"The Phantom Tower doesn't open every day, nor on fixed dates. You can look into the exact timing later." Xu Chuo ate a slice of melon. "You have a class at the Imperial College this afternoon. Changsun Jue will introduce you then."
"...Oh." Pei Ye had originally been thinking of not going.
"Then you can take a rest. We'll talk again after you've visited the Phantom Tower." Xu Chuo turned a page.
"All right."
They ate quietly for a while before Pei Ye suddenly looked up. "Oh, right."
"Hmm?"
"What about that story of yours?"
Xu Chuo raised her eyes, momentarily taken aback.
"You said in September's Court Gazette that you were stopping for the month, with no update, and would start a new story in October's National Gazette." Pei Ye looked at her. "It's November already. You haven't left it unwritten, have you?"
"..." Xu Chuo smiled and lowered her head. "It was published on October twentieth. I'll give you a copy in a bit."
"Then what about November's?"
Xu Chuo helplessly raised the little booklet in her hand. "Isn't that what I'm revising?"
Pei Ye's eyes lit up, and he rubbed his hands. "Well... could you let me have a look first?"
"No."
"..." Pei Ye pursed his lips and reluctantly looked away, though the thought that he still had October's installment to read offered some consolation.
But just then, Xu Chuo suddenly propped her chin on her hand and looked steadily at him without speaking.
"What is it?"
"Would you-" She seemed unusually hesitant, but asked anyway. "Like to write it with me?"
"...What?" Pei Ye seemed not to have heard clearly.
The woman raised her hand and waved the little book. "This story has only just begun with an opening everyone knows. We could write the