You are my wife, don't doubt it!

"Yes, that's about it." Yu Luying nodded in confirmation.

Xiao Yao looked carefully and saw that what was drawn on the paper was the shadow that appeared behind him when Teacher Yao beat him.

Teacher Yao’s...spiritual fortress?

"This, this is not the one behind Teacher Yao..." Xiao Yao stuttered.

I didn’t expect that Father Yu is also a good painter. Although it cannot be said to be exactly the same, it is pretty close to the image.

"It is indeed it." Father Yu sighed.

"Him? Who?" Xiao Yao asked puzzled.

"The image you see behind Mr. Yao's shadow is very similar to the image of the demon Asmodeus described in the Key of Solomon."

"Devil?" "Asmodeus?" Xiao Yao and Yu Luying asked at the same time.

"Asmodeus, don't you know? It's in the Bible." Father Yu said impatiently.

“Is there…is there?” Yu Luying asked with a dazed look in her eyes. Her uncle grabbed a book as thick as a brick from the desk and pretended to throw it at her: “I told you to read the scriptures more often, but you just don’t study them well!”

"Hey, don't throw it, don't throw it." Xiao Yao stretched out his hands in front of him and shook them. He sat down next to Yu Luying: "Can you explain to me what you are talking about? Also, can you tell me what day it is now?"

"On Saturday," Father Yu said, "you and Xiao Shen were only in there for more than three hours."

"How is this possible?!" Xiao Yao exclaimed, "I feel like we've been in there for two or three days!"

"It's a little strange, and I can't explain it," Father Yu said, "I remember that when you were in the cash box this morning, you only went in for a short time, and when you came out it was already noon, right? That's what you told me, right?"

"Hmm..." Xiao Yao fell into deep thought: "Actually, I'm not really sure. Maybe I was unconscious in the love hotel room for longer than I thought?"

"Can you be more reliable?"

"Love hotel?" Yu Luying turned to Xiao Yao.

"Don't make a fuss, let's deal with each matter one by one." Father Yu lowered his head and stretched out his arms. "We'll discuss the speed of time passing later. Yingying said you cut off Teacher Yao's shadow?"

"It wasn't me who chopped it off. It was the little bear who chopped it off." Xiao Yao answered truthfully.

"How could you cut off someone's shadow?" Father Yu held his head with his hands.

"I didn't chop it off," Xiao Yao repeated, "So what would happen if you chop off the shadow? That's what I was going to ask you."

“I don’t know.” Father Yu spread his hands.

"I don't know what you are so anxious about?" Xiao Yao was puzzled.

"But it's definitely not a good thing." Father Yu said: "The shadow is also a part of a person's complete personality. If a person's shadow is eliminated, I don't know what will happen to him."

"Is it just like what we Chinese say, three souls and six spirits, but one soul and two spirits are missing?" Xiao Yao understood a little.

"If you insist on understanding it this way, that's fine." Father Yu said, "Desire is also an indispensable part of a person. What would a person become if he completely lost his desire? So..."

"Who is the White Knight?" "So who is Asmodeus?" The two men asked each other at the same time.

"You speak first." Xiao Yao raised his right hand.

"Asmodeus is one of the ancient demons whose names appear in the Bible," Father Yu explained, "and one of the 72 demons of hell described in the Key of Solomon."

"So cool..." Xiao Yao smacked his lips.

"It is generally believed that Asmodeus represents 'lust' among the seven deadly sins."

"That's indeed quite fitting," Xiao Yao thought for a moment and said, "Could it be that Teacher Yao is a devil?"

"Bullshit," Father Yu rolled his eyes and said, "How can a human being be a devil? Only the devil can enter a person's heart..."

"So that's how it is." Xiao Yao remembered what the shadow behind him said when Teacher Yao beat him up, and he seemed to understand something: "So, Teacher Yao is also a victim?"

"Boy," Father Yu crossed his fingers and stared at Xiao Yao, "Tell me everything that happened after you and Xiao Shen entered the mirror. Don't miss any details. Yingying has told me everything she knows."

"Okay." Xiao Yao began to talk about the mirror from the moment they entered the school, first how they escaped from the maze of the love hotel, how they were knocked down by Sekel and sent to the water dungeon, how they escaped, how they witnessed Zhou Qi's memories and heard Teacher Yao's confession, how they "defeated" the giant Sekel, were rescued by the White Knight, and went to the Parent-Child Education Center to find Yu Luying under the guidance of the White Knight, and the whole process of fighting with Yu Luying. He told the whole story verbatim, but omitted the agreement between him and Shen Jie regarding the "MBA" and (at Father Yu's request) omitted the specific content of Teacher Yao's confession.

