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

"It's too late..." the girl instinctively said, then added, "Let me ask."

Then, she leaned to her right and exchanged a few words with Yu Lihua and her husband, whom she had lost and found again.

"It can't be too long, and it can't be too late," Yu Luying finally said to Xiao Yao.

"Oh." Xiao Yao shrugged.

It's like I'm begging you.

That's exactly why I begged you.

While lost in thought, Xiao Yao turned his neck around aimlessly, looking around without any particular purpose.

Despite his differing rational views, he still harbored a secret hope for a miracle.

Perhaps, Shen Jie will descend upon this church tonight, like a little angel.

Then, give yourself a big hug.

Then, he saw Shen Jie's back view to his left front.

! ! ! !

Xiao Yao's heart skipped a beat, then beat twice more to make up for it.

Among the assembled congregation, her pure white lace veil stood out conspicuously.

Ever since meeting Lucia at the seaside summer camp, Shen Jie has been "bewitched" by her and has worn the veil every time she attends Mass.

Considering that Shen Jie had told him this represented obedience to her husband, Xiao Yao obviously had no reason to object.

However, Shen Jie had never been seen wearing that red coat.

But considering that Shen Jie is a rich person, you can never underestimate the depth of a rich person's wardrobe—Xiao Yao told himself with a sliver of hope.

“Hey, hey, look at that…” Xiao Yao’s voice trembled slightly as he nudged Yu Luying’s elbow.

Yu Luying looked up at the background and immediately knew what Xiao Yao was thinking:

“That’s Lucia.”

woc.

Xiao Yao's heart sank.

It feels like anxiously waiting for a message from your girlfriend, only to have your phone ring, and when you pick it up, it's from a cartoon character named Little Bear or Ribbonfish.

"Why is she spending Christmas in our church?" Xiao Yao asked, still annoyed. "I don't remember her being from Shanghai."

“She came to see my uncle,” Yu Luying then lowered her voice, “She also joined the organization.”

"Organization," yes, without a doubt, Xiao Yao thought.

After all, she showed amazing potential in the "beach battle" at summer camp, breaking Salome's shield with her pure and innocent heart, defeating Zhao Xiaomei, and saving everyone.

The organization had no reason not to accept her, and she had no reason to refuse to serve.

“By the way,” Yu Luying continued in a lowered voice, “I heard that Lucia’s Fortress, Lucia, seems to have another ability: True Sight Detection. Why don’t you ask her after Mass…”

The Roman saint who was blinded gained the ability to detect things. Yes, that makes sense, Xiao Yao thought.

"Why didn't you say so sooner?" Xiao Yao said. "But, can it be used in the real world as well?"

Just as Yu Luying was about to reply, "Ask away," the congregation had already started to stand up one after another.

Xiao Yao and Yu Luying also quickly stood up and turned to look at the church entrance, following everyone's gaze.

A long procession entered from the church entrance, led by an altar priest in a red and white robe, holding a censer and shaking it towards the "Holy Infant" as he slowly backed away. The second was Yubo, wearing a white vestment and holding the "Holy Infant" in his hands. Behind them were a group of people carrying long golden crosses and holding long, thick candles. At the very end of the procession were the members of the choir.

As the piano music played during the entrance hymn and the congregation sang "Come, believers of the Lord," Xiao Yao experienced a brief moment of peace.

As soon as Mass ended, Xiao Yao rushed over to Lucia's side, but she was still kneeling on the kneeling stool with her eyes closed and her palms together in prayer. Xiao Yao waited patiently for almost a quarter of an hour, until almost everyone in the hall had left, before she finally opened her eyes behind her big round glasses.

"You're asking about Shen Jie?" Lu Jiya pushed up his large round glasses: "What's there to probe? She's still at No. 7 Girls' High School. We've always kept in touch."

"???" Upon hearing this news, Xiao Yao was momentarily stunned, unsure whether to feel sad or happy: "Why couldn't I catch her after going so many times?"

“Their school has three gates,” Lucia said matter-of-factly. “You’re not just going to wait at the main gate, are you?”

“Of course I know there are three doors,” Xiao Yao explained, “but I see the other two side doors are locked, and I’m all alone, so I can’t—”

“If there’s a lock, there’s a key. Just ask a couple more friends to keep an eye on things for you.” Lucia adjusted his glasses again.

“No,” Xiao Yao said anxiously, “She has a cell phone and can contact the outside world? Then why doesn’t she contact me?”

"Who knows what a girl is thinking?" Lucia blinked. "I won't interfere in your affairs."

Just as Xiao Yao was about to speak again, he heard a scream from behind him.

Both he and Lucia instinctively looked in the direction from which the scream came.

"What are you yelling about? We're still in the main hall," Yu Bo scolded.

The person who screamed was Yu Luying, who was facing the church entrance, pointing at a girl in a green down jacket: "You, you, you..."

What do you mean, "you"?

