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

Xiao Yao excitedly recounted his entire summer camp experience to Xiao Xiong, omitting the parts about the shadow invasion and the organization's reception.

As he spoke, he began to feel a pang of sadness.

He certainly doesn't lack friends now, but he will never forget that when he was isolated by the whole class and felt most helpless, it was Xiao Xiong and his friends Shen Bin and Hua Ang who took the initiative to extend a helping hand.

He would never forget that in the first hall—Teacher Yao's hall—it was Xiao Xiong who accompanied him and Yu Luying through life and death, almost losing their lives in it, without a single complaint, asking for nothing in return, leaving only a dashing figure behind.

It's truly a pity that such a good brother who went through thick and thin with me has gradually drifted away and stopped communicating.

Xiao Yao pondered that he should tell him more secrets about the Shadow World and the existence of the organization, and try to recruit him—for some reason, he just believed that Xiao Xiong was also someone with some kind of talent.

But he knew this wasn't something he could decide for himself.

As an assistant to the "Guardian of Mingye" (a future one who hasn't received his certificate yet), all he can do is report to his superior, Comrade Yu Bo, who will then decide on further actions.

"This sounds like so much fun!!" The little bear got more and more excited as he listened, his eyes shining. Then he became annoyed: "This is what summer camp should be like!! What a load of crap my summer camp was!! Ugh, why didn't you invite me? I wanted to go too! This is what youth is all about!"

The little bear slammed its hand on the table, attracting the attention of some diners.

"Uh, what's so fun about it? Actually, it's not that fun," Xiao Yao quickly said, forgetting why he hadn't called himself Little Bear. "I just deliberately picked out the fun parts to talk about, didn't I? We didn't actually spend much time playing at the beach. Most of the time was spent in class—large classes, small classes, and all sorts of team activities..."

"That's fun too!" the little bear said with a long face. "Isn't what you're saying more fun than math tutoring?! Plus, there's so much seafood to eat for free!"

“Mr. Que,” Xiao Yao had to admit, “there aren’t many things in this world less fun than tutoring in math.”

"That's what youth is all about!" Little Bear repeated, "Going on a beach vacation with two girlfriends, spending every day together sweetly, sweating and splashing in the sea..."

"Alright, alright," Xiao Yao said, "Could you keep your voice down when you say 'two'? People are looking at me. Hey, let me ask you something," Xiao Yao said, leaning closer to the teddy bear mysteriously, "I heard you had a girlfriend in junior high, but I've never heard you mention it. Did you break up?"

As Xiao Yao said this, Xiao Xiong happened to turn his head to look at the TV hanging in the restaurant: "Hey, Xiao Yao, have you been watching the Asian Cup lately?"

"I wanted to watch it, but I didn't get to see many shows," Xiao Yao said honestly. "I've just been too busy, there's just too much to do."

It seemed that Xiao Xiong didn't really want to answer questions about his ex-girlfriend, Xiao Yao thought.

If it were the old him, he would have continued to press for answers, but now Xiao Yao understands that when someone is unwilling to talk, you should play dumb.

"What am I busy with?" Little Bear said casually.

"We've been so busy, who knows what we've been busy with?" Xiao Yao said.

"Tonight is the final, our national football team is playing against Japan." Little Bear looked mysterious, as if he had some inside information.

“Of course I know that,” Xiao Yao said.

"Do you want to watch?" Little Bear asked Xiao Yao.

“I have to see it,” Xiao Yao replied.

"How many goals do you think we can win?" Little Bear asked with a hint of genuine expectation in his eyes.

"Ah?" Having already foreseen the outcome, Xiao Yao quickly concealed his sympathy.

"What? You have so little confidence in our national football team?" Xiao Xiong showed his simple patriotic fan enthusiasm: "Our national football team has always performed very well in this competition, and this time we are playing at home, so the advantage is on our side."

"Matchmaker," Xiao Yao said vaguely, "is indeed very promising, but who knows what will happen on the court, right?"

For some reason, Xiao Yao felt that the little bear gave him a meaningful look.

"Of course, I also hope the national football team can win," Xiao Yao quickly said. "However, I feel the national team has a weakness, which is their lack of composure and poor mentality. This is reflected in..."

The two boys chatted about football for a long time. Before leaving, Xiao Xiong invited Xiao Yao to go to a bar to watch a game that night.

"It's much more atmospheric than watching the game at home. Watching a game is all about being together," said Little Bear.

"It's not that...it's not possible?" Xiao Yao thought for a moment: "I don't think I've ever watched a game in a bar before."

After Xiao Xiong left, Xiao Yao saw the text messages sent by Shen Jie and Yu Luying on his phone.

He looked at Yu Luying's first.

"I was busy and didn't see it."

The five characters, without punctuation, were read by Xiao Yao five times, from side to side.

Then I looked at Shen Jie's information.

