He has been reincarnated through countless worlds, adorned with billions of mythological terms!

Yun Yi glanced at Yun Nian.

Yun Nian buried her face behind his legs, revealing half of her forehead and one eye, which blinked nervously.

"It wasn't me."

"There are still your teeth marks on the lipstick."

"...The lipstick bit me first."

Yun Yi couldn't help but chuckle.

It was a very small sound, like a bubble rising from the bottom of the water and bursting before it reached the surface.

Yun Nian peeked out from behind his legs and looked up at him.

"Brother, you smiled!"

"no."

"You smiled! I saw it!"

You've misjudged.

"No way! My brother smiled, smiled, smiled—"

She started circling around him, repeatedly saying "smiled, smiled," like a little sparrow that had been fed candy.

Yun Yi reached out and pressed her head down, stopping her from spinning around any longer.

Go and clean the mirror.

"My brother is with me."

"I won't accompany you."

"Then I won't wipe it."

"Then I'll tell Mom."

Yun Nian stared at him wide-eyed, as if looking at a traitor.

"My brother is bad!"

She stomped her foot and ran away angrily.

Two minutes later, Yunyi passed by the restroom and saw her standing in front of the mirror on a small stool, carefully wiping away the lipstick stains with wet wipes.

Where she couldn't reach, she would stand on tiptoe and press her whole body against the mirror, like a gecko clinging to the glass.

Yunyi stood at the door for a while.

Then he turned and left.

After taking a couple of steps, he turned back and wiped the area she couldn't reach clean.

……

When Yun Nian was five years old, something happened.

That afternoon, Yunyi was looking for insects in the garden—he needed more genes, but over the past six years, he had touched almost everything in the garden.

He was turning over the soil under an osmanthus tree, and Yun Nian squatted beside him, holding a twig in her hand, imitating him by poking around in the soil.

"What is my brother looking for?"

"insect."

"Why are you looking for bugs?"

"it works."

"What's it for?"

You wouldn't understand even if I told you.

"I understand once you explain it."

Yun Yi ignored her and continued turning over the soil.

Yun Nian wasn't annoyed. She stuck the branch in the soil, rested her chin on her hands, and looked at him.

"Brother, are you different from the other brothers?"

Yun Yi paused for a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"All the other brothers play with their sisters, but you don't play with me."

"I'll play along with you."

"You don't."

"You just watched me play from the sidelines."

Yun Yi paused for a moment.

"That's different."

"What's different?"

He couldn't explain it.

He was indeed watching her play—not because he didn't want to participate, but because he didn't know how.

For the past eighteen years, he has been an orphan.

No one has ever been there for me.

After ruling as emperor for three hundred years, he had grown accustomed to being an observer.

Watch the ministers quarrel, watch the people work, watch the enemy troops line up, and watch the changes in the landscape.

He stands at the highest point and observes everything, never jumping down.

But Yun Nian is different.

She didn't look, she jumped.

She jumped into mud pits, into flower bushes, into everything he could only watch from afar.

Then she turned around and smiled at him, calling out, "Brother, come quick!"

He didn't go.

I've never been there.

"elder brother?"

Yun Nian's voice pulled him back to reality.

"fine."

He continued turning the soil, saying, "You do your thing."

Yun Nian looked at him for a while, then suddenly pulled the branch out of the soil and stuffed it into his hand.

"Brother, I'll teach you how to play."

"I don't need it—"

"What you need."

She looked at him intently, her five-year-old face displaying a certainty beyond her years.

"You're always watching, you never play."

"That's not good."

Yun Yi held the branch, unsure of what to say.

He was emperor for three hundred years, and no one ever said to him, "I will teach you."

Everyone was waiting for him to teach them.

Wait for him to speak, wait for his instructions, wait for him to nod or shake his head.

Yun Nian was the first person to say, "I'll teach you."

Five years old.

She had two pigtails and her face was covered in mud.

"it is good."

He said.

Yun Nian smiled, her eyes curving into two crescent moons.

She squatted down and drew a circle in the soil with a twig.

"Let's dig a hole first."

"and then?"

"Then pour water in."

"and then?"

"Then wait for the bug to fall in."

"Did you invent this?"

"No, I saw it when Sister Liu was watering the flowers."

"Insects that fall in will drown."

Looking at her earnest little face, Yun Yi suddenly felt—

This younger sister seems to be different from what he expected.

She's not the kind of little girl who just follows him around calling him "brother."

She has an idea.

They have their own ideas.

The hole wasn't dug that day because Sister Liu called from the kitchen to come eat.

Yun Nian dropped the branch and grabbed his hand, running into the house.

"Brother, hurry up! We have braised pork today!"

Her hands were small and soft, and her palms were slippery with mud from holding the twigs.

Yunyi was dragged by her and ran across the stone path in the garden, past the pond, and past the osmanthus tree.

The wind blew past my ears, carrying the sweet fragrance of osmanthus and the aroma of meat wafting from the kitchen.

He didn't shake off her hand.

……

Yun Nian started primary school when she was six years old.

On her first day back from school, she rushed to Yunyi's room without even putting down her schoolbag. When she opened the door, her face was flushed red.

"Brother! Someone is bullying me!"

Yunyi put down the book in his hand.

"Who?"

"The boy sitting behind me! He pulled my hair!"

"Did you fight back?"

"I hit him."

"That's fine then."

"But the teacher scolded me."

Why?

"Because I poked his hand with a pencil."

Yun Yi paused for a moment.

"Use a ballpoint pen next time."

Why?

"The tip of the ballpoint pen is rather blunt; it won't break the skin, but it will hurt enough."

Yun Nian thought for a moment and nodded seriously.

"it is good."

Then she ran away.

When she returned the next day, she proudly said that the boy never dared to pull her hair again.

Yunyi didn't ask her whether she was using a pencil or a ballpoint pen.

He thought it should be a ballpoint pen.

……

When Yun Nian was seven years old, Wen Ruotang's health deteriorated again.

This time it's more serious than when I was pregnant.

She started coughing, a dry cough without phlegm, but it wouldn't stop.

Sometimes, while coughing, I would bend over and curl up into a ball, like a piece of paper crumpled by the wind.

Dr. Shen came many times, and each time he stayed in the study for a long time. He didn't look well when he came out.

Once, Yunyi passed by the study and overheard Dr. Shen making a phone call.

"...The situation isn't very optimistic. It's not just ordinary postpartum weakness; it seems like some kind of chronic... Yes, I checked, and there are no similar cases... Yes, I suggest you go abroad for a checkup..."

After hearing what was said on the other end of the phone, Dr. Shen remained silent for a long time.

"Okay, I understand."

He hung up the phone, sat in the chair for a while, and then got up and left.

Yunyi stood at the corner of the corridor, watching Dr. Shen's figure disappear at the top of the stairs.

He didn't follow.

But he remembered that sentence—

"There are no similar cases."

……

On Yun Nian's eighth birthday, Wen Ruotang went downstairs for the first time ever.

She was wearing a new dress, light blue, which made her complexion look less pale.

Her hair was combed, and she wore a pink plastic hair clip given to her by Yun Nian—it had a fake diamond on it and cost two yuan and fifty cents at a small shop near the school gate.

"Is Mom pretty?"

Yun Nian looked up and asked.

"nice."

Wen Ruotang bent down and kissed her forehead, "Everything Niannian gives you is beautiful."