“Mr. Jiang has requested information protection, so the media will not expose any of Ms. Yu’s information. If anyone illegally disseminates Ms. Yu’s information and causes disruptions to her life, we will assist in handling it. Please rest assured, we respect and protect the legal rights of every citizen…”

The middle-aged officer spoke at length. By the time Yu Yao walked out of the Public Security Bureau, she realized something. “So what he meant earlier is that no one will interview me or post my photo online, and I won’t have a bunch of strangers gawking at me, right?”

Jiang Zhonglin nodded, “Yes.”

Yu Yao: “…If this had happened forty years ago, I would’ve been treated like a rare animal and gawked at.”

Jiang Zhonglin: “In the first known case of time travel, the elderly man involved was overwhelmed by the crowds and eventually died because of it. After that, special protection laws were enacted.”

Yu Yao: “So doesn’t that put you in a difficult position?”

Jiang Zhonglin looked puzzled, not understanding what she meant.

Yu Yao explained, “Look, if people find out that I’m the fifth person to time travel and they ask you about it out of curiosity, you’ll be annoyed to death. But if you don’t tell anyone, and they see that you suddenly have a wife, they might think you’re into younger women and misunderstand you, which would be really awkward.”

Jiang Zhonglin didn’t seem to mind at all. “Let it be,” he said as he searched for a nearby large mall, planning to take Yu Yao shopping.

Standing in front of the massive mall, Yu Yao thought to herself that, even forty years later, physical malls hadn’t been replaced by online stores. However, she noticed that many of the small, old-fashioned stores she remembered were gone.

This mall was enormous—so huge that Yu Yao couldn’t even describe it. She had never seen a mall this large before, with all kinds of products on display and over forty different sections. There were twelve escalators just leading to the various sections. Yu Yao, who never liked shopping much, felt dizzy trying to follow Jiang Zhonglin through the mall.

First, they went to buy a phone. Phones nowadays were actually called “personal terminals”—just like something out of a futuristic novel. Yu Yao was interested in this and took two laps around the store.

The salesgirl wasn’t much different from the mobile phone salespeople of forty years ago. Whatever Yu Yao looked at, she could enthusiastically explain, “Look at this one, the Level 4. It’s the most popular among young people right now. It has the latest 8.0 processor, 128T storage, and eight different modes…”

After listening for a while, Yu Yao turned to Jiang Zhonglin, who was quietly waiting with his hands behind his back, and asked, “Do you have money?”

Jiang Zhonglin replied, “I do. If you like something, just buy it.”

Yu Yao said, “I don’t know much about these things. Why don’t you pick one for me?”

Jiang Zhonglin responded, “I’m not familiar with them either. The one I’m using was a gift from a student, and it’s a model from five years ago.”

The two exchanged a look, and Yu Yao shrugged. “Alright, I’ll choose one myself.”

After selecting a personal terminal, she had the ID chip implanted that they had processed earlier at the Public Security Bureau. She chose the same watch-style model as Jiang Zhonglin. As she fiddled with her new terminal, she walked with her head down. To prevent her from bumping into people, Jiang Zhonglin had to hold her arm and guide her through the crowd.

After a while, Yu Yao stopped and pointed to a game store in the mall. “I want to buy a game.”

Jiang Zhonglin sighed, as if he wasn’t surprised at all, and spoke like an understanding parent, “Alright, but you should play in moderation. Don’t stay up too late at night. Balance work and rest…”

Before he could finish, Yu Yao grabbed his hand and pulled him into the game store.