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

“Hey, what do you call maturity?” Xiao Yao laughed. “Just a frightened bird—I’m just scared of this society.”

“That person didn’t cheat,” Yu Luying said softly, “it was just a simple divorce.”

"Oh?" Xiao Yao thought to himself, how could she hate someone to this extent? Just because they got divorced, she puts the other person's "memorial portrait" on the table and curses them to die soon every day. Yu Lihua is too cruel.

Xiao Yao recalled the happy family of three in the "Parent-Child Education Center." He had seen "that man's" face (in color) and also saw that Yu Luying was very attached to her father.

What is it that makes her now refuse to say "dad" or "father," only saying "biological father" and "that person"?

The boy put down his pen, looked up, and quietly gazed at the girl before him. Though filled with questions, he remained silent.

“Ask whatever you want,” Yu Luying lowered her eyelids. “I won’t get angry.”

"Then, who filed for divorce, and what was the reason?"

“Of course it’s that person,” Yu Luying told Xiao Yao. “In fact, he forcibly abandoned my mother. As for the reason…”

Xiao Yao waited quietly for what was to come.

"The reason? I fucking want to know the reason too." Yu Luying said with a sorrowful expression.

……

In Xiao Yao's memory, Yu Luying was a girl who almost never swore.

If Shen Jie is described as "not saying much," then Yu Luying is described as "almost never saying anything."

Therefore, even without reading the content, this sentence was enough to surprise Xiao Yao.

"Then..." Xiao Yao swallowed hard, "He hasn't come to see you in all these years?"

Yu Luying chuckled softly: "If it weren't for this black and white photo, I would have forgotten what he looked like. He has his own wife and children. Over the years, the only proof of his existence has been the small amount of child support transferred to him on the 1st of each month—and later, even that stopped."

"Why not? You're not even an adult yet, go ahead and sue me," Xiao Yao said in the capital's dialect. "So, you have younger brothers and sisters."

"I don't know, I've never seen it, and I don't care."

“…Oh,” Xiao Yao said.

"Do your parents pay child support?" Yu Luying asked curiously.

“My grandma is raising me, so my dad should give her money,” Xiao Yao stretched and said. “As for whether my biological mother gives me money or not, that’s between her and my dad. I’m too lazy to ask. Anyway, I won’t get a single penny.”

Yu Luying smiled and said, "What biology... why are you studying me too?"

“I didn’t learn from you,” Xiao Yao said, pursing his lips. “That woman is even worse than your dad. She’s the one who cheated on my dad, and not just once.”

"Uh..." Yu Luying awkwardly reached out and grasped Xiao Yao's wrist: "Tell me about your family. The other day, when my sister, Tianyun, and I were looking at your photo album, we saw... we saw Auntie's face. In several photos, it was cropped out, and we were too embarrassed to ask..."

“Yes, I cut it off,” Xiao Yao nodded.

"But I only cut out a few; I kept the rest," Yu Luying asked cautiously.

"Yeah, after cutting out a few pictures, I suddenly found it both troublesome and ridiculous," Xiao Yao nodded and said, "so I just stuffed the whole album into the bottom of a box, who knew your sister would dig it out?"

“Ha,” Yu Luying smiled, “Don’t blame your sister, I actually dug it out when I was helping her find her dress.”

"It doesn't matter," Xiao Yao shrugged.

“It seems we really are the same kind of people.” Yu Luying gripped Xiao Yao’s wrist tightly. Xiao Yao responded by turning his wrist over and gently pressing her fingers against his.

Their eyes met.

Chapter 181 Yu Luying Opens Her Heart

2023-05-04

Their eyes met.

The two remained silent, as if time had stood still.

Xiao Yao unconsciously leaned towards Yu Luying's face and slowly moved closer to her.

Her beautiful and pure face was like the brightest star in the night sky, captivating his attention.

He could feel her soft breathing, which was so sweet.

The two young faces drew closer and closer.

Yu Luying stared at him with wide eyes, as if she was taken aback by his sudden affectionate gesture.

Perhaps Xiao Yao's approach was too slow, giving Yu Luying time to recover. She suddenly let go of his hand and leaned back slightly: "Do your homework!"

"Ah, okay," Xiao Yao said quickly.

An awkward atmosphere filled the room, and the tension between the two became subtle and complex. Xiao Yao would occasionally look up at Yu Luying, but her gaze always avoided his.

