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

Yu Luying went straight for the stir-fried clams: this dish brought her a refreshing and intoxicating taste. With each bite, the clam meat was plump and tender, as if releasing a rich, fresh ocean aroma in her mouth. As she chewed, the clam juice filled her mouth, blending with the aroma of the seasonings. The meat was delicate yet chewy, and the umami flavor spread throughout her mouth—this was what Dongru called "the most delicious food in the world."

Emperor Liang Yuan praised clams in his writings, saying that "the taste of clams is superior." The "Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang" records that "Emperor Sui loved clams, and every meal he ate included clams, numbering in the tens of millions." Emperor Renzong of Song regarded clams as a delicacy. Ouyang Xiu wrote in his poem about his first taste of clams that chicken, pork, fish, and shrimp could not compare to clams, and he regretted that he ate clams too late.

Just as Yu Luying was enjoying her meal, she suddenly heard an unpleasant vomiting sound. Looking in the direction of the sound, she saw Xiao Yao vomiting violently while holding a bamboo basket.

The delayed feedback came immediately, and a feeling of nausea rushed from my stomach to my head; the clams in my mouth were no longer fresh.

There was only one wastebasket, and the feeling of nausea came on so suddenly and intensely that she didn't have time to look for a second one.

……

……

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." Yu Luying apologized to the owner repeatedly when paying the bill.

The boss, holding a mop, was all smiles and seemed quite generous, muttering a string of something.

"He said the clams must be stale, so he wouldn't charge for them," Xiao Yao translated.

“That won’t do,” Yu Luying objected. “It has nothing to do with your clam.”

When Yu Luying came out of the restaurant, she looked very unhappy again.

"I really didn't mean to," Xiao Yao explained, following closely behind.

“I know,” Yu Luying said casually.

"I've felt nauseous and want to vomit ever since I ate clams, but I didn't expect it to be this bad," Xiao Yao explained incessantly. "I was thinking that since you're already here, I'd feel bad if you didn't eat them, so I let you order them. I really didn't expect this nausea to be even worse than before. It's probably the aftereffects of the motion sickness I just had. And those garlic sprouts didn't seem right either—"

“Thanks to you,” Yu Luying walked to the side of the road, stopped and looked around, “I will never eat clams again in my life—even if the symbiosis disappears one day, I will have a conditioned reflex.”

"I'm so sorry..." Xiao Yao said.

"It's alright, it's nothing, a small matter," Yu Luying said. "You meant well."

"You're really not angry with me anymore?" Xiao Yao's phone rang again: "Hello? Ah, I'll be there soon, I'll be there soon."

"What's wrong?" Yu Luying asked. "Did the neighbors call again to urge us to hurry up?"

"Ah."

"How about we skip the hotel and go straight there?" Yu Luying put her right index finger to the corner of her right lip.

“That’s what I meant too. Anyway, we don’t have that much stuff, so there’s no need to put it in the hotel first,” Xiao Yao said.

In fact, Xiao Yao felt it was better not to go to a hotel; he could just leave his luggage at home.

"It doesn't matter if I have luggage or not, the main thing is," Yu Luying said hesitantly, "look at me, I'm all dusty and dirty. When I get to your place, I'll probably run into people you know, right? I was thinking of washing up and getting ready before I go."

So it was all to save face for me...? Xiao Yao cheered up again: "No need, no need. You're good-looking, you look just as good whether you do it or not."

"You're so good with words," Yu Luying said reproachfully.

"Sigh, I was telling the truth."

This is truly the truth.

"Rickshaw! Rickshaw!" Xiao Yao shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Hey!"

……

"Where are you going?" the rickshaw driver asked in dialect.

"Party School." To avoid being overcharged as a tourist, Xiao Yao replied in dialect as well.

"Five yuan." The dark-skinned driver held out his hand.

Xiao Yao didn't haggle over the price and helped Yu Luying into the car directly.

"Five yuan?" Yu Luying squeezed into the small canvas bicycle shed, her body forced to press tightly against Xiao Yao's. "How far is it?"

"Three kilometers, I guess," Xiao Yao said after thinking for a moment.

“Three kilometers, five yuan?” Yu Luying said.

Dear readers, you may not know this, but although the rickshaws in Dongru were not pulled by hand and foot like those in the Republic of China era, they were still purely human-powered tricycles with a canvas canopy on the back seat. They had no battery assistance whatsoever and earned their money through hard work.

Seeing that the driver was in his fifties or sixties, struggling to ride in front while the two young people sat behind him with their hands in their pockets like big shots, Yu Luying felt a pang of guilt for charging only five yuan.

When they reached the bridge, the driver couldn't ride any further, so he jumped off the rickshaw, grabbed the handlebars with one hand and the back seat with the other, and pulled himself up with all his might.

"Yingying, look over here, that's the People's Park in Dongru..."

"Master, stop!" Before Xiao Yao could react, Yu Luying had already jumped off the rickshaw, ran to the back, and stretched out her arms to help push it.

The driver turned around and said something, which Yu Luying couldn't understand, but she guessed it was just some polite talk. Xiao Yao, unable to stay seated in the canvas tent any longer, got off the cart as well. Although the cart was empty, the driver didn't get back on to ride, but continued pushing with the handlebars. Xiao Yao and Yu Luying walked until the driver pushed the cart onto the top of the bridge before they returned to the cart.

