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

The warm light made even the dust floating in the room clearly visible, as if it were a masterpiece gently caressed on the canvas by a master's skillful hand, or a ray of dazzling light from heaven.

Is this the morning of the Feast of the Assumption of Mary? Could this be a miracle? Xiao Yao wondered to himself.

In this light, he felt that the gloom of yesterday had been swept away, and the future was full of infinite possibilities and hope.

The boy moved slightly, only to find his arm strangely numb, as if enveloped by some mysterious magic, and he had completely lost all feeling in it.

He turned to look at his side, where Shen Jie and Yu Luying were lying quietly in bed, smiling in their sleep.

Their arms were tightly wrapped around his, one on each side, nestled gently in his embrace.

Clearly, this is the culprit that destroyed his arm's sensation.

This moment is like a painting, freezing the image of happiness on the canvas of time.

In the warm morning light, Xiao Yao gently reached out a hand and picked up the phone from the bedside table.

Not wanting to disturb the two girls' peace, he gently aimed his phone's camera at the three of them, capturing this happy and heartwarming moment.

Three smiling faces, three hearts, embracing tightly, leaving behind a precious group photo, forever engraving this beautiful moment in their memories.

Xiao Yao realized that at this moment, all the hard work, effort, arguments, heartache, setbacks, and danger he had faced were over.

Everything, all the sacrifices, my own, Mommy Meow's, and Little Apple's, have been rewarded.

Chapter 328 Like a Teenager, Galloping

2023-09-17

August 15, 2004, a beautiful new day, began with chaos and disorder.

"Oh no—we're going to be late!! Why didn't you wake us up when you were awake?"

"I just woke up, took a picture, and then you two woke up."

"Oh no! I really have nothing to wear now!!"

"Don't call out, I washed two pieces of clothing for you and hung them to dry in the bathroom. Go and take a look."

"Silly girl!! Give me a kiss!!"

"Get away, get away, get away, don't be disgusting."

"Hey dog, what are you standing there for? Call a car!"

"Where am I supposed to call a car?"

"Is this really your hometown?"

"What, am I supposed to call Xu Ruiyi and say, 'Hey, Xu, hurry up and drive over to pick me up'?"

"And who is Xu Ruiyi?"

"A stupid rich kid, one of my buddies from junior high."

"Sister, those are my socks... Ah, never mind, as long as you don't mind."

"It's okay, you can wear mine too."

"Your socks are too expensive, what if I wear them out?"

"Shen Jie, your athlete's foot is better now—ah, don't hit me, Silly Girl is still over there! I'll say it again, I'll say it again—okay! That's right, best friends who swap pants!"

Yu Luying had consulted with the chubby Father Li at the summer camp a few days ago and learned that the Sunday Mass and major holiday Mass here is at 8:00 am.

The three kids left home around 7 a.m. It was a little over an hour away, a distance of just over 10 kilometers. Of course, it wouldn't be a problem if they had a car, but the problem was that they didn't.

As always, taking a taxi is out of the question; it's impossible to get one in my lifetime. And it's also highly unlikely that I'll take a pedicab for this distance.

The next bus departs at 8:10, and the public bus runs once an hour. The last one just left – after all this commotion, it's already 7:20.

The three children stood under the old, dusty bus stop sign. Yu Luying was holding her phone, her face looking unwell. She bit her lower lip and gently stomped her right foot—considering it was still summer, Xiao Yao guessed that it wasn't due to the cold.

She couldn't help but jump: she jumped with both feet, and although it wasn't very high, Xiao Yao still noticed her.

The girl didn't say anything, but Xiao Yao could hear her cursing him in her heart, cursing him for not making plans when he was away from home, for being blind to the situation, and for not taking her affairs seriously.

Xiao Yao knew he was in the wrong and made a deep self-criticism, but he still couldn't help thinking: You only know how to blame me, why didn't you do your homework beforehand?

Oh no! Yu Luying looked up, glaring angrily at Xiao Yao. Her pretty face had a unique charm when she was angry, but Xiao Yao wasn't in the mood to pay attention to that right now.

"Then what use is a man like you to me?" Xiao Yao seemed to hear Yu Luying mentally cursing him.

He leaned forward slightly and gave Yu Luying a salute as an apology.

Shen Jie stood on the curb, peering out and waving her little hand in vain at the sparse four-wheeled and three-wheeled vehicles passing by.

A rickshaw stopped in front of the girl and asked her in a dialect she couldn't understand where she was going.

Shen Jie guessed what he meant and answered "Fang Bing." The driver then told her that this distance was not cheap.

The cat mother couldn't understand and looked at Xiao Yao. Xiao Yao quickly said to the driver, "We'll pay whatever the price is."

At this distance, the speed of a rickshaw is obviously far from enough, but it's still more practical than running.

Although it was unlikely, Xiao Yao couldn't help but ask the driver if they could arrive before eight o'clock.

"I can't make it, I can't make it," the rickshaw driver said with a grin.

He then learned that a section of National Highway 334 leading to Fangbing was under construction and had just been closed off at both ends. He could only detour via the country roads next to it, which would increase the journey by at least 50%.

