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

"Uh..." Yu Luying shook off Xiao Yao's arm like she was shaking off a dead rat's tail.

"Yours, five of them, the deluxe version, all done!" the lean man shouted from behind them.

Just then, a customer at a small wooden table got up. Seeing this, Yu Luying quickly took small steps over to reserve a seat, while Xiao Yao went to get his deluxe version of sesame seed cake.

"Take it to eat here?" the lean man asked him.

"Take it away, oh no, eat it here."

The shopkeeper had already put a plastic bag over half of his head, but he rolled his eyes and ripped it off: "Six yuan."

Xiao Yao fumbled around for a while before finally pulling out six coins from his pocket and scattering them into the metal lunchbox in front of him, while taking the sesame seed cake with his other hand.

The sesame cakes weren't in a paper bag, but rather roughly wrapped in yesterday's old newspaper, half of which was already soaked in oil. Xiao Yao took them, his hands burning, and ran towards the seat Yu Luying had reserved, dripping oil all the way. Then he tossed the five cakes onto the small wooden table like hot potatoes.

Yu Luying also subconsciously stood up and stood face to face with Xiao Yao. Together they grimaced, blew air into their hands, bit their fingers, and shook their hands.

After the burning sensation subsided, the two of them slowly sat down together again.

"I want to see how delicious it is," Yu Luying said, pulling out two tissues, wrapping a pancake in them, lifting it up, and gently blowing on it with her cherry-like lips: "Ugh—it's oily everywhere!"

……

"Why are you looking at me like that? Go ahead and eat!" Yu Luying took a small bite of the edge of the sesame seed cake and frowned.

"It's okay, you eat." Xiao Yao rested his chin on his hand and looked at her, secretly wondering—it seemed that since he came to Dongru, he had never seen Yu Luying do a pre-meal prayer.

Yu Luying took another bite, but before she even tasted the filling, she said, "It tastes pretty ordinary, no different from other sesame seed cakes."

Xiao Yao remained silent—neither refuting nor starting to eat, but continued to watch her eat while resting his chin on his hand.

Yu Luying finally got a bite of the filling.

The familiar taste filled Xiao Yao's mouth. The combination of salted radish shreds and shrimp roe created a wonderful taste that instantly caused a surge in dopamine in Xiao Yao's brain, giving rise to a feeling of happiness.

What pleased Xiao Yao even more was seeing Yu Luying's expression—from disdain and indifference, to a slight moment of disbelief, then to surprise, and finally to a look of great enjoyment.

"Eat up," Yu Luying said, her mouth full of biscuits, "What are you filming?"

"You looked so cute eating that I couldn't resist taking a picture." Xiao Yao put down his phone and finally picked up a pancake.

He devoured the food like a whirlwind, and by the time Xiao Yao finished his second pancake, only the fallen sesame seeds remained on the table.

"No, where's my pancake?" Xiao Yao feigned surprise, gesturing as he spoke, "Where's this big pancake I put here?"

But then they saw Yu Luying secretly sucking her little finger, her gaze lingering on the crumbs of sesame seeds on the table, as if she wanted to lick them up. Seeing Xiao Yao looking at her, the girl blushed and quickly pulled her finger out and hid it under the table: "What are you looking at? You still want some? I'll go buy you some more!"

After saying this, Yu Luying stood up and walked towards the lean man.

"Hey, I'm full, I don't want to eat anymore," Xiao Yao deliberately called out from behind Yu Luying, "If you want to eat, buy it yourself, don't use me as an excuse!"

Yu Luying was both embarrassed and anxious. She pretended not to hear Xiao Yao's words, covered her ears with her hands, quickened her pace, and disappeared into the pancake shop.

"That little brat." Xiao Yao turned around and muttered to himself in Dongru dialect, laughing and scolding. Although it wasn't a compliment, Xiao Yao said it with great affection and intimacy.

He took out his phone, just in time to take a couple of pictures of Shen Jie, but unfortunately she had already finished eating.

It's okay, anyway, Yu Luying went to buy more, I'll remember to take a picture of it for her later.

Speaking of which... Shen Jie still hasn't replied to the message.

