My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 6 Parallel
Fearing trouble, Zhou Jiye quickly pulled Lin Ying away from the house. After walking a long way, Lin Ying gradually calmed down. However, the problem was that her mental state was not right; she seemed lost and disoriented.

For a moment, Zhou Jiye was at a loss. If he were in Lin Ying's shoes, he probably wouldn't be much better off. Besides, they had just arrived in Shanghai and didn't have anywhere to go. They couldn't just stay on the streets like this, could they? In addition, given Lin Ying's current state, it would be best to find a place to settle down first.

After thinking for a while, Zhou Jiye decided to find a hotel to stay in first. He had been traveling for several days and was exhausted. In addition, the conditions on the train were poor, and he was covered in sweat and cigarette smoke. He looked disheveled and needed to tidy himself up.

After asking around, Zhou Jiye took Lin Ying to a regular hotel on Fuli Road, east of Gao En Road. After washing up, they ate the last few steamed buns to fill their stomachs. When they finished, they found Lin Ying already lying on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling with her big eyes, seemingly lost in thought. Zhou Jiye wanted to ask but didn't dare. He sighed inwardly and lay down beside her, fully clothed. But after a short while, an overwhelming fatigue washed over him, and he fell into a deep sleep. He didn't know how long he slept, but when he opened his eyes again, it was pitch black all around him.

"Lin Ying?"

Zhou Jiye subconsciously reached out to the left where Lin Ying was lying, calling her name, but he found nothing. This startled him, and he quickly rolled out of bed.

He found the light switch in the room and turned it on. With a click, the room lit up, but he was all alone in the small room. Lin Ying, who had been lying next to him, was nowhere to be seen.

"What about people?"

Zhou Jiye was dumbfounded. Where did she go? Could it be that the girl ran away on her own? Or did she do something foolish because she couldn't accept reality? Zhou Jiye paced anxiously around the room. Recalling the scene on Gao En Road that morning, Zhou Jiye suddenly wondered if Lin Ying had gone back to that house to look for her relatives. If she got into another argument with them and was taken away by the police, that would be no small matter.

Thinking of this, Zhou Jiye could no longer sit still. He hurriedly grabbed the shirt that was placed on the bedside table, put it on, and took two steps at a time to walk out.

Click! Just as Zhou Jiye reached for the door, it opened from the outside, and the "missing" Lin Ying walked in carrying a stainless steel pot. Luckily, Zhou Jiye reacted quickly and stopped in time, otherwise the two would have almost bumped into each other.

When Zhou Jiye saw Lin Ying appear, he was both surprised and delighted. But before he could ask Lin Ying why she hadn't been there, Lin Ying spoke first.

"woke up?"

Lin Ying asked casually, walked into the house and closed the door behind her. She put the stainless steel pot on the table and said, "I didn't wake you because you were sleeping so soundly. Are you hungry? Have something to eat. I just bought some plain noodles nearby."

"You went out?"

"I've been wandering around the neighborhood. Hurry up and eat, or the noodles will get soggy. We still need to return this pot to the hotel staff; I borrowed it from someone." As she spoke, Lin Ying opened the pot lid, and an enticing aroma instantly filled the room. Hearing this fragrance, Zhou Jiye's stomach involuntarily rumbled.

“I’ll go out and borrow a bowl, we can eat together,” Zhou Jiye said.

"No need, I bought this especially for you. I've already eaten out." Lin Ying handed a pair of chopsticks to Zhou Jiye.

"You really ate it?"

"Eat your food, stop talking so much nonsense! Isn't it annoying?" Lin Ying rolled her eyes at him. Seeing this, Zhou Jiye didn't stand on ceremony, took the chopsticks, and started eating heartily from the pot.

Yangchun noodles are a unique noodle dish in Shanghai. The name sounds fancy, but it's actually just the simplest plain noodles.

As a former resident of Shanghai, Zhou Jiye had naturally eaten this kind of noodle before. But after taking a bite, he found that the plain noodles in front of him were completely different from what he remembered. Fresh! Indescribably fresh! Fragrant! Unprecedentedly fragrant! The freshness and fragrance stimulated his taste buds, making him want to savor the taste even more.

"Is this plain noodles? Why does it look different from what I've had before?" Zhou Jiye slurped down a few big mouthfuls, then took a sip of the soup, and couldn't help but look up and ask.

"Have you eaten this before?"

"I've lived in Shanghai for several years now, how could I not have eaten plain noodles?"

"Then tell me, what did the plain noodles you used to eat look like?"

"What else could it be? It's just a spoonful of lard, a spoonful of soy sauce, hot water to make soup, plain noodles, and then sprinkled with scallions, right?" Zhou Jiye recalled the plain noodles he had eaten.

Lin Ying's lips curved into a smile as she pointed to Zhou Jiye's unfinished noodles and asked, "Then take another look, is there anything different about these noodles?"

"no the same?"

Zhou Jiye was puzzled. He looked down and suddenly realized that the soup was not the familiar red color but a clear white color. He immediately asked in confusion, "That's not right! It seems like there's no soy sauce in it. How can it be so delicious without soy sauce?"

