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

Besides, Grandma and Yu Lihua were barely "acquainted," and they at least exchanged nods of acquaintance when they met, so it was even more awkward...

Yu Luying immediately pointed out that her mother was aware of and agreed to the matter.

Grandma was taken aback, somewhat skeptical.

However, she still disagreed with Yu Luying's application for temporary residence.

Although Grandma's words were tactful, her meaning was clear and unambiguous.

You may consider them all excuses, but every single one of them is indeed true.

She pointed out that her place was too small to accommodate so many female bodhisattvas (this was Xiao Yao's summary and understanding, not her grandmother's original words). There were only two bedrooms (Xiao Yao pointed out that there were actually three, which Yu Luying knew). They were old, dilapidated, and small, and all the people there were men and women of the same age. It was really not physical enough for them to live there, and it was also not very convenient to arrange them. It would be bad if word got out.

"After all, no matter how good your relationship is with Yao Yao, you're just good friends and classmates, right?" Grandma said. "Even Jie Jie, before she got married, was stuck in the room across the street."

"Grandma!" Xiao Yao called out hurriedly.

Sure enough, Yu Luying was very unhappy with these words—her grandmother's words seemed to imply that she was nameless and had no status, and that there was a difference in their closeness to Shen Jie, yet she made such a rude request without any sense of boundaries.

Although, perhaps, that's how it appears to outsiders.

Moreover, it makes it seem like you're shamelessly giving away money?

What do you mean Jie Jie also sleeps in the room across the hall? Do you think I want to sleep with Xiao Yao? I'm just asking to stay at his place as a classmate and friend. How can you talk like that, old lady?

Yu Luying's face was flushed, it was hard to tell whether it was from embarrassment or anger.

Actually, Grandma didn't mean it that way; it was just that the speaker didn't mean anything by it, but the listener took it to heart.

"Isn't it inconvenient for you to stay with your uncle? Or ask your grandfather's family..." Grandma seemed to be giving Yu Luying some helpful advice, but to Yu Luying, it sounded like she was implying, no, explicitly, that she had many other options and was being told to leave.

"Are you kidding me? It's like I really want to live here!" Yu Luying thought.

Xiao Yao felt that if it weren't for the symbiotic dog leash—the red rope—that held Yu Luying together, she probably would have been too humiliated to bear and stormed off.

"Grandma, let's eat, the soup's getting cold." Xiao Yao reached out from under the table and squeezed Yu Luying's small hand. The latter forcefully pulled her hand away and gently stepped on his foot. The two engaged in a silent struggle under the table.

Ultimately, it ended with Yu Luying surrendering and admitting defeat.

Grandma knew what Xiao Yao meant, so she kept quiet and started talking about the weather.

While the two little ones were fighting under the table, Grandma noticed the commotion and cast a questioning glance, but she didn't look under the table.

Xiao Yao and Yu Luying quickly calmed down—the former, seeing that the latter had stopped resisting, squeezed the girl's hand hard twice, then withdrew his hand and continued to eat his white rice slowly and methodically, as if nothing had happened.

Grandma looked at her grandson, then at Yu Luying, and finally at Shen Jie, who was eating her meal without any expression, and gave her a look of "I don't understand".

“Grandma, I’m also an outsider staying here, so I shouldn’t have any say,” Shen Jie suggested. “But I still really want a close friend to keep me company. Why don’t you reconsider?”

"This little girl, Jie Jie, is really carefree. How can she tolerate someone else snoring beside her bed?" Grandma thought.

"But, but how are we supposed to sleep?" Grandma said.

Just then, the wardrobe door was suddenly pushed open forcefully without warning, and the door bumped into the back of Xiao Yao's head.

Yu Luying and Xiao Yao simultaneously made sounds like "ah" or "oh".

"You brat! How many times have I told you!" Xiao Yao snapped, "Knock a few times before pushing the cabinet door open, and push it slowly—"

"Grandma! Wow, why didn't you wait for me to eat?" Shen Tianyun ignored Xiao Yao and just shouted, "I had late training today—you? What are you doing here..."

When Shen Tianyun saw Yu Luying, her face fell and her tone became unfriendly.

"Yunyun!" Xiao Yao shouted, and then slapped her lightly.

Amidst the pervasive stench of stinky feet, Yu Luying nearly lost her temper on the spot.

Fortunately, before she could react, Shen Jie put down her chopsticks and pushed the bowl in front of her away, saying, "Xiao Yao, Yu Luying, shall we tell them?"

"what?"

"tell what?"

The moment the two of them uttered those two questions, they immediately realized how silly their questions were.

Shen Tianyun: "?"

grandmother:"?"

After the five people stared at each other for three seconds, Xiao Yao nodded: "I think it's okay."

Yu Luying bit her lower lip, remaining silent, neither nodding nor shaking her head.

"Silly girl?" Xiao Yao called out to her.

"You decide," Yu Luying said softly at the end.

"Grandma, did you notice that during dinner just now," Xiao Yao began, "Yu Luying and I took turns using our chopsticks and eating?"

