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

"So what?" Shen Jie said dismissively, "They're not human, just shadows. It's their good fortune that they can provide me with experience points."

"Does the shadow deserve to die?" Xiao Yao pointed out, "Teacher Yao's shadow was chopped off by Xiong Ji with a single blow. Look at what Teacher Yao looks like now!"

"..."

“That place, Brother Bo said, is the collective subconscious, the temple of the masses,” Xiao Yao continued, “If we mess around in there, we might disturb other people’s minds.”

Shen Jie pouted and said, "Okay, let's go back then."

Xiao Yao and Shen Jie paid the bill, and Xiao Yao took her hand as they walked out of the Canhua Internet Cafe. It started raining again outside.

"Ugh, it's so annoying. It's really inconvenient to go out without a car this time of year." Shen Jie reached out and touched the rain curtain outside the eaves, remaining silent for a long time.

“I know you want to go on an adventure there,” Xiao Yao paused for a moment, then changed the subject: “After school tomorrow, I’ll ask Father Yu for you and see what he says?”

"I don't want you to ask, I'll go find Brother Bo myself!" Shen Jie said angrily.

"You'd better stay away from our school," Xiao Yao said seriously, "What if Zhang Zhengkai..."

Shen Jie sighed, gazing wistfully at the continuous drizzle, and hugged her waist with both hands: "It's so cold."

"So touching?"

"Perfectly frozen!"

Xiao Yao gently embraced her, stroking the girl's back. His hand touched a slightly raised strap: "Me...me too."

"Be smart, give the world back to me, let me go on adventures," Shen Jie suddenly said loudly.

"What the heck?" Xiao Yao was taken aback.

“Oh, my love, let your boat go ashore, and give me back to the storm.” After reciting this line of poetry, Shen Jie forcefully broke free from Xiao Yao’s embrace: “Let’s run home!”

"You're crazy, it's raining so hard!" Xiao Yao shook his head.

"Leave me to the storm!" Shen Jie repeated, rushing into the rain. Her sandals slammed heavily into a puddle, splashing water several centimeters high.

Within seconds, her T-shirt and jeans were completely soaked—the wet jeans darkened in color, clung tightly to her legs, outlining her graceful curves, and reflected a sheen in the night.

For the first time, Xiao Yao realized that Shen Jie was actually quite... big.

He put his hands to his mouth, using them as a megaphone: "Are you drunk?"

"Come on, come here quickly!" the girl shouted through the megaphone.

Xiao Yao looked down at the plastic sandals he was wearing barefoot, feeling a little apologetic towards Yu Luying, but there was nothing he could do at that moment.

"Crazy girl!" Xiao Yao cursed and rushed into the rain.

Shen Jie took the boy's hand and started running towards home.

"Crazy girl!" Xiao Yao saw the girl's big toe and protruding index toe playfully wriggling inside her soaked stockings.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Xiao Yao is a big idiot!" the girl shouted as she grabbed the boy's hand and rushed across the deserted zebra crossing.

"At this hour, do they have no sense of public morality?" Xiao Yao wondered.

"Big! Idiot!" he shouted along with it.

The two ran into the alley where they lived, stopped under the plastic awning between the convenience store and the spittoon and garbage disposal area, put their hands on their knees, looked at each other and laughed.

Chapter 91 The Delinquents

2023-01-24

On the second day of the final exams, math was in the morning, and geography and physics were in the afternoon.

Xiao Yao loves mathematics, but hates studying it.

This means that Xiao Yao is very certain that mathematics is, uh, awesome, sacred, beautiful, unfathomable, a discipline that greatly helps the development of natural sciences and makes important contributions to the development of the entire society.

Without a doubt, mathematics is the foundation of all natural sciences and the cornerstone of the entire world.

The problem is that it's not suitable for him. Xiao Yao personally believes that the education system should not force everyone to learn it.

In fact, he wasn't the only one who thought this way—a writer born in the 80s, surnamed Han, whom Xiao Yao greatly admired, once pointed out that for most people who don't engage in related research, learning mathematics up to the second year of junior high school is enough.

He pointed out that forcing everyone to learn mathematics during the basic education stage is like taking a bath while wearing a cotton-padded coat.

Later, society criticized his views as being too extreme, and the writer, surnamed Han, born in the 80s, humbly accepted the criticism and withdrew his views.

He said, "I previously said that it would be enough to learn math up to the second year of junior high school, but after careful consideration, I realized that this view was immature."

"In fact, elementary school level is enough for math."

