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

Su Xiao glanced at the clock on the wall and felt that it was about time.

Su Xiao, carrying the trash in one hand, knocked on Su Wan Ning's door with the other and said, "I'm going downstairs to take out the trash."

Su Wan Ning's voice came from inside the room: "Didn't I take out the trash this morning?"

"I collected another bag tonight," Su Xiao said.

The room fell silent for a moment.

Su Xiao guessed that she had agreed, so she opened the living room door and went out.

……

It's the same old place, Speedy Internet Cafe.

Su Xiao is now constrained by her student status and doesn't have much time to go to the electronics market from Monday to Friday.

I have no choice but to do some work here for now and save up some start-up capital.

It is well known that internet cafes do better business at night than during the day.

Su Xiao pushed open the door and entered. The sounds of keyboards and shouting mingled together, and the swirling smoke made it feel like she had entered a bathhouse.

As soon as he entered, several energetic young men with brightly colored dyed hair called out "Brother Su" to him.

Su Xiao didn't remember the other person, but she nodded anyway.

The boss was squatting in front of a machine, disassembling the case. When he saw Su Xiao come in, he stood up and wiped the handle.

"Not again? Not many computers broke down today, we don't need you."

"You mentioned last time that those old machines in the third row were slow to boot up, so I came to take a look."

The shopkeeper glanced at him and muttered, "Are you that short of money lately? Have your parents stopped giving you pocket money?"

Su Xiao's face remained expressionless. She smiled and said, "It's nothing, I just want to earn more money myself."

The shopkeeper didn't ask any more questions. He took out a bunch of keys from behind the cashier, walked to the row of machines in the corner, and pointed to three of them.

"These three machines only last for a little over a minute after they're turned on before customers stop wanting to sit in them. If you can fix them, you can get one hundred per machine."

Su Xiao took off her coat and draped it over the back of the chair before sitting down and turning on the computer.

The first machine's system disk was completely full, and a bunch of random software was running in the startup items. It took me ten minutes to uninstall them.

The memory stick on the second machine was loose. I took it out, cleaned the gold contacts, and put it back in. It booted up in 25 seconds.

The third typhoon's fan was making a sound like a tractor. When I opened the case, I found that the heatsink was completely covered in dust. I spent almost half an hour cleaning it with a brush.

He didn't show much expression while he was working on it; his hands moved very quickly, occasionally pausing to think for a moment before continuing.

The internet cafe was stuffy and hot. He rolled up his sleeves to his elbows, and a thin layer of sweat covered his forehead, but he didn't bother to wipe it away.

It took more than two hours to finish setting up all three machines.

He straightened up, stretched his stiff neck, and restarted the machines one by one.

The boss came over and tried it out; all three machines booted up in under thirty seconds, and the desktops were completely clean.

He nodded and counted out three bills from his pocket and handed them over.

Su Xiao took the money, folded it, put it in her pocket, and took her coat off the back of the chair and put it on.

Thanks!

……

The knocking on the door came on time the next morning.

Su Xiao struggled to climb out of bed, yawning as she opened the door.

Su Wanning had already changed into her school uniform and was holding a list in her hand, reading it down item by item.

"The house key is on the shoe cabinet. The water, electricity, and gas bills were paid the day before yesterday. There are still two bunches of greens and six eggs in the refrigerator. Remember to take the trash bag downstairs every morning..."

Her voice was neither loud nor soft, but rather calm and even, as if she were reading out an administrative notice.

Su Xiao stood in the bathroom, brushing her teeth while listening.

Toothpaste foam covered half his face. He looked at his blank face in the mirror and suddenly felt a little dazed.

Who is the older brother and who is the younger sister?

The foam almost dripped onto his school uniform, so he quickly bent down to rinse his mouth.

But then again, his sister's nagging always sounded so heartwarming to him.

After brushing her teeth, Su Xiao walked to the dining table and took another look.

Today's breakfast portion was significantly larger than usual.

The porridge was served half a bowl too much, and there was an extra fried egg on the side.

The egg whites were fried until crispy and golden brown, while the two yolks lay side by side on the plate.

Okay, it's not his favorite soft-boiled egg, so there's no vlog egg, but it looks pretty delicious.

He sat down, picked up his chopsticks, and couldn't help but sigh, "It's so good to have a younger sister."

Su Wanning was folding the list and placing it on the shoe cabinet when she heard those words and froze.

She immediately turned her head away, her face gradually turning red in a direction that Su Xiao couldn't see.

"Stop talking nonsense," her voice was still harsh as she picked up her schoolbag and slung it over her shoulder. "Doing more practice problems is better than anything else. Hurry up and eat, we're going to be late."

……

Several buses were already parked at the school gate.

The words "Jingcheng No.1 Middle School" were printed on the orange-yellow body of the car, and the driver was squatting next to the wheels smoking.

Students participating in the competition do not need to return to their classrooms; they can register and board the bus directly at the school gate.

Su Wanning stood not far from the bus, but did not get on.

"The key is on the shoe cabinet, don't lose it." She paused, "Remember to lock the door when you go to sleep tonight."

Su Xiao slung her backpack over her shoulder and waved her hand.

"Alright, alright, hurry up and leave. If you don't leave, people will see it and start gossiping about you."

Su Wanning was stunned for a moment.

