Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

There should be a picture of Li Xunhuan right here, you've arrived just in time!

Since there were adults present, the three of them simply snuggled for a moment, and Xu Qingfan let go of Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi rather quickly.

Wen Wanqing and Lin Qiaoshan exchanged glances, and although they really wanted to pull their daughters back to their side, Sister Zhang made no move, so they had no choice but to pretend nothing was amiss.

Lin Jing glanced at her daughter and thought to herself, "Still daydreaming, ah. Xiao Fan will be whisked away sooner or later.

If Xia Xiaoxiao knew her mother's true thoughts, she would confidently say, "Why the panic? Ruan Wen has already joined the great Xiaoxiao Party. Once I conquer Yu as well, this sneaky dog will warm my bed sooner or later!

The torch relay was continuing, and the villagers who were originally watching stayed with the procession as it moved forward, leaving only their families and friends still standing there, yet there were still more than twenty of them.

Zhang Chunxue came forward to take her daughter back, and along the way, she ruffled Xu Qingfan's head, "You've become something to be proud of."

"Just so-so," Xu Qingfan said, raising his eyebrows proudly like a child.

Seeing this, Wen Wanqing and Lin Qiaoshan hurriedly pulled their daughters back to their side, which Lin Wanning was somewhat unhappy about.

"Mom, why are you pulling me, quack. I want to stand beside Brother Qing Fan... and Yiyi!"

"I think Wanning really wants to stand next to that boy!"

"This little boyfriend looks pretty good, handsome and capable."

"Hahaha..."

Lin Wanning's relatives and elders joked from her side.

Seeing that Lin Wanning did not retort, the crowd laughed even more joyfully.

"Oh you guys are so annoying... Don't laugh!" She shyly covered her face with her hands, its meaning probably only a blind man would fail to see.

"Hahaha!"

...

Xiaolou Town has many scenic and cultural attractions, with Bai Shuizhai, He Xian Temple, and Xiaolou Ren Jia being some of the more famous ones.

They solved the problem of lunch next to He Xian Temple at a farmhouse restaurant. When the owner found out the identities of Xu Qingfan, Lin Wanning, and Zhang Yiyi, he very generously offered to waive the bill, with his only request being to take a commemorative photo with them.

Zhang Chunxue asked him to decide, and Xu Qingfan thought about it and agreed. Maybe in the future, when he brings friends to eat here, they would see his photo hanging on the wall, impressing them without even trying.

There were two tables for the meal, with many relatives from Lin Wanning's side present. Xu Qingfan was meeting many of them for the first time.

After pouring himself a cup of apple cider vinegar, he held Lin Wanning's hand and went around to meet everyone.

When Lin Wanning said this was Grandpa, Xu Qingfan would toast and say, "Grandpa, live long";

When Lin Wanning said this was the Second Uncle, Xu Qingfan would say, "Second Uncle, strike it rich."

"Grandpa, I'll drink up, you do as you please... Second Uncle, wishing you booming business... little cousin, hoping for your academic improvement... Auntie, truly your charm persists..."

After a round of pleasant words, the Lin family's relatives seemed to regard him as their future son-in-law.

The smile on Lin Wanning's face was impossible to hide, with two adorable dimples always present.

When Xu Qingfan led her back to their seats, she still felt as light as a feather.

"Cough cough!" Lin Qiaoshan pretended to accidentally knock over the Tian Di Yi Hao on the table.

The sound of glass tapping instantly snapped Lin Wanning out of her reverie. Disturbed in her daydream, she glared at her father somewhat displeased, "Dad, how can you be so careless!"

"Haha... Dad was just looking at his phone and didn't pay attention, sorry my girl," Lin Qiaoshan explained with a heartache.

"Heehee~ It's okay, I'll clean it up!" Little angel Lin Wanning pulled out a tissue to wipe up the spilled apple cider vinegar on the table, her healing smile instantly melting the old man.

The freshly killed and cooked food from the farmhouse restaurant was quickly served on the table. Although there were more than twenty of them, the owner still treated them with the highest standards. Chickens, ducks, geese, fish, shrimp, crab—it was all there.

After being in the sun all morning, everyone was tired and started to eat heartily without caring for appearances.

It was just a pity that in October, Li City still hadn't started to cool down significantly, otherwise the Xiaolou late cabbage hearts, after the frost, would be an even greater delicacy.

"By the way, school is about to start soon, have you decided where you want to go?" Lin Jing suddenly asked after everyone had their fill.

