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

"Eat more if you like it." Yu Lihua noticed Xiao Yao's fondness for braised eel and piled several large pieces onto his plate.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Xiao Yao hurriedly picked up the bowl: “Auntie, I can do it myself, I can do it myself.”

"Mom, let them do it themselves." Yu Luying looked dissatisfied.

……

The second visit was much more relaxed than the first. Coupled with the hard work of leveling up, Xiao Yao ate three bowls of rice and finished off all the dishes on the table.

"Auntie's cooking is really delicious," Xiao Yao exclaimed sincerely.

After the meal, Yu Lihua smiled and served up some chilled watermelon.

The sliced ​​watermelon exudes a cool, refreshing aroma. Each slice is glistening with moisture, making you want to take a bite immediately. Their vibrant, glossy red color, like the summer sun, is incredibly tempting. Each slice is evenly cut and perfectly sized, looking absolutely delicious.

The watermelon seeds on the cut surface made it immediately clear to Xiao Yao that this was the Nanhui 8424, a local specialty watermelon. These small black seeds, distributed within the bright red flesh, looked like tiny black pearls.

Xiao Yao took a piece and handed it to Yu Luying, then politely declined it with Yu Lihua before taking a bite.

...! ! !

This chilled watermelon is really cold.

A chill ran down his throat and into his stomach, then spread throughout his body, making Xiao Yao shiver. The watermelon flesh was soft, juicy, and very sweet, with a delicious and refreshing taste that made his mouth water. He couldn't help but take another big bite.

Watermelon juice was overflowing from his mouth, and dopamine was being released in his brain. All of this gave Xiao Yao a false sense of happiness. Coupled with Yu Lihua's kind smile, all of this made Xiao Yao feel a little "floaty".

In the past, Yu Lihua had always been a "nightmare" in his mind, a strict and picky old aunt. But then again, most of the time, Yu Lihua didn't actually have much direct contact with him, so in the end, he was only concerned about Yu Luying and annoyed by the trouble that Yu Lihua was causing him.

But at this moment, Yu Lihua gave him a long-lost sense of warmth. Her gentleness and love awakened warm memories buried deep in Xiao Yao's mind, memories of his mother.

It was in this warm and affectionate atmosphere that Xiao Yao had a sudden thought and said the following sentence: "It's so good to have a mother."

“This child is so pitiful. From now on, he can treat this place as his home,” Yu Lihua said gently. “He can also treat his aunt as his mother.”

Xiao Yao was moved by Yu Lihua's words, but after a couple of seconds he realized something was wrong and his heart skipped a beat.

Before she could decide how to respond, Yu Luying yelled, "Mom~~~ What nonsense are you talking about!"

Xiao Yao felt a little dizzy and almost wanted to agree immediately.

Unfortunately, when faced with a mother with no blood relation and a daughter with blood relation on opposite sides of a scale, a responsible man can only choose the daughter.

and many more.

Thinking of how good Shen Jie was to him and what she had done for him, Xiao Yao couldn't help but curse himself in his heart again.

"I am very, very touched by your kindness, Auntie," Xiao Yao said at the end, his tone and expression very sincere.

Yu Lihua narrowed her eyes, waiting for Xiao Yao's "but," but Xiao Yao remained silent and did not say "but."

The atmosphere on the scene became a little awkward, so Yu Luying quickly changed the subject, saying, "Mom, Xiao Yao went to a catechism class this morning."

“Apo told me about it,” Yu Lihua nodded, “I was just about to ask you, how did you feel? What did you learn?”

Xiao Yao quickly replied, "I studied the Apostles' Creed."

"How are you feeling?" Yu Lihua repeated the question kindly.

“It feels great,” Xiao Yao replied somewhat cautiously. “Father Yu spoke well. It’s good to have faith; it can persuade people to do good.”

"I see." Yu Lihua's eyes became somewhat thoughtful. Although the smile on her face remained, Xiao Yao could tell that she was starting to feel unhappy.

"Mom," Yu Luying interrupted deliberately, "didn't you have something to do this afternoon?"

Xiao Yao suddenly realized that what Yu Lihua cared about was not whether her brother was doing well in class, but rather her true attitude towards faith and the church.

As for why he cared, Xiao Yao believed it was self-evident after learning about Yu Lihua's sympathetic past.

Such empty social flattery as "It's good to have faith and to persuade people to do good" will obviously not satisfy the other party and may even arouse resentment; joking and banter will not get you away with it, and once the woman in front of you decides that you are "untrustworthy", then even if she does not change her attitude and starts to oppose her daughter's relationship with her, she will definitely not give you such a comfortable life again.

In just ten seconds, Xiao Yao formulated a general strategy for passing the test in his mind.

He was ready to face the female referee.

"If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening," Xiao Yao said solemnly.

"What?" Yu Lihua was taken aback.

“I’ve always been someone who loves to daydream,” Xiao Yao said slowly, chewing the watermelon in his mouth. “I think about things like where I came from, where I’m going, and the meaning of life.”

"Hmm." Yu Lihua, who had already stood up, sat down again.

“I would think about the essence of self-awareness, who I am, why I am me, and other such questions.” Xiao Yao said with feigned seriousness, “Thinking about these things makes me feel confused and suspicious.”

Yu Luying glanced at herself, then hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.

Seeing that Yu Lihua was listening attentively, Xiao Yao continued, "And what I thought about most was what exactly 'death' feels like."

