You're my wife, don't doubt it!

"Aren't you up yet? I bought you pan-fried buns, soy milk, and tofu pudding by your bedside. Remember to eat them."

“I took some money from home and will deposit it in the bank for you after school. I was just letting you know so you wouldn’t be worried if you couldn’t find it.”

"I've already asked, and you can check out at 2 PM. Don't rush, sleep a little longer."

Xiao Yao put his phone away and chuckled self-deprecatingly. If he said he'd sleep a little longer, why did he keep texting?

Xiao Yao, when will you ever grow up?

After lunch, Xiao Yao lay down on the table to catch up on sleep, and slept until after 3 p.m.

The downside of sleeping on your stomach is that you unconsciously swallow air, so when you wake up, you often feel bloated and make a loud noise while expelling it.

Fortunately, Yu Luying must have been helping him expel the gas, so this problem didn't occur today.

He was awakened by a large hand.

"Come to my office!" Song Haijian said, frowning.

On the way with Song Haijian, Xiao Yao excused himself to use the restroom. He saw that Shen Jie had replied to four text messages, but without reading them carefully, he zipped up his pants and left, satisfied.

Song Haijian's desk was the same one that Teacher Yao used to have, but it had been arranged in a completely different way, and there was no trace of the past—in Xiao Yao's opinion, this felt like a cuckoo taking over someone else's place.

"Sit down." Song Haijian gestured for Xiao Yao to fetch an empty chair.

At least in this respect, he's better than Teacher Yao; he offered her his seat.

Then, Song Haijian started squinting at his phone again, not saying a word. He was similar to Lao Yao in this respect—except that Lao Yao was grading homework, while Song Haijian seemed ready to say, "I need to call your dad" at any moment.

This is where the advantage of not having a father comes in.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Yao asked, "You dragged me out of class halfway through."

"Anyway, you don't listen in class," Song Haijian rolled his eyes and said, "How many levels did you gain last night while surfing the internet? Did you conquer the Sand City?"

"Teacher Song, I played Legend of Cold Blood when I was in junior high school, it's outdated now," Xiao Yao replied earnestly.

"Oh, so what did you do last night?"

"No, I haven't been to an internet cafe in ages," Xiao Yao said.

"Whether you went or not, you know the answer in your heart. Do you know why I haven't talked to you before?"

Song Haijian finally put down his old Nokia phone and forced a smile, like a weasel offering New Year's greetings to a chicken.

"I don't know." Please, don't look for me.

“Because you’re going to be a freshman next semester and won’t be in our class anymore, I was originally too lazy to care about you.” Song Haijian rested his chin on the back of his hands. “But you’re still a student in my class, and as your homeroom teacher, I have to say what I need to say. Whether you listen or not is up to you.”

"Please speak," Xiao Yao replied gruffly, still angry at the words.

"You didn't go to an internet cafe, so why did you sleep all day? Didn't you sleep well last night?"

“My wife had menstrual cramps in the middle of the night, so I went to buy her sanitary napkins.” Xiao Yao blurted out, “I made brown sugar water, gave her a hot water bottle, massaged her, and spent half the night doing that.”

"Ha!" The tanned female English teacher in the next seat laughed loudly, "Ms. Song, your students have a bright future ahead of them."

"You!" Song Haijian's face turned a deep purplish-red, and his finger pointing at Xiao Yao trembled slightly: "Don't think that just because you don't have parents—don't think that just because the school can't contact your parents, they can't expel you!"

Xiao Yao pursed his lips.

Song Haijian took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down: "Xiao Yao, do you think your parents treat you badly? Is that your excuse for being a pushover every day?"

"Otherwise what?" Xiao Yao frowned in disgust upon hearing this topic.

"Have you ever thought that, even though they couldn't be by your side for various reasons, they gave you the best gift?"

"what?"

“We’ll transfer your household registration back and send you to high school in Shanghai,” Song Haijian said decisively.

“Ha,” Xiao Yao said.

“You should know that I was transferred from Jiangsu Province,” Song Haijian continued, talking to himself, “Do you know what high schools are like there? They have evening self-study until 10 PM every night, under completely closed, militarized management, and only get half a day off every two weeks—”

“Violating human rights, it’s against humanity.” Xiao Yao reminded him, “Teacher Song, I’m also from Jiangsu Province.”

"So I think we have a basis for reaching a consensus. Why do you think high schools in Shanghai can provide such a relaxed environment for you?"

"why?"

"Because universities have abundant admission resources and low admission scores, you don't need to work that hard to get into university."

"Oh, is that so? That's great." Although Xiao Yao still maintained a nonchalant tone, his heart had already wavered.

"...Go back to class and sleep when you should, go online when you should after school, waste three years and find a factory to work as a screwdriver, and your life will be over. What a wonderful future!" These were the words that Teacher Yao's shadow had said to him in the hall, and recalling them now, they pierced his heart deeply.

