to go into Luo Binghe's hair. She hoped that A-Luo didn't mind that his ponytail was gone from all the pulling or that his braids had come apart. her hair wasn't as ruined, but Ning Yingying was sure her waterfall braids were a mess now.

Oh well. Maybe they can get Shen Yuan to fix their hair after this.

Right now, she was kissing A-Yuan who is squished between her and A-Luo. She realizes pretty quickly that legs can be annoying and seemed to only get in the way. But she figured it out a solution by straddling Shen Yuan's lap. She can feel Binghe adjust his own legs, sliding them further apart so Shen Yuan is between them. He tensed up at first from this but eventually she can feel how A-Yuan relaxes and leans back against A-Luo's chest. She can also feel one of his hands snake around A-Yuan's middle while Ning Yingying takes one of her own to rest on Binghe's thigh. The muscle twitches under fingers so she squeezes to see if he'll do it again. It works while also making Binghe whine and jump a little and it's a good thing that she had a hand on A-Yuan's cheek to help keep him steady or their teeth might have clicked together from the movement. The last time that had happened, it hurt enough that she nearly cried. Eventually, she feels him relax again and tilt his head a little more so Luo Binghe can kiss his neck better. She helps him move his head a bit before sliding her hand down to rest over his chest, feeling how fast his heart is beating. It makes her want to bite his lip again to see if it effects his pulse so she does and then sucking on it, causing A-Yuan to shiver before he makes a confused hum, followed by a shocked gasp that breaks their kiss. It almost sounds like he was trying to say 'Binghe.'

Curious, Ning Yingying leans back and notices that A-Luo had shifted A-Yuan's hair and robes enough that he could kiss the back of his neck. Ning Yingying takes a moment to admire the view, watching as her Shidi keeps kissing and bitting Shen Yuan's neck. It makes him squirm and the hold A-Yuan has on Ning Yingying's waist tightens. Both her Shidi's lips are so red and slightly swollen from all the biting practice. Their faces are also a pretty color of pink but on A-Yuan it has the fun effect of making his eyes look so green to where they don't seem real, like his eyes really are made of jade. Even with his eyes seemingly permanently half closed right now, she can still see how shiny and green they are.

She can also see now that A-Yuan's blush goes all the way down his neck and nearly touching his chest which is peaking out from his rumpled robes. Ning Yingying can't help but lean in and bite right above his collarbone before moving to kiss A-Luo over A-Yuan's shoulder.

She wonders if this is what that one book meant by 'debauched'.

Of course, just when it seemed like A-Yuan was about to start kissing her neck, the doors slam open. All three of them jump and turn to look at a very stunned Ming Fan. He looks like he got turned into a statue by that one monster A-Yuan had told them about. He's so still that it's kind of funny. He doesn't even look like he's breathing, the only thing moving seems to be his eyes, which just keep getting bigger and bigger. Eventually, his face turns purple so fast that it makes Ning Yingying laugh.

Which has the unfortunate effect of snapping her Da-Shixiong out of his shock. She can hardly tell what he is screaming about, voice getting all squeaky and crackly. Something something virtue, something something clothes and a whole lot of blah blah blah.

They all scrabble to get try to get up but it takes a few tries. Binghe can't get up until she gets off of A-Yuan, which is slowed down by one of her legs tingling from sitting too long while Shen Yuan seems to focus on trying to cover himself up despite the fact there isn't that much skin showing, you're overreacting Shidi. Once they are finally up, Luo Binghe quickly pushes both her and Shen Yuan behind him and Ning Yingying really hopes her Shidis won't pass out with how embarrassed they look.

Despite how calm Luo Binghe's voice is, she can see his ears and neck are bright red while A-Yuan is all crouched down, trying to hide a better behind A-Luo as he keeps attempting to fix his robes with shaky hands. Both of them are so cute she can't help but laugh again.

They didn't reject her.

Not that she was worried about that! Nope! Not at all. Of course, they would want her back.

Her chest feels so warm and bubbly with giddy excitement that she has to grab their hands. Almost right away, she feels A-Luo's thumb brushing over her knuckles while A-Yuan squeezes back as best as he can despite how it probably doesn't feel very nice.

Da-shixiong might punish them, she really hopes that Shizun won't hear about this because who knows what kind of backlash will come from that, but she doesn't have any regrets. No matter what happens, they'll still have plenty of time to practice in the future after all of this blows over.

After all, it won't be long till they can marry.