Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

"That's it for today's class, don't want to delay everyone's mealtime, class dismissed!" "Yay!" "Thank you, teacher, goodbye, teacher!" As the bell rang for the end of class, the students burst out of the room like athletes dashing off at the sound of the starter's gun. Since the classroom was on the fifth floor, rushing or not, they were not going to get the first round of hot meals, but Xu Qingfan still admired his classmates' enthusiasm for eating. "Heehee, time to eat! Ningning wants to have black pepper pork chop rice today!" Lin Wanning said while organizing her stationery and books on the desk. "You have to eat the carrots yourself!" Xu Qingfan tapped the little girl's head. Last time they had pork chop rice, the two little ones gave him all their carrots they didn't eat, making Xu Qingfan consume nearly a whole carrot on his own. "No way~ Carrots taste disgusting!" Lin Wanning complained, clinging to Xu Qingfan's arm. "Stop shaking, you're going to make my brain too well mixed; I'll eat them, I'll eat them, okay!" Xu Qingfan was defeated by Lin Wanning's coquettish whimpering. "Heehee, Brother Qingfan is the best!" "Are you done yet!" Xia Xiaoxiao murmured with a pout, witnessing this scene from behind. "Alright, alright, let's go, we're going to find Wu Lingyu in Class Three on the second floor first," Xu Qingfan said as he put on his school card around his neck and rose from his seat. "Off we go~" Zhang Yiyi and Lin Wanning walked hand in hand in front, and their bags looked like they were bought to match, the same model, with fluffy toys sewn on top – one a kitten and the other a bunny, their ears bouncing adorably as they walked. "Your comic is getting published?" Although the little rascal had already spilled the beans to her, Xia Xiaoxiao was still somewhat incredulous when she saw the physical book that morning. That was publishing a book! How could a few primary schoolers drawing some comics manage to get published? In the little girl's mind, it was only renowned authors like Lu Xun and Bing Xin who could publish books. She had also seen the comics drawn by Xu Qingfan and others; they were amusing, to be sure, but the fact that they were getting published was a shock to Xia Xiaoxiao's understanding. "I suppose so, we just drew some comics after all. The coloring of the comics and contacting the publishers and all that were helped by Aunt Zhang. I'm guessing she spent a lot of money, otherwise it wouldn't have been so easy," Xu Qingfan explained with a smile. "That's still pretty impressive, you're just in the first grade and already getting published, I might not be able to do that in twenty years," Xia Xiaoxiao said, feeling unreasonably sour as she looked at Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi walking ahead. "What's the big deal? Everyone has their strengths. Look at you, you're good at games and your studies are solid too. Why are you comparing your weaknesses to Wan Ningyi and their strengths?" "But you..." Xia Xiaoxiao wanted to say, your grades are also good, but then thought better of it. Why bother comparing herself with the little rascal? "I have many areas where I'm not as good as you as well, like I'm not as good at games as you," Xu Qingfan guessed what Xia Xiaoxiao wanted to say, and chuckled while ruffling the little girl's head. "What's the use of being good at games..." Xia Xiaoxiao muttered under her breath. "How is it useless? Who knows, being good at games might let you take part in the Asian Games in the future. Come on, we need to catch up; Wan Ningyi and the others are getting too far ahead," Xu Qingfan said, tugging at Xia Xiaoxiao's hand as they jogged lightly. The little girl didn't speak further, but inwardly she snorted: [Stinky Xu Qingfan, always lying! The news has said online gaming is electronic opium, how could being good at games get you into the Asian Games!] When the four kids reached Class Three of the first grade, most of the class had already left, and Wu Lingyu was true to her word, sitting in her spot and doing her homework. "Wow~ Brother Fan!" Recognizing Xu Qingfan who walked in, the students exclaimed in surprise. "Brother Fan, you're my idol, Brother Fan, do you eat spicy strips, Brother Fan, what brings you here?" One of Xu Qingfan's devoted fans excitedly came up and offered him the half-finished pack of spicy sticks he was eating. "No need, no need, that's for you. I'm looking for Wu Lingyu from your class," Xu Qingfan said, declining with an awkward wave of his hand. Is this what it feels like to be a star? He could now say he had an idea. "Oh, you're looking for the top student in our class! Yu, someone is looking for you!" Because of the popularity of the Jackie Chan Adventures, Wu Lingyu had earned the nickname "Yu" in