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

"Wait a moment, I'll go to the shower room downstairs," Yu Luying replied.

Feeling guilty, and after releasing some of the pressure, Xiao Yao leaned back on the sofa and drifted into a hazy, half-awake state.

He had a strange dream.

In his dream, he was walking on a very desolate land.

Xiao Yao looked up and saw that the sky was gray and hazy, with no sun, moon or stars in sight. It was hard to tell whether it was the "sky" or the top of a very high rocky cave.

The land was covered with only a few blades of grass and soil, and the entire environment was extremely desolate.

In a corner of the wasteland, he saw a huge stone wall with no doors, only a narrow opening with a cross standing in the middle, emitting a dim light.

Slowly, a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes squeezed through the narrow opening, followed by another baby, and then many more babies emerged from the opening.

Their bodies were weak and powerless, and their hoarse cries echoed between the stone walls.

Xiao Yao couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine. Every child's gaze seemed to be fixed on him, as if they could see right through his soul.

He felt a chill run through his body from the gaze of these innocent infants, and he tried to run away, but his feet were rooted to the ground and he couldn't move.

The babies crawled past him one after another, until only one child stopped at Xiao Yao's feet, raised his head, opened his clear eyes, and smiled at Xiao Yao.

"Who are you?" Xiao Yao asked him. "Where is this?"

“I am Shen Diyun, your son,” the infant replied. “This is LIMBO, the place where the souls of aborted fetuses and stillborn infants reside.”

"There is neither the bliss of heaven nor the eternal torment of hell..." Xiao Yao recalled what Yu Luying had told him on the boat during the day: "Son, why are you here?"

“You know very well why I’m here,” Shen Diyun told him, lying on the ground, “because of your irresponsible behavior and your father-in-law’s brutal oppression. Of course, the main responsibility lies with you.”

"I...I promised Yu Luying that I would be a responsible man," Xiao Yao stammered.

"It's too late, Dad." Shen Diyun's smile frightened Xiao Yao.

"Son, are you alright here?" Xiao Yao mustered his courage, squatted down, and gently stroked the baby's head.

“It’s not good at all,” Shen Diyun said. “It’s incredibly boring here, and there’s no internet.”

"Wait a minute, I need to take this call," Xiao Yao said, taking his phone out of his pocket. "There's a signal, how can there be no internet?"

Then, everything in front of me began to become chaotic and blurry, until it disappeared.

Xiao Yao woke up, his phone still vibrating in his hand.

The dream was so vivid that Xiao Yao was still shaken and lingering fear.

What a random name, "Shen Di Yun"...

While internally venting his discomfort, Xiao Yao glanced at his phone screen.

Caller ID: My dear wife.

!!!

Xiao Yao jumped up.

--split line--

Luo Yunxuan gently closed the door to Shen Jie's bedroom and saw Lisa waiting outside with a plate full of delicious food in her hand.

"She's still not awake," Luo Yunxuan told Lisa. "You can take the food in first."

“Master is back,” Lisa replied in broken Chinese.

"So early?" Luo Yunxuan muttered to herself, waved to Lisa, and quickly walked towards the spiral escalator to go downstairs.

"Hongsheng!" As soon as Luo Yunxuan arrived at the lobby on the first floor, she saw Shen Hongsheng walking towards her with his bare feet clad in dark socks.

As always, she was followed by her always expressionless British butler, with her husband's suit jacket and hat draped over her arm.

"Yunxuan." Shen Hongsheng reached out and pulled Luo Yunxuan into his arms with a kind expression. "How did things go?"

The couple affectionately pressed their cheeks together, and Luo Yunxuan took Shen Hongsheng's hand and walked to sit down on the sofa in the center of the hall.

Then, Luo Yunxuan looked at the butler, Johns.

“There’s nothing Johns can’t know,” Shen Hongsheng said, taking out his cigar case. “Just tell me.”

“After Xiaojie got up in the morning, I took her to admire my cocktail-making skills and chatted with her about everyday things,” Luo Yunxuan told Shen Hongsheng. “Just as planned, I quickly got her drunk.”