She lowered her eyes, turned around, and walked away, her ponytail swaying gently behind her shoulder.

"I'm not afraid."

As she walked to the bus door, she muttered something to herself.

Su Xiao didn't hear her; she had already gotten into the car.

Su Xiao watched as Su Wan Ning got into the car.

Xu Niannian is probably on one of the cars, right?

Now I'm completely all alone.

He slung his backpack over his shoulder, sighed, and turned to walk towards the teaching building.

……

But when she pushed open the back door of the classroom, Su Xiao blinked and rubbed her eyes hard, realizing that she hadn't seen wrong.

Xu Niannian sat quietly in her seat.

She held half a steamed bun in her left hand and a pen in her right, her head down as she wrote something.

He takes a small bite of a steamed bun, writes a few lines, his cheeks puffed out, and moves very slowly and lightly.

The enamel mug was still on the table, but the steam from its rim had dissipated.

Su Xiao strode to her seat.

Xu Niannian looked up when she heard footsteps and was startled by the expression on his face, almost rolling the steamed bun in her hand onto the table.

"Why are you still here?" Su Xiao's voice was a little anxious.

Xu Niannian raised her head blankly, blinked her big eyes, not understanding what she had done wrong.

"Teacher...the teacher didn't tell us to change seats." She moved the steamed bun closer to the enamel mug, probably afraid of burning him.

Su Xiao's brain went blank for a while.

"No," he said, his voice rising involuntarily as he rested one hand on the table, "I'm asking you why you didn't go to the math competition; the bus is about to leave."

Xu Niannian finally understood.

Her shoulders relaxed slightly, she lowered her head, and continued writing in her notebook with her pen.

He wrote a few strokes before speaking, his voice so soft it was as if he were talking to himself.

I did not participate.

"Why?" Su Xiao stared at her.

Xu Niannian put down her pen.

Her eyes were fixed on the unfinished problem in her textbook, her eyelashes trembled slightly, and a very faint smile curved her lips.

Her voice was soft and slow, as if she were saying something completely ordinary.

"Because I promised to help you with your studies."

Su Xiao stood there, speechless for a long time.

It took him a long time to find his voice again.

"But, but there's a thousand dollars."

Xu Niannian gently shook her head.

She turned to look at him, her bright eyes hidden beneath her long bangs, and a little bit of breadcrumbs still clinging to the corner of her mouth.

"It's okay, you...you're more important than the competition."

Su Xiao was completely speechless.

His gaze fell on her hands.

The dry, white steamed bun had hardened on the outside, and she had pinched it to leave shallow fingerprints.

He suddenly reached out and pinched her cheek.

Soft and slippery, it was slightly deformed by his pinching.

"Then why didn't you say so sooner?" His voice was fierce.

Xu Niannian felt a little pain from his pinch, and her eyes welled up with tears. She stared at him blankly, not daring to dodge.

His speech was unclear, and his voice was soft and sweet, like a little hamster whose cheeks were being pinched.

"Say...say what?"

"You should have told me earlier that you weren't going."

Su Xiaosong let go, snatched the half-eaten steamed bun from her hand, stuffed it into her mouth and took a big bite. "Now I can bring you breakfast today."

He put the remaining steamed buns back on the table, turned around and ran towards the door, saying, "Don't eat these, I'll go to the cafeteria to buy you hot ones."

Xu Niannian sat in her original seat, rubbing her cheeks that had been pinched red, watching Su Xiaofei's figure disappear through the door.

The morning light slanted in through the window and fell on the open exercise book in front of her.

That was Su Xiao's chemistry workbook; she had just been correcting his mistakes on it, stroke by stroke.

She lowered her head, picked up her pen, and continued writing the ionic equation that she hadn't finished correcting.

He wrote two words, then stopped.

She gently touched her cheek with her fingers, where a slight tingling sensation from when he pinched her still lingered.

Her lips curved into a low, gentle smile, hidden beneath her long bangs.

……

On the other side, at the school gate, the bus was about to leave.

Li Ze stood outside the car, craning his neck to look towards the school gate.

He wore a new pair of glasses today, his hair was neatly combed with water, and his school uniform was washed and ironed last night, looking very crisp.

He was holding two bottles of milk in his right hand, the kind in glass bottles that ordinary people couldn't afford.

One bottle for myself, and one bottle for Xu Niannian.

But Xu Niannian hasn't arrived yet.

He kept glancing at his watch and then at the school gate.

Did she not register?

That shouldn't be the case. Her family is so poor; a thousand yuan in prize money is a lot of money for her.

He even planned out the seating arrangements last night.

With Xu Niannian's personality, she definitely wouldn't fight for a seat with others; she would be one of the last to get on the bus.

Then he would pretend that he had just gotten on the bus and naturally sit down.

Three days, a full three days, to be alone together.

Li Ze was happily lost in thought when the bus next to him suddenly started moving.

The engine roared, a plume of black smoke billowed from the exhaust pipe, and the car slowly moved forward.

Li Ze was stunned for a moment, then realized what was happening and chased after him.

He accidentally dropped the glass bottle of milk, which smashed on the ground and burst open, splashing white foam all over his trouser leg.

But he couldn't care less about that anymore and shouted desperately.

"Wait a minute, I haven't gotten on the bus yet! Driver, I haven't gotten on the bus yet!"