You are my wife, don't doubt it!

"...That makes sense." Xiao Yao said, "But why the hell would I do such a thing?"

"Because at that time, the Miwei Group couldn't do without Dad," Shen Jie said sadly, "I don't have that ability, and you don't have that prestige. Dao Ming, that playboy, can't be relied on. No one in my Shen family has enough ability to carry this burden - if Dad falls, the group will fall to the board of directors..."

"Who is Dao Ming?" Xiao Yao asked Shen Jie.

"My brother, your brother-in-law." Shen Jie replied curiously, "Oh, I forgot. He wasn't born in 04. No wonder you didn't know. He was born in 05, I think. Yes, 05."

"You were born in 87, and you have a brother born in 05?" Xiao Yao confirmed cautiously.

Shen Jie shrugged: "This is not something I can choose, right?"

It seems that she really doesn't like this younger brother very much.

Xiao Yao wanted to say something witty like "The Four Pests of the Water District" to liven up the atmosphere, but he opened his mouth but couldn't say anything: "So, how long is my sentence?"

"It's hard to say. The result of the plea bargain was that you pleaded guilty in exchange for 40 years in prison." Shen Jie told Xiao Yao: "Now we can only work on commutation of sentence, bail, and medical parole."

"So he's not in China?" Xiao Yao was surprised. "As far as I can remember, in our country, he can stay here for a maximum of 20 years. If he stays there for a longer period, he will be sentenced to life imprisonment."

"Well, in Mississippi, you may be deported after you are released from prison, and you may have to stay in prison again after you come back..."

Xiao Yao's eyes went dark and he lost hope for his future life.

"Don't be nervous. We have been trying to figure out how to make it work," Shen Jie told Xiao Yao, "Where do you think I have been these past few months? I have been staying in the United States. In addition to doing business with Americans, I can also visit you when I have time, and arrange for your medical parole..."

"How many people did your father kill?"

"In short, our whole family has not given up on you, understand?" Shen Jie did not directly answer Xiao Yao's mumbling, but just pinched the back of his hand: "Our whole family is waiting for you to come back."

"Is it too late for me to break up with the 17-year-old you now?" Xiao Yao asked half-jokingly.

Shen Jie didn't say anything, just shook Xiao Yao's hand.

Seeing that Xiao Yao was still unhappy, he said, "It should be in time!"

"Alas," Xiao Yao sighed, "Is this my fate?"

"Okay, don't be depressed," Shen Jie said, "Now you know why Yunyun and I refused to tell you. It was you who insisted on knowing. What good would it do if you knew? It would only add to your troubles."

"No," Xiao Yao shook his head and said, "It's actually better than I expected. I really thought I was dead. Even worse, my relationship with you broke down and we separated."

"Ah?" Shen Jie said, "Is separation from me worse than death?"

"Yeah." The young man hesitated for a moment and gave an affirmative answer: "For me, it is like this."

Shen Jie was somewhat moved.

It had been a long time since she heard such a sincere confession from anyone.

Even if someone would say such things to her, she would just laugh it off and would not pay any attention or take it seriously.

However, with her many years of experience in the workplace and her ability to judge people, Shen Jie could feel that the young man was serious.

"I..." Shen Jie said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Now that we have the ability to travel through time, maybe we can change all this?" Shen Jie asked tentatively.

"I don't know, I don't know." Xiao Yao said it twice.

……

There was another silence of moderate length, and then both of them spoke at the same time.

Shen Jie immediately closed her mouth and motioned Xiao Yao to speak first.

"No, I just want to change the subject." Xiao Yao said.

"You can ask anything you want." Shen Jie replied gently.

"As far as I know," Xiao Yao said as he recalled, "Shen Jie and you have had several phone calls. She has also been communicating and reporting to you about what happened between Tian Yun and me, and about the space-time channel, including—"

"I know what you want to ask," Shen Jie told Xiao Yao, "In fact, before I came back to see you and saw Tianyun calling you dad, I always thought of this whole thing as a... well, maybe it's not accurate to say it's a prank, well, a game to play with my daughter, right?"

"Game...game...?" Xiao Yao moved his nose in confusion.

"Use your brain and think about it. If you are busy in the United States and suddenly your daughter calls you from thousands of miles away and says that the mirror at home has turned into a time and space channel, what will be your first reaction?" Shen Jie suggested.

"I... I understand." Xiao Yao said: "If it were my parents, they would definitely not believe such words - such a simple thing, I couldn't even think of it, adults are the same. I actually thought you would believe it all along, even Shen Jie..."

"I have never spoken to you, but the things Shen Jie talked to me on the phone are all information that may have been obtained from Tianyun or from other channels," Shen Jie explained, "and vice versa, I think what Tianyun told me about you can also be found out..."

