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

Xu Niannian was stunned.

She looked at Su Xiao beside her, her mind blank.

This person just hit Zhao Wang.

With another kick, he sent his table flying half a meter away.

The handprint on Zhao Wang's face was still there.

He had lived for eighteen years and had never been beaten like this before.

In front of the whole class.

He was looked down upon by a poor student.

"Su Xiao, are you fucking crazy?!"

Su Xiao ignored him.

Zhao Wang's voice rose several octaves, his throat cracking: "What right do you have to hit me? Who do you think you are? I'm going to Teacher He's office right now!"

Su Xiao walked step by step to Zhao Wang.

Zhao Wang was half a head shorter than him, and when he saw him walking over, he instinctively took a step back.

Su Xiao looked down at him.

He remembered Zhao Wang.

In my past life, a few years after graduating from high school, a message exploded in our classmates' group chat—Zhao Wang had been arrested.

Rape.

He was the only one in his class to get a government job.

Now, standing here, looking at Zhao Wang's eyes hidden behind thick glasses, he suddenly felt disgusted.

"Tell the teacher?"

Su Xiao spoke very softly, making sure that only the two of them could hear her.

"Go ahead. You can talk to Teacher He about where you put your hands just now."

Zhao Wang's expression changed for a moment, then immediately returned to its furious red: "You're talking nonsense! When did I...?"

He hadn't finished speaking.

Su Xiao slapped him again.

Still on the left, still in the same position.

Zhao Wang was spun halfway around by the blow, and his glasses flew off and landed on the ground.

"The first slap is for you bullying her." Su Xiao shook her hand. "The second slap is for you trying to tattle."

The classroom was so quiet that you could hear the students from the next class reading in the hallway.

Zhao Wang covered his face, his lips trembling.

He opened his mouth as if to say something harsh, but suddenly a shadow appeared in his peripheral vision.

Fang Yu stood up from behind.

The burly man, standing at 1.85 meters tall, walked from the last row, his every step causing the floor to tremble slightly.

He stood behind Su Xiao, crossed his arms over his chest, and looked down at Zhao Wang.

He didn't say anything, but his expression clearly said, "Try arguing with my Su brother again."

Zhao Wang's face turned pale instantly.

He couldn't beat Su Xiao alone, and with Fang Yu added to the mix, he didn't even have the courage to fight back.

He squatted down and groped around on the ground for a while before finally finding his cracked glasses. He put them back on his nose, and his eyes behind the lenses were red, whether from anger or pain, he didn't know.

"You just wait and see." He said this, picked up his things, moved his seat, and shrank into the corner of the last row against the wall, not daring to look in this direction again.

Su Xiao turned around.

He noticed that the whole class was looking at him.

There was no admiration or praise in those gazes, only disgust.

A girl in the front row frowned, turned her face away, and muttered something under her breath.

Someone in the row by the window moved their chair further away, as if getting too close to him would get them dirty.

How did this kind of hoodlum get into No. 1 Middle School?

What a rotten apple!

Su Xiao walked back to her seat expressionlessly.

got used to.

He used to care about that, but now he only cares about one thing.

He sat down, glancing at the person next to him out of the corner of his eye.

Xu Niannian is looking at him.

It's not the kind of opinion that involves sneaking a glance and then avoiding it.

She just stared straight at him, her lips pursed, with tears still clinging to her eyelashes.

She didn't say thank you, nor did she ask why; she just watched.

When Su Xiao looked over, Xu Niannian immediately turned her head away.

Fang Yu peeked out from behind, looked at the empty seat next to Su Xiao, then at Zhao Wang huddled in the other corner, and scratched his head.

"Brother Su, um..."

"Um?"

"The first class is taught by our homeroom teacher," Fang Yu said in a low voice. "If Teacher He asks about this seating arrangement, what should we say?"

Su Xiao thought for a moment.

This is a problem.

In the homeroom teacher's class, there was one less person and one more person. He sat in a seat he shouldn't have been in, and this couldn't be kept secret.

He thought about it again, then smiled.

"Simple."

Fang Yu had a bad feeling.

"I'll just move in."

Fang Yu was stunned.

Xu Niannian's eyes widened.

The two people turned to look at him at the same time, one from behind and the other from the side, with the exact same expression.

Are you crazy?

"No, Brother Su," Fang Yu said anxiously, "you've moved out, what about me?"

Su Xiao patted his shoulder and said earnestly, "Fang Yu, people always have to learn to grow up."

Fang Yu stood there, watching Su Xiao move the table away and place it on the table next to Xu Niannian.

Then he looked back at his original seat.