While listening to Xiao Yao's story, Father Yu kept taking notes in a notebook, making comments or asking questions from time to time.

"You mean Xiao Shen awakened the blood... uh, the fortress of Queen Mary I?" Father Yu muttered to himself, "This is too incredible. Xiao Shen is not a church member, right?"

"Yu Luying should have told you what happened next." Xiao Yao said.

"It turns out that you went through so many dangers before rescuing me!" Yu Luying sighed, "Xiao Yao, it really went through a lot for you... and Sister Shen Jie."

"It's my duty." Xiao Yao said.

Father Yu had been scribbling something on his notebook, and suddenly threw down his pen: "This white knight you mentioned... he knows me, right? I always feel that this person... no matter who he is, I'm afraid he is not a good person."

"I think so too." Xiao Yao blurted out in agreement.

"Uncle, Xiao Yao, why do you think so?" Yu Luying asked puzzledly: "He is our savior."

"Objectively speaking, this is the case," Xiao Yao said with a wry smile, "but things in this world are not that simple. There are too many suspicious points about the White Knight, so it's better not to jump to conclusions too early.

"Are there any doubts?" Yu Luying was still very unconvinced.

"You women are so naive..." Xiao Yao shook his head.

"We? All?" Yu Luying pouted and stopped talking.

"Yu Luying, look, what is this?" Xiao Yao took out the dark chocolate that Shen Jie gave him from his pocket and shook it in front of Yu Luying.

"Is it chocolate?" Yu Luying said.

"Shen Jie and I finished this chocolate on the way to the Parent-Child Education Center to find you."

"Why drink? So?"

"But now, it's still in my hand, and we can eat it again." Xiao Yao tore open the chocolate wrapper.

"What exactly do you want to say?" Yu Luying was puzzled: "Any changes in it will not be brought into reality. Did you just realize it?"

"But the White Knight's horse kicked Zhou Qi," Xiao Yao sighed, "and that wound was brought into the real world. Don't you think it's scary? Think about the sword that can easily destroy Teacher Yao's shadow..."

"This..." Yu Luying was silent: "Indeed... a little..."

"How did you become a top student with your pig brain, nerd!" Xiao Yao couldn't help but tease.

“You——!” Yu Luying’s eyes turned red: “Does a person with strong abilities necessarily mean he is a bad person?!”

"Okay, okay, don't cry. I was just teasing you." Xiao Yao was a little panicked.

"Who said I was going to cry? You idiot!" Yu Luying continued to be stubborn.

Father Yu seemed not to have heard the conversation between the two at all. He just knocked on the table with his knuckles, making a "thump" "thump" sound, and the three of them fell into silence for a short time.

"Yu Luying," Xiao Yao said, "It's almost 11 o'clock and you haven't gone home yet. Won't your mother go crazy?"

"What do you think?" Yu Luying pouted and said, "My uncle has been helping to cover for me, so I won't go back today and will spend the night in the church."

"Then I have to go back," Xiao Yao moved his buttocks: "Father Yu, I'm really exhausted, and my grandma should be mad soon..."

Father Yu didn't say anything, but just held his head, completely immersed in his own thoughts.

"Tuk, Tuk, Tuk."

"Xiao Yao, let me take you out." Yu Luying stood up and played the role of host on behalf of his uncle.

"Father Yu, you should also go to bed early and stop working too hard," Xiao Yao stood up, took two steps forward, and placed the dark chocolate in his hand on the priest's desk. "It's time to eat something to replenish your energy."

"Tuk, Tuk, Tuk."

Sorry for being half an hour late today... I overslept...

Chapter 69 Testing

2023-01-05

Xiao Yao returned home and calmly enjoyed the scolding and the cold dinner prepared by his grandmother. After a simple wash, he returned to his room, moved a small chair over, stepped on it, and reached out to take down the small Bible that was on top of the chest of drawers.

Pat, wipe, huh, huh.

Isn’t it a bit unkind to treat the gift given by Yu Luying in this way?

He lay down on the bed, holding the small metal cross, and unzipped the cover.

What they just said... Yes, the Book of Tobit, it’s found here, at the beginning of the Old Testament.

Doesn't seem... very long?

Well... a long time ago, there was a beautiful girl named "Sarah". She was possessed by the demon Asmodeus and killed seven husbands who had not yet married...

