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

"Whose palace is this?" Shen Jie wondered. "The little flower girl who asked you to wait for me at the movie theater?"

"Shouldn't we talk to Father Yu about this?"

"Yes, of course. How about I go in with you again later? Fighting the shadows will help me get more proficient at using the Spirit Fortress."

"Stop joking around, such a dangerous place... Do you really think this is like playing a video game where you grind monsters and level up?"

As they were talking, the two arrived at Canhua Internet Cafe, only to find it closed. Apparently, officials from higher up had come for an emergency inspection, and minors weren't even allowed inside.

"What's wrong with just going to the bathroom? It's not like I'm turning the computer on!" The veins on Xiao Yao's forehead bulged.

"Sorry, we are too..." the staff member explained with a smile.

"Forget it, let's go, don't make things difficult for them." Shen Jie nudged Xiao Yao.

As the two walked back, Shen Jie bent over because she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"How about..." Xiao Yao hesitated, "This place is pretty dark and there's no one around, I can keep an eye on it for you?"

"Get lost," Shen Jie said softly, then added after a moment's thought, "The big one."

After a lot of trouble, Shen Jie returned home and reluctantly got her first experience using a spittoon.

"Are you done yet?" Xiao Yao knocked on his door.

"Not ready yet! Wait a minute—it's ready!"

Hearing the door bolt click as it was released, Xiao Yao pushed the door open and went inside.

He fanned his nose and deliberately opened the window, teasing her, "It stinks..."

After saying this, he prepared to dodge, but the pink fist did not come.

"Oh, what's wrong?" Xiao Yao turned his head and saw that Shen Jie's eyes were red: "I was just joking with you."

Seeing him reach for the double-layered enamel spittoon, Shen Jie hurriedly asked, "What are you going to do?"

"I'll pour it out for you..." Xiao Yao carried it out.

"I'll go by myself!" Shen Jie chased after him: "You're not our maid..."

"A son-in-law is pretty much like a servant; that's how it's always portrayed in novels," Xiao Yao said self-deprecatingly.

"Stop talking nonsense, what do you mean by 'son-in-law' or 'son-in-law'?" Shen Jie said seriously, "A husband is a husband, even if he comes to live with us."

"..."

"Why are you looking at me like that?" A blush crept across Shen Jie's face. "I wasn't talking about you!"

"...So you can blush too." Xiao Yao chuckled.

"If you do this, it will be difficult for me to keep my promise not to hit you."

"Seriously, no more joking around, thank you," Xiao Yao said.

In the end, the two of them went to empty the spittoon together.

Shen Jie held her spittoon with both hands, moving forward step by step, as if afraid that if she moved too much, it would spill.

Before she even reached the place where the spittoon was being emptied, a stench hit her, causing the pampered young lady to stop in her tracks.

"I'll do it..."

Shen Jie hesitated for a moment, then didn't insist: "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"sorry."

"It's ok."

When the two returned home, Xiao Yao was rinsing the spittoon, while Shen Jie stood three steps behind him watching.

"You have to do this every day?" Shen Jie's tone carried a hint of despair about life.

"What else?" Xiao Yao shrugged and turned off the tap. "Life is just about poop and pee."

"Why can't we install a flush toilet? I think there's still room."

"Because the old apartment buildings weren't designed with sewage pipes," Xiao Yao explained.

"You...you don't think I'm special...?" Shen Jie asked, feeling embarrassed.

“No way,” Xiao Yao walked back to the bedroom and stuffed the spittoon under his bed. “You know I went to elementary and middle school in Jiangbei, right? I grew up using a flush toilet. I asked my grandma the same question you asked me.”

"I see..." Shen Jie nodded.

“Countless working-class people in Shanghai have gone through this.” Xiao Yao went out to wash his hands again.

"So our group needs to build more high-rise residential buildings so that everyone can live in houses with flush toilets. This is also a kind of social mission," Shen Jie said in a serious tone like a primary school student, but Xiao Yao was too embarrassed to laugh at her.

