Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

"The next step is to perfect the intelligent push algorithm based on user profiles."

"Uh-huh, keep it up, aunty believes in you." Zhang Chunxue gave him a thumbs up seriously, but soon couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Hehehe..."

Xu Qingfan: ...

[Aunty's sense of humor is really on par with Ruan Wen.]

"Come in." The door suddenly echoed with knocks, and they both called out at the same time.

Zhang Chunxue had just resumed her solemnity, but when she saw Lin Juan pushing the door open, the laughter she had restrained began again.

"Wow~ laughing so happily, what are you talking about?" Lin Juan placed the takeout containers on the coffee table and came over to rub Xu Qingfan's head.

"We are discussing animal sounds." Xu Qingfan explained.

"Hm?" Zhang Chunxue stopped laughing and looked at him alongside Lin Juan.

"Cows go 'moo moo moo,' horses go 'neigh neigh neigh,' and 'received' is what the boss calls!"

"Nice, you're secretly cursing me out, aren't you, Sister Zhang, you see what he's doing!" Lin Juan knocked on his head three times in quick succession.

Because when Xu Qingfan had just asked her to order takeout, Lin Juan's response had been "Received, boss!"

Lin Juan pulled up their chat history, and after Zhang Chunxue took a glance, she glared at him reprovingly: "You'd better apologize to your Juan sister right now!"

Of course, everyone knew it was just a joke, mostly teasing each other.

"My bad, my bad, I'll give Sister Juan a massage and a back rub." Xu Qingfan scurried over to Lin Juan's back like a fawning lackey, squeezing her shoulders.

"Hiss~ I think you'd rather silence a witness!"

"I mean, Sister Juan, how come your shoulders aren't stiff at all? Could it be that you've been slacking off at wor...ow!" Xu Qingfan rubbed the back of his head, "Beating up the boss, that's one month's salary gone!"

"You're still going on about it!"

"One month's salary, is it? I don't want my salary for the whole year!" Lin Juan rolled up her sleeves in preparation.

"I was just joking... no, help me out, aunty!"

"I've been wanting to beat him up for a while, go for it, Sister Juan!"

Lin Juan and Xu Qingfan chased each other around the desk while Zhang Chunxue happily filmed them with her phone.

Out of countless workdays, this one was her happiest.

...

Eight o'clock at night.

Xu Qingfan and Zhang Chunxue drove back to Li City, where the light in the old house's living room was still on.

After parking the car, before they even had a chance to turn off the ignition, the five people who had heard them coming were already holding hands and running out.

"Aunty!"

"Mommy!"

Compared to the smelly men, it seemed that Zhang Chunxue was a bit more popular.

"Been studying all day, huh? Did you have a good dinner?" Zhang Chunxue rubbed her daughter's head and looked at the crowd.

"Heh~ we ordered too much takeout at noon and couldn't finish it, so we had takeout for dinner too." Xiao Ruawen said, scratching the back of her head sheepishly, because she was the one who had ordered too much.

"Aunty Aunty, after drying the blankets this morning, we started studying and did it all day!" Lin Wanning hooked onto Xu Qingfan's hem and looked up at her aunty.

"So diligent, then how about aunty treats everyone to a midnight snack, okay?" Zhang Chunxue and Xu Qingfan exchanged smiles and spoke in a cajoling tone.

"Yes!"

"Long live aunty!"

"..."

Xu Qingfan played with Lin Wanning's little hand, watching the harmonious and affectionate scene amongst the six beauties.

[If only I had aunty's charm, I wouldn't have to worry about battles at all!] he thought.

...

Since they had to go back for a review in the morning, they didn't tidy up the textbooks and exam papers on the table.

After turning off the lights and locking doors and windows in the living room, the six of them quickly got into Zhang Chunxue's car.

Shortly after eight o'clock at night, many late-night food stalls hadn't opened yet, so in the end, the seven of them ended up having a feast at Haidilao.

In that year, Haidilao hadn't yet developed its famed enthusiastic service culture, so it was quite friendly to those with social anxiety.

Of course, it could also be that Haidilao had been localized after arriving in Hong Kong.

After all, Hong Kong's eateries are known for this; a chef who isn't blunt isn't a good chef.

One of the famous scenes—Dead Man Huang Weijie's simmering pot.

