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

"Who, unanimously, what?" Xiao Yao seemed to hear the judge announcing that everyone should stand up, but he couldn't even figure out whether he wanted a guilty or innocent person.

“She allows me to date you, but there are conditions,” Yu Luying said earnestly.

"No way, really? How did you manage to convince her?" Xiao Yao could hardly believe his ears.

“Actually, my mother isn’t such an unreasonable person,” Yu Luying said, resting her chin on a chopstick. “I’ve just always been too afraid of her and haven’t communicated with her enough. No matter what happens, my first reaction is to run away.”

“I see…” Xiao Yao recalled his conversation with Yu Lihua at the Madier Café that night and realized that she was indeed not an unreasonable person.

“At the parenting education center, I talked a lot with that fake mother,” Yu Luying recalled. “So, after I left, I kept thinking, why don’t I try to communicate directly with my real mother?”

"Yes, that's good news," Xiao Yao replied mechanically.

"Finally, my mother made a few conditions," Yu Luying continued.

"Which conditions?"

"First, your grades cannot drop at all. Second, you must also strive to improve. Third, you cannot stay up too late together, and you cannot overstep boundaries," the girl said, pointing to her fingers. "Fourth, your uncle will personally give you moral lessons and observe your behavior."

Xiao Yao felt a lump in his throat, and the words of refusal that he had been preparing for the past few days suddenly became impossible to utter.

"Here, give my phone back." Yu Luying waved her phone at Xiao Yao: "How about we go to and from school together again from now on?"

"Okay." Xiao Yao blurted out subconsciously, then inwardly wished he could punch himself twice.

Then, the two of them fell silent again. The cicadas chirping outside the window were so persistent, yet they couldn't dispel the awkward atmosphere in the small, humble room.

The little figure in white quietly crept up to Xiao Yao's ear: "We don't need to reject her directly. As long as we can't meet these conditions, the relationship can end more naturally."

The girl pursed her lips, fiddled with her long hair, and shifted the position of her legs under the table, her toes accidentally brushing against Xiao Yao's calf.

"I love this idea! Did you hear me?" The little man in the red clothes poked Xiao Yao's calf hard with a fork.

Xiao Yao shuddered as if he had been electrocuted, and Yu Luying felt it too. A blush immediately rose on her face, and she moved her chair back a little.

After finishing her meal, Yu Luying cleared the dishes and even started tidying up Xiao Yao's room.

"Leave it to me, I'll do it myself." Xiao Yao was somewhat at a loss.

Yu Luying picked up a small box from the side of the sofa arm, which contained Shen Jie's three pairs of socks. She held them up and squinted at them.

Xiao Yao covered his eyes and turned his head away.

"I……"

Yu Luying folded the three pairs of socks again, put them back in their usual place, and continued tidying up: "Move aside, you're blocking my way, you're getting in my way."

"Oh……"

"Your Poetry Journal from last month looks brand new, haven't you opened it yet?"

“Yeah,” Xiao Yao touched his nose, “So much has happened lately, I haven’t had time to think about it.”

“Me too,” Yu Luying said.

The two chatted idly for about half an hour, and the room was spotless.

Xiao Yao felt that the money he received was better than what Shen Tianyun received.

Without any discussion, after tidying up the room, the two sat on the sofa and began reading the Poetry Journal together.

Yu Luying brought her portable CD player, and the two of them each had an earbud, from which Ye Bei's singing voice gurgled out.

I gaze at you in the setting sun.

You carry the sorrow of flowing water.

I remember the way you waved to me.

Don't ask me if my love will change.

Who could possibly know these things?

Please give me an answer.

Just like the eyes you used to look into my eyes.

……

......"

But now that things have come to this, how can I answer you?

Xiao Yao smelled the fresh scent of laundry detergent on Yu Luying, and with trembling hands turned to the next page of the magazine, but suddenly felt his shoulders sink slightly, and his head seemed to be resting on something.

“Yu Luying…” Xiao Yao dared not turn his neck.

