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

"Huh?" Xiao Yao didn't react for a moment.

“Let’s go to the countryside. You have a house, so we can save on rent. We don’t need ID cards, and my dad definitely won’t be able to catch me,” Shen Jie’s eyes shone. “Picking chrysanthemums by the eastern fence, gazing leisurely at the southern mountains, right? Let’s treat it as a vacation to relax.”

Seeing Shen Jie's enthusiastic expression, Xiao Yao couldn't bear to dampen her spirits.

"Besides, I also want to eat your freshly baked sesame cakes. Didn't you mention them to me last time?" Shen Jie picked up a skewer of red willow mutton and handed it to Xiao Yao: "Think about it, even Silly Sister has been to your hometown, but I haven't been yet?"

“I really want to take you, really,” Xiao Yao reminded him, “but since you yourself mentioned silly girl, haven’t you forgotten something important?”

“What’s the big deal?” Shen Jie blurted out instinctively, “Just take her with you. She’s free during summer vacation anyway, right?”

“Don’t make arrangements for others without permission,” Xiao Yao told Shen Jie. “If Yu Luying’s mother were to go to sea for two months like my grandmother, everything would be negotiable, but now…”

"So how did you get there last time?" Shen Jie's face fell. "Oh right, to repair the house? Can your house break down again?"

“Sure,” Xiao Yao said, “Do you think Yu Lihua will believe it? What if she comes back in less than three days and corners the three of us—or even the two of us in bed?”

He only uttered half a syllable of the "three" before braking and turning in time. Xiao Yao broke out in a cold sweat at his slip of the tongue, hoping that Shen Jie hadn't noticed.

However, whether she noticed it or not, she was in a very bad mood.

Xiao Yao felt it was necessary to divert Shen Jie's attention.

Ah, right!

“…Oh, right, I have something for you.” Xiao Yao took out a delicate little box from his trouser pocket, stood up, walked to Shen Jie, and knelt down on his left knee.

"What..." Shen Jie also stood up: "Here?"

Chapter 265 I'll propose to you using your ring

2023-07-15

"What..." Shen Jie also stood up: "Here?"

Then Xiao Yao pulled his trouser leg and made him sit down.

Shen Jie, feeling both curious and uneasy, placed her hands on her knees and looked around.

“Actually, ever since you came home last time, I’ve been thinking of saving up a surprise for you,” Xiao Yao explained. “I want to save up some royalties so I don’t spend your money, pick out a ring for you, prepare some fireworks, and on a nice evening, take you to the grassy area near my grandma’s house, the one with the swings, the one we often go to.”

"Then I'll play the guitar and sing you a song. After the song, the fireworks will go off. It's pretty cliché, isn't it? Because I feel like I haven't really pursued you properly. Ugh, I don't even know how to put my words together. Anyway, I think you deserve this from me. I believe you won't be like that other girl who poured foot bath water on my head."

Seeing Xiao Yao's incoherent speech, Shen Jie recalled the time when the two of them were at T University, and the boy who played the piano and sang downstairs in the girls' dormitory got soaked. She couldn't help but smile and said, "Yeah, I've never really been pursued by you properly, and you've already started throwing yourself at me. What a loss."

Xiao Yao continued, "But I haven't saved enough money to buy jewelry, nor do I have money to buy fireworks, and I don't have my guitar with me. So I used my own money to buy you this little box. This ring was given to me by my future self, who told me to sell it for money. She gave me a whole bunch of things, and this ring is my favorite."

As the boy spoke, he opened the jewelry box.

The small box slowly opened, revealing a stunning platinum ring. The ring's design was simple yet elegant, clearly suited to Shen Jie's taste.

This ring is made of the finest platinum, with a subtle silvery-white luster. The surface of the ring is delicate and smooth, as if enveloped by a soft halo, giving it a mysterious and warm feel.

The ring's main element is an exquisite cross design, crafted from fine platinum lines, showcasing superb craftsmanship and delicate engraving. Each line of the cross appears slender and even, adorned with a small, sparkling diamond at the top, adding a touch of brilliance to the entire ring.

“I also had this line engraved on the inside of the ring. Look,” Xiao Yao showed Shen Jie the small characters “2004.5.18” on the inside of the ring: “This is the day we first met.”

"Wow," Shen Jie said.

Xiao Yao gently took out the ring, his eyes filled with tenderness and love. He quietly held the ring up and said, "I know this can't be considered a gift from me. It's just a way of giving something away, or rather, returning it to its rightful owner. Isn't that shameless?"

The young man chuckled softly, "But I still wanted to give it to you, to put it on you myself. I... I wanted to take it out and give it to you in the hotel room, but it felt a bit sneaky. I wanted to give it to you in a public place, in a way that felt like a ritual. Although there was no guitar, no grass, no fireworks, no flowers, nothing at all, at least my feelings are genuine. As for the other things, consider them what I owe you. I'll make it up to you when the time is right."

"Shen Jie, I like you, I love you." Xiao Yao confessed his love to her face with deep affection.

"Pah!" Shen Jie said softly, "You know it's shameless, yet you still do it. Are you just trying to get something for nothing?"

Xiao Yao looked up at Shen Jie's face and saw that she had a rosy complexion and a hidden smile on her lips, so he felt relieved.

"And why is it only mine? What about yours?" Shen Jie teased. "You've got a good plan. You're just using the ring to trap me, making me keep the vow myself, while you're still free, right?"

"Uh," Xiao Yao felt he had been kneeling on one knee for a while and couldn't help but sway slightly, "This isn't..."

Shen Jie extended her right hand to him, but then suddenly remembered something and switched to her left hand.

