"Do you know how much effort I've put in all these years? Useless. Useless. Still useless."
"I didn't know what to do anymore. I truly didn't know what to do anymore. And now, you've awakened."
"I waited far too long for this moment. Far too long."
Zhuge Yun wept aloud, utterly heedless of his image. Over these hundreds of thousands of years, if not for the obsession still clinging to his heart, he would have collapsed long ago.
At that moment, all the emotions he had suppressed for so long burst forth at once.
Yet then, Zhuge Yun seemed to sense something above his head. He slowly looked up and saw Nangong Yunlan resting her hand atop his head, forcing a smile onto her face.
She had exerted all her strength to control this body, solely to comfort Zhuge Yun.
Zhuge Yun seized Nangong Yunlan's hand and pressed it against his chest.
"Yun'er, how are you? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"
Zhuge Yun asked anxiously. Nangong Yunlan shook her head hard, several tears still lingering at the corners of her eyes.
"It's good that you don't. Good that you don't."
"Yun'er, don't move. Rest first and conserve your strength."
After saying that, Zhuge Yun plopped down beside Nangong Yunlan, both hands clutching hers tightly without the slightest relaxation, as though the moment he let go, he would never be able to find her again.
"Tell... tell... a... story."
Nangong Yunlan's lips moved, and with tremendous difficulty, she forced out a few words. Zhuge Yun wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and began telling a story through choked sobs.
Yun'er had always loved hearing him tell stories. Every time he returned from wandering abroad, he would tell stories to coax Yun'er to sleep.
Back when Yun'er had been