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

Shen Jie didn't speak, so Xiao Yao thought she was asleep.

The boy turned his head and saw the girl gazing sadly at the desolate scenery outside the car window, ignoring his question.

"Wife." Xiao Yao nudged her arm.

"Ah," Shen Jie seemed to have just come to her senses, "maybe...it should be okay?"

"Honey, you look so beautiful—tell me, why did you have to go abroad?" Xiao Yao asked her. "Couldn't you have just taken the college entrance exam in China? The admission scores in Shanghai are so low—"

Shen Jie felt a surge of anger, thinking, "You're already planning to make things difficult for me?"

“I’m studying in the international program at the girls’ high school, and I’ll be a senior in the fall,” Shen Jie thought for a moment and explained calmly, “The things we study aren’t the kind of things that are relevant to the college entrance exam. If I gave up studying abroad and took the college entrance exam, I could probably only get into a junior college in Shanghai.”

Xiao Yao thought to himself, "Isn't there still a year of senior year to work hard?" But after thinking about it, he was too embarrassed to say it out loud.

Moreover, even with great effort, normal relationships are still impossible.

"Actually, don't be angry when I say this, it's just casual conversation," Xiao Yao thought for a moment and said, "With your family background, a degree isn't really that useful, is it?"

“Yes, a degree isn’t just a stepping stone to finding a job. If a new leader of a company only has a college diploma, investors will be scared away.” Shen Jie gave him a strange look: “Where did you learn this lazy thinking?”

"No, I just feel..." Xiao Yao thought for a moment, then stopped talking.

He realized that now might not be the right time to discuss the philosophy of life of "being content with small gains" and "being happy with what one has".

The conditions proposed by Shen Jie seemed very tempting.

They went from being "lovers" back to "friends," but implicitly retained the status of "fiancée." They could continue to stay in touch, go on dates, and have intimate contact. It seemed like there was no essential difference from not breaking up; it was just a nominal transformation.

And perhaps we should give her more personal space.

And he himself could "rekindle his romance" with Yu Luying.

In a sense, no, in fact, this is equivalent to having two romantic partners at the same time.

Of course, this goes against Xiao Yao's consistent view on love until now.

But it would be dishonest to say that he wasn't tempted at all.

Moreover, Xiao Yao felt that they shouldn't be so optimistic.

Just like her father-in-law told Shen Jie, "As long as you go back, everything is negotiable," she also had to consider the possibility that this was a scam.

Once Shen Jie returns, she will no longer have control over how things develop.

But do I really have a way to stop things from developing in this direction? If not, Shen Jie's suggestion is already the best solution. Is this the kind of balancing act of a "future business leader"?

Shen Jie made her meaning very clear: since they would be living in different countries for many years, it was best to avoid developing too much of a relationship. In other words, the relationship should be artificially downplayed.

Xiao Yao simulated what would happen after Shen Jie went back home after he agreed.

At first, she would reply to my messages quickly and we would spend long nights talking on the landline.

Meeting... even if once a week can't be guaranteed, we can always meet once every two weeks.

She would come to visit her daughter, and then the two of them would hug and kiss, and roll around together.

Gradually, the phone calls became less frequent, the messages became less frequent, and the topics the two had to talk about became fewer and fewer.

She kept replying to her messages later and later, eventually turning it into a series of replies before going to bed.

Then one day, she even forgot to reply before going to bed because she was too tired from studying and went straight to sleep.

This situation will only worsen after the start of the school year.

And I don’t even have the right to criticize her.

“We’re just friends, aren’t we?” Shen Jie would tell him, “Why don’t you spend more time with your girlfriend, Yu Luying?”

My requests for dates are repeatedly postponed under the pretext of being "too busy with studies".

Of course, they can still meet, after all, there is a blood tie between them.

One winter, heavy snow began to fall outside the window.

Shen Jie was wearing a thick down jacket, and to keep warm, she also wore a scarf, earmuffs, and gloves.

Her down jacket was light pink, and her contrasting woolen hat and scarf were dark purple. Her fair face was slightly thin, making her even more endearing.

A scarf was loosely wrapped around her neck, and a wool hat clung tightly to her scalp, looking very warm. The gloves were also dark purple, and the thick material ensured her fingers wouldn't freeze. She wore UGG boots, the soles of which were damp with snow, and took them off next to the shoe rack among the photos, revealing thick, white wool socks.

Shen Jie politely greeted herself, took off her gloves, went into the closet, and then spent more than an hour with her daughter.

Xiao Yao leaned against the wardrobe, silently listening to Shen Jie and Tian Yun's conversation.

The air conditioner in the room was humming.

"How long will you stay this time?" Xiao Yao asked her, rubbing his hands together.

