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

"I'm leaving." Yu Luying prepared to stand up.

"Sit down and let me finish what I have to say—" Xiao Yao said in an unquestionable tone, "But, love is a matter of personal freedom. If you don't like me, I definitely won't... well, I'm saying all this just to let you know that you are very important to me, so I hope we can always be friends."

"Because you helped me and stayed by my side when I was at my most helpless. And we actually get along very well, and I want to help you too—"

"You've said this many times, there's no need to repeat it."

"Therefore, I cannot tolerate anyone blaspheming you like this and then getting away with it."

"I want him to pay the price."

“I’m really close to the truth, and I want to catch him. Not for myself, but for you.”

……

“Yes, Xiao Yao is above the law.” Yu Luying looked up and told a lame joke. A smile appeared on her face, and her voice softened.

A smile appeared on Xiao Yao's face.

“Okay, I understand,” he heard the girl say softly.

“Then, um… I need you to tell me…” Xiao Yao felt the atmosphere was right to get down to business: “What did the underwear you lost look like?”

"..." Xiao Yao could hear Yu Luying take a deep breath, and he could feel the stinging pain from the tips of his fingernails in his palm.

"Don't misunderstand..." Xiao Yao became nervous again.

"I know, this is intelligence for solving the case, right?" After a few seconds, Yu Luying seemed to realize something: "I don't remember."

"I know it's a little awkward to ask you this kind of question, if you don't want to talk about it..."

“I really don’t remember,” the girl stood up. “Do you remember what kind of underwear you wear every day?”

"Okay." Xiao Yao made up his mind and pulled out the most important piece of evidence from his pants pocket: "So, is this yours?"

“I never wear these…socks,” Yu Luying examined the things Xiao Yao had taken out, then sniffed in confusion, “Whose are these?”

What is that? Socks?

Xiao Yao was completely confused. After looking closely, he realized that he was holding a clump of grayish and wrinkled textiles.

That wasn't the pink underwear I found this afternoon, but a...sock?

The original color is not visible, and there is a checkmark on the sock cuff.

"No, no! This isn't it, I took the wrong one!"

Xiao Yao panicked. In an instant, it was as if he saw his life flashing before his eyes, with recent events passing by one after another.

From the scene at the amusement park where he dragged Shen Jie into the pool, to the scene where Shen Jie stuffed her socks into his pocket in front of Zhou Qi, fast forward to this afternoon, when he used the desk as cover to stuff his underwear into his pocket.

Then, under Yu Luying's increasingly unfriendly gaze, he awkwardly pulled out the correct evidence from his other pocket, held it out in his palm, and handed it over, not daring to look her in the eye.

When Yu Luying saw what Xiao Yao handed her, she paused for a moment, then took a half step back. Reluctantly, she stretched out two fingers, picked up the pink fabric, sniffed it lightly from half a meter away, and then immediately threw it on the ground with disgust.

But when she looked up and saw Xiao Yao looking bewildered, she frowned and picked it up again.

She shook off the dirt, turned her back, spread it neatly on her lap, opened her schoolbag, hesitated for a moment, and finally tore two pages of white paper from her notebook, wrapped it up, and stuffed it into the zippered pocket on the side of her schoolbag.

Then she turned around, looked Xiao Yao up and down, and said, "You came to see me so seriously, with my socks in one pocket and another girl's socks in the other. Are you here to turn yourself in, repent, and beg for forgiveness?"

"Um, about the socks, I'll explain later." Since these were indeed Yu Luying's underwear, let's get down to business and ignore the sarcastic remarks: "As for your underwear, I found it in my bag this afternoon..."

Xiao Yao recounted his investigation over the past two days, as well as the mysterious appearance of the underwear today, to Yu Luying in detail. Finally, he emphasized that this was not something he had orchestrated himself and expressed his concerns about the situation.

Yu Luying touched her chin and looked at Xiao Yao for about a minute and a half.

“Okay, I officially believe that this matter has nothing to do with you,” Yu Luying announced her verdict.

"Really?" Xiao Yao was overjoyed.

"...If we send it to the police station for testing, there should be some clues, right?" Yu Luying continued to stroke her chin, her face tilted up at a 30-degree angle: "By the way, you just said you're very close to the truth? So who do you suspect?"

Although he didn't know why Yu Luying had changed her stance so easily, Xiao Yao was still very happy. He skipped over much of his prepared self-defense and went straight to the conclusion: "There's no doubt that someone is behind this, targeting both you and me. Perhaps everything from your initial suspicions about me to my investigation to prove my innocence was part of this mastermind's plan. I've considered various possibilities regarding this person's identity, but none of them seem plausible..."

"If you don't know, just say you don't know." Yu Luying rubbed her temples.

"If this had happened last month, I could have said I didn't know, but now, between you and me..."

Xiao Yao pinched his inner thigh in his pocket. Yu Luying, caught off guard, visibly trembled and blushed.

Xiao Yao continued, "With this inexplicable phenomenon before us, I can't just dismiss it with an 'I don't know' excuse. You can have the evidence tested, but I highly doubt we'll find anything—is this mysterious enemy, who's always targeting you and me, really human? That's what worries me most. Right now, the enemy is in the dark while we are in the light, which is why I'm so eager for you to understand the situation, so you'll be mentally prepared should he do something else."

