As soon as the call connects, Yiyang says, “Hey, Liu Xiening, I have a few bones to pick with you.”

Xiening feels sweat bead at her temple. “Uh, what?”

“How could you kiss Yifan and cling onto Yijin like that?” Yiyang says with a cute scowl.

“I’m sorryyyyyy,” Xiening says, giving the pout she knows Yiyang can’t resist. As expected, Yiyang softens but then puts her chin in the air with a ruffled look.

“You’re—canoodling with all the Yis except for me.”

“Don’t be jealous, Yangyang. You know you’re the yi^[1] of my life.”

Yiyang grins. “If I’m the yi, you’re the ling^[2], right?”

“Hey!” Xiening says indignantly. “I’m the crown prince and you’re the crown princess, remember? You’re my wife.”

“Of course I am,” Yiyang says softly, and warmth floods through Xiening, filling her veins and settling into her very marrow.

“Yangyang… I miss you.” Xiening is aware she probably looks pathetic and lovesick right now, but she can’t bring herself to care. That’s what she is, anyway, and there’s no need to hide it in front of Yiyang. There’s no need to hide anything in front of Yiyang.

Yiyang swallows. “I miss you too.” She raises her hand as if she wants to Xiening’s hair or pull her head against Yiyang’s shoulder, and Xiening ducks her head against the screen like she can do so. “But we’ll see each other soon, okay?”

“Will we?” Xiening can’t help but ask, her voice cracking at the end.

“Of course,” Yiyang says. “I have to visit my little yellow duck, right?”

“Right,” Xiening laughs.

“Keep him safe until I can reclaim him.”

“When are you going to reclaim me?” Xiening blurts out, and as soon as she says it her face goes hot.

She can see Yiyang’s face turning red too. Yiyang opens and then closes it, looking too flustered to speak, but then her jaw sets and she says in a low voice, “I don’t need to reclaim you because I know you’re mine. And you know I’m yours.”

Xiening swallows and has to close her eyes for a moment, soaking in the words, revelling in them, the certainty in the words, the trust and the slightest hint of possessiveness that makes her bones hum.

I know you’re mine. And you know I’m yours.

“I do,” she murmurs.

“So next time you’re out there kissing and clinging onto other girls, don’t forget that!” Yiyang adds, the scowl returning, not the slightest bit menacing despite her best efforts.

Xiening bursts into laughter. She knows that Yiyang isn’t really the jealous type, she just plays it up because she knows Xiening finds it cute and amusing, but if she wants to play this game Xiening can play along too.

“How about you? You were all clingy with Zhenyu at the Gucci event. Do I have to worry about my two wives running away together?”

“Your two wives?” Yiyang repeats with an arch of her brow. “Is there something I should know about?”

Xiening’s survival instincts kick in. “Err…my wife and our lovely mutual friend?”

Yiyang is the one to burst out laughing this time. “Our lovely mutual friend asked about you.”

“What did you say?”

“I said that you’re doing well. That you’re happy.” Yiyang looks at her as if checking her expression. “Right?”

Xiening’s heart aches a little, but she says, “Right,” and she does mean it, even if… Well. “I should catch up with Jiangjiang. I’ve just been so busy.”

“I know,” Yiyang says gently. “She doesn’t hold that against you.” She adds, in a lighter voice, “Ruyun might, though, she’s been bugging me that you never talk to her but you talk to me. She says that goes against the bro code.”

Xiening gives a lopsided smile. “My wife has to be my number one priority, right?”

Yiyang gets that shyly pleased look that makes Xiening’s heart do a tap dance. “Your yi,” she says with a wink that, bless her heart, looks more like a mismatched blink.

“My one,” Xiening says, and oh fine, she’ll let Yiyang win the one vs. zero debate this time. That’s what a good husband would do, after all.

A/N: [1] Yi = 一 or 1, a pun on the Yi (艺) in Yiyang’s (and Yijin’s and Yifan’s) name

[2] Ling = 零 or 0. In Chinese slang terms, 1 means the top and 0 means the bottom. Chinese fans jokingly call them 徐1洋 (Xu 1yang) and 刘些0 (Liu Xie0), because the last character of their names sound close to yi and ling, respectively.

Don't forget when Sun Ruyun called herself the emperor and said Yiyang would be one of her concubines, and Xiening demanded, “Did you ask my permission?” and Ruyun immediately changed to saying Xiening is the crown prince and Yiyang is the crown princess instead hahaha she doesn’t want to risk Xiening’s wrath.