Miss, you are my future wife

Xiao Yao was not disappointed.

No, it should be said that he didn't know whether he should be disappointed.

He was a little worried at first, since Shen Hongsheng seemed to have moved out of Xijiao Garden - his palace should have disappeared here as well.

But Hairtail insisted on coming over to take a look, saying, "How can you think something won't work before you even start? How do you know it won't work if you don't try it out?"

The world on this side of the mirror looks no different from the real world, except that it is covered with a faint green filter, just like the mirror under the bridge that I used to go to every day a long time ago.

After Xiao Yao and the other two pushed open the door of the clothing store, they immediately looked in the direction of Xijiao Garden.

Although it is supposedly 3 kilometers away, the Xijiao Garden - no, it should now be called Xijiao Tower of Babel - is still visible at a glance and is extremely eye-catching.

The skyscraper pierced the clouds, and silver-shining aircraft kept flying across the sky, like a flock of crows flying at dusk, tearing the tranquility apart.

The huge shadows cast by skyscrapers covered the earth, and groups of plastic office workers passed by at the intersection. They had no faces, and their behavior was dull and sluggish. These wonderful but gloomy scenes were reflected in Xiao Yao's eyes, like a black and white movie, silent but full of shouts.

A gust of wind blew by, and Yu Luying and Daiyu both shivered involuntarily. At the same time, a high-speed train came from the huge viaduct above their heads. The friction sound between the rails and the carriages passed through the cold air and entered their ears.

How many times have I come to this shabby place? Xiao Yao bent his fingers and tapped his temples lightly.

With its brutal posture, unparalleled height... and of course width, this building permanently separates the bright sunshine and dazzling lights. This world of steel and concrete reminds people of tombstones in a cemetery, giving people a sense of suffocation and horror.

Yes, that's right, a sense of terror.

Xiao Yao and the other two began to move towards the tall tower.

"Is this palace really the palace of Shen Jie's father?" Xiao Yao asked.

"What do you mean?" Yu Luying asked in confusion.

"I later found out that the last time I came here, the first time I came to this hall," Xiao Yao explained, "Shen Jie's father had actually gone abroad and hadn't returned yet."

"what?"

"Have you forgotten the information given by Miwei Group's public relations officer?" Xiao Yao reminded her, "Shen Jie's father was actually abroad at that time."

"Oh, it seems..."

"So when I found out that the hall was still there," Xiao Yao said, "my first reaction was that the PR gave me the wrong information, or that the situation had changed in the end."

"You later found out," Yu Luying said, "that Shen Jie's father was not in the country that day?"

"That's right." Xiao Yao nodded.

"This is the hall for everyone." Daiyu replied in a deep voice.

"What?" Xiao Yao & Yu Luying.

"The Hall of the People," Xiao Yao said, "We used to go there often, and Shi Hui used to bring a few of us along..."

"It's not exactly the same as that one," Daiyu said, "I guess this might be the hall of the Miwei Group."

"what?"

"The skyscraper," Daiyu raised his head slightly, "represented by the Shen Group, the palace of the entire capital group. Everyone who lives in it, whether it is Shen Hongsheng himself, his wife, daughter, family, even the housekeeper, employees, servants, gardeners, drivers, all the people who have been alienated by capital here, the shadows of everyone, together build this palace."

Xiao Yao was not used to the sudden deep and serious tone of Daiyu, and even felt a little strange: "But, how do you know all this?"

"A reasonable speculation based on facts is just a blind guess." Hairtail said in a nonchalant tone.

Xiao Yao had doubts in his heart, but he didn't say them out loud. He just kept them in mind.

It was only afternoon when the three young men arrived at Xijiao Garden, and it was also daytime when they first entered the mirror. However, when they had only walked halfway through the three-kilometer journey, the sky suddenly darkened.

They knew that the world inside was never reasonable in this regard, but the darkness still intensified people's sense of terror - especially when the people walking on the street around you were all plastic models.

As you get closer to the building, it appears even more majestic.

The three of them quickened their pace and headed straight for the main entrance of the building.

The gate was heavily guarded - as always, and just as always, there were many strange-looking people gathered outside the gate.

Some of them carried long swords like Xiao Yao, some wore uniforms, some wore astronaut helmets, and some wore their underwear outside - the only thing they had in common seemed to be that they all looked very young.

"Oh, we are waiting here for the entrance exam to start. It's almost time."

"..."

"Yes, there are exams every day. You can enter if you pass the exams. Don't you know?"

"..."

"I don't know if it's difficult or not. This is my first time here. We say that half of the people can pass this kind of exam."

"..."

"Registration has started. I won't talk to you anymore."

