For a long time after Liang Ge had been turned by Rui Yi, she appeared rather out of sorts.
The next time she saw Rui Yi was at the wedding ceremony of her Senior and Xi Yin. Their ceremony was very unique.
Within a sea of roses, they stood at the centre of a strange formation. The procedure was both complicated and time-consuming.
Liang Ge was watching the ceremony in a daze, so she hadn’t even noticed when someone came to stand beside her.
“This is the blood contract. Only two vampires who really love each other would form it so that they can share their life and death.”Liang Ge was startled from her thoughts and subconsciously turned, only to find a perfect profile behind her.
“It’s you...”
Rui Yi looked at her. “You seem to know me from somewhere?”
From the first time they’d met, her eyes were practically screaming this.
She lowered her head, not knowing how to answer.
Just as Liang Ge was preparing to answer, someone in the distance called out to Rui Yi, who turned around and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
As the bride’s eldest brother, he had to recite blessings for Shi Sheng and Xi Yin before the ceremony ended.Liang Ge watched as he recited words of blessing with a solemn and dignified tone, before finally handing Shi Sheng over to Xi Yin with a serious air.
She didn’t see Rui Yi again after the wedding ended.
There were times when Liang Ge wondered whether or not the person she’d once met really had been just a dream. And Rui Yi...just so happened to look like him.
But that dream felt too real—she could still remember all the details.
That year, she was ten.
Because her parents had been busy with their careers, she always went to and from school alone.
On that fateful day, she’d gotten into a dispute with a schoolmate. Because they were very popular, while she usually didn’t speak very much, everyone helped the other person.
In the end, her textbook had been torn up and her clothes dirtied.
Upon returning home, Liang Ge found the babysitter absent and that she hadn’t brought a key with her, so she was locked outside.
She wanted to go to her parents’ company to look for them, but it started raining heavily on the way there.
For some reason, she squatted down and started sobbing, feeling very wronged.
“Why are you crying?”
She could hear someone speak.
Something had blocked the rain from falling on her at some point, as watery curtains streamed down all around her. She lifted her head slightly. With eyes blurred from tears, she saw a very good-looking boy standing beside her, an umbrella in his hands.
“Why are you crying?” The boy asked once more.
Perhaps it was because she felt quite wronged, for her tears —nearly under control—started falling once more. “They tore my textbook.”
The face of the ten-year-old Liang Ge was so fair and tender, like one could squeeze out water of it with a pinch. Thus, her current aggrieved crying would probably pull at the heartstrings of anyone watching.
The boy suddenly squatted down. His face was clearly very clean, but a hint of a wicked smiled played at his lips. “Want to bully them back?”
“C-can I?” Liang Ge foolishly stared at the boy. The cause of the dispute hadn’t been her fault, so she felt very wronged. Hence, when she heard he could bully them back, she immediately forgot about crying.
“Of course. But you’d have to give me something in exchange.” The boy nodded.
“I-I have...” Liang Ge pulled her dirty schoolbag in front of her and rummaged around before pulling out some girls’ toys and presenting them to the boy.
But he merely smiled and shook his head. “That won’t do.”
“Then what do you want?” Liang Ge immediately raised her awareness. She glanced at her surroundings. At some point, it had turned completely deserted, leaving her alone with this boy and the unceasing rain.
“Your blood.” The boy’s eyes seemed filled with starlight as they shone with a brilliance one couldn’t look away from. “Just one mouthful.”
“Blood?” Liang Ge looked at her arm. “But...it’ll hurt a lot.”
“No it won’t.” The boy suddenly neared her. “I know magic. It won’t hurt at all. If you let me drink a mouthful of your blood, I’ll help you teach those bullies a lesson. It’s a fair trade.”
Liang Ge bit her lip. After a lengthy consideration, she actually nodded.
Thinking back on it now, perhaps the reason why she hadn’t felt guarded against him was because he had been too good-looking.
He moved closer to her. She could feel something cold and sharp press against her neck. Before she had time to feel fear, pain numbed her nerves.
She could hear the distinct sounds of slurping and gulping. He had definitely taken more than a mouthful of blood.
Soon though, she felt excitement bubble up.
When he released her, she rubbed her neck and found no wound there. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at him. “You’re a vampire, aren’t you? Vampires really exist!”
The boy appeared to have been caught off guard by her reaction. At that moment, he had probably been wondering whether or not he’d scared her silly. For his expression was so priceless, it still brought a smile to Liang Ge’s face whenever she recalled it.
The boy really did help her teach the bullies a lesson.
But being drenched while suffering from blood loss caused her to come down with a fever the moment she got home. By the time she woke up, the memories of that period had gone a bit fuzzy. She asked her parents whether or not they’d seen a very good-looking big brother. She even told them he was a vampire.
But her parents thought it had just been the fever speaking. They told her vampires weren’t real, that it had just been a dream.
They felt very guilty about this. Ever since then, no matter how busy her parents were, they would always make sure at least one of them made time to care for her.
Liang Ge didn’t believe her parents, but she really never saw that guy again. It was as if it really had been just a dream. A dream that she had met the vampire she liked the most.
“You seem a bit off lately. Want to talk to me about it?”
Liang Ge turned to look at the person who was walking towards her. She jumped off the windowsill and softly called out to her, “Senior.”
“Does it have something to do with Rui Yi?”
Liang Ge nodded hesitantly. She’d kept this to herself for too long. Now that Shi Sheng was asking, Liang Ge soon told her everything.
After hearing Liang Ge’s story, Shi Sheng merely smiled and patted her head. “Then you must’ve gotten it wrong; Rui Yi never left the territories before, because he’s the eldest and thus wasn’t allowed to.”
A hint of disappointment flashed in Liang Ge’s eyes. ‘I got it wrong after all?’
“But Rui Yi had a younger brother called Rui Xue... I don’t know if he’s the one you met, but he’s already dead.”
‘Rui Xue...
That’s right! That guy told me before...his name was Rui Xue.’
Rui Xue as in timely snow[1].
“How...how did he die?” ‘Such a good-looking guy is dead?’
Shi Sheng shook her head. “I don’t know. Godfather never told me, and Rui Yi never talked about it. Never mention this matter to Rui Yi, understand?”
Liang Ge dumbly nodded.
“Gotta look towards the future. Rui Yi’s pretty good.”
Liang Ge’s face turned red. “Senior, what are you talking about?”
“Nothing.” Shi Sheng laughed as she left.
In actual fact, Shi Sheng knew the reason why Rui Xue had died.
Rui Xue had only just come of age when he sneaked out of the territories. By the time Ke Er and Rui Yi found him, he was already dead. He’d died at the hands of vampire hunters.
No one knew what had really happened.
But Shi Sheng reckoned she shouldn’t tell Liang Ge this.
[1] The original was 瑞雪 which according to google translate means timely snow. Because in Chinese, a bunch of words with different meanings have the same pronunciation, they usually clarify which character their name is by attaching another word that will help the listener identify. This case was a bit confusing because the same example was used for both characters so I cut it down so it wouldn’t confuse you.
