Yan Qing narrows her round eyes at the bandage Ling Tong had when he arrived and Ling Yi bursts into peals of laughter at the sight of the young man's condition. Counting out Ling Tong, Yan Qing and Ling Yi are Yu Yi's closest friends in Wu and Ling Tong likes to drink with them. Ling Yi is particularly fond of alcohol for it makes her forget her troubles and makes her happy while for Yan Qing, she seldom gets drunk so she is drinking to test her own limits.
Most often or not, Ling Yi would bring her share of alcohol to their usual hangout to relax and Yan Qing is in-charge of the food which goes along with the alcohol.
"You got that from Yi?" Ling Yi snickers at the sight of Ling Tong's injury.
"I was off-duty in the day but I've heard it from Wan Ning. You told her that you got the wound from wrestling." Yan Qing works as one of the medics for Sun Shang Xiang's special all-ladies' unit. Whenever Ling Tong gets wounded by Yu Yi, he would be sneaking over to Yan Qing's side to patch up the wound.
"Che, she never learns." Ling Tong scoffs, pouring wine into a bowl before offering it to Ling Yi.
"You should learn to know when it's inappropriate to tease her." Yan Qing tells him, bringing food out from the basket.
"Come on, don't get so upset now, Gongji! Have a drink!" Ling Yi smiles at Ling Tong who looks at her and sighs before taking a sip of the wine in his bowl.
Looking at Ling Yi reminds him of Yu Yi.
And that damned stool.
Well, Yu Yi and Ling Yi look similar to each other since young. They have similar builds, heights and even their skin color is similar to each other. Ling Yi is fairer of the pair with softer features; she rounder and brighter eyes, a smaller nose and smaller lips than Yu Yi.
In fact, Ling Yi had been coined as a lady whose beauty is comparable to Lord Sun Ce's wife, Da Qiao.
Coupled with her discreet, fun-loving and outgoing nature, she has men chasing her skirt almost on a daily basis. Even Sun Shang Xiang was worried that she might lose one of her best fighters a little too soon. Yes, Ling Yi serves under Lianshi as one of Sun Shang Xiang's armed ladies-in-waiting.
He is looking forward to the day Yu Yi duels against Ling Yi though; it might be a spectacle to watch these two ladies at each other's throats to ease him of his annoyance. He is pretty sure that given his current condition, he would be rooting for Ling Yi.
"Why are you so pissed?" he hears Yu Yi.
"WHY? YOU? Asking me WHY?" Ling Tong snaps at his friend who almost cracked his skull earlier in the day. Then he notices that she looks a lot more worn out than usual.
Ling Yi and Yan Qing were pretty worried when they saw her like this.
"What happened? You look like you've lost your soul." Ling Yi asks her friend who lets out a long sigh at that while taking a meat bun.
"Mindfuck." She replies, taking a bite out of the meat bun. "Total mindfuck."
"That's karma." Ling Tong scoffs, filling up his bowl again.
"It's that bad? Do you need some medicine for it?" Yu Yi shakes her head upon hearing Yan Qing's question. "Massage? I've learnt something new."
"Yan Qing, please avenge this for me." Ling Tong points to the bandages wrapping his head when she walks over to Yu Yi. The latter stuck her tongue out at him but she was visibly relaxed when Yan Qing's hands were on her shoulders to loosen her up.
One thing though, Yu Yi has almost zero alcohol tolerance so she does not touch any alcohol at all during such gatherings. Ling Tong could remember what happened when she drank for the first time; it was rather fun to watch Yu Yi vomiting all over the people he dislikes but the aftermath was another thing. His father and he had trouble helping her into bed because she was bordering uncontrollable for them both.
"So what really happened?"
"Lord Zhou Yu told me that what I came up was not that bad but he gave me more assignments to complete…I need a breather…I'm going crazy…ahh…there, Yan Qing, that spot!" she lets out a moan when her friend hits that sore spot on her shoulder. "But the due date's pretty manageable. So good…"
Ling Tong averts his eyes from Yu Yi at that to continue drinking.
"We'll be getting our days off soon! Let's go out!" Ling Yi exclaims at that.
"I agree to that too! I missed the beef noodles outside!"
"The dessert store…" Yu Yi licks her lips upon thinking of all the desserts.
"All the handsome men…" Ling Yi chirps, raising her empty bowl. She is getting tipsy. Yu Yi nods in agreement to that.
"Yeah! The hot guys!" she laughs and Ling Tong clears his throat at this.
"Mr Yu, did you call me?" Yu Yi frowns at this.
"I'm not interested in bed wetters." Ling Tong was about to hit her when she adds in, "But I would like to know if you'll go with us." She smirks. Ling Tong sighs at that.
For one, he has a lot of reports to do.
Another, he had been made fun of by other officers that he had been spending too much time with these three ladies. There were times whereby they even teased him that he is going to lose his masculinity if he spends too much time with them. Whatever it is, he is sure that he would not be free for a period of time when these three are going outside.
"You ladies enjoy yourselves. I would give that a pass." Ling Tong had heard from his father that they would be participating in a battle in a few days; Yu Yi is off-duty and Ling Cao regards her as his own child and he seldom lets Yu Yi participate in the battles.
In fact, she had always accompanied Zhou Yu at the strategist tent as training. Ling Tong could count the number of battles she had participated at the frontlines with his hands; that says a lot about her time spent under Ling Cao. This is why she never gotten as skilled as Ling Yi in martial arts at all; Yu Yi had never put much of her moves into practice on the of the time, she practices her moves on Ling Tong.
Then the wound on his head reminds him that she might be getting better without him knowing.
Whatever it is, Ling Tong is rather envious of the fact that she gets to rest while he is slogging off in the office.