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

"That's truly cause for celebration," Xiao Yao said. "All my hard work has paid off—"

“My older brother isn’t a bad person at heart, he’s just…”

"Brother Bo, why aren't you going swimming with them?" Xiao Yao said, "You don't actually have a swimming ability like me, do you?"

"It's Hasseur again," Yu Bo glared and said gruffly, "Stop interrupting me, I'm asking you, you and Xiao Shen—"

Xiao Yao felt a chill run down his spine. It's here, it's finally here! He finally found out!

While Xiao Yao could outwardly comply with Yu Texuan, Yu Baolu, and others, and deal with them by making excuses and delaying tactics, he could still manage to do so.

However, he genuinely liked Yu Bo, so he didn't want Yu Bo to have a bad impression of him.

Moreover, what if it gets to Yu Lihua's ears...?

Yu Bo had only spoken halfway through his sentence, and Xiao Yao hadn't yet figured out how to respond, when suddenly he saw Daiyu clutching his crotch, looking around furtively as he emerged from the sea.

"What are you doing?!" Xiao Yao blurted out.

"My swimming trunks... they've been washed away..." the ribbonfish said shyly. "Quick, before they notice..."

Yu Bo picked a bunch of leaves and seaweed to help him wrap himself up, while Xiao Yao ran off to buy swimming trunks. When he returned, he found that the ribbonfish had already buried himself in the sand—a group of girls around him were laughing at him.

Looking at Shen Jie and Yu Luying's soaked clothes, their graceful figures, and their four pitiful, sand-covered, wet white socks, Xiao Yao couldn't help but feel restless again.

The last group activity this morning was sailing.

Having already had his fun on a jet ski, Xiao Yao wasn't too keen on sailing again, but when it comes to group activities, fitting in is the most important thing.

Xiao Yao, Yu Luying, Shen Jie, and others put on their life jackets again.

Despite being called a sailboat, the intersecting planks at the bottom were actually made of fine wire mesh, which reminded Xiao Yao of the steel spring bed he used to sleep on as a child.

“This is actually just a raft with a sail,” Zhang Jialong said. “My feet are all wet.”

Indeed, this structure caused a shallow layer of fresh seawater to swirl around the entire bottom of the boat. Shen Jie and Yu Luying were completely oblivious to the danger, while Yan Xiao, Chen Lu, and the others, who hadn't even taken off their shoes, suddenly felt sorry for their worn-out shoes and socks.

The group sat on the "handrails" on either side of the sailboat, chatting happily. Because there were quite a few "outsiders" present, they didn't discuss anything related to Shadow Time or Shadow.

Xiao Yao remained silent, walked to the bow of the ship with the support of the mast, gripped the rope under the sail with his left hand, and sat down cross-legged—the seawater immediately soaked his shorts, underwear, and the hem of his shirt.

Wow, the water's deeper than I thought... but whatever.

He felt as if he were sitting on the sea, his crotch wet and cold, riding the waves at high speed, full of heroic spirit.

The boy squinted contentedly, feeling the direction the wind was blowing, letting his short hair dance wildly in the sea breeze, slapping against his forehead and cheeks.

"There will be times when we ride the wind and cleave the waves," Xiao Yao raised his right hand high to the right and shouted, "We will set sail and cross the vast ocean!"

"Great!" The crowd cheered and applauded.

The group arrived five minutes before the closing ceremony mass of the summer camp, and none of them had time to change their clothes, so they looked quite disheveled.

After Mass, lunch was served. This time it wasn't a buffet, but like the first meal after the camp started, a large, freshly cooked meal was served around a round table.

The morning's activities were all physically demanding, and Xiao Yao was already starving, so he ate a lot. Shen Jie also seemed to have eaten a lot.

After lunch was the closing ceremony of the summer camp. Yu Baolu gave a speech, the priest gave a speech, the camper representative gave a summary, and the group leader gave a summary. After all that, it was already past 3 p.m.

Xiao Yao, Yu Luying, and Yu Bo greeted each other, and then, together with Shen Jie and the other two, they boarded the bus bound for Dongru with their luggage.

There were no seats for three people side by side on the bus. To avoid the two girls getting jealous of each other, Xiao Yao took the initiative to treat them equally and asked them to sit together, while he sat in the back row by the window, fell asleep, and when he woke up, they had already arrived in Dongru.

"Come on, Mommy Meow, let me take you to try your favorite Dongru specialty sesame cakes." Following the plan he had made a few days ago, Xiao Yao hailed a rickshaw and took the two girls straight to "Dongru Old Street Shrimp Roe Sesame Cakes".

Shen Jie was very unhappy: "I'm not eating anymore. I'm so full. Let's go home first, put our luggage down, and digest a bit before we talk about anything else."

“Mama Meow, you don’t know this,” Xiao Yao explained, “the sesame seed cakes in Dongru are only made once in the morning and once in the afternoon at dusk. They’re not available during the day or at night—look, it’s getting dark. If we don’t go soon, they’ll be closing up shop.”

"Then let's eat it for breakfast tomorrow morning, what's the rush?" Shen Jie asked, puzzled.

“No,” Yu Luying explained, “We have to leave before dawn tomorrow—my mom knows that summer camp ends this afternoon and tomorrow is the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, so she has to come back from out of town tomorrow morning to take me to the Mass for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. If she finds out that I’m sneaking out of town tonight, I’m dead.”

"If we had known we were in such a rush, we wouldn't have come!" Shen Jie snapped. "What kind of lousy sesame cake is this? Is it really that delicious?"

So, Xiao Yao told her the story that the future Shen Jie had told him—the future Shen Jie ate sesame seed cakes in Dongru and loved them so much that she wanted to recruit a master to go back to Shanghai with her, but was refused. So the future Xiao Yao secretly went to the countryside to become an apprentice and learned the craft. After mastering the craft, he came back and made sesame seed cakes for Shen Jie.