"Auntie, the snail rice noodles are so delicious, I can't believe Li City doesn't have a chain store. Can your company consider opening a chain for snail rice noodles?" Xiao Ruawen thought of the snail rice noodles she wanted to eat in the morning while eating sweet potato noodles.

"I haven't really looked into that. I'll have the marketing department check it out tomorrow." Zhang Chunxue nodded and smiled, seeming to take note of it.

"Ah... I was just saying, Auntie, you don't have to take it so seriously." Xiao Ruawen waved her hands frantically, afraid that her momentary craving would unnecessarily add to someone else's workload.

"Running a physical store is too much trouble. I think we could do pre-made dishes and then sell them through Good Taste Takeout channels," Xu Qingfan said.

They were already working on pre-made savory duck necks, but the product range was still quite limited. It was mainly to ensure the ducks from the farms had a sales channel.

"That could work; it's a good idea," Zhang Chunxue said after a moment of thought, nodding in agreement with Xu Qingfan.

"Now is the time for eating and resting. Mom and brother shouldn't talk about work!" Zhang Yiyi looked at the two disapprovingly.

"Alright, alright~ Mom listens to Yiyi, we won't talk about work." Zhang Chunxue squinted and smiled, serving food to her daughter.

"It's all Ruan Wen's fault!" Xu Qingfan gave Xiao Ruawen a glare before starting to eat.

Xiao Ruawen pointed to her own nose, her face full of question marks.

"Not me!"

"What does this have to do with me, Brother Fan, you can't bully people like this!"

"Hahaha..." Everyone burst into laughter.

...

The supper took over an hour, and by the time they got home, it was nearly eleven o'clock at night.

"I'm going to sleep at home tonight." Upon reaching home, Xia Xiaoxiao opened the door and returned to her own house.

She had already spent the previous night at Xu Qingfan's place, so tonight she should stay at home and keep her mom company.

"Okay, see you tomorrow, good night."

"Good night, Xiao Xiao!"

Xu Qingfan and Wu Lingyu waved goodbye to her, and only after Xia Xiaoxiao entered her house did he begin to take out his keys.

"You know, it's really more comfortable living in Lianhua Courtyard. It's just a few steps away, makes it feel like I need to say goodbye even when going to my own house," Xu Qingfan shook his head as he took out his keys.

"Mm."

"I like our little house too; it's cozy."

Wu Lingyu said softly, looking at Brother Fan's profile.

Sometimes when she couldn't sleep, she fantasized about swapping lives with Xia Xiaoxiao and not having met Wanning, Yiyi, Ruan Wen and the rest. She wondered if she and Brother Fan could've led a simple and content life together till the end.

"Cough cough~ I'm back."

The old couple was watching TV in the living room and hearing the sound of the door, Yao Jiping blushed and got off Xu Aiguo's lap.

"You're back." Xu Aiguo gave Xu Qingfan a glare for interrupting their moment.

"Is Xiao Xiao staying at home tonight?" Yao Jiping kept her eyes glued to the TV, pretending nothing had happened.

"Uncle, Auntie." Wu Lingyu, because she was behind Xu Qingfan, didn't see the scene that had just taken place.

"Yeah, Xiao Xiao is sleeping at her place tonight," Yu replied.

"Right, must be tired, go take a shower first."

"Alright, I won't disturb you lovebirds anymore, Yu and I will go upstairs now," Xu Qingfan said after changing shoes, pulling Yu who was about to bend over to put his shoes away in the cabinet.

"Shoes... Brother Fan..."

After the two "Hua Gulong" left, Xu Aiguo continued to pat his thigh: "Come on, wife, let's continue watching our TV."

Yao Jiping gave him a bashful glare; she couldn't afford to lose face.

"You watch if you want; I'm going upstairs to sleep!"

Xu Aiguo's eyes lit up: "That's right, that's right, good sleep is healthy, and early to bed, early to rise makes you healthy!"

The old couple playfully made their way upstairs, leaving behind only the sorrowful figurine of a neutered little brother in the living room.

...

On the second floor, in Xu Qingfan's room.

"Brother Fan, why did you rush to bring me up here?" Wu Lingyu's slipper came off, and she had to step on Brother Fan's foot with her bare one.

Xu Qingfan whispered into Yu's ear, and she quickly turned red-faced from his words.

"Uncle and Auntie... their relationship is so good..."

"Yu, we..."

"Hmph~ Don't even think about it!"

Wu Lingyu shook off the dog of a man's hand and hopped away, standing on one leg.

...