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

Wu Cheng immediately stood up and introduced them to Su Xiao: "Brother Su, this is my mother, and this is Uncle Lin."

Su Xiao nodded and pulled out a chair to sit down.

Zhou Zhi's gaze remained fixed on him, as if waiting for the next part of that question.

Su Xiao picked up a damp towel from the table and wiped her hands, speaking casually.

"I'm not her boyfriend; we're just friends."

Zhou Zhi paused for a moment, her hand holding the teacup frozen in mid-air.

Not my boyfriend?

She was clearly prepared to face a good-for-nothing hoodlum and had prepared all sorts of excuses, but Su Xiao's reaction was completely unexpected.

Wu Cheng scratched his head and muttered under his breath, "I told you, Brother Su is a really nice guy..."

Su Xiao sat down and poured herself a glass of water.

Zhou Zhi remained silent for a moment before speaking.

"We're planning to take Mengmeng to Shanghai."

The man next to him took over the conversation.

"I've already made arrangements with the school in Shanghai, so there's no need to worry about her living arrangements. I'll treat Mengmeng like my own daughter."

Su Xiao glanced at him; the man had been slightly turned toward Zhou Zhi as he spoke.

He must be Zhou Zhi's old flame, Mr. Lin from Shanghai, Lin Shuyan.

To be honest, Su Xiao admired him quite a bit.

A man builds a successful career in Shanghai all by himself, then goes back to his childhood sweetheart. He doesn't mind that she has children, and even promises to take care of her children.

This is easier said than done.

"This is fine."

Su Xiao put down her water glass. "If she stays here, she won't have a future."

Zhou Zhi and Lin Shuyan exchanged a glance, both of them showing shock.

They were probably prepared for a tough battle, but to their surprise, the student on the other side didn't even utter a single rebuttal.

Wu Cheng couldn't help but interject, "Uncle Lin, I told you before, Brother Su is a really reasonable person."

Zhou Zhi took a deep breath, her fingers gently stroking the rim of the teacup.

"The problem now is that Mengmeng absolutely refuses to leave."

She paused, her voice lowering, "I asked her why, and she said, 'Wherever Su Xiao is, that's where I'll be.' I had a fight with her a few days ago, and she ran away from home."

Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke the last few words, and she raised the back of her hand to press the corner of her eye.

Lin Shuyan, watching from the side, felt sorry for her and quickly pulled out a tissue to hand over, gently patting her shoulder.

Seeing Zhou Zhi wiping away her tears, Su Xiao put down her chopsticks.

"Auntie, I'll try to talk to Mengmeng."

Zhou Zhi raised her head, her eyes still red, but her expression had softened considerably.

She picked up the serving chopsticks and put a piece of pork rib on Su Xiao's plate, saying "thank you." Su Xiao quickly picked up her bowl to accept the gift.

After the meal, he learned quite a bit about the two people.

Zhou Zhi was a good mother, but she married the wrong person.

She married that bastard Wu Shan, lost her family, and couldn't even take care of her children.

The only turning point for her now is to go to Shanghai with Lin Shuyan so that her children can have a better education.

As for Lin Shuyan, Su Xiao had seen through him; this guy was a pure love warrior.

From the moment he sat down until the end of the meal, his gaze almost never left Zhou Zhi, his eyes filled with tenderness. He kept putting food on her plate, while barely touching his own.

The only troublesome one is Wu Mengmeng.

Her current state clearly indicates that she is an immature girl who makes decisions on a whim and even runs away from home.

She's not making a choice for herself; she's forcing her whole family to make a choice.

While Lin Shuyan and Zhou Zhi were talking to Wu Cheng about transferring schools, Su Xiao took out her phone and sent a QQ message to Wu Mengmeng.

"Socialite Brother Su: Where are you?"

But even after the party ended, the phone screen was still black.

Zhou Zhi stood at the hotel entrance, her hair disheveled by the wind. She held Su Xiao's hand and repeatedly urged her to persuade Wu Mengmeng to come back. She said she was ashamed for not raising her daughter well and that this opportunity could not be missed. She repeated this over and over again.

Wu Cheng also pulled Su Xiao aside, rubbing his hands together nervously.

Su Xiao glanced at him.

This guy usually speaks very loudly when he borrows money, but now he can't even utter a complete sentence.

"Look at you, stop talking, I know what you mean."

Su Xiao punched him in the chest. "When you become the young master in Shanghai, don't forget me."

