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

Zhao Wang huddled in the corner, his back pressed against the wall, the schadenfreude on his face long since shattered.

Su Xiao walked up to him, but didn't make a move or even utter a curse.

She just looked down at him, her eyes calm.

The calmer things seemed, the more frightened Zhao Wang became.

If he could go back a minute, he would want to slap himself for laughing.

"Have you done your chemistry homework?"

Su Xiao suddenly asked a completely nonsensical question.

Zhao Wang was stunned for a moment, his mind probably racing through several thoughts.

Su Xiao asked him about his homework? Was he going to copy it?

Copying homework is a minor issue; does copying mean no one will be punished?

"I've written it! I've written it!"

He frantically rummaged through the drawer of the desk and pulled out a test paper—last night's chemistry practice paper.

The characters looked like they were scratched out by chicken feet, but at least the paper was full.

He presented it with both hands, like a believer offering sacrifices to a mountain king.

Su Xiao didn't answer, her voice cold.

"I tore it myself."

Zhao Wang's hand froze in mid-air.

His lips twitched. He looked down at the test paper he had painstakingly copied all night, then looked up at Su Xiao's expressionless face.

"...What?"

"I told you to tear it yourself."

Su Xiao spoke very softly, so that only the two of them could hear, "It's fine if you don't want to tear it. I'll tear it for you, but if I do it, it might not just be the test paper that gets torn."

Zhao Wang's Adam's apple bobbed once.

He looked into Su Xiao's eyes, which held no anger, no mockery, only a chilling calm.

He lowered his head, his fingers gripping a corner of the exam paper, and hesitated for two seconds.

Su Xiao coughed softly.

"I'll count down from three, three!"

"two!"

"one!"

Zhao Wang closed his eyes, and with a tearing sound, tore the paper in half.

With another tearing sound, it split into four pieces.

His hands were trembling, whether from anger or fear, I don't know; the corners of his mouth were turned down, and his eyes were even glistening with tears.

Su Xiao turned around, spread her hands in front of the whole class, and looked innocent.

"I saw it all. He tore it himself. It has nothing to do with me."

Fang Yu, sitting in the back row, stared in disbelief, then let out a heartfelt sigh.

Awesome!

Li Ze glanced back at the front, his lips moved, but he ultimately turned his head away.

Anyway, he had already established his authority, and Su Xiao had been punished by standing in the corner. As for Zhao Wang's test paper...

What does it have to do with him?

He's the class monitor, busy with countless tasks, so he doesn't have time to deal with these bad students.

After finishing her morning reading, Su Xiao swaggered back to her seat.

Fang Yu leaned over and whispered that Li Ze was a scoundrel, saying he would go and deflate the tires on Li Ze's bicycle after class.

Su Xiao waved her hand without replying, her mind preoccupied with something else.

Xu Niannian sat next to her, her hands on her knees, her textbook open, but she didn't read a single word.

Then she turned her body slightly to the side and whispered something.

Su Xiao didn't hear clearly, so she leaned closer.

Xu Niannian repeated it again, her voice still very soft, but this time he heard it clearly.

"sorry."

Su Xiao was stunned.

"What?"

Xu Niannian repeated softly again, "I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?"

"It's probably because... I was rude to the class monitor that day, that's why he was mean to you."

Xu Niannian's fingers gently rubbed the edge of her textbook, her lips pursed repeatedly as if making a huge decision. "That day... Li Ze told me not to play with you. I raised my voice a little when I spoke to him, so today he..."

After hearing this, Su Xiao's mind raced.

That day, Li Ze told Xu Niannian not to play with him.

He suddenly remembered something.

The last time Wu Mengmeng came to the school to find him, it happened to be Xu Niannian's turn to be on duty, and there were probably only Li Ze and Xu Niannian left in the classroom.

Li Ze probably said something to Xu Niannian during that break.

Su Xiao seemed to have thought of something and immediately asked, "Did he see your face?"

Xu Niannian lowered her head and thought for a while, then nodded gently.

Su Xiao leaned back in her chair and suddenly understood everything.

He was puzzled at first.

Although Li Ze is a bit too ambitious for official positions, he's not the type to bite people indiscriminately without thinking.

Aside from using his position to flirt with the girls sitting in the front row, he practically never interacted with the underachieving students in the back row.

I suddenly confronted him today, and he thought it was because he was eating too many delicious steamed buns.

But I never expected the reason to be this.

Li Ze saw Xu Niannian's face beneath her bangs and got an idea; he probably wanted to poach her.

What happened today wasn't about maintaining classroom discipline at all; it was just rivals meeting and getting extremely jealous.

As Su Xiao thought about it, she suddenly laughed.

It turns out that Li Ze was just jealous of him.

Xu Niannian is still apologizing.

She lowered her head, her voice soft and hesitant, as if words she had been holding back for a long time had finally found their outlet.

"If it weren't for me, he wouldn't have targeted you... It was my fault that you stood at the back for the entire morning reading session."

She took a breath, her voice trembling slightly, "If you're angry, you can yell at me. It'll make you feel better. I... I'm not afraid of being yelled at."

Su Xiao looked at her.

She kept her head down as she finished speaking, her eyelashes drooping low and her lips pressed into a thin line.

She wasn't being coquettish or seeking comfort.

She genuinely felt that it was all her fault.

She was used to taking all the blame upon herself, as if by blaming her for everything bad, others could feel a little more at ease.

She felt that it was her fault that Su Xiao was punished by standing, that it was her fault that Li Ze was making things difficult for her, and that she would feel better if Su Xiao scolded her a few times.

She wasn't afraid of being scolded; what she feared was that she would cause him to suffer because of her.

"How could it be your fault?"

Su Xiao's voice was very soft, softer than ever before.

Xu Niannian raised her eyes, and there were tiny specks of water glistening on her eyelashes.

Su Xiao tilted her head to look at her, the corners of her mouth slowly curving into a smile: "Are you angry with him because he talked badly about me?"

Xu Niannian thought for a moment and nodded.

"……yes."

"So, do you dislike him?"

She nodded again, this time with more force than before.

"So, do you like me?"

Xu Niannian nodded subconsciously.

After she finished ordering, her neck stiffened.

The brain is like an old computer that has suddenly had an incompatible USB drive inserted; the mouse pointer is stuck in the center of the screen, and all operations fail.

Her eyes slowly widened, and a layer of red, like a tide, washed over her cheeks, over her ears, and over her forehead, starting from the base of her neck.

Su Xiao moved forward a little.

She shrank back.

But the chair was only so big, and her little bottom was already half-suspended in the air; if she went any further, she would fall off.

He leaned over and gently kissed her still flushed cheek.

It was very light, like a leaf falling on the water.

I like you too.