"Drinking so early in the morning? You've got some nerve." Shen Hongsheng glanced at his daughter's bedroom door upstairs: "Is she still sleeping?"

"I just went to check on it, it's sleeping like a little pig," Luo Yunxuan said with a smile.

“Let’s skip the process,” a barely perceptible hint of nervousness flashed across Shen Hongsheng’s face. “Just tell me the conclusion.”

"Your daughter, Xiao Jie, is still a girl," Luo Yunxuan told him.

Shen Hongsheng paused for a second, then a smile slowly spread across his face. He said with satisfaction, "I knew it. No matter how much Xiaojie misbehaves, she still has a bottom line."

“Of course,” Luo Yunxuan said, “Don’t you even know whose daughter she is?”

“In that case,” Shen Hongsheng said, biting a cigar between his teeth, “I feel a little more at ease.”

Chapter 195 The Young Lady's Hangover

2023-05-18

Shen Jie woke up in the darkness.

She didn't know whether the darkness was so profound because the blackout curtains were drawn tightly or because it was already night.

Head hurts.

The girl struggled to sit up, her vision blurred—she felt as if she had been hit by a large truck, her breathing rapid, her heart pounding, her mouth dry, and her throat burning as if on fire.

She took a minute to think about whether she was sleeping or taking a nap, whether it was morning or night, and where she was.

She tried hard to recall what happened before she fell asleep, but only scattered fragments floated in her mind, like sediment stirred up at the bottom of water, unable to coalesce into a complete memory. She could only vaguely remember drinking cocktails with her stepmother, and then, and then…

And that was it?

That happened sometime this morning.

She sighed, lowered her hand, and felt her throat was so dry it felt like it was on fire.

She tried to stand up, but had to hold onto the edge of the bed for support. Her limbs felt unusually heavy, as if each had its own thoughts and wouldn't obey her brain. She tried to open her mouth, but the dryness and taste of alcohol in her mouth made her shiver.

Every thought felt like squeezing her brain, making her head ache even more.

She slowly raised her head and looked towards the sunroom, only to see complete darkness; the curtains were tightly drawn, blocking out all light. She felt her life force slowly fading away, and all she wanted to do was bury herself in the blankets until all the hangover symptoms disappeared.

Shen Jie shook her head, trying to clear her mind.

She failed.

The air conditioner was set very cold, so the girl crawled back into her warm bed, intending to take a nap.

No, I need to drink water.

Shen Jie got out of bed and fumbled for the light switch on the wall.

That's right, this is her own bedroom, not some messy place.

On the desk was an exquisite plate with a bowl of rice and several delicious side dishes.

Her gaze fell on the fruit and vegetable juice on the side of the plate, and she reached out, picked it up, and drank it all in one gulp.

"Ah..." The girl smacked her lips in satisfaction.

Then I touched the rice, and sure enough, it was completely cold.

Shen Jie, supporting herself against the surrounding walls, stumbled into the bathroom, flung open the lid of the smart toilet, and plopped down on it.

Listening to the sizzling sound of water beneath her, she closed her eyes contentedly and cleared her mind.

……

Suddenly, the image of a boy appeared in my previously empty mind.

It was a face full of exasperation.

In her imagination, that face was distorted with anger and filled with tears of sorrow.

The hissing sound of water abruptly stopped, abruptly cut off. The girl didn't even bother to wipe herself or wait for the smart toilet to wash her; she jumped up, rushed out of the bathroom, and ran to her bedside.

Cell phone, cell phone, cell phone...

Ah, here it is.

The screen is completely black, and nothing happens no matter what I press.

Line, line...

Shen Jie hurriedly plugged the charging cable into the phone's port.

Because my hands were shaking, it took several tries to successfully insert it.

It takes several minutes from charging to turning on the device.

The girl's gaze fell on the clock in the room, the hands pointing to around 11 o'clock.

On the bright side, I only slept for a few hours.

Unfortunately, this is impossible.