He was the only one left at the last row by the window, at the two-person table.

Oh wait, there's one more.

Zhao Wang is in the farthest corner.

Fang Yu walked back to his seat alone, sat down, and stretched his legs out to the empty space next to him.

A table for one person.

The loneliness of being alone.

……

The school bell rang.

The first period was chemistry class, taught by the homeroom teacher.

He Shaojun, the head teacher of Class 12 of Senior Three, is in his early forties and teaches chemistry.

He wears silver-rimmed glasses, his hair is always neatly combed, and he never smiles in class.

He wasn't the kind of fierce, intimidating homeroom teacher who would slam his fist on the table or yell at students, but no one dared to misbehave in his classes.

Because he will stare at you silently with the eyes behind his glasses until you feel a chill down your spine.

"Turn to page seventy-two of your textbook."

He Shaojun placed his lesson plan on the podium, adjusted his glasses, and habitually swept his gaze across the entire class.

Then his gaze settled on the fourth row by the window.

Su Xiao sat next to Xu Niannian.

Xu Niannian huddled against the wall, while Su Xiao sat casually outside, her chemistry textbook spread out on the table.

He Shaojun's gaze lingered on Su Xiao's face for two seconds.

"Su Xiao".

"Here." Su Xiao stood up, grinning.

"Why are you sitting here?"

It's not a question, it's a statement.

His tone was calm, but his eyes were sharp, a scrutinizing gaze unique to a veteran teacher with twenty years of experience.

He has seen everything, is unsurprised by anything, but lets nothing slip by.

"Teacher, Zhao Wang switched places with me." Su Xiao said matter-of-factly, pointing to Zhao Wang in the corner of the last row. "I want to study hard. Xu Niannian has good grades, and sitting next to her means I can ask her questions anytime."

A few scattered snickers rang out in the class, and a few boys couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Su Xiao? Study hard? How many times has he even looked through his textbooks?

Does he remember the names of the first ten elements in the periodic table?

He Shaojun did not laugh.

He turned to look at Zhao Wang. "Zhao Wang, is that so?"

Zhao Wang stood up.

The handprint on his face hadn't faded yet.

He opened his mouth, glancing at Su Xiao out of the corner of his eye.

Su Xiao was looking at him.

He had a smile on his face, but his eyes were cold.

Zhao Wang had seen that look twice before, and each time it was accompanied by a slap.

He swallowed hard. "Yes... I switched with him."

He Shaojun remained silent for two seconds.

He is not a fool.

Zhao Wang's face mark, Su Xiao's nonchalant smile, and Xu Niannian's posture of shrinking in the corner as if she wanted to disappear—all of these were observed.

But he didn't intend to investigate further.

A poor student like Su Xiao isn't worth wasting class time on.

Moreover, Zhao Wang's grades were only average, and he was usually quite talkative.

As for Xu Niannian, she has good grades, but she doesn't like to talk...

I doubt they'll complain.

"Sit down." He opened his lesson plan. "Xu Niannian."

Xu Niannian straightened up as if she had been electrocuted.

"Since Su Xiao is sitting next to you, you're in charge of tutoring him. If he fails chemistry again in the midterm exam, let him sit back down."

After finishing speaking, He Shaojun lowered his head to look at the lesson plan, "Open the textbook."

Su Xiao sat down and glanced at Xu Niannian.

Xu Niannian lowered her head, her fingers picking at the corner of her textbook, and muttered something softly.

Su Xiao didn't hear clearly.

But he figured it was something like "I understand".

He Shaojun's chemistry classes were not boring.

What are ionic equations, redox reactions, and electron transfer?

Su Xiao's academic performance was not good, mainly because she did not take her studies seriously in her previous life.

Back then, all I thought about was having fun.

Now that I'm back in the classroom, I feel a mix of emotions.

But Su Xiao also knew that high school was only suitable for reminiscing, not for returning.

So, should I stay and study, or go out and make money?

As I was thinking, my thoughts drifted away without me even realizing it.

He Shaojun's voice on the podium became a buzzing background sound, like someone chanting scriptures in a distant place.

He felt like he'd been poked.

It's not an illusion.

Someone poked his arm with a pen cap.

Very lightly, very carefully, and immediately retracted after poking.

Su Xiao turned her head to look.

Xu Niannian kept her head down, her face hidden behind her hair, so her expression was not visible.

But the textbook in front of her was pushed a little towards him, and there was a note on top of the textbook.

The strip of paper was torn from the exercise book, and the edges were torn neatly.

There were only two characters on it. The characters were very small, written carefully, stroke by stroke.

"Attend the lecture."