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

“Think about it,” Shen Jie said, “If it were me, if it were me—I would just go to the bathroom with the girls, and you would stand up in advance and walk in front of them, wouldn’t that work?”

“But between the men’s and women’s restrooms…” Xiao Yao said.

“Anyway, the two of you have a close symbiotic connection now. If you control your pace, you can walk within 5 meters of others,” Shen Jie continued. “Girls are always chattering when they walk, they won’t care if you walk in front of them.”

“But…” Yu Luying said.

“But what a load of rubbish, you two big idiots,” Shen Jie said, “Take the matter of you two going to the toilet together in class today, for example. Don’t you know how to explain to people that the food you ate together at noon wasn’t very clean?”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Xiao Yao said, “but… sigh! What’s the use of saying all this now? Hindsight is 20/20. Why didn’t you do this earlier?”

"Tch," Shen Jie said with a sneer, "I was trying to give you both some good advice, and you're not happy about it."

“It’s too late to use these methods now,” Yu Luying said dejectedly. “You’ve already attracted their attention. They’re watching you. Whatever you do will be watched.”

“Oh, right,” Xiao Yao suddenly remembered something, “I heard from Director Lin that… Hey, Shen Jie, have you heard any rumors in the class or grade lately? The kind that are really bad about Yu Luying.”

Yu Luying looked nervous.

Shen Jie hesitated for a moment: "No."

"Sister, just tell me," Yu Luying said after a moment's hesitation.

"Since they've already called me 'sister,' it seems the fight from last time is over," Xiao Yao thought.

Over the past two weeks, or rather, the past ten days, Xiao Yao felt that the atmosphere between the three of them was becoming increasingly... strange.

What's strange is that they increasingly lack the feeling of being a couple, of ambiguity, of being in love. Instead, they slowly become like three innocent friends in a children's cartoon.

Right, it's like the one in "Happy Family Car".

"Have you two watched 'Happy Family Car'?" Xiao Yao asked Yu Luying and Shen Jie.

“Don’t interrupt,” Yu Luying said, “Sister, just tell me.”

"Oh, what's the point of talking about such trivial matters and gossip? What's there to inquire about?" Shen Jie stretched. "I'd rather ask something else."

"What is it?" Xiao Yao asked, understanding the implication.

"Why do we have to do our homework here on Friday night?" Shen Jie asked.

“Yeah, it’s become a habit,” Xiao Yao put his pen on the table. “Let’s go to the internet cafe and play games together.”

"No, let's read 'Fortress Besieged' instead," Shen Jie said, shaking her head.

"How about watching 'Happy Family Car'?" Xiao Yao sang: "The dragon leaps like the sun, Qiuqiu is like the spring breeze, snore snore..."

"Are you crazy? How old are you?"

"Sixteen, what's wrong?"

"Sister, just tell me, what exactly did they say?" Yu Luying remained unmoved: "If you don't tell me, I'll go to the forum to see, and I'll ask other classmates."

"Oh, what's there to ask?" Shen Jie raised her hands in surrender. "Think about it, you two are always going to the bathroom together. What strange rumors will people spread when a boy and a girl go to the bathroom together?"

"It's only a ten-minute break between classes, and there's plenty of other people in the restroom. What could you possibly do?" Yu Luying retorted earnestly.

"...They said you've had a child." Shen Jie hesitated for a long time before speaking in a low voice.

"What?" Xiao Yao exclaimed.

Yu Luying stood frozen in place, her body stiff.

“They said…” Shen Jie further explained, “You have a scar on your stomach.”

Yu Luying has a scar on her stomach? How come I didn't know that? Xiao Yao wondered.

Oh right, because I've never had the chance to see her belly.

Yu Luying slowly pulled up her white shirt, dragging the hem out of her school trousers to reveal her flat stomach.

This was the first time Xiao Yao had seen her belly.

The girl's skin was fair, with a slightly yellowish mark clearly etched there, like a thin worm crawling across it.

Xiao Yao and Shen Jie both gasped in shock.

Yu Luying has a long surgical scar on her lower abdomen. It is no longer red and swollen, but the color is still very dark, and it looks somewhat shocking.

"This is a scar I had when I had my appendix removed in junior high school," Yu Luying said.

"How did they know?" Shen Jie asked. "How could they have seen it?"

“I…I went to the bathroom with Zhou Yao.” Yu Luying rubbed her forehead with her palm in pain. “I considered her my best friend.”

"Don't rush, don't rush, think about it again," Shen Jie advised. "Maybe there were other people involved too."

“I’m thinking…” Yu Luying said weakly.

“Zhou Yao, Zhou Yao,” Xiao Yao recalled, “is she dating Wang Ming? We ran into them last time, on the old commercial street, do you two remember? I even got into a fight with Wang Ming that day.”

“No,” Yu Luying shook her head and said, “I asked her later, and she said that she and he were just ordinary classmates, and they just happened to run into each other when they went out to buy something that day…”

"Who would believe that..." Xiao Yao muttered.

