Xie Lan had no choice but to obediently leave.
Wei Yun leaned on the sofa, his eyelids drooping, as he reached up to rub his brow.
Perhaps it was because of the alcohol, so at this moment, his originally cold and pale face gradually took on a faint blush, even the corners of his eyes showed slight red marks.
Xie Tao had never seen him drunk like this before.
But she was also well aware of the potency of the alcohol from Old Xi’s place.
Xie Tao poured a glass of water and handed it to Wei Yun.
Wei Yun took the glass she offered, brought it to his lips for a sip, and then returned it to her.
“Wei Yun?”
Seeing him slowly close his eyes, Xie Tao placed the water glass on the coffee table and then waved her hand in front of him.
Wei Yun barely lifted his eyelids to look at her,
His eyes, tinged with a hint of drunkenness, seemed to gather a sparse mist, his expression appearing somewhat bewildered.
As if he momentarily didn’t know where he was.
He rarely showed such an expression, as if he suddenly retracted all his cold sharpness. At this moment, in Xie Tao’s eyes, he seemed unreasonably gentle.
Xie Tao couldn’t help but reach out to touch his brow.
Wei Yun subconsciously reached out to grasp her wrist, pulling her entire person into his embrace.
The moment Xie Tao was held by him, she smelled a pleasant cold fragrance on him, mixed with a hint of crisp alcohol aroma.
Through the thin fabric, her cheek was pressed against his chest.
At that moment, she seemed to hear the steady heartbeat within his chest.
“Wei Yun…”
After a long period of silence, Xie Tao raised her head and softly called his name.
“Hmm?”
He had his eyes closed, as if asleep, but upon hearing Xie Tao’s voice, he responded softly.
His voice slightly raised at the end, low and seductively enticing.
“What did Uncle Xi tell you?” Xie Tao looked at him, curiously asking.
At this moment, Wei Yun seemed to react a bit slowly, only speaking after a long while upon hearing Xie Tao’s question, “You really want to know?”
At the same time, he half-opened his eyes, lightly glancing at her fair face.
Xie Tao hurriedly nodded, “Yes!”
Seeing her nodding like a pecking chicken, a smile couldn’t help but form on his lips. After a moment, he reached out to pinch her soft cheek, his slightly hoarse voice carrying a deliberately teasing tone, “Why should I tell you just because you want to know?”
“…”
Xie Tao, with her cheek pinched, puffed up her cheeks, “Stingy!”
Wei Yun always had a smile in his eyes, looking down at her, yet he remained silent for a long time.
But at this moment, he suddenly remembered the question asked by the middle-aged man called Old Xi in the mysterious tavern earlier.
He suddenly called out to her, “Xie Tao.”
Xie Tao, who was playing with his hair, looked up at him upon hearing his voice.
“Do you want me to stay here forever?”
He stared at her face intently, his eyes unclear.
Xie Tao was caught off guard by his sudden question, first stunned, then hesitantly asked, “Why… would you ask that?”
It seemed she thought of something, “Did Uncle Xi tell you something?”
But Wei Yun, looking at her face, was always entangled with many emotions he couldn’t sort out, as if he had never been so hesitant before.
“Xie Tao, I…”
“I didn’t think so.”
Wei Yun was about to say something, but Xie Tao interrupted him.
At this moment, she had straightened up her body, leaning on the back of the sofa just like him, her almond-shaped eyes fixated on the crystal lamp.
“I’ve actually… thought about this question a long time ago.”
Xie Tao pursed her lips, not looking at him, “Before meeting you, I thought the most important thing for me was to earn enough tuition to return to school, get into a good university, find a job, and live a good life.”
“Meeting you, my life goals didn’t change.”
As she spoke, she suddenly turned her head to look at him, “Just like I have friends here and things I must do, you have friends in your world that you care about, and things you must do, right?”
At this moment, upon hearing Xie Tao’s words, Wei Yun’s eyes flickered slightly, and he remained silent for a long time.
“I was afraid before because the gold dust will eventually run out, and I feared that when that time comes, I won’t be able to see you again…”
After all, what separated them was a distance so vast between two spacetimes that it couldn’t be measured by the length of a journey.
It’s a boundary of spacetime that millions of people in this world could never know or touch in their lifetimes.
What right did she have to be so fortunate all the time?
“But now it’s different,”
She couldn’t help but smile, “Even if I can’t go to your world anymore, you can still come here.”
Meng Lichun said, Wei Yun is the only spacetime traveler between these two spacetimes.
On him, there are magnetic fields of two spacetimes.
So, he can travel freely between the two spacetimes, even the Third Spacetime Management Bureau can’t bind him.
Even if,
She might never be able to go to his spacetime again,
So what?
She went there, originally just to see him.
Xie Tao never thought about wanting Wei Yun to give up anything for her.
Because a person should live for themselves, before knowing her, he already had his own path to follow.
As if she too had her own path to walk.
Why must she and everything they currently have be seen as two mutually exclusive options in a multiple-choice question?
Why must she force him to make a choice?
As if she has many things she cannot bear to part with in this time and space, what right does she have to make him give up everything for her sake?
“But,”
Her expression always struggles a bit, “But it’s too dangerous for you over there…”
If she hadn’t been to that world, if she hadn’t witnessed the horrifyingly real murder scene at the Lantern Festival with her own eyes, if… she hadn’t been stopped by the man associated with Princess Yu and forcibly taken to participate in the so-called poetry gathering at the Mei Garden.
Perhaps she would never truly understand the dangers lurking around him.
He is the Imperial Advisor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, just as Sheng Yueqi and Qi Ji said, many people within and outside the court want him dead.
Xie Tao is always afraid of him getting hurt, afraid of him getting into trouble.
