You are my wife, don't doubt it!

"Did he tell you that I am the shadow and he is the real person?" The shadow of the butcher version of Zhang Zhengkai showed a surprised look on his face: "You don't really believe that I am his shadow, do you?"

"Stop joking." Xiao Yao replied.

"People are really the same," the shadow of the butcher version of Zhang Zhengkai sighed, "You were accusing me before, saying that I reshaped my lover according to my own wishes, and that this was not love. But what about now? Who is the light and who is the shadow? Isn't it you who has the final say? Isn't it you who chooses the version you like more according to your own wishes and says that he is the real body?"

"Do what you should do." Xiao Yao didn't want to listen to Zhang Zhengkai's shadow's nonsense anymore. He turned around and instructed Zhang Zhengkai.

"What should be done? Isn't it still up to the people in power to decide? It just happens to be you today!" The butcher version of Zhang Zhengkai screamed hysterically.

Chapter 396 Awakening from a Dream

2023-12-01

"Do what you should do." Xiao Yao didn't want to listen to Zhang Zhengkai's shadow's nonsense anymore. He turned around and instructed Zhang Zhengkai.

"What should be done? Isn't it still up to the people in power to decide? It just happens to be you today!" The butcher version of Zhang Zhengkai screamed hysterically.

"Oh, yes, yes." Xiao Yao turned slightly to the side.

While Zhang Zhengkai was watching the shadow of the butcher version of Zhang Zhengkai warily, he reached out and opened the tattered shoulder bag he was carrying, and took out a magic gourd from it... No, it was a thing that looked like a mass incense burner.

Xiao Yao was very familiar with this thing because Yu Bo would shake it on the altar during every Sunday mass.

Its exterior is inlaid with pure silver patterns, and the delicate carvings outline a story from the Bible. At the bottom of the incense burner, three embossed archangels quietly surround it, as if guarding some sacred ceremony.

"Did you get it from Yu Bo?" Xiao Yao asked, glancing at the incense burner.

"Ah?" Zhang Zhengkai twitched his nose in confusion: "The priest lent it to me."

Just as Xiao Yao was about to continue asking questions, Zhang Zhengkai had already taken out another black honeycomb coal cake, seemingly very skillfully, lit it with a lighter, and threw it into the incense burner.

Seeing this, the butcher version of Zhang Zhengkai subconsciously became restless.

Xiao Yao extended the tip of his sword again, pressing against the throat of the butcher version of Zhang Zhengkai's shadow.

The smoke rising from the incense burner filled the entire filthy room, and Xiao Yao smelled a familiar scent - strong and rich frankincense.

The sunlight filtered in through the glass windows, making the incense burner sparkle, as if an angel’s light was dancing in it.

"Sunshine?" Xiao Yao looked outside in amazement: "This is really weird."

"Xiao Yao and the others have the power, but they don't know how to purify you," Zhang Zhengkai said, "I know how to face you, but I can't beat you - now we are all here, let's see what else you can do?"

"You are the kind of person who ruins my good deeds. It's not right," the shadow of the butcher version of Zhang Zhengkai gnashed his teeth and said, "You are the kind of person who ruins our good deeds and your own good deeds. You are the kind of person who ruins your own good deeds. You are the kind of person who shakes the incense burner in a high-sounding manner, but is actually a cowardly and filthy traitor... You are not the kind of person I am!"

"I also hope that I am not you, or that you are not me," Zhang Zhengkai showed a trace of compassion, "Because you are really embarrassing me - but, no matter how much I don't want to admit it, even you are like this, you are indeed me, an inseparable part of me, the dark side that I must face, and the one I must bear..."

The incense burner was gently swayed, emitting a mysterious and solemn aura. The entire slaughterhouse room was filled with this white smoke, and visibility was drastically reduced, as if the entire slaughterhouse was being sanctified into a church.

Xiao Yao heard the sound of the girl coughing due to being choked by the frankincense, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the figure in a sweater and short skirt walk up to him and stop.

"How do you feel?" Xiao Yao's eyes were still fixed on the butcher, and he asked Shen Jie, "Are you okay?"

