Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

Afternoon. After lunch, Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao left the house early. "Why don't you ride your bike?" He asked Xia Xiaoxiao, who was sitting behind him, out of breath after a tough climb up a hill. "The bike chain fell off." "Huff huff~ Why didn't you say so earlier? I can fix it. Now I'm exhausted!" "Why all the talking while riding? Can you do it or not? If not, let me ride!" Xia Xiaoxiao's disdainful voice came from behind. Just like an angry cat, Xu Qingfan suddenly stood up from the seat, "Can't I do it? Could I possibly fail? Hold tight, I'll show you what the Qiuming Mountain bike god is like!" Three minutes later. "Huff huff huff~ I can't do it, stretch your legs and help push!" Seeing another long uphill ahead, Xu Qingfan said weakly to Xia Xiaoxiao behind him. The little girl shook her head silently, extending her tiny feet and pedaled in rhythm with Xu Qingfan's steps. "Damn poverty forcing a hard fight!" Xu Qingfan's face turned red with exertion, and he occasionally blurted out some strange song lyrics. After climbing the last hill, it was all downhill from there. Qingfan let the bike accelerate continuously, the afternoon sun casting dappled light and shadow through the gaps in the leaves. "Hum hum hum hum~" Xia Xiaoxiao tilted her head to one side, letting the breeze scatter her bangs while cheerfully humming the melody of "Sunny Day." "How much longer before I can be beside you~ Maybe I'll feel a bit better on a sunny day~" Xu Qingfan joined in, their playful voices being carried far away by the wind. Early summer in May, with dappled shadows from the trees, it's a mood of being on the road, making days like this feel especially great. After singing another song by Wang Xinning, "When You," together, they arrived at their destination. In the 2000s, bike theft was rampant in society. If you locked your bike on the road, within minutes it could be pried open, just like Uncle Li from the Lianhua Courtyard experienced. Xu Qingfan didn't dare to leave his bike so openly on the street and tempt crime, so the two of them pushed the bike and strolled through the park. However, Licheng Park was so vast that after wandering around for over ten minutes, they still hadn't found the fried skewer stand. All of a sudden. "Look at that!" Xia Xiaoxiao pointed to a passing couple and called out. Xu Qingfan followed where she was pointing and saw a couple feeding each other! "Why are we looking at them?" he asked Xia Xiaoxiao, puzzled. "Idiot! What are they eating?" Xia Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes at Xu Qingfan and dragged him in the direction of the couple. "Right!" Xu Qingfan snapped out of it and managed to hold back his urge to deride their public displays of affection. He politely asked, "Brother, sister, where did you buy those fried skewers? We want to buy some too!" "Wow, what a cute kid; no need to buy, sister will give you mine," the girl squatted down, smiling and offering her bag of fried skewers to Xu Qingfan. "Thank you, sister, but mom said not to accept food from strangers. Just tell us where you bought it," Xu Qingfan said, feigning innocence. "So smart! It's just ahead. Sister will take you there!" The girl gave her boyfriend a glance, signaling him to go help with pushing the bike. "Thank you, brother. Thank you, sister." "Thank you, brother. Thank you, sister." The two kids politely thanked them, holding hands as they followed the couple forward. "Here! It's over there. Did you bring money? Do you want sister to treat you?" the girl pointed to a nearby stall after walking a few hundred meters. "No need, thank you, sister, we brought money!" "Thank you, sister!" "Hehe, no need to thank me. You're such adorable kids. Aren't your parents worried letting you out alone? Goodbye, kids!" The girl waved goodbye to Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao. After saying goodbye to the affectionate couple, Xu Qingfan got back on his bike, with Xia Xiaoxiao riding along to the nearby fried skewer stand. "Auntie!" From afar, Xu Qingfan recognized Li Meijuan's face and called out loudly. "Oh! How did you find your way here?" Li Meijuan, upon recognizing them, eagerly stepped forward to greet them. Even after just over a month of not seeing each other, Xu Qingfan felt Li Mei Juan had aged several years all at once. Her black hair seemed to have thinned out even more, and despite her smiling face, anyone could see the fatigue etched on her face. "Auntie, how come you moved over here? I had to ask around before I found out!" Xu Qingfan got straight to the point. "It's nothing, the old place just isn't up for rent anymore, so I moved," Li Mei Juan lowered her head and explained, but anybody could hear the unnatural tone in her voice. "What would you like to eat? Auntie can fry some up for you!" Li Mei Juan seemed to want to avoid this topic in front of the kids, eagerly pulling them over to choose from the skewers. Xu Qingfan didn't stand on ceremony and while picking out skewers, he said, "Auntie, it seems like there aren't many people here to eat skewers, right?" "In the evening there will be more..." Li Mei Juan's voice was faint, and it sounded