Oh well, I won't dwell on it. Anyway, I'm slowly getting used to it.

Xiao Yao sat comfortably at the small wooden table, picking his teeth with a toothpick. A pleasant breeze blew by, rustling the leaves of the trees along the roadside, and the fiery clouds on the horizon were beautiful.

Just as Xiao Yao was silently chanting "Let's drink a big cup of wine" in his heart, a very familiar black sedan slowly pulled up to the side of the road.

Well, although Dongru is very small, this is still quite a coincidence.

Xu Ruiyi and Wang Hao got out of the car one on each side and walked towards the pancake shop. Two girls also got out of the back seat.

One of the girls was petite with short hair and wore glasses. If you didn't look closely, you might mistake her for a boy. However, Xiao Yao recognized her as Zhang Lei, the class monitor from junior high school.

The other girl was of medium height, with long hair, wide-legged trousers, and sneakers, with no socks visible. Although her appearance was average, her figure and temperament were top-notch. In addition, if you have a certain ability to recognize clothing brands, you will find that she is obviously someone who is willing to spend money on dressing up.

Her name is Tang Xuewei, and she was Xiao Yao's crush when he was in the third year of junior high school.

Xiao Yao pursued Tang Xuewei not because he really liked her, but mainly because the pressure of the high school entrance exam was too great, and the days were boring and tedious, so he wanted to do something. The reason he chose Tang Xuewei was twofold: first, his classmates kept making fun of him and her for no reason, so he decided to "use facts to shatter the rumors"; second, everyone thought she was pretty flirtatious and easy to pick up.

Tang Xuewei didn't mind being pursued by Xiao Yao. Although she didn't agree, she always gave Xiao Yao a nice look and even kept the love poems he wrote for her (which were actually copied lyrics) and occasionally shared them with other friends and classmates to show off.

Her doing this firstly shows that she doesn't dislike Xiao Yao, and secondly it's because she... In fact, relatively speaking, being somewhat frivolous by nature, it's not just boys who need excitement due to the pressure of junior high.

After Xiao Yao confessed his feelings to Tang Xuewei, he thought he had a chance and intensified his pursuit, seeing that the other party's attitude was quite good. However, as time went on, he realized that the other party was just playing hard to get, and with the high school entrance exam approaching day by day, he gradually lost interest.

Therefore, the relationship between these two people can actually be considered... well, not bad.

Xu Ruiyi was the first to see Xiao Yao sitting there. He greeted him loudly and walked over quickly.

Xiao Yao stood up to greet him politely.

"Xiao, Yao!? It really is you!" Tang Xuewei was overjoyed when she recognized Xiao Yao: "You're back from Shanghai!?"

Since Tang Xuewei had no prior grudge against Xiao Yao, Xiao Yao naturally welcomed her friendly attitude and reciprocated in kind, and the two warmly exchanged pleasantries and reminisced about the past.

"Let me introduce you," Xu Ruiyi interrupted Xiao Yao and Tang Xuewei's enthusiastic conversation: "Zhang Lei, my girlfriend."

Xiao Yao was momentarily stunned, his mouth agape in an "O" shape as he adjusted his glasses, which were about to slip off: "You, and Zhang Lei?"

"Okay." Xu Ruiyi said, casually hooking his arm around Zhang Lei's shoulder and pulling her into his arms.

Zhang Lei didn't say anything, her face was just flushed.

What, is this version featuring the popular combination of a gang leader and a female class monitor/academic representative?

"You don't go with Huang—" As soon as the word "Huang" came out, Xiao Yao bit his tongue, abruptly cutting off the rest of his sentence.

Fortunately, it seems that neither Xu Ruiyi nor Zhang Lei mind: "Huang Sisi and I broke up not long after we started high school."

"Oh—oh—" Xiao Yao stammered "oh" for a while, not knowing what to say next. Then he saw Tang Xuewei whispering and winking at Wang Hao behind him, so he pointed at the two of them and said, "You two also... also...?"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." Tang Xuewei denied it repeatedly, and Xu Ruiyi also said, "You're overthinking it. How could she possibly be interested in him?"