her class. Actually, Wu Lingyu had noticed Xu Qingfan and his group as soon as they entered the classroom; the little girl quickly tidied up her desk, slung her backpack over her shoulders, and stood up. "You... hello." Wu Lingyu walked up to Xu Qingfan, timidly lowering her head to look at her shoes. "Let's go! Let's have something to eat before we talk," Xu Qingfan said, tugging at her sleeve and walking out of the classroom with the others. "Yu, don't worry, Brother Fan will definitely take care of that nasty landlord for you!" Having seen the girl in person, Lin Wanning couldn't wait to wave her little fist and assure her. "No... no need..." Wu Lingyu looked up at Xu Qingfan for a moment, then instantly became nervous again and looked down. Sometimes Xu Qingfan also felt helpless about Lin Wanning's mysterious confidence in himself, he genuinely had no idea how to deal with the landlord, after all, what the landlord did was neither illegal nor criminal, but extremely unethical. "Yu, why doesn't your mom just rent another shop?" Seeing that everyone called her Yu, Xu Qingfan followed suit. Wu Lingyu nervously fidgeted with her fingers, seeming at a loss for words for a moment. "Is it inconvenient to say?" Xu Qingfan asked when she didn't speak. "No... it's not that... we're out of money at home," the little girl's voice was as faint as a mosquito's. "Huh? How can that be? Didn't you receive a compensation of ten thousand yuan last time?" Xu Qingfan asked with a face full of question marks. The few little girls were well-behaved and remained silent, quietly waiting for Wu Lingyu's response. "Whimper~" Seemingly reminded of something sorrowful, the little girl suddenly started to choke up: "Last time's money... whimper... it was stolen when we took my dad to the hospital, whimper~" By the time she finished speaking, Wu Lingyu's eyes were already filled with tears. "Yu, don't cry, Ningning still has a lot of New Year's money, and it's all yours!" Seeing Wu Lingyu suddenly bursting into tears, they all looked at each other in dismay. Lin Wanning pulled out a tissue to wipe her tears away. As the cafeteria was already in sight, Xu Qingfan had to save the rest of his questions for later. When getting their meals, they didn't encounter a melodramatic scenario like Wu Lingyu not being able to afford food; Experimental Primary School grants scholarships to the top twenty students in each grade every month. The scholarship money was directly deposited onto their meal cards, and though Wu Lingyu had fallen out of the top twenty and no longer received the scholarship this mid-term, she still had several hundred yuan left over from the previous semester's money. After everyone got their meals and sat down, Xu Qingfan continued to inquire, "What illness does your dad have that requires so much money?" Wu Lingyu's tears had stopped, but the area around her nose and eyes was still red. She looked down at the meal in front of her and said with a choked voice, "I don't know exactly, Mom said it's called nephritis and needs a lot of money..." "Ah?" Xu Qingfan gasped in shock. Xia Xiaoxiao, Lin Wanning, and Zhang Yiyi didn't know what nephritis was, so they weren't as shocked as Xu Qingfan. The girls looked at Xu Qingfan with puzzled expressions, waiting for him to explain. Xu Qingfan's understanding of nephritis came from a news item – the "Liao Dan Stamp Forgery to Save Wife" case. Liao Dan's wife had developed nephritis and faced thrice-weekly dialysis and medical bills amounting to thousands of yuan, which their fragile finances could not bear. Discovering a loophole at the hospital by chance, where the hospital would just stamp a document with their seal after payment, a desperate Liao Dan chose to forge a stamp to save his wife. When questioned by the judge, Liao Dan, with tear-filled eyes and feeling helpless, said, "What can you do without money? I can't let her die at home, nor can I strangle her..." Xu Qingfan finally understood why Wu Lingyu's mom had prematurely white hair, and why, despite the skewer stall being profitable, their household seemed so impoverished. Let alone that it was only 2003, even ten years later in 2013, nephritis was still that kind of illness—a poverty illness! Dialysis cost four to five hundred yuan each time, the medication couldn't be reimbursed through health insurance, and the monthly medical bills amounted to as much as six to seven thousand yuan – how many ordinary families could bear such costs? Xu Qingfan had only calculated that Li Meijuan's business was booming, earning four thousand yuan a month selling skewers, but he had forgotten that every business has both an off-peak and a peak season, and how many customers would come to eat skewers when the weather turned cold? "Your mom is a hero," Xu Qingfan said after a long silence.