You are my wife, don't doubt it!

Grandma put the meat soup on the table, then ran back to her room, opened the closet and pulled open the drawer.

"This is your living expenses during the summer vacation, use it sparingly!"

"Ah? Just this little?" Xiao Yao pinched the envelope, which was not very thick, and was very disappointed.

"Your dad said that if he gives you more, you'll have enough money to go to the Internet cafe!"

"I promise not to go online!"

Grandma obviously didn't believe it, but she still took out a few red bills from another roll and handed them over.

"Thank you grandma!" Xiao Yao was overjoyed.

The money was handed to Xiao Yao, but grandma didn't let go: "Don't let your father know! Be restrained when you go online!"

"Grandma..." Every time Xiao Yao felt touched, he didn't know how to express it.

"Grandma, grandma! Go, go! You only call me grandma when you want money!"

"Hahahahahahahahahaha..." A girl's laughter like a silver bell came from outside the door.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it..." The half-open door was blown open by the wind at some point, and a petite girl was standing in the stairwell, holding a beautiful fruit basket in one hand and holding her stomach with the other, unable to straighten her back.

"Shen's signature laugh..." Xiao Yao murmured.

"Xiao Shen, why are you here? Come in, come in." Grandma ran out again: "Come on, come on, buy something."

"I didn't buy anything, just some fruit for grandma." Shen Jie controlled herself and walked into the door: "It smells so good."

"Have you had dinner?" asked grandma.

"I've eaten." Shen Jie said with a smile, "It's okay, I can still eat a little more."

The girl was wearing a baseball cap today, her long hair was loose, and she was wearing very short hot pants. One centimeter of white sock edge was visible outside the uppers of her high-top canvas shoes.

"Xiao Yao, why don't you get Xiao Shen some slippers?"

"Ah, ah." Xiao Yao turned his eyes away from Shen Jie's snow-white and tender thighs in a daze: "Is this pair okay?"

"Is yours too big?" said grandma.

"It's okay, not big." Shen Jie put on Xiao Yao's other pair of slippers nonchalantly and walked towards Xiao Yao's bedroom.

The three of them sat down around the square table. Xiao Yao wolfed down the heated leftovers while listening to Shen Jie and grandma chatting about family matters.

"Grandma's cooking is so delicious!" Shen Jie's white hollow short socks bounced up and down under the table, and Xiao Yao's heart bounced along with the slippers on her feet.

"They are all home-cooked dishes." Grandma said with a smile: "Can Xiao Shen cook?"

"Well... not much is burned, but I'm quite interested." Shen Jie thought about it and replied.

You know what, this atmosphere really does feel a bit like home, Xiao Yao thought.

"I'm going on a cruise in two days, and I'll be gone for more than two months." Grandma said, "Don't tear down the house when this kid is home alone. Xiao Shen, you have to keep an eye on him for me."

Xiao Yao and Shen Jie were both stunned. Xiao Yao thought, this seems to be the second or third time that grandma has met Shen Jie?

How did she manage to treat others as outsiders?

"Okay, I'll try my best." What was even more unexpected to Xiao Yao was that Shen Jie actually agreed just like that: "A cruise ship? My mother has been there too. Grandma, what's your route?"

Xiao Yao took out his cell phone and checked the text messages.

Xiao Xiong and Father Yu both sent messages asking if Xiao Yao was safe, but there was no news from Yu Luying.

Shen Jie sent several messages and had 4 missed calls.

Xiao Yao looked up at Shen Jie who was chatting and laughing with her grandmother, and felt secretly happy.

That’s right, girls should take the initiative.

"Grandma," Xiao Yao cleared his throat, interrupting their conversation about the cruise: "Aren't you in a hurry to go get some soy sauce?"

"What?" Grandma was stunned.

"The soy sauce shop will close at 8:." Xiao Yao pointed to the clock on the wall.

"You kid, look how anxious you are!" Grandma reacted and scolded, "Okay, I'm going to play cards with old lady Jin. Xiao Shen, you should also help him with his homework."

"Okay." Shen Jie said with a smile.

After grandma left, the atmosphere in the room fell into a brief silence.

"Is Shen Tianyun back?" Shen Jie put down her chopsticks and asked cautiously.

The look she gave Xiao Yao revealed that she was afraid to hear a negative answer.

Xiao Yao shook his head: "I don't know. I fell asleep as soon as I got back yesterday. I just woke up and you came."

"Then... let's go take a look together?" Shen Jie suggested.

"Ah."

They said this, but neither of them moved. It seemed that everyone knew the answer, but they were deliberately delaying the time to "open the box", as if they could avoid facing it.

The girl who was running around in Teacher Yao's "hall" yesterday seemed to have disappeared, and in her place was a lady from a noble family who was cautious and proper in everything.

"During the day, I went to the Sacred Heart Church opposite your school." Shen Jie thought for a moment and said, "I met Yu Luying."

"normal."

"Her mother is also there. She looks the same as the one I saw at the Parent-Child Education Center."

"Ah."

“I dropped by for Mass.”

"Ah, you? Attending mass? Was it fun?"

"After the mass, I called Yu Luying and Father Yu to have a private chat. I wanted to ask you to come along, but I couldn't get through to you on the phone."

"Yeah." Xiao Yao's heartbeat was a little faster. There was a faint fragrance in the air that belonged to "Shen Jie". He wanted to hug the girl in front of him, but he didn't dare to move.

Damn it, I was already so skilled yesterday...

"It turns out that the Our Lady of Loreto medal is a holy relic of... Queen Mary I," Shen Jie recalled. "When Father Yu bought it online, he suspected it was a fake, but now he is basically sure it is the real thing. I summoned the Queen's spiritual fortress because I resonated with her spirit."

