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

"What do you mean by 'accompanying you'? She's my good friend." Yu Luying curled her lip dismissively. "You really think you're the only one who cares about Shen Jie? You arrogant fool."

Xiao Yao chuckled twice but didn't reply.

“The banks of the Yellow River are indeed a place only the rich can afford to live.” Yu Luying stood on tiptoe and pressed her small nose against the floor-to-ceiling glass window, deforming it, which made her voice sound a little strange.

“No,” Xiao Yao shook his head and said, “These are places that rich people buy but don’t live in.”

Yu Luying didn't answer, but just wandered around and touched the walls with her hands.

“Now that we know the name Mr. Johns, we’re already part of high society,” Xiao Yao laughed. “Just because of that name, we can sit in houses like this. Now let’s pretend to be young masters and ladies on an incognito visit and bully these lowly working people.”

Yu Luying wasn't very interested in Xiao Yao's boring ramblings. She flew around like a cheerful lark, and Xiao Yao only heard the "patter" of her sandals on the ground.

“Xiao Yao, do you know,” Yu Luying said, “this place is practically my dream home. Look, there’s room for a dryer here, and then here…”

The girl then ran another long distance: "This place can be turned into an indoor flower garden."

"?" Xiao Yao was a little confused. What does this have to do with you?

And, isn't liking flowers part of Shen Jie's character? So you do too...

“This can be used as a study,” Yu Luying said, getting more and more excited as she planned. “I want a big walk-in closet.”

Xiao Yao found it increasingly strange. Judging from Yu Luying's tone, it seemed as if he and Yu Luying were planning to move out and live together, renting this place—or perhaps, this was simply Yu Luying's marital home.

Yu Luying's imagined "cuckoo in the magpie's nest" first made Xiao Yao both amused and annoyed, then his nose tingled with sadness, and he felt sympathy for Yu Luying.

Although he was not quite sure if he had the right to sympathize with others.

“Over there,” Xiao Yao pointed to a high-ceilinged, mezzanine space, “it can be turned into a chapel, with a pipe organ.”

Yu Luying: "...A pipe organ must cost hundreds of thousands, right?"

“Over there,” Xiao Yao pointed in another direction, “knock down the wall in the bathroom to enlarge it, and put in a round double bathtub so you can relax with a bath every day—or even bigger, a three-seater bathtub?”

"There are still three people, why don't we just turn it into a bathhouse?" Yu Luying said.

"Hahahaha," Xiao Yao patted his stomach and laughed, "You'll put up a sign at the entrance that says 'Public Bathhouse,' right?"

"Thirteen o'clock." Yu Luying couldn't help but laugh.

The two of them laughed together, and Xiao Yao struggled to stand up from the corner.

Coincidentally, the song "Summoning" playing on Yu Luying's music phone had automatically switched to another song, and at that moment, the room was filled with the following:

"The slanting sunset is your beautiful dress; the earth covered with starlight is our wedding bed..."

As Xiao Yao hummed along, "I pluck the strings, please sing with me, let life bear witness..." he walked behind Yu Luying and gently embraced her.

The girl did not move.

Xiao Yao pressed his cheek against Yu Luying's neck.

“Xiao Yao,” Yu Luying’s voice sounded like a dream, “When you two get married here, just save me a small room.”

"What? Are you serious?" Xiao Yao was shocked.

“Of course that’s nonsense,” Yu Luying reached out to untie Xiao Yao’s arm around her. “It’s time to go. There’s one more address we need to confirm.”

“A small room won’t do,” Xiao Yao continued, still holding Yu Luying’s waist. “How about the three of us share one room?”

Yu Luying raised her right foot and gently stepped on Xiao Yao's instep: "Stop dreaming, let's go."

The kick wasn't very powerful. Xiao Yao knew that the words "Stop dreaming" were not only directed at him, but also at herself.

On the taxi ride to the third address, Yu Luying was somewhat depressed.

Xiao Yao simply sat in the back seat, held her in his arms, and gently stroked the girl's arm.

“If the property manager wasn’t mistaken,” Xiao Yao said, “Mr. Johns will inspect the Shen family’s property management from time to time, but usually only once a quarter.”

"Hmm," Yu Luying replied absentmindedly.

"Does that mean the Shen family owns at least a double digit number of properties?" Xiao Yao said.

“He’s crazy,” Yu Luying said. “Does Johns do nothing but inspect properties?”

“That makes sense,” Xiao Yao said.

The third property was in a nice-looking neighborhood, but the two of them walked in hand in hand without being stopped by the security guard.

The residential complex was like a maze; it took them ages to find building number 24. Since neither of them had access cards, they waited for a while before following a resident inside.

