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

Actually, it wasn't like they left him nothing at all; at least they left him some socks from the sewing box as a consolation prize.

Xiao Yao secretly rejoiced. If Shen Jie hadn't made a fuss with the hair clip, he probably wouldn't have been able to get past his father-in-law.

“I’ll leave you with nothing, I’ll sever all ties with you completely—go out for a walk again later,” Shen Jie ordered, “and see if anyone is still watching us secretly in the stairwell or alley.”

"Yes, my dear wife!" Xiao Yao said.

Behind me came the sound of the spittoon lid hitting the spittoon, and with that sound, the odor in the room lessened considerably.

"This place is no longer safe to live in." It was unclear whether Shen Jie was speaking to Xiao Yao or talking to herself.

At least, she still accepted the title "My Dear Wife," Xiao Yao thought.

Then, Xiao Yao heard a soft creak from the elastic band as he pulled up his pants: "Are you dressed? Can I turn around now?"

“No,” Shen Jie told him, “Just stand there and don’t move.”

"Okay, okay," Xiao Yao raised his hands in surrender, "I was just thinking that when I went down to scout, I would take care of it for you."

"I don't need you to fawn over me!" the girl snapped. "You...you...you saw me just now?"

I saw you? What do you mean? Of course I saw you.

Oh, Xiao Yao quickly realized what Shen Jie meant by "seeing me".

"I saw it, so what?" Xiao Yao replied casually.

In reality, he saw nothing at all. In that fleeting glimpse, he only remembered that Shen Jie's two thighs were really white, and he didn't see anything else, but he deliberately lied to her and said, "I saw it."

"You—! Go to hell!" Shen Jie's voice sounded furious.

Xiao Yao thought to himself, "So what if I saw it? I already bumped into it last night..."

However, he felt that her anger might be genuine, so he kept his mouth tightly shut.

The air seemed to freeze for about seven or eight seconds. Then, Xiao Yao heard the girl plop down on the bed: "How's school?"

"Wait for me a moment." Xiao Yao said, then ran back to 2004 and brought a copy of the agreement to 2034.

"Make-up exam? Similarity? How many things are you hiding from me?" After looking at the copy of the agreement, Shen Jie placed it on the bed.

Since Shen Jie left without saying goodbye this morning, Xiao Yao has finally been able to see her beautiful face again.

Her eyes were a little swollen, so it seemed that Shen Tianyun's claim of "crying continuously" was probably true.

The girl wasn't wearing her nightgown today; instead, she was wearing a pair of wide-legged pajama pants.

At this moment, Shen Jie was placing a crystal-clear bare foot on the bed, casually trimming her toenails with a nail clipper, making a "click-click" sound in the silent air.

Xiao Yao was somewhat lost in thought.

"Speak up?!" Shen Jie snapped impatiently.

Is this the true temperament of women in Shanghai? Xiao Yao wondered.

“I solemnly promise you that for the rest of my life, I will never hide anything from you again,” Xiao Yao explained slowly, “The matter of similar exam results, it’s like this…”

……

"I wonder why your homeroom teacher is so nosy. I think you're a black sheep." Shen Jie finally finished cutting her toenails, piled the clippings on the copy of the agreement, and then started scratching the back of her feet.

"What happened to your foot?" Xiao Yao asked her with concern.

"It's nothing, I just suddenly felt a little itchy," Shen Jie replied casually.

"Could it be athlete's foot?" Xiao Yao grinned.

"How could that be—" Shen Jie suddenly raised her head: "It's possible! It's all your fault for always making me wear socks and get wet, making me wear wet socks all the time!"

"How could that be? I was just kidding," Xiao Yao quickly clarified, "Pretty girls don't get athlete's foot."

"You better hope I'm not! Otherwise you're dead!" Shen Jie continued scratching her instep: "You're really something, a slacker who cheated to get first place, and you can't even do cheating properly."

"Why do you still call it cheating? No matter how you learned it, if you know it, you know it."

"Getting something for nothing is cheating. Are you confident about retaking the exam? Let me tell you, Xiao Yao, if you can't even get a high school diploma, I won't let Tianyun acknowledge you as her father. That would be too embarrassing."

"The exam will definitely be no problem. If he has the ability to break the symbiosis, I might even have to thank him."

"Tch, fine, as long as you know how to handle the exam," Shen Jie muttered. "It's perfect that it can be solved so easily—but even if you pass this time, your homeroom teacher won't make things easy for you in the future. He'll definitely make things difficult for you."

