The teahouse was plunged into silence. Jing Yi stared at the person kissing him with his eyes almost crossing. Just what did Qiu Ling think he was doing there?! He wanted to push him away or maybe slap him to make him stop but … he couldn’t bring himself to do so. Hadn’t Qiu Ling stepped in so that he wouldn’t need to marry? Well, it had turned out to be a misunderstanding but he hadn’t known that before. In that case …

Jing Yi pulled back, reached up and put his fingers against Qiu Ling’s lips to stop him. "You’re making a fuss over nothing. I won’t get married and you don’t need to either. Isn’t everything alright then?"

Qiu Ling happily held onto his beloved’s reincarnation. Ah, he hadn’t scolded him! That had to mean his kiss was welcome, right? He really wanted to have another go at it to make sure but he didn’t dare to. If he was too direct, he might scare his beloved away. So in the end, he could only smile sheepishly. "What are you saying? Aren’t we going to get married?"

Jing Yi’s lips twitched. If he remembered correctly, he still hadn’t agreed to that, had he? But, well, that certainly wasn’t something he wanted to discuss in the teahouse in front of all these people.

Before he could find a way to dissuade him from continuing to act like this, Guanyu jumped out again, trying to pull Jing Yi away from Qiu Ling. "How could you do this to me?! I thought you were my cousin, part of my family! Shouldn’t you support me? How could you steal the love of my life?!"

Her father raised a hand and silently calculated which love of her life this was. The fourth? The fifth? It seemed there had been that blond boy before this one, then Jing Yi himself, before that, it had been Shao Hai, and then there had been that boy from next door whose family left the capital, making Guanyu cry for three hours before she forgot about him. Ah, this would probably be old news soon as well. He really didn’t want to have to hear a commotion at home every day because Guanyu was arguing with her cousin about who would marry his senior martial brother.

Qiu Ling glared at her and then simply turned around, pulling Jing Yi with him so he could continue to be affectionate with him without that girl interfering all the time. Mn, life was great!

Jing Yi smiled wryly. Qiu Ling was so … Ah, he couldn’t even find words to describe it. He just shouldn’t expect him to somehow ease the situation.

Guanyu also wasn’t willing to give it a try. She rushed around the two of them, once again attempting to pull Jing Yi away. This was the man she had decided to marry! How could she let somebody else cling to him so shamelessly? This wasn’t going to happen! Not while she was around! He might try to seduce him behind her back but definitely not right in front of her! Who did he take her for?

Qiu Ling pursed his lips and once again turned around. Hmph, if this girl wanted to continue, he didn’t have a problem with it. As long as he could hug his beloved all was well. Mn, it was just a pity that he couldn’t continue to kiss him …

Jing Yi noticed Qiu Ling’s gaze turning thoughtful and couldn’t help but fear what would happen next. The situation was already embarrassing enough. He didn’t want it to turn even worse. Unfortunately, he didn’t know what to do. He might at most be able to dissuade Qiu Ling from doing anything but that likely wouldn’t convince Guanyu and the woman at the table. In the end, he could only turn to look at his mother for help.

Madam Zhong sighed and then turned to Guanyu. Her son probably had the best chance at dealing with Qiu Ling and she had no idea how to take care of the woman still sitting at the table with a stunned expression. So her best bet was probably this niece of hers. "Guanyu, I don’t think this is the right moment to talk about that. Why don’t we wait with that until we’re home? Isn’t it better to discuss it with just the family around?"

Guanyu furrowed her brows, not really willing to back off that easily. But then she looked at the girl sitting at the table. Right. There wasn’t just her cousin who wanted to marry the love of her life, there was also this one. Even though she felt that her cousin was the bigger problem, it was still better to get rid of the girl first. After all, this one wasn’t from her family. If it was just them, then her parents would definitely give in and ask Jing Yi to give up on his senior martial brother. There was no way they wouldn’t do that for her!

Thus Guanyu finally stepped back. "Fine. Since auntie asked I won’t make a fuss about it. We’ll just talk about it when we’re all home then." She couldn’t help but glare at Jing Yi though. He’d better not try to do anything stupid until then!

Jing Yi smiled wryly and patted Qiu Ling’s arm. "Qiu Ling —"

"Yes, my love?" Qiu Ling was brimming with smiles at being called. Ah, it felt so good to be finally allowed to give voice to his feelings again!

"Uh …" Jing Yi’s lips twitched. "How about letting go first?"

Qiu Ling blinked his eyes and then curled his fingers around the back of Jing Yi’s robe, silently refusing. He finally had him in his arms. Naturally, he wouldn’t let go that easily!

Jing Yi sighed and reached behind him, trying to pull Qiu Ling’s fingers off.

A certain someone didn’t like the thought but holding hands also wasn’t good. Thus he let go of Jing Yi’s waist but clamped his hand shut around Jing Yi’s smaller one. Ah, this also felt very good! "Mn, my love, if you wanted to hold my hand, you just would have needed to say so. There’s no need to be shy between us!"