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

On Monday, October 25, 2004, the sun shone brightly from early morning.

In the past few days, the temperature has dropped sharply to a few degrees Celsius above zero, and Xiao Yao has put on his long underwear under the urging of Shen Jie and his grandmother.

When I woke up in the morning, Shen Jie wasn't by my side; she had thoughtfully left breakfast for four people on the dining table.

The inbox contained a message from her saying that she had gone for a morning run and would go straight to school, reminding Xiao Yao not to be late.

Xiao Yao felt a little emotional. Whether it was Zhang Zhengkai or the Butcher, the threat from them should be considered to be gone, and Shen Jie could finally act freely on her own.

After breakfast, Xiao Yao was about to go out, but Yu Luying told him to wait while she "got ready."

Xiao Yao didn't know what was so special about cleaning up. Did you want to put on makeup or something?

It was a rare early start to the day, a rare amount of free time, and unusually good weather, so Xiao Yao gave up his plan to take a nap and helped Shen Jie feed the cat.

He knew that Shen Jie must have fed the cat before she left, but people feed cats to satisfy themselves.

Xiao Yao squatted on the floor between the photos, hugging his knees, watching the tabby cat bury its head contentedly in its bowl, chewing its food with a "crunch, crunch" sound.

"I really envy you," Xiao Yao said, looking at the back of the cat's head. "All you do is eat and sleep, and you don't have to go to school or work. Our whole family takes care of everything for you. Where did you get such good fortune?"

A thought flashed through my mind: hadn't someone once said that cats never know when they're full? What if I overfed Shen Jie's cat to death? Otherwise, I'd be waiting to be skinned alive.

Thinking of this, he reached out and snatched the cat bowl away: "What are you eating for? All you know is eating!"

The cat was enjoying its meal when someone snatched it away. It suddenly raised its head and glared fiercely at Xiao Yao for a few seconds.

"Okay, okay, here you go." Xiao Yao surrendered and put the bowl back.

I'm mistaken, the fish that will eat itself to death is the goldfish.

"Was that cat in my dream really you?" Xiao Yao murmured to himself. "Are you really just an ordinary cat?"

"Meow~" the cat raised its head and answered.

"You really are something else." Xiao Yao reached out and gently stroked the cat's head.

After the cat finished eating, Yu Luying was still not better. Xiao Yao saw that there was still time, so he simply carried her downstairs to sunbathe.

So early in the morning, two old ladies were already sitting downstairs with small stools and reclining chairs. When they saw the cat Xiao Yao was holding, they both praised how energetic the cat looked and how beautiful its fur was.

Xiao Yao felt very happy to hear these compliments.

An old woman brought a bowl from home and poured milk for the "dog" to drink.

Xiao Yao played with the "dog" for a while with great interest. The "dog" was in a good mood and very happy, meowing all the time. It wasn't shy with the two old ladies at all, and eventually just stayed in Xiao Yao's arms.

This was the first time Xiao Yao had been so close to the dog since Shen Jie brought it home from school.

Just as Xiao Yao was starting to feel bored, Yu Luying came downstairs, wearing her school uniform and trousers, carrying her schoolbag, with a blank expression.

She looked at Xiao Yao, then at the "dog," a look of confusion on her face.

Xiao Yao carried the dog upstairs, then took Yu Luying to school.

They were definitely holding hands.

As they walked out of the alley, Xiao Yao subconsciously reached out and took Yu Luying's hand—perhaps because he was used to doing so in the past.

When his four fingers touched the girl's four fingers, he suddenly realized that he shouldn't have done that.

He waited for Yu Luying to shake off his hand and scold him, but Yu Luying just gave him a strange look and let him hold her hand.

Xiao Yao tried to pull his hand back, but his four fingers were already gripped by the other person.

He braced himself and, somewhat awkwardly, walked out of the alley hand in hand with Yu Luying.

After passing the public toilet and garbage dump at the entrance of the alley, the auntie at the convenience store greeted them and said, "You two are on your way to school."

"Nonsense," Xiao Yao thought.

“Ah,” Xiao Yao said.

"Didn't you leave with Xiao Xu?" the auntie said.

“Ah,” Xiao Yao said.

"My mom knows." After walking out of the alley, Yu Luying suddenly said this.

"Know what?" Xiao Yao asked instinctively.

“My dad saw it that day,” Yu Luying told Xiao Yao. “I told her when I got back.”

Yu Luying was wearing a brown suit and trousers today. It was one of the autumn uniforms from St. Francis Secondary School. Everyone hated it, thinking that wearing it made them look like migrant workers, and they would avoid wearing it if they could.

She was wearing a pair of black, slightly square-shaped leather shoes that didn't expose the instep. It was impossible to tell at a glance whether she was wearing socks or not, but Xiao Yao preferred to believe that she was wearing nude-colored short socks.

"Your father?" Xiao Yao asked, somewhat puzzled.

"That man." Realizing her slip of the tongue, the girl immediately corrected herself.

"What did you see?" Xiao Yao had barely uttered the question when he realized what was happening.

