Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

The group happily finished their afternoon tea and, after collaboratively clearing the tea cups and meal boxes from the table, they moved on to Zhang Yiyi's house. "Just do as I said," Zhang Chunxue hurried to finish up her work after seeing her daughter's classmates head upstairs. "Okay, then, Boss, I'll get to it," the female subordinate packed up the A4 paper on the table and, with a smile, nodded to Xu Qingfan and the others before standing up to leave. "Hello, Auntie." ×4 Upon facing her daughter and her friends, Zhang Chunxue immediately put on a different face, "Everyone, come in and sit, I'll get you something to eat." "No need to trouble yourself, Auntie, we just ate at Wanning's place," Xu Qingfan said as he pulled Zhang Chunxue back from heading towards the kitchen. "Is that so? I was planning to give you kids big red envelopes for the New Year, but I got so busy taking Yiyi abroad for treatment that the year was over before I knew it. I've brought gifts for you all!" After ruffling Xu Qingfan's hair, Zhang Chunxue brought out four unopened Sony MP3 players. Xiao Ruawen and Xia Xiaoxiao felt embarrassed to accept the gifts from Zhang Chunxue, but Xu Qingfan led the way. He excitedly took the box, exclaiming, "Wow, an MP3! Thanks, Auntie! I've been wanting to buy one for a long time!" "As long as you all like them, consider it my way of making up for the New Year's red envelopes," Zhang Chunxue's face lit up with a smile. Lin Wanning didn't know what an MP3 player was, but seeing Xu Qingfan happy, she also excitedly took the box, "Hehe, thank you, Auntie!" "Thank you, Auntie." Seeing that the other two had accepted theirs, Xiao Ruawen and Xia Xiaoxiao no longer hesitated and expectantly received the remaining two MP3 players. "This is for listening to songs. Do you all know how to use it, or do you want Auntie to teach you?" Zhang Chunxue asked with a smile, seeing that Xu Qingfan had already impatiently started to unpack his. "Auntie, I'm totally clued up, may I borrow your laptop for a bit?" Xu Qingfan pointed to the computer on the coffee table and asked. Zhang Chunxue was baffled by the new term that suddenly popped out of Xu Qingfan's mouth, and she chuckled in mock annoyance, "You're not even taller than my thigh, and you dare to call yourself 'clued up'." Xu Qingfan felt awkward, as he obviously couldn't tell her that this was a surfing term popular twenty years in the future. Xu Qingfan connected the MP3 to the USB, and a file storage window popped up on the computer screen. To his surprise, it showed 512 MB of memory. Back then, RAM wasn't as common as it would be in the future, especially since a recent earthquake in Taiwan had destroyed TSMC's memory production lines, driving the price of RAM sky-high, almost to the point of frenzy similar to the mining rigs of his past life. At the moment, a 512 MB Sony MP3 player would probably cost over a thousand yuan. "Do you guys have any particular songs you want to listen to? I'll help download them." "Is there 'Grandma's Penghu Bay'? My mom loves that song!" Xiao Ruawen asked. "Yes, I'll download it right now." Xu Qingfan entered 'Grandma's' into Baidu, and instantly, MP3 format downloads appeared. Baidu was able to rise to prominence in part thanks to the popularity of MP3 players in China. He remembered an article from his previous life discussing how, in those days, over 40% of Baidu's visitors came to download pirated music. After importing songs into all the MP3 players, the three little ones excitedly wore their headphones and started listening to music. Turning back, Xu Qingfan noticed Zhang Yiyi sitting obediently at her mother's side, looking happy as she watched her good friends receive their gifts. He suddenly felt a twinge of sadness, knowing that Zhang Yiyi could only hear the music in her earphones clearly when she wore her hearing aid, but wearing it meant she couldn't use the headphones at the same time. Seeing Xu Qingfan look over, Zhang Yiyi seemed to guess his thoughts and shook her head, smiling at him gently. "Thank you, Auntie," all three chirped in unison, neatly wrapping the headphones around the MP3 players before pocketing them, and expressing their gratitude together. Zhang Chunxue was touched, proud that her daughter had made such friends, "It's great that you like them." "Mom... Mom!" Zhang Yiyi poked her mother's arm and wrote on a small notebook, "I want to go out and play with everyone!" Zhang Chunxue was hesitant. If they were just playing inside the community it would be fine, but the idea of a bunch of five or six-year-old kids heading outside worried her. Then she thought about the rare occasion of so many good friends coming over to play with her daughter. Not wanting to dampen the spirits of the group and considering that Xu Qingfan was a dependable kid, she figured there wouldn't be any issues. After a moment of hesitation, she pulled out a ladies' mobile phone from her bag, "Xiao Fan, take this phone with you. If