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

"A showdown? To what extent?" Shen Jie asked him.

“Leave her without a single one. Take her through the mirror so she can recognize her great-granddaughter,” Xiao Yao said earnestly. “My grandmother is getting old. According to the original schedule, she won’t be able to see Tianyun, right?”

“…Hmm.” Shen Jie thought for a moment and then gently hummed in response through her nose.

“Since we have this opportunity to let four generations of them live together and enjoy family happiness, I shouldn’t keep her in the dark,” Xiao Yao said. “Although the elderly woman has a relatively poor ability to accept things, if I take her to see it with her own eyes, she will surely believe it, right?”

"Think it over yourself, I won't offer any opinions," Shen Jie hugged her knees, lifted her feet off the ground, and started rocking herself. "I also want to take you back to see my grandma."

"Huh?" Xiao Yao said.

"Mm," Shen Jie said.

Xiao Yao took Shen Jie's right hand again, held it in his palm, and softly sang, "I want to take you back to my grandma's house, to watch the sunset together, until we both fall asleep..."

"Sing it again," Shen Jie demanded.

“I want to take you to my grandmother’s house together—” Xiao Yao didn’t understand what he meant, but he still obeyed.

“I want to take you back to my grandma’s house, right?” Shen Jie sang softly, then asked Xiao Yao.

"Not bad," Xiao Yao thought for a moment and said, "This time, there's an 80-90% chance of it being approved."

"Really?" The girl perked up immediately. "That's wonderful!"

Xiao Yao was quite happy to see that Shen Jie had a chance to cure her tone-deafness: "I want to take you back to my—"

I want to bring you back to me—

"Reply to me."

"Reply to me."

"Back."

"Return?"

"Back!"

Shen Jie: "..."

"I want to take you to my grandma's house..."

And so, Xiao Yao fed Shen Jie mouth-to-mouth like a mother hen feeding her chicks worms, taking eight minutes to barely get her to sing that one line, and even then, the result was not satisfactory.

“This won’t do,” Shen Jie pouted. “Other teachers play the piano while I sing from the sheet music; that works much better.”

“Then you should go find your teacher,” Xiao Yao said. “Isn’t he a student at Julia University in the US?”

"Mm." Shen Jie nodded.

That's truly remarkable. In just over a week, they managed to train Shen Jie to this extent. This summer camp trip was definitely worthwhile and not a waste of time at all.

“Hey,” Xiao Yao suddenly shook Shen Jie’s wrist, “Let’s go.”

"Go where?" Shen Jie asked, puzzled.

“Take me to see your grandma,” Xiao Yao said, “after summer camp.”

"You're acting crazy again," Shen Jie said, pouting.

“Make sure to tell the old lady it’s a secret, don’t tell your dad, we’ll just go see her and leave,” Xiao Yao said. “It depends on whether your grandma is reasonable or not. You know her, but I don’t.”

Shen Jie thought about it seriously for a moment: "Actually, the probability of winning the bet is very high. My dad probably hasn't told my grandma about this. But I can't afford to lose. Can you afford to lose?"

Xiao Yao chickened out: "Never mind what I said."

“Hey,” Shen Jie suddenly had a whim and grabbed Xiao Yao’s arm, saying, “I suddenly want to go to an internet cafe. Let’s go to an internet cafe.”

The topic shifted a bit too quickly, without much transition.

"Why go to an internet cafe?" Xiao Yao asked.

“I’m craving it, I want to play games,” Shen Jie said. “I’ll play that one, Bloodline II, and level up.”

Xiao Yao was astonished: "Really? You're addicted?"

“Yeah,” Shen Jie said, “I just suddenly wanted to play.”

"Where's the internet cafe around here?" Xiao Yao said, scratching the back of his head.

"Let's go look in Dongqi Town, there's bound to be someone there," Shen Jie said. "They shouldn't be too far away from her."

"Now? Are you serious?" Xiao Yao didn't really want to go.

"Otherwise what?" Shen Jie retorted.

In fact, Xiao Yao used to enjoy going to internet cafes when he was in school, but now that he has finally come to the seaside for a "vacation" and is accompanied by beautiful scenery and lovely people, it would be a real pity to go to an internet cafe and only have his beautiful women left.

"We can go to the internet cafe anytime, it's rare to come out to the beach..." Xiao Yao told Shen Jie his thoughts with a troubled expression.

But for Shen Jie, the novelty of "going to an internet cafe" was much greater than that of "going to the beach".