"We have to leave right after Christmas," Shen Jie told him.

After the visit ended, Xiao Yao silently accompanied Shen Jie back to his own room.

Without much verbal communication or turning on the lights, Xiao Yao embraced the girl and fell onto the bed covered with quilts.

"Are you sure this silly girl won't have any objections?" Shen Jie asked him to confirm.

"If you don't believe me, call her and ask," Xiao Yao said in a hoarse voice.

“No need, I trust you,” Shen Jie hugged him back. “Hurry up, is 15 minutes enough? The driver is waiting. I have to work on my thesis tonight, and I have an online defense next week. The professor there isn’t easy to fool.”

Xiao Yao suddenly felt bored and deflated.

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Shen Jie mocked him.

……

……

……

And so, immense grief gripped his heart, making it hard to breathe, his eyes reddened, and he felt an urge to burst into tears.

"Hey, hey, what are you thinking about?" Shen Jie noticed his gaze, a little scared, and patted him hard: "Are you uncomfortable because we're too close?"

At this moment, the old bus was speeding along the elevated road, showing no sign of stopping anytime soon. Shen Jie secretly regretted her recklessness.

Fortunately, Xiao Yao was quickly brought back to summer from the dead of winter: "Ah, ah, I'm fine, I'm great."

"You scared me to death! What were you thinking?" Shen Jie breathed a sigh of relief and complained.

"Think about our future."

"Don't rush, take your time to think it over. You don't need to give me an answer today," Shen Jie gently comforted him. "It's fine to think about it for two or three days. As long as you don't agree, I won't force you on your own."

"Thank you, my wife." Xiao Yao held her hand tightly.

No matter what, no matter how things ultimately turn out, this attitude always makes Xiao Yao feel at ease.

“I’ve just thought about it, and there are a few problems here.” Xiao Yao hooked his arm around Shen Jie’s shoulder.

"Hey, don't touch me, aren't you hot?" The girl's neck was a little greasy.

“Your theory may not hold true,” Xiao Yao said. “Otherwise, why didn’t you and Zhang Zhengkai coexist?”

Shen Jie was taken aback: "Then I have nothing to do with him, right? Even in the original timeline, we've hardly had any contact during this period, haven't we?"

“It’s far-fetched, after all, they’re engaged,” Xiao Yao analyzed. “The scientific theory is that even if there are 999 examples to prove your example is correct, as long as you give even one counterexample, your theory can be immediately disproven.”

“Then you also need to consider other variables,” Shen Jie pondered, “Me and Zhang Zhengkai, well—”

“Okay, let’s put this aside for now,” Xiao Yao interrupted her. “You want me to talk to Yu Luying? I think that now that she knows your identity and your daughter’s existence, she will definitely not agree.”

“Oh,” Shen Jie patted Xiao Yao’s arm and said, “If that’s what you’re worried about, I’ll take care of it for you.”

Xiao Yao found it very strange. It felt like his ex-girlfriend was introducing her best friend to him as her new girlfriend. It was incredibly odd: "No, that's not the main problem. The most important thing is that I can't get over this hurdle in my heart!"

"What hurdle?" Shen Jie thought Xiao Yao was referring to the fact that she had agreed to continue their close contact: "Then you should be a gentleman, and we should just maintain the boundaries of normal friends."

“There was once a great man who said this,” Xiao Yao told Shen Jie, “Dating without the intention of marriage is just playing around.”

"You believe in this?" Shen Jie raised an eyebrow.

“I believe it,” Xiao Yao said solemnly. “Go ask Brother Bo, he will definitely agree with this statement.”

"So?" Shen Jie asked.

“So even though I know my future husband won’t be Yu Luying, I shouldn’t have dated her,” Xiao Yao said. “Otherwise, that would be being a scoundrel.”

The boy's voice was firm and resonant.

Shen Jie chuckled: "Sometimes, I think I really like this side of you, this kind of silly but upright demeanor."

Xiao Yao took this as a compliment and accepted it without hesitation: "Ouyang seems to have said the same thing to me."

"Xiao Yao," Shen Jie said, "do you know where our final destination is?"

“Nanhui University Town,” Xiao Yao told him.

"Nanhui University Town, is this destination important?" Shen Jie asked out of the blue.

"?" Xiao Yao didn't quite understand what she meant: "What do you mean? It's not important."

“Yes, it doesn’t matter,” Shen Jie said in a light tone. “Don’t you think the greatest value of this trip is actually the scenery along the way?”

Xiao Yao glanced out the car window; all he could see was desolation and weariness.

Outside the window, on the barren land, a few withered weeds stubbornly resisted the hot wind and clung to life under the scorching sun.