Yun Wei stared at me blankly, not knowing what to say.
I took her hand again. This time, I barely used any strength.
Yun Wei looked at my hand. After a long while, she ultimately lowered it again and said, "Yun Mu, no. Big Sister can't harm you. I've already grown used to all this and can bear it myself. Why make you bear it too? Even if it's only once, Heaven and Earth are watching, and all living things are watching. Hiding a secret itself is a burden."
After hearing her out, I sighed.
"I understand." I nodded, then pulled her into my arms and said, "Then I won't say any more about it."
"All right." Yun Wei nodded, but tears soaked into my chest.
Only after a long while did I let her go.
In the days that followed, I no longer took part in creating her small world. I merely stayed silently by her side, sometimes chatting and laughing with her, sometimes bringing up amusing things.
I had experienced too many things, so any random story, taken out on its own, could make her laugh heartily, marvel at the humor in it, or empathize with the dangers I had faced.
But nothing more intimate ever happened.
It was as if the teasing before had merely been fleeting clouds and passing smoke, no longer existing.
Watching the entire New World take shape according to the blueprint of Yun Wei's inner world, I was actually happy for her too.
Although I no longer read her mind, I knew that Yun Wei was both happy and rather conflicted.
On the day of our parting, we sat atop a cloudstone on a mountain peak, watching the sun gradually rise, our emotions complicated.
I wore loose blue-green clothes and sat lazily with