Brother! This is the adoption certificate. I don't want your sister-in-law!

The two entered the supermarket one after the other.

It's not one of those big shopping malls, but a small supermarket at the entrance of a community. It's not big, but it has a wide variety of products.

The proprietress was eating sunflower seeds behind the cashier. When she saw someone come in, she raised her eyelids slightly, then lowered her head again to continue watching her TV series.

Most of the people who come to buy groceries at this time are long-time neighbors who all know each other.

Within three days, the whole neighborhood will know which child scored how many points on their exam, or which daughter-in-law had a fight with her mother-in-law.

Su Xiao pushed a shopping cart, but the wheels were a bit crooked, making a rattling sound when she pushed it, and it was difficult to even move it in a straight line.

Su Wan Ning followed behind him, keeping a distance of three steps, neither too far forward nor too far back, just out of his reach.

Su Xiao picked up a bunch of small green vegetables and turned to ask her, "Do you want some vegetables?"

"casual."

Su Xiao put the vegetables in the car, then picked up a box of tofu: "Where's the tofu? Shall we make Mapo Tofu?"

"casual."

"Want some beef? We're out of meat in the fridge."

"……casual."

Su Xiao put the beef into the shopping cart, pushed the cart forward, and couldn't help but smile.

In his past life, he was most afraid of hearing the word "whatever" when interacting with people.

When the other party said "whatever," he knew things were going to get complicated.

It's not that I'm really casual; I just don't want to tell you.

But Su Wan Ning's "casualness" is different.

Her "casualness" is genuinely casual.

It's not that she doesn't want to talk to him, she just doesn't know how to speak properly.

This little sister has been like this since she was little. When asked what she wants to eat, she says anything is fine.

When asked where she wanted to go, she said anywhere was fine.

When asked what her favorite color was, she said it didn't matter.

She says she's not picky about anything, but she'll quietly pick things out herself.

Su Xiao stopped in front of the snack shelf.

He reached out and took a bag of original flavor potato chips from the shelf.

Then I took another bag.

Su Wan Ning's gaze drifted over subtly for a moment.

She likes this brand of potato chips, the original flavor, not barbecue flavor, not tomato flavor, just the original flavor.

She hadn't told anyone about this, not even her mother.

Every time she went to the supermarket, she would secretly throw a bag into the shopping cart when no one was looking, and then mix it into the pile of items at checkout, pretending that she hadn't taken it herself.

Su Xiao put the potato chips into the shopping cart, then went to the beverage section, took two bottles of peach-flavored juice from the freezer, and put them in the cart without even looking at them.

Su Wan Ning's eyelashes fluttered.

Next up is jelly.

Then there are those individually wrapped little cakes, strawberry flavored.

Then there was a bag of black sesame dumplings in the frozen section.

One by one, the items were added to the shopping cart, and each one was something Su Wan Ning liked.

She herself had forgotten when she had eaten some of them, but when Su Xiao reached out her hand, her body reacted before her brain.

Yes, this is delicious, she likes it.

Su Wan Ning followed behind, watching the items in the shopping cart pile up higher and higher, her lips pursed into a thin line.

She didn't say, "How did you know I like to eat this?", but would just stare at his back from time to time.

Su Xiao pushed the cart and glanced back at her: "Is there anything else you'd like to eat?"

Su Wan Ning turned her face away.

"casual."

Su Xiao felt a little helpless as she pushed the cart toward the cashier.

This girl's "whatever" translates to "You've taken all the things I like, I'm too embarrassed to say anything."

When we got to the checkout counter, the cashier stood up.

The woman was in her fifties, with a round face and permed hair. She looked like she had worked at this supermarket for many years.

There weren't many items, so it was quick to sweep.

As the aunt packed the potato chips into the bag, she habitually looked up and glanced at Su Wanning, who was standing next to Su Xiao.

She froze for a moment.

Then he looked at Su Xiao.

His gaze swept back and forth between the two people twice, as if he had remembered something, and a look of sudden realization appeared on his face.

"You're her brother?"

Su Wan Ning's expression stiffened slightly for a moment.

Su Xiao was also taken aback for a moment, then immediately put on a smile and handed over the last bottle of juice: "Yes, I'm her brother. Do you know my sister?"

"Let's get to know each other."

The auntie smiled broadly, her hands never stopping.

"This little girl often comes to buy groceries, and she always comes alone. At first, I asked her, 'Where are your parents?' She said her parents were busy at work. Then I asked her, 'Don't you have any other siblings?' She didn't answer. Later, after we got to know each other, she told me that she had an older brother, and that her brother was a very nice person."

Su Wan Ning's face flushed red instantly.

"Aunt!"

She called out instinctively, her voice a beat higher than usual, carrying a hint of flustered annoyance.

The aunt completely missed the meaning in her eyes and laughed even harder.

"You won't even let me say anything? Last time you came to buy groceries, I said it must be hard for a young girl like you to come every day, and you said it wasn't hard at all, that your brother was waiting at home to eat. I said why doesn't your brother come to buy groceries himself, and you said your brother is very capable and has more important things to do. Did you say that?"

Su Wan Ning opened her mouth, but found that she couldn't refute a single word.

Because that's exactly what she said.

Every single sentence is.

She didn't know how to answer her aunt's question at that time.

She was too embarrassed to say "my brother is too lazy to come," and even less willing to say "my brother is playing games at an internet cafe."

She didn't want a stranger to think badly of her brother.

So she thought about it for a long time and came up with this sentence.

My brother is a good person.

Su Xiao stood to the side, listening to these words coming out of the cashier's mouth one by one, and the smile on her face slowly became less natural.

He was initially just politely smiling and making small talk, but as he heard further, he suddenly stopped smiling.

He had no idea that his sister would tell these things to other people.

