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

What should we eat for lunch?

Yeah, what should we eat?

Su Xiao certainly wouldn't have dinner with Fang Yu.

As soon as the school bell rang, he grabbed his schoolbag and dashed out of the school gate, running faster than the group of PE students from the next class who were scrambling for food.

Fang Yu chased after him, only to see his back disappear around the corner of the stairs.

"Brother Su, didn't we agree to go to the cafeteria together?"

"Eat it yourself!"

Fang Yu stood in the corridor, staring blankly at the empty stairwell.

What's wrong with Su Ge?

In the past, we would always go to lunch together, arm in arm.

Kung Pao Chicken from the cafeteria, instant noodles with ham from the convenience store, fried noodles from the stall behind the school gate—we ate all of these together.

Now look what's happened, they disappear as soon as get out of class is over.

Fang Yu could only walk sadly to the cafeteria alone.

……

Not long after Su Xiao walked out of the school gate, she saw the editor-in-chief. Judging from the editor-in-chief's excited look, she knew there must be good news.

Sure enough, the editor-in-chief immediately told him the good news: Su Xiao's story had just been printed in the weekly magazine and was immediately snapped up, selling nearly 200 copies in just one morning!

If he could earn one yuan per book, he would have made almost 200 yuan in one morning!

When he got to this point, the editor-in-chief couldn't stop smiling; the once dismal weekly business was suddenly revitalized.

Su Xiao wasn't too surprised, because he knew that this kind of story would become a nationwide sensation.

After chatting with the editor-in-chief for a few minutes, he handed over his newly opened bank card, saying that the editor-in-chief would transfer the commission at the end of the month.

The editor-in-chief took the bank card and urged him to write a few more articles when he had time.

……

Su Wanning usually buys something to eat at the school gate.

The school is neither too close nor too far from home; it takes about half an hour to walk there and back.

So she usually buys some food at the food street, then goes home to sleep for a while, and then comes to school when it's time.

The snack street is located in the alley to the left of the school gate.

It's called a food street, but it's really just a row of crooked tin sheds, packed tightly together outside the school wall.

There were stalls selling fried skewers, roasted sweet potatoes, oden, and fried rice noodles, each surrounded by students in school uniforms.

The air was filled with the aroma of chili powder and oil mixed together.

Su Xiao quickly found Su Wan Ning.

She always stands out in a crowd.

The other girls were chatting and laughing in small groups, but she was the only one standing alone in front of the fried food stall.

With her schoolbag on her back and her ponytail hanging over her shoulder, she was quiet and still, separated from the hustle and bustle around her by an invisible layer of glass.

She was standing in front of a fried food stall.

The auntie used long chopsticks to turn the chicken strips in the oil pan, oil splattering up, and the golden-brown chicken strips were drained on a wire rack.

Next to it was a pot of oden, the soup in the compartment was bubbling and bubbling, with seaweed knots and fish balls floating in the soup.

Su Wan Ning looked at the skewers with no expression on her face, but her gaze lingered on the chicken strips a little longer than on the others.

Su Xiao immediately ran over excitedly, her schoolbag bouncing behind her, and stood next to Su Wan Ning.

Why are you running so fast? Wait for your brother!

Su Wan Ning ignored him.

She looked away from the chicken strips, glanced at him, and then looked back.

Su Xiao's smile remained unaffected, and she casually stood next to her.

"What do you want to eat? It's on me."

Su Wan Ning still ignored him.

She pointed to the pot of oden next to the fried food stall, "Auntie, one order of seaweed knots and one order of fish balls. How much?"

The aunt gave a number.

"There's also a skewer of chicken strips." Su Wan Ning pointed to the skewer that had just been scooped out of the oil.

"Okay, that's all..."

"I'll give it to you."

Su Xiao reached out and stood between Su Wan Ning and the aunt, while using her other hand to reach into her pants.

Su Wanning glanced at him.

She took the initiative and quietly pulled a faded coin purse from her school uniform pocket.

I opened the zipper and handed the aunt the exact amount of change.

"Give him the same one too."

The aunt took the money, filled another container, and then handed both containers over together.

Su Wanning took the two portions and then handed one of them to Su Xiao.

Su Xiao paused for a moment, then took the oden.

The paper cup was warm, and you could feel the temperature of the soup through the cup.

"I……"

Su Wan Ning had already turned and left.

The two walked home, one in front of the other.

At midday in summer, the sun makes the asphalt road surface slightly soft.

Su Wan Ning walked ahead and noticed that something was amiss.

It's too quiet.

Usually, Su Xiao would come up and talk to him at this time, but today she didn't say a word.

At this moment, Su Xiao walked behind, carrying the oden, and didn't say much.

It's not that I don't want to talk, it's just that I'm too sleepy and my brain can't process anything.

He walked about three or four steps behind Su Wan Ning, his pace slower than usual, as if half of his strength had been drained.

Then he yawned again.

He quickly covered his face with the back of his hand, so no sound was made.

But Su Wan Ning paused for a moment; she had heard it.

She didn't turn around, but a voice came from ahead, neither warm nor cold: "What did you do last night?"

Su Xiao swallowed back the yawn that was on her lips and rubbed her sore eyes: "I went to revise the manuscript. The editor-in-chief asked me to revise it again, and I worked on it until after 2 a.m.

Su Wanning didn't reply and continued walking forward.

But she slowed her pace a little, as if unconsciously waiting for him to catch up.

After walking for a while, Su Xiao yawned again, this time without being able to stop herself.

Su Wan Ning suddenly stopped.

She turned around and glanced at him.

Her expression remained indifferent, but her gaze lingered on his eyes for a moment.

There was a thin layer of grayish-blue hue there, but it couldn't be hidden.

"What time did you go to bed last night?"

Su Xiao was taken aback by her question and casually replied, "Around two o'clock, what's wrong? Is the light in the living room bothering you?"

Su Wanning did not answer, turned around and continued walking forward.

But after taking a few steps, she handed over the untouched oden she was holding.

Instead of handing it to him, it was stuffed directly into the plastic bag he was carrying.

It was as if she was afraid he would refuse.

Su Xiao looked down at the extra portion of oden in the plastic bag, then looked up at her back.

"Haven't you eaten yet?"

Su Wan Ning didn't turn around. Her voice drifted over from the front, cold and icy: "I can't finish eating. You should go back to sleep after you've eaten. Your dark circles are practically hanging down to your chin. You look awful."

Su Xiao opened her mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again.

He looked down at the oden in the plastic bag, then at Su Wan Ning walking ahead.

He smiled and said nothing more.

He quickened his pace to catch up with her, and the two walked side by side.