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

"Hehe." Shen Jie let out a cheerful laugh on the other end of the phone, seemingly in a really good mood: "Then I'll take care of it today, you can wait for the meal when you get back."

"Come pick me up from school," Xiao Yao suddenly suggested.

"Huh? Why? I'm not your mother."

"I have a lot of money on me. What if some thugs take it all? You know martial arts, so you can protect me."

"Get lost!" Shen Jie said with a laugh in Shanghai dialect before hanging up the phone.

Xiao Yao wiped the sweat from his phone, and before he could put it back, another unfamiliar number called.

Who are these people, rushing around like they're attending a show?

"Hello? Who is this?" Xiao Yao asked patiently.

"I am Zhang Zhengkai." A young boy's voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Ah," Xiao Yao became alert, triggering a primal sense of hostility: "It's you. What's the matter?"

"Shen Jie has gone missing, did you know?" Zhang Zhengkai went straight to the point.

"What? Missing?! You're not kidding, are you?" Xiao Yao expressed his astonishment in an exaggerated tone: "What do you mean by missing?"

“She must have run away from home,” Zhang Zhengkai said indignantly. “She left last Saturday, and her family kept it from me until today.”

“No wonder I haven’t been getting any replies to my messages these past two days, and my phone calls have been busy!” Xiao Yao’s eyes lit up as he blurted out.

"Are you on a call too?" Zhang Zhengkai said dejectedly. "Looks like your phone is off or something. I thought she had blocked me."

Be confident, bro, you've just been blocked.

"What should we do?" Xiao Yao said anxiously. "Where could she have gone? I'll help you look for her."

"Oh, this..." Zhang Zhengkai asked suspiciously, "She really didn't contact you?"

"Why did she come to see me? Are we that close?"

"Within her circle, everyone assumes you are her boyfriend."

Xiao Yao was overjoyed when he heard this: "Please, I'm just an actor she hired to fool you, can't you even tell?"

"I did have that suspicion too..."

“How could her circle think I’m her boyfriend?” Xiao Yao said with a smile. “Isn’t it you who’s supposed to be engaged to her?”

"They are... who told you about the engagement? It's only been a couple of days." Zhang Zhengkai immediately seized on the flaw.

"Ah, I—" Xiao Yao thought to himself, "Zhou Xiaoying said it."

On the other end of the phone, Zhang Zhengkai remained silent. Xiao Yao felt uneasy, unsure if he could get away with it.

Finally, Zhang Zhengkai spoke up: "Let me know if you have any news."

"no problem."

"You're from St. Francis Xavier High School, right?" Zhang Zhengkai said. "Let's meet after school sometime. I'll come find you."

"You came to see me?" Xiao Yao instinctively wanted to refuse, but then he thought that this might be a test.

“Okay, no problem, shall we come now?” Xiao Yao agreed immediately.

"No, not today... not today, let's look behind us..."

Xiao Yao bluffed, then cried wolf: "If there's any new information about Shen Jie, be sure to let me know immediately. After all, she's a good friend of mine, and I care about her a lot."

"Definitely," Zhang Zhengkai's voice sounded tired. "Thanks, brother. I'll keep in touch."

Xiao Yao put down the phone, covered in sweat.

Most of the people in the school had already left, and the once bustling noise had suddenly quieted down, with only the sounds of people playing ball on the playground coming from the air.

I need to talk to Shen Jie about this when I get back… Xiao Yao thought.

Chapter 84 Getting rich suddenly

2023-01-12

Xiao Yao was eager to return home.

This was the first time he had ever been so eager to go home since he started living in Shanghai—even when Shen Tianyun first arrived, he hadn't felt this strongly.

He had made up his mind that when he saw Shen Jie, he would go up and hug her.

Yes, it was a very natural hug, the kind that feels like a natural, obligatory embrace, like that of an old married couple.

Don't be deliberate or hesitant. Before she can react, give her a hug and then let go.

