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

While speaking, his eyes remained fixed on the butcher.

"Huh?" Shen Jie seemed a little surprised, and after two or three seconds she managed to answer, "It's okay—I forgive you."

“Yes,” Zhang Zhengkai nodded, “Thank you.”

"I... cough cough, I'm sorry." After another ten seconds or so, Shen Jie suddenly spoke.

"Thank you." This time, Zhang Zhengkai turned around to thank Shen Jie.

"What a touching story of harmony between a general and a minister," commented the butcher version of Zhang Zhengkai's shadow. "I was almost moved to tears—but after this brief moment of psychological satisfaction, do you think she'll still talk to you after we leave?"

“Whether she pays attention to me or not is her business,” Zhang Zhengkai turned his head back to look at his shadow. “Men who make a relationship or a person their life goal are the most pathetic. Such men often lack both confidence and charm.”

Xiao Yao knew that Zhang Zhengkai was criticizing him, but he still felt a dull ache in his knees.

“It’s time for us to grow up,” Zhang Zhengkai said softly.

“I feel disgusted by your high-sounding rhetoric, ‘we,’” the butcher said sarcastically in a shrill voice. “Just like the incense burner you’re shaking so solemnly right now—you think you’re so sacred, don’t you? You know yourself, you don’t even believe in this stuff…”

Zhang Zhengkai: "..."

“You’re not really saying these things to me,” the butcher laughed, “but to your ‘partners.’ You’re just trying to save face.”

"The real reason you want to end this relationship, can you hide it from them but from me?"

"Oh, of course I know, because you are me, because you are my shadow."

"Shut up!" Zhang Zhengkai shouted angrily.

"He just thinks Shen Jie is dirty, that's all. His pride can't accept that fact," the butcher shouted. "Spirit of pride! Shadow of Zhang Zhengkai! I don't despise her! Because I love her more than you! Because only I—"

The butcher didn't finish his sentence.

The scent of frankincense that had filled the air began to dissipate, and Xiao Yao saw the butcher suddenly lower his head.

Then, the butcher's body began to slowly become ethereal and transparent, until finally it turned into a small chess piece and landed in Zhang Zhengkai's palm.

Out of curiosity, Xiao Yao craned his neck to look at Zhang Zhengkai's chess piece, but the latter instinctively tightened his grip on his badge.

Immediately afterwards, everything around began to blur, turning into a vast expanse of white.

Shen Jie's voice became less clear when she spoke to herself.

Xiao Yao heard a sharp ringing sound in his ears.

……

……

……

Xiao Yao woke up.

He slowly awoke from his deep coma.

The boy was surrounded by darkness, with only the faint sounds of instruments echoing in the silence.

A wave of dizziness washed over him, and he struggled to remember what had happened.

Blood River...? Slaughterhouse...? Cyberpunk City...? And the King's Game farce at KTV...?

He tried to raise his hand, and felt a slight stinging pain on the back of his hand, as if pricked by needles. The strange sensation in his lower body made him frown.

As consciousness gradually returned, he noticed the medical equipment and white walls around him, which emitted a faint blue light in the dim light.

Gradually, he realized that he was lying on an unfamiliar hospital bed.

Ah, right, I was celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival with my whole family and relatives back then...

Then, she fell asleep.

When I woke up again, I was here.

I had a very, very long dream, a very, very long dream...

No, that wasn't a dream.

It's not just a dream.

The boy's gaze shifted to the headboard.

In the dim light, he could make out a blurry outline... a man's figure? Sitting there, seemingly dozing off.

The silhouette of the shadowy figure appeared blurry in the dim light, giving it a mysterious and unfamiliar feel.

Xiao Yao's heart tightened, as if he were enveloped by a sense of unease.

He tried to speak, but a hoarse sound came from his throat, breaking the silence.

The dark figure suddenly raised its head, its eyes, which had just been asleep, fixed on Xiao Yao, making him feel a chill.

Everything seemed to be oscillating between dreams and reality. Xiao Yao tried to gather his thoughts and understand where he was.

"You...you're awake?" The man said, seemingly surprised. "Nurse, nurse!"

