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

The boy squinted at the buildings such as War Cinema, Moore Memorial Church, and New World, and couldn't help but recall that on a rainy night not long ago, Yu Luying had confessed her love to him for the first time in the lobby of War Cinema.

Although they watched a terrible movie called "Beautiful Shanghai" together that day, the entire city of Shanghai did indeed become more beautiful as the girl's feelings were revealed.

Xiao Yao looked at Yu Luying, who seemed to have remembered the same thing as him and was stealing glances at him.

Their eyes met, and the girl blushed slightly before turning her head away as if nothing had happened.

The boy took small, quick steps to the girl's side, and before the priest and everyone else could notice, he quietly hid his hand behind his back and reached out to take the girl's hand.

His wishful thinking and actions all fell through. Yu Luying leaped away like a nimble deer, glared at him fiercely, then jumped back and gave him a light kick.

To onlookers, this gesture was quite intimate and ambiguous.

Daiyu and Xu Wuchen were both winking at him, and Yu Bo also gave him a disgruntled look: "Everyone, come here, I'll explain today's arrangements."

The crowd formed a circle around Yu Bo.

Their mission was very clear: to bring warmth to every corner of the square.

Two people form a group, each assigned a road and a direction.

Xiao Yao naturally wanted to be in a group with Yu Luying, just like Zhang Jialong wanted to be in a group with Chen Lu. As a result, Yu Bo paired up these two unique, uh, only two girls.

"Xiao Yao, you'll be paired with Xu Wuchen," Yu Bo said with a wink, placing his hands on both of their shoulders. "Make up with your brother!"

A burst of cheerful, harmless laughter erupted around him, and Xiao Yao could only awkwardly laugh along.

Finally, Yu Bo paired himself up with Daiyu, put his arm around him, and pulled him away.

However, Xiao Yao and Xu Wuchen had already become quite familiar with each other, so their collaboration wasn't awkward. The two set off from the entrance of the War Film City, passing through a series of narrow, dark, dirty, and damp alleys.

After walking for a while, Xiao Yao asked the man with the airplane-shaped hairpin, "Have we taken the wrong road? We haven't seen a single beggar."

“Uh…” Xu Wuchen hesitated for a moment before saying, “They’re not beggars. If they were, they wouldn’t be begging for money in such remote places. They just have nowhere to live. They look for day jobs during the day and only come back to these places to spend the night.”

"If no one's there, wouldn't our trip have been pointless?"

“Someone will stay behind to watch over the things; usually it's the elderly, women, and children.”

"You've become so skilled? I don't remember you've been following Brother Bo for very long."

Xu Wuchen stopped, lowered his head and remained silent for a while before turning around: "I...I used to often, uh, occasionally, argu with their points."

"This..." Xiao Yao was speechless, feeling that he had killed the conversation, and was extremely embarrassed for a moment.

Are you even human?

“When I used to wander around, I had two ways to make money: one was the students who were alone after school, and the other was these homeless people—as long as you scared them a little, they would give you money.”

Xiao Yao, suppressing his moral discomfort, continued the interview: "Let's not talk about the students, but do you have money to give to the homeless?"

"Yes, they earn money by doing day jobs or collecting recyclables. They have very little spending, and they don't have bank accounts. They keep their money on their person, so it's easy to steal it. They don't even dare to call the police if they get robbed."

"You're a complete beast." Xiao Yao clicked his tongue and muttered under his breath.

“I was.” Xu Wuchen wasn’t angry; instead, he readily admitted, “Didn’t the song we learned in class yesterday go, ‘I once was lost, but now I’m found; I was blind, but now I see?’”

"I was lost before, but now I have been found; I was blind before I can see." Xiao Yao hummed the melody casually: "This song is really nice—but weren't you afraid that someone would fight you barefoot back then?"

"This way!" Xu Wuchen suddenly pulled Xiao Yao, and the two turned into another alley.

"Are there homeless people here?" Xiao Yao looked towards the end of the path but didn't find anything.

Xu Wuchen shook his head and said, "There's a police station over there."

"We're delivering meals to the community openly and honestly today, so why are we hiding from the police? Have you forgotten that you've already reformed?" Xiao Yao was both annoyed and amused.

"You don't actually think that what we're doing 'openly and honestly' right now is something the cops support, do you?" Xu Wuchen said with a smile.

“I don’t know which law in China prohibits giving alms,” Xiao Yao said.

“Of course not. But think about it, the cops don’t want a lot of homeless people in their jurisdiction, but in reality, they can’t settle them all, nor can they arrest them all. They can only drive them away.” Xu Wuchen patiently explained, “In the end, these homeless people will gather in the gaps between the various jurisdictions, forming a kind of no-man’s-land community, left to fend for themselves.”

“Society is really complicated,” Xiao Yao’s eyes turned into “@@” shapes: “If we deliver food, will these lawless communities survive longer? Won’t Brother Bo get into trouble with the police for doing this?”

“You’ve also heard Brother Bo often say something like this,” Xu Wuchen said, “Just do good deeds and don’t worry about the future.”

"Um……"

“The world isn’t black and white. Anyway, Jesus said, ‘Whatever you do for one of my least brothers and sisters, you do for me.’ We just need to do it, do good deeds, and not worry about the future.”

“That’s right,” Xiao Yao nodded.

“And I think,” Xu Wuchen said, “it’s just my personal opinion that Brother Bo’s decision to have us deliver food wasn’t necessarily to take care of these homeless people.”