Wei Yun never expected that this seemingly silly girl in front of him had already thought through these things clearly in her heart.
But half-opening his eyes and gazing at her beautiful and moving face for a long while, he suddenly felt that it should be like this.
She has a crystal-clear heart after all.
In fact, Wei Yun had never wavered from the beginning.
The path he chose is not one where he can easily retreat in full body.
From the annihilation of the Wei family, from the day his father Wei Changning died tragically, he has already been pushed by the currents of time to a place with no way back.
Years of forbearance and plotting, how could he simply give up?
That has become his obsession over the years, and also the belief that has supported him through so many life-and-death ordeals.
Therefore, when dealing with Xie Tao, he always inevitably felt a bit guilty.
He can’t choose to just stay here for her, to live in peace in a corner.
But what Wei Yun didn’t expect was that these worries he suppressed in his heart were actually unnecessary.
She had never really expected that much.
The light from the crystal lamp was a bit dazzling, making his eyelashes tremble for a moment, but his gaze still remained on the girl’s face beside him, lingering for a long time.
Why does he like her?
There are too many factors mixed in, some of which even he himself can’t clearly explain to this day.
But at this moment, he felt that it should be her.
“Thank you, Tao Tao.”
Finally, Wei Yun leaned in and whispered.
At that moment, his forehead was against hers, and when their noses lightly touched, he lowered his eyelids, unable to resist gently rubbing his nose against hers, sighing softly.
Xie Tao’s face was already somewhat flushed, and her heart inside her chest couldn’t help but beat chaotically due to his suddenly intimate gesture.
Yet, she couldn’t help but secretly curl the corners of her mouth, then she moved a bit closer to him, and again, wrapping her arms around his arm.
“Actually, I should be the one thanking you…”
She suddenly said.
From the day she met Wei Yun, her life seemed to finally start changing slowly in a good direction.
All the torment and nightmares seemed to stop at a still moment, locked away in a box.
For her, Nan City was no longer a place she couldn’t face, because here, aside from those bad memories, she finally gained a lot.
Just like Wei Yun’s arrival,
And like the various care and help from Old Xi and Xie Lan towards her.
In this world, she was not alone.
And she finally understood that in life, some people leave, and others will come.
Life will always bring you new hope at your worst moments.
Just like the wind and snow that disperses the cold night, the first light that breaks through the sky.
It’s always so warm and powerful.
“I really,”
Xie Tao suddenly looked into the amber eyes in front of her, and at that moment, she seemed to see a blurry shadow of herself in the depths of his eyes.
The warmth in her heart became her sudden bravery.
Thus, in that instant, Wei Yun clearly heard the girl in front of him say so seriously, “I really like you…”
Her voice was soft and gentle, hiding her shyness, wrapped in her joy.
He might never know how important he really is in Xie Tao’s heart.
Like being gripped by the remnants of drunkenness, Wei Yun at this moment might not be so sober, so when he heard her say such straightforward words, he couldn’t help but feel his heart flutter, even forgetting the restraints that had bound him for half his life without ever being crossed.
This was probably the second time he heard her say such words.
But it was the only time face to face like this, so clearly hearing her voice, seeing her expression.
He suddenly leaned forward, kissing her lips.
With a clear and intoxicating scent of alcohol, when their breaths entangled, he lost a bit of restraint, all his concerns seemed to have scattered into the clouds at that moment, he seemed even more intoxicated than before.
Xie Tao was held by the chin, and in the moment he kissed her, she had already forgotten to breathe.
Her fair face turned completely red, even her neck was tinged with a light pink.
His cool hair like satin lightly brushed over her cheek, by her ear, letting her hear her own heartbeat clearly at this moment.
Faster and faster.
As if a drum was set up in her heart, being struck back and forth.
Her mind was already blank, a few more booming sounds in her ears, like the sound of fireworks exploding.
The light from the crystal lamp on the suspended ceiling was already so bright that she could hardly open her eyes.
Later, he pressed his lips against hers, his fingers still pinching her chin, his voice husky, “Say it again.”
Xie Tao was foolishly dazed, afraid to move, yet also forgetting to react.
“Tao Tao,”
He seemed to have drawn out all his patience. At this moment, the slightly red trace at the corner of his eyes resembled the splendid color of peach blossom petals, carrying a deadly charm. He pressed against her lips, his breath swirling as he spoke, still gently coaxing the girl in his arms, “Say it again.”
Xie Tao’s face flushed red, unable to utter a word in the face of Wei Yun.
Wei Yun seemed to have finally run out of patience. He pinched her chin, his eyes slightly squinted, as if soaked in thick ink, his fingertips gently caressing her lips, his gaze staying on her crimson lips.
He softly coaxed her, “Say it again, Tao Tao.”
With his nose against hers, it seemed as if all the cold pride in him had melted into the gentle traces between his brows at this moment.
That night, he could no longer remember how many times he had forced the girl in front of him to say “like.”
It was like a dream.
The next morning, when Wei Yun suddenly opened his eyes, he found himself in the bedroom of the Imperial Advisor’s mansion.
How did he return last night?
Rubbing his temples and sitting up, Wei Yun looked down at his deep blue pajamas, his movements halting for a moment.
A flood of memories passed through his mind frame by frame.
He remembered the girl’s flushed cheeks, remembered pinching her chin, forcing her to say “like” many times.
In an instant, Wei Yun felt as if struck by lightning.
He was stunned there, his fair and flawless face showing an expression of incredible shock, unable to believe as he looked at his own palms, speechless for a long while.
A delayed warmth reached his ears, burning red as if to bleed.
How could he, how could he…
Wei Yun’s knuckles gradually tightened, and even his cold, pale face couldn’t help but be dyed with a light crimson, like the sunset clouds spreading at dusk.