"This, after killing two of them, there are still five who dare to marry them. That's pretty brave." Xiao Yao said to himself.

Sarah was distressed and asked God to die. God heard her prayer and sent the archangel Raphael (author's note: usually translated as "Raphael") to save her.

Archangel... is that the highest level? Such a high standard? It seems that this demon is not easy to deal with. From this point of view, the White Knight is even more suspicious.

The phone vibrated a little. Xiao Yao picked it up and saw that it was a message from Shen Jie. He was delighted.

"We have arranged for Zhou Qi to be hospitalized, and her family is here too. She hasn't woken up yet, but the doctor said she's not in danger of death. I'm rushing home now. Go to bed early and stop thinking too much. I'll come see you tomorrow."

When Xiao Yao saw this message, the burden in his heart was lightened a lot.

He thought about it, didn't reply, and continued reading the story.

Hey, you didn’t expect that I would also read the message without replying.

The Archangel Raphael came down to earth and transformed himself into a happy young man. He traveled with the male protagonist "Tobias" and caught a strange fish on the banks of the Tigris River. In the end, he used the heart and liver of the fish to drive away the demon Asmodeus.

From then on, Tobias and Sarah lived happily together...

Whoosh…whoosh…

Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep with the little Bible in his hands.

He had a dream about his wedding night with Shen Jie.

Shen Jie was wearing a Chinese-style, bright red wedding dress, embroidered shoes, and white cloth socks. Her pretty face looked quite shy under the red veil.

Following the sound of fabric rubbing against each other, Xiao Yao happily took off his shirt and trousers.

"Wait a minute!" Shen Jie lifted the bride's headscarf and said, "Brother, get up! Let us pray together and ask our Lord to show mercy and protection to us."

Xiao Yao said, "Okay." Then he pulled up his pants without hesitation and knelt on the bed covered with a big red quilt with Shen Jie.

"God of our ancestors...bless you forever...you created Adam, and you created Eve as his wife, to be his helper and support...I married this sister not out of lust, but out of pure intention. Please have mercy on me and her, and grant us to grow old together!"

“Amen!” “Amen!”

Just as he and Shen Jie finished their conversation, the familiar concrete mixer truck crashed through the west wall and rushed straight towards the wedding bed.

And the person sitting in the driver's seat and holding the steering wheel was that damn Asmodeus!

Xiao Yao and Shen Jie looked at each other and jumped up. Don Quixote and Bloody Mary also jumped out and started a fierce battle with Asmodeus.

The rest of the plot is a mess. It feels like a night of chasing and fighting. In the middle, Xiao Yao even dreams that he turns into Zhang Zhengkai, and the powerful White Knight is his spiritual fortress.

It is not accurate to say that he "became Zhang Zhengkai" because in the dream, Xiao Yao did not think that there was anything wrong with him being Zhang Zhengkai.

……

……

When Xiao Yao woke up, it was still dark, which made him judge that he had only slept for a few hours.

He picked up his cell phone and found that it had turned off automatically. He plugged it in and his eyelids drooped - it was already Sunday evening.

Oh my god…

"Grandma, where's the food?" Xiao Yao left the room, holding on to the wall.

"Cook your own meal! You do this every day, either going out to have fun (note: a Shanghai dialect similar to "going out to have fun") and never coming back, or sleeping in..."

While cursing, the old woman took out the leftovers from lunch from the refrigerator and heated them up on the gas stove.

"Oh, grandma..." Xiao Yao walked forward obediently and hugged his grandma's fat waist from behind.

"No way!" Grandma twisted her body flexibly and pushed Xiao Yao away: "It's so hot..."

"Grandma, it's so hot, don't be reluctant to turn on the air conditioner. The wind from the electric fan is hot..." Xiao Yao glanced at his grandmother's room. The door was not closed. The floor fan was slowly shaking its head towards his grandmother's mat.

"I'm not like you, young master! I keep the air conditioner on all day long and never turn it off when I go out. Anyway, I don't charge you for it!" Grandma said viciously.

"No way, I didn't turn it off when I went out yesterday?" Xiao Yao was shocked.

"I'm going to board the cruise ship in two days, and now you're free! Will you burn down my house?" Grandma picked up a rag, wrapped in a large bowl of meat soup, and walked towards the dining table in Xiao Yao's bedroom.

"Are you leaving so soon? I thought it was July." Xiao Yao muttered, "With that old man again?"