Just as Chai Xiaomi was immersed in the crisp ringing of the bell.
She didn't notice at all that faint wisps of dark energy were escaping from Wu Li's fingertips. Like slithering snakes, they slowly coiled several times around her slender ankle before silently seeping deep into the silver bell.
"A perfect fit." The corners of his lips slowly curled up, his eyes reflecting her oblivious appearance. His voice was as light as an enchanting whisper: "This way, no matter where you go in the future, I will be able to find you."
Chai Xiaomi raised her eyebrows slightly: "Do you think I'm a cat? Just casually hanging a bell around my neck so it jingles when I jump up and down, and then you can locate me by the sound?"
Wu Li did not answer.
He knelt on one knee by the bed, lowering his eyes to gaze at the silver bell, murmuring in the ancient Miao language as if forming an oath on his lips.
His tone was entwined with a tenderness that bordered on sacrificial, yet it also revealed an inescapable possessiveness.
Chai Xiaomi was bewildered: Calling Youtiao! Quickly translate, what is he saying?
Youyou? Tiaotiao?
Hey bro?
Moshi moshi?
...
The long silence told her that the user she was calling was temporarily out of the service area.
Fine, this broken system had crashed again.
When a person is speechless, they are truly speechless.
"What did you say in the Miao language, Lili?" she couldn't help but ask, feeling that his expression was a bit strange, as solemn as if he had just completed some kind of ritual.
Toward those unknown, ancient, and mysterious things, one always inevitably feels a sense of awe and fear.
"Nothing." After tying the silver bell, Wu Li did not let go of that foot. Instead, he held it gently and examined it carefully. Her foot was small and exquisite, the tips slightly red, and her delicate toes revealed a faint pink luster.
Seeing Chai Xiaomi's expression of disbelief at his perfunctory excuse, he suddenly curled his lips into a smile and changed the subject: "Oh, what I just said was, your foot is very..."
Smelly? Ugly?
In that brief one-second pause, countless nasty words had already flashed rapidly through Chai Xiaomi's mind.
To prevent a heart attack when he said it, she had to prepare herself in advance.
"Cute."
The young man softly uttered this word.
His eyelashes drooped as he knelt by the bed. His large hand held her foot, as devout as if he were supporting a fragile piece of jade.
The tingling sensation from his fingertips made Chai Xiaomi stiffen, and she abruptly pulled her foot back.
Did he... did he take the wrong medicine??
Ivory actually came out of a dog's mouth!?
Does he have a foot fetish!?
Oh, she almost forgot that his character design had a perverted attribute.
Chai Xiaomi froze for a few seconds, belatedly realizing something.
That scene just now, why did it inexplicably resemble a dream she once had...
In the dream, he had asked her in a hoarse voice, "Sister, don't ignore me," and then, bit by bit, kissed his way up from the tips of her toes...
"I, I'm going to sleep! Don't disturb me!"
Chai Xiaomi stuttered, almost bouncing up. She threw herself to the head of the bed and quickly pulled down the bed curtains, drawing them tightly closed.
Then she buried her entire head into the pillow.
Her heart was pounding wildly, the back of her ears burning as if on fire, and her hands clenched the silk mattress pad into a ball from the force.
The sticky and wet sensation on her lips seemed to linger from the previous moment.
He said it was cute...
He said cute, right?
The corners of her lips couldn't help but curl up slightly, but on second thought, her lip line tightened again.
Hmph, what's the use of just saying cute?
Did he say he liked her?
Kissing her without a proper title or justification, not even giving her an explanation.
That hateful, stinky Lili!
Wu Li stared at the slightly swaying gauze curtains until they gradually stilled. He lowered his head and looked at his empty palm.
That inadvertent touch of delicate softness seemed to still linger on it.
As expected of someone who doesn't like to walk, even her feet were as tender as if they were made of tofu.
He slowly closed his five fingers, but a trace of confusion arose in his eyes.
Didn't they all say that young ladies liked being praised by others? But why, when he had just sincerely spoken his true thoughts, did she blush so deeply and fly into a rage out of humiliation?
Her reaction was even much bigger than when he deliberately teased her to make her angry on ordinary days.
That light, fluttering curtain seemed to separate a small world, blocking him outside. Tonight, he couldn't even see her sleeping posture. A touch of loneliness flashed across his deep eyes.
He walked softly into the inner room.
On the low table next to the bathtub was a round bamboo sieve, with half a sieve of jasmine petals left inside. She had specially saved them for him to sprinkle after changing the water.