“Let’s not ride in these rickshaws anymore,” Yu Luying said to Xiao Yao. “I think it’s a terrible thing to do.”

"My dear young lady, you're so kind-hearted that you can't stand seeing poor people suffer, are you?" Xiao Yao said with a wry smile, "Do you know who gets the angrier the most when they hear that?"

"who is it."

“That’s him.” Xiao Yao pointed to the rickshaw driver pedaling hard in front of him: “Because of your compassion, you’ve made him lose his job and go hungry. Tell me, is that compassion or harm?”

"Nonsense," Yu Luying retorted stubbornly.

"We've been traveling for quite a while now. What have you seen along the way?" Xiao Yao asked Yu Luying.

"What do you see?" Yu Luying saw a gray and dilapidated scene, which perfectly matched her imagination of the 80s—but she was too embarrassed to say it.

After all, this is Xiao Yao's "hometown".

"How many taxis? How many buses do you see?" Xiao Yao prompted.

"Uh... I haven't seen it yet."

“This place has absolutely no taxi or bus system. It’s a tiny area, only about three kilometers in radius. If you want to go out, you either have to ride a bicycle or motorcycle, walk, or rely on these rickshaws,” Xiao Yao explained to Yu Luying.

“Three…three kilometers,” Yu Luying said in disbelief, “A radius of three kilometers, doesn’t that mean you can run into acquaintances everywhere you go?”

“Who says otherwise? That’s how it is in small towns,” Xiao Yao laughed. “It’s a society of acquaintances and personal connections. You see each other everywhere you go. You can run into several acquaintances even when you’re just buying some scallions. Yingying, look, this road to the left leads to the county high school, which is where I went. Turn right ahead to the Supply and Marketing Building, and that’s where my elementary school is right next to it.”

“Rabbit,” Yu Luying picked up her camera and started snapping pictures everywhere, “when we have time, you can take me to see your junior high and elementary school.”

“I would have taken you even if you hadn’t told me, so don’t even think about running away,” Xiao Yao said with a smile.

This was already part of his plan, but he was very happy that Yu Luying would bring it up on her own initiative.

“Xiao Yao, do you know,” Yu Luying said, “even though this is my first time here, I feel a strange sense of familiarity everywhere I go. I can’t quite put my finger on it, it’s just a vague feeling—”

"Déjà vu?" Xiao Yao was taken aback. "It's like I've been here in a past life?"

"There's no such thing as a past life."

“This is called déjà vu, also known as the hippocampus effect,” Xiao Yao repeated. “Many people have similar experiences and feelings… Do you think that what we perceive as the real world is actually just a shadow?”

Yu Luying didn't respond to the little philosopher's thoughts: "Why... are there hardly any young people here?"

"You finally figured it out?" Xiao Yao laughed.

“Aside from a few-year-old children, there are middle school students around the same age as us, and above that are people in their forties and fifties and elderly people—you can hardly see any young people.”

“Who would stay in this lousy place? The nearest ones are going to Nantong, or to Shanghai, Suzhou, or Wuxi…” Xiao Yao said, “Just you wait and see. At least now you can still see hordes of primary and secondary school students. In the future, even the number of students will decrease, and it will completely become an old people’s city, a dead city.”

"Why?" Yu Luying asked curiously.

"Don't you know that Dongru County is a model county for family planning?" Xiao Yao sneered.

“…” Yu Luying remained silent.

At this point, the rickshaw rider rode onto the "Tonghai Bridge"—the bridge's slope wasn't particularly steep, and the rider rode up it.

"It feels so good to return home in glory!" Xiao Yao exclaimed.

"Is it brocade?" Yu Luying deliberately frowned, turned slightly to the side, and looked Xiao Yao up and down.

"Jin'er." Xiao Yao reached out and hugged Yu Luying tightly. "After all, brothers are like limbs—"

“Your wife is still under house arrest, how could I be worthy of being your clothes?” Yu Luying struggled.

"We need to have clothes to change into," Xiao Yao said with a grin.

"Pah!" Yu Luying shouted, "Let me go!"

The rickshaw stopped, and the driver turned around and asked, "Want to get in?"

"No need! This is fine." Yu Luying broke free from Xiao Yao's embrace, jumped off the bus, took out a twenty-yuan note and handed it to the driver, insisting that he keep the change.

The rickshaw driver thanked him profusely and pedaled away, while Xiao Yao and Yu Luying stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the school gate.

Next to the gate stood a sign that read "Zhongx Dongru County Party School" in eight large characters.

"Why is your home inside the Party School?" Yu Luying asked, puzzled.

“You might not believe it,” Xiao Yao said, scratching his head, “My dad used to be an associate professor at the Party School…”

"..." Yu Luying looked at him in surprise.

"Let's go." Xiao Yao tugged at Yu Luying.

As the two entered the Party School, they were greeted by flower beds and a basketball court. A chubby teacher, who looked somewhat like a wealthy landowner, strolled out from inside.

"Oh my, little landlord! You're back!" The teacher exclaimed in surprise, his glasses sliding down.

"Old landlord!" Xiao Yao greeted him warmly.