The man frantically pressed the bell by Xiao Yao's bedside, pressed it twice, then ran out of the ward and shouted into the corridor, "Nurse! Nurse!"

It's so noisy... My head hurts so much.

Making such a racket in the hospital, what kind of manners is that?

With a "snap," the room lights were switched on, and the blinding light made Xiao Yao squint.

He gradually made out the man's face.

This was a middle-aged man with messy hair and a wrinkled light-colored trench coat, giving him an overall slovenly appearance. However, his melancholic yet bright eyes, his sharply defined and handsome face, and his sparse stubble made Xiao Yao, even as a staunchly straight man, think that this man was indeed quite handsome.

He's not only handsome, but his face also looks familiar.

Xiao Yao even thought that he looked a bit like... a little bit like Yu Luying.

What a hellish joke...

what.

Xiao Yao knew who this BYD was.

"What's all the noise about..." A sleepy female voice, barely waking from a dream, came from the canopy of the hospital bed next to her.

"Oh my god, Yingying is awake too!" The man was genuinely overjoyed. "Yingying, Yingying!"

The man hopped like a frog to the next bed.

"Really..." Xiao Yao muttered to himself, reaching out to try to pull out the catheter inserted into his body.

"How come it's you?" He heard a girl scream in his ear: "Get out of here, I don't want to see you."

"Yingying!"

At this moment, the on-duty nurse, wearing a mask, finally arrived late.

At Xiao Yao's insistence, she removed the IV drip from the back of his hand and pulled out the tubes inserted into his body.

"Where is she? Where is Shen Jie?" Xiao Yao pressed a cotton ball against the back of his left hand with his right.

Yu Luying and Xiao Yao walked into another ward downstairs, one after the other. Shen Jie, wearing a blue and white striped hospital gown, ran up to Xiao Yao as soon as she saw him, and with a leap, she hung directly on him.

This reminded Xiao Yao of the first time he sneaked into Shen Jie's bedroom, and she did the same thing.

"Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright." Xiao Yao patted Shen Jie's back gently, but the latter still climbed up Xiao Yao like a little monkey, treating him like a big tree: "It's all in the past, it's all in the past—stop climbing, do you really think you're still six years old? My thin arms and legs can't lift you up."

The head nurse who was with them also advised, "You two have just woken up and haven't had a full physical examination yet. Don't do such dangerous... such strenuous exercise."

Shen Jie completely ignored Yu Luying, Yu Luying's (biology) father, the head nurse, and others who were standing next to her, and suddenly pressed her cherry-like lips against it.

Xiao Yao was taken aback, and could only subconsciously open his mouth, letting her penetrate him.

Within seconds, Xiao Yao couldn't tell which parts of her mouth were saliva and which were tears.

He felt that he should cry to show his respect and importance for love, and two large tears immediately welled up in his eyes.

"Sister, this is a hospital." Immediately afterwards, Xiao Yao heard a dissatisfying and reproachful voice in his ear.

Of course, it was Yu Luying's voice.

What followed was a long period of chaos.

Yu Lihua arrived, and Yu Bo also arrived.

Grandma came too, and so did my uncle.

What Xiao Yao found even more outrageous was that Teacher Lin came in the middle of the night, and even the principal came.

Xiao Yao, Yu Luying, and Shen Jie all insisted that they were fine and should be discharged from the hospital immediately, but unfortunately, none of the adults listened to them.

Around four or five in the morning, the adults finally left one after another, and things finally quieted down in Xiao Yao and Yu Luying's ward.

"Mom, you should go back to sleep too. We're really fine." Yu Luying said, "Really."

“But…” Yu Lihua shifted her position uncomfortably.

“Mom—cough cough cough, cough cough, no, Auntie,” Xiao Yao also spoke up, “Xiao Ping and I—Yu Lu and I—Yingying and I have something to talk about.”

“Well then, you two keep chatting,” Yu Lihua said, standing up somewhat reluctantly. “I’ll be right outside in the hallway. Call me if you need anything.”

"Yes, definitely." Xiao Yao nodded.

……