"Don't waste your time talking to them," Xiao Yao said, "It's the same old story. Sign up first."

Just as he finished speaking, the tightly closed tall main door of the skyscraper slowly opened in front of the three teenagers with a loud bang.

A tall figure walked out from the door.

The crowd of examinees waiting to register became agitated.

Xiao Yao took a step back vigilantly, his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist. Yu Luying and Daiyu also took a fighting stance.

Because the person who walked out of the door was none other than Uncle Johns, the housekeeper who had thrown Xiao Yao into the Huangjiang River to feed the fish two days ago.

Butler Johns was calm and didn't seem to have any hostility. He just politely extended his arm to the three of them, bowed slightly and said, "Sir, welcome home."

Uncle?

Xiao Yao, Daiyu and Yu Luying were all surprised by what happened and they all looked at each other.

Johns didn't say anything else, just smiled and stepped aside, humbly making a "please" gesture.

Anyone would think at first that this was some kind of malicious empty city tactic, or a trap or something like that. Naturally, none of the three moved.

Xiao Yao originally considered going back home and climbing back into the sewer, just like before.

But in the end he nodded to Yu Luying and Daiyu, put his hand on the hilt of his sword, and slowly walked towards the door.

Daiyu and Yu Luying looked at each other again, whispered a few words, and followed in hesitantly.

Going through the main entrance is naturally more comfortable and impressive than climbing the sewage pipe, except that the sound of the door slowly closing behind them made the three of them feel even more nervous.

Different from the street market I entered last time after passing the entrance examination, this time the dome-shaped corridors inside the gate were high and magnificent, as if I had stepped into the palace of a European royal family on TV.

Walking through the front hall and moving forward, the busy deacons and servants they met along the way would humbly bow their heads to make way for Xiao Yao and his party, calling them "son-in-law".

Xiao Yao felt a little uncomfortable at first, but after encountering this situation more often, he quickly got used to it. At first, he politely nodded to them, but later he just waved his hand.

Finally, he noticed that Yu Luying's face looked a little unhappy, so he simply ignored these servants.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, they finally arrived at a huge elevator.

Xiao Yao is already very familiar with this elevator.

The last time, he took this elevator to Shen Hongsheng's "palace" to confront him face to face and have a peak showdown.

Xiao Yao, Yu Luying and Daiyu followed Butler Johns into the elevator. The elevator began to rumble upwards. Through the transparent glass wall, the three of them soon began to overlook the bizarre scenery on each floor of the skyscraper.

"Where are you taking us?" Hairtail was finally the first to break the silence.

Butler Johns only responded with an impeccable smile.

After waiting for more than a minute, Xiao Yao gently grasped the hilt of the sword and pulled it out a little: "Answer the question."

"Sir," Johns replied politely, "the master has been waiting for you."

Just as Xiao Yao was about to continue asking questions, the elevator under his feet finally stopped with a slight vibration, followed by a pleasant "ding".

The three teenagers ended their elevator journey, which was as long as the Orient Express, and followed Johns out of the elevator.

Xiao Yao didn't remember having been to this floor before, but he wasn't too sure. After all, he felt like he had seen the architectural layout and furnishings around him many times before.

After walking for another ten minutes, Johns stopped in front of two parallel doors.

"I can only take you here." Johns said, then stepped aside with his hands down.

Both doors were double doors, but they were tall and narrow, and were decorated with black patterns that Xiao Yao could not understand, giving off an unsettling vibe.

"How do we go?" Xiao Yao asked suspiciously, "Left or right?"

Johns just smiled and said nothing.

Xiao Yao, Yu Luying and Daiyu discussed whether to split up or continue together. The final conclusion was that they could not separate.

"Let's go to the right." Xiao Yao suggested, and everyone agreed.

The door looked heavy, but it was easy to push open, and inside was actually a church hall.

But unlike the plainness of Father Yu's church, the main tone here is white. Deep champagne-colored curtains hang from the roof, and the flower pots on both sides of the road are filled with lush lavender, as if it were arranged for something warm and romantic.

Xiao Yao noticed the steep flying buttresses outside the window, the pointed ribbed vault on top of the curtains, and the tall slender columns behind Lavender.

This warmly decorated church is actually still a dark Gothic building.

A mass was being held in the church - Xiao Yao was very familiar with this scene.

Xiao Yao, with Hairtail and Yu Luying, walked quietly along the edge of the church bench, passed the Seven Stations of the Cross, and came to a position close to the altar.

It was such a big church, but the pews were packed with people, with hardly any empty seats. However, all the people had no faces.

This scene was indeed a bit scary, but Xiao Yao, Yu Luying and Daiyu, who had experienced many storms, were no longer surprised.

