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

"The sanitary napkins are over there, in the third row at the back." The clerk pointed out the location to him.

Xiao Yao searched for a long time before finding the Sofy night-use model. After hesitating for a while about whether to choose the large or small size, he finally decided to have both.

He held it in his hand and spun it around a few times, then took out a packet of brown sugar and a hot water bottle.

It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but I got through the past few nights by drinking brown sugar water and using a hot water bottle. You could say that "a long illness makes one a doctor."

"You two, it's really one after the other that you take the stage."

Xiao Yao paid the bill, put it in a plastic bag, and swayed back to the hotel.

There was no one at the hotel reception; the old man who used to watch the door had probably gone to sleep somewhere.

For some reason, Xiao Yao felt that the atmosphere was a bit strange, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why. He just felt a chill run down his spine.

The voltage is a bit unstable, causing the lights to flicker.

The lights suddenly went out as I was going upstairs!

A figure was reflected in the crash mirror at the turn of the stairs. Although it was dark, Xiao Yao recognized it at a glance... It looked like Zhang Zhengkai's figure!

"Ah!" Xiao Yao cried out in surprise.

The lights came on again, and in that mirror, besides Xiao Yao himself, there was no other reflection.

Xiao Yao strode back to his room, unlocked the door with his key, rushed in, carefully hung the safety chain on the door, and then turned the square mirror on top of the TV cabinet upside down on the cabinet surface.

"What's wrong?" Shen Jie sat up. "Was it you calling in the hallway just now?"

"It's alright," Xiao Yao said, not wanting Shen Jie to worry any longer. "Do you think I bought the right thing?"

Shen Jie went into the bathroom to change her sanitary napkin and came out. Xiao Yao had almost boiled the water: "I bought a hot water bottle. You can put a bath towel under it and warm it up. It will feel better."

The girl glanced at the bag of brown sugar and sat down on the edge of her bed: "Xiao Yao... you're quite thoughtful. Thank you."

"It should, it should."

I still couldn't bring myself to say the second half of the sentence, "Who told me to be your man?"

Xiao Yao filled a hot water bottle, prepared brown sugar water, and handed it to Shen Jie. He felt that the way she looked at him was different now.

He held the cup, shook his head, and blew on it three times: "Drink slowly, it's a little hot."

The girl didn't reach out to take it; instead, she leaned her head in and took two small sips.

"Is it hot?" Xiao Yao helped her slowly drink half a cup.

"It's alright." The girl leaned against the headboard. "I won't drink anymore. Turn off the light."

Xiao Yao climbed onto the bed and fumbled on the wall to turn off the light.

She lay there next to him, with no longer any distance between them.

My feelings for her have increased significantly, and our relationship has been elevated once again. YEAH!

"Honey, does it still hurt?"

"Hmm," the girl nodded gently, "It's okay, I'll be fine once I close my eyes and fall asleep."

"Shall I sing you a lullaby?"

Shen Jie chuckled: "You should go to sleep. I can sleep until the afternoon to check out, but you have to get up early for school."

"How about I rub it for you?"

"Trying something funny again?" Shen Jie said lazily, without a hint of reproach in her tone.

"How can it be--"

Shen Jie suddenly snorted again, curled up, and gritted her teeth.

Xiao Yao always felt that her face was eerily pale.

He got out of bed on his own, turned the light back on, ran over to Shen Jie, and rubbed his hands together through his hoodie and hot water bottle.

"Hmm..." Shen Jie hummed again, grabbed Xiao Yao's hand and moved it up: "Here."

Xiao Yao continued to apply pressure: "This?"

"A little lower down."

After a few minutes of massage, the girl seemed to relax, and her brows unfurrowed.

"Are you feeling better?" Xiao Yao asked.

"Feeling a little better." Shen Jie smiled and suddenly added, "Suddenly, I feel like you've grown up a bit."

"what?"

"I have many good qualities, not just emptying spittoons and serving tea and water," he thought to himself.

"Haven't you said thank you yet?" Shen Jie seemed to suddenly remember something: "Thank you, Xiao Yao."