Since he didn't have an access card, he couldn't use the elevator, so Xiao Yao decided to take the stairs.

"Don't bother climbing the stairs, just wait downstairs," Xiao Yao said to Yu Luying as he turned around.

“I’ll climb, you wait,” Yu Luying said.

"That won't do."

“No matter who climbs, the level of fatigue is the same, but I’m lighter than you,” Yu Luying reminded him.

Xiao Yao sat on the stairs on the first floor, idly fiddling with his phone, looking at the photos of Shen Jie in the MMS messages.

Just then, an unfamiliar number called.

"Hello?" Xiao Yao said impatiently, "Who is this?"

"Xiao Yao, right? This is Liang Yanan." A somewhat...deep? female voice came from the other end of the receiver.

“Liang…ah, hello, hello!” Xiao Yao’s voice immediately became warm.

“Yu Bo told me everything about you,” Liang Yanan said.

"Huh? Ah," Xiao Yao said.

“I know where your friend lives now,” Liang Yanan said succinctly. “Let’s meet tomorrow.”

After Liang Yanan finished speaking, she hung up the phone. Then Xiao Yao's phone rang, displaying an address and time.

That's really... swift and decisive.

However, seeing that the clues were starting to take shape, Xiao Yao couldn't help but feel overjoyed.

Hearing the tired footsteps coming downstairs from upstairs, the boy quickly stood up and opened his arms to greet them.

“No,” Yu Luying’s voice preceded her words: “I knocked on the door for a long time, but it seemed to be dark inside. There should be no one home.”

"It's okay, Liang Yanan just called."

"Liang Yanan?"

Xiao Yao briefly explained what had just happened to Yu Luying.

Yu Luying paused for a moment, then gave a somewhat forced smile: "Okay, it's good that there's some progress."

"Thank you for your hard work today."

"I'll say it again, I'm doing this for your own good, okay?"

"Good good."

Xiao Yao and Yu Luying left the residential area hand in hand and stood on the road.

“I suddenly realized that I had been to this place before,” Xiao Yao said.

"You've been here before? When did you come?" Yu Luying asked curiously.

Xiao Yao recalled that Shen Jie went missing that day, and he went to the No. 7 Girls' High School in the city to look for her, where he happened to run into Zhang Zhengkai harassing Shen Jie.

So he revealed himself, and the three of them walked together for a very, very long time. Xiao Yao still remembers that the road was along the Suzhou River, and it was very, very long.

Xiao Yao still remembers that day when Shen Jie kept criticizing Zhang Zhengkai in front of him, trying to drive him away.

"It's nothing, it's just something I do occasionally by the roadside." Seeing that Yu Luying was already getting ready to hail a taxi, Xiao Yao quickly said, "Can you come for a walk with me?"

Yu Luying wanted to say, "We've already walked so far today, we're exhausted, why do we need to take another walk?" But when she saw the boy's expectant gaze, she reluctantly nodded.

Xiao Yao, relying on his memory, led Yu Luying in the opposite direction towards the No. 7 Girls' High School. They passed that familiar intersection—it was here that Shen Jie took off her socks and gave them to Zhang Zhengkai in front of him, which made Zhang Zhengkai so angry that he almost smashed his GBA.

Walk two or three blocks further, and you'll reach the two winding streets along the Suzhou River.

That day, the three of them walked along this road from the girls' school to Shen Jie's house. Returning to this familiar place made Xiao Yao feel somewhat emotional.

On the path along the Suzhou River, Xiao Yao and Yu Luying held each other's hands tightly, the warm touch conveying a sense of security in the darkness.

This stretch of road was shrouded in darkness, without a trace of moonlight or starlight, only a few scattered streetlights dotting the landscape.

A few hundred meters ahead was shrouded in darkness, like a bottomless abyss, which made Yu Luying feel a little scared.

"Let's stop here. It's so dark ahead, I'm a little scared." Yu Luying nervously bit her lip.

However, Xiao Yao was immersed in the atmosphere surrounded by darkness. He enjoyed walking with Yu Luying: "It's okay, don't be afraid."

The two walked into the pitch-black darkness.

After walking about a hundred meters, Yu Luying suddenly pushed Xiao Yao against the wall, creating a "wall slam" position.

Xiao Yao was surprised. He couldn't see Yu Luying's figure or her face, but he could hear the girl's rapid breathing through his ears and cheeks.

He silently closed his eyes, but then felt it was unnecessary and opened them again.

In the quiet darkness, they searched for each other.

Then I found it.

Xiao Yao responded to her enthusiastically.