You are my wife, don't doubt it!

2023-05-27

*This chapter is also known as "Returning Home in Glory"

Xiao Yao and Yu Luying were at a small restaurant at the station. They ordered the clams that Yu Luying had been craving for, and also asked for two home-cooked dishes such as stir-fried pork with garlic sprouts.

The rice looked obviously left over from the previous night, with some rice crust still on it, and it was neither hot nor cold. It was placed in a plastic box and was thrown onto the table with a "bang". Xiao Yao had no choice but to use chopsticks to push open the plastic-sealed bowl and serve the rice to himself and Yu Luying.

"When I was crossing the Yangtze River just now, I thought of that poem in my mind," Yu Luying has regained some interest: "You live at the head of the Yangtze River, and I live at the tail of the Yangtze River."

"I miss you every day but I can't see you. We drink the water of the Yangtze River together." Xiao Yao said.

"I've got some inspiration. I'll go back and write it down. Can you help me take a look at it?" Yu Luying offered.

"Oh - great!" Xiao Yao said happily, "Wait for the good work."

After a while, the dishes were served.

The fried pork with garlic sprouts was average, so I won't describe it in detail here, but the fried clams looked pretty good - the shells of the clams were slightly golden, and the slightly burnt aroma wafted through the air. Each clam exuded an alluring ocean flavor and a unique fresh aroma.

The clams are rounded, firm and elastic, and are skillfully fried until just cooked through, with just the right amount of heat, a smooth texture, and plump and delicious meat.

Xiao Yao didn't like eating this food, and he had a poor appetite due to motion sickness, so he didn't pick up his chopsticks. Instead, he took out his cell phone and planned to take a few pictures for Shen Jie.

After taking a few photos, someone suddenly hit his wrist with chopsticks. He looked up and saw that it was Yu Luying. Xiao Yao saw that she looked strange and then he remembered that he had missed an important step - the prayer before the meal.

In fact, Xiao Yao had a good idea of ​​how pious (or impious) Yu Luying was. What's more, she had never set any strict etiquette requirements for him - at this moment, she was undoubtedly deliberately looking for trouble.

Xiao Yao quickly put down his phone, sat up straight at the table, and prepared to recite the lyrics with Yu Luying.

However, Yu Luying didn't seem to be praying at all. She said coquettishly, "All you do is take photos all day long. Why didn't you take photos of me when you were with her?"

Xiao Yao was stunned by this question, and his mind was unable to wrap around it for a while.

He thought for a moment: It seems that your sister Shen Jie left just two days after we confirmed our relationship? How can it be said that she "didn't let you take pictures when we were together"?

Oh, let's recite the sutra first. Lord, please bless us and the food you have given us...

"How long does it take to walk back to your home from here?" Yu Luying looked at the B minor scene after the rain outside the window and asked Xiao Yao.

“……” Xiao Yao sat there and ignored her.

"Hey, why don't we go back after dinner?" Yu Luying added, "It's not good to let them wait like this."

"..."

"Hey, why are you ignoring me?" Yu Luying's mouth drooped a little: "I was just joking with you. You can take pictures of her casually."

Xiao Yao stopped mumbling in his heart and drew a vertical and horizontal line on his chest again: "If you don't pray, I have to pray. You keep making noises. Come and apologize to my brother."

Yu Luying was slightly startled: "Praying for so long?"

"It's been so long, and I still have so much to say to you." Xiao Yao picked up his bowl unhappily.

"Oh, that's my fault." Yu Luying stretched out her hand with a smile and pressed it on Xiao Yao's upper arm.

"Let's eat," Xiao Yao said, "finish early and go home early."

He regretted ordering the stir-fried pork with garlic sprouts - the smell of the garlic sprouts was so strong that it made him feel nauseous.

Yu Luying went straight to the dish of fried clams: this dish gave her a refreshing and intoxicating taste. With every bite, the clam meat was plump and tender, as if releasing a strong ocean fragrance in the mouth. While chewing, the fresh juice of the clam overflowed the mouth, blending with the aroma of the seasoning. The meat was delicate and chewy, and the fresh taste spread in the mouth - this is what Dongru calls "the most delicious in the world".

Emperor Yuan of Liang wrote an essay praising the "superb taste of clams with claws". "Youyang Zazu" records that "The Emperor of Sui was fond of clams, and everything he ate must have clam flavor, and the number of clams exceeded tens of millions." Emperor Renzong of Song regarded crawlers as a delicacy. In his poem when he first ate crawlers, Ouyang Xiu said that chicken, pig, fish and shrimp could not compare with crawlers, and he hated himself for eating clams too late.

When Yu Luying was enjoying her meal, she suddenly heard an uncomfortable vomiting sound. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw Xiao Yao holding a bamboo basket and vomiting violently.

