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

"Oh ho," Xiao Yao laughed, "this cat is probably a spirit."

"Meow~~~~"

Yu Luying bent down, hugged the cat in her arms, and gently stroked it.

The cat purred and then began to gently lick Yu Luying's palm.

“Hey, Yu Luying…” Xiao Yao said.

"There's no one here, you can call me Yingying," Yu Luying said softly as she unwrapped a bag of dried fish to feed the cat, her eyes fixed on its shiny fur.

"Okay, vice squad leader."

"I am the class representative."

"Class monitor, why did I feel like the world was...unreal when I woke up this morning?" Xiao Yao frowned, thinking of the right way to express it: "How should I put it, it's a kind of unreal feeling, like I'm dreaming, but I'm definitely not dreaming. I feel like everything around me is unreal, including myself...Do you feel this way?"

Yu Luying put a finger that had been used to pet the cat to her lips, hesitated for three or five seconds with her head down, and then said, "No."

"Oh, sorry, I said something nonsensical..."

“You’ve always been like this,” Yu Luying looked up and gave him a sweet smile: “Great philosopher.”

"Haha," Xiao Yao chuckled dryly, "It seems so."

"What are you dissatisfied with about this kind of life?" Yu Luying said in a low voice, "Does it really matter whether it's real or not?"

"Huh?" Xiao Yao said.

"Aren't you happy being with me?" Yu Luying asked, her head bowed as she petted the cat. For some reason, the way she said this reminded Xiao Yao of a yandere character from Japanese anime.

"How could I not be happy?" Xiao Yao reached out and pulled the girl into his arms again. "Having such a wonderful girlfriend like you, so many people envy me. It's a blessing I've earned in three lifetimes."

“But there’s no such thing as three lifetimes,” Yu Luying gently nuzzled against Xiao Yao’s chest like a cat, “I think that for a person, being able to live this life well is already a rare and precious thing…”

“Yes, the vice squad leader is right!” Xiao Yao replied casually.

“I’m studying… never mind. Anyway,” Yu Luying continued, “live in the moment and cherish what you have.”

"Live in the moment, cherish what you have." Xiao Yao repeated, holding the girl in his arms even tighter.

"As for whether it's true or false, whether it exists or not, what does it matter, what difference does it make, is it really worth caring about?" Yu Luying murmured as if in a dream: "All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, dew, and lightning; thus should they be viewed."

"Aren't you a Catholic?" Xiao Yao sniffed with some doubt, and the arm that was tightly holding the girl loosened slightly: "You told me that your God is real, and the world He created is also real."

“Nothingness, nothingness, all things are nothingness,” Yu Luying said. “As the Bible says in the Sermons. King Solomon said: What do people gain by toiling under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation comes, but the earth remains. The sun rises, the sun sets, hastily returning to its place, and rises again. The wind blows to the south, then turns to the north, endlessly turning, in a cycle.”

Xiao Yao continued: "Rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full; the rivers flow onward, ceaselessly. All things are laborious, and no one can fully express them: the eye can never see enough, the ear can never be satisfied with hearing. All that was before will be again, all that was done before will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. If someone points to something and says, 'Look, this is something new,' does not know that it happened long before us? But no one remembers what has passed; just as no one will remember what is to come."

"How did you learn to recite it?" Yu Luying looked up at Xiao Yao's face with some surprise and asked.

"I……"

In fact, Xiao Yao didn't know why he could recite them. The words of these scriptures just flowed onto the tip of his tongue when he opened his mouth.

"I love you," Xiao Yao said finally. "I am very happy with my life now."

But I always feel a void in my heart, as if something is missing.

Xiao Yao lowered his head, while the girl raised her face.

……

"Oh my!" A surprised shout came from the small door at the entrance to the rooftop. Xiao Yao and Yu Luying subconsciously let go of each other and sat facing each other in a figure-eight shape.

"You two, you've gone too far!" In an instant, Teacher Yao stood before the two like a mountain, hands on her hips—if you can even call them hips: "And you call yourselves class monitor and vice class monitor!"

"Teacher Yao," Yu Luying said timidly, raising her right hand, "I'm the class representative."

"What's wrong, Lao Yao?" Xiao Yao asked in a light tone. "Just tell me what's wrong."

I'm sorry, but good students can do whatever they want.

Chapter 380 The White Crow and the Vineyard

2023-11-15

An afternoon passed in the blink of an eye, and there wasn't much to write about.

After class.

Today is Wednesday, so it's the day for the poetry club activity.

The Poetry Society is the largest club in the school. The school arranged for the club's activities to be held in the multi-functional lecture hall, which was still packed to capacity, almost to the point of selling hanging tickets.

When Xiao Yao and Yu Luying entered the multi-functional lecture hall, the room was already bustling with people.

There are at least 100 young poets.

Fashion is cyclical, and writing poetry has undoubtedly become a new trend at St. Francis Secondary School.

This gave him the illusion of being back in the 80s—even though he was just born in the 80s.

When any niche hobby becomes mainstream, whether the holder of that niche hobby will feel happy and gratified or disappointed is, well, it's actually a matter that's hard to say or explain.