"I...cough cough cough...I," Shen Jie told Xiao Yao, "I'm still a little uncomfortable."

"Shen Jie," Zhang Zhengkai said as he swung the incense burner, "I'm sorry."

While speaking, his eyes were still fixed on the butcher.

"Ah?" Shen Jie seemed a little surprised. After two or three seconds, she reluctantly replied, "It's okay - I forgive you."

"Yes," Zhang Zhengkai nodded: "Thank you."

"I'm also... ahem, sorry." After another ten seconds or so, Shen Jie suddenly spoke.

"Thank you." This time, Zhang Zhengkai turned around and thanked Shen Jie.

"What a touching reconciliation between a general and a minister," commented the Butcher Version of Zhang Zhengkai's Shadow: "I was almost moved to tears - but after this brief psychological satisfaction, do you think she will still care about you after you leave?"

"Whether she pays attention to me or not is her business," Zhang Zhengkai turned his head and looked at his own shadow again. "Men who regard a relationship or a person as their life goal are the most hopeless. Such men often have neither confidence nor charm."

Xiao Yao knew that Zhang Zhengkai was criticizing him, but he still felt a dull pain in his knee.

"It's time for us to grow up." Zhang Zhengkai said softly.

"I feel sick when I hear your high-sounding words, 'we'." The butcher sarcastically said, "Just like the incense burner you are shaking solemnly now - you think you are very sacred, right? In fact, you know that you don't even believe in these things..."

Zhang Zhengkai: “…”

"Your words are not meant for me," the butcher laughed, "but for your 'partners'. You are just trying to save face.

"You can hide the real reason why you want to get out of this relationship from them, but how can you hide it from me?

"Oh, of course I know, because you are me, because you are my shadow."

"Shut up!" Zhang Zhengkai shouted angrily.

"He just despises Shen Jie because she is dirty, and his self-esteem cannot accept this fact," the butcher shouted loudly: "Spirit of self-esteem! Shadow of Zhang Zhengkai! I don't despise her! Because I love her more than you! Because only I--"

The butcher didn't finish his sentence.

The frankincense in the air began to dissipate, and Xiao Yao saw the butcher suddenly lower his head.

Then, the butcher's body began to fade and become transparent, until it finally turned into a small chess piece and fell into Zhang Zhengkai's palm.

Out of curiosity, Xiao Yao stretched his head to look at Zhang Zhengkai's chess piece, but the latter subconsciously tightened his badge.

Then, everything around began to blur and turned into a vast expanse of white.

The voice of Shen Jie speaking to herself also became less real.

Xiao Yao heard a sharp tinnitus.

……

……

……

Xiao Yao woke up.

He slowly came out of his deep coma.

Everything was dark before the boy's eyes, with only the faint sound of instruments echoing in the silence.

A wave of dizziness came over him and he struggled to remember what had happened.

A bloody river...? A slaughterhouse...? A cyberpunk city...? And the King's Game farce at Qiangui KTV...

He tried to raise his hand, but felt a slight tingling pain on the back of his hand. The strange feeling in his lower body made him frown.

As his consciousness gradually returned, he noticed the medical equipment and white walls around him, which formed a faint blue light in the dim light.

Slowly, he realized that he was lying on an unfamiliar hospital bed.

Ah, yes, I celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival with my whole family and relatives at that time...

And then, he fell asleep.

When I woke up again, I was here.

I had a very long dream, a very long dream...

No, that was not a dream.

Not just a dream.

The boy's eyes moved to the head of the bed.

In the dim light, he could make out a vague silhouette of... a man? Sitting there, seemingly dozing off.

The outline of the black shadow appeared blurred in the dim light, giving people a mysterious and strange feeling.

Xiao Yao's heart tightened, as if he was shrouded in a feeling of uneasiness.

He tried to speak, but his throat came out hoarse, breaking the original silence.

The black shadow suddenly raised his head, and a pair of eyes that had just been asleep fixed on Xiao Yao, making him feel a chill.

Everything seemed to be swaying between dreams and reality. Xiao Yao tried hard to gather his thoughts and try to understand where he was.