“I’ve thought of that too,” Xiao Yao told her, “but let’s discuss the class transfer with Director Lin after the makeup exam.”

"...If there's nothing else, you can leave now." Shen Jie gave him the order to leave.

"I also want to cut my toenails." Xiao Yao didn't move.

Shen Jie raised her hand and tossed the nail clippers over, which traced an arc in the air. Xiao Yao quickly reached out and caught them.

If it were yesterday, she would definitely have trimmed her own toenails, but as for today... one should know better than to be rude.

"Where are your plates from lunch? I took them to wash." Xiao Yao turned his head and looked at the empty dining table.

“I don’t need you, I have a dutiful daughter,” Shen Jie said.

"Is my stir-fried green peppers and pork delicious?" Xiao Yao asked her.

"It smells burnt, much worse than last time," Shen Jie said, frowning slightly.

Xiao Yao was relieved: Shen Jie still ate the dishes he cooked, which was a good sign.

"So... what do you want to eat tonight? I'll cook for you."

"No need, thank you," Shen Jie said. "I've already told my daughter that she'll buy the hottest super macarons of 2034 today, so I'm saving them for later."

What are macarons? Are there any for me?

"Yes and no."

……

He stood there for a little while longer before awkwardly saying, "Well... I'll go ahead now?"

"Bye-bye." Shen Jie lowered her head.

Xiao Yao hesitated for a few seconds, then suddenly strode forward and reached out to hug his wife.

The girl swiftly extended her right hand and pressed it against his chest with astonishing strength, her expression cold and stern.

The boy sighed, picked up the photocopy of the agreement, and then picked up the spittoon the girl had used: "I'll empty it for you."

With that, he picked up the spittoon and walked toward Shen Tianyun's wardrobe.

"Xiao Yao." The girl called out to him again from behind.

"Ah."

"When you empty the spittoon, be careful to spot my dad's lookouts. Also, don't let them find out you're looking for them," Shen Jie reminded him.

“You’ve already said you want both,” Xiao Yao replied curtly. “I can handle it myself.”

"Also," Shen Jie thought for a moment and said, "could you help me find something?"

"what is this?"

"Oh, right," Shen Jie clapped her hands before she could say what she was looking for, then remembered something else: "Put the spittoon down first, and after we get there..."

--split line--

Xiao Yao returned to 2004. Without turning on the lights, in the dim light, he gently poured the clipped fingernails into the trash can, as if he were not throwing away garbage, but placing some kind of collection.

These nails are crystal clear, curved like crescent moons, and very cute.

Then, he took out the small flashlight that Shen Jie had given him, and with that tiny beam of light, he searched every corner of the room in the dim light.

After repeated checks, he returned to 2034 and reported to Shen Jie, "No cameras were found."

"sure?"

"I've searched for it seven or eight times."

"it is good."

After emptying the spittoon outside, he changed his clothes and wandered around the alley several times. He didn't see any suspicious strangers, but he ate his fill of snacks to cover his tracks—thank you to his father-in-law for the advance payment for the trip.

However, it's hard to say what might happen on such a dark and windy night.

From an optimistic perspective, the most dangerous place is the safest place, especially after a recent sweep.

However, it's impossible to be 100% certain that the father-in-law has given up, so we still need to be cautious.

He knocked on the wooden door of a neighbor's house, a middle school student, with a heavy heart.

"Brother Xiao Yao?" It was the child who opened the door.

The child is about the same height as Shen Jie, and just started junior high school this year. He will be going to junior high school in the second half of the year.

When Xiao Yao first came to Shanghai in his first year of high school, he often came to his house to play Super Mario and Contra together, but he rarely came after they finished the games.

Xiao Yao entered the house and sat on the sofa next to the dining table for twenty minutes, exchanging pleasantries for twenty minutes. He then politely declined the mother's kind invitation to stay for dinner and left with a bag of old clothes in his hand.

mission completed.

He returned home, grumbling as he cleaned up the huge pile of cigarette butts on the floor, threw them into the trash can, and then took the bag of old clothes to the next room.

Shen Tianyun has returned, and the mother and daughter are sitting around the dining table, sharing... So this is what they call super macarons? They eat and chat happily, creating a warm and harmonious scene.

"You really didn't get any for me?" Xiao Yao's eyes widened.