"Fine, fine, if I don't want to go, I don't want to go," Shen Jie said angrily. "I'm not in the mood! Ugh, you really are a spoilsport."

"Alright, alright, let's go then." Xiao Yao admitted defeat and surrendered.

"I'm not going, I'm not in the mood." Shen Jie shook off Xiao Yao's outstretched hand.

"...Are you angry again?" Xiao Yao put on a pitiful look and gently tugged at Shen Jie's clothes around her waist.

"No," Shen Jie said, crossing her arms and turning her head to the other side.

Xiao Yao suddenly realized—it might just be a guess, but Xiao Yao felt that it was very likely the answer.

Shen Jie's patience, politeness, and poise are often masks she wears on her face, masks she presents to outsiders.

When I first met her, when we started dating, this was the mask I saw most of the time.

The side of herself she is showing now—a little bit willful and a little bit capricious—is precisely a manifestation of her complete self-acceptance from the bottom of her heart.

Xiao Yao shared his new hypothesis with Shen Jie, and the reply he received was, "Now I know what it means for a boy to deceive himself."

"Hehehe." Xiao Yao chuckled twice, hugged Shen Jie, and fell back off his seat.

As mentioned earlier, the booth where Xiao Yao and Shen Jie were sitting was a broken and abandoned fishing boat. There were several such fishing boat booths on the beach, but they were not very close to each other.

In addition, the ship's side was quite high, and the seats were quite low. Combined with the angle and lighting, the privacy was actually quite good. When Xiao Yao and Shen Jie fell down, from an outsider's perspective—if you were an outsider—it simply looked like their two heads, which were visible above the ship's side, disappeared.

Of course, this was an open-air outdoor area, and Yu Luying was sitting somewhere not far away, so Xiao Yao didn't dare to be too presumptuous; it was just ordinary couple intimacy.

Shen Jie responded to him enthusiastically.

Xiao Yao reached out and ripped open the girl's... sandal straps, took off one of her sandals, and grabbed her smooth, silky little foot in his hand.

"Don't... touch my feet," Shen Jie said indistinctly.

"Why?" Xiao Yao asked, puzzled.

“The moment I touch that spot, it feels different, it’s no longer pure,” Shen Jie said.

"Okay, pure." Xiao Yao obediently withdrew his hand.

"Don't touch my feet and then immediately touch my face!!!"

After some playful banter, the two of them stopped and lay quietly on their sides on the hard leather sofa, gently touching each other's arms and backs, listening to each other's breaths and heartbeats.

A strange singing voice drifted from the stage, which was neither too far nor too close.

The singing was a bit complicated, consisting of a man and a woman. The woman's voice was pleasant and melodious, and one could tell she had some singing skills. The man's voice was hoarse and tone-deaf, and one could tell he was heavily intoxicated just by listening to his voice.

Gently awaken the sleeping soul

Slowly open your eyes

Look at the busy world

Is it still spinning alone?

Spring breeze is oblivious to romance

Stirring the heart of a young man

Let yesterday's tear stains remain on my face

"It dried up with the memories..."

Xiao Yao had heard this song or snippets of it countless times on many occasions, but he never knew the name of the song. He just felt that it had a bit of a campus folk song flavor.

His curiosity piqued, he slowly sat up and craned his neck to look at the stage set up at the edge of the beach.

The singer was the same girl in the white dress from before—or maybe it was someone else, but from Xiao Yao's angle, they all looked pretty much the same.

Standing next to her was a short, stout, middle-aged man who appeared to be bald and had a beer belly. He was probably too drunk to stand and was hanging on the tall girl. The girl had to support him with her body, holding a small sheet of lyrics in her hand, and was guiding the drunk man to sing like a kindergarten teacher instructing children.

Xiao Yao understood; it meant the drunkard had chosen the song himself. Even though he was standing on the stage, the drunkard's hands were wandering around, but since everyone was eating and drinking, no one was really watching the stage.

The girl seemed to have no choice but to endure it; perhaps she had long since gotten used to it.

"Sing out your passion, reach out your hands, let me embrace your dreams, let me see your true face; let our smiles be filled with youthful pride, and offer our sincere prayers for tomorrow..."

"What a pity," Xiao Yao thought to himself.

It's a pity about both the song and the girl.

With a pure face and beautiful clothes, she has to do this kind of work. Will tomorrow really be better?

Shen Jie also sat up, picked up the remaining cocktail in her glass, and was about to drink it all in one gulp—but Xiao Yao stopped her.