Yu Luying pondered, "Not...human? Is it really like what Mom said?"

"What did your mother say?"

"It's nothing. I understand, I'll be more careful, thank you Xiao Yao." Yu Luying suddenly forced a smile and bent down to pick up her schoolbag.

"Boom!"

The two heads collided.

"Xiao Yao, you just can't give me a nice look, can you?" Yu Luying complained, and then the two of them laughed together.

"It finally feels like we're back to how things were before. We were so much better back then," Xiao Yao said with emotion.

"Alright, don't try to fool me," Yu Luying seemed to remember something: "Since we're still friends... can I ask you why you were wearing girls' socks?"

“Those belong to Shen Jie, but they weren’t stolen, don’t misunderstand.” Xiao Yao tried hard to think of an explanation that could satisfy both loyalty and filial piety.

"Shen Jie? The girl at your house that day? She gave it to you? I can tell this person knows how to play the game, but I didn't know she was this good at it." Yu Luying exclaimed, making no attempt to hide her disdain.

“No, she didn’t give it to me.” Xiao Yao couldn’t let Yu Luying make such a free judgment about her future daughter’s biological mother: “To be precise, she left the socks with me.”

Seeing the relaxed smile disappear from Yu Luying's face, Xiao Yao knew he had said the wrong thing again.

"I understand," Yu Luying slung her backpack over her shoulder again. "Congratulations! Treat her well."

"It's not what you think," Xiao Yao quickly explained.

“I didn’t think of anything,” Yu Luying said with a smile. “You haven’t known her for very long, have you? If you had really done something outrageous, given our current situation, I would have no reason not to know, right?”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Xiao Yao quickly replied.

"But you are indeed seeing her, aren't you?"

"Well, how should I put it?" Xiao Yao had tasted the sweetness of telling the truth and felt somewhat addicted: "It might be a bit inappropriate to say this, but I still like you more in my heart. However, I now know that she is the one destined for me, so..."

Yu Luying could no longer maintain her smile: "I will discuss what you said with my uncle. I will call you when I have news. Goodbye, Xiao."

After saying that, without waiting for Xiao Yao's reaction, she took off on her bicycle and rode away.

"What the heck is going on with Xiao again?!" Xiao Yao sighed.

Chapter 33 Love Rival

On Friday, Xiao Yao was surrounded by Zhang Jialong and "Daiyu" and a few other people.

“BURBERRY, Columbia…” Zhang Jialong’s hand unceremoniously flipped up Xiao Yao’s collar: “Daiyu, come and see, is this fake?”

"How could it be true?" Ribbonfish scoffed as it approached.

Xiao Yao regretted his impulsive decision to wear the new clothes Shen Jie had bought for him.

"It feels like it might actually be true," fashionista Daiyu commented. "Xiao Yao, we're so young, we can't afford to go down the path of crime."

“How could my brother Yao commit any crimes?!” Ouyang Qianqian interrupted Daiyu’s earnest words: “Of course he’s hooking up with a rich heiress. It’s a mutually agreeable transaction.”

"This is even more outrageous..." Xiao Yao said nervously, "By the way, are all of these very expensive?"

"It's bound to cost several thousand yuan... even with a discount," Zhang Jialong assessed, "this place must weigh at least a thousand jin, right?"

“Shen Jie weighs at most 100 jin!” Xiao Yao protested.

"That's impressive, Lao Xiao, you've really made something of yourself." Zhang Jialong's expression seemed genuinely envious: "A man should be able to tough it out even when he's being a kept man!"

"Your Shen, is it Shen, Miss Shen?" Daiyu said mysteriously, "Any other best friends who are short of boyfriends? Look at us, we're not short of boyfriends, are we?"

"Huh? Let me ask, let me ask," Xiao Yao said with a dry laugh, of course, he wouldn't actually ask.

"Hey, you've really hit the jackpot, you've got some amazing luck. I don't know what they saw in you," Zhang Jialong said, sitting on Xiao Yao's desk with his butt sticking out. "When Zhou Qi first told us, we didn't believe him. Turns out he's a real hidden talent."

Daiyu continued, "Actually, I've always thought Brother Xiao is very talented, unlike us ordinary people. We used to joke around without thinking and offended some people, but Brother Xiao, you're very magnanimous. We'll be brothers from now on."

As he spoke, he patted Xiao Yao's back forcefully.

Hey, hey, hey, isn't that a bit too much?

“Speaking of Zhou Qi…” Xiao Yao said.

Teacher Yao pushed open the door and interrupted them: "Didn't you hear the class bell? What are you all doing?"

--split line--

At noon, Xiao Yao went up to the rooftop and called Shen Jie.

"Are you out of your mind?" Shen Jie said speechlessly on the other end of the phone, "You've been keeping my socks in your pocket for a week?"

“No, that’s not it,” Xiao Yao explained. “When I got back that day, I washed my pants and forgot to take them out of my pockets. I took them out and wore them again yesterday… You see, this means that Yu Luying and I are completely over.”

“There was never any chance to begin with,” Shen Jie retorted. “What, are you implying that I should take responsibility?”

“Hmm,” Xiao Yao rolled around against the rooftop railing, pouting, “You have to take responsibility for me.”