Xiao Yao was certain that he would never need high school algebra and geometry in his future career. These advanced topics, which were meant for science students, would only be useful to him, a future humanities student, for... uh, Shen Tianyun mentioned it, what was that word again?

Involution.

Roll it up, everyone roll it up!

Xiao Yao shook the test paper in front of him fiercely, then passed the rest of the test papers to the students behind him.

He neatly filled in the seal line, "St. Francis High School, Grade 1, Class 1, Xiao Yao."

He habitually sculpted the two characters "Xiao Yao," polishing them to make them look beautiful.

He brought the exam paper to his nose, inhaling the fresh scent of paper and ink.

What fine paper! And it's been wasted like this.

"Ding ding ding ding." A series of electronic music played over the campus loudspeaker, reminding the test takers that they could begin answering the questions.

Earlier in the hall, when Teacher Yao announced that they should go to the "Principal's Office," it was accompanied by this music.

Where is Teacher Yao now? Is she kneeling before the cross at home, praying?

Xiao Yao took a deep breath, cleared his mind, and let his pen make a scratching sound as it wrote on the paper.

He squinted, trying to empty his mind and let his soul wander outside his body.

He seemed to see... the sea.

Looking at the sea from afar, the tranquil ocean is a deep blue, like a boundless sapphire. But up close, the sea is not that deep blue; it's a grayish-brown with a hint of white, a color that's hard to describe.

Xiao Yao walked on the beach, which was white and looked like a salt flat.

The whole world is made up of these two colors, blue and white, and there is a girl not far away but not close in front of me.

The girl had long hair that reached her waist, wore a snow-white dress, and walked barefoot without socks in the white sand, one step at a time.

Xiao Yao followed her in a daze, watching as the girl's feet rose forward, revealing her arches covered in white sand, then lifted off the ground, tracing a graceful curve in the low air before landing back in the white sand.

Then there was another one.

alternately.

Xiao Yao followed her like that, walking and walking, but the distance between them never got any closer, nor did it get any farther.

Xiao Yao even felt that the girl was surrounded by a pale white halo, and her body seemed to become transparent.

transparent……

……

ZZZzzz……

"Ding ding deng deng." The pleasant electronic bell rang out again from the campus loudspeaker.

"Alright, exam time is up!" The proctor, Ms. Yuan, picked up the set square on the podium and tapped the desk: "Stop writing! Put your pens down now, and the students in the last row, start passing your papers forward!"

What's going on? He can fall asleep during the final exam? Xiao Yao was shocked.

Then he saw that his math test paper was filled with dense writing, even the last big question was completely covered.

"Wow, that's awesome!" Xiao Yao thought excitedly. Yu Luying truly lived up to her reputation as a top student; she could even solve the last question on the math exam.

He took the test paper from the student behind him and then passed the test paper in his hand back up.

As he was leaving the classroom, Teacher Yuan called out to him, "Xiao Yao."

"What's wrong?" Xiao Yao stopped and turned around. "Ah, Teacher Yuan, I actually have something to ask you—"

"The literary society is going to Zhouzhuang for a field trip on July 1st. Are you going? I couldn't find your number when I sent the message yesterday," Teacher Yuan said kindly.

"Ah, okay, okay, no problem." Realizing that he wasn't being ostracized, Xiao Yao immediately replied happily.

“Alright,” Teacher Yuan said, holding up the test papers she had collected and tapping them on the podium. “Meet at the school gate at 7:30 a.m., the bus won’t wait for you.”

"Can I bring my family?" Xiao Yao realized his slip of the tongue: "Can I bring my friends? From other schools?"

“No problem, you charming and talented young man.” Teacher Yuan smiled and leaned back strategically. “However, the lunch arranged for the event only includes students who registered within the club, so you’ll have to take care of it yourself.”

"I understand," Xiao Yao nodded.

"You'll have to write an essay when you get back; our school newspaper, 'First Sprout,' is going to do a special issue on it," Teacher Yuan suddenly remembered something and reminded her.

“No problem,” Xiao Yao nodded.

“There’s more good news,” Teacher Yuan said, standing up with the test paper tucked under her armpit. “The Literature Hundred Schools Network has taken a liking to your poem ‘To the Lonely Person’ published in ‘First Sprout’ and is preparing to submit it for an award.”

"Ah, this..." Xiao Yao was a little stunned: "Thank you, Teacher Yuan."

"Write well, you talented and romantic young man, I have high hopes for you." Teacher Yuan patted Xiao Yao on the shoulder heavily and walked out of the examination room.

This incident kept Xiao Yao in a good mood for about an afternoon.