Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

"Boss, 211." "Sure thing!" As he boarded the school bus, Xu Qingfan handed Xia Xiaoxiao her portion of rice noodle roll. "What's with the long face?" Xia Xiaoxiao glanced at Xu Qingfan sidelong and accepted the rice noodle roll without uttering a word. "So moody for no reason," he muttered under his breath and began to eat his rice noodle roll. By rights, Xia Xiaoxiao should have been quite happy during this time. Because of the virus, Xia Guofu had been resting at home for several months. Apart from frequently coming home empty-handed from fishing, he could be described as a man who was as good in the hall as in the kitchen. Xu Qingfan was completely baffled by the little girl's inexplicable moodiness during this time. [Hmph! Stinky Xu Qingfan, bad Xu Qingfan! How long has it been since you took me out to play? I won't initiate! I don't want your company!!] The reason turned out to be that Xu Qingfan had been so busy over the past month either visiting Lin Wanning's home to check on the progress of the little ones' comics or holing up in his own bedroom working on the script for the second volume of his comic book that Xia Xiaoxiao felt neglected, hence her listlessness. However, in Xu Qingfan's eyes, things were different: "Bro, I go to school with you every day. We can't escape each other even if we tried. Isn't that like hanging out together?" "How about going for some fried skewers after the exam this week? It's been a while since I last saw Wu Lingyu at school," Xu Qingfan suddenly remembered, turning his head to ask Xia Xiaoxiao. Xia Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up, and her hand holding the chopsticks shook involuntarily, but she quickly adjusted her expression with perfect control: "Whatever," she said indifferently. After speaking, Xia Xiaoxiao felt a little regretful. After all, deep down she hoped that it would only be her and the little bad egg going for fried skewers—she had no desire to invite his other two teammates! "Then I'll go back and ask Wan Ningyi and the others if they want to go, and I'll also invite Xiao Ruawen along," Xu Qingfan recalled the last time a group of them played hopscotch on the sidewalk and said. Xia Xiaoxiao:... "Oh!" Xia Xiaoxiao jabbed at the rice noodle roll in the packaging box, half angry and half annoyed with her chopsticks. "You've been neglecting your homework and not paying attention in class recently. Be careful or you might fail the midterm exam!" Xia Xiaoxiao sat right behind Xu Qingfan and naturally knew that the little bad egg had been burying his head in something or other during class. Normally, he copied her homework and didn't pay attention in class. It would be odd if he did well on the exams! That's what she said, but Xia Xiaoxiao was still genuinely concerned about Xu Qingfan. She added, "The exam is about to start. If there's anything you don't understand, you'd better ask me now!" Xia Xiaoxiao took out two practice exams that the teacher had distributed before the exam and handed them to him. Xu Qingfan chuckled as he took the practice exams, reaching out to ruffle the little girl's hair, "Don't worry, I can do all the problems on there!" Worried that Xia Xiaoxiao wouldn't believe him, he specifically explained the hardest problem inside: "Dad is one year older than Mom, Mom's age is five times that of Xiaoming..." "Show-off! You never pay attention in class; there's no way your score will be higher than mine this time." After confirming that Xu Qingfan did indeed know the material, Xia Xiaoxiao snatched back her exams with haughty pride. "Hahaha, of course it won't be as high as yours, our Xiaoxiao is so smart. A hundred points might be the limit for the exam, but it's definitely not the limit for our Xiaoxiao," Xu Qingfan couldn't stop laughing at Xia Xiaoxiao's haughtily cute expression. He quite appreciated this unique concern from Xia Xiaoxiao. Everyone else thought it was only natural for Xu Qingfan to score full marks, but Xia Xiaoxiao was the only one worried about whether he was keeping up with the study pace. "Don't touch my head!" "Touching, just touching!!" ... "Next, we have the list of outstanding students from Experimental Primary School's Grade 1 midterm examination for the