Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

"Weren't we supposed to call Xiao Ruawen?" On the sidewalk, Xia Xiaoxiao asked Xu Qingfan, who was holding a dead branch and swinging it like a fool. "Let's do that next time. Today, it's just the two of us," Xu Qingfan said, tossing aside the two-section dead branch and dusting his hands off before addressing Xia Xiaoxiao. "Oh!" Xia Xiaoxiao's heart leaped with joy, quickening her pace to walk shoulder to shoulder with Xu Qingfan, it had been so long since she'd gone on an adventure with the little rascal! "Let's go, we need to get home before lunch," Xu Qingfan said, taking advantage of the moment to grab Xia Xiaoxiao's hand and pulling the little girl to run along the sidewalk. "Slow down!" Xia Xiaoxiao, caught off guard, stumbled along behind him. After running several hundred meters, both children were panting, hands on thighs, bending over to catch their breath. Xia Xiaoxiao glared at him, annoyed and embarrassed, while Xu Qingfan inexplicably burst into laughter and reached out to tousle the little girl's hair. "Don't touch my head! Xu Qingfan!!" "I'll touch! What are you going to do, chase me?" Xu Qingfan ran about seven or eight meters away, turned back to see Xia Xiaoxiao still standing in place, arms crossed, tilting her head with an expression as if watching an idiot. "Ahem..." Xu Qingfan scratched the back of his head feeling a bit awkward, why did it seem like he was the seven-year-old brat and Xia Xiaoxiao was the one who had been reincarnated? "Let's go, let's go," he said, returning to where she was waiting and taking Xia Xiaoxiao's hand after prying hers open. "Speechless!" For the first time, Xu Qingfan felt the destructive power of words, such a 'speechless'! "Right, it's been sunny these past few days, no rain," he said, pulling out the MP3 player from his pocket and sharing one earbud with Xia Xiaoxiao. "The little yellow flowers of the story~" The melody in the earphones was like the morning sky, bright and sunny. Listening to the pleasant prelude, Xia Xiaoxiao's mood instantly lifted: "What's this song called?" she asked. "It's called Speechless!" "Boring!" "It's called Sunny Day. Doesn't sunny mean no rain?" Xu Qingfan said, kicking a small stone on the ground away and smiling. "Oh, it sounds nice." [The pinnacle of campus love songs, how could it not sound nice?] Xu Qingfan thought to himself. The Chinese music scene in 2003 was a year of dazzling stars: Sun Yanzi's 'Meet', Jay Chou's album 'Ye Huimei', Eason Chan's 'Ten Years', and many more. Even the courage often borrowed from Liang Jingru was released three years ago. If it weren't for being reincarnated back to twenty years ago, Xu Qingfan wouldn't have realized these Chinese songs had been popular for nearly twenty years. When the two arrived on Rhein Road again, the street stretching for dozens of meters was lined with snack shops that had seemingly opened out of nowhere, and more than half of these were selling fried skewers. "Kids, come and eat some fried skewers. My place has the tastiest skewers on this street!" "Come on in for fried skewers, get a free Coke with every ten yuan spent!" "Bubble tea, fries, egg waffles, come take a look!" "Everything for three yuan, come in and choose!" "..." Walking on the sidewalk, the shopkeepers standing at the doors were like wedding receptionists, enthusiastically hawking their wares to passing pedestrians. Many pedestrians who were social-phobic were so harassed, they were forced to walk on the road. As children, Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao weren't bothered as much, and they managed to overtake several pedestrians in front of them and reached Wu Lingyu's fried skewer stall smoothly. Chairs and stools were set up in front of the stall; Xu Qingfan thought to himself: [It's good as long as they are open.] However, when Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao reached the entrance of the shop, both of them were puzzled. Only a middle-aged woman waiting for business sat at the entrance, clearly not Li Mei Juan. "Auntie, where is the lady boss here?" Xu Qingfan approached and asked. "That's me. Here for fried skewers, right? Go inside and pick, it won't take long," The woman said, setting her Story magazine to one side and standing up to greet them warmly as she saw potential customers. The two children exchanged glances, then looked up again at the middle-aged woman who had stood up. "Has the owner changed here? Last time I ate, it seemed to be a different lady, right? The taste hasn't changed, has it?" Xu Qingfan asked, making