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

"Why can't I wear them?" Yu Luying stopped in surprise. "Do I need your approval to wear any socks?"

"No, I've known you for a year, and I've never seen you..." Xiao Yao shut his mouth, thinking to himself, "Could it be that long-term symbiosis has the effect of aesthetic assimilation?"

terrible.

"What exactly happened? Tell me," Yu Luying urged. "And what about aesthetic assimilation?"

You're eavesdropping on my thoughts again, aren't you?

“I’ve thought about it carefully,” Xiao Yao shook his head and said, “This is not a matter that’s suitable to discuss with you.”

“Even if you don’t tell me, I will gradually find out on my own,” Yu Luying said, deliberately trying to coax me.

"Why are you always like this? It's so annoying," Xiao Yao complained. "If you don't want to talk, you insist that I do, and then you always get angry after I do. You don't keep your word, or you just run away."

If you tell Yu Luying that Shen Jie is upset with you because of the socks you wore today, how will Yu Luying react?

First, she will calmly apologize, saying, "I'm so sorry to have caused you two trouble."

Then, Yu Luying might say that she will never wear these kinds of socks again.

Next, the girl might take off her buckled little leather shoes, pull off her socks, and cut them off with a pair of scissors.

No, Yu Luying didn't have scissors with her, and that's something Shen Jie would do.

Perhaps she would stuff the socks she took off into her pocket.

No, that seems to be something only Shen Jie would do.

Yu Luying would probably crumple her socks into a ball, throw them at her face, then pick up her little leather shoes and disappear barefoot into the night.

No, no, no, no, I can't let my mind wander anymore.

Seeing that Yu Luying's gaze was becoming increasingly strange, Xiao Yao tried to clear his mind.

“I didn’t think of anything, it’s all an illusion—” Xiao Yao said.

"What a idiot," Yu Luying muttered, "If you don't want to talk about it, fine, I can't be bothered with you."

Xiao Yao escorted Yu Luying to the hospital entrance. "Farewell, even a long journey must end," he asked. "Will you come again tomorrow?"

As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them immediately, because it was such a strange question.

"I'm going to Yushan for a pilgrimage with my mom tomorrow, let's talk about it the day after tomorrow." Yu Luying thought for a moment and said, "You have to take good care of her."

"Hmm." Do you even need to tell me? I can handle it myself.

Xiao Yao waved goodbye to Yu Luying, and almost got lost again when looking for Shen Jie's VIP ward.

He passed by an ordinary ward and saw that it was crowded with more than a dozen people, mostly elderly women and grandmothers, with a few elderly men and middle-aged men as well.

What is this doing?!

After listening for a few minutes at the door, I realized that this group of people were the patient's "brothers and sisters," and the one in the black suit with a receding hairline was called "Pastor Su." The group surrounded the patient's bed, sometimes holding hands and singing hymns, and sometimes praying with Pastor Su for the patient, making quite a scene.

After finally finding Shen Jie's hospital room, Xiao Yao pulled up a chair and sat down by the girl's bedside: "How about we invite our Brother Bo over to give you, uh, a blessing, do a blessing ceremony or something?"

"Hey, no way," Shen Jie covered her mouth and laughed, "Do you think Brother Bo is as free as you are every day? He's very busy. We're not his church members, so don't cause him any trouble."

"I just saw someone doing it in another ward, it's nice, just for good luck..."

"What, you even have to join in the fun and follow the crowd for something like this? Are you a social butterfly?" Shen Jie mocked.

"What?!" Xiao Yao exclaimed anxiously, "I'm really worried about you. I hope you get better soon and are safe and sound. Do you know how scared I was by what happened this afternoon? I'm still shaken and can't bear to think about it..."

"Doggy..." Shen Jie smiled and beckoned to Xiao Yao, "Come here."

Xiao Yao leaned forward, letting the girl stroke his short hair.

"I promise I'll be safe and sound," Shen Jie said.

"Mm," Xiao Yao said.

"And... about what happened earlier," Shen Jie hesitated for a moment before speaking, "I was being impulsive, I'm sorry. Maybe people are more prone to being emotional when they're sick..."

"What's up?" Xiao Yao asked knowingly.

"That's okay."

"Hey... that's not fair!"

That night, Xiao Yao stayed with Shen Jie in her hospital room. The two chatted until two or three in the morning before the girl finally fell into a deep sleep.

The girl hadn't slept well that night, and when she got up to use the bathroom, she heard noises coming from Xiao Yao's bed.

“Shen Jie… Shen Jie…”

"What's wrong? What's wrong? Mom's here." The girl ran to the boy's bedside, only to find his eyes tightly closed, tears streaming down his face. His body was twisting and turning, his expression contorted, clearly having a nightmare.

The girl's heart ached.

"Dog, wake up." The girl shook him twice, but the boy didn't wake up.

"He's such a worry..." Shen Jie muttered to herself, went to the bathroom to get a towel, lifted the boy up and held him in her arms, wiping the sweat from his brow and gently patting his chest: "It's alright...it's alright..."