second half of the year 2003. When you hear your name, please come up to the stage to receive your award! First place, Class 16, Grade One, Xu Qingfan; Grade One, Class 16, Xia Xiaoxiao; third place, Grade One, Class Seven..." "Brother Fan is awesome!" "As expected of Brother Fan, first place again!" "Brother Fan is my only brother!" "Brother Fan is my idol!!" "Brother Fan, Brother Fan!!" "..." Because he was criticized by the whole school last semester and then praised, this act of challenging authority instantly made Xu Qingfan extremely popular in Experimental Primary School, with all the first-grade boys seeing him as an idol. Last time he went on stage, only his class was shouting "Brother Fan," but this time, as he went on stage to receive the award, all the boys from the whole grade were whooping and hollering in the auditorium, their screams drowning out the voice of the grade leader reading names over the microphone. Xu Qingfan didn't get carried away with himself for becoming the center of attention on the stage; he was a bit puzzled: [They've read up to the twentieth name by now, why haven't I heard Wu Lingyu's name?] While receiving the award, when he caught sight of an unfamiliar girl standing next to him, Xia Xiaoxiao was quite surprised too, since all through last semester's exams, she, Xu Qingfan, and Wu Lingyu had always dominated the top positions in their grade. "Twenty-eighth place, Grade One, Class Three, Wu Lingyu..." The grade leader soon resolved their confusion; Wu Lingyu had actually fallen out of the top twenty in this midterm exam! Falling out of the top twenty mattered a lot because it affected the exemption from tuition fees, the impact was already significant, let alone the fact that Wu Lingyu had been in first place for the last semester. [Could it be that there's some problem at home?] Xu Qingfan speculated wildly. He and Xia Xiaoxiao quickly finished receiving their awards and got off stage, just in time to run into Wu Lingyu, who was going up in the second batch for a photo op and award. Xu Qingfan wanted to greet her, but the little girl kept her head down, looking at the ground. As they were seven or eight meters apart between the steps up to and down from the stage, Xu Qingfan reluctantly gave up. "Watch your step!" Xia Xiaoxiao grabbed Xu Qingfan, who wasn't paying attention and almost missed a step, and glared at him irritatedly. "My bad, my bad." Xu Qingfan, startled, scratched his head with a hint of lingering fear. "Humph! If you keep not doing homework and not paying attention in class, beware of falling out of the top twenty too!" Xia Xiaoxiao clearly knew whom Xu Qingfan had been looking at just now and spoke with a sudden touch of jealousy. "If I do fall out, I'll just ask you for tutoring!" Xu Qingfan let Xia Xiaoxiao lead him by the hand, grinning as he closed in on her. "I'm not helping you to catch up!" The little girl haughtily turned her head away. Xu Qingfan didn't continue the conversation, looking back at the stage with some concern, and his gaze met Wu Lingyu's, who was looking back at him. Since his eyes hadn't been poisoned by mobile phones yet, Xu Qingfan at this moment had 5.2 vision in both eyes and could see every detail of Wu Lingyu's expression clearly. Her eyes were somewhat red, suggesting she had cried not long ago; her skin was sallow and lacked luster, looking as if she hadn't rested well for many days. Wu Lingyu, feeling self-conscious, averted her gaze, but after a few seconds, couldn't help looking back to find Xu Qingfan still watching her; the little girl timidly nodded at him. Xu Qingfan smiled and waved at her, then turned his head back around. [Looks like I really need to go for the deep-fried skewers this week. If I can lend a hand, then I should.] Thinking of the spiced duck treats Wu Lingyu had given him before, and how his mother had left the compensation money in their car, refusing to take it, Xu Qingfan thought. Being willing to help others also depended on the person. Like the woman who stole the electric bike last time, even if her family truly couldn't afford the treatment for her husband, Xu Qingfan wouldn't donate even a cent. But for someone like Li Meijuan, who was self-reliant and grateful, Xu Qingfan was more than happy to offer his kindness.