The delayed feedback came immediately, a nauseous feeling rushed from the stomach to the forehead, and the clams in my mouth were no longer fresh.

There was only one trash can, and the feeling of nausea came so suddenly and so strongly that she didn't have time to look for a second trash can.

……

……

"Sorry, sorry." When paying the bill, Yu Luying apologized to the boss repeatedly.

The boss was holding a mop in his hand, smiling and talking in a very generous manner, saying a lot of things.

"He said that the clams were not fresh, so he didn't charge you for them." Xiao Yao translated.

"That won't work." Yu Luying objected, "It has nothing to do with you, clam."

Coming out of the restaurant, Yu Luying looked very unhappy again.

"I really didn't mean it." Xiao Yao followed closely behind and explained.

"I know." Yu Luying said lightly.

"I've always felt nauseous and wanted to vomit after eating clams since I was a child, but I didn't expect it to be this severe," Xiao Yao explained without stopping, "I originally thought that since you're here, I'd feel bad not letting you eat, so I let you order some. I really didn't expect this nausea to be even more severe than before. It could be the aftereffects of the motion sickness I just had, and that garlic sprout isn't right either—"

"Thanks to you," Yu Luying walked to the side of the road, stopped, and looked around: "I will never think of eating clams again in my life - even if the symbiosis is gone one day, I will have a conditioned reflex."

"I'm really sorry..." Xiao Yao said.

"Okay, it's okay, it's just a small matter." Yu Luying said, "You have good intentions too."

"Are you really not mad at me anymore?" Xiao Yao's phone started ringing again: "Hello? Ah, I'll be there soon, soon."

"What's wrong?" Yu Luying said, "Did the neighbors at home call again to urge me?"

"Ah."

“How about we not go to the hotel first and go there directly?” Yu Luying put her right index finger on the right corner of her lips.

"That's what I meant. There aren't many things anyway, so there's no need to put them in the hotel first." Xiao Yao said.

In fact, Xiao Yao felt that it would be better not to go to the hotel and just leave the luggage at home.

"It doesn't matter if I have luggage or not, the main thing is," Yu Luying said hesitantly, "Look at me, I'm covered in dirt. If I go to your place, I'll run into someone you know, right? I wanted to wash myself a little and get ready before going."

So you did it to save face for me? Xiao Yao became happy again: "No need, no need. You are beautiful. You will look the same whether you do it or not."

"You are the only one who knows how to talk." Yu Luying said angrily.

"Oh, I'm speaking from the heart."

This is truly the truth.

"Rickshaw! Rickshaw!" Xiao Yao shouted at the top of his voice.

"Hey!"

……

"Where are you going?" the rickshaw driver asked in dialect.

"Party School." In order to avoid being treated as an outsider, Xiao Yao also replied in dialect.

"Five dollars." The dark-skinned driver stretched out his hand and slapped it.

Xiao Yao didn't bargain and helped Yu Luying into the car.

"Five dollars?" Yu Luying squeezed into the small canvas shed, her body forced to stick close to Xiao Yao: "How far is it?"

"About three kilometers." Xiao Yao said after thinking for a while.

"Three kilometers, five yuan?" said Yu Luying.

Ladies and gentlemen, you may not know that although Dongru's rickshaw is not pulled or run by hands or feet like the ones in the Republic of China period, it is also a three-wheeled vehicle that is purely powered by manpower. It has a canvas canopy on the back seat and does not have any battery auxiliary equipment. It earns money through hard work.

Yu Luying saw the rickshaw driver, who was in his fifties or sixties, riding hard in the front, while the two young people, with their hands in their pockets, sat in the back like masters, and felt sorry for him for only five dollars.

When they were on a bridge, the driver couldn't ride anymore, so he jumped off the bike, held the handlebars with one hand and pulled the back seat with a rope with the other, pulling it up with all his strength.

"Yingying, look, this is the People's Park of Dongru..."

"Master, stop!" Before Xiao Yao could react, Yu Luying jumped off the rickshaw, ran to the back of the rickshaw, and stretched out her arms to help push it.

The driver turned around and said something. Yu Luying couldn't understand it, but it was probably some polite words. Xiao Yao couldn't sit still in the canvas tent anymore, so he got off the car. Although the car was empty, the driver didn't get on and ride, but continued to push the handlebars. Xiao Yao and the others walked until the driver pushed the car to the top of the bridge, and then they got back into the car.

"Let's not take this kind of rickshaw anymore," Yu Luying said to Xiao Yao, "I'm watching you do evil."

"My eldest lady, you are kind-hearted and can't bear to see the poor suffer, right?" Xiao Yao smiled bitterly, "Do you know who is the most angry person to hear this?"

"who is it."