sure to point out the taste to avoid being accused of nitpicking. "Don't worry, it's still the original taste. The person before doesn't do this anymore, but the recipe is the same as before!" The lady boss assured him, patting her chest. [No longer doing it?] Xu Qingfan was completely baffled. "Lady, do you know where the previous person has gone to set up their stall?" The woman was annoyed by Xu Qingfan's barrage of questions: "Just eat your deep-fried skewers, why so many questions, nagging and babbling on and on!" "Sorry, we won't be eating." Xu Qingfan apologized, waving his hand and pulling Xia Xiaoxiao away. "Damn it all, what a nuisance!" the woman cursed at the retreating figures of Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao. "Where to now?" Xia Xiaoxiao asked Xu Qingfan after they had walked some distance. Startled by the old hag's drastic change in attitude, Xia Xiaoxiao dared not go back to that street to eat deep-fried skewers anymore. Xu Qingfan didn't know where to go for a moment. He originally wanted to check out what had happened to Wu Lingyu's family, but now he couldn't even find the people. "Let's ask the neighbors around here to see if they know where Wu Lingyu's family has moved their fried skewer stall?" Xu Qingfan suggested. "Okay." Xia Xiaoxiao was somewhat excited; this felt like playing an adventure game with a playful bad boy, and that old hag was like the final big boss of the game. Xu Qingfan had a clear target, going straight for the groups of old grandmas chatting beneath the trees. As the gossip nucleus of the entire street, there wasn't any news they didn't know about. "You're asking about that fried skewer stall? I know it, their skewers are top-notch!" the old lady whispered, giving a thumbs up. "Really? Grandma, do you know where they've gone to? Why aren't they setting up their stall there anymore?" Xu Qingfan pressed on. "My grandson especially loves their fried skewers, those fried pork chops, truly delicious." "People said their sauce had poppy shells in it, even the police came!" "Nonsense, that's just jealousy from others trying to frame them. But I heard her man got seriously ill, found another woman outside, and a pretty good-looking one at that..." The three old ladies rambled on, hitting everything but Xu Qingfan's question. [This intelligence system is a bust!] Xu Qingfan silently led Xia Xiaoxiao away, while the three old ladies didn't pay them any mind and continued their gossip. After finding another information source, Xu Qingfan finally heard the answer he wanted: "You're asking about Meijuan? I know, they just moved last month!" "Why did they move? Granny, do you know where they're setting up their stall now?" Xu Qingfan hurriedly asked. "Young man, don't interrupt me," the old lady smacked her lips, "that landlord's a real piece of work. Jealous of their good business and thinking the rent was too low, he conned the lady boss out of her recipe and kicked them out!" Possibly really angered, the old lady said this while angrily beating her own thigh. "What?" Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao gasped in shock, "Why would she give the recipe to the landlord?" "That landlord's no good, pus bubbling from the soles and a head oozing pus! He told Meijuan that his relative wanted to open a fried skewer stall in the provincial city and offered a year's rent for her recipe. And then, in just a few days, he kicked them out! The nerve, pah!" After learning of the whole situation, Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao were equally outraged. "How could there be such nasty people!" Xia Xiaoxiao exclaimed angrily. After speaking, the little girl fixed her determined gaze on Xu Qingfan, as if expecting him to find a way to punish the bad landlord. "Let's find them first," Xu Qingfan said, rubbing the little girl's head, and this time Xia Xiaoxiao obediently didn't dodge. "Okay!" "Granny, do you know where they're setting up their stall now?" "I've got no clue. Last I heard, someone saw them at Licheng Park. If you want to eat fried skewers, you can go look there. Time to go back and cook for that old man, not chattering with you kids anymore." The old lady patted her bottom, stood up, and left. Xu Qingfan looked up at the sun; it was almost noon. "Let's go home for lunch, we'll talk again in the afternoon." "Okay! You have to think of a way to deal with that bad landlord!" "Got it, got it, definitely deal with her. She even dared curse our Xiao Xiao just now!" "What's it got to do with me~" The little girl muttered under her breath with a smile on her face.