Among the seven priests in white robes on the altar, six had no faces, but the one presiding over the ceremony was Yu Bo.

The newlyweds kneeling just below the altar also had faces. The one in the suit was Xiao Yao himself, and the bride in a white wedding dress, Xiao Yao could identify her at a glance even through the veil - if it wasn't Shen Jie, then who else could it be?
Xiao Yao's heart skipped a beat and he almost wanted to walk up to her and talk to her, but he held back.

A faceless reader walked past the altar carrying a scripture, stopped to bow, and then stepped onto the podium.

"Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians," the reader said in the voice of a ZYRM radio announcer. "Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church, of which he is the Savior. As the Church is in subjection to Christ, so also wives ought to be in subjection to their husbands in everything.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to sanctify her by the washing of water and by the word, so that she might be presented to him as a radiant church, without blemish or wrinkle or anything like that; that she might be holy and without spot. In this way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and caresses it, just as Christ does the church, for we are all members of his body.

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This mystery is great! But I am speaking of Christ and the Church.

The reader finished reading this passage, paused for two seconds, and said, "The Word of the Lord."

"Thank God." Xiao Yao and Yu Luying responded subconsciously along with the faceless congregants.

"Hey, hey," Hairtail reminded them, "Are we not here to attend mass?"

The three of them walked around the church two or three times, but didn't find any other exit, so they closed the door and returned the same way.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Xiao Yao snapped his fingers at Yu Luying: "Are you unhappy?"

"What's there to be unhappy about?" Yu Luying replied in a slightly stiff tone: "This is the palace of the Shen family. She must have a share in it, right?"

Xiao Yao felt that Yu Luying's tone was sour. After thinking about it, he still didn't know what to say, so he just shut up.

Johns still stood there with his hands hanging down, like a petrified statue.

The three of them walked into the door on the left while talking in low voices.

The dazzling white light made Xiao Yao squint his eyes. When he opened his eyes, he saw that this time, there was a hospital behind the door.

This hospital looked like a replica of the hospital where Xiao Yao was previously hospitalized, except that it was not as busy.

Xiao Yao walked in with ease and saw Shen Jie, who looked sad. She was wearing a yellow plaid coat and black trousers, sitting alone outside a room.

The three of them approached "Shen Jie".

"Hey." Xiao Yao greeted "Shen Jie" tentatively.

However, Shen Jie just treated the three people as air.

Xiao Yao knew that this was probably not the real Shen Jie, so he was not too surprised.

Yu Luying and Daiyu explored the two ends of the hospital corridor separately. After walking for a few minutes, they found that the corridor had no end. Fearing that something might happen if they walked too far, they turned back and saw Xiao Yao still guarding "Shen Jie".

With them was Shen Hongsheng.

Yu Luying and Daiyu both subconsciously felt their hair stand on end, but they saw Xiao Yao sitting on the iron chair diagonally opposite them as if nothing had happened, looking at the Shen father and daughter blankly.

Shen Hongsheng held a thin stack of papers in his hand, which he thought was a hospital report. He tapped it with his right hand and said, "That wild girl is not your daughter. She has no blood relationship with you. You should believe it now, right?"

Yu Luying and Daiyu were both shocked, only Xiao Yao was still sitting there with a numb expression.

Shen Hongsheng was still chattering, "Last time, I asked someone to do a paternity test on the hair of the girl you brought back for the first time, but you didn't believe it and thought I was cheating and fooling you.

"What about this time? We went to that kid's house together, and you saw me cut the toenails off that girl's feet and gave them to you. There's no possibility of substitution, right? There's no possibility of fraud, right?"

Shen Jie & Yu Luying & Hairtail: "..."

"This doctor is someone you trust and he is your friend. There is no possibility of me interfering or being bribed, right?" Shen Hongsheng raised his hand and threw the reports in Shen Jie's face.

Papers flew and landed on Shen Jie's thighs and the floor of the hospital corridor.

Shen Jie cried out "Wow", and the flying papers seemed like the falling youth.

Hongsheng sighed, squatted down, picked up the reports again, sat next to his daughter, and hugged one of her shoulders.

"Okay, okay, don't cry," Shen Hongsheng changed to a very gentle tone, patting Shen Jie's arm and pulling her towards him. The girl just resisted the force slightly, and then leaned obediently in her father's arms: "You are still young, and it is not necessarily a bad thing to suffer a little loss. Ah, be obedient, be good, don't cry, this is also a little experience and lesson..."

Shen Jie cried even harder, and the noise in the surrounding hospital was suddenly muted. The girl's crying voice echoed in the empty silent corridor.