"I'm sorry, Xiao Yao." The girl's voice was like a dream: "I hurt you before. I cared about my mother, my classmates, and too many people's opinions. When faced with problems, I just wanted to run away, just wanted to hide myself in a shell..."

Xiao Yao held his breath.

He knew he should gently push her away and then tell her that he had found someone else.

"Are you crazy?" The little man in white puffed up his cheeks with anger. "You can't afford the consequences."

The little man in red used a fork to pin Xiao Yao's lips shut: "Even if you're crazy, you have to turn it off!"

If I could, I wish time could just stop right now.

Unfortunately, this is impossible.

“Tadaima!” A familiar voice came from outside the bedroom door.

?

So, when Yu Luying came in just now, was the door not closed properly?

Before he could react, a petite girl pushed open the door and rushed in.

The girl was dragging a huge black plastic bag, bulging with what looked like a large bag of garbage. She had her hair tied in a high ponytail, wore a belted women's blouse, leather shorts, and was barefoot without socks: "Where are my slippers?"

Xiao Yao felt a loud buzzing in his head, and Yu Luying was also startled, quickly sitting up straight.

The large garbage bag in Shen Jie's hand fell to the ground with a dull thud.

……

The three of them stared at each other for three seconds.

Yu Luying was the first to react.

She stood up lightly: "Sister, you've come!"

Looking at Yu Luying's smiling face, Shen Jie responded somewhat blankly, "Ah... hello."

Her eyes were red, as if she had just been crying.

"Xiao Yao, what are you still sitting for? Get up and let your sister sit down." Yu Luying warmly greeted Shen Jie: "Sit down, sit down, don't be shy."

Both Xiao Yao and Shen Jie had question marks appearing above their heads.

"Come on in, why are you buying things?" Yu Luying led Shen Jie to sit on the sofa and then gestured for Xiao Yao to pick up the large black trash bag on the floor.

Xiao Yao and Shen Jie exchanged a glance. They both remembered that back in Teacher Yao's hall, at that so-called "parent-child education center," it was while saying these words that Sacker confiscated Xiao Yao's short axe and crossbow.

“That is…” Shen Jie reached out her hand, but Yu Luying didn’t open the bag; she just threw it onto the bed.

"Let me make you a cup of tea. Have you eaten?" Xiao Yao felt a chill run down his spine and fled into the photo booth.

"Do you know where the tea is?... That jar, yes, that jar is this year's Longjing tea, yes, this jar, don't make the water too hot."

"I don't drink tea!" Shen Jie suddenly interrupted Yu Luying's rambling loudly, then muttered softly, "Get me a bowl of rice."

"Oh dear, this is leftovers from our meal. It's not appropriate to serve it to our guests. I'll go cook another dish."

"It's alright, Shen Jie isn't an outsider, she doesn't mind, right?" Xiao Yao quickly went to get the bowls and chopsticks.

Xiao Yao returned with rice and chopsticks. The food cover on the table had been taken away. The two girls sat around the table, the atmosphere... an awkwardness lurking beneath the surface of pleasure.

"Thank you."

"There's nothing to thank me for. Sister Shen is my savior." Yu Luying said this sincerely: "She risked her life to save me. I've never known how to repay this kindness."

"Luying, don't say that."

Shen Jie took the bowl and chopsticks from Xiao Yao's hand without thanking him. She picked up a piece of meat and put it in her mouth, as if she was really starving.

While watching Shen Jie eat, Yu Luying chatted with her about everything that had happened in Teacher Yao's temple.

“Mary I? Who is that? The holy medal given by my uncle? I don’t know Loreto, I’ve only heard of the Holy Medal of the Virgin Mary.”

"..."

"I don't know why Teacher Yao's hall entrance is in a KTV...? KTV and the school aren't that close."

"..."

"A spiritual fortress... Xiao Yao's is Don Quixote? It suits him perfectly. I also want a spiritual fortress."

"..."

"Sister, I really don't know what the Flying Axe Female Knight you're talking about is. I have absolutely no recollection of it."

"..."

"I've never seen the White Knight who arrived last before, nor have I heard Teacher Yao mention him. He seems quite mysterious."

"..."