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

Shen Jie was slightly taken aback.

“This is equally important to me,” Xiao Yao continued, his voice trembling with emotion. “I don’t want all my future efforts to go to waste, and I don’t want to lose the smile on your face after this surprise. For me, no matter where I am, in which country, whether I’m free or… in times of trouble, just thinking about this gives me a memory to hold onto. As for Shen Jie, if it were me, I would be even more unable to forgive her for letting her beautiful memories suddenly turn into a dream—that’s so unfair to her.”

Xiao Yao was somewhat incoherent, but Shen Jie understood what he was saying.

“I… I’m frustrated because of this,” Xiao Yao continued, “It seems, it seems I’ve messed things up again, because of my mistake…”

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Shen Jie comforted him. “Silly girl, are there any more pancakes? Give me another one.”

"Sister, don't push yourself too hard." Yu Luying hesitated for a moment: "Don't force yourself to eat when you're full."

"You're so silly, Xiao Yao," Shen Jie said softly. "People's tastes change. What you love to eat now, you might suddenly dislike one day; what you don't particularly like now, you might suddenly love one day. But some things never change, and that's the determination you showed behind the scenes, the determination you made for me because of a casual remark or a momentary whim, and my heart for you—these are the only things that matter most. As long as we remember these things, as long as these things haven't been forgotten..."

"What matters is never the pie."

"Is it love?"

“I said you two have had enough, there’s a third… person here,” Yu Luying deliberately hugged her arm and trembled, “It’s so sour it’s killing me.”

"I'm sorry, silly girl." Shen Jie said apologetically, gently patting Yu Luying's head.

The night is long and I can't sleep. In fact, it's only a little before 9 p.m., which is still a long time for young people.

Since they had plenty of time, the three of them naturally wanted to come and have fun, but they disagreed on what activities to do.

Shen Jie wanted to go to the internet cafe again, and this time Xiao Yao agreed, though Yu Luying was reluctant. Shen Jie then suggested sneaking into Xiao Yao's school at night, which was met with unanimous condemnation from Xiao Yao and Yu Luying as "outrageous." After rejecting numerous other proposals, the final conclusion was—it would be better to stay home and watch the Asian Cup football match with Xiao Yao.

Unable to stay cooped up at home, sporty girl Shen Jie volunteered to run errands, wearing long pants and buying potato chips, watermelon, canned beer, drinks, and some cooked food. During this break, Yu Luying washed the clothes, including her own and Xiao Yao's, as well as several of Shen Jie's, and hung them all out to dry in the bathroom.

As for the black-and-white television set directly opposite the head of the bed, Xiao Yao couldn't remember which was older, himself or the television. After a burst of impulsive punches and kicks, it actually obediently and normally displayed a picture.

The three of them lay down side by side on the bed again.

The competition was almost halfway through, and today was the third-place match between Iran and Bahrain.

Shen Jie stared at the TV screen with a bored look in her eyes, her head resting on Xiao Yao's arm behind her neck—Yu Luying was resting on the other arm.

The cat mom stuffed a handful of potato chips into her mouth, took a sip of beer, and it was unclear what kind of eating method this was. She fed Xiao Yao a handful of potato chips, and then fed Yu Luying a bite over Xiao Yao's neck.

"Ah..." Yu Luying opened her mouth subconsciously, then said somewhat shyly, "Thank you... I can do it myself, no, you can just give it to him, I can taste it."

“Silly girl, tell me,” Shen Jie said without looking at Yu Luying, “do all the men like to look at this little black and white ball?”

As she spoke, the girl nudged the boy's side with her elbow.

“Ah,” Yu Luying said, “maybe so. My uncle loves to watch it, as does my grandfather, and another uncle seems to watch it too…”

“My dad loves watching it too,” Shen Jie said, “and so-and-so…”

"Tsk," Xiao Yao said, "The air conditioning is still a bit of a problem—are you guys hot?"

"Are you alright?" "Not bad," the two girls replied.

"The culprit behind today's incident is still that boss, who refused to turn on the air conditioning or sell water." As if infected by Xiao Yao, Shen Jie also began to hold a grudge.

“I don’t know why, but many shops here don’t like to turn on the air conditioning,” Yu Luying said. “I noticed this when I came last time.”

“Hey, don’t use this to smear the people of Dongru—” Xiao Yao’s eyes were fixed on the black and white TV screen as he continued, “The people in the suburbs and counties of Shanghai are pretty much the same, they’re all the same.”

"Hey, Xiao Yao, what competition did you just say this was, the semi-finals?"

“The third-place match,” Xiao Yao replied, “is on August 17th.”

"Who's facing off in the finals?"

"China's national football team versus Japan," Xiao Yao said.

"No way, is the Chinese national football team really that strong now?" the girl asked in surprise.

"Absolutely, that was awesome." Xiao Yao said proudly, his northern accent coming out: "It's a pity that we still couldn't win the championship in the end—we could have won, but the Japanese team had the Hand of God, which was a handball foul, and that stupid referee didn't call it, so it was counted as a goal. After that, the morale of the Chinese national team collapsed, and they were beaten 1-3. Damn it."

"Tianyun even told you this?" Yu Luying blinked and said.

"We were chatting about it once, and Tianyun was a fan of football. You guys didn't know that, did you?" Xiao Yao said. "And it was so infuriating. Just think about it, Japan and Xiao Rizi were tricked by Xiao Rizi. It was the closest they ever got to the championship. It's a historic moment."