"That's him." Xiao Yao pointed at the driver who was pedaling hard in front of him and said, "Because of your compassion, you made him unemployed and hungry. Do you think you are showing mercy or harming him?"

"Wrong logic." Yu Luying said stubbornly.

"We have walked all the way. What have you seen along the way?" Xiao Yao asked Yu Luying.

"What did you see?" What Yu Luying saw was a gray and dilapidated scene, which perfectly matched her imagination of the 80s - but she was too embarrassed to say it out loud.

After all, this is Xiao Yao's "hometown".

"How many taxis do you see? How many buses?" Xiao Yao prompted.

"Uh... not so far."

"This place doesn't have any taxi or bus system at all. It's only three kilometers in radius and is only the size of a palm. If you want to go out, you can either ride a bicycle or a motorcycle, walk, or rely on these rickshaws," Xiao Yao explained to Yu Luying.

"Three...three kilometers," Yu Luying said in disbelief. "A radius of three kilometers, wouldn't it mean that you can run into acquaintances wherever you go?"

"Who says it's not true? Small places are like this," Xiao Yao said with a smile, "a society of acquaintances and favors. You'll see people everywhere. Even when you go out to buy some green onions, you'll run into several acquaintances. Yingying, if you turn left on this road, you'll reach the county middle school, which is also the junior high school I attended. Turn right in front of you and you'll reach the supply and marketing building. Next to it is my elementary school."

"Bunny," Yu Luying picked up the camera and took photos everywhere: "When we have time, take me to visit your junior high school and elementary school."

"I would have taken you there even if you didn't tell me. Don't even think about running away." Xiao Yao said with a smile.

This was originally part of his itinerary, but he didn't expect Yu Luying to take the initiative to bring it up, which made him very happy.

"Xiao Yao, you know what?" Yu Luying said, "Although this is my first time here, I feel very familiar with everything. I can't explain it, but I just feel vaguely that—"

"Deja vu?" Xiao Yao was startled. "It's like I've been here before in my previous life?"

"There is no such thing as a past life."

"This is called déjà vu, also known as the hippocampus effect," Xiao Yao repeated, "Many people have similar experiences and feelings... What do you think, could it be that the real world we think of is actually a shadow?"

Yu Luying did not respond to the young philosopher's thoughts: "Why... there are so few young people here?"

"You finally found out?" Xiao Yao said with a smile.

"Apart from the children who were a few years old, there were middle school students who were about the same age as us, and above that were people in their 40s and 50s and old men and women - there were almost no young people to be seen."

"Young people, who would stay in this crappy place? The nearest place is Nantong, or go to Modu, Suzhou, Youxi..." Xiao Yao said, "Just wait and see. At least now you can still see a lot of primary and secondary school students. In the future, there will be fewer and fewer students. It will completely become a city of the elderly, a dead city."

"Why?" Yu Luying asked curiously.

"Don't you know that our Dongru County is a model county for family planning?" Xiao Yao sneered.

“……”Yu Luying remained silent.

At this time, the rickshaw rode onto the "Tonghai Bridge" - the slope of this bridge was not particularly steep, and the driver rode up it.

"It feels so good to return home in glory!" Xiao Yao said with emotion.

"Is it done?" Yu Luying deliberately frowned, turned a little to the side, and looked Xiao Yao up and down.

"Jin." Xiao Yao stretched out his hand and hugged Yu Luying tightly in his arms: "After all, brothers are like brothers——"

"Your wife is still under house arrest. How can I be worthy of being your clothes?" Yu Luying struggled.

"You always need something to change into." Xiao Yao said with a grin.

"Bah!" Yu Luying shouted, "Let me go!"

The rickshaw stopped and the driver turned around and asked, "Do you want to go in?"

"No need! Let's stop here." Yu Luying broke free from Xiao Yao's arms, jumped out of the car, took out a twenty-yuan bill and handed it to the driver, insisting that he didn't need to give her the change.

The driver thanked the student profusely and rode away on his rickshaw. Xiao Yao and Yu Luying stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the school gate.

Next to the gate stood a sign with eight large characters "Zhongxdongru County Party School" inscribed on it.

"Why is your home inside the Party School?" Yu Luying didn't understand.

"You may not believe it," Xiao Yao scratched his head and said, "My father used to be an associate professor at the Party School..."

“…” Yu Luying looked at him in surprise.

"Let's go." Xiao Yao pulled Yu Luying.

The two walked into the gate of the Party School, and in front of them were flower beds and basketball courts. A fat teacher who looked a bit like a wealthy man just happened to slowly walk out from inside.

"Oh, little landlord! You're back!" The teacher's glasses slipped down and he shouted in surprise.

"Old landlord!" Xiao Yao greeted warmly.