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

"How many generations have passed?" Shen Jie asked curiously.

“Who knows,” Lucia replied without hesitation, “Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, it’s roughly in that range.”

“Like this…” Shen Jie said.

“Look at all these people on this bus. 80%, 90%, no, 95% are like me, all children of long-time church members,” Lu Ziya introduced to Shen Jie.

"You have impeccable political background," Shen Jie casually complimented.

“They’re all very worldly and don’t understand reason. To say they’re lukewarm would be an understatement,” Lucia said. “Otherwise, why do you think we should hold summer camps?”

"I see..." Shen Jie was a little speechless, and after a long pause, she finally said, "But you are quite devout."

Lucia did not respond to this comment, but instead asked:

"By the way, you still haven't told me which university you're from."

She originally wanted to ask "which university," but after seeing Shen Jie's youthful face and short stature, she changed her mind.

“The city…” Shen Jie said, “It’s St. Francis Secondary School.”

"Then isn't that Yu Luying's classmate?" Lu Jia said, "You and Yu Luying—oh, you were all brought in by Brother Bo, right?"

No, Shen Jie thought to herself, do I look like a delinquent?

"Don't tell me that Yu Luying is also a legend in the entire diocese," Shen Jie said with a smile.

“Not really,” Lucia said in a low voice, “but the Yu family is just too famous in Shanghai.”

“Oh,” Shen Jie said.

She vividly remembered that Shen Hongsheng had mentioned to her that the Yu family's "Aisdel Group" had a market value that was slightly higher than their Miwei Group.

“They’ve been a large family for over a century,” Lucia told Shen Jie. “I heard that the Yu family covered all the expenses for our summer camp.”

"Oh?" Shen Jie said.

“In previous years, we would charge some money for the summer camp,” Lucia explained, “but this year the Yu family covered everything, so it’s now a voluntary donation.”

A full package would cost a lot of money, but it's just a drop in the bucket for the Yu family, Shen Jie thought.

"Hey, Lucia, there's something I've always been curious about," Shen Jie glanced at Yu Luying in the distance ahead and asked in a low voice, "The Yu family is so rich, why is Yu Luying... living such a complicated life?"

Lucia looked embarrassed and said, "Logically speaking, it is not something that church members should do to spread rumors about others or talk about their family affairs."

"It's not convenient to talk about it, so I won't." Shen Jie quickly clarified, "I didn't mean to pry into anything, I just asked out of curiosity."

Lu Jia lowered his head and thought for a moment: "Actually, many people know this. Old Master Yu Texuan has three children. Yu Luying's mother is the second oldest, the eldest son is Yu Baolu, and the second son is Yu Bo."

"Ah."

"When Yu Luying's mother was young, she did some...not-so-good things, the kind of mistakes young people make—I won't go into details, but in short, Grandpa Yu was furious and essentially broke down her mother's door."

"As you can see, Brother Bo has dedicated himself to his life, so the Yu family's business has basically been inherited by Yu Baolu alone. That's about it," Lu Ziya said cautiously.

"Understood," Shen Jie replied.

"So for so many years, Yu Luying and her mother have basically been left to fend for themselves, and they don't even go back for the Spring Festival—I heard that, I heard that's how it is," Lu Ziya said. "There are also rumors that Yu Baolu was behind all of this, but of course these are just pure conspiracy theories without any basis, sigh, I shouldn't have mentioned it."

Just as Shen Jie was about to ask further questions, the bus began to slow down.

After a shudder, the bus came to a complete stop and the engine was turned off.

"Get off the bus! Get off the bus!" Yu Bo shouted, "You little brat, wake up!"

As soon as he got out of the car, the ribbonfish started panting heavily.

"Hissing sounds..."

"Are you fucking asthmatic?" Xiao Yao slapped the back of the ribbonfish's head.

"I'm breathing in the scent of the ocean!" the ribbonfish said earnestly.

Xiao Yao sniffed twice: "I smell fish."

"It all smells like stinky ribbonfish," Yu Luying added.

"Guan Yi Niang E Lai!" Ribbonfish was clearly overly excited: "Beach! Bikinis! Girls! -- Hey, Qingwei, Chen Lu..."

Just then, a guy named Yu Bo walked by and kicked him in the back of the knee. The guy stumbled and almost fell to his knees on the spot.

"No matter what, let's go to the hotel and put our luggage down first." Xiao Yao said expressionlessly, helping Daiyu up with one hand and pulling Yu Luying up with the other.

This summer camp brought a total of six buses from three parishes: Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Yunzhou. The theme was "Let Love Move," and it was said to be the largest in its history.

The "Saint Love Hotel" where the summer camp stayed was luxuriously decorated, a standard sea-view hotel, and even in Dongqi, it didn't look cheap at all.

Both the hotel's name and the magnificent Mount Everest at its entrance tell Xiao Yao that the owner is "one of us."

"I heard them say that the rooms are all free, and the meals are at cost price, so they don't make a profit," the ribbonfish boasted vividly. "The owner is so kind."

