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

Xu Niannian didn't accept it, pushed the milk back, and shook her head.

Su Xiao pushed it back.

She pushed it back.

The bottle of milk was moved back and forth between their desks several times, almost getting warm from being pushed around.

Su Xiao pressed down on the milk and changed her expression.

It wasn't the playful smile from before; it was a very serious expression, imbued with a spirit of scientific inquiry.

Like a doctor telling a patient the test results.

"Xu Niannian, listen to me. You're eating steamed buns every day, which is causing you to be malnourished, very malnourished. Do you know what the consequences of malnutrition are?"

Xu Niannian was taken aback by his serious expression and blinked.

"If we get married, will we have to have children?"

Su Xiao, with an air of entitlement, placed her hand on the table and leaned forward slightly. "If you have a baby, you'll have to breastfeed, right? You're malnourished now; what will the baby eat if you don't have enough milk?"

Xu Niannian's face started to turn red when she heard the word "marriage," and her neck turned red when she heard "giving birth."

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but Su Xiao didn't give her a chance to speak.

"Without breast milk, the baby will starve to death." Su Xiao's expression was as serious as if she were reading a lab report, enunciating each word clearly, "Can you bear to do that?"

Xu Niannian was stunned.

That image probably appeared in her mind.

A tiny baby was crying loudly with its mouth open, but there was nothing to eat.

That image was so vivid, so terrifying.

Her eyes instantly reddened, her hands twisted around the hem of her school uniform, and her lips trembled.

Su Xiao kept a straight face, his gaze slowly moving down her face and stopping at a certain spot.

He stroked his chin and nodded thoughtfully.

"However, this is just my speculation. Whether they will starve to death or not, we'll have to see for ourselves."

His tone was as if he were discussing a physics experiment problem, "Want me to test it for you? Feel it."

Xu Niannian followed his gaze and looked down at her chest.

Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, she almost jumped off the chair, clutching her chest tightly with both hands and shrinking back again and again.

"No, no...!" Her face was so red it was almost steaming.

Su Xiao leaned back, picked up the milk, and placed it steadily in front of her.

"Then drink milk."

Xu Niannian held her arms around her chest for about three seconds before slowly letting go.

She looked at the bottle of milk in front of her, then quickly glanced at Su Xiao.

He was still looking at her, a slight smile on his lips, but his gaze wasn't as frightening as before.

She reached out and took the milk, holding it in both hands as if it were a precious treasure.

"Thanks……"

Her voice was so soft it sounded like a mosquito buzzing.

She inserted the straw, lowered her head, and carefully took a small sip.

Then she stopped moving.

Her eyelashes blinked, then blinked again.

Then she took another small sip.

This time, instead of stopping, she slowly swallowed the milk, her eyes brightening.

What was that look in his eyes like? Like a kitten that had always only drunk plain water, suddenly tasting a drop of fish soup.

She took another sip, this time even her cheeks moved, and a ring of white milk foam appeared around the corner of her mouth.

Su Xiao looked away from her face, opened her textbook, and pretended to look at yesterday's notes.

This girl has probably never drunk milk since she was a child.

……

Class teacher He Shaojun's chemistry class.

As soon as the bell rang, He Shaojun walked in with his lesson plan, his face expressionless. He placed the lesson plan on the podium and took out the score sheet from last week's chemistry weekly test.

The class fell silent. He Shaojun adjusted his glasses and began reading out the grades.

The top three were announced.

The third-ranked student in the class was a girl who wore glasses, and the second-ranked student was the class monitor, Li Ze.

He Shaojun looked away from the report card, scanned the classroom, and then stopped at the fourth row against the wall.

"First place."

He paused, then said, "Xu Niannian."

The class fell silent for a moment, then several heads turned around at the same time.

Xu Niannian?

That girl who always kept her head down, walked close to the wall, and never dared to raise her hand to speak in class.

She's actually number one in the class?

The girls whispered among themselves, their eyes filled with curiosity and scrutiny.

Xu Niannian lowered her head even further, her bangs completely covering her face, and she gripped the edges of her textbook with both hands, causing the corners of the textbook to curl.

He Shaojun offered a few words of praise, which was rare for him.

It is said that Xu Niannian has made great progress and has directly jumped to first place. Everyone should learn from her.

After saying that, he continued reading out the remaining rankings.