At this point, the people eating barbecue around them gradually noticed the unusual situation, and some of them started to cheer, whistle, and applaud.

Xiao Yao took Shen Jie's left hand, his fingers touching her soft skin, and gently slipped the ring onto her middle finger. However, the ring seemed a size too small and didn't fit her middle finger perfectly.

Xiao Yao frowned slightly in embarrassment, but he didn't let go of her hand. Instead, he gently twisted the ring, trying to make it fit Shen Jie's finger better.

However, no matter how hard he tried, the ring size was still not right. In the end, the boy had no choice but to awkwardly put the ring on Shen Jie's ring finger.

Throughout this process, Shen Jie simply watched him quietly, her gaze conveying tacit approval. When the ring was finally placed on her left ring finger, a blush swept across the girl's face.

The two held each other's hands tightly, gazing into each other's eyes, as if the whole world had stood still. The cheers and jeers around them gradually faded away, leaving only the sincere and intense love flowing between them.

Shen Jie pulled Xiao Yao up, closed her eyes, and turned her face to the side.

"What happened? I just wanted to have some barbecue, and now I'm running away like this," Shen Jie said loudly as she entered the hotel room, kicking off her AJ shoes. "What if my dad finds out about this again tomorrow?"

Xiao Yao didn't say anything; he was truly exhausted.

Shen Jie sat on the edge of the bed and casually tore off the sock from her right foot.

The boy instinctively pressed down on her arm, and the girl looked up and said, "Shouldn't you stop now? You should know your place."

Xiao Yao let go of her hand.

Shen Jie took off her other sock, crumpled it into a ball, and placed it in Xiao Yao's palm: "Go wash it for me, along with my underwear."

As the girl spoke, she seemed to remember something and swayed as she walked toward the bathroom to rinse her feet.

"I'm not your servant." Xiao Yao hugged the pair of socks, slumped on the bed, and didn't move an inch.

"You mere son-in-law," Shen Jie said with a laugh, "get back to work!"

“You’re no longer the young lady; you’ve fallen from grace,” Xiao Yao said weakly. “From now on, don’t call me Shen Jie; call me Xiao Jie.”

"It's fucking awful," Shen Jie said.

An ominous sign descended from the sky, covering Xiao Yao's face. The boy was too lazy to move it away and simply began to snore, half-heartedly.

The next day, Xiao Yao still missed breakfast.

"Ahhh, just one minute left, just one minute!" Xiao Yao looked up at the clock, which was pointing to 10:01.

"Look at you, so pathetic. It's just a hotel breakfast," Shen Jie said with a pout. "If you can't have it, you can't have it."

“But I’m hungry,” Xiao Yao said.

More importantly, it costs money to fill your stomach.

When the two returned to the hotel room door, a girl wearing the summer sports uniform of St. Francis Secondary School was already waiting for them.

Chapter 266: Why is it another chaotic scene?

2023-07-15

*This chapter is also known as "The Bizarre Behavior of the Psychopathic Young Woman"

The summer sports uniform at St. Francis Secondary School looks like this: the chest, back, and abdomen are white, except for the sleeves, which are black for boys and pink for girls. Calling this uniform "ugly" is an objective comment, completely devoid of personal bias.

She wore a pair of loose-fitting athletic pants, black for boys and pink for girls, with a white seam down the middle. The pants were long enough to cover half of her shoes, so Xiao Yao could only see that the girl was wearing a pair of old-fashioned but very clean white sneakers; he couldn't see her socks.

Seeing Xiao Yao staring at her blankly, the girl in the school uniform pursed her lips shyly and lowered her head, saying, "I...I have no clothes to wear."

"Oh." Xiao Yao replied casually, before he could think of what to say, the school uniform girl had already run up and buried her head in his arms.

The pleasant scent of soapy water immediately filled Xiao Yao's nose.

Xiao Yao felt a surge of warmth in his heart, as if time had flowed back to the first semester of his first year of high school. This hug brought him many complex emotions and memories.

When the schoolgirl nestled into his arms, Xiao Yao could feel her body temperature and soft touch. At that moment, he felt as if he were transported back to the innocent days of first love, and the memory of that first love embrace he "should have" resonated subtly with the feeling he was experiencing now.

Wait a minute.

What exactly are they reminiscing about?

What are you going to do!

Shen Jie is still right there!

Yes, Yu Luying had the "legitimate status" granted by Shen Jie, so how intimate they were in private was still something she was fully aware of and could turn a blind eye to.

However, the most intimate time the three of them spent together was before Shen Jie went home, when they were in the early stages of holding hands and shopping together.

Even so, it was all done under duress from Shen Jie.

Now, all of a sudden, it just happened...

Besides, you weren't like this when we first met, were you?

These thoughts flashed through Xiao Yao's mind in just over a second, and then he tasted soft lips.

In just a moment, she let go, and then her embrace was released.

Xiao Yao subconsciously glanced at Shen Jie, whose expression was indeed not good. Just then, Yu Luying opened her arms and rushed towards Shen Jie, embracing Shen Jie's small body in her arms—seeing this scene, the image of the terrifying eagle from "Black Cat Detective" inexplicably appeared in Xiao Yao's mind.

Immediately afterwards, Xiao Yao experienced the feeling of being embraced by his first love again, only this time, he was embracing Shen Jie.

He suddenly realized that he was really looking forward to seeing Shen Jie in the St. Francis Xavier's School uniform—it might look a little ugly to others, but it would definitely be the cutest and sexiest outfit in the world for her.

"Sister," Yu Luying called out sweetly, like a girl next door.