Her expression became like an ice sculpture, beautiful yet unapproachable.

“Um…” Finally, Xiao Yao cleared his throat, trying to break the ice.

"Haven't your mother met anyone suitable all these years?" "I'm not ready yet, give me some more time!"

The two of them spoke at the same time.

"Phew..." Xiao Yao visibly breathed a sigh of relief: "Don't take it to heart."

The two looked at each other and laughed, and the ice in the air melted slightly.

“Hmm,” Yu Luying chewed on her pen, “Have I told you before that our Yu family has been Catholic for about ten or twenty generations?”

“They must have mentioned it,” Xiao Yao recalled. “It seems the earliest mention can be traced back to the generation of Xu Guangqi at the end of the Ming Dynasty?”

Yu Luying nodded and said, "That's how it is according to the family genealogy."

Xiao Yao didn't understand why Yu Luying suddenly started looking at the family tree, but he just waited quietly for her to continue.

"Yes, the church forbids divorce, you know that, right?" Yu Luying asked again.

“I understand now,” Xiao Yao told Yu Luying. “Then what about your dad—your 'that' guy, that person—who unilaterally divorced your mom? What about that?”

“That’s the problem,” Yu Luying explained in detail: “From the perspective of canon law, my mother’s marriage with that person is still valid. If she remarries, it would be considered bigamy, and she would never be able to receive Holy Communion.”

"Eucharist?"

"It's the one that everyone lines up at the end of each Mass to receive."

"Flatbread and wine?"

"Ah."

"Is this important?" Xiao Yao asked, puzzled.

“It’s very important,” Yu Luying told him.

“Okay, so your mom is destined to be single forever?” Xiao Yao said, “There must be other solutions.”

"Yes," Yu Luying nodded.

"What method? Why didn't you try it?" Xiao Yao asked.

“The marriage will automatically dissolve once that man is no longer alive,” Yu Luying said lightly. “Tell me, how do we try?”

"Uh..." Xiao Yao had three black lines on his head: "Then your dad—that guy, how come he can remarry? Won't the church deal with him?"

"Do you think this is medieval Europe? Do you think the Inquisition can come knocking on your door to check your water meter?" Yu Luying said quietly, "That person was baptized to get married, so now he's basically absconded from the church. He can eat and drink as he pleases. Who can do anything to him except the Lord?"

"Ah...no wonder you two hate him so much." Xiao Yao's voice suddenly rose: "Ah!! I understand!"

"What have you figured out now?" Yu Luying asked curiously.

"No wonder your mother was so vehemently opposed to me. It's because I'm also a foreign teacher, and she was afraid you'd repeat her mistakes." Xiao Yao said as if he had discovered something amazing.

"Now, don't you feel so much less guilty towards her?" Yu Luying asked him.

“Yes!” Xiao Yao nodded emphatically, “I understood it immediately!”

For some reason, Yu Luying chuckled softly.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Yao asked him.

“I’ve noticed that you always have a way of sympathizing with others, even those who have hurt you because of their opposing views,” Yu Luying said. “Is that a strength?”

Did Shen Jie say something similar to me? Xiao Yao wondered.

"Don't I have a very Christian heart?" Xiao Yao asked with a grin.

"You really dare to flatter yourself!" Yu Luying rolled her eyes at him.

"So, after learning about symbiosis, your mother immediately pressured me to marry you," Xiao Yao continued, reconstructing the whole process, "because she felt that I had lost the ability to betray you?"

“In my opinion, I’m just getting senile,” Yu Luying sighed. “Even if the symbiotic distance keeps you within 5 meters of me, can it really hold your heart?”

“That’s hard to say,” Xiao Yao said without hesitation. “Symbiosis seems to have the effect of bringing hearts closer together.”

For some reason, Yu Luying's face darkened upon hearing this.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Yao tried hard to think of what he had accidentally said wrong again.

“It’s nothing,” Yu Luying thought for a moment, “Since I’ve already told you all this, I’ll tell you everything.”

"Go on," Xiao Yao said, sitting up straight.

“As I mentioned before, our Yu family is actually quite a large family. Although we are a branch, our ancestors were quite successful. We went into business and have accumulated some wealth,” Yu Luying said.

"Hmm, I can tell." Xiao Yao looked around at the simple surroundings.