“It’s for ‘you’.” Xiao Yao reacted quickly this time.

“No problem,” Xu Wuchen said. “Doesn’t the scripture say, ‘You can’t get out of prison until you’ve paid back the last penny’? Actually, Brother Bo is mainly helping us with ‘atonement’. After all, ‘a prodigal son’s return’ can’t be achieved just by talking and chanting scriptures.”

“Hmm…” Xiao Yao said.

“The cops don’t want to acknowledge the existence of these homeless people, so Brother Bo isn’t actually delivering food to them. He’s having us, the shady characters, deliver some shady food to other shady characters. Everyone understands this without saying a word,” Xu Wuchen said.

"Will the police cause us trouble? Will Yu Luying and the others be alright?" Xiao Yao suddenly began to worry.

“Sister Yu, you’re all innocent, what could possibly happen to you? I’m not going to meet the patrol officers because I’m not exactly clean myself. If they’re in a bad mood and they interrogate me for ages, the food will go bad in this weather. Alright, we haven’t even made a sale yet today, we need to hurry.”

In a corner, they encountered a thin, homeless man lying on the ground, using a tattered duffel bag as a pillow. He was filthy, making one frown at the sight. Xiao Yao and Xu Wuchen walked over, took out a takeout container from an insulated bag, and placed it on the ground in front of him—a meat dish and a steaming bowl of rice.

The old man raised his deeply lined face, the color of his beard indistinguishable from its original color. He mumbled something, but Xiao Yao couldn't make out what he said at all—it could be "thank you," or it could not.

“Yes, Jesus loves you,” Xu Wuchen said.

"Old Xu," Xiao Yao couldn't help but ask on the way to find the next homeless person, "Are you really doing these volunteer work for the priest voluntarily?"

Xu Wuchen was slightly taken aback, then smiled and asked, "Why do you ask that?"

Xiao Yao found it hard to connect this smile with the same brave and combative "airplane head" man from before.

"Well... don't be upset about what I'm about to tell you," Xiao Yao stammered. "I heard from someone that, you know, the district chief's son, that thing, they were supposed to lock you up for a while, but Old Yu negotiated on the condition that you work for him..."

"Ah, that's right." Xu Wuchen said in a calm tone, "At the very beginning, it was definitely not a matter of voluntariness."

"That means it's voluntary now." Xiao Yao keenly grasped the key information.

"How should I put it?" Xu Wuchen pondered for a moment: "Actually, I am a student from a surrounding village or town who came to Shanghai. I don't have a Shanghai household registration. I just came here with my parents to work and study temporarily."

“Oh,” Xiao Yao said, “I’m not exactly a native of Shanghai.”

“When I first came to Shanghai, maybe it was my personality, but I was quite ostracized,” Xu Wuchen said with a smile. “I even got beaten up every few days.”

“Ah, this,” Xiao Yao said, feeling a pang of sympathy for the man with the pompadour, and patted his upper arm. “I can imagine.”

“Once I was ganged up on by a few bad boys,” Xu Wuchen said. “I suddenly couldn’t take it anymore, so I grabbed the shortest and thinnest one of them and beat him like crazy. No matter how others beat me, I just kept staring at him and beating him.”

"After that fight, no one dared to mess with me again," Xu Wuchen told Xiao Yao.

“Ha,” Xiao Yao said.

“Later, I went through puberty and suddenly grew very tall,” Xu Wuchen said. “I started to believe that violence could solve all problems.”

"I see." Xiao Yao nodded.

“Don’t let my reputation fool you. I’m not like other people who go out to smoke, drink, and play video games after getting points,” Xu Wuchen squatted down and placed another meal in front of a woman holding a child. “If I told you I’m helping out my family, you would laugh, right?”

"..." Xiao Yao didn't know how to answer, so he could only give an awkward but polite smile.

“But actually, I forgot something,” Xu Wuchen said, “I really want to be a good person, a good student, and a good child.”

"what……"

“Besides having me work and participate in social activities, Father Yu would often give me some money to take home,” Xu Wuchen explained. “Although it wasn’t much, I knew he was trying his best to help me.”

“I can imagine it,” Xiao Yao nodded.

"But at first, I still felt that he was just pretending."

"One day, after I went home from Mass, I had a dream while lying in bed,"

Xu Wuchen's eyes were somewhat unfocused: "I dreamt that I went back to the village where I was in elementary school. Back then, I was...you might not believe it, a shy and studious child."

“I believe you,” Xiao Yao told him.

“I dreamt that I was locked in my room reading,” Xu Wuchen continued, “The room had no windows, only a sealed door. Suddenly, the sealed door was kicked open, and Father Yu rushed in with a double-barreled shotgun.”

"A double-barreled shotgun!" Xiao Yao gasped. "You knew he had a shotgun?"

"No, I don't know." Xu Wuchen asked curiously, "Does he really have a hunting rifle?"

“It’s alright, please continue,” Xiao Yao said.

Well, Bo-ge, what exactly have you been doing behind the scenes?

Chapter 197 Crossroads of Time

2023-05-19

“It’s alright, please continue,” Xiao Yao said.

Well, Bo-ge, what exactly have you been doing behind the scenes?

“Brother Bo let me out of that dark little room,” Xu Wuchen continued to recall, “That ‘airplane head’ guy, the one you fought with, was guarding outside my door.”

"And then?" Xiao Yao was completely captivated by the story.

"And then, I got into a fight with that 'airplane head' guy," Xu Wuchen said in a light tone.