there's any trouble, call Auntie." Xu Qingfan took the phone, and Zhang Chunxue added, "The first number in the contacts is Auntie's. After you turn on the phone, just press 11 twice and it'll get through." She explained, showing him step by step. "Don't worry, Auntie, I've got it. If there's really any trouble, I'll just call my dad. He drives a taxi around here, so he can get here in a few minutes." Xu Qingfan pocketed the phone and nodded earnestly. "Okay, then go and have fun, Yiyi has money in her wallet, just buy whatever you want," Zhang Chunxue looked at her daughter and was satisfied as she ruffled Xu Qingfan's head approvingly. "Let's go, time for kebabs!" Lin Wanning said excitedly, pulling Zhang Yiyi's hand, eager to set out. The five little ones, hand in hand, went downstairs; neither Zhang Yiyi nor Lin Wanning knew how to ride bikes. Xu Qingfan, concerned about the safety of carrying someone on the road, promptly took out his phone and dialed his dad. The call was quickly connected: "Hey, Dad, it's Xu Qingfan. Xia Xiaoxiao and I are at Bijui Garden. Can you come pick us up?" "Sure, just wait a moment. Don't wander off, stand at the bus stop there and wait for me!" Xu Aiguo said, ready to hang up, but then thought something was off, "Wait a minute, you little brat, where did you get the phone from?" "It's from Zhang Yiyi's mom's phone, Dad, please hurry up, it's so hot here!" The call was hung up, and Xu Aiguo shook his head amusedly as he put his pager back into his pocket: "Sorry about that, I forgot to turn off the gas for the soup at home. Please find another ride." "Damn it!" A couple that had just gotten into the car cursed as they got out. After waiting for a few minutes in front of the bus stop, Xu Aiguo quickly arrived. Xu Qingfan took the passenger seat, and Dad Xu scoffed with a smirk, "You little rascal, where have you been?" [Spending all day with a group of little girls, is my son going to be the second Xu Zhimo?] Xu Aiguo mused to himself. "To the library first." "Alrighty, buckle up!" After returning the books at the library, the group quickly got back into the car. Xu Aiguo continued to play the role of the NPC and asked, "Where to next?" "To the kebab stall we went to last time on Qinyuan Road." "Got it!" The taxi drove to Qinyuan Road. The street, which was usually not busy, was today packed with people for some reason, and Wu Lingyu's kebab stall was surrounded by layers of people, impenetrable as if they were guarding a fortress. New kebab shops had sprung up on both sides of the road, and at a glance, it looked like a whole street dedicated to kebab food stalls. Xu Aiguo, feeling a bit concerned, parked the car and instructed the kids: "You all stay in the car, I'm going to check out what's happening!" "Okay." "Uncle, you go ahead." Xu Aiguo got out of the car and, thanks to his tall and burly stature, easily squeezed through the crowd. One glance and he was fuming; a few women were pointing fingers in the crowd, and the woman he had helped last time was sitting on the ground disheveled and in tears, holding her daughter. The kebab stall that was fine before was now destroyed, and in a fit of rage, Xu Aiguo pushed aside a woman who was about to kick it and cursed loudly, "Damn it all! Who did this crap?!" The shrew didn't expect Xu Aiguo to act so aggressively, and as she lost her balance, she fell forward. The onlookers quickly made way, and she landed face first on the ground, falling as if she was measuring the ground. "Ow! Murder! Help, the adulterer is committing murder!" The remaining trouble-making women, seeing Xu Aiguo's sandbag-sized fists, didn't dare to retaliate and started making a scene, rolling on the ground. "There's no justice! The adulterer and his woman are hitting people in broad daylight!" A gap in the dispersing crowd gave Xu Qingfan a clear view of the situation, and on seeing Wu Lingyu and her daughter cowering on the ground in tears, he too was infuriated. "Don't get out of the car!" he said before also getting out of the car. After calling the police, and seeing the crowd berating his father, Xu Qingfan had a flash of brilliance, squeezing through the crowd: "Excuse me, cough, cough... excuse me, cough, cough, cough, cough... Dad... cough, cough, cough, cough, cough... The doctor said I'm diagnosed and shouldn't go, cough, cough, cough... cough, cough to crowded places, cough, cough, cough..." Xu Qingfan put on an extremely pained expression, pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket, and covered his mouth, "Cough, cough, cough... Dad... Dad... cough, cough, cough... I'm coughing up blood! Excuse me, cough, cough..." The crowd, at first puzzled, then dazed, and finally, panicked. "SARS... SARS... Run!" "Don't infect me!" Within two seconds, the crowd that was spectating dispersed instantly. Xu Aiguo secretly gave his son a thumbs up and went to help Wu Lingyu and her daughter up. "Thank you... thank you both!" The mother and daughter clung to each other, weeping like they were made of tears.