Yu Yao has a six-month observation period. According to the confidentiality agreement, she cannot go abroad or engage in social work during this six-month period. As a legal citizen and a special time traveler, she has a one-year social subsidy to ensure her living. This six-month period is a time for her to adapt to the new society.
So, in this six-month period, she can stay at home to learn all kinds of social common sense and have enough time to think about her future. It is said that among the four time travelers before her, the second little girl could not adapt to the fact that she had traveled through time for decades, and she suffered from autism and committed suicide when she was sixteen years old. It is not known whether it was because her family did not take good care of her later or for other reasons.
Yu Yao is probably the one who adapts the fastest and has the best mentality among the time travelers. After the initial confusion, she adjusted her mood. Every day at home, in addition to playing games, she reads various "historical" documents that Jiang Zhonglin found for her, understands what has happened in these years, and also finds a lot of qualification certificates that kindergarten teachers need to obtain. In addition, she will cook and buy groceries with Jiang Zhonglin.
The old man who had promised to accompany her only to familiarize her with the place would not go with her next time, so he followed her every day when she was about to go out. Yu Yao was too lazy to say anything to him. The two of them walked on the road, and from the initial silence, they gradually started chatting.
“Aren’t you a teacher? Why haven’t I seen you go to class for so many days?” Yu Yao couldn’t help asking.
Jiang Zhonglin replied, “I resigned from the position of director of the Literature Department at Ocean University a year ago. However, because I know the dean, he wants me to return to school to teach twice a month, so now I don’t need to go to class every day.”
Yu Yao keenly noticed the problem: “You resigned a year ago when you were only 65. We used to retire at 70. Why are you retiring so early?”
Jiang Zhonglin smiled bitterly, “Last year... I was not feeling well for a while and stayed in the hospital for a while. I felt I didn’t have the energy, so I decided to resign and sorted out some information from these years at home... It’s not a big deal.”
Yu Yao frowned. “What illness? Is it serious?”
Jiang Zhonglin: “It’s not serious, just a minor illness.” He looked calm. “I’m just old, and my health is not as good as when I was young. I got sick accidentally, but I have recovered now.”
Yu Yao was silent for a while, took out her personal terminal, turned it on, and ignored him. Jiang Zhonglin thought she was playing games, but after a while, Yu Yao put down the terminal and said, “You will go running with me every morning to exercise. Don’t worry, I checked, and it will definitely not exceed your body load. We will just jog around here.”
Jiang Zhonglin looked at the distance she circled and hesitated, “This...”
Yu Yao: “What? You should pay more attention to your health and exercise well when you are older!”
After all, Jiang Zhonglin has lived in this community for so many years, so he naturally knows some neighbors. He accompanies Yu Yao to run and buy groceries early in the morning every day. The elderly neighbors he knows come to say hello, and they will inevitably ask, “Mr. Jiang/Teacher Jiang, who is this girl? She is so pretty. Is she your granddaughter?”
Every time Jiang Zhonglin didn’t speak, Yu Yao would smile at the neighbors and say, “I’m Teacher Jiang’s wife.”
Then he would inevitably explain her forty-year travel in front of everyone’s astonished and surprised eyes.
“Ah! I saw the news a while ago, saying that there is a new time traveler who traveled forty years and only has an alias. It turns out to be you!” The elderly neighbors were amazed and then gathered around curiously. This young woman, who looked young, was actually from the same generation as them. How could they not be curious and surprised?
Fortunately, this community used to be allocated housing for retired professors of Ocean University. Later, these small buildings were expanded. Most of the people living in it were intellectuals, and few of them liked to spread gossip. Moreover, those who knew Jiang Zhonglin and could get along with him were also people who had some fame in their respective neighborhoods and focused on their work. They did not like to meddle in other people’s family affairs, so they were very friendly to this "old and young couple".
Among them, Mr. Nie and his wife, whom Yu Yao had met before, were particularly enthusiastic. Yu Yao had to go to their house with Jiang Zhonglin for two meals.
After the neighbors knew about the situation, their days were much calmer than Yu Yao had imagined. No one came to watch her. She only went out to buy groceries in the morning or occasionally went out to buy some necessities, and when she picked up express deliveries, the familiar elderly neighbors she met loved to talk to her.
Some people also talked with her about the past, which sounded strange, because for Yu Yao, the world of forty years ago was only a little more than a month away from her, but for these old people, it was already "reminiscing about the past." So when chatting, Yu Yao always felt a sense of confusion.
There were also young people living in this community, as well as Jiang Zhonglin’s students, but when the students greeted him, they saw Yu Yao next to him; they were too embarrassed to ask who she was. Later, they ran away after saying hello. Therefore, at present, Yu Yao is not famous in Jiang Zhonglin’s student circle.
It’s a bit regrettable.
Yu Yao is a person who can’t stay at home. It’s impossible for her to stay at home for several days to do academic research like Jiang Zhonglin. She has to go out for a walk every day to get some fresh air, even if she has nothing to do.
In addition to running and shopping every morning, she would go out for a walk in the evening when the weather was good, and Jiang Zhonglin would follow her.
