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

"Hello, Mom?"

……

"Yes, I'm done eating."

……

"I wasn't with him. I'm about to go back to the hotel."

……

"No, I had dinner at his neighbor's house, and I left after dinner."

……

"His plumbing, it seems like it won't be fixed for a day or two—and the roof seems to be leaking a little too. Yeah, just a tiny bit."

Xiao Yao looked at Yu Luying with disbelief.

"It's clams! It's stir-fried clams! Mom, have you ever tried them? They're the most delicious thing in the world!"

Chapter 212 Let you help me with this?

2023-05-28

That evening, Xiao Yao and Yu Luying bought watermelons and sat on the small balcony on the fourth floor to cool off and talk about life, ideals, literature, and love.

Xiao Yao brought out two old deck chairs. These were the ones his parents had bought when they went to the beach. They thought it was cheaper to buy than rent, but they couldn't bear to sell them cheaply, so they carried them back by train. They were a kind of unforgettable testament to his parents' love for their children. Now, they finally had the opportunity to realize their original value again.

Xiao Yao and Yu Luying each sat facing each other on a chair, their feet resting on each other's thighs. Xiao Yao, wearing baggy shorts, held one of Yu Luying's feet in his hands, haphazardly pressing on the sole of her foot through her white stockings—he knew absolutely nothing about massage or acupressure, so this behavior was essentially just playing with clay.

Yu Luying was doing something much more serious than Xiao Yao—she was trimming Xiao Yao's toenails.

The girl sat intently in the recliner, leaning slightly forward, her gaze fixed on Xiao Yao's toes, a pair of nail clippers in her hand.

Dear readers, you might imagine that in this position, Xiao Yao's toes could easily touch the girl's belly—but since she didn't mention it, Xiao Yao pretended not to feel it.

Her brow furrowed slightly, her gaze focused, seemingly completely absorbed in the task. The girl gently picked up each toe, carefully trimming them, ensuring each cut was precise and neat. Her movements were light and practiced, as if she were sculpting Xiao Yao's toenails.

Yu Luying's expression was focused and gentle, her eyes revealing her care and tenderness for Xiao Yao. Xiao Yao, in turn, felt Yu Luying's gentle touch—he sat quietly in the recliner, relaxing and enjoying this unique moment. He felt each touch of her scissors as a thread of care flowing between his toes.

The girl was still wearing the same light green dress she had worn during the day at the War Park. The dress, which could have covered half of her calves, had become a short dress in her current sitting position, revealing half of her white-stockinged thighs, which gave Xiao Yao a feast for the eyes.

The short skirt accentuated her long, slender legs, with the hem stopping at her thighs, revealing a slender and smooth expanse of white skin.

In the night breeze, under the warm glow of the yellow light bulb on the balcony, her half-exposed white-stockinged thigh seemed to radiate a soft light. The delicate stockings clung to her skin, outlining her curves in a barely visible way, while the pale moonlight filtered through the night, casting a soft halo over her thighs. Every inch of her skin radiated youth and vitality, as if telling Xiao Yao of her beauty and confidence.

Yu Luying was focused on trimming her toenails, completely unaware that her alluring thighs had attracted Xiao Yao's attention. The girl's gaze was focused and pure, utterly oblivious to Xiao Yao's lingering attention on her—Xiao Yao believed that this unintentional beauty was the most captivating.

On the balcony, the night breeze gently caressed their faces, bringing a touch of coolness and tranquility. Time flowed by in the girl's hands, but their hearts remained entrenched in this unique moment between them.

"If I had known, I should have brought the guitar back with me," Xiao Yao sighed.

“Just sing like that, I love it,” Yu Luying said without looking up.

What should I sing?

"Is it night? Is it the distance, that evening breeze that brings me sorrow..."

As always, Yu Luying immediately joined in the singing: "On those nights when memories are stirred, under the starry sky I couldn't count in my childhood, I know she has come, like the wind. Those old times, those loves, those friends who are gradually growing old... Hey, Xiao Yao, I just realized, why can't you see any stars here?"