“Hey, Xiao Yao,” Shen Jie suddenly spoke up, “Since you remember so clearly… isn’t there something called football lottery these days?”

"Huh?" Xiao Yao was taken aback and hugged the two girls in his arms even tighter. "Ah."

I don't know why, but I always remembered that the 2004 Asian Cup final was on August 17th. When I checked on Baidu today, I found out it was August 7th. But the timeline of the outline can't be changed anymore, so everyone just pretends to be confused and assumes it's a detail disturbance in a parallel world.

I'm currently out of town, and I might have to cancel tomorrow. I'll try my best not to.

Chapter 327 Torn Pantyhose

2023-09-16

Actually, Xiao Yao had heard of football lottery and had even thought about it, but firstly, since he met Shen Jie, he hadn't been worried about money much, so his desire to make money wasn't as strong.

Secondly, he had already tried buying lottery tickets, and it proved to be a bad idea;

Thirdly, football betting is essentially gambling, without any rounding. Xiao Yao isn't really an anti-gambling pioneer; after all, his initial contact with Shen Jie was gambling in itself, and the odds of winning weren't any higher than buying a 2-yuan lottery ticket.

However, Xiao Yao could afford to lose back then.

As for betting on Japan to beat the Chinese national football team... to put it jokingly, or to put it more seriously, it seems to have a bit of a "selling out the country for personal gain" feel to it.

“I’ve never bought any before, so I’ll buy some to try,” Xiao Yao said.

“If you’re going to buy, buy more. Don’t you even know the score? You can bet on football scores, the odds are high.” Shen Jie seemed to get excited: “Today is the 14th, there are still 3 days until the 17th, I have to find a way to sell all that jewelry—”

"Are you crazy? What are you trying to do?!" Xiao Yao shouted, "Let's try buying a smaller amount first—with things like this involved, watching the game doesn't feel pure anymore."

“I think so too…” Yu Luying said weakly.

"And this also violates religious rules, doesn't it?" Xiao Yao turned to look at Yu Luying.

"Well... not necessarily," Yu Luying said hesitantly.

"What's wrong with it?" Shen Jie said nonchalantly, "Look at Ma Kao, it's surrounded by churches to the north and casinos to the south."

Xiao Yao: "...Well, this casino isn't run by the church."

...a brief silence followed.

"Hey, you two, lift your heads up a bit, I can barely feel my arms anymore," Xiao Yao said with a pained expression.

"No, I think it's fine," Yu Luying said.

Despite saying that, the two of them still leaned forward slightly.

Xiao Yao pulled his arms back and shook them with a grin.

"You can't even support the weight of two girls?" Shen Jie teased. "What happened to the saying that a man's strength can move mountains and his spirit can overwhelm the world?"

Before Xiao Yao could decide whether to respond to "Yu Xi, Yu Xi, what can I do?", Shen Jie muttered to herself, "I suddenly feel a lot of pain in my face. It doesn't seem like phantom pain. Is it because of that slap you gave me yesterday?"

"Huh?" Yu Luying said.

“No,” Xiao Yao turned to Yu Luying, puzzled, “Why did you hit her again?”

Xiao Yao said this in the tone of an elementary school homeroom teacher.

"She not only hit me, but also pricked me with needles," said Shen Jie, a primary school student, embellishing her story with exaggerated gestures.

“I…” Yu Luying said.

"Prick you with needles? Are you some kind of old hag?" Xiao Yao suddenly remembered the gold and silver needles that Yu Lihua had shown him at the boat shop, and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

"That's because Shen Jie was slept with by Zhao Xiaomei, and I was just trying to wake her up!" Yu Luying said.

"What?" Xiao Yao feigned sadness and said, "How come I haven't even slept with her yet, and she's already been slept with by Zhao Xiaomei?"

Shen Jie: "?"

Yu Luying: "? Vulgar."

"Oh," Shen Jie ignored Xiao Yao's lame joke and said to Yu Luying in a serious tone, "To be honest, are you taking this opportunity to settle a personal score?"

“What revenge do I need?” Yu Luying said.

"For example, you still hold a grudge against me for that punch I deliberately landed on your chest—on Xiao Yao's chest—the day I went to summer camp," Shen Jie said with a smile.

"Oh, so you did it on purpose, sister. You've given yourself away without being asked, haven't you?" Yu Luying exclaimed.

“It’s alright,” Xiao Yao laughed. “You slapped her twice, and she didn’t even hit back. That shows how magnanimous she is. Little Apple, don’t do that again, okay?”

Yu Luying glared at Xiao Yao and said, "Brother, you're openly taking sides, aren't you? Let me tell you, this won't do."

"Brother Yi Gang!" Xiao Yao exclaimed in surprise.

"Did you hear me? Did you hear me? Did you hear me?" Shen Jie teased Yu Luying with her finger, "If you dare to hit me again, I'll make your brother Xiao Yao slap himself ten times."

Xiao Yao: "Uh..."

Although Shen Jie was clearly joking, Yu Luying was still a little unhappy.

"Squeak—squeak—" Just as Xiao Yao was at a loss for what to do, he heard a sharp cry.

Before he could react, a rather large object rolled across the floor, rushing from one end of the room to the other.

Xiao Yao: "?"

"what is this?"

"It's probably a big rat."