"Hey dog, I've finished shopping with your grandma. Now I'm going to meet your junior high friend's friend to sell jewelry. Do you want to come with me?"

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Yao first called Shen Jie.

"Hey, where are you? I was having dinner with Xiao Xiong and didn't see you," Xiao Yao said. "Where are you now? I'm coming over."

“You don’t need to come over. I’ve already met with them,” Shen Jie said. “We’re at the jewelry store getting the gold tested. We’ll be back soon, so you don’t need to make the trip.”

"Uh..." Xiao Yao hesitated, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

"What's wrong?" Shen Jie said, "If you have nothing to say, I'll hang up now. They're waiting for me."

"Wait a minute, I'm warning you—" He realized his tone was too harsh as soon as he said it, and quickly took it back: "You're not allowed to—you can't take the money and go buy lottery tickets. You have to come back and wait for me to go buy them with you."

"Huh?" Shen Jie was taken aback, her tone as if a child who was secretly planning to do something naughty had been caught by an adult beforehand: "What's wrong? It doesn't matter who goes to buy it, I'm just passing by."

Hearing the cautious, cheerful tone on the other end of the phone, Xiao Yao knew he had fallen for the other party's scheme: "No, I'm not joking with you, I'm very serious, no."

"Oh, you!" Shen Jie's tone was somewhat displeased. "That's my money."

“I don’t want to discuss with you whether this is premarital personal property or marital property,” Xiao Yao said firmly. “You have to promise me this.”

"Alright, alright, I understand," Shen Jie replied reluctantly, her tone displeased.

“You promise Jesus, you promise the Virgin Mary,” Xiao Yao said, still uneasy.

"I promise, I promise," Shen Jie said.

“There’s one more thing,” Xiao Yao said, “Will he give you cash or a bank transfer? If it’s cash—”

"Beep beep."

Xiao Yao stared blankly at his phone for a moment, then muttered to himself, "You *****, you hung up on me before I finished speaking?!"

The proprietress of the Sands Hotel said with a smile, "Oh dear, all young girls these days are like this. Don't be so forceful, try to coax them a little more."

"Hehe, hmph." Xiao Yao gave a polite dry laugh as a response to the landlady.

Then he dialed Shen Jie's number again.

This time she took a long time to answer, and her tone was a little impatient: "What are you doing—"

"Will he give you cash or a bank transfer? If it's cash—" Xiao Yao said.

“With so much money, how could we possibly use cash?” Shen Jie said, “We’ll transfer it.”

"That's good," Xiao Yao said.

After hanging up the phone, he held his phone in his hand, thought for more than ten seconds, and then dialed Yu Luying again.

After another long pause, Yu Luying answered the phone: "Hello? I'm busy right now."

"Are you free tonight?" Xiao Yao quickly asked. "Would you like to go out to watch the game with me, Shen Jie, and Xiao Xiong?"

"Today? No, I have something to do at home," Yu Luying said hurriedly.

"What's wrong...?" Xiao Yao asked.

“I…” Yu Luying said, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up now.”

"Hey, it's the Asian Cup final," Xiao Yao said. "China vs. Japan."

“…” Yu Luying said, “It’s really inconvenient for me to come out.”

"Okay then," Xiao Yao said dejectedly, "Contact me immediately if anything comes up."

"It's okay." Yu Luying said and then hurriedly hung up the phone.

“You *****…” Xiao Yao’s hand holding the phone fell limply to his side. He had been happy, but after these two calls, he felt an indescribable tightness in his chest.

depressed.

Xiao Yao felt that the proprietress of the Jinsha Hotel was looking at him sideways, so he stood up and walked towards the hotel entrance, intending to go home first.

"Hey, young man," the proprietress called out to him from behind, "you haven't paid your bill yet."

"What?" Xiao Yao was taken aback: "I thought my friend had already bought it."

“I didn’t buy it.”

You bastard, Xiongji!

We ordered a lot of dishes.

While paying the bill, Xiao Yao silently complained about Xiong Ji in his mind: "Oh right, um, could you pack this up for me? This, this, and this."

When the boy returned home, he saw his radiant grandmother, who looked as if she had suddenly become ten years younger. She pulled him aside and kept praising how wonderful Shen Jie was and how patiently she accompanied him shopping.

Xiao Yao listened while eating the large pork jerky his grandmother had bought. Not long after, Shen Jie returned.

The two made up an excuse to say goodbye to their grandmother and then prepared to leave.

"Come back early, dinner is coming soon!" Grandma said.

"Okay, Grandma, I'll be back soon," Shen Jie replied obediently.

On the way, Xiao Yao asked Shen Jie how much the jewelry had sold for. The number Shen Jie gave him almost made Xiao Yao faint.

Two people got into a big argument in front of the lottery shop.

Shen Jie's point was that since you insist on being on the safe side, I'll just put half of the money from selling the jewelry as collateral.