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

Shen Jie said, "Wait, that's not right—I don't have a symbiotic lock with him, but he has a hostage."

"Even tigers don't eat their cubs, how could he possibly kill your Tianyun?"

"No, if I break off all ties with him, will he still come back to me obediently...? Can you guarantee that 100%?"

“I can’t guarantee you anything,” Yu Luying frowned. “After saying all that, you just want to say that you don’t love him, right? Then break up with him, break up with him.”

"Huh? But you just said—"

Yu Luying deliberately said, "I'm wrong. If you really love someone, how could you not be possessive? How could you tolerate him dating other women?"

Shen Jie began to frown as she recalled the moments when she felt possessive of Xiao Yao.

When she first saw Xiao Yao and Yu Luying living together in the "Parent-Child Education Center," it's hard to say that her beatings and kicks towards Xiao Yao weren't partly motivated by a desire to vent her anger.

Previously, she had always been jealous of Yu Luying, Zhao Xiaomei, and Xiao Yao.

Shen Jie suddenly realized that she was not actually without possessiveness, but she always wanted to ensure that "everything was under her control".

She originally thought that Xiao Yao was loyal to her, but she didn't expect that he would help Yu Luying hide the symbiotic relationship, which is why she was so disappointed.

She had thought she could smoothly arrange things with Yu Luying, but she just realized that wasn't the case—the silly girl wasn't silly at all; she had her own ideas.

Once she realized that she couldn't control the whole situation, she couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

Is this... a flaw of mine? Shen Jie wondered.

However, these words cannot be said to Yu Luying.

“I don’t really have much of a concept of this kind of thing growing up,” Shen Jie said. “I know an older sister who is very close to me. She was in a political marriage. She and her fiancé have always been good friends, like childhood friends, but there’s no love between them. After they got married, she didn’t care what her husband did outside. She made a pact that as long as he didn’t bring the disease home, it was fine. She’s very carefree. Many people around me are like that.”

Yu Luying shrugged and said, "Should I say that the world of you rich people is too complicated or too simple?"

Shen Jie shrugged, and the two fell into a brief silence.

"Actually, sister, there's something I don't know if I should say." Yu Luying seemed to remember something else.

"speak."

"You are a very kind person, even with the potential to be a saint."

"what?"

“Or rather, you have the spirit of a Christian.” Yu Luying thought for a moment and then changed her way of expressing it.

"Why? Because I'm willing to go to church for Mass and learn to chant scriptures from you?" Shen Jie said with a smile.

“No,” Yu Luying shook her head: “You are, in many ways, altruistic in nature.”

"Mm." Shen Jie readily accepted Yu Luying's praise.

“But there are still a few times occasionally…” Yu Luying carefully considered her words.

Okay, the important part is what comes after "but," Shen Jie thought.

"A little bit, self-centered?" Yu Luying said hesitantly.

"Who? Me?" Shen Jie disliked this assessment: "Self-centered?"

"Hmm... how should I put it?" Yu Luying regretted it a little, feeling that she had said too much: "Sometimes you have a sense of superiority that you don't even realize yourself, a sense of superiority."

“Ah…” Shen Jie said.

“You are willing to think about others, but sometimes you try to think about others in your own way,” Yu Luying explained, “Imposing your kindness on others.”

“I can understand,” Shen Jie nodded, “but I don’t understand either—can you give me two examples?”

"Okay, okay, we've gone off on a tangent," Yu Luying patted the sofa bed beneath her. "It's not a big problem. Who can say they're completely free of being 'self-centered'? It's just a matter of degree."

"Um……"

"Anyway, I've made my stance very clear. If you don't mind, I can accompany you in this experiment." Yu Luying began her closing statement: "Whether you like Xiao Yao or not is a question only you can ask yourself. I can only help you sort out your thoughts."

"Mm," Shen Jie said.

“I’m really worried,” Yu Luying sighed, “I’m worried that once this experiment is finished, our friends won’t be able to do it.”

“No,” Shen Jie promised, “unless you don’t want to be friends anymore.”

“I can’t either.” Yu Luying reached out and grabbed Shen Jie’s hand.

“We should get together more often from now on,” Shen Jie said, holding her hand tightly. “Without that jerk.”

"Okay!" Yu Luying said, "There's one last question—is there anything you haven't told me yet?"

Shen Jie hesitated for a moment: "Yes. How did you know?"

“Since you believe that the strength of the symbiosis is related to your attitude towards him, what about yesterday’s restoration of the symbiosis—although it was only partially restored?” Yu Luying’s eyes were bright and piercing: “Since you have already withdrawn your thoughts of breaking up, then your main purpose is actually only one thing, which is the issue of symbiosis and timeline.”

"uh-huh?"

"So, why are you so fixated on solving the timeline problem?" Yu Luying asked her.

“As his future wife,” Shen Jie said, her face no longer flushed, “it’s reasonable for her not to want her husband to have another woman who shares her feelings and understands her.”

“That makes perfect sense,” Yu Luying nodded. “But if the price is that I’m with him, then whether or not we break the symbiosis is meaningless to you.”

"That's not without reason."

"So, my intuition tells me that your motivation isn't strong enough, after all—"

“Alright, I’ll tell you,” Shen Jie sighed, “I went to church for Mass again this morning and talked to your uncle about the progress I’ve made in understanding the patterns of symbiotic change.”