"In that case," Xiao Yao asked Shen Jie, "Why didn't you tell her to stop fantasizing or stop playing pranks on you?"

Chapter 239 It’s too late to meet

2023-06-19

"In that case," Xiao Yao asked Shen Jie, "Why didn't you tell her to stop fantasizing or stop playing pranks on you?"

"You will tell your children," Shen Jie smiled gently, "Santa Claus doesn't actually exist, Christmas presents are all bought by mom, and dad can't go home on Christmas because he's in jail for grandpa?"

"But she is going to high school and is not a child anymore," Xiao Yao pointed out.

"She's already going to high school. Can't she tell the difference between fantasy and reality?" Shen Jie said absentmindedly, "Since she is willing to weave a beautiful dream for me, why shouldn't I accompany her to dream it? Why should I burst that bubble? If I had a choice, I would also like to immerse myself in such a beautiful dream... But I no longer have that ability."

"I think I can understand it." Xiao Yao nodded.

"I know that she has missed her father for so many years. I can understand her feelings - because I feel the same as her." Shen Jie continued: "So, I choose to 'believe' her, because she is my only precious daughter." Shen Jie's tone revealed a tenderness: "So no matter what she says, I am willing to 'believe' her. What she says is true, so I will listen to it seriously."

Xiao Yao: "Hmm..."

"So later I found out that she not only made up a story for me, but also asked a friend to talk to me on the phone, saying that it was my past self," Shen Jie smiled, "I thought it was so funny, so I continued to act out the play with her, and even at her request, I talked to her friend on the phone several times - I didn't know until now that it was actually my past self, it was such a wonderful feeling.

"To be honest, I really hope that what she said is true, because if there is such an opportunity, I really want to say a lot to my past self. So, I really treated the friend she found as my past self, and told her a lot of things that I wanted to say to my past self.

"After I said those words to her, I really felt that I had released a lot of pressure in my heart, so I was more accepting of Yunyun's behavior. Once, when I was talking to Shen Jie on the phone, I was actually in a trance and really had a feeling that I was talking to my past self - now thinking back, is this considered a woman's intuition?"

Xiao Yao laughed dryly twice and did not comment.

"Of course, sometimes I also feel that, Yunyun, even if you have a good relationship with that girl, she is still an outsider after all. You shouldn't tell her everything about your family."

"Then why did you decide to burst this bubble today?" Xiao Yao asked Shen Jie.

"Because I accidentally saw you and Yunyun sitting on the sofa in my house, being very affectionate." Shen Jie said bluntly.

"Eh - is that it?" Xiao Yao gave a dry laugh.

"Yeah," Shen Jie nodded and said, "I don't object to Yunyun dating, and I don't need her to try to climb up the social ladder. It doesn't matter even if she falls in love with a child from a poor family. Our family isn't short of money anyway."

"That's right." Xiao Yao said.

"But I can't let her find a man who is particularly good at lying." Shen Jie's expression became serious again, and she turned back into that strict mother.

"I understand," Xiao Yao nodded and said, "It doesn't matter if he's poor, but if he comes for our family's money, that's not okay."

After saying this, he realized that given his identity and position, what he said was somewhat subtle and funny, so he smiled at himself.

Shen Jie did not tease him, but just continued to talk to herself: "In fact, on the way back, I kept thinking, can she, Shen Tianyun, really do this? Not only can she let a girl play the past me and call me, but she can also find a boy to play the past you and meet me?

"To be honest, I am curious. I really want to see what kind of person Tianyun has found and what she is up to." Shen Jie said.

"It sounds quite fun." Xiao Yao commented.

"As soon as I came back, I saw you two almost kissing on the sofa," Shen Jie recalled. "When I looked again, you really looked exactly like the photo of my husband when he was young. My mind buzzed at that moment, and a script was already written."

"What script?" Xiao Yao asked curiously.

"About ten years ago, there was a widespread trend on the Internet for scammers to impersonate other people to defraud money. They pretended to be Qin Shi Huang, the Terminator, foreign princes and mercenaries. Their acting skills were actually very poor, but the most outrageous thing was that there were people who really fell for it and believed it," Shen Jie explained.

"Auntie, that's not the case," Xiao Yao said, "In order to cheat your family of money, I even went out of my way to get a full set of plastic surgery. Isn't the initial cost too high?" Xiao Yao said.

"I just thought that Yunyun first met a boy who was good at sweet talk. Under his influence and guidance, she began to have this idea and slowly made up this whole story. It's because you and her father looked very similar when they were young."

"…your imagination."

