The Greatest Distance

"Was it for my sake?" Gu Yue suddenly asked, a faint blush rising to her cheeks.

"Why would you say that?" Meng Li was baffled. This little girl doesn't think I like her, does she? Should I lie, or honestly say there's a tiny bit?

"..." Gu Yue clenched her teeth and closed her eyes, letting the sea breeze cool the burning sensation on her face and calm her heartbeat. She said nothing more.

After the final exams came the long-awaited vacation. On the night before the break, Meng Li had planned to grab something simple to eat when Gu Yue entered his dorm room carrying a case of Wheat Wine on her shoulder.

For their farewell dinner, Meng Li went out to buy some good food. He had originally planned to invite Xie Xie and Tang Wulin as well.

But Gu Yue refused, saying the two of them did not understand alcohol. The two of them ended up making a whole tableful of dishes.

Gu Yue could drink and counted as a proper drinking buddy. They chugged bottle after bottle, quickly emptying the entire case. Meng Li went out and bought two more cases.

By the end, Meng Li was crying like a child while hugging Gu Yue's skirt, repeatedly muttering Na'er's name.

Gu Yue had drunk too much as well, revealing a gentle side. Perhaps her maternal instincts had flared up, because she stroked Meng Li's back and kept comforting him.

"Gu Yue... Yue, it would've been great if you were eight years older."

"Why?" Gu Yue asked in confusion.

"No reason!"

"You like me?"

"I don't know. Mm, maybe just a little. Only a tiny little bit. You're so good to me..."

"Really..."

"Then do you like Na'er more, or me?"

"Na'er, I guess..."

"If one day I'm no longer around, would you miss me...?"

"Where are you going?" Meng Li asked, his face red.

"...Then choose between me and Na'er."

"Choose my ass. I'm not choosing!"

"Ah-choo, it's so cold!" Meng Li sneezed and slowly opened his eyes, only to find himself lying on the floor.

Gu Yue and I seem to have drunk quite a lot last night. Meng Li looked at the uncleaned dishes, bottles, and cans on the table, then at Gu Yue, who was sleeping peacefully on the floor under his blanket.

As if sensing movement outside, her long lashes fluttered. She slowly opened those especially beautiful black eyes.

"You slept here all night yesterday!" Meng Li said.

"Mm." Gu Yue rubbed her eyes, utterly calm, as if it were only natural.

"Do you remember what you said last night?"

"I think I said something I shouldn't have yesterday." Meng Li sighed.

"I seem to have embarrassed myself to death again..."

"You said you liked me," Gu Yue said thoughtfully.

"That never happened. Heh heh, impossible." Meng Li stubbornly denied it. This time, he did remember what he had said last night. He had indeed said it, but admitting it was impossible.

"I'm hungry. I want to eat the noodles you make." Gu Yue did not press the matter further. With her hands behind her back, she headed to her room to prepare for a bath.

Eastsea Academy had officially begun its winter break today. While they ate, Gu Yue said she was going home today.

She had promised Meng Li that she would return early before school started so they could celebrate some kind of New Year. She was not sure what it was.

After Gu Yue left, the school suddenly became quiet.

Should he cultivate, or do something else? Meng Li decided to cultivate. He still remembered what Gu Yue had said yesterday.

What if one day I'm no longer around? In novels, words like that usually meant someone was about to get killed off. As for how, he had no idea. To avoid getting killed off, he could only work hard at cultivating.

Going out to search for fortuitous encounters clearly would not work. There were so many people in the world, and everyone cultivated step by step. Fortuitous encounters were not so easily found.

Taking a deep breath, Meng Li sat cross-legged and began to meditate. Since everyone was on break, there was twice as much Light Element Soul Power around him as usual, and his cultivation speed doubled.

On the tenth day of vacation, he broke through to Rank 51, taking another step closer to Rank 100.

That day was inexplicably cold and overcast. Meng Li cultivated as usual when he suddenly caught an extremely familiar fragrance. It belonged to Na'er.

"Na'er, are you here?"

He hurriedly got to his feet and opened his door. Light shone into his eyes. Nothing around him had changed; the lonely campus still had only him on it.

Meng Li's excited mood sank, but the fragrance had not disappeared. He began searching everywhere, unwilling to give up until he found its source.

From afar, Na'er secretly watched Meng Li's every movement. Her little hand gently covered her mouth, tears dampening her face as she answered in her heart:

I'm here. I'm here. I've always been here.

I'm sorry. Please forgive Na'er.

Na'er kept watching as Meng Li searched this city like his life depended on it. He searched everywhere nearby, bumped into quite a few people, and was cursed at as a little lunatic.

Na'er, calm down. You can't go to him. You'll harm him. Again and again, Na'er forced herself to calm down.

There was no greater distance in life than this: the person you loved was right before your eyes, yet you could not acknowledge each other!

Just then, snow began to fall from the sky!

People on the streets raised their umbrellas! The entire world seemed to be covered in snow.

"It's snowing. Something that only happens once every few decades. This winter is especially cold," a passerby remarked.

"It's time to go. You've seen him already!"

At some point, a red umbrella had appeared over Na'er's silver hair. Beside her stood a beautiful woman in her early twenties.

"Can I go say just one thing to him?" Na'er's eyes were full of pleading.

"Don't push your luck."

Na'er stared at Meng Li's figure for a long time, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and took a deep breath.

"Let's go!"

"Human emotions really are strange. They clearly hurt so much, yet they still insist on meeting!"

The woman murmured to herself as she followed behind Na'er.

The fragrance vanished. Meng Li stood in the snow until late at night, covered from head to toe in snow. He returned to his dorm in disappointment, took a hot bath, and lay on his bed, recalling an experience from his previous life.

A roadside stall.

On a whim, Meng Li had asked an old fortune-teller to read his future, but the result had been far from satisfying.

"Old man, you say I'll have the fate of a lonely star in my next life, that I'll be an orphan in the future. Aren't you afraid I won't pay you?"

"Everyone knows people only have this life. Where would a next life come from?"

"Heaven's secrets cannot be revealed!"

"Say something nice, and I'll give you a hundred!"

"You have the fate of a lonely star. Your life will be filled with hardships and disasters."

"Old man, are you trying to piss me off on purpose? Don't expect a single cent."

"A monk does not lie. If you don't pay, you'll never find a wife!"

"You..."

"You're a sensible boy after all. In your next life, you'll definitely marry a wife who cares for and loves you, and your family will live happily together."

"I wonder if that old Taoist from my previous life was telling the truth. A family living happily together..." Meng Li closed his eyes on the bed and drifted into sleep.

In his dream, he saw Na'er. They went to an amusement park, went to school together, ate a grand meal together, watched a movie they both liked, and blew out the candles for their tenth birthday.

Outside the room, Na'er, covered in snow, pressed her little hands against the window. Her purple eyes gazed at the sleeping figure inside.

"Big Brother!"

"I knew you would come back!"

Behind her came the woman's quiet reprimand.