"When she arrived, I was a little over five. We'd only just met," Ning Qing continued. "At first, she controlled the course of the world. Later, she gradually taught me to do it. But for various reasons, to keep the world from veering toward an uncontrollable, unknowable outcome, she and I kept making subtle adjustments to it from the shadows. At least until I was twenty."
"What do you mean, subtle adjustments from the shadows?"
"We tried not to affect the geniuses who would accomplish extraordinary things in the future, or you and me, in case the outcome took a turn for the worse. And we tried not to cause changes so large that the Predicted Timeline couldn't keep up."
Ning Qing's voice suddenly softened. "I was also afraid that if our lives changed, something beyond my control might happen to our relationship. No matter how small the chance was, I couldn't accept it."
"So while you were beside me, you kept following the original path."
"Esoteric Sect Cultivators can glimpse the future anyway. With or without her, we were always doing that."
"True."
Chen Shu nodded and didn't dwell on it.
They had discussed this long ago.
"When did she leave?"
"When she realized I could take her place... probably not long after we started university." Ning Qing's voice dropped lower. "She was always quiet, even quieter than me. She didn't say goodbye when she left. It was as if one day, she simply disappeared."
"I see..."
Chen Shu raised his head and gazed into the distance.
Their counterparts on the Main Plane had been exactly like them on the Shadow Plane. That Ning Qing would pester that Chen Shu for sour vegetables too. She would solemnly tell him on the train that they should fall in love after