"So, you're wasting your parents' hard work." Song Haijian continued earnestly, "The school has given you a relaxed stage, so you should make good use of it. Take half of the energy you spend in internet cafes and chasing girls and put it into your studies, get into a good university—at least a first-tier university, no, at least a bachelor's degree—and win a bright future for yourself. Why not?"

"..." Xiao Yao thought that made sense.

“I’ve heard about your achievements,” Song Haijian said, his expression softening. “I think you’re a prodigy.”

"A prodigy?" Xiao Yao was taken aback.

"I heard you often publish novels in the newspaper?"

"Occasionally, occasionally."

"I heard that you never pay attention in Chinese class, but you always rank in the top three in the class. The points you lose are all from writing Chinese characters based on pinyin and reciting texts from memory."

"That's what happened."

“I can’t bear to see your talent go to waste,” Song Haijian sighed. “Put some effort into learning math, physics, and chemistry. That’s just how the education system is in China. We can’t change it. You can’t be a one-trick pony; you have to learn to adapt to it.”

"I understand," Xiao Yao said.

“Although St. Francis Middle School is not a key school in Shanghai, it is still a key school in the district, and its college entrance rate has been 100% every year. Since you were able to get in, it means that your junior high school grades were not bad—not too bad,” Song Haijian said. “However, if you continue like this, you will break the school’s 100% college entrance rate. The principal has already noticed you.”

"..."

"What do you want?" Song Haijian continued, "Graduate high school, fail to get into university, and work as a network administrator in an internet cafe? Eight hundred yuan a month, three meals of instant noodles a day—"

“I said, I understand,” Xiao Yao interrupted him.

“And Yu Luying will get into a prestigious university, then get a good job, earning ten or twenty times more than you,” Song Haijian leaned forward, “Even if she’s willing to play house with you now, she’ll make you buy sanitary napkins, soak brown sugar water, and warm a hot water bottle in the middle of the night—”

The English teacher started laughing loudly again, making Xiao Yao feel somewhat embarrassed.

"By then, will she still need you? What kind of future can you offer her? What kind of future do you want for yourself?"

“Teacher Song,” Xiao Yao said earnestly, “My girlfriend… she’s from another school. Yu Luying and I are really just good friends.”

"Really?" Song Haijian asked with a suspicious look.

"So please don't make things difficult for her," Xiao Yao said. "When I was Teacher Yao, I often asked her to tutor me, and that's how we became familiar with each other."

This wasn't the whole truth, but I really couldn't let Yu Luying have any more of a chance, because I didn't want to put any more pressure on myself.

“I’ve listened to everything you said,” Xiao Yao continued. “Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Song Haijian nodded.

“I promise you, I’ll still be in your class next semester,” Xiao Yao announced. “Just you wait and see.”

"Great, that's spirited!" Song Haijian exclaimed happily, "That's the kind of energy I'm looking for!"

"What the hell?" Xiao Yao thought. "Why does this annoying guy suddenly seem less annoying?"

--split line--

When school was over, Xiao Yao was blocked by Yu Luying at the entrance of Uncle Zhong's building.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Yao asked nervously when he saw her from afar.

"Come on." Yu Luying tossed her head and headed towards the secluded corridor.

Xiao Yao took two small steps to follow. Was she about to launch another offensive? He really wasn't confident he could withstand it.

"Why did you cut your hair?" Xiao Yao said as they walked. "It's not distinctive anymore."

“Two things,” Yu Luying walked to a secluded spot, turned around, and said expressionlessly, “Could you please ask someone not to put their hand on you while they sleep? I feel terrible, I can’t even breathe!”

Xiao Yao was extremely embarrassed: "...I already talked about her."

"Also, could you please tell her to stop hitting people? It hurts."

“I already told her,” the repeater said.

"Third, you didn't shower again on Saturday night!" Yu Luying held up one finger.

"Saturday night?" Xiao Yao scratched his head and recalled, "Wasn't that when we were busy looking for people?"

Just as Yu Luying was about to speak, Xiao Yao's phone rang. He took out his phone and looked at the caller ID, hesitating whether to answer or not, but Yu Luying had already spotted it.

"You can answer it, I'm fine." The girl took long strides and turned to leave.

"Hello..." Xiao Yao subconsciously took two steps to catch up, then stopped to answer the phone.

"Hey?"

"Is school over yet?" Shen Jie asked cheerfully on the phone.

"School's out," Xiao Yao said. "I'll go to the counter to deposit some money and then come back."

"Then hurry back and cook," Shen Jie said on the other end of the phone, seemingly eating something. "My baby and I are hungry."

“Hey, interesting,” Xiao Yao slapped his forehead, while Yu Luying turned around and glared at him from afar: “You don’t cook at home, but I cook when I get home from school. What, is this your experience as a live-in son-in-law?”