Suddenly, without warning, Yu Luying grabbed the notebook in front of her and threw it into the corner of the room, startling Xiao Yao and Shen Jie.

The notebook happened to fall onto the back of the sleeping cat.

"Huh?" The cat looked up and asked in confusion.

On Sunday, September 12, 2004, after the morning Mass, Xiao Yao accompanied Yu Luying to the Mingye Watchers training session to strengthen their control over the mental fortress, as planned.

Logically speaking, Xiao Yao, as an assistant, was not qualified to attend, but with Yu Bo's explanation and guarantee, the organization made an exception and allowed him to participate as an observer.

It was the same old black sedan, blindfolded, circling around three times in the east and three times in the west, finally stopping at a secret base.

The last "secret base" was one of the ancestral homes in Yujia Township, which Yu Luying visited when she was a child. This time, the two of them couldn't recognize the place at all. Judging from the driving distance, it should be within the Shanghai area.

Xiao Yao observed an initiation ceremony of the "Mingye Watchers"—a lengthy religious ceremony lasting 45 minutes, marking Yu Luying's official membership in the Mingye Watchers.

"Suddenly, I realized that compared to our mission," Yu Luying quietly told Xiao Yao, "those boring rumors at school can't hurt me at all."

Xiao Yao didn't know what to say, but he quietly squeezed Yu Luying's small hand to express his support.

Yu Luying did not refuse.

The lecturer was a strict Italian who called himself Lazuvis, but Xiao Yao suspected that it wasn't his real name.

Lazuvis's Chinese and English are both rudimentary, but fortunately Xiao Yao's English level is now comparable to Yu Luying's, and he can understand most of it.

After the theoretical instruction was completed, the instructor, Razuvis, took Xiao Yao, Yu Luying, and Yu Bo to practice in the mirror. When they returned home, Xiao Yao and Yu Luying both felt that their combat strength had increased by at least 50%.

It's safe to say that the improvement is enormous.

Tuesday, April 2004, 9.

During PE class, Xiao Yao and Yu Luying stayed in the classroom together instead of going downstairs.

Both Yu Lihua and Xiao Yao's grandmothers submitted applications to Director Lin for exemption from physical education classes this semester, and the hospital report, which was fabricated and exaggerated, was being prepared step by step.

"In that case, can we even skip military training?" said Xiao Yao, an optimist.

On Monday evening, Yu Lihua also invited Director Lin to her home for a meal.

"Your father is a very nice person." Director Lin, unaware of the hidden story, said this to Yu Luying this morning, and the latter's expression changed upon hearing it.

At this moment, the classroom was quiet, with only the scratching of Xiao Yao and Yu Luying's pens breaking the silence—they were both working hard to finish the homework assigned for the day.

"Have you heard? Something strange has happened at school again." Yu Luying suddenly put down her pen and turned to Xiao Yao.

"You mean the so-called narcolepsy?" Xiao Yao didn't look up, continuing to focus on the exercise book in front of him: "I heard about it yesterday. Two boys from two different classes in two different grades have developed symptoms of this strange illness at the same time, and even the hospital can't figure out what's wrong."

"Hmm, I heard there was another one today, and it's Shen again..." Yu Luying glanced around, and although there was no one there, she still lowered her voice and said, "It's from Qingwei's class."

“Strange things happen every year, but there seem to be more this year than ever,” Xiao Yao said thoughtfully. “But it’s good, though it might sound a bit unsympathetic, because this has distracted the students and teachers. Now no one is keeping an eye on our mess.”

“I feel very uneasy,” Yu Luying told Xiao Yao.

"What are your thoughts?" Xiao Yao asked Yu Luying.

“He’s drowsy all day, absent-minded, and can’t even speak in a complete sentence. The hospital can’t find anything wrong with him…” Yu Luying said, “Don’t you think his symptoms are somewhat similar to Teacher Yao’s at the beginning?”

"No way..." Xiao Yao was taken aback: "Now that you put it that way... it does look somewhat similar, but it's not exactly the same."

"After Qingwei's classmate also started to fall ill today, a sense of panic has begun to spread in the school. There are rumors that the disease can be transmitted from person to person."

"This is no small matter," Xiao Yao said seriously. "Should we report it to the organization?"

Chapter 372 Forbidden Contact in the Classroom

2023-11-05

The two discussed the matter of "narcolepsy" for a while and decided to ask Yu Bo for his opinion when they went to the church to take a shower after school today.

“Oh no,” Yu Luying suddenly remembered something, “I have a club activity tonight. By the time I get to the church, my uncle will probably already be out.”

"He's a pastor, why isn't he praying in church at night? What's he doing running around like that? He's not a thief," Xiao Yao said casually.

"What are you saying?" Yu Luying said reproachfully.

“I’m saying this: your lousy orchestra is terrible,” Xiao Yao said. “It would be a waste of your talent for you to participate; it would be a complete waste of your time.”

"I'm doing it my way, what's it to you?" Yu Luying said. "It's about social interaction, you know?"

"Oh, I thought someone as aloof as you didn't need to socialize," Xiao Yao chuckled.