Wang Hao indeed had no connection with Tang Xuewei, and what Xu Ruiyi said was the truth, but Wang Hao naturally felt embarrassed to hear it in front of him.

He chuckled awkwardly a few times: "Tang Xuewei, Zhang Lei, do you know? Xiao Yao has a girlfriend now."

"Really?" Both girls had expressions that said, "Really? I don't believe it."

“It’s true,” Xu Ruiyi testified. “I saw it with Wang Hao last night. It was his classmate. She came back from Shanghai with him. She’s incredibly beautiful and has a great figure.”

"Tch," Tang Xuewei said dismissively, "How pretty could she be?"

Xiao Yao sensed the implication: "Tch, I wouldn't even look at you. How pretty could someone be if they're interested in you, Xiao Yao?"

That was rather impolite, and he felt he should be upset about it, but actually he didn't feel much at all. He just smiled tolerantly and didn't bother to argue with her.

“It’s so beautiful,” Xu Ruiyi said, “more beautiful than both of you combined.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Lei punched Xu Ruiyi hard on the back, causing him to grimace and say, "It's true! Look—look—"

"What are you looking at?"

"Do you see that tall girl next to the boss?"

"The one wearing a green skirt, white stockings, and Crocs?"

“Yes, it’s her,” Xu Ruiyi said.

"Is she Xiao Yao's girlfriend?"

"How can she be so fair-skinned?"

"How many cookies did she buy?"

Yeah, how many cookies did she buy?

Xiao Yao then noticed that there were two stacks of sesame seed cakes in front of Yu Luying, each stack containing at least ten cakes, and the lean man was helping her pack the cakes into a large cardboard box.

Has Little Apple gone mad?

Yu Luying stood next to the pancake shop owner, talking to him while placing her left hand on her left ear—if you've seen "Calabash Brothers," you'll know that the second brother, "Follow-the-Wind Ears," often did this.

However, compared to "why she bought so many sesame cakes," Wang Hao, Tang Xuewei, and others were clearly more concerned about how Xiao Yao managed to get a girl like that.

“Xiao Yao, it’s not that we don’t believe you,” Wang Hao said, “but is this girl really your girlfriend?”

"Otherwise what?" Xiao Yao raised an eyebrow, somewhat amused.

"It's not that we don't believe you, but you didn't manage to pick up a single girl in elementary and middle school," Wang Hao laughed. "You think you're all that now that you're in Shanghai?"

"I was just lucky, God helped me," Xiao Yao said modestly, telling the truth.

“If it were someone like Tang Xuewei, it would be fine,” Wang Hao said, nimbly dodging Tang Xuewei’s Iron Palm. “But you… Brother Yi, I feel you’re comparable to the most beautiful girl in our county.”

Xu Ruiyi objectively assessed, "Which class beauty? As for Lu Jing, her appearance is actually on the same level, but her temperament always has a kind of village beauty feel to it, which is different from the girls in this big city."

"Xiao Yao," Tang Xuewei spoke up at this moment, her tone surprisingly tinged with a hint of sourness, "Is this really your girlfriend?"

"Hey, if you don't believe me, fine," Xiao Yao laughed. "Do I get paid to lie to you? Do I get paid if you believe me? Believe it or not."

“It’s not that we don’t trust you,” Wang Hao began to repeat this nonsense for the third time: “We all know you, and we have reason to suspect that this is just an ordinary friend of yours who happened to be out with you or had something to do. After all, you’ve always had quite a few female friends—and you might have told them that if you run into your old classmate, you should pretend to be her girlfriend to give her some face.”

“Oh right, right,” Xiao Yao said, sounding a little annoyed, “We’re best friends, best friends for life.”

"If she really is your girlfriend, when she comes over, you two can kiss, and then we'll all believe it, right?" Wang Hao persisted.

Just as Xiao Yao was about to explode, Xu Ruiyi couldn't stand it anymore: "Alright, Wang Hao, you better shut up—whatever their relationship is, what's it to you? Do they need to prove anything to you? And kissing for you to see, do you think they're monkeys in a zoo?"