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

"Mommy, the cookies are here!" Xiao Yao exclaimed excitedly, then saw Shen Jie pacing back and forth in the room making a phone call.

She spoke in English, very quickly. Xiao Yao walked to the table, placed the plate on it, and sat down to wait.

"It won't taste good when it's cold." Xiao Yao placed one palm upright on his right cheek and mouthed the words to Shen Jie in a soft voice.

Shen Jie pointed to the phone in her hand and gestured for him to press his hand down.

Her face exudes a strong and decisive temperament.

The woman stood upright in the center of the room, her posture graceful and her expression resolute.

She held her phone in her right hand, her gaze focused and sharp, communicating with the other person without compromise.

That look reminded Xiao Yao of his English teacher, no, it wasn't quite the same.

Then, the other person's voice came through the phone.

Shen Jie frowned slightly. Her response was crisp and decisive, and her voice revealed a firm confidence, allowing Xiao Yao to feel her confidence and authority as a strong woman.

As mentioned earlier, Shen Jie speaks quickly and fluently, and her tone carries a hint of coldness and decisiveness, with an unquestionable manner that demonstrates her control and decision-making ability over matters.

About three minutes later, Shen Jie hung up the phone.

The instant she hung up the phone, Shen Jie turned to Xiao Yao with a smile that... how to describe it? Friendly, gentle, and genuine.

The speed of this change was so fast, it was as if she had simply put on a mask when she made the phone call just now.

Just... that complete transformation of a person's aura, from the inside out, that ability to switch between them so effortlessly...

Xiao Yao thought of the face-changing act in Sichuan opera, and then he thought of a rather scary 3D animation he watched when he was a child—a childhood nightmare.

Xiao Yao had forgotten the name of the animation. The plot was about a male protagonist who came to a country and discovered that the people there all had two faces, one in front of them and one on the back of their heads, and their necks could rotate 360 ​​degrees, which terrified him. Later, after living in the country for a long time, he discovered that he also had two faces and the ability to turn his neck...

"This, was it specially made for me... bought?" Shen Jie picked up the pancake on top, her surprise and joy on her face somewhat exaggerated, but genuine: "No, that's not right either."

"It wasn't really that special..." Xiao Yao chuckled awkwardly, "We... I bought a lot of these when I went back to Dongru a while ago. I just remembered them and baked them on the gas stove for you to eat—I don't know if you'll like them, but they're quite delicious."

"I love to eat it!" Shen Jie said, and immediately took a big bite.

Her eating manners were not very graceful; she looked like she was starving. Xiao Yao watched her eat while constantly telling her to eat slowly, worried that she might choke.

After a while, he got up to pour her some water. Shen Jie choked while drinking the water and coughed violently. Xiao Yao quickly stood behind her and patted the petite woman's back forcefully.

"You like it so much? Don't rush, eat slowly, no one will take it from you, I still have dozens more." Xiao Yao's face once again showed a helpless and doting expression: "You're such a grown-up, why are you still like a child—shall I bake two more for you? Do you think mine taste good?"

"Delicious, delicious—" Shen Jie nodded repeatedly: "No need, no need to bake anymore, two are enough."

It's no wonder it tastes bad.

While heating with a frying pan results in less loss of flavor than microwaving, it can only restore about 70-80% of the original taste. So, one of these two sesame cakes was burnt, and the other was hot on the outside but cold on the inside. How could they possibly taste good?

However, for Shen Jie, it was truly an unparalleled delicacy.

“This is a local specialty of Dongru, called Dongru Shrimp Roe Pancake. It’s a local specialty and a local delicacy,” Xiao Yao introduced to Shen Jie incessantly. “You can’t get it in Shanghai, you can’t get it in Nantong, you can’t get it in Pengtu, you can’t get it anywhere else. Only in Dongru can you find it. It’s the number one pancake in the universe in my mind.”

"Do you know why your Dongru sesame cakes are so delicious?" Shen Jie had already finished the two cakes and was even licking the sesame seeds left on her fingers with relish.

"Because it contained shredded radish, lard, and shrimp roe...?" Xiao Yao said.

"Do you know how this kind of pancake is made?" Shen Jie asked Xiao Yao.

"How did you make it?" Xiao Yao was taken aback: "I don't make pancakes."

Shen Jie gracefully lifted several tissues with two fingers, wiping the oil and sesame seeds off her fingers.

Then, he covered his face with both hands, sat blankly at the dining table, and didn't say a word.

"What's wrong with you?" Xiao Yao asked, puzzled.

"It's nothing." Shen Jie took a deep breath, put her hands down, and then quickly wiped the corner of her left eye with one finger.

Then the right eye.

"You're crying?" Xiao Yao exclaimed in surprise. "What's wrong now?"

Shen Jie shook her head, not directly answering Xiao Yao's question: "Dongru shrimp roe sesame seed cake uses Dongru's special red-haired shrimp, shrimp roe, oil paste, pork cracklings, shredded radish, scallions, and pork lard. First, the oil paste is placed on top of the dough, and the soul of the cake is the pork lard. Then, a layer of red-haired shrimp roe is sprinkled on top, and then the shredded radish is wrapped up, making it look like a small bun. The double effect of the oil paste and pork lard makes the sesame seed cake so delicious that the pork lard seeps out from the back without sesame seeds, making it fragrant, moist, and fresh. The oil seeps out, and the shrimp roe and crab roe bring out the freshness to the fullest. The oil makes the whole cake very moist. A little bit of shredded radish and scallions actually helps to cut through the greasiness—the greasiness is the only drawback, so it is usually sold with savory tofu pudding..."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute! What are you doing? Are you making a food show?" Xiao Yao felt a little dizzy.