He didn't know in his past life, and he never expected it in this one.

He thought that in Su Wan Ning's heart, he was just an unreliable older brother, lazy, playful, bad-tempered, and indifferent to his younger sister.

But behind her back, she told others that her brother was a good person.

Su Xiao turned her head and glanced at Su Wan Ning.

Su Wan Ning's expression was cold and stiff, but her ears were so red they looked like they could bleed.

Su Xiao didn't say anything.

He paid the bill, picked up the bag full of groceries, smiled at the aunt, and said, "Thank you for taking care of my sister."

The aunt waved her hand: "Oh, don't be so polite. The little girl is very nice, you, as her brother, should take good care of her."

Su Xiao nodded: "Yes."

The two people walked out of the supermarket.

As soon as she stepped out the door, Su Wan Ning walked forward without looking back, her pace quickening considerably compared to when she arrived.

She wished she could erase those few minutes of conversation from everyone's memory, especially Su Xiao's.

She walked ahead with a brisk pace, while Su Xiao followed behind carrying two large bags.

The bag was bulging with vegetables, and when I walked, it bumped against my leg, making a rustling sound as the plastic bag rubbed against my leg.

Su Wan Ning kept her head down and stomped her feet quickly, but her mind was even more chaotic than her feet.

She kept replaying the words the cashier had said in her mind.

What did the aunt say?

Auntie told me everything.

What does it mean to say "My brother is a good person"?

Will he misunderstand?

Su Wan Ning's ears burned hotter the more she thought about it. She bit her lip and said fiercely to herself in her heart.

Those are just polite words.

Just saying.

It doesn't mean anything!

……

After leaving the supermarket, Su Xiao walked behind, so her expression couldn't be seen.

But you can tell from the way her ponytail is swinging like a fan at the back of her head that this girl is going through a lot of turmoil.

Su Xiao stopped in her tracks as she passed a bank.

"Wan Ning," he called out to Su Wan Ning, who was still walking ahead with her head down, "Wait here for me for a while. I'm going to the bank to open a bank account so I can deposit money."

Su Wan Ning finally stopped, turned around, glanced at him, and nodded.

Su Xiao placed both shopping bags at her feet and walked into the bank herself.

He took a few steps, then looked back to make sure Su Wan Ning was standing in the shade of a tree by the roadside, out of the sun.

Only then did he feel relieved enough to push open the bank door.

Su Wan Ning stood outside the bank, watching Su Xiao's back behind the glass door.

He was wearing an old T-shirt today, the collar was a little loose, but it was very clean.

Through the glass door, Su Wan Ning saw him talking to a bank teller and then taking out some identification documents.

Su Wanning looked away.

People come and go on the street.

There were young mothers pushing strollers, elderly men walking their dogs, and deliverymen riding bicycles and ringing their bells.

Su Wanning stood under the shade of a tree, her gaze drifting aimlessly through the crowd.

Then her gaze stopped.

On the roadside, a little girl was clinging to a boy who looked about seventeen or eighteen years old, her hands gripping the hem of his clothes, standing on tiptoe, her whole body hanging on her brother's clothes.

The little girl had two pigtails that bounced as she walked, and she looked up at the boy with longing eyes.

"Brother, just one, please!"

The boy was being pulled so hard he couldn't walk. He frowned and pretended to be impatient: "No, Mom said you can't eat candy, or your teeth will get cavities."

"I'm not afraid of bugs!"

"You already ate one yesterday."

"I didn't eat again today!"

"That's why you can't eat it."

The little girl stopped talking.

She just tugged at her brother's clothes, tilted her head back, and looked at him longingly.

With big, round eyes, fluttering eyelashes, and a slightly pouting mouth, he exudes a silent accusation that says, "If you don't buy it for me, you're the worst brother in the world."

The boy glanced down at her.

I took another look.

"……one."

The little girl's eyes lit up instantly.

Just one.

"good!"

The boy sighed helplessly, took out his change, and went to a nearby stall to buy a cotton candy.

It's pink and bigger than a little girl's face.

The little girl took the cotton candy, jumped up with joy, twirled around in front of her brother, and shouted, "I love you the most, brother!"

As Su Wan Ning watched this scene, the expression on her face gradually relaxed.

She didn't even realize that a smile had unconsciously appeared on her face, a smile that she herself was unaware of.

Two shallow dimples quietly appeared on her cheeks.

"Stop looking, you have one too."

A voice suddenly came from behind.

Su Wan Ning trembled with fright, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and turned around abruptly.

Su Xiao had already come out of the bank at some point and was standing behind her, holding something in her hand.

A pink marshmallow.

I don't know when he bought it; he probably just grabbed it from that little stall near the bank.

Su Wan Ning's face turned red again.

She instinctively took a half step back, shaking her head vigorously: "I...I don't want to eat it!"

As she said that, her eyes unconsciously drifted towards the cotton candy.

Su Xiao suppressed a laugh and stuffed the bamboo skewers into her hand: "We've already bought them, it'll be a waste if you don't eat them."

Su Wan Ning's hand was touched by a bamboo skewer, and her fingers recoiled slightly, then recoiled again.

Finally, she reached out and took the cotton candy.

The movements were slow, as if they had been mentally preparing for a long time.

"I...I just don't want to waste food, not that I want to eat it."

Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible.

"Okay, okay, my thrifty little sister."

Su Xiao smiled and continued walking forward.

Su Wan Ning thrashed around for a while longer before following behind, this time not walking in front of him, but half a step behind.

She lowered her head, held the cotton candy to her mouth, and took small bites.

The pink sugar strands melted on the tip of the tongue, almost too sweet.

She ate as she walked, hiding her face behind the marshmallow, as if that way no one would see the two deep dimples on her cheeks.

It tastes so good, just like it did when I was a kid!