“I asked my parents, and they both told me that when you die, you have nothing left and you know nothing anymore. The people who could tell me what 'death' feels like can no longer answer me.”

“When I was a child, after I learned that ‘I will die one day,’ I was so scared that I would be anxious all night and couldn’t sleep well—it was that kind of nihilistic panic. I don’t know if you can understand what I mean.”

“Everyone dies eventually, and we are all just ordinary people, so there’s no need to be anxious,” Yu Luying interjected.

“I imagine what it would be like after I die—the earth is still turning, the sun is still rising in the east and setting in the west every day, the rivers are still flowing, waterfalls are still cascading down, the cities are still bustling, people are still going back and forth between factories and homes, everything is still the same, except that there is no 'me' among them. I can't imagine what that would feel like, every time I imagine this... 'feeling without feeling', it only brings me a sense of emptiness and panic.”

Neither the Yu mother nor her daughter interrupted; they both listened quietly. Apart from Xiao Yao's voice, the only other sound in the room was the ticking of the clock's second hand.

“So I don’t know,” Xiao Yao continued, “that in the face of inevitable death, what else in such a life has any real meaning besides pleasure.”

"Don't be so negative, will you?" Yu Luying was worried that Xiao Yao's negative remarks would leave a bad impression on her mother, so she gently suggested.

But Xiao Yao continued speaking on his own:

"Others told me that although we will all die, we can leave something for future generations so that we will not have lived in vain and that our spirit will live on forever."

"But humanity itself will die one day, and the sun will one day undergo a helium flash, become a red giant, and devour the entire solar system, leaving nothing behind."

"Even the universe itself will one day blueshift, collapse, die, and eventually become a singularity."

In Liu Cikang's novel "The Road to Dawn", Stephen Hawking finally asked the ultimate question: "What is the purpose of the universe?" The alien representative himself could not answer it and said with a sad face, "How should I know?"

"When I was in junior high school, I was obsessed with particle physics and chemistry. Seriously, Auntie, don't let my appearance fool you, I once got the only perfect score in chemistry in the entire grade during a monthly exam in my third year of junior high."

“Atomic physics, quantum mechanics, chemistry, string theory… I’m studying these things diligently, regardless of whether I can understand them or not. I think that by mastering this knowledge, I’ll be one step closer to the essence of the universe. And this feeling of seeking the truth makes me feel at peace.”

“I understand,” Yu Lihua said softly.

"But in the end, I discovered that the more I learned, the more I realized I didn't understand. Not just myself, but humanity as a whole is still very far from a unified theory..."

“Physics no longer exists,” Xiao Yao recalled a passage from the novel “The Three-Body Problem” he had read: “Physics never existed.”

"Xiao Yao, what exactly are you trying to say?" Yu Luying asked, puzzled.

"This morning's class opened a new world for me. To be honest, I'm still incredibly excited," Xiao Yao suddenly said in a sincere and passionate tone, a tone that even he himself almost believed: "Do you know why? Because someone told me that death is not the end of everything, but merely the beginning of a new and eternal life. Because someone told me that our lives, our world, our universe, all have meaning in the eyes of the Supreme Being."

"We can find meaning in life."

“In the past, I just regarded these things as feudal superstition and dismissed them with disdain. But now I can feel that this is another path to the truth,” Xiao Yao said. “This new way of looking at the world makes me very interested and comforted.”

Xiao Yao saw a genuine smile on Yu Lihua's face: "Good, very good."

OK, passed, play music.

After Yu Lihua left satisfied, Xiao Yao collapsed onto the sofa, utterly exhausted.

Yu Luying stared intently at him with a very strange look in her eyes.

"What's wrong, silly girl?" Xiao Yao picked up his schoolbag and took out the test paper. "Shall we start studying?"

“Great philosopher Xiao, were the things you said to my mother the truth, or were you just fooling her?” Yu Luying stood still, not moving: “You have to tell me the truth.”

“To be honest,” Xiao Yao opened the pencil case and took out the ballpoint pen, “it was just to fool her.”

"Oh."

"That's the truth."

“…Oh?” Yu Luying slowly walked over and sat down at the dining table.

“For me,” Xiao Yao explained to Yu Luying, “since witnessing such a vast shadow world, I have indeed been rebuilding my understanding of the world.”

“Mm,” Yu Luying said.

“For me,” Xiao Yao looked into Yu Luying’s eyes, “after witnessing so many 'shadows' of wrong paths, I have never longed to believe in the existence of the 'light' of the righteous path as much as I do now.”

"Ah."

“If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening,” Xiao Yao said. “That’s really what I think. What I told your mother—the fear of death, the longing for eternity, the confusion about the universe and existence, the pursuit of meaning—was all from the bottom of my heart. But for me, there are so many philosophies and so many theories in the world. I’m still too young and haven’t read enough. I can’t be sure yet that your ‘Way’ is the ‘True Way’.”

"Why do you suddenly like saying 'for me' so much?" Yu Luying smiled and said, "But I understand what you mean. Study hard."

“But I’m willing to believe.” Looking at the girl’s angelic face, Xiao Yao suddenly had a thought and blurted out, “I’m willing to believe you.”

"What?" Yu Luying asked, puzzled.

“There’s a sentence in your scripture that I saw by chance, and I really like it,” Xiao Yao said.

"What?"

“Your nation is my nation; your God is my God,” Xiao Yao said.

"Ah..." Yu Luying seemed to be electrocuted, and sat motionless.

"Did you understand?" Xiao Yao smiled.

"Wh-what?" Yu Luying looked flustered.