"...What are you doing?"
"Letting you take a bite."
"If you want to feed me blood, using a sword would hurt less." Pei Ye smiled. "Otherwise, once I bite, you'll start yelling again and wake Qu Xin and Xianfang."
"I was talking to the little cat."
"..."
The black cat had entered the hall at some point and now leaped lightly onto Pei Ye's shoulder. Its teeth were sharp indeed: a gentle press left two tiny red dots on her wrist.
Then it bit Pei Ye as well, leaving the blood in his body.
"Now we've linked ourselves with a ribbon." Li Xizhou lowered her hand and took his wrist, saying softly, "Let's go."
She walked ahead, leading Pei Ye out of the Bedchamber behind her. As she pushed open the door, Pei Ye suddenly felt a moment of disorientation-the sounds of wind and rain seemed to blur. They stood beneath the eaves as windblown rain slanted in and soaked the curtain's hem. Pei Ye looked at the courtyard and froze.
The Vermilion Mirror Hall before his eyes was not the one he knew. It was brand-new and empty; the only thing that remained the same was that this was a rainy morning in early spring.
In all of Vermilion Mirror Hall... in the whole world, there seemed to be only the two of them.
"You-you can enter the Spirit Realm now?" Pei Ye asked in surprise. "How-how can you bring me in too?"
But his question received no answer. Li Xizhou held his wrist and pulled him toward the eaves.
"It's still raining. Get an umbrella."
"Don't you like getting rained on?"
"Aren't you afraid of the cold?"
"Not anymore." Li Xizhou hopped lightly down the steps and stood in the rain, narrowing her eyes in contentment as she