The pain on Xiao Yao's face lessened.

The girl patted him gently for a while, then stepped onto the bed and covered them both with the small blanket again.

She held him quietly, feeling his heartbeat gradually become steady.

When Xiao Yao woke up that morning, Shen Jie had already returned to her bed.

“I had a… dream,” Xiao Yao told Shen Jie, rubbing his forehead. “I dreamt that you came to my bed in the middle of the night, wiped my sweat, and even hugged me to sleep—it was so realistic!”

"Look at you, what are you thinking about all day long!" Shen Jie deliberately let the corners of her mouth droop and tapped his forehead with her hand: "If you're free this morning, go back and bring me my vocabulary book and Walkman."

"No, no, if I leave, who will take care of you? You're in the hospital and you still have to study vocabulary?"

“It’s me who’s anxious because I’m just lying here all day doing nothing,” Shen Jie said seriously. “You should go back and rest too. There’s no need to rush over. You can’t sleep soundly outside.”

When Xiao Yao walked out of the hospital, he felt a little cold, as if he had just come out of an internet cafe after staying up all night.

To prevent himself from falling ill, he splurged on a taxi back home. Shen Tianyun hadn't left yet, so he told her about his recent situation.

Shen Jie was right—no matter how luxurious the hospital ward is, it can't compare to the comfort of home. Xiao Yao lay down on the bed, intending to take a nap, but when he opened his eyes it was already past one in the afternoon.

He hurriedly called Shen Jie, and following her instructions, he found the study materials and equipment. He also took a few books and magazines that he wanted to read with Shen Jie, put them in his schoolbag, and went out.

Before heading to the hospital, Xiao Yao went to "Hujian Qianlixiang Wonton" to have some delicious food first.

Since it wasn't mealtime, the narrow shop was almost empty, except for a female student sitting in the corner, seemingly doing her homework, with a large empty bowl next to her, as if she had just finished eating.

The reason I thought she was a student was simply because the cover of the book she was holding looked very familiar. If you only looked at her slightly curly chestnut short hair and asymmetrical color-blocked blouse, it would be hard to tell whether she was a 16-year-old teenage girl or a... urban beauty.

Xiao Yao randomly found an empty table, sat down, and ordered 15 large wontons with mustard greens and pork, served mixed.

Upon hearing this, the girl looked up and a hint of surprise flashed across her face.

Immediately afterwards, the girl closed her book, stood up, and walked straight to the table opposite Xiao Yao, where she sat down.

Xiao Yao was slightly taken aback.

"Boss, I also want 15 large wontons with mustard greens and pork, mixed." The girl turned to the boss and called out.

"Good ribs!" the boss replied.

"Why are you squeezing into my table when there are so many empty tables?" Xiao Yao was a little confused.

"Hello." Then, the girl spoke to me with a natural and confident manner: "Excuse me, are you Xiao Yao?"

"Ah, it's me," Xiao Yao said. "You are..."

“We are from the same school. I am Zhao Xiaomei from Class 13 of Grade 1. It’s nice to meet you.”

As she spoke, the girl, who called herself Zhao Xiaomei, extended her right hand to Xiao Yao.

"Ah, oh, it's nice to meet you." Xiao Yao was surprised and subconsciously took her hand.

Chapter 95 The Distance of Symbiosis

2023-01-28

As she spoke, Zhao Xiaomei extended her right hand to Xiao Yao.

"Ah, oh, nice to meet you." Xiao Yao was surprised and instinctively took her hand. "Um... do we know each other?"

Before the other person could answer, Xiao Yao realized that his question was inappropriate—the other person had already said "It's nice to meet you," and asking the question again would make it seem like he was keeping the person at arm's length.

Fortunately, Zhao Xiaomei didn't mind: "You don't know me, but I know you. I'm also in the literary society."

"You're also... in the literary society?" Xiao Yao asked hesitantly.

The literary society only had about a dozen or twenty people. To say that there was any nobody Xiao Yao didn't know would be hard for him to believe.

"Hmm..." Zhao Xiaomei explained with a serious expression, "I participated a few times when I first started high school, but later I went less often because of the heavy academic pressure."

“Like this…” Xiao Yao said.

“I used to go to the poetry club a few times back then, but it’s a pity it’s gone now,” Zhao Xiaomei said with a regretful expression.

Xiao Yao gave up searching his memories for this non-existent person: "That's right, the literary society was quite large, with about twenty people. It hasn't had any activities for two months. The poetry society was left with only a few people, so it had to be disbanded."

"I heard the literary society is going to Zhouzhuang for a field trip?" Zhao Xiaomei suddenly leaned forward. "Teacher Yuan is really carefree. If anything goes wrong, he'll be in big trouble."

As they were talking, Xiao Yao's mustard green and pork wontons were served first, on a large plate, without soup, just with sesame paste. He picked up a spoon, scooped one up and put it in his mouth: "Tch, what problems could a bunch of high school students cause? They're not kids anymore."