Wu Cheng quickly said, "How could that be?"

Her voice carried the embarrassment of having her thoughts exposed, but even more so, it was filled with undisguised joy.

Su Xiao smiled, and Wu Cheng grinned as well.

From a street thug to a Shanghai tycoon, no one would refuse such a transformation.

On her way home, Su Xiao made a special detour to that convenience store.

I want to see if Wu Mengmeng is there.

The roller shutter door was already pulled down, and there was no light coming through the crack in the door.

He stood at the door for a moment, then continued walking forward.

As he passed by the Speedy Internet Cafe, he glanced inside as usual and stopped in his tracks.

In a familiar corner, in a familiar spot, one person was operating two machines.

One table holds schoolbags, the other is for sitting.

That was the spot they used to sit in most often when they stayed up all night.

He pushed open the glass door of the internet cafe, and the buzzing of the machines and the clicking of the keyboards rushed towards him.

Wu Mengmeng, wearing headphones, was hunched over her computer, a crumpled math workbook lying on the table, a pen cap dangling from her mouth, staring intently at a problem with a furrowed brow.

Su Xiao walked over and patted her on the shoulder. Wu Mengmeng was so startled that she jumped, and her earphones slipped off her neck.

She turned around and saw it was him. She first breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately put on a fierce expression: "Are you crazy?! Why don't you make a sound when you walk?"

Su Xiao pointed to the computer screen and the workbook on the table.

"You came to the internet cafe to do your homework?"

Wu Mengmeng spat the pen cap out of her mouth, grumbling, "What's wrong? Is that not allowed? Doing homework at an internet cafe is more efficient, you have a problem with that?"

Then she pointed to a problem in the workbook and said fiercely, "Do you know how to do it?"

Su Xiao was both amused and exasperated.

He sat down in the chair next to her and leaned over to look at the question.

It's a question about the monotonicity of functions; Su Wanning had just explained a similar one to him a few days ago.

He picked up a pen, drew a diagram on the draft paper, and explained it to her following his train of thought.

Wu Mengmeng understood, snatched the pen back from his hand, and quickly calculated the answer while lying on the table.

Su Xiao remembered that Wu Mengmeng used to have good grades, but she later became a "spirited girl".

Su Xiao sat beside her for a while, watching her finish the last question and stuff her pen and notebook into her schoolbag.

She turned her head, tilted it to look at him, and gave him a slightly roguish smile: "Want to play a game?"

Su Xiao looked into her eyes and nodded.

The two of them each turned on a computer, and it was the same CS game from back then, with the same map.

The gunshots and footsteps in the headphones sounded so familiar they were almost unrecognizable.

Throughout the entire game, Su Xiao was either distracted or making careless mistakes.

The game is over, and the results are appalling.

Wu Mengmeng took off her headphones and threw them on the table.

"Can you play this seriously for once?"

Su Xiao also took off her headphones and turned her chair to face her.

"You should go home."

Wu Mengmeng's expression froze for a moment, then she turned her head away as if her tail had been stepped on, her voice stiff: "What's it to you?"

Su Xiao looked at her profile.

This face, which usually has its chin raised, lips curled up, and is always cursing, is now taut and tense, as if it would break if it relaxed.

He spoke very softly, as if he were talking to a lost child.

"Stop being so childish, okay? You ran away from home, and your family is very worried about you. Your mother and Uncle Lin are looking for you, and you've already made contact with schools in Shanghai. You have no future in Jingcheng. Do you want to just drift through life like this?"

Wu Mengmeng wouldn't listen to a word she said.

"Yes, I'm a child, so what? You're the adult, you're the most mature, okay?!"

Her voice was so loud that players on the other machines nearby glanced in her direction.

Su Xiao took a deep breath, her tone hardening: "Wu Mengmeng, you can't be so selfish!"

Wu Mengmeng was struck by this word. She paused for a moment, then lowered her head and sniffed.

There were tiny specks of water glistening on her eyelashes, but she gritted her teeth and didn't let the tears fall.

"Su Xiao, I'm not the kind of person who clings on relentlessly. If you really don't like me, you can just tell me."

"I don't like you," Su Xiao said immediately.

Wu Mengmeng suddenly raised her head, her eyes red-rimmed, staring intently at him.

"I don't believe it!"

……

(The data is falling! The data is falling! The data is falling! Please support! Please support! Please support! Please support! Please support!)

(Also, I'll say it again: multiple female leads.)