more like she was talking to herself rather than answering Xu Qingfan. "Auntie, I heard from a grandma that the landlord tricked you out of your fried skewer recipe?" Xia Xiaoxiao, unable to contain her curiosity, blurted out. Li Mei Juan's pupils darkened, and she answered in a dispirited tone, "It wasn't exactly trickery. She offered to exchange my recipe for a year's rent, and after I moved out, she did pay me the money." "Ah?" Xia Xiaoxiao suddenly wasn't sure whether to consider the landlord a good person or a bad one. Xu Qingfan patted the little girl's head and shook his head to indicate she should stop asking about it. There was no doubt that the landlord was a villain. Xu Qingfan had roughly estimated how much money Li Mei Juan made selling skewers every month—a day's profit of a little over two hundred was definitely achievable. The rent for that tiny, old, and dilapidated three-to-four-square-meter room wasn't worth much. If it hadn't been for Li Mei Juan's skewers making that whole street popular, the rent wouldn't have even reached a hundred yuan a month. And now, for just one year's worth of rent, not even two thousand yuan, the landlord had swindled the fried skewer recipe that netted Li Mei Juan a monthly income of three to four thousand yuan! "Auntie, why don't you rent another shop? The business here doesn't seem to be even half as good as your previous place." Xu Qingfan was puzzled. Logically, with the two thousand yuan from the landlord and the ten thousand yuan compensation from those shrewish women last time, there should be more than enough to rent a new shop somewhere else. "I haven't found a suitable place yet..." Li Mei Juan said evasively, her gaze shifting away. "Oh, oh, Auntie, fry me some extra pork chops; I'll take them home for my parents!" "Sure! Did you like the duck from last time? If you enjoyed it, Auntie can make more for you." Perhaps it was the arrival of Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao, but Li Mei Juan rarely showed such a precious smile. "It was delicious! Oh, right, Auntie, why don't you sell duck necks? I think they taste just as good as your skewers!" Xu Qingfan exclaimed, suddenly struck by an idea recalling the 'Duck Neck Assassin' from a past life. "Nobody buys that. I tried it once before, but I couldn't sell them all," Li Mei Juan explained. "That's impossible; I think it tastes great. How could no one be buying them?" "Alright, I'll fry your parents' portions later. They won't taste good when they're cold," Li Mei Juan said warmly as she placed the freshly fried skewers on the table. "Thank you, Auntie!" After expressing their thanks, the two kids began to eat voraciously. "As long as you two like it," Li Mei Juan suddenly remembered what her daughter had said, that Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao were both top in their grades. She hesitated several times before finally asking, "Auntie knows both of you have excellent grades. I wanted to ask you about my daughter..." "You can ask us, Auntie." The two kids put down their skewers and sat up straight in unison. "My daughter used to always come first in her exams, but this time she fell out of the top twenty. The teacher said it was because of too much pressure. Do you know how to... how to... what's that word again?" "Relieve stress?" Xu Qingfan suggested. "Yes! Do you know how to relieve stress? No matter how much it costs, I can afford it!" Li Mei Juan's eyes began to redden as she spoke. Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao exchanged glances, and eventually, he was the one who spoke up, "Auntie, last semester we both attended the same Olympic math training class as Wu Lingyu. I think she's a very smart person and shouldn't have academic pressure. I wonder if the pressure might be coming from somewhere else..." After Xu Qingfan finished speaking, Li Mei Juan fell silent for more than two minutes. Finally, she spoke, "I see. Thank you. You don't have to pay for the skewers; Auntie's treating you!" "Hehe, thank you, Auntie. You can start frying the pork chops now; we're almost done!" Xu Qingfan replied with a smile. Xia Xiaoxiao's hand sneakily pinched Xu Qingfan under the table, indicating how could he have the nerve to eat for free! Xu Qingfan patted the back of the little girl's hand to reassure her. "Auntie, we'll come back to eat another day; see you next time!" "See you next time. Thank you, you two!" Li Mei Juan waved goodbye to them warmly. "Oh, by the way, Auntie, I saw a bug crawl into the tissue box while I was eating the skewers earlier. Remember to catch it so it won't scare your other customers." After Xu Qingfan said this, he waved goodbye and, with Xia Xiaoxiao, quickly left the spot. "A bug?" Li Mei Juan perplexedly picked up the box of tissues on the table, opened it, and inside, a hundred yuan note lay there quietly. In the days that had passed, Li Mei Juan's world had always been shades of gray. The quiet red bill lying inside the box seemed to help her redraw the colors of life in an instant. Watching the retreating figures of Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao, she stood there for a long time, tears already welling up in her eyes without her realizing when they had started.