“Continue,” Yu Luying said.

“He thought my guess was very likely to be correct, and he proposed a new possibility,” Shen Jie looked around and lowered her voice: “In fact, the fluctuations and occurrence of shadow time are also related to the alteration of history.”

"Huh? Is there any basis for that? He's a guy with a lot of unreliable and whimsical ideas—"

“But we must do this experiment, even if it’s just to rule out that possibility,” Shen Jie said. “Otherwise, you, me, all of us could be in danger of losing our lives at any time.”

Chapter 165 The Changing of the Guard Ceremony of My Girlfriends

2023-04-18

When Xiao Yao rushed to the hotel entrance, Shen Jie and Yu Luying were already waiting there.

The boy's heart skipped a beat when he saw his fiancée.

His wife was wearing a light blue floral mini-skirt. She wore a white sleeveless blouse tucked into the skirt, accentuating her slender waist. She wore white canvas shoes and short black stockings that clung to her calves, emphasizing their curves. Her short, elegant hair was styled with an XXII-shaped hair clip, highlighting her delicate face.

Behind the girl, the sky was filled with fiery clouds—this wasn't the first time Xiao Yao had seen fiery clouds, but it was the first time he truly understood their beauty. The entire city's sky was dyed a brilliant orange-red, the fiery clouds resembling streaks of fairies in flowing gowns, leaving him mesmerized.

The colors of the sunset clouds changed continuously over time, gradually dimming from an initial orange-red, reminding Xiao Yao of the impermanence of life. Thinking of the impending separation, and the thought of no longer being able to wake up to that delicate face every day, Xiao Yao's heart was filled with boundless sorrow.

Yu Luying stood beside Shen Jie, a good half a head taller than her. She wore dark blue jeans, the cuffs rolled up to her ankles, a white T-shirt tucked into her jeans, and beige plastic sandals, revealing her feet encased in white short stockings.

The girl's feet looked beautiful, with smooth lines. Although the socks were completely opaque, they were very light and outlined the shape of her feet.

As we all know, in school, you can usually only see the tops of girls' socks and it's hard to see other parts of their feet. But in the summer, sometimes girls wear sandals, and only in this case can you have a chance to feast your eyes and appreciate the entire beautiful feet of your female classmates.

However, after arriving in Shanghai, Xiao Yao discovered that people here wear socks but not sandals, and wear sandals but not socks. Therefore, he had never seen the same scene as when he was in junior high school in Suzhou.

For this reason, Xiao Yao couldn't help but glance at Yu Luying's feet a few more times.

"Where are you looking?" Shen Jie asked calmly.

“I’m here…” Xiao Yao immediately replied, “This is the first time I’ve seen you wearing this black, short…”

Shen Jie stepped forward, intending to punch him hard in the arm, but then remembered Yu Luying. When her fist made contact with his arm, she stopped herself and instead pulled him up.

"Silly girl, let's go shopping." Shen Jie turned around and called out to Yu Luying, her face beaming.

"Ah," Yu Luying replied, taking three steps at a time to come forward. She walked to Xiao Yao's side, hesitated for a moment, then went around to Shen Jie's side and walked alongside her.

Xiao Yao accompanied the two girls as they strolled through the streets, from the hotel that offered Turkish baths all the way to the old commercial street near their home. He carried both of their bags, and as time went on, he carried more and more bags.

The two girls chatted happily all the way.

Watching them enthusiastically selecting clothes, lipsticks, and small jewelry, Xiao Yao felt a little bored.

Although he was happy to keep them company, he thought, "Why don't you talk to me too?"

"Hey, silly girl, do you think this dress looks good?" Shen Jie asked, pointing to a dress.

“Hmm, not bad, but I think this one suits you better,” Yu Luying said, pointing to another piece of clothing.

"This color is really beautiful." Shen Jie frowned, fiddling with the hem of the dress, considering whether to buy it or not, but then felt that she had never seen this brand before, and that the style and fabric were somewhat disappointing.

Since no one wanted to ask for his opinion, Xiao Yao didn't speak up. He patiently waited for them to make a decision and helped pack the things they had chosen.

However, he felt that neither of the girls paid much attention to him, and even when he spoke, he only received a few vague responses.

"Was that movie you just mentioned really good?" Xiao Yao tried to interject.

"Oh, that? It's alright," Shen Jie replied perfunctorily.

Xiao Yao sighed, feeling as if he were just a nameless travel attendant.

As mentioned earlier, the three eventually turned into the commercial street near Xiao Yao's home.

The buildings on the street are quite old, with unevenly laid stone bricks on the ground. Many shops have long windows upstairs, and some have winding wooden staircases. The shops on both sides of the street are all quaint and antique, with exquisite decorations in the small courtyards. Pedestrians come and go in an endless stream, and the vendors' calls are full of energy.

Xiao Yao, Shen Jie, and Yu Luying sat around a small wooden square table with several snacks and bottles of beer on it. They were sitting outside the shop, with a large tree overhead that Xiao Yao couldn't name.

"The silent tree blooms in the vast sky, its life's years of brilliance gone. It doesn't know that there is a kind of fragility called eternity..." Xiao Yao twirled a wooden chopstick in one hand and hummed softly to himself.