At this moment, Yu Luying had finished trimming Xiao Yao's toenails and gently placed his legs on the ground.

“Oh right…” Xiao Yao sat up straight, holding two small white silk-stockinged feet in her hands, and looked up at the bright moon and sparse stars in the night sky: “I’ve completely forgotten when I last saw the starry sky—by the way, take off your socks, and I’ll cut them for you too?”

"I...I just got my hair cut last night..." Yu Luying thought for a moment and said, "I...I don't think I've ever seen a real starry sky outside of books and television?"

"No way, is it that bad?" Xiao Yao laughed. "I've seen the Milky Way before."

“The Milky Way,” Yu Luying repeated quietly, “when and where?”

“Right here.” Xiao Yao pointed to the balcony below him: “It seems like when I was 7 years old, I was with my dad in the summer, cooling off on this balcony, and then my dad suddenly lifted me up, pointed to the top of his head and told me to look, saying that this is called the Milky Way.”

"It's so nice," Yu Luying murmured. "It's so nice to have a balcony, it's so nice to be in the countryside."

Xiao Yao wanted to joke, "It's so good to have a dad," but then thought better of it and continued, "He even pointed out to me where the North Star was and where the Big Dipper was. Although I suspected he was just pointing randomly, I couldn't recognize any of them."

“You’re so stupid,” Yu Luying said.

“I’m just a stupid kid,” Xiao Yao admitted. “Looking back now, it feels so surreal. Really, even in Dongru, we haven’t seen the stars in a long time.”

“Hmm…” Yu Luying pondered.

“Well,” Xiao Yao gestured wildly, “it was so magical, you know? I still can’t quite believe it’s real. The scene was like a memory from a past life—Dad, holding me up, showing me the sky full of stars, and the Milky Way, it really was like a waterfall, so long, stretching from one end of the sky to the other, so clear, so close, like I could reach it with my hand if I just put up a ladder…”

“Yes,” Yu Luying nodded wistfully, “If only we could see this scene together someday.”

"Well, it's not that difficult. How about we go to Huangshan for the shortest distance?"

“Huangshan…” Yu Luying hesitated, “If we have to stay out overnight, Mom…”

"By the way, can you see stars at the beach?" Xiao Yao's eyes suddenly lit up. "Aren't we going to a summer camp in Dongqi later? Can we see stars at the beach?"

“I don’t know,” Yu Luying shook her head and said, “I’ve never been to Dongqi either. But Dongqi, like your Dongru, is a county under Nantong, right? If you can’t see it here, Dongqi probably… is unlikely to be there either.”

"...I don't know, what if?" Xiao Yao paused for a moment, then said, "Let's wait and hope."

"Yes." Yu Luying nodded and said, "Wait and have hope."

“Yu Dayang,” Xiao Yao said, gently stroking the girl’s calf, moving from her calf over her knee to her thigh, and then back down her calf. “You know, I’m a science fiction fan.”

"Mmm," Yu Luying hummed through her nose.

“When I was little, I loved to stand on the Party School’s playground and look at the stars.” Xiao Yao was lost in his memories: “Back then, I would stand on the playground, crane my neck to look at the stars, and I would stay there for several tens of minutes, until I got a stiff neck when I got home.”

"Pfft." Yu Luying said, "Stop tickling my leg, it itches."

"Then I," Xiao Yao paused slightly before continuing, "I stared at those tiny specks of light, imagining they were all distant worlds billions of light-years away—as I looked at those specks, I wondered if, on that planet, there was also an alien boy standing on the school playground, gazing up at the starry sky above, looking at our Earth, and imagining each other's worlds..."

"How romantic!" Yu Luying cheered softly, clapping her little hands. "Have you told your sister about this before?"

Xiao Yao was taken aback, not understanding why Yu Luying would bring up Shen Jie at this moment: "Well, actually, we have talked about it."