“Dongru sesame seed cakes were featured on the ‘A Bite of China’ program,” Shen Jie laughed. “Oh, maybe they weren’t on it in 04, so you didn’t know.”

"And what does crab roe have to do with this? I've never heard of putting crab roe in sesame seed cakes. Wait, how do you know more about Dongru sesame seed cakes than I do? Has Miwei Group expanded into a new business?"

Shen Jie smiled and looked at Xiao Yao, saying, "Little brother, have you forgotten? I'm your wife. Do you think I've never been to Dongru?"

“That makes sense,” Xiao Yao said, “but just because you’ve been to Dongru doesn’t mean you know everything.”

Shen Jie was lost in her memories: "Back then, the first time I went to Dongru with you, before we even went to your house to put down our luggage, you had the driver take us directly to the sesame seed cake shop and take me to eat Dongru's sesame seed cakes. The way you introduced Dongru sesame seed cakes back then was just like how you were just now, and even the words you said seemed almost the same."

“Uh…” Xiao Yao said.

“After I ate it, I was amazed and really liked it,” Shen Jie said, her gaze passing over Xiao Yao’s shoulder and landing on the wardrobe door. “At that time, I suggested that I invite that pancake chef to Shanghai and offer him a high salary so that he could make pancakes for our family privately.”

“…You really are willful,” Xiao Yao said.

“The chef refused, saying he didn’t want to leave his hometown,” Shen Jie continued, “Later, we went back to Shanghai together. Although I really liked it, it was just food after all, so I forgot about it after a while.”

"Mm," Xiao Yao said.

"After a while, you said you had to go to Dongru to take care of some personal business. When I asked you what it was, you wouldn't say. I was busy at the time, so I didn't pay much attention to you," Shen Jie said. "Then, more than half a month later, you came back with a huge round charcoal stove, a rolling pin, and all sorts of equipment. That's when I found out that you had gone to learn a craft from a master."

"Ah...? Ah...?" Xiao Yao was so shocked that he couldn't speak.

“Back then, you were someone who couldn’t even cook properly,” Shen Jie said. “Just because I casually mentioned that I wanted to eat Dongru’s sesame seed cakes again, you secretly went to the countryside to learn the craft, just to give me this surprise.”

Xiao Yao: "...This."

"Later, you put the charcoal stove in our backyard and made sesame cakes for me and my family by hand... Although your skills weren't as good as the master chef's..." As Shen Jie spoke, her voice choked up, and two lines of tears welled up in her eyes and flowed down her cheeks, washing away her foundation and leaving two faint marks.

Xiao Yao grabbed two tissues and handed them over, then stood up, walked to Shen Jie's side, hesitated, opened his arms, and gently hugged her.

Shen Jie leaned her head firmly on Xiao Yao's shoulder: "You know, it's been so many years since I've had your sesame seed cakes."

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

“I just asked you why your Dongru sesame seed cakes are so delicious,” Shen Jie said. “Actually, it’s not lard, it’s not shrimp roe, and it’s definitely not shredded radish. For me…”

It was love, Xiao Yao silently told himself, because the cake contained Xiao Yao's love for Shen Jie.

……

"I'm sorry," Shen Jie sat up straight, wiped her face with a tissue, and subconsciously took out a small round mirror from her bag to check her makeup: "Why am I so emotional with you today... I'm not usually like this."

“Hmm,” Xiao Yao said, “Don’t be too hard on yourself. There are only the two of us here, and I completely understand—I want to show you something, and I hope it can help you calm down.”

“I’m calm now,” Shen Jie told Xiao Yao.

Xiao Yao handed over the marriage certificate he had just received in 2004.

“This is evidence that the timeline in which you, me, and Yunyun exist is not a parallel world, but the same world,” Xiao Yao explained to Shen Jie.

"What does this mean?" Shen Jie opened the marriage certificate, completely bewildered.

……

Xiao Yao observed the changes in the woman's facial expression.

Her hand trembled almost imperceptibly.

Shen Jie raised her head.

"Where did you get this?" Shen Jie asked urgently.

“Your daughter gave it to me,” Xiao Yao told Shen Jie. “I found it in a drawer in this room.”

Xiao Yao thought that Shen Jie would question whether it was a fake certificate, but she had no such intention at all. She just stretched out her right hand, scratched the hair near her temple, frowned, and looked like she was thinking painfully.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Yao asked with concern. "Are you feeling unwell?"

"I...I, this photo...this photo...?" Shen Jie continued to grab her hair: "Is it...is it...is it...it's a photo of me and you, in Qingpu District? And, and another girl, the three of us went...?" Shen Jie tried desperately to recall.

Chapter 241 Ripples on the Dirac Sea

2023-06-21

"I...I, this photo...this photo...?" Shen Jie continued to grab her hair: "Is it...is it...is it...it's a photo of me and you, in Qingpu District? And, and another girl, the three of us went...?" Shen Jie tried desperately to recall.

"Yes." Xiao Yao was astonished: "You, how did you know?"

"Yu Luying, is that the Yu Luying you mentioned?" Shen Jie said, "The two of us went to Qingpu with Yu Luying. We didn't have a car or a room, so the three of us stayed together at night, and then we got caught by the teacher..."

"You can remember now?!" Xiao Yao exclaimed excitedly.

"Teacher? Is that your teacher? But that's not Teacher Yao..." Shen Jie said, "I clearly remember you telling me that you only had one homeroom teacher for all three years of high school, and that his surname was Yao..."

"Well, this is a little complicated to explain," Xiao Yao said.

"You, you went to Dongru a while ago, and you were with this Yu Luying, right?" Shen Jie closed her eyes and said with a frustrated look, "I, I was locked in the house at the time? I saw it, but I couldn't see clearly."

……

……

……

It took about half an hour—or perhaps an hour—for Shen Jie's mental state to stabilize slightly.