While wondering about it, Xiao Yao looked the girl Yu Luying was pointing at up and down.

"Ah!!!" Then, Xiao Yao shouted.

This time, Yu Bo did not reprimand him. Clearly, he had also recognized who the girl in green was.

"Ah!!!" Yu Bo screamed louder than anyone else.

"???" Only Lucia was increasingly confused.

Chapter 409 Single Father Xiao Yao

2024-03-31

Shen Tianyun's sudden appearance in the church—in 2004—not only surprised everyone in the know, but also completely destroyed Xiao Yao's planned Christmas date with Yu Luying.

“Even if the mirror can’t go back for the time being, and you find that you can come out here again, how dare you run out alone?” Xiao Yao complained, “Couldn’t you have called me from the home landline? In the middle of the night—in the middle of the night, you got lost, what are your mother and I supposed to do? Even if the police can find you, how are you going to explain your identity?”

"I did call. Look at your phone and see how many missed calls you have. Besides, I go to school and training by myself every day. Don't talk like I'm a primary school student." Shen Tianyun rolled her eyes.

“Then I’ll definitely have to mute my phone during Mass—” Xiao Yao said while looking at his phone, “How did you know where we were? No, how did you know where the church was?”

“In 34, Sacred Heart Church was demolished and moved to another place,” Shen Tianyun said, “but I always knew it was diagonally opposite the old Fangzhong.”

"Old Fang Zhong?" Xiao Yao asked casually, while continuing to poke at the mirror in the wardrobe at home with his finger.

“Fangzhong was also demolished,” Shen Tianyun explained.

No matter how Xiao Yao poked, all he felt from his fingertips was the cold, hard surface of the mirror.

Even in the dead of winter, Xiao Yao's forehead was covered with a fine layer of sweat.

Yu Luying and Yu Bo both tried, and even Grandma tried in vain, but no one could fit their body even a millimeter into the mirror.

The crowd looked at each other, the air seemed to freeze, and no one could utter a single word.

Finally, Xiao Yao broke the silence once again.

"You just said, when did you realize the mirror was off?" The boy's voice carried a hint of bitterness.

"Didn't I already say that?" Shen Tianyun shouted impatiently.

"Let me tell you again, maybe I missed some details..." Xiao Yao said weakly.

“When I got home from school today, I thought I had prepared a Christmas present for you,” Shen Tianyun said, composing herself. “When I came here in 04, I didn’t see you. I thought you probably went to church, so I called you twice to ask what time you would be home and to say that I wanted to have dinner with you today… but no one answered.”

No one spoke among Xiao Yao, Yu Luying, Yu Bo, and Grandma Miao Jinfang; everyone waited quietly for Shen Tianyun to continue.

"And then you all know what happened, right?" Shen Tianyun shouted, "Anyway, around five, six, or seven o'clock, when I wanted to go back to my room, I couldn't get back—I almost smashed this damn mirror, and then I started yelling, and then Grandma came running over..."

Xiao Yao tapped his temple, interrupting Shen Tianyun: "Before, before, it seems like this happened once before. Your mother initially rejected me, and then you disappeared for a week..."

Saying "your mother initially rejected me" would be a bit embarrassing, but in this situation, Xiao Yao couldn't care less about that.

"Didn't I tell you that I was attending a training camp those few days?" Shen Tianyun said impatiently.

“Yes, you went to participate in the training camp,” Xiao Yao explained patiently. “But your mother and I both think, why is it such a coincidence that she just made up her mind and you came back the very next time? Is there a possibility, I mean a possibility, that this is actually a self-correction of the timeline, but even you don’t realize it?”

"..." Shen Tianyun said speechlessly, "What does it have to do with anything? The mirror wasn't closed that time, so you could still come to my room. It's just that I wasn't in the room. That's what you told me, right?"

“That’s exactly what I told you,” Xiao Yao admitted.

Whether intentionally or not to ease the tense atmosphere, Yu Luying suddenly exclaimed, "Oh dear, I still have clothes and things inside!"

But no one could laugh.

As night fell, the group, having little clue what to do, comforted Xiao Yao and his daughter, bid farewell to Miao Jinfang, and dispersed.

The teenage father and daughter sat in silence, quickly washed up, said goodnight to their grandmother, and went to bed.

Miao Jinfang invited Shen Tianyun to sleep in her room, but Shen Tianyun politely declined her grandmother's offer and stayed in Xiao Yao's room instead.

Actually, during this period of time, since Shen Jie and Yu Luying had taken over Shen Tianyun's room, Shen Tianyun had been sharing a room with Xiao Yao, but the two of them were either facing each other head to toe or back to back.

Today was different from usual. Tianyun nestled in Xiao Yao's arms, crying her heart out.

"Dad, will I never be able to go home again?" Shen Tianyun asked Xiao Yao, crying.

"We'll definitely find a way back, baby, don't cry, be good." Xiao Yao gently rubbed Tianyun's back: "Dad's here."