"You...you're awake?" The man seemed a little surprised and said, "Nurse, nurse!"

The man desperately pressed the bell on Xiao Yao's bedside. After pressing it twice, he ran out of the ward and shouted to the corridor, "Nurse, nurse!"

It’s so noisy…my head hurts.

Making loud noises in the hospital, what kind of manners is that?

With a "click", the lights in the room were turned on, and the dazzling light made Xiao Yao squint his eyes.

He gradually saw the man's face clearly.

This was a middle-aged man with messy hair and a wrinkled light-colored windbreaker. He looked sloppy. But his melancholy yet bright eyes, angular and handsome face, and sparse beard made Xiao Yao, a straight man, think that this man was really handsome.

Not only handsome, but also a little familiar.

Xiao Yao even felt that he looked a bit like... three points like Yu Luying.

What a hell joke...

what.

Xiao Yao knew who this BYD was.

"What are you arguing about…" A sleepy female voice came from the curtains of the bed next to me, just as I woke up from a dream.

"Oh my God, Yingying is awake too!" This time, the man was really excited: "Yingying, Yingying!"

The man jumped to the next bed like a frog.

"Really..." Xiao Yao muttered to himself and reached out to try to pull out the catheter inserted in his body.

"Why is it you?" He heard the girl's scream in his ear: "Get out of here, I don't want to see you."

"Yingying!"

At this time, the nurse on duty wearing a mask finally arrived.

At Xiao Yao's strong request, she took out the IV drip on the back of Xiao Yao's hand and pulled out the tubes inserted in his body.

"Where is she? Where is Shen Jie?" Xiao Yao held a cotton ball in his right hand and pressed the back of his left hand.

Yu Luying and Xiao Yao walked into another ward downstairs, one behind the other. As soon as Shen Jie, who was wearing a blue and white striped hospital gown, saw Xiao Yao, she trotted up, jumped with all her might, and hung directly on Xiao Yao.

This reminded Xiao Yao of the time when he first broke into Shen Jie's bedroom and she did the same thing.

"Alright, alright, alright, alright." Xiao Yao patted Shen Jie's back, but the latter was still like a little monkey, treating Xiao Yao as a big tree and kept climbing up: "It's all over, it's all over - don't climb anymore, do you really think you are still six years old? My thin arms and legs can't hold you up."

The accompanying head nurse also dissuaded them, "You two just woke up and haven't had a full physical examination yet. Don't do such a dangerous... such a strenuous exercise."

However, Shen Jie completely ignored Yu Luying, Yu Luying's (biological) father, the head nurse and others standing next to her, and suddenly pressed her cherry lips against his.

Xiao Yao was stunned, and subconsciously opened his mouth and let her go straight in.

In just a few seconds, Xiao Yao could no longer tell which was saliva and which was her tears.

He thought that in this situation, he should cry to show his importance and respect for love, and two huge tears immediately flowed out.

"Sister, this is a hospital." Then, Xiao Yao heard a voice of dissatisfaction and blame in his ears.

Of course, it was Yu Luying’s voice.

What followed was a long period of chaos.

Yu Lihua came, and Yu Bo also came.

Grandma came too, and my uncle came too.

What made Xiao Yao feel even more outrageous was that Teacher Lin came in the middle of the night, and even the principal came.

Xiao Yao, Yu Luying and Shen Jie all insisted that they were in good health and should be discharged from the hospital immediately, but unfortunately no one among the adults listened to them.

At around four or five in the morning, the adults finally left one after another, and Xiao Yao and Yu Luying's ward finally became quiet.

"Mom, you should go back to sleep too. We are really fine." Yu Luying said, "Really."

“But…” Yu Lihua moved her butt uneasily.

"Mom - cough cough cough, cough cough, no, Auntie," Xiao Yao also said, "Xiao Ping and I - Yu Lu and I - Ying Ying and I need to talk about something."

"Well, you guys continue chatting," Yu Lihua stood up reluctantly, "I'm just outside in the corridor, call me if you need anything."

"Yes, for sure." Xiao Yao nodded.

……