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

After winning over the younger sister, all that's left is to choose a location and hire employees.

But there's no need to rush these things; there's plenty of time. Take your time.

Monday, a school day.

The next class is chemistry, and the tense and exciting midterm exam results announcement is just around the corner.

During the long break, everyone in the class wore varying degrees of tension and anticipation on their faces.

Su Xiao never cared about her test scores before, since she was always near the bottom anyway.

But today, as he sat in his seat, his fingers unconsciously tapped on the table, and he felt a strange tightness in his chest.

Am I even capable of passing chemistry?

However, there was someone next to him who was even more nervous than him.

Xu Niannian.

Xu Niannian, who ranked first in the class, seemed even more nervous than him.

She sat beside him, her body tense, her hands on her knees, her textbook open, but her eyes weren't on the book, they were fixed on the scratch on the corner of the desk.

Su Xiao knew that she was nervous for her.

Looking at Xu Niannian's chubby little face, and seeing how she was suffering even more than he was, he felt a mix of tenderness and longing in his heart, and couldn't resist the urge to tease her.

He moved his chair half an inch closer to her and lowered his voice.

"Teacher Xu."

Xu Niannian turned to look at him, her big eyes filled with nervousness.

"What if I fail chemistry and the teacher transfers me?"

Su Xiao sighed, feigning concern, "I'm not afraid of changing seats, I'm just worried your new deskmate won't treat you well. What if it's a boy..."

Xu Niannian was stunned for a moment.

"What if it's a man?" Su Xiao frowned, her tone becoming serious, "You can't talk to him."

Xu Niannian blinked, probably wondering what the logical relationship was between "changing deskmates" and "not being able to talk to the new deskmate".

But her brain already works slowly when she's stressed, and Su Xiao's words caused it to freeze.

Seeing that she didn't react, Su Xiao immediately snapped, "Did you hear me?!"

Xu Niannian shrank back slightly at his harsh words, and quickly nodded, her voice soft and urgent: "Don't, don't be angry... I won't talk to other boys."

She paused, then added very quietly, "I only love you."

Su Xiao was inwardly laughing hysterically, but her face remained serious as she prepared to continue intimidating the little girl.

Just then, Fang Yu rushed in from outside in a panic, almost tripping over the threshold.

He rushed to Su Xiao's desk, panting heavily as he leaned on the edge of the desk, his face showing an expression as if he had just witnessed a car accident.

"Brother Su! No, something terrible has happened!"

Fang Yu's voice was so loud that everyone in the back row could hear him, "I just passed by the office and heard the teacher discussing grades inside. Fifteen students in our class failed chemistry this time!"

Su Xiao's expression changed.

Xu Niannian's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

"Are you sure?" Su Xiao sat up straight, her tone unconsciously becoming nervous.

Fang Yu wiped the sweat from his forehead, panting, and said, "It's absolutely true! I heard it with my own ears. Our teacher said that fifteen students in our class failed chemistry, and your name was on it!"

Xu Niannian felt as if struck by lightning, and her body trembled violently.

She lowered her head, her lips pressed into a thin line, and her fingers trembled slightly on her knees.

He...he failed??

Su Xiao opened her mouth, then remained silent for a long while.

He leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh, his tone carrying a sense of world-weariness and disillusionment.

"It seems to be true."

He turned to look at Xu Niannian, "Our fate as deskmates ends today."

Xu Niannian's eyes had already quietly reddened.

She lowered her head, her eyelashes glistening with tiny drops of moisture, but she held back, not letting the tears fall.

Su Xiao looked at her profile and sighed again: "But we're friends after all, and I'm leaving soon. Can you promise me one thing?"

Xu Niannian nodded vigorously and hummed in agreement, her voice trembling with barely suppressed sobs.

Looking at her like this, Su Xiao easily suppressed the guilt in his heart with his thick skin.

He adopted an extremely serious expression, speaking very softly and slowly, as if making a deathbed plea: "Could you let me kiss you, just as a farewell?"

Xu Niannian's body stiffened abruptly.

She looked up, her large, watery eyes filled with fear and distress.

Her lips moved, her nose stung, and tears almost welled up in her eyes.

Her fingers twisted together on her knees, and her whole body turned bright red from the base of her neck upwards.

"Please...please don't bully me." Her voice was soft and trembling, as if she were begging for mercy.

Seeing her on the verge of tears, Su Xiao felt a pang of tenderness in her heart, but she maintained a composed expression on her face.

He first pretended to be "heartbroken," lowered his eyes and remained silent for a few seconds, then sighed, his tone carrying a sense of yielding as if he had suffered a great injustice.

"Okay, okay, I won't bully you. Then..."

He paused, then said, "Let me hold your hand, is that alright? Just for this final farewell, please?"

Xu Niannian lowered her head, her eyelashes fluttering several times.

She thought for a long time, about ten seconds.

For a girl whose CPU is already overloaded, ten seconds is enough for her to make a huge decision.

Then she gently raised her right hand, trembling.

The hand was small and white, with neatly trimmed nails.

She reached out her hand very slowly, as if she was gathering new courage with every centimeter she moved.

Su Xiao's eyes lit up, and she immediately grabbed the small hand with her left hand, holding it tightly in her palm.

Soft and cool, he could feel her fingers trembling slightly in his palm.

Xu Niannian was instantly jolted, her body stiffening, and she instinctively tried to pull her hand back.

While holding her hand firmly with her left hand, Su Xiao patted the back of her hand with her right, saying with emotion, "We can't be deskmates anymore, Ms. Xu, you need to take good care of yourself. Take your own notes, don't take notes for others anymore. Don't forget to eat breakfast, don't just keep eating steamed buns..."

Hearing his words, Xu Niannian felt incredibly sad and no longer cared about struggling.

Her hand lay quietly in his palm, and he didn't pull it back.

Instead, she gently, almost imperceptibly, bent her fingers.

Where she couldn't see, Su Xiao secretly took a bag of spicy strips out of her backpack with her right hand, slung it behind her back, and handed it to Fang Yu, who sat at the desk behind her.

There was no such thing as failing chemistry; it was all an act.

Fang Yu took the spicy strips, chuckled, and unpacked them, ready to enjoy them.

Then he saw Su Xiao and Xu Niannian holding hands tightly under the table.

Fang Yu stopped moving.

He looked at the two hands clasped together, then looked down at the spicy strips in his own hand, and suddenly felt a tickle in his nose, and even the spicy strips didn't smell good anymore.