Lin Ying couldn't help but laugh. "What an idiot! What you ate before could you call plain noodles? It was just soy sauce soup noodles at best, something even a dog wouldn't eat. Who could eat it without the toppings? This is the real plain noodles. Let me tell you, the real plain noodles are not what you imagine. The key ingredients are in this soup."

"This soup is quite special. It requires chicken bones, beef bones, pork bones, eel bones, and other ingredients to be simmered for at least a dozen hours. After the water boils, the noodles are cooked until just done and then removed. Lard and salt are added, and the soup is diluted with broth. Noodles are then added, chopped green onions are sprinkled on top, and a little pepper is added. It's clear and simple, seemingly plain and elegant, but this is the real Yangchun noodles!"

Zhou Jiye suddenly realized that what he had been eating before hadn't been authentic at all. No wonder he had always heard that Yangchun noodles were a specialty of Shanghai, but he had never thought they were very good. So that's why. Compared to the Yangchun noodles in front of him, what he had eaten before was like pig swill. It was like heaven and earth, incomparable. It was so delicious.

Perhaps it was because the noodles were really delicious, or perhaps it was because he had been eating so many steamed buns that his mouth had become so bland, but Zhou Jiye ate this pot of noodles with great relish, even drinking the soup clean.

After finishing the noodles, I wiped my mouth and the fine sweat from my forehead, feeling incredibly comfortable.

"I'll go wash the pot and return it," Zhou Jiye said, standing up.

"No rush, I have something to tell you." Lin Ying gestured for Zhou Jiye to sit down.

After glancing at her, Zhou Jiye sat down and asked with concern, "Are you alright? What happened over there today...?"

"What? You think something's wrong with me?" Lin Ying replied irritably. But then, realizing her tone had been a bit harsh, she added, "Don't worry, I'm not as fragile as you think. I'm fine, really fine."

"That's good, that's good..."

Seeing that Lin Ying was no longer the distraught woman she had been during the day, and that her words were clear and her expression was normal, Zhou Jiye finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although the two hadn't known each other for long, they had developed feelings for each other over the years. Putting aside the fact that they were already legally married, more importantly, they were fellow villagers who had come to the present from the same era. There was no third person in the world closer to them.

Zhou Jiye subconsciously reached into his pocket for a cigarette, about to light it, but then, remembering Lin Ying was there, he silently put the match back. Unexpectedly, Lin Ying reached out and took the cigarette and match, lit it, and took a deep drag right in front of Zhou Jiye.

"This girl..."

Seeing Lin Ying's practiced smoking posture for the first time, Zhou Jiye was dumbfounded. He wanted to ask but didn't, and silently took out a cigarette, lit it, and started smoking.

"We're in big trouble."

Exhaling a puff of smoke, Lin Ying's voice drifted through the swirling blue haze, her brows furrowed slightly: "I've thought a lot today, and I've come up with a possibility: if my judgment is correct, the era we've arrived in isn't our true past."

"What do you mean?" Zhou Jiye asked. "I don't understand what you're saying, it's all so convoluted."

"Do you know about parallel universes?" Lin Ying asked back.

"You mean, we're in a parallel universe right now?"

Lin Ying nodded: "In the 1950s, scientists proposed the theory of parallel universes. From a physical perspective, they believed that there are other universes that exist parallel to our original universe, which are both similar to and different from it. Among these universes, there are universes with the same conditions for their birth as our universe, planets that are the same as Earth or have the same history, and even another group of humans that are exactly the same as Earthlings. However, in these different universes, things will develop in different ways."

"Besides parallel universes, there are various other speculations such as mirror worlds and metaverses, but judging from the current situation, the latter is very unlikely, while parallel universes are the most likely."

"If we were simply traveling through time and space from decades later to this era, according to this reasoning, everything has existed in the past, but nothing would change. However, we are now in a similar era, the Earth is still the same Earth, and history is still the same history, but there are some discrepancies in the details. This situation is most likely to be explained by the parallel universe theory."

Lin Ying's words caused Zhou Jiye's brain to freeze instantly. He was stunned, his mouth agape, unable to utter a word for a long time.

After finally regaining his senses, Zhou Jiye asked in a somewhat hoarse voice, "You made this conclusion because your house is no longer your house?"

"Yes and no." Lin Ying nodded calmly. Seeing Zhou Jiye's puzzled expression, she sighed and said, "I went out this afternoon and was gone for a few hours. I walked around the neighborhood for a long time and even went to a few places..."

Zhou Jiye stared at Lin Ying, his heart pounding uncontrollably. Lin Ying continued, "You know my home used to be nearby, but now it's not my home anymore. I don't even have any news about where my family went."

"The places I visited were all familiar to me since childhood. Although the places hadn't changed, the people were completely different from what I remembered. This also proved my guess: this world is both familiar and strange to us. I can't think of any other explanation for this except the parallel universe theory."

(End of this chapter)