Su Xiao nudged her gently with her elbow from the side.

"That's impressive."

Xu Niannian's face was hidden behind her hair, with only the tip of her red ear showing.

Her lips moved.

They probably meant to say "thank you" or "no".

But in the end, she didn't say anything, just smiled slightly, revealing two adorable dimples.

He Shaojun continued reading.

Forty-two names, it took a long time to recite.

Su Xiao had been waiting.

He started waiting from the twenties, then the thirties, and finally the forties.

With each name he uttered, he felt a tightness in his chest.

Zhao Wang, ranked thirty-eighth.

Even a scumbag like Zhao Wang got a ranking?

He Shaojun read out the 42nd place and put down the report card.

The classroom fell silent.

Su Xiao did not hear her own name called.

My heart skipped a beat.

Did I not hand in my paper?

Fang Yu leaned over from behind and whispered, his voice low but each word clear: "Brother Su... I don't have your name."

A very soft, cold laugh came from the corner.

Zhao Wang leaned against the back wall, arms crossed, a gloating smile on his face.

Su Xiao turned her head and glanced at him, her brows furrowing.

Damn it, that son of a bitch.

He Shaojun placed the report card on the podium, rested his hands on the edge of the podium, and looked directly at Su Xiao's face through his glasses.

"Su Xiao".

The whole class turned around in unison.

He Shaojun's voice was still in that unhurried tone, sounding somewhat sarcastic.

"You improved in last week's test. Last time you were eighth from the bottom in the grade, this time you were last in the class and fifth from the bottom in the grade."

He pushed up his glasses. "Let's try harder and try to surpass those students in the sports class next door and get the last place in the grade."

A few people in the classroom couldn't help but laugh.

The laughter was sparse, but it was jarring.

A boy in the front row turned around and glanced at Su Xiao, his lips twitching upwards, and he muttered something under his breath.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was just loud enough for everyone around to hear.

"A rotten apple."

The speaker was Li Ze, the class monitor, who consistently ranked among the top three in the class. He wore frameless glasses and had his hair neatly combed.

He didn't lower his voice deliberately; it was as if he was simply stating a fact that everyone knew.

Xu Niannian paused, her pen still.

She looked up and, for the first time, glanced at Li Ze over the stack of textbooks on her desk.

Her lips were pressed into a thin line, and there was a rare, puffed-up light in her eyes.

But she didn't say anything and lowered her head again.

He just gripped the pen a little tighter than usual.

He Shaojun ignored the commotion below.

He looked at Su Xiao, his tone becoming slower and more somber than before.

It wasn't harsh; it was a calm, businesslike demeanor.

"Su Xiao, the head of the grade has taken notice of you. You know your reputation. Fighting, climbing over walls, skipping classes, and you already have a disciplinary record and a warning. I'm here to make things clear to you today."

He paused for half a second, then said, "You'd better watch yourself, or you might get expelled from school."

Expelled.

These two words were like two stones thrown into the quiet classroom, creating a silent ripple.

Some people gasped, some looked at Su Xiao with schadenfreude, and some flipped through their textbooks expressionlessly, as if this had nothing to do with them.

Xu Niannian's face turned pale instantly.

She turned to look at Su Xiao, her eyes filled with panic.

Fang Yu, anxiously kicking Su Xiao's chair leg from behind, pleaded in a low voice, "Brother Su, Brother Su, please beg the teacher for mercy..."

If it were the day before, Su Xiao might have been completely indifferent.

If he's going to fire me, fine. At least I won't have to listen to his nonsense anymore. It'll be perfect for me to go out and find a job, just like he said.

But today is different.

He stood there, Su Wanning flashing through his mind.

The bottle of milk she put in his schoolbag that morning.

Last night, she carefully wrote down the mathematical formulas in her notebook.

She smashed the piggy bank on the living room floor, shards of porcelain scattered everywhere, coins rolled under the sofa, and there was also the note, "Brother, I miss you so much."

She said, "If your grades don't improve in the next monthly exam, I won't make you breakfast anymore."

But he knew that wasn't a threat.

She was holding onto him in her own way, desperately trying to keep him from falling.

If he really gets fired, what will Su Wan Ning think?

Su Xiao stood there, and the eyes of the entire class were like needles piercing him.

He spoke slowly.

"Thank you, teacher. I understand. I will improve."