After hearing this story, not only was Shen Jie deeply moved, but Yu Luying also felt very warm and expressed her genuine envy for Shen Jie.

When I arrived at the sesame seed cake shop, they were about to close up shop, but luckily I made it in time.

Xiao Yao ordered two of each type of sesame seed cake.

It was the hottest time of August, and for some reason, perhaps due to the habits of people in the countryside, the shop did not have air conditioning. Not only that, but they also did not sell any beverages such as tofu pudding, soy milk, or cola.

Shen Jie was already stuffed, sweating profusely and barely able to open her eyes, yet she still had to eat the scalding hot sesame seed cake. Her mouth was also parched. Therefore, after eating only half of it, she could no longer eat and thought the taste was just average.

Therefore, the three of them left the old street pancake shop and took a rickshaw straight to the Party School.

Just like any trip that doesn't go smoothly—Xiao Yao was furious about this, Shen Jie was also very disappointed, and Yu Luying was caught in the middle. Everyone was sulking, and the atmosphere was completely ruined.

Xiao Yao wished he could turn back, go back to the pancake shop, bang on the door, and chop the owner's head off...

The plan to visit Dongru County Experimental Middle School at night was canceled. The three of them returned to Xiao Yao's house at the Party School, took turns taking showers, and changed into their pajamas.

Shen Jie put on her "disappearing lower body outfit" again, revealing her lotus root-like pink and snow-white thighs. Standing next to the Simmons double bed that once belonged to Xiao Yao's parents, she used her own towel to dry her wet, medium-length hair: "How are we going to sleep tonight?"

The three of them sat around a Simmons double bed, looking at each other with a hint of embarrassment on their faces.

Chapter 325 Sleeping together

2023-09-13

"How are we going to sleep tonight?"

The three of them sat around a Simmons double bed, looking at each other with a hint of embarrassment on their faces.

"What do you mean, how should we sleep? How else can we sleep? Just sleep like this." After a while, Xiao Yao was the first to break the silence: "Or, like when we were riding paragliders and speedboats, we could play hand-to-hand combat."

Shen Jie: "?"

Yu Luying: "?"

Xiao Yao: "...?"

Yu Luying: "Why don't you say you're here to choose a concubine?"

Xiao Yao: "Huh?"

Shen Jie was amused and squatted down, holding onto the edge of the Simmons mattress, bursting into laughter: "Hahahahahahahaha...flip, flip the card...hahahahahahaha..."

"Uh..." Xiao Yao and Yu Luying both had three black lines on their foreheads.

"You! Go to the small room to sleep. My sister and I will sleep here," Yu Luying instructed.

Xiao Yao had anticipated that she would say this: "I'm sorry, I forgot to bring the key to the small room."

"Then kick the door open!" Yu Luying had already anticipated that he would say this: "Are you kidding me? I clearly saw that your keys were all on a loop last time."

Shen Jie glanced at Yu Luying as if it were an unintentional gesture.

"Last time was last time..."

"Look, this door isn't locked at all! It opens with just a turn!"

"Holy crap... this is... amazing! But how am I supposed to sleep on a bare bed frame?"

“It’s the middle of summer, why don’t you just lay out a mat?” Yu Luying’s gaze fell on the wardrobe in the small room: “I remember there was one in there.”

"Okay, it's the middle of summer, I need to check if the air conditioner is still working—ouch!" Xiao Yao stepped on a bare wooden plank, which snapped with a crack: "Holy crap! It broke!"

"Xiao Yao, you've really gone all out!" Yu Luying looked at him incredulously and said, "With your size, if you step on me and cut your foot, wouldn't I be the one who feels the pain?"

"I really didn't mean it..." Xiao Yao declared.

"It wasn't intentional, it was deliberate!" Yu Luying said angrily.

The two of them, just like children, bickered and fought, and when they returned to the large room that originally belonged to Xiao Yao's parents, they found that Shen Jie was already asleep.

Yes, that's right. She was sleeping in the very center of the Simmons mattress, covered with a thin blanket, looking every bit like a noble queen, and was snoring softly.

Xiao Yao could see the shallow dimples at the corners of the girl's mouth, which gave him the illusion that Shen Jie was still smiling like a baby in her sleep, sweet and sad.

Beneath her long eyelashes, Shen Jie's eyeballs darted rapidly under her eyelids, as if she were dreaming.

"If the present Shen Jie has a dream that the future Shen Jie can't have, will the future Shen Jie suddenly feel a sense of déjà vu?" Xiao Yao murmured to himself.

"What are you talking about?" Yu Luying asked, puzzled.

“I’m saying,” Xiao Yao said softly, as if afraid of disturbing the girl’s sleep, “When I was little, my family had a tabby cat. It liked to sneak onto the bed to sleep when my parents weren’t looking, and it would always sleep right in the middle of the bed, looking so content and cute.”

“Shen Jie really is a cat mom, isn’t she?” Yu Luying said, looking at her.

“No, I’ve seen real mother cats before,” Xiao Yao replied easily. “What’s lying there now is just a kitten that hasn’t opened its eyes yet.”

“Kittens are cute too,” Yu Luying said, “although I still prefer dogs.”

"Woof?" Xiao Yao said.

"She's a kitten, so what am I?" Yu Luying asked in the tone of a kindergarten child.

"You, you are my little apple." Xiao Yao reached out and stroked Yu Luying's hair on the top of her head.

"No!" Yu Luying said in a deliberately fierce tone, "I'll go get you a straw mat to sleep on the floor."

"No, please," Xiao Yao grabbed Yu Luying's hand and said in a pleading tone, "Don't spoil the fun, okay?"