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

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Xiao Yao was completely confused.

“You and Ouyang Qianqian, and Yu Luying, and Zhao Xiaomei, and Daiyu, and Xiaoxiong, and everyone else.” Shen Jie told him, “If you make a wrong choice on a multiple-choice question in the high school entrance exam, you might not come to Franciscan High School, you would go to Domingo High School. If you make a careless mistake on a big question, you would go to Lu Xun High School.”

“I have thought about that,” Xiao Yao nodded.

“With just one wrong thought, you will never know Ouyang, Yu Luying, Xiaomei, Daiyu, Xiaoxiong, and Brother Long again in this lifetime. And then you will meet other Ouyang, Yu Luying, Xiaomei, Daiyu, Xiaoxiong, and Brother Long,” Shen Jie continued.

“Yes.” Xiao Yao said thoughtfully, “And it was precisely because I ‘just happened’ to be admitted to Fangzhong that I ‘just happened’ to meet Ouyang and Yu Luying. Damn it, I don’t want to say those names again. But at the same time, I will never cross paths with my friends from Duoming Middle School and Lu Xun Middle School again. We are destined to be strangers for life.”

"See, I knew you'd understand what I meant," Shen Jie said with satisfaction. "Whenever you think about how our fate was decided by rolling dice, doesn't it create a feeling in your heart... a feeling..."

"A sense of panic about nothingness?" Xiao Yao said.

“Yes! It’s that feeling of emptiness and panic!” Shen Jie said.

“Shen Jie, to be honest,” Xiao Yao said slowly, “Although I like you, I’ve always felt that we are from two different worlds. I’ve been trying to get closer to your world, and I also hope that you can enter mine.”

"Ok?"

“But what you said made me feel that we are actually from the same world.” Xiao Yao grasped Shen Jie’s hand, and she did not refuse.

“Alright, let me finish,” Shen Jie said softly. “It’s precisely because I hate this… what was it again? This feeling of emptiness and panic that I wish there really was a God in this world who could arrange everything. Didn’t Einstein say that God doesn’t play dice?”

“I understand now,” Xiao Yao laughed from the bottom of his heart, “Why Yu Luying laughed at us that day. You and I are both pathetic fatalists.”

“It’s precisely because I’m a fatalist,” Shen Jie chuckled, “that I’m with you.”

“We’ve known each other for so long, and we’ve talked for so long—well, not for a long time, but we’ve been very close. Even now, you still don’t like me at all?” Xiao Yao asked dejectedly.

"Yes, I like it a little," Shen Jie replied confidently. "You can't possibly not feel it at all, can you?"

"Of course I could tell." Xiao Yao nodded, feeling a little better. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have secretly taken a picture of the two of us while I was asleep."

“That’s why I can’t let myself continue liking you. I’m afraid I’ll like you more and more, become dependent on you, and be unable to live without you,” Shen Jie told him.

"Why not?" Xiao Yao asked, somewhat angrily.

“Because I’m going to be a senior in high school soon, this will affect my studies,” Shen Jie replied calmly. “Besides, I’m going to study in the US afterward, and we’ll be in a long-distance relationship for many, many years. I don’t like that.”

"..."

“I originally planned,” Shen Jie said, hugging Xiao Yao, “to find a way to get my dad to accept you, and then if you work hard, I’ll take you to the US with me.”

“Okay, I’m willing to go with you,” Xiao Yao said eagerly.

"But how are you going to get there now?" Shen Jie reminded Xiao Yao, "Are you holding onto Yu Luying like a rope?"

“We can talk to her and ask her to come along,” Xiao Yao blurted out.

"Don't be childish," Shen Jie said fiercely. "Who is she to you? She's just a high school classmate, a friend. What gives you the right to interrupt her life plans and carry her around like a backpack?"

"..." Xiao Yao remained silent.

“Of course,” Shen Jie’s tone softened a little, “these are all difficulties that can be overcome, as long as we work together to find a solution.”

“Yes, all of these can be overcome.” Xiao Yao had wanted to say this, but Shen Jie beat him to it.

"So the key issue isn't there," Shen Jie said.

"What's the problem?" Xiao Yao turned around and hugged her back.

“Have you ever considered a possibility… that symbiosis is actually a way for the timeline of this world to self-repair?” Shen Jie said.

"What the hell?"

“Look, I only found out today,” Shen Jie said slowly. “Although I had doubts before, I only officially confirmed it today. At this time, you should actually be with Yu Luying. Our relationship is a long time from now.”

"So what?" Xiao Yao was beginning to guess what Shen Jie wanted to say.

“So, my early arrival objectively squeezed out Yu Luying’s position,” Shen Jie said with a somewhat helpless smile. “In other words, I was the mistress myself.”

"Don't say such nasty things!" Xiao Yao scolded. "I won't allow you to talk about yourself like that."

“And in order to repair itself,” Shen Jie said, “the timeline uses a symbiotic approach to connect you and Sha Mei together.”

Xiao Yao was speechless, completely impressed by Shen Jie's unique and imaginative ideas.

"So, when Shen Tianyun's room and your room were connected, symbiosis appeared for the first time."

"The symbiosis weakened immediately when I rejected you for the first time."

"On the way to the parenting education center, I decided to give you a chance, and so, symbiosis regained its strength."

"After discovering that you had been hiding the symbiosis from me, I was heartbroken and wanted to leave you, so the symbiosis weakened again."

"The closer my heart is to you, the stronger the symbiosis; the farther my heart is from you, the weaker the symbiosis becomes."