"Hey, Xu Qing..."

Xiao Yao saw Shen Jie wearing a blazer and pleated skirt, with a blue baseball cap bearing the logo of the Shanghai Parish on her head. She was walking into the hotel with her head down, dragging two suitcases and carrying a bag. There was another college student-looking girl walking alongside her. Xiao Yao subconsciously waved to her twice, but Shen Jie acted as if she hadn't heard or seen him and went straight in.

"Brother Yao, Brother Yao, the hat." Before Xiao Yao could even feel disappointed, Daiyu had already handed him the little blue hat. Xiao Yao turned around and saw that Yu Luying had already put it on.

"It's like a tour group for middle-aged and elderly people..." Xiao Yao complained as he put on his baseball cap.

Daiyu, wearing his baseball cap backwards, said, "Brother Yao, let's go! What are you standing there for?"

“Look at that one over there, the one wearing the blue hat at an angle, tsk, and the blue socks,” Xiao Yao said, his eyes fixed on Daiyu and Yu Luying, “Look, isn’t that Zhao Xiaomei?”

"Where can I find someone wearing a hat at an angle?" said the ribbonfish.

"All you ever do is look at girls' socks..." Yu Luying said.

"Hey, where did he go?" Xiao Yao rubbed his eyes, but still couldn't find the figure from before among the little blue hats.

"He's gone, but he's still thinking about Zhao Xiaomei!"

The three of them walked into the lobby of the "Saint Love Hotel," which was packed with people and filled with noise.

The summer camp logistics team was shouting themselves hoarse trying to maintain order and collect students' ID cards for unified registration.

"It's him?" In the crowd, Xiao Yao noticed a short, stout man dressed in all black with a Roman collar, and his face immediately darkened.

This man is Father Li, whom I met at the Catholic Church in Bingfang. He's the guy who was causing trouble for Yu Luying.

Enemies meeting are bound to be furious. Xiao Yao strode forward and called out with a hostile expression, "Father Li!"

"Oh, Xiao Yao!" Father Li actually remembered Xiao Yao's surname and came forward to shake his hand very warmly: "You've come too, very good, very good."

"Father Li, hello." Yu Luying greeted him politely, tugging at Xiao Yao from behind.

“Father Li, may I speak to you in private? I have something to ask you,” Xiao Yao said.

“Okay, okay, okay,” Father Li said with a beaming smile, nodding repeatedly. “But I’m a little busy right now, so I’ll talk to you this afternoon—”

"What are you asking?!" Yu Luying stamped her foot in frustration. "Father Li, please ignore him. Let's go put our luggage away first."

As he spoke, he forcibly dragged Xiao Yao away.

"What are you doing? Don't be so impulsive, okay?" Yu Luying complained to Xiao Yao as she walked away.

Daiyu followed, completely bewildered: "What's going on, you two? Brother Bo is asking for your IDs so he can arrange rooms—Brother Yao, how about we share a room?"

Yu Luying didn't answer him, but stared at the back of the ribbonfish with a strange expression.

The ribbonfish felt a chill run down its spine from her gaze and quickly turned away.

Behind him stood two elderly men. One looked to be in his eighties or nineties, wearing a Zhongshan suit, with a wrinkled face, a hunched back, and a cane. He had a white goatee, but seemed to be in good spirits. The other man was probably in his fifties, wearing a suit and tie, with a rather robust build and short, gray hair. He was helping the elderly man in front of him.

"Big Sheep, don't you bark at people?" The man in his fifties looked stern, his eyes fixed on Yu Luying.

"Grandpa, Uncle...hello." Yu Luying bit her lip and lowered her head.

Xiao Yao could sense...fear? Trembling with fear? He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Instinctively, he shielded Yu Luying behind him.

"Who is he?" The man, referred to as the eldest uncle, turned his gaze to Xiao Yao again.

Chapter 282 Hainan Rendez-Vous

2023-08-02

"Who is he?" The man, referred to as the eldest uncle, turned his gaze to Xiao Yao again.

Xiao Yao opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He opened his mouth again, but still no sound came out.

He couldn't immediately tell whether answering "I'm her boyfriend" or "We're her classmates" would be more appropriate for the situation, so he simply left it to Yu Luying to answer herself.

That being said, calling someone "Grandpa" and then referring to that person's son as "Uncle" just feels incredibly awkward!

When faced with this question, Yu Luying's response was: "Where's Xiao Yang? Why didn't he come with you?"

“Little Lamb isn’t feeling well,” the man called Uncle said. “You don’t care about your sister at all.”

"Oh? What's wrong? Is she alright?" Yu Luying asked, feigning concern. "Shall I go check on her?"

The eldest uncle softened his tone and said, "That's not necessary. Let's go after summer camp—by then we should be all better."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries about everyday matters, the two elderly people left.

The "grandfather" never said a word to Yu Luying, only saying, "Paul, let's go."