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“I have been told something about your culture,” Ling exclaims as he bursts into the living room, “from which I can’t believe I have been excluded.”
“What thing?” asks Ed from where he sits next to Winry.
Ling collapses onto a chair and then flops his upper body onto the table. “Ms Pinako told me that in this region’s tradition, when someone dates a person from out of their hometown, their partner is thrown into the sheep’s drinking pool.” He makes a dismayed face. “So?”
Ed blinks once, twice.
“You’re saying you want to be thrown into the watering trough?”
“Ms Pinako said they did it to Winry’s girlfriend—“
“They tried,” corrects she, amused.
“—and I’ve been here for two weeks and they won’t do it to me?”
“Well, okay,” Ed begins, turning to look at Lan Fan, who is standing by the door, fretful and struck silent by the horror that she feels at the very idea of her lord partaking in this indignity, “that’s natural. I think they know if they try, Lan Fan will kill them.”
She looks like she wants to nod, but Ling waves the notion away. “I already told her not to interfere.”
“Ling, you’re the heir to the Xingese throne, they probably don’t want to disrespect you,” Winry points out. “Y’know, as an alternative to the trough, you can also invite the bachelors and bachelorettes out to drink.”
Ed snorts. “Yeah, that’s not his thing.”
Ling nods. “I’d like to see them try throwing me into the trough.”
Ed leans back on his chair. He muses out, “If Mustang got wind of this, he’d have a heart-attack.” An evil grin stretches across his face. “Alright, I’ll see if I can convince the guys.”
Ling cheers and hugs Ed’s neck to kiss his cheek.