"Don't be so polite. Besides, you've already thanked me."

"Zhang Zhengkai...actually got engaged to me later." Unexpectedly, Shen Jie brought up that name again, a name that Xiao Yao didn't really want to hear at the moment.

“I mean, in the future where Shen Tianyun came from,” Shen Jie added.

“I know,” Xiao Yao nodded casually, “I could have guessed it.”

"Stop pressing, I'm fine, lie down." Shen Jie patted the person next to her.

Then I won't be polite.

Xiao Yao walked back to the right side of the bed and lay down next to Shen Jie. He felt a faint warmth coming from her body through the thin air.

He turned the light off again.

“At this time, I didn’t know you,” Shen Jie recounted what she had just heard a few hours earlier: “So I accepted my father’s arrangement and this marriage.”

"Ah."

"However, we didn't have much contact. After we got engaged, I was in my senior year of high school, and then I went to Australia."

“He probably won’t stop bothering you just because you’re busy with your senior year of high school, especially… after you’re officially engaged, it’ll be legitimate.” Xiao Yao wasn’t sure if she was talking about Zhang Zhengkai or herself.

"Yes, not having excessive contact before marriage was one of the conditions I proposed at the time," Shen Jie said. "He eventually agreed."

"Tsk..." Xiao Yao wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything.

"After I returned from Australia, he went to Germany again."

"what."

“By the time he returned from Germany, we hadn’t even started planning our wedding,” Shen Jie said, staring blankly ahead, “when he got into a car accident and died.”

!! ?

Xiao Yao shuddered, immediately recalling the recurring dream he'd had over the past month: "Did he push you out, then die, and you survive?"

"Hmm..." Shen Jie gave him a strange look: "You know that too?"

"I was just guessing..." Xiao Yao wasn't really sure, but at least in the dream, that's what he did.

"Mm." The girl nodded gently.

Xiao Yao suddenly felt that it was really relaxing for the two of them to lie together and chat, even if they were talking about topics that weren't exactly relaxing.

"As for how I got to know you, that was many years later..."

“Actually, you don’t really hate him, right?” Xiao Yao suddenly interrupted her: “Especially after knowing what he will do for you in the future.”

"Who?" Shen Jie was taken aback: "Zhang Zhengkai?"

"Nothing, just chatting, haha."

“I rarely truly hate someone.” Shen Jie seemed to be carefully choosing her words: “My mother always taught me to treat others with the greatest kindness possible and to discover their strengths.”

"It's great," Xiao Yao said sincerely.

"But, to be honest, I really hate Zhang Zhengkai."

“Uh…” Xiao Yao stretched out his right hand and drew three black lines near his temple.

"No matter what, for you, for Tianyun, and for Zhang Zhengkai himself, I must sever all ties with him this time." Shen Jie clenched her fists: "For the good of all of us."

"..." Xiao Yao felt he had no grounds to object, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.

He reached out and squeezed Shen Jie's small hand, and she neither dodged nor pushed him away.

“If Shen Tianyun hadn’t come, we wouldn’t have met,” Shen Jie said softly. “Then I might have agreed to my father’s marriage proposal and helped the company through its difficulties. And you, you might have won over Yu Luying around this time, but because of me…”

That's not necessarily true, Xiao Yao thought.

Shen Tianyun had told herself that she had been single since birth until she was 30, which meant that in the original timeline, she had not been able to win over Yu Luying either.

If it weren't for all the experiences they went through together at Teacher Yao's temple, Yu Luying would never have faced her own heart, never pursued him, and never accepted his advances.

However, is there any causal connection between these great adventures and Shen Tianyun's arrival?

Was the "Zhang Zhengkai" I saw in the hallway mirror just now a hallucination, or just another "shadow"?

Actually, we can't be sure that it was Zhang Zhengkai.

"However, even so," Xiao Yao said, trying to sound casual. "We've both made sacrifices, so we're even, right?"

"Although I know you were probably joking, hearing you say that still makes me a little unhappy." Shen Jie frowned slightly in the darkness. "Although I can't quite put my finger on it..."