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

“I, definitely, must,” Shen Jie said.

"Okay then," Xiao Yao said eagerly.

Actually, they had discussed this issue a few days ago.

Xiao Yao originally wanted Shen Jie to wear a beautiful dress, but Shen Jie resisted wearing complicated clothes and dressing up like a giant Barbie doll.

After some bargaining, both sides made concessions.

At that moment, Xiao Yao went to the "public bathhouse" for a back scrub as instructed by Shen Jie.

Throughout the process, he kept urging the bath attendant to hurry up—not only because he was anxious, but also because he was afraid that things might get complicated if he delayed any longer.

When they returned to their grandmother's house, Shen Jie was no longer in the room.

Xiao Yao unconsciously held his breath and tiptoed to push open the wardrobe door in his daughter's room.

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The boy's heartbeat seemed to freeze at that moment.

With the curtains drawn, in the dim light of the room, his gaze was involuntarily drawn to a corner of the room.

The young girl, Shen Jie, leaned against the headboard, her silhouette faintly visible in the dim light, like a mysterious fairy.

Xiao Yao casually turned on the light with a "snap".

"What are you doing?" the girl exclaimed softly, "Turn it off!"

Xiao Yao teased her, "What are you doing? Do you want to be like Kang Qianshui too?"

Shen Jie's face flushed red: "Shut up."

Then, she didn't insist on turning off the lights anymore.

Some damp strands of her medium-length hair clung to the girl's slightly round cheeks, with tiny droplets of water glistening on her skin.

Plain white cotton socks encircled her slender ankles—their length just past them. These unadorned socks, like morning dewdrops, gently outlined her youthful innocence. At that moment, Xiao Yao could almost feel the girl's heartbeat; it was as if her presence filled the entire room with the pulse of life.

The boy stood at the wardrobe door, seemingly frozen in time by this scene. The girl's beauty made him hesitant to move, afraid to break the tranquility and mystery. Under the bright light, Shen Jie still seemed like a phantom from a dream, stirring Xiao Yao's heart and leaving him unable to calm down for a long time.

In the dim light, she shone like a diamond.

"I'm back..." Xiao Yao swallowed hard and waved the things in his hand: "Uh, I bought what you wanted."

Jie'er jumped down and slowly walked towards Xiao Yao, opening her arms and making her usual "hug" gesture.

Xiao Yao jogged up.

Before Shen Jie could react, Xiao Yao pulled her into his arms.

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"Why did Meiyu suddenly start doing that kind of thing?" Shen Jie suddenly asked Xiao Yao. "She was fine before."

"Maybe you've misunderstood. You didn't even give her a chance to explain. Maybe he's her uncle or a relative or something?"

“Impossible,” Shen Jie said. “The way that fat man looked at her was the same way you look at me right now.”

“…Uh,” Xiao Yao said, “Maybe she’s been lying to you all along? Maybe she’s been pretending all along?”

"Then why did she suddenly stop pretending?" Shen Jie said, "Before I went to find her, I had been unable to contact her for several days."

"Do you really have to talk about this right now?" Xiao Yao looked up and said, "Can you please concentrate?"

"Okay, okay, focus." Shen Jie said, "I just feel really sad about this, just like my dad doesn't want me anymore, or I lost the football lottery—I've suffered too many blows lately."

Xiao Yao patted Shen Jie's head: "I'll take care of everything."

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"Didn't Silly Girl always long for her father to come back?" Shen Jie said, "You know, when the two of us were in Teacher Yao's parenting education center..."

“Shen Jie!!!” Xiao Yao shouted reproachfully.

“Uh,” Shen Jie said.

"Should I call her and ask her to come over now?" Xiao Yao said.

"Uh, then it's not necessary," Shen Jie said.

……

……

……

Xiao Yao fell asleep.

Shen Jie gently wiped the boy's tired face with a wet tissue and lightly stroked the fine beads of sweat on his forehead.

From this angle, with this lighting, doesn't it look pretty cool?

Shen Jie bent down and kissed the boy in her arms on the cheek.

She was exhausted, but couldn't fall asleep at all.

There's still a slight feeling of resentment in my heart.

This feeling of giving up halfway is awful.

Difficulties are real, but if she chooses to run away instead of facing them head-on, that's not Shen Jie.

Shen Jie decided to go out and buy some things.

What did Grandma say last time? I think it was something like, "Go out of the small shop in this alley, keep walking straight ahead, turn onto Gaoling Road, and there's a very small shop there..."

The girl gently pulled her arm out from behind Xiao Yao's neck, afraid of waking the sleeping boy.

She got off the ground and tiptoed to put on a pair of black trousers.

Her feet felt sticky and slippery when she walked. She seriously considered whether to take off her cotton socks, but in the end, she decided against it.

The girl travels back to 2004, enters the photo room, and puts her feet into her sneakers.

I gently closed the door and went downstairs.

In the dim light of day, the girl walked toward the entrance of the alley.

This is the first time she has gone out alone since August 17.

"There shouldn't be any problems, right?" Shen Jie thought.

It's as if whatever I wish for comes true.

After passing the intersection of an alley, a familiar yet unfamiliar boy's voice rang out from behind Shen Jie.

“Shen Jie,” he said.

Shen Jie felt a chill run down her spine, and a wave of fear washed over her.

"Can I talk to you?" the boy said politely, his tone somewhat humble.

Shen Jie almost instinctively took off running.

Running wildly.

In a quiet environment.

She heard the boy behind her.

They caught up.

Chapter 344 Home Plate

2023-10-04

*This chapter is also known as "The Home Run Aid Player"

On August 31, the day before school started, the temperature dropped a bit.

But Zhang Zhengkai still drank a very, very cold bottle of Sprite.

He bought the bottle of Sprite at the small shop at the entrance of Xiao Yao's grandmother's alley. It was in a glass bottle, which required a beer bottle opener to open, and he had to return the bottle after finishing it.

Zhang Zhengkai likes to drink beverages from glass bottles because they are fizzy.

He especially loved the water droplets that condensed on the outside of the glass bottle like morning dew, just like the images in the advertisements.

The boy tilted his head back and gulped down the bottle of Sprite in two big gulps, pausing once to expel carbon dioxide, taking a total of only seven or eight seconds.

comfortable.

He wanted to hold up the empty bottle and say to the shopkeeper, "Sparkling, refreshing, Sprite."

But he wouldn't do something so offensive.

Zhang Zhengkai slammed the empty bottle heavily on the glass counter of the convenience store and let out a long burp.