"Spiritual fortress..." Xiao Yao chewed on the word.

His eyes were cast on Shen Jie's hand next to him. That hand was slender, yet plump and white, with nails that shone with a green luster, soft and pearly. Her nails were shiny, pointed and thin, cut into almond shapes, and cleaner than ivory.

Xiao Yao stretched out his hand, then retracted it.

"The priest said that the spiritual fortress is what each of us wants to be, the ideal me." Shen Jie said.

"I do like Don Quixote very much." Xiao Yao smiled.

"So before I came here just now, I looked up Queen Mary's deeds on the Internet," Shen Jie said, "She had a tragic childhood and a tortuous growth experience, and she also had the courage to overthrow her father's legacy. Even if she had to bear the infamy, she still insisted on carrying out her ideals and beliefs, but in the end she still failed..."

The girl took out the "chess piece" and rubbed the queen's head in her palm: "I think I can hear her talking to me."

"A tragic idealistic hero? Just like Don Quixote." Xiao Yao took the opportunity to get closer to him: "I've discovered another thing we have in common."

Xiao Yao made up his mind and put his hand on the back of Shen Jie's hand.

"Ah, is that so...?" Shen Jie pulled her hand back thoughtfully, leaving Xiao Yao empty-handed.

Is it a coincidence? It must be a coincidence, right?

"So, this spiritual fortress is the weapon to fight against the shadows in the hall?" In order to ease his embarrassment, Xiao Yao quickly found a topic to talk about.

"Is that correct?" Shen Jie hesitated for a moment. "But the priest said that the spiritual fortress itself is the other side of the same coin as the shadow..."

"Two sides of the same coin?" Xiao Yao pondered. "Oh, by the way, what will happen if Teacher Yao's shadow is cut by the little bear? Has Father Yu figured it out?"

It's not that he's just making small talk, but he really cares.

"There may be very bad consequences. Your male classmate is too reckless. But the priest doesn't know what it is specifically." Shen Jie said seriously: "When you go to school tomorrow, observe carefully and tell everyone if there is anything."

"Yeah." Xiao Yao said.

Xiao Yao could feel that his relationship with Shen Jie was actually getting closer.

People say that there are four iron things in life: studying together, carrying guns together, sharing the spoils together, and being together (harmony).

Shen Jie came to my aid yesterday and supported me through all the hardships. It is not an exaggeration to call her a comrade-in-arms.

Although I felt that she was somewhat strange after leaving the hall yesterday, this feeling has disappeared a lot today.

Come to think of it, she was just too tired yesterday, or she was in a hurry to send Zhou Qi for emergency treatment.

"By the way, how is Zhou Qi?" Although Xiao Yao didn't care too much, he still felt he should ask.

"Zhou Qi, she..."

Xiao Yao listened casually, continuing to think about his own thoughts.

Comrades can be stabbed by the enemy for each other, rather than being stabbed... "with a knife" by the enemy.

His eyes fell on the white socks on Shen Jie's feet.

Yesterday he saw with his own eyes that Shen Jie's socks had become muddy and had holes in the front and back.

But after leaving the "hall", her socks immediately became white, dry and clean, and the limited edition thick-soled shoes destroyed in the fire were returned to her feet.

...Except for the spiritual fortress badge engraved with a chess piece pattern and the wound on Zhou Qi's stomach, nothing else could be brought out.

After all, rather than saying that "the physical body enters the temple", it is essentially more like a holographic immersive online game.

The only difference is that if you die in there, you will really become a vegetable.

At least that's what the White Knight said, but Xiao Yao didn't have the courage to verify it.

So, from this perspective, no matter how many times they hold hands and hug each other, it is ultimately just friendly interactions between online characters.

Shen Jie also realized this, so she pulled her hand back, right? Xiao Yao thought wildly.

"Go and see if my daughter is back. She should be back." Shen Jie finally made up her mind and stood up.

But what about the promise? Wouldn't it be broken as well?

"I'll find a chance to tell my dad." This is what Shen Jie said after leaving the hall yesterday, right?

"So, it all still counts?" At that time, he was helping the medical staff carry Zhou Qi's stretcher.

"Yeah." Shen Jie nodded.

What does "hmm" mean? Does it mean yes or just a perfunctory response? Why doesn't she let me hold her hand again?

Xiao Yao leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

……

A girl screamed in front of me.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Yao quickly opened his eyes and saw the girl's upper body stretched into the closet, with her two smooth thighs still standing on the ground.

"The mirror...can't go in." Shen Jie kept pressing the floor-length mirror with her hands, and it became like she was hitting it.

"Calm down, calm down, don't break it." Xiao Yao quickly dissuaded him, then reached out to touch the mirror.

The only response he got was the coldness of death and the hardness of rock.

The passage to 30 years later is closed.

Chapter 70: Sea Vow

2023-01-06

Shen Jie slumped on Xiao Yao's bed, staring at the curtains of Xiao Yao's house, while Xiao Yao paced back and forth in the room like a trapped beast.

In fact, the girl sat on the ground at first, and it was Xiao Yao who helped her up.

Although I haven't known Shen Jie for a long time, she always looks confident and calm, no matter when she is being gentle and considerate, or when she is being indifferent and rejecting.

But now, Xiao Yao knew that she could cry too.

"Don't cry," Xiao Yao ran to the kitchen and got a towel: "This is new, I haven't used it before."

Shen Jie didn't answer, but burst into tears. Xiao Yaoke was at a loss as to what to do.

"Keep your voice down, otherwise grandma... and the neighbors upstairs and downstairs might hear it and think I'm bullying you..." Xiao Yao stopped talking halfway.

It's better not to provoke her at this time.

He even worried that after Shen Jie finished crying, she would start to vent her anger on him.