Flowing clouds and flowing water, all in one go.

After all, they've hugged each other more than once in Teacher Yao's hall of fame, haven't they?

Moreover, they are already engaged, well, I guess so?

He called her "wife," and she accepted it.

Are they living together now? Did they spend the night together last night?

From any perspective, at this stage, hugging is perfectly natural—even in the case of a budding campus romance.

Xiao Yao is neither a devout believer in Platonic love, nor is he a herbivorous male protagonist from a Japanese anime.

Instead of spending your days pondering or asking the other person, "What exactly is our relationship now?", it's better to take concrete actions to demonstrate the truth.

Things have come to this point, surely it's not a reason to turn against each other?

……Bar?

Ha ha.

Xiao Yao, don't be a coward, just do it!

As the saying goes, be humble in life, but be high-profile when pursuing girls!

However, things still need to be done one by one. First, he needed to deposit money in the bank.

Carrying such a large sum of cash on the street was a first for Xiao Yao, and it was hard not to feel anxious.

In particular, the recent rumors circulating in the school that local hooligans from vocational schools have started soliciting money from students leaving school in secluded alleys and back alleys are particularly alarming.

High schools in Shanghai let out early, but that doesn't mean banks close late. Although he was in a rush, Xiao Yao avoided all the less frequented shortcuts, preferring to take a longer route by cycling along the main roads.

After all, safety comes first.

Just as Xiao Yao feared, he saw two blond-haired boys with vocational school uniforms draped over their shoulders leaning against the entrance of a small alleyway as they whistled at him.

Xiao Yao kicked the car a few times with his head down, shaking them off, secretly glad he had decided to take the main road.

Instead of spending his days after school catching his own students at internet cafes, Song Haijian should use his skills to catch these petty thugs.

When he arrived at the China Construction Bank, the large roller shutter door was indeed already down. Xiao Yao wasn't disappointed, because he remembered that this branch had a 24-hour ATM.

Back in 2004, not every outlet had this, which is why Xiao Yao rode all the way here.

Although it was his first time doing this, and he was flustered and sweating profusely, Xiao Yao eventually completed the deposit successfully.

The screen displayed ¥30,000.00

This is truly... overnight riches?

Folks! I, Wang Laowu, have never seen so much money before! Come to my house for a drink!

Xiao Yao, reciting lines from a Chen Peisi skit, returned to the entrance of his alleyway and bumped into his wife.

Shen Jie wore a loose white T-shirt, black cropped pants, heavy white sneakers, and a pair of pure black short socks.

The girl's outfit made his DNA skip a beat, just like his heart.

"You're back~" The petite girl greeted him, but did not wave.

Because she was holding a spittoon in both hands.

How am I supposed to go up and hug her?!

"Ah, I'm back." Xiao Yao replied blankly, supporting himself on one foot.

Shen Jie lifted the lid of the spittoon, turned her head away, pinched her nose with one hand, and held the edge of the spittoon with the other to pour out the contents.

Xiao Yao was really afraid that she would fall on him.

“Why did you fall down by yourself today?” he said gently. “Let me do it.”

"Hey, just empty it when you're done using it, why should I save it up every day and wait for you to come home to empty it?" Shen Jie closed the spittoon lid a little embarrassedly, walked over to Xiao Yao, and jumped onto the back seat of the bicycle.

Although it was only the second time, he was already incredibly skilled.

"You really are different from other young ladies," Xiao Yao praised sincerely.

"How many young ladies have you met?" Shen Jie asked playfully.

“There are so many! At Zhou Xiaoying’s birthday party last time, there were tons of them at KTV.” Xiao Yao rode his bike wobbling through the narrow alley: “Watch your footing!”

This is very similar to a scene in some teen movies, except the road is too short and the girl is holding a spittoon.

When parking, Shen Jie asked him if he had deposited the money.

Xiao Yao took the bank card out of his pocket and handed it over with both hands: "Here you go, wife, hand over your salary card."