"Then I became particularly worried. She wasn't just making up stories for me and herself," Shen Jie said. "I felt that she had been taken advantage of by this man. If I couldn't expose this scam, not only would my daughter be defrauded of her money and her body, but she might even fall into this fantasy-woven mind control. If things go wrong, she might develop...mental problems in the future."

"Indeed," Xiao Yao said, "We need to educate her well: get out of fantasy and embrace reality, even if reality may not be so beautiful - but auntie,"

"Try calling me auntie again?" Shen Jie smiled and clenched her fist, pretending to hit someone.

"No, I'm assuming that I'm the boy," Xiao Yao explained, "Is there a possibility that I'm actually a third party with good intentions, and just because I happen to look like Xiao Yao, I'm entangled by your daughter, and I'm the passive party."

"If that's the case, auntie still has to educate you properly." Shen Jie smiled.

"what?"

"What I want to tell you is," Shen Jie sat up straight with a serious face, "Little classmate, can you really accept that her 'liking' for you is just because you look like her father, and it's just a transfer of feelings?"

"Auntie, I can accept it," Xiao Yao replied seriously, "As long as she is with me, I don't care what her reason is."

"Ha," Shen Jie said, "So, you really like Yunyun, and you're not just playing around with her? Will you continue to treat her well with a serious and responsible attitude?"

"Auntie, I will," Xiao Yao said, "Oh, no, Auntie, isn't it too early to ask me these questions now..."

"Not early," Shen Jie said with a deliberately stern face, "How do I know that you are not thinking about my Shen family's property?"

"It's me, Shen Jie," Xiao Yao said in a serious tone, "Why else would I come to you?"

"Go to hell." Shen Jie scolded with a smile.

"I'm beginning to feel that you're still the same Shen Jie," Xiao Yao said with a smile, "You looked so intimidating when you first came in, but you're still as lively as ever."

"No matter how lively she is, she's just a lively old woman."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Xiao Yao suddenly remembered something: "I want to ask you a serious question."

"You ask."

"Shen Tianyun said before that it was you who asked her and me to go find you now. Did you say that, or was Shen Tianyun falsely passing on the imperial decree?"

"I guess that's what I said," Shen Jie recalled. "You know, I didn't take it seriously at the time. I said, if you really meet your father when he was young, quickly ask him to find my young self."

"Ah."

"I said, the thing I regret most in my life is that I met Tianyun's father too late. I wasted my best years. I feel sorry for him and myself." Shen Jie said: "I said, the best time to be with Xiao Yao is from the beginning, and the second best time is now."

"You didn't know it was true at the time, so you said that," Xiao Yao asked Shen Jie: "Now that you know it's true, will you still say that?"

Shen Jie looked deeply into Xiao Yao's eyes and said without any hesitation, "Yes."

Xiao Yao grabbed the back of Shen Jie's hand.

Without any words or questions, Xiao Yao could feel the strong... liking? Affection? Or... love?

This kind of love, like the scorching light of an incandescent lamp, was something he had never felt from 17-year-old Shen Jie, 15-year-old Yu Luying, no, from any of his peers.

Is Zhao Xiaomei considered one? If she is sincere, she can be considered half, but...

Ah, Tianyun, will Tianyun be an exception? Well, there is a little bit, but not so strong.

Moreover, whether she can be considered a true "peer" is a controversial issue.

Anyway, this kind of love is like when you are getting food in the school cafeteria, the aunties and sisters are happy that you are good-looking, not only do they serve the food without shaking their hands, they also scoop a few more pieces of meat for you... No, this is a shitty metaphor.

Xiao Yao was in a daze, and Shen Jie waved her hand in front of his eyelids: "Hey, hey, what are you daydreaming about?"

"Meow mommy." Xiao Yao suddenly raised his head.

"Ah? What meow... are you calling me?" Shen Jie was stunned.

"Mummy," Xiao Yao asked Shen Jie, "I suddenly thought of another question - why did you not inherit the new memories of 17-year-old Shen Jie when history was changed?"

Chapter 240 Untouchable Memories

2023-06-21

Shen Jie was stunned: "How should I know this? I also want to know why. Don't forget that I am the one who knows nothing about these things."

"Hmm..." Xiao Yao pondered.

The young man thought secretly, could it be that the so-called 2034 in this room is just a parallel universe with a difference of 30 years?

If this is a parallel world, then the Shen Jie here is actually not the Shen Jie on my side. It can even be said that they are essentially two different people.

Then, I have no obligation, no, I should not have any intimate physical contact with her.

But, if that's the case, Tianyun is no longer my daughter, so can I be with her?

Wait…what the fuck is going on in my head?

calm down.