You're my wife, don't doubt it!

"What kind of money is it? The envelope is so thin, I guess it's a card."

"What kind of card? A supermarket shopping card?"

"It could also be an ultra-rare mount exchange card, the kind I've never even seen before, right, Ouyang?"

"Hey, hey, hey, why is everyone guessing in other directions?" Zhao Xiaomei interrupted the others.

"Since it's an envelope, why can't there be a letter inside?"

She glanced at Ouyang Qianqian with her almond-shaped eyes, then turned meaningfully to Xiao Yao.

"A letter? Could it be the legendary love letter?!" Daiyu exclaimed in sudden realization, while Ouyang Qianqian remained calm—but those who knew her knew that this attitude did not represent any real intention.

Shen Jie hadn't figured out what was going on between Ouyang Qianqian and Zhao Xiaomei, and was unsure whether to open the envelope.

The slow-moving goods that I reluctantly bought have suddenly become highly sought after. I don't know whether to be happy or worried.

Xiao Yao had already figured out that this foxy woman surnamed Zhao had come here specifically to stir up trouble. Whatever was in Ouyang Qianqian's envelope, she had to open it immediately to stop this endless, absurd speculation.

"Alright, enough guessing, I'll reveal the answer." Xiao Yao took the envelope back from Shen Jie's hand. The envelope wasn't sealed, just folded open, which relieved Xiao Yao.

Inside the envelope was... a tarot card? Beautifully crafted and shrink-wrapped, but it couldn't have cost too much.

Xiao Yao felt slightly dissatisfied because Ouyang Qianqian was quite wealthy. This wasn't to say that Xiao Yao was materialistic and only wanted expensive gifts. The key was that the gift wasn't something made with sincerity, like lucky stars, origami cranes, or handmade greeting cards. Therefore, it seemed useless and inexplicable from any perspective. Yet, she put it in an envelope with such seriousness, which sparked a lot of speculation. This Ouyang Qianqian was truly baffling.

"Thank you." Out of politeness, he showed the card to everyone.

Everyone stopped whispering and put on a puzzled look.

The upper right corner of this tarot card depicts most of a sun, beneath which stands a man wearing a pointed hat and a floral dress…? The man has green hair, is gazing upwards at a 45-degree angle, holds a white flower in his left hand, and carries a stick over his right shoulder…

The pointed hat on his head, the pointed shoes on his feet, and the words "THE FOOL" below the card all indicated his identity.

“THE FOOL,” Xiao Yao read out the two words.

"Qianqian, can you tell me what this is?" It was Zhao Xiaomei again, with innocent eyes, asking some ridiculous questions.

“I don’t even know THE FOOL,” said Daiyu. “It means ‘just donkey.’ I’m not good at anything else, but my English is okay. You can ask me if you don’t understand anything.”

"Really? Then Xiaomei will have to ask you for advice another day." Zhao Xiaomei replied with a smile, making Daiyu grin foolishly.

"What kind of 'steel donkey' are you? You're the 'steel donkey,' you brat," Ouyang Qianqian said discontentedly. "Isn't this called 'the fool'?"

"The new translation does sound much better," Shen Jie commented with a smile.

“This is the card I drew for my brother. You didn’t accept it that day, maybe the timing wasn’t right, or maybe the occasion wasn’t right. But I think today the timing and occasion are just right.” Ouyang Qianqian explained, “The Fool is the number 0 in the Tarot, representing infinite possibilities, as well as innocence and simplicity.”

“That really suits you, Xiao Yao,” Chen Lu interjected.

“I remember…the two Jokers in playing cards seem to originate from the Fool in Tarot, right?” Zhao Xiaomei quietly transformed into a know-it-all again at this moment.

"Great wisdom appears as foolishness, the Joker, these are cards that only the protagonist would get." Zhang Jialong slapped Xiao Yao's shoulder heavily, trying to smooth things over.

