diff --git a/Cython/Utility/StringTools.c b/Cython/Utility/StringTools.c
index 381a79dcc7c34d92ad65b0b63cb6eb4381d3eb40_Q3l0aG9uL1V0aWxpdHkvU3RyaW5nVG9vbHMuYw==..02fd67565175b728c12b855299fb1200c0c55690_Q3l0aG9uL1V0aWxpdHkvU3RyaW5nVG9vbHMuYw== 100644
--- a/Cython/Utility/StringTools.c
+++ b/Cython/Utility/StringTools.c
@@ -561,7 +561,7 @@
     else if (stop > length)
         stop = length;
     if (stop <= start)
-        return PyUnicode_FromUnicode(NULL, 0);
+        return __Pyx_NewRef($empty_unicode);
 #if CYTHON_PEP393_ENABLED
     return PyUnicode_FromKindAndData(PyUnicode_KIND(text),
         PyUnicode_1BYTE_DATA(text) + start*PyUnicode_KIND(text), stop-start);