Wu Li reached into the tub of water she had used, scooping up a petal. The faint fragrance faintly revealed a trace of sweetness. It was clearly the same kind of petal as the ones in the bamboo sieve, but the scent had already become different.
He took off his clothes and slowly sank into the water that had long turned cold.
The icy touch drilled into every pore, but his body seemed to burn slightly.
He continued to sink, letting the petals brush past his cheeks, letting the water wash over the tip of his nose.
It was completely different from the feeling of sinking into the freezing pool of the Gu cave in the past.
This time, he felt he was doomed.
Willingly, he wanted to drown in this pool of petal water tainted with her scent.
He didn't know how long it had been before he surfaced from the water.
A small petal hung fragilely on his long eyelashes. He gently took it off and pressed it against his lips.
Soft, fragrant, carrying a somewhat familiar scent.
He suddenly stuck out the tip of his tongue, rolled that petal into his mouth, chewed it carefully, and then slowly swallowed it.
After bathing, he blew out the candle.
Wu Li silently placed the soft cushion from the chaise longue on the floor next to the bed. After lying down, he habitually stretched out a hand to rest on the edge of the bed, and only then did he close his eyes and fall into a gloomy sleep.
In the middle of the night, he suddenly opened his eyes.
The person on the bed seemed to be sleeping very restlessly, tossing and turning with constant rustling.
That vague whimper just now faintly revealed a bit of unbearable frustration.
He pursed his lips, sat up, stayed quiet for a moment, and quietly lifted the bed curtain.
The weather was already muggy, and she had covered her bed tightly with the curtains, looking as if a ball of fire was suffocating inside.
At this moment, the young girl had her eyes closed, lying spread-eagle on her back on the silk mattress pad. Her sleeping posture really couldn't be considered elegant.
The hem of her skirt had been unconsciously pulled up to the base of her thighs, and her two slender, long legs were exposed outside without any defense.
The young man's cheeks suddenly burned, and he subconsciously averted his gaze.
His gaze eventually fell back on her face.
In her sleep, she seemed to be uncomfortably entangled by the heat. Her brows were tightly furrowed, and her sweat-soaked broken hair stuck clammily to her collarbone and the side of her neck.
Her lips parted slightly, as if she was murmuring something in her sleep.
Wu Li leaned closer, turning his ear to listen:
"So hot... turn on the AC... I want the AC..."
AC?
He raised his eyes to look out the window. It was stuffy inside, but outside it was empty and spacious, with the night breeze blowing gently in bursts.
Earlier, when he was sitting on the roof polishing his bow, he had felt the refreshing coolness.
When the summer heat was hard to dispel at night, wealthy families had cool pavilions and waterside rooms, while ordinary people would set up bamboo beds in front of their doors, or simply lay out a mat and sleep under the open sky.
He lowered his eyes to look at the sweating girl on the bed, leaned over, and gently picked her up.
Only after repeatedly confirming that the detestable white cat was not nearby tonight did the little fox dare to quietly approach the Pavilion of Illusory Sounds.
Just as she always did, she kept Xiaoman company as he finished washing all the chamber pots. After lingering quietly outside his window for a brief moment, she prepared to slip away unnoticed.
The night was deep.
As it leaped gracefully onto a corner of the eaves, it suddenly froze.
The handsome youth who had been crafting a bow under the moonlight was once again sitting on the roof.
Only this time, there was a sleeping girl in his arms—it was the girl named Xiaomi, who had come to its home to ask for a drink of water.
The little fox halted its steps. Crouching with great interest in the shadows of the eaves, it watched them quietly.
The youth sat with his legs apart, his feet braced against the roof tiles. He securely cradled the person in his arms between his knees, letting her rest her cheek against his chest.
With one arm around her shoulders, he gently adjusted her into a more comfortable position. With his other hand, he acted with the utmost patience, taking the sweat-dampened strands of hair clinging to her cheeks and tucking them behind her ear, one by one.
The night breeze fluttered the loose hair across his forehead, his features drifting in and out of the moonlight. In his heterochromatic eyes, where cold gleams of deep purple and amber intertwined, a layer of warmth gradually surfaced.
It was as if a stone had suddenly smashed through a surface of ice, and what bubbled up from the depths of the hole was actually boiling hot water.
At long last, that eternally frozen lake finally rippled.
The little fox could not help but stare, completely captivated.