“I think so too.” Xiao Yao laughed. “It’s like the story of Yu Gong moving mountains. In Shanghai dialect, Joker is called ‘Da Guai’ (大怪), and in playing cards, it’s the highest-ranking card.”

"But will the tarot cards be accurate even if the person doesn't draw them?" Shen Bin interjected. "Why don't you let Xiao Yao draw another card himself?"

Chen Lu, Zhao Xiaomei, Xiong Ji, and others seconded the motion.

Influenced by Yu Luying, Xiao Yao wasn't very interested in this kind of mystical stuff. He shook his head and said, "People don't carry these around with them—I mean, you actually do carry them around with you?"

Amidst the cheers of the crowd, Xiao Yao followed Ouyang Qianqian's instructions and drew the "Tower," "Chariot," and "Wheel of Fortune" in turn.

Ouyang Qianqian held the three cards in her hands, her expression somewhat solemn.

"Hurry up, untie it!" the crowd urged.

“The tower, first and foremost, represents…” Ouyang Qianqian began slowly.

Just then, Xiao Yao suddenly felt a slap on the face out of thin air, and his vision went blank.

All anyone saw was him suddenly tilt his head to the side and fall backward, crashing heavily against the wardrobe door.

Before Xiao Yao and the others could react, something—whether it was a belt or a slipper—lashed their arms, sending a piercing pain through their bodies.

"Ah!!!" Xiao Yao jumped up, clutching his arm.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Everyone panicked.

"It's nothing, it's just a bug bite," Xiao Yao said casually, quickly clutching his arm and darting out of the room.

Shen Jie and several others chased after them. Xiao Yao gritted his teeth, preparing to face the next wave of attacks with an iron will.

As a result, just as Xiao Yao was on edge, the violent act stopped.

However, Xiao Yao dared not go back, fearing that he would be knocked out of thin air in public again and would have no way to explain it.

This reminded Xiao Yao of the classic joke, "Young man, I haven't slept all night, waiting for you to lose the other boot."

"What's wrong? What's that biting so hard?" Shen Jie seemed very concerned.

“Here,” Xiao Yao said, pretending to roll up his sleeves to show Shen Jie his fair and tender arms.

"There's nothing there..." Shen Jie checked in confusion.

"I'm fine, really fine." Xiao Yao waved to the men and women who followed him out: "You guys have fun first, I want to say a few words to Shen Jie—Sister Shen."

After the group of friends went inside, Xiao Yao turned to Shen Jie and said nervously, "Why hasn't Yu Luying arrived yet? Do you want to call her?" Then he suddenly realized that calling her in this situation of domestic violence would probably be useless, so he changed his mind and said, "How about we go over there?"

"Huh?" Shen Jie didn't know if Xiao Yao meant he was going over himself or if he was instructing her to go over, but either way, Xiao Yao's level of attention to Yu Luying was clearly undisguised.

She could understand, but she wouldn't be happy about it: "I'm going to call Silly Girl."

"No, no, no, let Yu Bo call instead—forget it, you don't need to call, I'll call Brother Bo."

Shen Jie was already dialing the number. Xiao Yao tried to sort out his chaotic thoughts and went out to the third floor.

Yu Luying finally answered the phone after it had been ringing for a long time.

"Hey? Silly girl," Shen Jie said, "Why aren't you and your uncle here yet?"

"..."

"Silly girl?"

"Sister," Yu Luying began, her voice sounding slightly choked, though perhaps it was just her imagination, "maybe I shouldn't come today?"

"Why?" Shen Jie's voice rose several decibels.

"Sister, we're good friends, right?"

“Yes,” Shen Jie said, somewhat puzzled, “What’s wrong?”

“I want to keep some distance from Xiao Yao in the future, just be ordinary classmates,” Yu Luying said. “After all, he and I… had some… in-depth entanglement before, and I understand the principle of avoiding suspicion. I think this way…”

"What?!" Actually, Shen Jie wasn't too bothered by Yu Luying's words: "You come here right now! What are you doing making a scene? Do you expect me to come downstairs and fetch you myself?"

