Stealing Fragrance, Filching Jade

On a sultry summer night alive with the ceaseless drone of cicadas, Shi Yuning was kissed.

It happened after a lavish palace banquet. She had indulged in a few too many cups of wine and stumbled back to her chambers to sleep it off, only to be boldly taken advantage of by a brazen little palace maid.

Her head swam with drink, dulling her reflexes, so all she managed was to seize the girl’s hand and sink her teeth into it hard.

Shi Yuning was furious. But in the hazy aftermath, a startling realization dawned on her:

She seemed to like women.
***
Two days later, at the Empress’s birthday feast, Shi Yuning found herself seated beside Xie Zhaoran.

Xie Zhaoran was the paragon of grace among the capital’s noble daughters—poised and elegant, with a gentle heart and refined mind. Shi Yuning’s mother had impressed upon her a thousand times over: study well how Xie Zhaoran conducted herself with others.

With little choice in the matter, Shi Yuning propped her chin on her hand and stared idly at the vision of perfection next to her.

She watched as Xie Zhaoran raised her cup from afar in a distant toast to the Empress. Her sleeve slipped back, baring a wrist as smooth and luminous as fine porcelain.

And there, stark upon it, were two faint bite marks.

Shi Yuning blinked.
***
It was only much later—when Shi Yuning lay pinned breathless upon a chaise longue by that same beauty—that the truth came out.

What goddess? What poise?

All of it was just an act!
***
Xie Zhaoran had lived many years in detached purity, her heart untouched by the lures of romance.

That all changed the day the Shi family brought their long-lost daughter—the young lady of the Marquis Mansion, freshly fetched from the countryside—into the palace to pay their respects.

Those wide, innocent eyes blinked up at her, pure and guileless. A shy smile curved her lips, crinkling her eyes into gentle arcs, with the faintest hint of pear-like dimples at the corners of her mouth.

In that instant, Xie Zhaoran’s cool composure shattered. Her mind echoed with a single, relentless refrain:

She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do? She’s so cute—what do I do?