After all, she was a primary school Chinese teacher, and there was still some time until primary to secondary transition, but the students in her class had already begun to look for connections in advance for middle school, and this reminded her to bring it up now.

"Auntie, we're going to take the high school entrance exam for Licheng Middle School!" Xiao Ruanwen, after swallowing the food in her mouth, was the first to speak up.

"Right, we've already discussed this, the high school section!"

"Mm-hmm!"

Zhang Chunxue just glanced at Xu Qingfan and continued to eat her meal slowly and carefully.

Zhang Chunxue always maintained a supportive attitude towards which high school the children wanted to attend. When one has no connections or social standing, a diploma is a stepping stone, but with her current social status, a diploma was no longer essential.

There was no need to discuss Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi, given Xu Qingfan's net worth, changing the lives of the other three girls would be a very easy task.

So, their schooling was more about the need to attend school at this age, simply for the sake of studying, rather than for the purpose of attaining high grades, getting into a good university, or landing a good job in the future.

"High school section, huh? Your grades should be no problem for Guangya and Zhizhong, why stay in Li City?" Yao Jinping obviously hadn't reached that state of mind yet; the high school sections she once dreamed of attending were now completely out of her sight.

Lin Wanning and Xiao Ruanwen exchanged glances, both feeling a bit guilty and not daring to tell their auntie that they were the ones dragging down the group.

Zhao YueMin and Wen Wanqing could guess it was their own daughters who were lagging behind and tactfully chose not to join the conversation.

At the critical moment, it was Xu Qingfan who relieved the tension, "Mom, what's with that tone? The high school section is impressive, you know. How come it sounds like the Open University in your mouth?"

The Open University was the worst vocational school in their area, essentially the fallback for those scoring in the low hundreds on the middle school exam.

Yao Jinping's face immediately became a bit hard to maintain because she hadn't even been admitted to the Open University when she took the middle school exam, and in an era of assigned job placements, even the scores required for vocational schools were an insurmountable barrier for her.

"Studying in Li City means we can come home often to visit auntie, and if we want to eat the food you make, we can come back to eat!" Xia Xiaoxiao soothed, linking arms with Yao Jinping.

"Xiao Xiao knows just what to say, auntie's crab is all yours." Yao Jinping's eyes immediately lit up with joy, and she cheerfully transferred the crab that Xu Qingfan had peeled for her to Xia Xiaoxiao.

"Hehe, thank you, auntie!"

Seeing that the adults had stopped discussing the topic, Lin Wanning and Xiao Ruanwen both let out a sigh of relief at the same time.

Xia Xiaoxiao, enjoying the crab given by her auntie, felt very contented inside.

[As long as auntie supports me, uncle supports me, Ruanwen and Yu support me, Xu Qingfan, that stinky dog, will definitely be mine in the end!]

.....

After the meal was over, those who needed to go to work went their ways, and those who had to attend school did the same, so the gathering quickly dispersed.

Xu Qingfan originally wanted to take the five beauties to hike Bai Shuizhai, but they had only asked for a half-day off from the adults, so after eating, they were obliged to follow the car back.

The adults thought they were going to school later on, hence they only dropped them off at the entrance of the residential area before leaving.

When it was just the six of them, Lin Wanning hesitantly began to speak, "Brother Qingfan, why don't we consider applying to a high school in Hong Kong? I think I can make the effort and do it."

"I think I can do it too!" Xiao Ruanwen immediately indicated her agreement.

Xu Qingfan shook his head, "I know that if we put in the effort, no one would have a problem getting into Guangya, or even Huafu, but look there!"

He suddenly pointed at the trunk of a tree, where a little squirrel was eating potato chips!

"Wow!"

Lin Wanning thought she hadn't seen clearly and rubbed her eyes, "It's eating potato chips, yeah!"

"Where did it get the potato chips from?"

"This is the first time I've seen a squirrel in the neighborhood!"

The five girls chattered among themselves, their eyes unblinkingly fixed on the scene of the little squirrel eating the potato chips.

"So you see, if all we knew was to bury ourselves in our studies, we'd miss out on interesting scenes like a squirrel eating potato chips, wouldn't we?" Xu Qingfan's voice resonated softly in the ears of the five girls.

All five of them suddenly woke up as if from a dream, realizing that if they only immersed themselves in studying, who would witness the scene of a squirrel eating potato chips?

"Yeah!"