“If my future marriage to you is fate, destiny, God, or whatever arrangement is good,” Shen Jie announced her conclusion, “then your current relationship with Yu Luying is also an arrangement of fate.”

"..." Xiao Yao was so shocked that he couldn't speak.

“That’s why I want you and Yu Luying to be together, and for us to be friends for now,” Shen Jie told him. “It’s not because you’re hiding the symbiosis, nor because you’re making me report to you every day, but… Xiao Yao, do you understand what I mean?”

“I understand,” Xiao Yao told her.

“Of course, we are still lovers after all,” Shen Jie placed her small hand in Xiao Yao’s hand. “I’ve already said that this is a discussion, not a notification—you don’t need to rush to give me an answer.”

“...Your hypothesis is really interesting. I can’t completely disprove it right now,” Xiao Yao thought for about half a minute. “But you have to admit that it’s still just a hypothesis, not a scientific conclusion that has been proven by a lot of experiments and found objective laws.”

“Indeed,” Shen Jie agreed.

Chapter 154 So what if a young man occasionally acts like a hooligan?

2023-04-07

The bus slowly came to a stop at the terminal station of Zhangjiang High-tech Zone, and the melodious saxophone tune "Going Home" filled the carriage.

But Xiao Yao felt that home was getting further and further away from him.

"Are you feeling unwell?" Shen Jie asked with concern, slightly tiptoeing to straighten Xiao Yao's collar.

"No." Xiao Yao pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

Shen Jie made a phone call to either Yu Bo or Yu Luying, and then told Xiao Yao after hanging up: "The straight-line distance is probably close to 30 kilometers now."

"So, the distance limit for symbiosis is gone?" Xiao Yao said with some delight.

“It might just be that we’ve moved further away,” Shen Jie said.

They began to queue up for the "Zhangnan Line".

As the name suggests, the Zhangnan Line starts at Zhangjiang High-tech Zone and ends at Nanhui University Town.

Looking around, Xiao Yao saw a long, winding line of college students standing in front of, behind, and to his sides. They were either standing or leaning against the stainless steel railings, playing on their phones or chatting, appearing quite relaxed and at ease.

These guys were dressed in avant-garde clothes. A long-haired man carried a guitar and had a cigarette in his mouth; a girl who looked quiet and pretty wore pants that were even shorter than Shen Jie's and wore a pair of bright pink canvas shoes barefoot; a boy wearing glasses and a plaid shirt looked very refined and cultured, giving people the feeling that he was very knowledgeable.

"I really want to start my romantic college campus life soon," Xiao Yao remarked casually.

"Alright, you've been having a pretty good time already," Shen Jie said.

"Speaking of which, it's already early July, haven't universities started summer vacation yet?" Xiao Yao asked curiously.

"I don't know," Shen Jie said. "Every school is different. Maybe some schools let students out later?"

"Hey buddy," Xiao Yao, thick-skinned and unafraid of strangers, approached the boy in the plaid shirt, wanting to ask him something.

"Who's your buddy?" The boy in the plaid shirt sized up Xiao Yao a few times, his words suddenly tinged with anger.

The pretty girl with glasses next to Xiao Yao picked up where he left off. She told Xiao Yao that she was from T University and that she wouldn't be on holiday until mid-July. She said that most of the students around her were from T University, while the other schools in the university town were basically deserted.

"I see." Xiao Yao nodded and said, "You guys really put it out quite late."

"Hey, stop chatting, get in the car, it's our turn," Shen Jie urged.

"Lei! Lei!" Xiao Yao jogged toward the "Zhangnan Line" train that had just pulled into the station, with the man in the plaid shirt following closely behind.

Shen Jie ran into the car, quickly occupied two good seats by the window, patted the seat next to her, and called for Xiao Yao to sit down.

Xiao Yao felt a little emotional. In just ten or fifteen days, Shen Jie had shed many of her extravagant habits as a young lady and become more grounded in real life.

"By the way, what happened when you said you were out of money?" Xiao Yao asked her. "Fifty or sixty thousand yuan, and it's all gone already?"

“I didn’t finish using it, but things aren’t looking good,” Shen Jie replied. “You’re checking my accounts, right? Fine, I’ll settle things with you when we get back.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Xiao Yao muttered. “I was just asking.”

As they were talking, the dilapidated "Zhangnan Line" bus made a hissing sound and, accompanied by a strong push, slowly pulled away from the station.

Unlike the previous bus, this dilapidated bus felt cramped inside. The leather seats were worn and wrinkled, and oil stains and trash were clearly visible on the floor. An unpleasant odor permeated the air, seemingly a mixture of smoke from the driver's cab and the sweat of the passengers.

The air conditioning wasn't working very well, and the bus was packed with university students. Some were reading intently, some were dozing off, and others were chatting quietly. The bus bounced along, occasionally making creaking noises.

Like all suburban lines, the "Zhangnan Line" also retains the position of ticket seller, charging based on the number of stops.

"Where to?" the old lady asked in a gruff voice.

"The finish line... right?" Xiao Yao said uncertainly.

Seven pieces.

Xiao Yao paid 14 yuan and suddenly remembered the trip to Qingpu with Yu Luying that day.

It seems Yu Luying helped us buy the tickets that time, and the three of us started from the same bus stop. But back then we went together, while today we deliberately went in completely opposite directions…

“You know, if the test shows that the symbiotic distance restriction is really gone,” Xiao Yao gently asked Shen Jie, “wouldn’t we not have to be separated, and I could go abroad with you?”