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

The next day, at 6:30 in the morning.

Su Xiao was still fast asleep, her phone alarm hadn't gone off yet.

"Knock knock knock".

Su Xiao rolled over, pulled the blanket over her head, mumbled something incomprehensible, and then stopped moving.

"Knock knock knock".

The knocking started again, this time more urgent and forceful, carrying an air of impatience.

Immediately afterwards, a cold voice came from outside the door: "Get up, it's time for school."

Su Xiao suddenly opened her eyes, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Going to school? What do you mean, going to school?

He blinked, his brain still processing, and his gaze slowly focused on the old-fashioned ceiling light.

Oh, right.

He was reborn.

I'm seventeen, a senior in high school, and today is Monday.

Su Xiao closed her eyes again, wanting to doze off for a while longer.

There was another knock on the door, this time only two, but the voice was several degrees colder than before: "Are you getting up or not?"

Su Xiao sprang out of bed with a somersault, his bare feet hitting the floor. The icy touch sent a rush of cold air up his body, instantly waking him up.

He quickly pulled on his pants, fastening his belt as he went to open the door.

The door opened, and Su Wanning stood in the doorway.

She was already dressed.

He wore a white short-sleeved school uniform with a dark blue school uniform jacket over it.

Her long hair was tied into a neat ponytail, with not a single stray hair in front of her forehead.

The backpack was slung over one shoulder, and the right hand held a half-finished cup of warm water.

But her expression wasn't friendly.

His lips were pursed, his brows were slightly furrowed, and his eyes held a look of disdain that said, "I knew this would happen."

"What time is it?" Su Xiao asked, rubbing her eyes.

"6:35."

"6:35?!" Su Xiao almost jumped up. "So early? What time does school start?"

"Morning self-study starts at 7:30. By the time you're ready to leave and get to school, it'll be just in time."

Su Wanning's tone was flat and indifferent.

After she finished speaking, she turned and walked back to the living room. As she passed the dining table, she tapped the tabletop with her finger. "Breakfast is ready. Eat by yourself. Hurry up and don't dawdle."

Su Xiao stood there, scratching her hair which looked like a bird's nest from sleeping, and watched Su Wan Ning walk to the sofa, sit down, and pick up her English vocabulary book from the coffee table to start memorizing.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, falling on the vocabulary book on her lap and on a few stray strands of her hair.

This girl is so good at waking him up; she's obviously a pro.

Su Xiao leaned against the door frame, watching this scene, as fragments of memories from her past life slowly surfaced in her mind.

Su Wanning used to wake him up every morning.

Because he loves to sleep in, without fail.

The alarm clock rings, I turn it off and go back to sleep. Mom calls me, I turn over and go back to sleep. Dad calls me, I pull the blanket over my head and go back to sleep.

He would only reluctantly get up when Su Wan Ning came to call him.

It's not because she's obedient, it's because this girl is too persistent.

She'll keep standing at the door and knocking until you get up, if you don't get up.

Then one day, Su Wan Ning stopped knocking.

She gets up on time every day, makes her own breakfast, and goes to school by herself, never stopping when she passes by his room.

At that time, Su Xiao felt pretty good, finally no one was bothering him anymore.

Looking back now, it wasn't that they didn't want to call out, it was that they were afraid to.

She was afraid he would find her annoying again.

"What are you still standing there for?" Su Wan Ning asked without looking up, flipping through her vocabulary notebook. "It's 6:40!"

Su Xiao suddenly came to her senses and turned to run to the bathroom.

He finished washing up faster than he ever had in his life.

Brushing teeth, washing face, combing hair, and changing into school uniform—the whole process takes less than five minutes.

The school uniform was brought in from the balcony that morning by Su Wanning and placed on the living room sofa for him.

They were folded so neatly that even the folds in the pants were pressed straight.

As he buttoned his shirt, he wondered what time this girl had gotten up.

He paused for a moment when he reached the dining table.

Su Wanning even prepared breakfast, using ingredients she bought yesterday.

On the table was a bowl of white porridge, next to a plate of fried eggs and a small plate of stir-fried vegetables.

The porridge was freshly cooked, with a thin layer of rice oil on the surface, and steam was slowly rising from the rim of the bowl.

The fried egg was cooked to perfection, with crispy, golden-brown edges and a slightly trembling yolk in the center.

It's soft-boiled, but there's no Vlogo.

The greens were chopped finely, and a little minced garlic was added while stir-frying, making it smell delicious.

Su Xiao sat down, picked up her chopsticks, and glanced at Su Wan Ning sitting on the sofa.

Aren't you going to eat?

"I've already eaten." Su Wan Ning flipped through a page of her vocabulary book, her tone still businesslike. "Hurry up, don't be late."