"And then what did she say?" Yu Luying's eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“She…” Xiao Yao recalled briefly, “She seemed to have mocked me, and told me that the stars I could see were all fixed stars, and that there couldn’t be life on fixed stars, and that those were lights from hundreds of millions of years ago, and that maybe the stars I saw no longer existed…”

“Hmm…” Yu Luying rested her chin on her right hand and nodded slightly: “So it can’t be said to be wrong.”

"I learned about light-years and the speed of light later," Xiao Yao said somewhat unconvinced, "but who can guarantee that there is no life in stars?"

"Hmm...?" Yu Luying smiled and said, "Your idea is quite bold."

“That’s true,” Xiao Yao said. “I’ve always felt that those books that say there can’t be life in stars and that most planets in the universe are not suitable for the birth and development of life are just human arrogance and narrow-mindedness.”

“I understand,” Yu Luying nodded.

"Why must extraterrestrial life also be carbon-based, need water to live, and live in temperatures below tens of degrees Celsius? That's unreasonable," Xiao Yao said. "Using yourself to judge others."

"Hmm..." Yu Luying remained noncommittal.

"Could it be that if God so desires, He has the ability to create life forms completely different from ours?" Xiao Yao thought for a moment, then added, "By the way, does your religion deny the existence of extraterrestrials?"

"No, I don't know." Yu Luying shook her head: "It seems that the Vatican Royal Academy of Sciences is still looking for aliens."

“Ah, I’ve gone off on a tangent,” Xiao Yao composed himself and continued to gently stroke Yu Luying’s calves—he found it very comfortable. The boy sometimes used the pads of his fingers, sometimes the backs of his fingers, gently and slowly tracing across Yu Luying’s legs, just like he had tickled Yu Luying’s arms on the lake in War Park that day.

The boy's movements were gentle, lighter than a feather, slower than a snail, like a mother caressing her child. With each movement of his fingers, he could feel a tingling, itchy sensation on his legs, an almost irresistible feeling.

"Ah, I've gone off on a tangent. Anyway, what I wanted to tell you was," Xiao Yao said while stroking Yu Luying's leg, "I used to focus my gaze on the starry sky and fantasize about a distant world, but now I realize that my starry sky, my brightest and most dazzling star, is not hanging in the distant sky, but right beside me."

"Starting to talk nonsense again..." Yu Luying muttered, lowering her head.

“That star is you, Yu Dayang.” Xiao Yao stared intently at Yu Luying and finished saying what he wanted to say.

Because of the symbiotic connection that led to their emotional connection, Yu Luying judged that his words were not just empty flattery, but the truth. As a result, a wave of emotion washed over her, making her nose tingle and her want to shed tears.

But she didn't want to shed tears.

Yu Luying is actually a sentimental person who is easily moved to tears. Sometimes when she watches bad movies (which she thinks are bad), she is also moved to tears by the emotional scenes. However, when she thinks that the movie is too bad to be worth making her cry, she tries her best to suppress her emotions.

The current situation can be roughly categorized as such.

Of course, even in a bad movie, there are always moments when you can't hold back your tears—in that case, even if you win, your overall evaluation of the movie will be slightly higher.

Yu Luying quickly wiped her eyes, suppressing her impulsive urge to ask him, "If I'm a star, what is she? The moon?"

“Okay,” Yu Luying replied gently.

"You cried?" Xiao Yao touched the corner of his eye in confusion.

"Could you please stop touching my legs?" Yu Luying asked in a very annoyed tone.

"Are you uncomfortable?" Xiao Yao stopped what he was doing and asked in confusion, "I feel very comfortable."

"No...it's not that I feel uncomfortable," Yu Luying said softly, her face flushed. "Actually, I feel quite comfortable, it's just...it's just not quite right..."

"Why is it not good?" Xiao Yao asked with a knowing smile.

"It's...it's really bad..." Yu Luying forcefully pulled her leg back: "Let go, stop messing with me, I want to go back."

"Where are you going back to?" Xiao Yao said, "Fine, I won't bother you, you can help me instead."

"How...how can I do this to you?" Yu Luying said inexplicably, a bad feeling creeping into her heart.

However, even knowing it was a trap, the girl still jumped in.