She was clearly referring to the fact that after the three of them woke up from the nightmare, when she went downstairs to find Shen Jie in her hospital room, the latter pounced on her and clung to her, and they engaged in some kind of fluid exchange.

At that time, Yu Luying naturally followed behind him, and "that man" also naturally followed behind Yu Luying.

Of course, he saw Shen Jie's intimate behavior with him.

Of course, it was only natural for him to go back and tell Yu Lihua, but Xiao Yao hadn't put his mind to it at all, so he hadn't even thought about it in that direction.

"Ugh, my head hurts." Xiao Yao tapped his temple with his bent index finger. "What did your mom say?"

“She’s very unhappy,” Yu Luying told Xiao Yao expressionlessly. “She said she can’t even pretend to be stupid anymore.”

"Ouch, my head hurts." Xiao Yao continued to tap his temples. "Speaking of which, I really feel bad for her—so what are you going to tell your mother?"

"What else can I say?" Yu Luying glanced at him and said, "Just tell the truth, say that you and I have broken up."

“Oh,” Xiao Yao replied calmly, but his tone betrayed a hint of disappointment.

Sometimes, it's one thing for the younger generation to make a fuss about something, but once it gets to the elders, it inevitably gives people the impression that it's a "final judgment."

“No, I was just kidding,” Yu Luying observed Xiao Yao for a while, then changed her tune, “I said I can’t control you.”

"?" Xiao Yao said, "By saying that, aren't you just making me more hated in front of your mother?"

“It wasn’t just my mom,” Yu Luying told Xiao Yao, “My dad was also very angry. He said he was going to come and beat you up, but my mom and I stopped him.”

"?" Xiao Yao was even more confused: "He's going to beat me up? When we were at the hospital, he was so polite to me, smiling and greeting me warmly, acting like we were really close. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to talk to him, but ignoring him would be impolite and awkward. I was feeling really down—and then he said he was going to beat me up! Well then..."

“My mom wants me to move back home as soon as possible,” Yu Luying interrupted Xiao Yao’s next rant without hesitation. “But she knows about the five-meter distance restriction, so she knows I can’t do anything about it.” Yu Luying continued, “I tried my best to stop her so she wouldn’t come and argue with you. She just told me not to let you touch me for the time being.”

"Oh, what did you say?" Xiao Yao glanced at the two of them holding hands and asked casually, "What did you say?"

"Of course I'll agree without hesitation," Yu Luying said calmly.

"Oh." Xiao Yao said, then suddenly pinned Yu Luying against the nearby wall. "Can I touch you?"

Yu Luying looked at him expressionlessly, neither resisting nor agreeing: "I'm going to be late for school. There should be a lot of students from our school passing by this intersection at this time."

Xiao Yao reluctantly let go of her: "We're going to be late because you dawdled. I got up really early..."

As they talked, the two continued walking toward St. Francis Secondary School.

Now that they were close to the school, the two of them stopped holding hands, and Yu Luying even put the hand closest to him into her pocket.

In fact, Xiao Yao wasn't blinded by lust, nor was he secretly opening a branch mine outside even though Shen Jie had already revoked his harem license—he was simply testing Yu Luying on purpose.

However, it's not advisable to overthink this now that I'm standing so close to Yu Luying.

"You two, yesterday, and then, what happened again?" After walking a few hundred meters away, Yu Luying suddenly asked out of the blue.

“No, I refused,” Xiao Yao replied without hesitation. “How could I dare?”

"What else are you afraid of?" Yu Luying said, "Wait, you rejected her, which means she actually took the initiative to be with you... with you..."

Xiao Yao realized his slip of the tongue and quickly shut his mouth.

Yu Luying: "..."

“Anyway,” Xiao Yao said after waiting for half a minute, “I’m afraid the symbiotic distance between us will shorten further, so I dare not.”

Upon hearing this, Yu Luying nodded slightly: "If you can still have this concept, then I can relax a little."

"Is this a compliment?" Xiao Yao wondered.

"That makes sense," Yu Luying thought.

Although Yu Luying's face remained cold and expressionless, her inner tone had become slightly more excited.

"Okay," Xiao Yao thought.

A morning of high school life is simple, unpretentious, and boring: flag raising, speeches, morning exercises, Chinese, math, English, and the same old mundane things.

Early in the morning, a few students expressed their positive concern for Xiao Yao and Yu Luying's return to school, offering their blessings, care, and gossip.

From them, the two children learned that all the students with narcolepsy at the school had woken up around the same time and had now fully resumed classes.

Although the school and health authorities still have much work to do to handle the aftermath, the period of panic has finally passed, and everything is beginning to return to normal.

In other words, the three of us were actually the last... the last batch to wake up?

No, that's not right. Everyone should have woken up the moment "Butcher" was subdued by Zhang Zhengkai. That would make sense. The three of us should have been the last to return to school.

The topic of "narcolepsy" is gaining momentum, and all morning long, people have been pestering the two of them with all sorts of questions, making it seem like it's becoming the new most incredible event at the school.

Of course, some people avoid them, seemingly afraid of being infected by some incubating virus.