When the two were walking under the streetlights, they met a few old men playing chess under a sycamore tree. When they saw Jiang Zhonglin and his companions, they enthusiastically invited Jiang Zhonglin to play a game.
“Old Jiang, come and help me; this guy is too powerful. He killed me without leaving a single piece of armor. You come and crush his enthusiasm!”
“Hey, why do you always ask for help when you lose a game!”
“It’s not shameful to seek help, Old Jiang; come and sit here with me!”
Jiang Zhonglin knew all of them and sat down to play chess. Yu Yao went over and watched from the side. The old lady who was also watching the game next to them whispered to her, “Your Old Jiang is a very good chess player, unlike this old guy in our family, who is a lousy chess player. He refuses to admit defeat even though he plays badly, and everyone else is afraid of him.”
The old man who gave up his seat to Jiang Zhonglin laughed, “You can’t say that. We play chess to cultivate our character. Winning or losing is not important.”
The old lady spat at him, “If it’s not important, why do you have to ask others to help you win a game?”
Yu Yao had only come across chess in extracurricular activities in elementary school and learned a little bit. So far, he only knows one move, 'Double Cannon General'. Even at her level, she could tell that Jiang Zhonglin was exceptional at playing chess. Not long after the game started, he captured several of the opponent’s generals, which made the crowd of people watching applaud from time to time, or admire, or feel sorry for the other old man.
Jiang Zhonglin played chess very quietly and hardly spoke. The old man opposite him seemed to be a chatterbox. He slapped his thigh when a chess piece was captured and said things like if he had made a different move in the previous move.
Yu Yao turned her gaze from the one-sided chess game to Jiang Zhonglin. He looked at the chessboard thoughtfully, and each time he reached out to move a chess piece, he was very calm. They had been married for a year, and Yu Yao didn’t know he could play chess before. She didn’t know if he knew it before or if he learned it later. After all, one or two years is too short, and it’s not enough for her to fully understand everything about a person.
When Yu Yao was distracted, the winner had been decided, and the game of chess didn’t take too long.
Some onlookers were surprised and asked, “Why is Teacher Jiang playing so fast today?”
The old man who lost had a happy look in his eyes, but he deliberately put on a crying face and said, “Yes, Mr. Jiang usually lets me have a few moves. We can play a game of chess for an hour, but today he didn’t give me any face at all.”
The old lady next to Yu Yao laughed, “Teacher Jiang is afraid that his love will be bored and anxious waiting on the side.”
Yu Yao was not embarrassed at all when being teased. “To be honest, I don’t understand it either. Next time you want to play chess with Old Jiang, just go to his house and call him. I won’t disturb you. You can play as long as you want.”
“Okay, okay, Old Jiang, did you hear that? Comrade Yu has spoken. We will go to your house to play chess next time.”
Jiang Zhonglin looked helplessly at Yu Yao, who was staying out of the matter, and said to the old man who was talking, “When did I kick you out when you came to my house to play chess?”
Everyone made a few jokes and started the game again. Yu Yao and Jiang Zhonglin walked back home.
“Come on, let’s play chess too.” Yu Yao said this as soon as she got home. Since she said so, Jiang Zhonglin would not refuse her interest. He dug out the chessboard at home and set it up. With Yu Yao’s mediocre skills, she could not last more than three minutes in front of Mr. Jiang. But how could Mr. Jiang let his wife lose miserably in three minutes? He painstakingly gave up the chess and dragged a chess game without suspense to ten minutes with his superb chess skills.
However, even if he let her win again, Yu Yao was still killed in pieces. She didn’t care. Seeing that she was the only red general left, she suddenly reached out and pushed Jiang Zhonglin’s black general forward, killing his general.
Jiang Zhonglin: “...”
Yu Yao explained to him seriously, “Don’t look at your general because he is Black;he is actually an undercover agent on our red side, so he killed your general!”
Teacher Jiang had never seen such a coquettish operation and was stunned by his wife’s shamelessness.
“Your behavior is considered cheating.” Teacher Jiang told the truth.
Yu Yao: “Can it be called cheating between husband and wife? No.” She threw the chess piece. “I see that you made me give in so hard, so just win openly and everyone will be happy.”
Teacher Jiang: This is not open at all.
Teacher Jiang: “Do you want to play more?”
Yu Yao said shamelessly, “No, it’s boring; anyway, you can’t beat me.”
In terms of shamelessness, Teacher Jiang did lose.
A few days later, Teacher Jiang’s chess friends came to play chess. After winning three games in a row, they sighed that no one here could beat Teacher Jiang.
Teacher Jiang rarely made a joke and said, “Last time I played chess with Yu Yao, she won.”
The chess friends were amazed. “Really? I didn’t expect Yu Yao to be a chess master!” They all asked her to play a game.
Yu Yao was playing Desolate Planet with a small experience device on the side. Hearing this, she chuckled and said, “Actually, I know nothing about chess, but who told me that I am Teacher Jiang’s wife? No matter how good he is at chess, he dares not beat me.”
*****
What should I do if my lover became an old man after traveling to fourty years later? Chapter List:
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