Yu Luying and Daiyu were staring blankly at this scene of loving father and filial daughter. They didn't know when Shen Jie and Shen Hongsheng slowly disappeared.

"What's going on?" After a minute or two, Hairtail spoke hesitantly.

Xiao Yao touched his cheeks on both sides and said nothing.

Yu Luying silently walked to Xiao Yao's side and sat down, hugging Xiao Yao's shoulders like Shen Hongsheng had just done.

About two minutes later, the sad-looking girl appeared again.

She was wearing a yellow plaid coat and black trousers, sitting quietly.

Afterwards, Shen Hongsheng walked out of the doctor's office door next to Shen Jie.

"I have confirmed it for you again and again, it must be correct." Shen Hongsheng said: "If you don't believe it, go in and ask Doctor Wen."

As the man spoke, he stuffed the stack of reports into Shen Jie's arms, but the girl did not take it.

Shen Hongsheng stood in front of Shen Jie and tapped the report with his right hand: "That wild girl is not your daughter. She has no blood relationship with you. You should believe it now, right? Last time, I asked someone to do a paternity test on the hair of that girl you brought back for the first time. You didn't believe it..."

"Let's go!" Xiao Yao stood up with all his strength as if he had suddenly come alive.

Yu Luying's right hand was lifted up and she stood up.

Xiao Yao had had enough of this drama that was played on loop.

"Let's go and see what tricks Johns has waiting for us?" Xiao Yao said as he walked towards the door they came from on the wall of the corridor.

"This may not be true," Daiyu took two steps at a time and hurried to catch up with Xiao Yao: "Didn't the wedding just now never really happen? Everything in the hall is a distorted projection of consciousness, just like a dream."

"Yes, yes, Hairtail is right," Yu Luying agreed, "These should be what Father Shen wants us to see?"

Xiao Yao seemed to have recovered from his shock, and said firmly, "Regardless of this, we must find the old man's shadow, confront him face to face, and ask him clearly."

The three of them walked out of the gate the same way they came, and when they looked back, the two doors they had seen before had disappeared.

"On one side is the girl's longing wish," the stiff Chinese accent sounded again, "and on the other side is the cruel memory. There is a wall between the two."

"What the hell do you want?" Don Quixote's sharp blade was already unsheathed, making a crisp dragon roar: "Take me to see your master, or I will kill you immediately!"

Facing the cold light of the sword tip that was still trembling slightly, Johns was not afraid at all, and his professional fake smile was still on his face: "The master has shown you what he wants you to see, and he is ready to see you."

Xiao Yao: "..."

The three of them were secretly annoyed and felt uneasy about the situation that they were at the mercy of others.

"Please follow me." Johns took a step and led the way.

The three followed Johns back to the elevator, and with another rumble of the elevator and a crisp "ding", the team finally arrived at their destination.

"Thank you for using the Meilinge Elevator, Meilinge, Manlinger." A mechanical electronic female voice came from the elevator car.

This is a luxurious and spacious hall. Apart from the elevator, the only thing in it is a golden throne high above the stone steps.

Xiao Yao recognized this place - this was his second time here. The last time he came here with Shen Jie to accept the king's summons. But it was the first time for Yu Luying and Daiyu, and they looked around curiously.

The boy turned his gaze towards the empty throne. This time, the "king" did not seem to be there.

Above the throne there was a huge portrait of the king, an oil painting.

Yu Luying and Daiyu looked at the oil painting curiously - the man in the painting was wearing an elegant black suit, which was tailored to his body and showed his tall and majestic figure. The design of the suit was simple and elegant, showing his maturity and composure.

He was also wearing a suit of armor.

The surface of the armor glowed faintly, reflecting the heat of battle.

The armor is made of solid metal, and various parts are decorated with exquisite patterns and reliefs, highlighting the king's dignity and authority.

In addition, the man in the portrait is wearing a black cloak, which adds a sense of mystery to him. The cloak is embroidered with complex runes and textures, exuding an ancient and powerful aura. The hem of the cloak flutters in the wind, like a flowing black waterfall, making his image more majestic and weird.

The "king" has a young and handsome face, with clear and handsome contours. His eyes are shining with determination and wisdom, showing his decisiveness, elegance and intelligence as a "king". Although his clothes have an ancient medieval style, the temperament he exudes is a perfect combination of modernity and tradition.

"Is this Mr. Shen?" Yu Luying said hesitantly, "Is it not him?"

"Hello, yes." Xiao Yao replied in a firm tone, then turned to Johns and asked: "Where is your master?"

"He should be here!" Johns' slightly surprised tone did not seem fake, and he still maintained his professional restraint. (End of this chapter)