Xiao Yao immediately made a decision and called Xu Ruiyi.

Although I'm a bit thick-skinned, there's no other way now.

After a long wait for the notification tone, he finally answered, his voice tinged with sleepiness as he said, "Hello? Who is this?"

Xu Ruiyi had been indulging in debauchery all night and had only been asleep for an hour or two. Still grumpy from waking up, he berated Xiao Yao and refused his offer to be his driver, only telling Xiao Yao to come to his house and take the motorcycle away.

"Oh my gosh—" Xiao Yao shouted at the departing figure of the rickshaw driver.

When the three children arrived at Xu Ruiyi's house in a rickshaw, it was already 7:43.

"Why is there another one?" Xu Ruiyi, wearing something that looked like a bathrobe, rubbed his eyes with one hand and pushed out his light motorcycle with the other, then inserted the key into it.

"Hello, I'm Xu Qingwei," Shen Jie introduced herself with grace and poise.

"Ah, hello, hello, fellow clanswoman." Xu Ruiyi subconsciously extended her right hand, but Xiao Yao slapped it away.

“Fuck you,” Xu Ruiyi said, “fill up the tank when you come back.”

Yu Luying sat in the front, and Shen Jie sat behind Xiao Yao: "That's not right, you're tall, you should sit in the back."

Xu Ruiyi watched the three of them leave—Xiao Yao had the pretty girl who looked like a middle school student in front of him, and his girlfriend, whom he had brought back last time, was sitting behind him, also tightly hugging his waist, as they disappeared around the corner.

"Damn," Xu Ruiyi muttered to himself, "What's going on?"

Xu Ruiyi knew that this time he was truly envious.

Are people from Shanghai really that amazing?

……

Xu Ruiyi's light motorcycle was indeed very small, so the three of them had to maintain a posture with their chests pressed against their backs, completely covering the motorcycle. Therefore, from a distance, passersby could only see three conjoined twins seemingly floating in a sitting position on the national highway, running along the road. The scene was quite bizarre.

"At least get there before the Gospel... well, let's get there before the Creed?" Yu Luying's voice rang out from the depths of Xiao Yao's heart.

"Understood!" Xiao Yao twisted the accelerator to the floor, and the little donkey shook as if it were falling apart, speeding up to its limit of 5 or 60 miles per hour, speeding along National Highway 334 towards the rising sun.

At this speed, you wouldn't feel anything while sitting in the car, and it would be average on a large motorcycle, but on this small scooter, it gave off a terrifying feeling, scaring the cat's mother so much that she turned pale: "Are you trying to die? Slow down!"

You two, one telling me to hurry up and the other telling me to slow down, it's really putting me in a difficult position.

At this distance, Xiao Yao could smell the fragrance of both girls' bodies and hair at the same time, and feel their warmth and heartbeats, but he had no mood for it at all, only thinking about accelerating, accelerating, flooring the accelerator, and accelerating again.

There are no fast lanes or slow lanes on National Highway 334. Xiao Yao rode along the roadside and riverbank. Overloaded trucks and dump trucks kept passing by, making a sound like tanks, which made the three little ones and the national highway tremble.

Under such intense pressure, Xiao Yao had no choice but to slow down and ask his superior to go first.

However, new large trucks will soon arrive to replace them.

Xiao Yao couldn't help but wonder, if I died now, would I be able to go to heaven?

And there's Yu Luying, Shen Jie, and the others...

Listening to Shen Jie's incessant complaints about the rural town—mainly about transportation, and also about the bizarre practices of restaurants not turning on air conditioning or selling chilled drinks—Xiao Yao drove to the road closure.

To the right was a lush, murky river. Xiao Yao turned the dragon head and entered the country road on the left.

Side roads have their advantages; at least you won't get your whole family killed by a truck driver. But these days, there's no smartphone navigation app like Gaode Maps, so you can only choose a general direction to drive in.

The country roads were intricate and complicated. Xiao Yao was in a hurry, and he felt that they were getting further and further away from their destination, so he couldn't help but get impatient.

"Oh, oh, oh, outside the quiet little village, there was a silly little boy born in the 80s..." Xiao Yao sang a song to relieve his stress.

"Stop singing, it's so annoying," Yu Luying said.

"Oh, look how hard we've tried, surely the Holy Mother will forgive us, right?" Xiao Yao changed to a witty remark: "That's why she's called the Holy Mother, isn't it?"

On one side of the road were farmlands, where the crops should be rice, and they were growing well. But Xiao Yao, a lazy intellectual who was neither physically active nor knowledgeable about farming, could only see an unpleasant expanse of green.

On the other side of the road was also a lush green expanse—a small river with many duckweed floating on its surface… I think it's called duckweed? In any case, it was a thin and thick layer of green stuff, drifting in the wind, sometimes alone and sometimes in groups of three or five.

After slipping on the corn husks spread on the road, Xiao Yao cursed loudly while thanking himself that nothing serious had happened. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder what would have happened to the three of them if he had made a mistake and plunged into the river.

Then he was stopped by three barking wild dogs... well, I guess they were domestic dogs, and he had no choice but to grit his teeth and charge through.