Yu Luying remained silent for a long time.

"Silly girl?"

"Okay, let me comb my hair. You guys eat first, don't wait for me."

Meanwhile, Xiao Yao was on the third floor: "Hello? Father Yu? Is Yu Luying's mother hitting someone again—"

“I’m handling it,” Yu Bo interrupted him.

"Oh, that's good." Xiao Yao felt a little relieved. "You two should have come sooner; we've been waiting for you!"

"Okay." Yu Bo said these three words and hung up the phone.

Xiao Yao went downstairs to his own photo room, exchanged information with Shen Jie about their phone conversations, glanced at the time on his phone, and decided to start the dinner party.

Since they couldn't find a suitable person to cook in the end, and Shen Tianyun felt it was strange to invite someone over for dinner and then order takeout, they reluctantly decided to have hot pot.

Yes, a bunch of people were eating hot pot in a small room in the middle of summer.

Xiao Yao helped Shen Jie carry induction cooker, large pot, bowls, chopsticks, seasonings, meat and vegetables in batches. Daiyu, Xiaoxiong and Zhao Xiaomei volunteered to help, and soon everything was ready.

There were high stools around the dining table, two people sitting on the sofa, and three people sitting on the bed. Those on the bed were still within reach, but the sofa was purely for observation; people had to take turns sitting there.

Seeing this, Xiao Yao felt a little embarrassed, so he said he wasn't hungry and told everyone to eat first. No matter what they said, everyone refused and coaxed him onto the table. In the end, he temporarily switched places with Shen Jie.

They prepared two dozen Bluebird Pure Draft Beer for the party, and Shen Jie thoughtfully prepared large bottles of Sprite, Coke, and orange juice for the ladies. In the end, only Shen Bin and Chen Lu drank beverages.

Because Zhao Xiaomei had two bottles of imported champagne in her backpack, she used her silver tongue to pour champagne for each girl, but then claimed she wasn't hungry. She took a glass of wine, sat on the sofa with her legs crossed, and looked all well-behaved and sensible.

The air conditioning was set to a high temperature. Half of the hot pot was made with beef tallow, and the other half with tomato broth. The condiments ranged from Kawasaki sauce to minced garlic and sesame oil. Everyone ate hot pot, sang songs, and toasted each other. Before they had eaten much food, the atmosphere had already become lively.

Ultimately, Brother Long, Chen Lu, and Ouyang were classmates, and Xiao Xiong and Shen Bin often played basketball with the boys in Xiao Yao's class. Most of the guests were already acquainted with each other.

Although it was the first time Shen Tianyun had met so many "ancient people" at the same time, she was naturally lively and outgoing, and quickly became friends with everyone. However, Xiao Yao was still worried that she might get too excited and accidentally reveal her identity and the era she lived in. Fortunately, this had not happened yet.

Zhao Xiaomei is a social butterfly. When she first arrived, she didn't seem to know anyone, but now it seems no one knows her as well as anyone else. Xiao Yao suspects that if you put her at the principal's table, she could handle it perfectly well.

In short, the situation where he was worried about awkward silences and needing to guide the atmosphere never happened. Xiao Yao even felt like he had become an observer—nevertheless, he was still very satisfied.

Daiyu suggested playing the King's Game, but Shen Jie strongly vetoed it. Chen Lu suggested playing the Murder Game after dinner, which Xiao Yao agreed to.

"Everyone, everyone," Ribbonfish stood up and tapped the edge of the table with his cup, "I propose that we let the birthday celebrant say a few words, shall we?"

Everyone applauded.

Xiao Yao did not refuse. He stood up with half a glass of champagne in his hand, walked to the wardrobe, and leaned against it.

"I am very, very happy today," Xiao Yao said.

"If it weren't for Song Haijian's affair, and if I didn't have to worry about Yu Luying's situation, I would be in a better mood," Xiao Yao shook his head, forcing himself to dispel the unpleasant anxiety.