Today, our club's advisor, Ms. Yuan, who teaches Chinese, is on leave, so Xiao Yao has to lead the club activities on his own.

"President," a boy called out.

"President!" a pretty girl called out cheerfully.

"President Xiao," Lin Yu bowed and scraped.

"President."

"President."

Just like in class, wherever Xiao Yao went, he would receive this somewhat annoying welcome.

"Sit down, sit down, everyone sit down." Xiao Yao impatiently pressed his hand down, handed the schoolbag in his hand to Yu Luying, and walked straight to the stage of the multi-functional lecture hall.

"Hello, hello, pfft, pfft~~~~~~~woo~~~~~~~~" A quiet girl wearing glasses quickly ran up to help Xiao Yao adjust the microphone.

"The essence of calligraphy lies within the confines of an inkstone, where boundless waves surge. Words exist outside the heart, yet they convey a thousand words." Xiao Yao's opening remarks dispelled the clamor in the room.

He continued, "I'll just say a few words—first, I have some good news to share. This afternoon, our teacher Yao came to me and said that the Literature Hundred Schools Network is going to arrange an interview with our school and our organization. It should be next month. Please prepare in advance and cooperate actively."

A low cheer rose from the audience.

“I’m not surprised at all,” Xiao Yao continued. “As long as we continue to achieve results, I dare say everyone will have these kinds of interviews and opportunities to appear in public—everyone will have them!”

There was thunderous applause.

“I did a count last night. Since the start of the last semester, a total of 17 people from our organization have published poems in major national literary magazines such as Poetry Journal.”

Applause started again.

"I think this is a remarkable achievement, but it's not enough, far from enough. The remaining students need to keep up the good work."

"...This noon, our teacher Yao also conveyed to me the principal's message—which is actually the school's message—that because of the outstanding achievements of our school's poetry club, they are preparing to use our club as a showcase of the school's unique characteristics and the results of its quality education, and will allocate more resources to us."

"At the same time, we are also required to achieve more and bring honor to the school."

"Specifically, in addition to further increasing the exposure of all the works in the society, two major literary competitions recently are the Old Concept Essay Competition and the Poetry Group, which is for our high school students, and the Misty Poetry Grand Competition organized by the National Writers Association, which is open to the whole country and all age groups..."

"...For us as individuals, those who achieve excellent results cannot rule out the possibility of being recommended for admission."

"...Next, I'll outline today's club activities. Everyone, take out the poems from last week's activity. You've all written them, right? They're poems on the theme of 'Poetry and Distant Places.' Yes, take them out. Let's exchange them clockwise—no, let's do it counter-clockwise today. Everyone will give feedback, is that alright?"

"...Finally, Mr. Yuan asked me to tell everyone that we will start teaching you how to write European sonnets in the next class. He has two recommended books, which I will announce now. You can take some time to preview them..."

Like most high schools in Shanghai, St. Francis Xavier's High School is still bright when school ends, but it starts to get dark after the poetry club activities are over.

There are two types of people who often trust the protection of darkness: lovers and thieves. Xiao Yao and Yu Luying walked out of the gates of St. Francis Middle School, not going home, but instead sending text messages to their respective parents, and then going out for a six-yuan bowl of spicy hot pot together.

After eating, the two held hands and went to the green space around the school.

The sky was overcast, obscuring the moon and stars, and a light haze had settled over the night. Despite this, Xiao Yao was in high spirits, skipping along with his steps.

This green space, nestled between several high schools and three junior high schools in the district, as well as two middle schools, has always been a popular dating spot for young couples. I mentioned it a long time ago: if you stroll through this green space in the latter half of the afternoon (after school), you'll see couples everywhere, wearing red scarves, holding hands…

However, Xiao Yao and Yu Luying traveled during off-peak hours.

When the two of them arrived at the green space, most of the little mandarin ducks had already gone back to their own homes and found their own mothers.

There were hardly any people or wind here, the lights were pale and dim, and more importantly, the coverage was poor, with quiet and dark corners everywhere.

Xiao Yao led Yu Luying to a large, dark "entrance" with practiced ease. He tugged at her school uniform sleeve and led her into the shadows.

"What are you doing?" Yu Luying said in a low voice, her legs rooted to the ground. Unfortunately, she couldn't fight against Xiao Yao, who pulled her back and made her stumble. She took a few quick steps and disappeared into the darkness.

Finally, a night breeze blew by, rustling the leaves in the bushes and on the branches.

Yu Luying, slightly out of breath, pushed Xiao Yao away: "Someone's here!"

"There's no one here!" Xiao Yao said, dissatisfied.

"Inside, did you see that? Inside."

"Damn, that's just a sanitation worker passing by, 800 meters away, and the enemy is in the open while we're in the dark, how could anyone see us?" Xiao Yao said.

Besides, we weren't doing anything, this is nothing at all.

“There’s someone inside too, watching us, and laughing.” Yu Luying pointed in another direction.

"Oh dear, thank you so much, but that person was on the phone, okay?" Xiao Yao said helplessly.