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

Then I pulled over a towel and dried my feet.

Hmm, wait a minute, could this be the towel Xiao Yao uses to wash his face?

...Never mind, I haven't even complained about him yet.

Shen Jie took another pair of slippers from the shoe rack by the door, put them on, and tiptoed back to the bedroom. She tucked the blanket around Nannan and returned to 2034.

As soon as I entered, I saw Xiao Yao lying on his daughter's bed, holding the junior high school uniform in his hands, his face showing a happy expression like a little pig.

"Get up!" Shen Jie stepped forward and pulled him up. "Didn't I tell you to do your summer homework?"

"I'm so tired..." Xiao Yao said, "We'll do it tomorrow... Come sleep with me first... Okay, let's do it! Let's do it now! Ouch!"

Xiao Yao was led to the dining table by Shen Jie by the ear and sat down.

With a cold face, Shen Jie slammed the book "Enjoy Your Summer Vacation" in front of Xiao Yao with a "smack".

Then there was a ballpoint pen.

"How was it? Did you get it?" Shen Jie squatted on the sofa, hugging her knees and craning her neck to look, looking nervous.

Xiao Yao frowned: "Don't make a sound, I'm thinking hard!"

"Good good..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I still can't." Xiao Yao finally had to admit this reality.

"..."

"Stop hitting me! I already said I know I was wrong! Please, please don't hit my face!"

ten minutes later.

Xiao Yao sat on Shen Tianyun's bed, while Shen Jie lay on the sofa, both covered with small blankets.

"Turn off the lights," Shen Jie said, sniffing softly.

"Stop crying."

"Who's crying?"

"Don't be angry."

"It can't be done."

"...Or, you could come to bed with me..."

"Don't even think about it!"

"No, I mean, what if sleeping together would make it work?"

"Get out, I'll never trust you again."

What do you mean by "trust me"? Wasn't the idea that applying patches could restore symbiosis your own conjecture? Now that the experiment has failed, you're taking it out on me.

However, Xiao Yao thought about it but didn't say it out loud.

"Shen Jie..." A few minutes later, Xiao Yao called out weakly again.

"roll."

Xiao Yao knew she was angry, but there was nothing he could do, so he reached out and turned off the light: "Well then, goodnight, wife."

Shen Jie didn't speak; in the pitch-black night, only a barely audible sob could be heard.

The voice was so ethereal that Xiao Yao wasn't sure if he was hallucinating.

The boy's heart skipped a beat; it hurt terribly.

Xiao Yao knew that everything she did was to help him get through the current crisis.

In order to get through this ordeal, even now, Xiao Yao knows that she hasn't completely calmed down (about his concealment of the symbiotic relationship), but she can temporarily put that aside and come close to him.

Now that all those "sacrifices" have come to naught, it's only natural that she's feeling disappointed and throwing a tantrum.

Although Xiao Yao felt extremely guilty about neglecting his studies, the real physical fatigue quickly overwhelmed him, and he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning, Shen Jie got up for her morning run as usual. Xiao Yao was woken up by her noise and volunteered to run with her.

Shen Jie neither welcomed nor rejected the offer.

"Wait a minute, I'll go first. We'll meet at the back door of the alley. When you go out, be careful of people."

"Oh." Why does this feel like a spy drama?

As instructed by Shen Jie, Xiao Yao sneaked out the door ten minutes after she left.

The boy walked along, looking around, but he didn't see a single person.

When they reached the back door of the alley, they did not see Shen Jie.

After searching for a while, I finally saw the girl wearing a large mask and her baseball cap pulled low, standing across the street, quietly looking at me.

The boy walked across the street and stood next to the girl.

A street racer on a Harley-Davidson sped straight towards us from a distance, making a disturbing noise.

"Watch out!" Xiao Yao grabbed Shen Jie's hand and shielded her behind him.

"Thank you," Shen Jie said.

Then, the two of them remained hand in hand and walked together toward St. Francis' School.

"Let it go," Shen Jie said. "Otherwise, how will it escape?"

"Okay." Xiao Yao reluctantly let go of the girl's soft little hand.

The warmth of her hand still lingered in his palm.

Shen Jie clenched her fists and placed them beside her waist, then straightened her head and began to jog.

Xiao Yao followed suit and started running behind her.

"Where are we going?" Xiao Yao asked her. "Are you going to church again?"

“Yu Bo told me,” the girl replied coldly, “that imitating the behavior of your own spiritual fortress and increasing your spiritual compatibility with her can effectively enhance your combat power in the Shadow World—Queen Mary attends Mass every day and recites the Rosary.”

"Oh..." Xiao Yao was a little confused: "So, it can enhance the compatibility with one's own mental fortress, right?"

"That's understandable."

"Should I also find a windmill to ride on?"

"You might as well stay in the church all night guarding your armor."

"That sounds really nice and romantic, but the armor must be expensive, right?"

“Don’t look at me, I’m broke. I’ll buy a model to guard it.” Shen Jie stopped at the red light, and Xiao Yao almost bumped into her. “Besides, I want to go find Yu Bo again later. It would be best if we went in to scout things out today. Waiting until tomorrow night would be too risky.”

"Yes, you've thought of everything." Xiao Yao was a little out of breath.

Today is Sunday, which is what Christians call "Sunday," and it's packed with people compared to yesterday.

Shen Jie sat upright beside him, holding the rosary beads that Yu Luying had given her, and a copy of "The Friend of the Person" that she had taken from the slot behind the front seat. Her lips were moving silently.

That makes a lot of sense, my Habsburg queen.

His eyes searched for Yu Luying among the room full of elderly people, but he couldn't find her.

Through limited symbiosis, Xiao Yao sensed that Yu Luying was still sleeping.

It seems she's planning to attend a later session.

Teacher Yao and Kang Qianshui also came and sat in the third row of the church.

Then, he actually saw ribbonfish.

The skinny, dark-skinned rascal had put away his usual nonchalant attitude and was now sitting with his hands clasped together, muttering incantations and bowing repeatedly.

Is he perhaps seeking a marriage partner? Xiao Yao thought with a hint of sarcasm.

Ah, that's Zhao Xiaomei.

It really was her. It was her yesterday too, wasn't it?

What's going on? Even an airplane-shaped hairstyle is here? Are you kidding me?

Despite his unserious demeanor, Bo Ge's formidable professional skills instilled a slight sense of fear in Xiao Yao.

Just as he was lost in thought, Xiao Yao's phone rang.

He hurriedly and frantically turned off the sound.

It was Little Bear calling.

While answering the call, Xiao Yao covered his mouth and answered quietly as he walked out of the church.

"What's wrong, Mr. Bear?"

"Xiao Yao, I heard that your new homeroom teacher, surnamed Song, has started giving you trouble, for things like plagiarism in exams and the hotel room incident?"

"How did you know?" Xiao Yao asked.