Su Xiao lowered her head and took a mouthful of porridge.

The porridge was at just the right temperature, neither too hot nor too cold.

The same goes for fried eggs; when you bite into one, the yolk is still warm and runny.

He looked up and glanced at Su Wanning again.

She was still memorizing vocabulary words, seemingly not caring at all whether he had eaten breakfast properly.

But she hadn't turned the page of her vocabulary book since then.

Su Xiao finished the porridge completely, and also ate all the fried egg and vegetables, leaving not a single drop.

He was carrying the bowl and chopsticks to the kitchen to wash them when Su Wan Ning stood up from the sofa, stuffed her vocabulary book into her bag, and came over to take the bowl and chopsticks from his hands.

"I'll collect them, you go change your shoes."

Before Su Xiao could say anything, she had already taken the bowls and chopsticks into the kitchen.

The tap was turned on, and amidst the rushing water, she uttered a sentence whose emotion was unreadable: "Your schoolbag is on the shoe rack by the door, and I've filled your water bottle, the blue one."

Su Xiao walked to the door and saw his schoolbag and water bottle on the shoe cabinet.

Everything is ready.

As he stood in the entryway, head down, tying his shoelaces, a small question popped into his mind.

What time did this girl get up?

At seven o'clock sharp, the two of them went out.

The morning sunlight still carried a hint of the coolness after last night's rain, and the air was filled with the faint smell of earth and the moisture from the leaves of the roadside trees.

The breakfast stalls in the neighborhood have already opened, with steam rising from the steamers, and the proprietress shouting at the top of her lungs, "Steamed buns, mantou, soy milk, and fried dough sticks!"

Students in school uniforms walked sporadically along the road, some riding up on skateboards and creating a gust of wind.

Some walked arm in arm with their classmates, with bread slices in their mouths.

Another one was probably late; he ran very fast with his schoolbag on his back.

Su Wanning walked in front, and Su Xiao walked behind.

The two were about seven or eight steps apart, not too far, not too close, just out of reach.

Su Xiao quickened her pace, trying to shorten the distance.

Su Wanning quickened her pace by taking three steps, widening the distance between them again.

Su Xiao quickened her pace, and Su Wan Ning followed suit.

Like a radar.

Precision guidance, locked distance.

Su Xiao took a deep breath and rushed after her, almost touching Su Wan Ning's shoulder when they reached each other.

Su Wan Ning seemed to have been burned, and immediately took half a step to the side, turned her head away from him, and quickened her pace.

Su Xiao couldn't hold back any longer: "Can't you come a little closer to me?"

Su Wan Ning paused for a moment, then continued walking forward without looking back.

Several seconds later, her voice drifted over from the front, muffled.

"Didn't you say you didn't want me to follow you?"

Su Xiao's feet froze in place.

His palms were a little itchy, the kind of itchiness that makes you want to slap something.

To be precise, I wanted to slap myself.

Such an adorable little sister, and she still won't admit it!

He wished he could travel back in time and slap that idiot twice across the face.

He used both hands, slapping the opponent's arm and then kicking them.

After saying that, Su Wanning didn't speak again.

It's as if they're talking about something that has nothing to do with them.

I just walked a little faster than before.

Su Xiao took a deep breath and strode after him.

This time, he didn't keep his distance. Instead, he walked directly to Su Wan Ning's right side, with only half an arm's length between their shoulders.

Very close.

Su Wan Ning paused noticeably and moved slightly to the right.

Su Xiao also moved to the right.

Su Wan Ning moved a little to the right, almost stepping on the edge of the green belt.

Su Xiao reached out and gently grabbed the end of her backpack strap to stop her from moving any further.

Su Wan Ning froze, abruptly turning her head to glare at him, her eyes filled with astonishment and a hint of panic: "What are you doing?"

"I didn't do anything," Su Xiao let go of her hand, looking at her with a grin, without taking any steps to distance herself. "I just wanted to get closer to you, just a little bit closer."

Su Wan Ning's ears started to turn red again, but she still managed to maintain her composure.

She frowned, her lips turned down, and she made a disgusted face: "Didn't you say you wouldn't let me come with you?"

"That's because I was mentally ill before," Su Xiao replied decisively and confidently, as if stating an undeniable fact.

"I'm cured now!"

Su Wan Ning probably didn't expect him to answer like that. She opened her mouth, but for a moment she didn't know how to respond.

She paused for two seconds, then snorted, turned her head to the other side, and quickened her pace.

"as you like."

His tone was still cold.

But this time, she wasn't walking as fast as before.

Su Xiao smiled and quickly followed, walking beside her.