As Su Xiangyang chattered on, he placed the noodles in front of Deng Jiaqi. The noodles were still steaming, clearly having been cooked recently.

"Did you cook this? You're amazing! It tastes a million times better than mine," Deng Jiaqi praised sincerely.

Upon hearing this, Su Xiangyang couldn't help but recall the scene of Deng Jiaqi enthusiastically cooking noodles for him that time, a scene he found utterly unbearable to revisit.

She cooked perfectly good noodles until they were sticky and mushy, with a terrible texture; even the dog wouldn't want to eat them.

Su Xiangyang quickly shook his head, trying to shake off that terrible memory, then stared at Deng Jiaqi and urged her to eat quickly.

Deng Jiaqi suddenly looked up, staring directly at Su Xiangyang, and asked, "Have you eaten?"

Su Xiangyang let out a loud burp and said nonchalantly, "You go ahead and eat. I certainly won't let myself go hungry."

Actually, he didn't want to waste the oil and salt in that big bowl of noodles with more soup than noodles, so he drank it all down, which is why he keeps burping now.

“Deng Jiaqi…” Su Xiangyang suddenly called out to her with a serious expression, as if he had thought it through carefully, “Go back to Gangcheng, this place is really not suitable for you.”

You have a loving family there, and your life there is definitely a million times better than here. You saw it yourself; if you really fainted, I wouldn't even be able to get you to the hospital.

I'm just a useless man, not worth your time.

These few words, however short, seemed to Deng Jiaqi as if an eternity had passed.

She lowered her head, her eyes instantly reddening, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably. Her voice trembled with sobs as she said, "Su Xiangyang, do you think I'm too fat...? I know you like someone like Xiang Shanshan, I'll try my best to lose weight, please don't send me away. Once I'm thinner, I'll definitely be prettier than Xiang Shanshan. Money isn't a problem, as long as we can have a baby, money..."

...

The thought that Su Xiangyang would never have a baby with her made Deng Jiaqi feel like she was being pricked by countless needles, causing her great pain.

Although she and Su Xiangyang had known each other for so long and lived in the same room, they had always slept in separate beds.

This matter was like a thorn, deeply embedded in her heart, causing her unbearable pain every time she thought about it.

At that moment, she could no longer hold back, tears welled up in her eyes, and she cried even more sadly, as if she wanted to vent all the grievances and pain in her heart.

Su Xiangyang stood aside, looking at Deng Jiaqi who was crying her eyes out, and was at a loss for what to do.

The atmosphere in the room instantly became incredibly stiff, as if the air itself had frozen.

He felt a pang of pain in his heart, and for the first time truly felt that he was not a good person.

When Deng Jiaqi came back with him, he was vaguely worried that he would hold her back, and this wasn't the first time he had advised her to leave.

He gritted his teeth and said resolutely, "Deng Jiaqi, I'm sorry, I've let you down. You should go back. As for that job, let your parents find a way to take it back."

Upon hearing this, Deng Jiaqi's crying stopped abruptly, but then she cried even louder than before.

She knew in her heart that Su Xiangyang no longer cared about money or even wanted a job, which meant that her hope of being with him was becoming increasingly slim, almost completely hopeless.

...

The next morning, Meng Shuyun rushed to Xie Lin'an's house without even having breakfast.

When Grandma Xie saw it was her, she quickly invited her into the house.

Meng Shuyun then noticed that Old Mrs. Xie had dark circles under her eyes and looked haggard, clearly indicating that she hadn't slept well the night before.

Meng Shuyun didn't beat around the bush and asked directly, "Sister, my child said yesterday that Teacher Xie didn't go back for tutoring. What happened?"

Grandma Xie sighed and said helplessly, "The school has detained him and is investigating him. He probably won't be back for a while. I went to the school yesterday to ask, but we won't know the details until next week."

Grandma Xie also looked worried. Her husband, Grandpa Xie, went to the school to inquire about the situation, but because he wasn't a student, he wasn't allowed in, so he couldn't find out any more information.

After bidding farewell to Grandma Xie, Meng Shuyun decided to go to the school herself to find out what was going on.

She stopped a student at the school gate and, after much persuasion, finally managed to get some information out of him.

The female student shook her head regretfully and said, "Auntie, Teacher Xie has been detained and suspended from teaching for investigation by the school because she was running a private tutoring class. This matter has caused a huge uproar at the school. She's probably going to be suspended. Normally, everyone turns a blind eye to teachers taking on private tutoring jobs, but Teacher Xie is definitely being targeted."

Upon hearing this, Meng Shuyun's heart skipped a beat. She nodded silently, took out fifty cents, handed it to the female student, and said, "Thank you, classmate. If there's any new information next week, I'll come back to find you."

The female student was overjoyed to receive money for saying just a few words, her eyes lighting up as she readily agreed.

As Meng Shuyun walked back, she felt increasingly uneasy. Xie Lin'an had turned down all other students to tutor his three children.

Upon closer examination, it's highly likely that my family offended someone, which implicated Xie Lin'an.

She was extremely anxious, and as soon as she got home that evening, she immediately called everyone together to discuss the matter.

"Mom, we've been behaving ourselves all this time and haven't offended anyone!" Su Xiuju said with a puzzled look.

“Me too, I just go to work every day and don’t do anything else,” Su Xiangyang chimed in.

Meng Kangshun frowned, pondered for a moment, and then said, "The people I offended have nothing to do with the school. They're all insignificant people, so it shouldn't have been them."

Upon hearing this, Su Xiulan slammed her fist on the table in anger. The loud "bang" made Mingyue and Minghui, the two little ones, giggle and laugh, and they also waved their little pink fists and slammed them on the table.

Su Xiulan said through gritted teeth, "It must be Ye Jianguo! I've been running into him all the time lately, and he's been giving me a hard time. It must be him!"

Everyone was taken aback. Ye Jianguo? Could it be that the Ye family's influence has extended into the school?

"I'm going to find him and make things clear. In the end, it was I who dragged Xie Lin'an into this." Su Xiulan's eyes were red with anger as she stood up and was about to leave.

Meng Shuyun's mind suddenly shifted, and her gaze "whoosh" landed on Su Xiangyang.

Su Xiangyang felt a chill run down his spine when she looked at him, his hair standing on end. He said tremblingly, "Mom, why are you looking at me like that? I haven't done anything wrong!"

After saying that, he glanced guiltily at Deng Jiaqi.

Ever since that night, Deng Jiaqi has been sullen and hasn't been paying much attention to him.

He couldn't help but wonder if Deng Jiaqi had told her mother.