Turning the Accusation Around

Yimo slept deeply and had a dream.

A very, very long dream.

The contents were clearly fantastical.

But for some reason, deep down, he felt as if he had experienced all of it himself.

Later.

He returned to those young, ignorant years.

He and his younger sister squeezed into a rented apartment, living a meager life.

Yimo was still in middle school back then.

At the time, his idea of the future was still very vague.

All he wanted was a decent, stable place to live, enough money to buy his sister some food to build her up, and a pretty outfit to dress her up in. That alone would have made him perfectly content.

Back then, even such simple wishes were hard to fulfill.

One morning.

Ji Ran crawled into Yimo's arms once again.

When Yimo woke up, he found Ji Ran staring into space.

He checked the time. It was only five. Unable to help himself, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Are you not going back to sleep?"

Ji Ran said, "Brother, if you get a girlfriend..."

"Does that mean I can't sleep in your arms anymore?"

Yimo chuckled at that. "You're already this old. Even if I don't have a girlfriend, you shouldn't be crawling into my arms."

Ji Ran looked at Yimo, pressed her lips together, and said nothing.

Ji Ran wasn't much of a talker.

Though Ji Ran still wore a blank expression, Yimo could tell from her little movements that her emotions had stirred. He shook his head and said, "Don't worry. Your big brother isn't going to get a girlfriend!"

"What girlfriend could compare to my little sister?"

A faint glimmer appeared in Ji Ran's eyes. "Sister Complex!"

"Brother, you're great."

"You'll have a girlfriend."

Yimo hurriedly waved his hands. "Hey, your brother's still