"It's no use. It costs six or seven thousand yuan per square meter. We can't afford it."

"Six or seven thousand...is that a lot?" Shen Jie blurted out.

"Six or seven thousand?" Shen Tianyun popped out of the closet again, seemingly out of nowhere. "So cheap? Buy them all! Do you two even know how much houses cost these days?"

"Ten thousand? It can't be twenty thousand, can it?" Xiao Yao guessed seriously. "Thirty thousand would be outrageous, wouldn't it?"

"Ha!" Shen Tianyun almost burst out laughing: "My God, quickly tell our great-grandmother to use all the spare money she has to buy a house."

"Stop joking," Xiao Yao said.

"My God, do I look that unserious?" Shen Tianyun exclaimed anxiously.

"We don't have the money, we can't afford it."

"Why aren't you asleep yet?" Shen Jie asked reproachfully.

"See? This is why I don't want you to stay here." Shen Tianyun shrugged. "Please have some awareness of being a dependent, okay... Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch."

"I haven't taken a shower yet," Shen Jie said after pinching Shen Tianyun.

"You want to take a bath?" Xiao Yao said, pulling out a red plastic bathtub that was more than a meter long from under the bed.

"What is this?" Shen Jie's eyes widened. "Is this Doraemon's magic pocket under your bed?"

"You two take your time, bye-bye." Shen Tianyun pulled open the wardrobe door and went inside.

"This is called a bathtub, a 'bathtub', a 'bathtub', a bathtub," Xiao Yao explained enthusiastically.

“Xiao Yao,” Shen Jie composed herself and pushed the bathtub back under the bed, “Take your ID card and come with me.”

"Where are you going?" Xiao Yao asked, surprised.

"Let's go get a hotel room," Shen Jie announced her decision.

"what?!"

--split line--

A light drizzle began to fall outside the window, bringing a touch of coolness.

Shen Jie went back to Tianyun's room, greeted her, changed out of her pajamas, and came out wearing a sweatshirt and skinny jeans.

Her gaze fell on the small box next to the sofa armrest, where she saw the three pairs of socks she had given to Xiao Yao: "You didn't use them for anything strange, did you?"

"How could that be!" Xiao Yao denied vehemently, "I washed it and left it here."

Shen Jie picked up the pair of Naik women's sports socks, suspiciously sniffed them, and seeing that there was no strange smell, put them on her feet.

"Uh……"

"Let's go." Shen Jie walked to the door of the photo room and put on her blue canvas shoes.

Xiao Yao held up a large umbrella and accompanied Shen Jie as they walked out of the alley.

"Oh dear, do you even know how to use an umbrella..." Shen Jie couldn't help but complain as they walked to the side of the road.

"Uh?"

Shen Jie touched her wet half-hair and left shoulder, then snatched the umbrella from her: "I'll hold it."

"Oh……"

The girl held the umbrella for the two of them, her arms straining upwards to barely accommodate Xiao Yao's height.

Then, under the bright moonlight, she stepped into the pool, and her right shoe and sock were immediately half wet.

Listening to Shen Jie's loud complaints, Xiao Yao felt as if a live volcano was about to erupt next to him.

The signs of a volcanic eruption reached a new climax after hearing what the receptionist at Home Inn said.

"I'm sorry..." The smiling receptionist returned Xiao Yao's ID card: "You are not yet 16 years old and cannot register alone without a guardian."

The two sat on the sofa in the lobby of the Home Inn, with Shen Jie burying her head in her knees.

She has amazing flexibility.

"Or..." Xiao Yao also felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him.

"Why are you under 16 years old?" Shen Jie suddenly raised her head.

"Huh?" Xiao Yao scratched the back of his head: "I'm sorry I grew up slowly."

“You little men…” Shen Jie stopped mid-sentence: “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you.”

"It's nothing." Xiao Yao hesitated for a moment, then reached out and touched the girl's back.