It was the next morning when they emerged from the room in search of sustenance. Even then, it was mostly feng jiu who required the food, sleep, and water for nourishment. The old rock could go centuries without any form of nutrition or sleep. So, she had to finally fake getting unconscious for him to let her up and out. Still, when she had gone to take a bath, he had followed behind like a tiger, on the hunt for his prey and the prey he had definitely gotten. So after another tryst in the bath, she finally dragged him towards the kitchen in search of food. Finding them fruits and basic preparations for breakfast, she made a small spread for them. for feng jiu, what had been a small spread was actually a long table fully laden with food of a large variety. Donghua had already seen this gluttonous side of hers before but it had been a long while since he got to experience it firsthand. He leaned on his hand as he watched feng jiu eat with enthusiasm and gusto. This love for food, he had only ever seen on her. Her dedication to food was unique and commendable. She fed others with as much love as she loved to eat herself.

When feng jiu turned to grab more food, she saw donghua leaning against his hand and watching her. Perplexed at why he was not eating himself, she wracked her brains until she remembered the promise, she had made him the other day to feed him whenever he wanted and whatever he wanted. She thought, he must want me to feed him and didn't know how to say it; he still struggles so much on asking for such small things. Feng jiu shook her head to herself as she smiled and got up from her side of the table to move to his'.

Donghua watched as feng jiu came to sit by his side. She picked up a honeyed apple slice from the table and brought it to his mouth, urging him to eat it. the reason behind her action was unknown to him but he didn't want her to stop so, he quietly ate it. As she went to pick up another slice, he picked her up and rearranged her small body into his lap. After he made sure she was comfortable, he opened his mouth indicating for her to keep feeding him. feng jiu continued to feed him but slowly heard her own stomach growl. Since she had not yet completed having her breakfast before she moved to feed him, she was still very much hungry.

She thought she was the only one to hear her stomach growl when in fact the opposite was true. Her stomach had growled so loud, donghua was sure, the lei niao's would have also heard it. amused, he also started to feed her. Though feng jiu was shocked at this turn in the situation, she never did turn away food, so she ate happily while she fed him.

As the breakfast came to an end, feng jiu fed donghua the last slice of the honeyed apple. Pulling her hand back, she saw the honey sticking to the top of her fingers and thinking nothing of it, she licked her fingers. Donghua was hyper-focused on her every move as he always had been whenever she was in the vicinity. His eyes traced the movement of her fingers from his mouth to hers, slowly licking away the honey on them. before she could retreat her fingers back, donghua captured her hand in a stronghold and bringing her fingers to his mouth, he kissed the top of her index finger, then the middle finger, ring finger and little finger. He went kissing and licking very inch of her fingers, leaving behind no trace of honey.

Feng jiu's heart was beating too fast under his careful ministrations. She watched as he slowly dragged up his head to look at her. Placing her hand on the back of his neck, he directed all his attention towards the small drop of honey that was left on the edge of her lips. His face moved forward with his lips attaching themselves on to the edge of her lips. her breathing was rampant as she struggled to control her moans that threatened to escape.

"donghua, I... I think it's clean now," she whispered.

Not letting her go, he sucked the skin harder into his mouth before pressing a tender kiss to it, as he said, "I don't think it is jiu'er. I think it is still very very dirty along with many other places on you." His eyes glittered with an evil glint as he went to task on cleaning up every inch of her personally.

By dusk, feng jiu was sore and tired. As she rested, donghua , moved towards the connected study. Settling down, he compressed the space from there to tai chen palace. As expected, his use of space compression magic hadn't been in vain. Two immortals sat comfortably in his study, playing go and drinking tea, while they gossiped freely about him.

"it looks like the old rock forgot completely about us."

"you know that will never happen. But at least we can enjoy this reprieve till his wedding."

"that's true. I hope bai feng jiu keeps doing whatever she is doing. Maybe one day, he will become a little less rock-y and more, you know..."

Donghua though had had enough as he cut in, "no, I do not know, lian song. More what?"

It took Si ming and lian song, a few minutes to comprehend that the voice they heard indeed belonged to the real-life donghua and not their imagination as they turned to see dijun sitting in a white and blue luminescence.

Lian song was so baffled at his presence that he didn't even consider the question donghua asked.

Stammering the only sound that came out of his mouth was a staccato of broken alphabets, resembling the word dijun. Unbridled, donghua said with a straight face, "I will pass on your message to xaio bai but do let me know the ending of that sentence when you find your tongue."

To si ming's awestruck face, he answered, "you were right in your analysis but your inference was completely wrong; there is no reprieve for both of you."

Si ming understood the complexity of the situation they had been caught in, and trying to do damage control, he kowtowed, pulling lian song forcefully down with him.

"We apologize, your majesty. We didn't believe your majesty would grace us with his presence in such a great form."

"that is enough. But what is it that you find so great about this star lord?"

"your majesty, you are using space compression magic. That is a very critical ancient sorcery."

"and?" donghua asked with a bored expression on his face which made it clear to both his generals how tedious this conversation was to the almighty god.

Bowing, si ming profusely apologized, "forgive our foolishness, your majesty. Our young minds tend to run too far."

Donghua gave a brisk nod before he continued, "lian song, go check the island of ash for any evidence of essence or magic of another. I do not believe that a lei niao was able to breakthrough my seal. Something is wrong is there, find out what or who it is."

"si ming, get me a complete report on the actions and reaction of all the lords and nobles that were present yesterday in the court. I want to know their attitude and responses to xaio bai's newfound persona."

"Understood, your majesty." Si ming and lian song bowed while donghua disappeared.

The moment they felt his energy ebbing away, they turned to each other with wide eyes, scandalized at what they had seen.

"did you see..."

"...that huge red..."

"...hickey on his..."

"...neck." Both of them dissolved into fits of laughter at their discovery. In their minds, they might not be able to say anything to his face but they sure can laugh about his love-lost state.

By the time donghua was done with handing out orders to si ming and lian song, he heard the rustling of sheets from the bedroom. Getting up, donghua approached the bed where feng jiu was slowly stirring up. He sat beside her and started caressing her head, "xaio bai, wake up now."

Feng jiu wrinkled her nose and snuggled into his lap for a few more moments of peaceful sleep. He caressed her hair and started coaxing her awake but every time she would just snuggle in deeper in his lap. Slowly, her movements started getting to him. knowing she was still sore from his earlier rendezvous, he warned, "jiu'er, if you snuggle in any deeper, I won't be held responsible for my loss of control."

This sentence sent a jolt of awareness through feng jiu's still lethargic body, shaking her awake. Understanding the hardness of his body that she had accidentally snuggled against, she jerked back, sitting upright. She took in his inexpressive face and the teasing glint in his eyes as she pouted, "don't tease me, dijun."

He pulled her back in his arms and this time snuggled her in his chest as he said, "I said the truth, little fox. And I know you felt it."

Feng jiu looked up at him with the pout still on her face, displeased about being woken up so soon. As she watched, donghua bent down and placed a small peck on her pouty lips. her mouth dropped open at the surprisingly soft kiss. She heard him say, "now, get up and get dressed. You said you wanted to go exploring the island, so we'll do that."

She was still processing his words, when he suddenly bit down on her lower lip, whispering against her lips, "get going, now jiu'er. Before I decide to keep you in here all night long and maybe even for the next day, too."

She squeaked as she got up and ran from the room to the sound of his laughter roaring in the background.