Gong Jue suddenly reached out and grasped her hands. The eagerness in his eyes confused Gong Yi Mo for a moment.
"Sister...I won't tell anyone!"
Gong Yi Mo's gave a sigh of relief in her heart.
"As long as you're not afraid."
"Sister...will you leave me?"
Gong Yi Mo was surprised at his words. She wondered why he would say such a thing.
"I-"
"In any case, you can't leave me! No, don't!"
Before Gong Yi Mo could reply, she was interrupted by Gong Jue's firm plea. Seeing his hidden panic and nervousness underneath, Gong Yi Mo smiled at him in comfort. This boy's worries were groundless. He was the child she raised personally, so what problems could there be?
"This is my home, how can I leave?" Afterwards, her eyes lit up as she chose something from the pile of goods on the ground.
"Wine! How lucky that there's still so much left! We haven't seen each other for such a long time. Let's chat while sharing a drink. Don't be so nervous, relax!"
Although he was in a panicked state, strangely, his heart settled down when Gong Yi Mo said these words.
Sometimes, he really couldn't understand his sister's thought process. Clearly he was worried and frantic, but not only was she unaffected his uneasiness, she even invited him for a drink...
Gong Jue sighed helplessly, as if this was their first time drinking together. It's just that his mood was very complicated at this moment.
Why is it when he mentions a big issue to his sister, she brushes it off as if it wasn't that big of a deal?
In Gong Yi Mo's mind, twelve years old was still a young teenager, so she passed a small wine bag to him, thinking that he shouldn't drink too much.
She had no idea that this 'child' had already killed several men with alchohol!
"Take it! Don't worry about anything. It's afternoon now and the snow is heavy. We need to rest during the day and prepare to move by nighttime."
Gong Yi Mo didn't want to discuss about her space too much, so she drank plenty. At this time, they sat in the cave with a bonfire to warm them. The snow fell outside. If they weren't being chased, Gong Yi Mo wouldn't be in a hurry to leave.
Seeing how carefree she was, Gong Jue began to open up and seriously related his journey from the capital to Xi Zhou, and how he dug up wells and built a canal.
When she drank most of her wine, Gong Yi Mo was a little drunk. She looked up at the gray sky and drifting snow, then sighed.
The snow in Xi Zhou...was very beautiful.
Since the cave wasn't too deep, occasional snowflakes would be blown in by the wind towards the fireplace where they sat around. Gong Yi Mo thought that if there were a few scholars here, they would think of a poem to describe this moment.
In this way, they watched the snowfall as they drank, speaking less and less until all they did was savor the wine.
All of the fine wine emptied into Gong Yi Mo's stomach. Gong Jue lifted the wine bag that she gave him earlier, tasting it bit by bit. Since there wasn't much there in the first place, he was hardly drunk.
"Wake me up when night falls..."
Gong Yi Mo said with a muddled head.
Her internal injuries weren't in a good state, so sleep was the best way to heal.
Gong Jue took her back before heading out in search for more dead brances and grasses. Although martial arts practitioners like them had internal forces to protect their bodies, he feared that his sister would freeze from her unstable health. After performing his task, he lay gently beside Gong Yi Mo and sighed contentedly.
If....if there was only him and his sister in this entire world...he wouldn't have to be so....restrained about his feelings.