Grandma looked confused, indicating that she hadn't noticed and didn't know what Xiao Yao was trying to say.

"Should I tell you or you tell me? Fine, I'll tell you." Xiao Yao began to recount: "It was in mid-April—April? No, no, it was sometime in mid-May, the day after Tianyun's room was connected to ours, that I discovered..."

"Get to the point," Yu Luying interjected.

Xiao Yao told his grandmother and Shen Tianyun about his symbiotic relationship in one go, including the changes in the strength of the symbiosis. However, he did not mention the symbiotic principle that they had speculated about, or the preconditions for the changes in strength.

Although it is a hypothesis that is increasingly being proven to be true, it is still a hypothesis.

Most importantly, Xiao Yao felt there was no need to tell them this now.

Shen Tianyun was so shocked that she forgot to eat for a moment, and only remembered that she was hungry after Xiao Yao finished telling her the whole story.

"Grandma! Is there any more rice? Is there any more food?" Shen Tianyun called out to her still shocked grandmother.

"Wow, you're something else! This is your first reaction after hearing something so incredible?" Xiao Yao thought.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, my dear girl, Grandma will get you some..." Grandma stood up shakily.

"Go get it yourself!" Xiao Yao glared at Da'er with an air of authority, then realized how unreasonable the request was: "Also, how many times have I told you, it's Great-Grandma."

"It's alright, it's alright." Grandma smiled kindly, her face beaming like a flower: "Just call me Grandma."

"Grandma," Shen Tianyun called out.

"?" Xiao Yao thought to himself, what kind of weird, nonsensical new word is this?

Grandma went to the soap room and brought back the food that had been prepared long ago—the dishes were the same, but the portions were about 75% of what was on the table now, and a large pot of rice was steamed separately.

Simply put, Shen Tianyun alone eats 75% of the portions meant for Xiao Yao, Shen Jie, Yu Luying, and her grandmother.

The three children and their grandmother watched Shen Tianyun wolf down her food while waiting for her to sort out her thoughts and come to her senses.

Grandma's process didn't take too long—as we mentioned before, this old lady is very good at accepting new things, especially since she had just been exposed to the concepts of time tunnels and future great-granddaughters a few days ago, so her understanding of symbiosis wasn't so...so...shocking, or it could be understood as desensitization.

"No wonder Mom allows you to always hang around Daddy..." Shen Tianyun commented while slurping down her pork rib soup.

"Shut up," Xiao Yao commanded.

"Hey, a cat!" Shen Tianyun exclaimed. "Where did this cat come from?"

“Your mom picked her up from school,” Xiao Yao replied.

"Little Mommy, you have other kittens now, so you don't want the kittens anymore?" Shen Tianyun pouted, looking like she was about to cry—but before she could act for more than a few seconds, she smiled and handed a piece of rib to the "dog's" mouth.

"Meow~~" the dog said happily.

"You really are a dog," Xiao Yao said to the dog.

"Meow~~~" The dog wagged its tail.

"Damn, it really is a dog among cats?" Xiao Yao thought.

Grandma made a phone call to Yu Lihua, and that's how it was decided that Yu Luying would stay at Xiao Yao's house temporarily.

Regarding the specific room arrangements, Grandma originally intended for Xiao Yao to sleep with her, but the bed in Grandma's room was too narrow, so she had to give up on that idea in the end.

Shen Jie had just escaped death today and was still in shock. She really wanted to cling to Xiao Yao and talk to him to comfort her—but she had no face to make such a request in front of her grandmother and Yu Luying.

The final preliminary plan is that Grandma will still sleep in her own room, Shen Jie and Yu Luying will share a room, and Xiao Yao and Shen Tianyun will share a room.

Almost everyone thought this was the best solution at present, but Xiao Yao had a different opinion.

“The two of you sharing a room… to be honest, I’m not entirely comfortable with that,” Xiao Yao said, subtly expressing his concerns.

"Do you have a better idea?" Shen Jie asked Xiao Yao.

Xiao Yao couldn't figure it out.

If she says she wants to share a room with Shen Jie, then Yu Luying will end up sharing a room with Shen Tianyun. That would be a real mess.

He said he wanted to share a room with Yu Luying... Of course, that option is no longer possible now, no matter what.

"Fine," Xiao Yao said reluctantly, looking troubled.

“We’ll be good, right, silly girl?” Shen Jie stepped forward, grabbed one of Xiao Yao’s hands, and shook it a few times.

"Hmm." Yu Luying remained expressionless and motionless, simply standing there with her arms crossed, giving a nonchalant reply.

“…” Xiao Yao said, “It’s still hard to feel at ease.”

“We’ll talk calmly and properly tonight,” Yu Luying told Xiao Yao.

Talk it out, talk it out. If you can't reach an agreement and start arguing, who will care if you two end up fighting like dogs in 2034?

"We won't, don't worry." Yu Luying's voice echoed in Xiao Yao's heart.

"How about Tianyun and I sleep inside, and you two sleep outside?" Xiao Yao suggested.