Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

"Xiao Fan and I really have a special bond. Back then, he brought Wanning and Xiao Xiao to my stall to play games. Just five years old, he wrote from one to five hundred without a single mistake, and won the biggest doll in my shop."

"When first grade started, it just so happened that they all ended up in the same class!"

Zhao Yue Min had already thrown out several useful tiles, her attention completely away from the mahjong table.

"Really, Aunties, stop praising me or I'll start getting carried away. I might even dare to marry five wives in the future!" Xu Qingfan waved his hands and spoke his true feelings in a joking tone.

Marrying five wives, he really dared!

The mothers first glanced at him in astonishment, then looked around at each other, and finally burst into laughter.

"Hahaha..."

"Hahahaha, Xiao Fan says he wants to marry five wives..."

"That's perfect, take turns from Monday to Friday, then rest on Saturday and Sunday!"

After hearing Zhao Yue Min's risqué joke, the four of them laughed even harder, the tears that had been held back due to being touched now mingling with the laughter.

"He probably couldn't handle it, though; five days a week, even an iron man would break down."

"Who knows, our Xiao Fan might have some special talents, and it's not specified that one can only cultivate one acre of land at a time."

"Just eat more 'Peace and Joy' haha..."

They thought Xu Qingfan was naive and didn't understand their risqué jokes, talking freely about 'Peace and Joy' and cultivating one acre of land at a time.

Xu Qingfan just wanted to say: If I were to start talking dirty, I could leave you all confused, blushing and hot-eared in your beds at night.

But for now, he had to pretend he didn't understand.

Didn't understand, didn't get it at all!

And he even had to play the part of being pure and dumb, going along with the Aunties' sense of superiority.

185cm tall pure-hearted high school boy, open for business.

"Is 'Peace and Joy' that chicken essence brand? Eating too much chicken essence is bad for your health," Xu Qingfan interjected.

After a brief moment of silence, laughter erupted once more.

"Hahaha!"

"Chicken essence..."

"Yes, that's the brand of chicken essence, hahaha..."

"Goose, goose, goose..."

The Aunties have gone mad, completely mad.

Xu Aiguo and Lin Qiaoshan exchanged glances, both peeking out to see what was going on, each with three big question marks hovering above their heads.

[Is this kid a women's companion, getting along so well with the ladies?]

[Isn't this, my son?]

...

Noon.

"Alright, the food is ready, everyone come have some soup first," Yao Jinping said as she brought out a pot of simmered soup from the kitchen, which had been cooking for three hours.

"Ah, thank you so much, Sister Jinping, we're coming right over."

"It smells delicious, it has it all: color, aroma, and taste!"

The mothers got up from the mahjong table, washed their hands, and quickly took their seats at the dining table.

"Hehe~ Mommy, I made this cold mixed dish, isn't it pretty, duck!"

"We've got a feast, Mommy!"

Five girls one after another brought out dish after dish to the dining table, where a huge round table could accommodate fifteen people, quickly becoming a bit crowded.

"This afternoon, we still have to attend the children's parent-teacher conference, so let's not drink alcohol. Instead, I propose a toast with cola to everyone," Xu Aiguo, as the head of the household, said after everyone had arrived, holding his disposable cup.

"Cheers!"

"Uncle is so cool!"

Everyone clapped and cheered, and Xu Aiguo stood up in front of everyone and chugged the cola from his cup.

Even though he usually wasn't very noticeable and seemed a bit careless, as a father, Xu Aiguo was dependable when it mattered.

"Hey~ it's my turn now. I won't say much else, but I hope our big family can always be like this: 'Peace and Joy,' healthy and happy, with frequent gatherings and fun."

"Alright!"

"Brother Qing Fan!"

After Xu Qingfan finished speaking, there was another round of clapping and cheering from the crowd.

Without going into more speeches, once Xu Qingfan also finished his drink and sat down, everyone had already started eating and serving themselves.

"This is my first time making beer duck, not sure how well it turned out. Try it and see," Yao Jinping said as she picked up a piece of duck, tasted it, and found it was quite acceptable and very suitable for a meal.

"Delicious duck!"

"Aunty, this is so tasty!"

"Aunty, good!"

"Everything Aunty cooks is delicious!"

Before the others had even begun to try, the five girls had already started praising the dishes.

"Is it really that delicious? I have to try it then," Lin Jing said, giggling as she picked up a piece of duck meat.

"The delicious duck, we had some in the kitchen already, mom and dad, you should try the duck!" Lin Wanning, her feet tapping a rhythm under the table, put two pieces of duck meat into her parents' bowls.

"Okay~ Mommy will try the duck now," Wen Wanqing said with a nod and a smile.

"Thank you, my girl," Dad's eyes brimmed with tears, the food his daughter picked for him just tasted better!

"Hahaha..."

Lin Wanning's ending tone just happened to rhyme with "duck," making everyone smile knowingly.

"Mom, what were you all talking about in the living room? I heard you laughing and laughing, it never stopped," Xiao Ruawen asked curiously, looking at her mother.

As for the fact that she heard laughter from the living room, which made her laugh out loud in the kitchen too, there was no need to mention that.

The others who hadn't been in the living room also looked over curiously.

"Yeah, wife, what were you chatting about in the living room to laugh so heartily?" Lin Qiaoshan also inquired.

"What were we just talking about in the living room?"

The four mothers looked at each other because, seemingly, they really couldn't remember why they were laughing.

They felt it was hilarious at the time, but after the laughter, they'd forgotten what had originally caused it.

"We were talking about Xiao Fan," Lin Jing said.

"That's right, we were talking about Xiao Fan!"

"Uh-huh!"

After Lin Jing spoke, the others quickly echoed her.

"Talking about Brother Qing Fan? What's so funny about Brother Qing Fan?"

"Yeah, mom, what's so funny about Brother Fan?"

"He is quite funny."

Everyone's gaze immediately fell on Xu Qingfan.

The mothers had forgotten why they just laughed, but Xu Qingfan remembered.

He said, "The aunties were just praising me in the living room, and I know I'm outstanding, but still, being praised to my face always makes one feel shy, haha."

"Eh~" As he bragged about himself, Xia Xiaoxiao and Xiao Ruawen both made a hissing noise.

Xu Qingfan didn't mind and continued, "I just told the aunties to stop, I said I could almost float away, that I could even dare to marry five wives, and then they laughed at me."

Once Xu Qingfan finished, the four mothers who had just been laughing over a dirty joke now felt a bit ashamed.

[Xiao Fan is really innocent; he actually thought we were laughing at the idea of him marrying five wives.]

[Luckily Xiao Fan doesn't understand dirty jokes. If it were said out loud in front of so many people, it would be so embarrassing!]

[Xiao Fan is good in every way, just too innocent...]

Only Zhang Chunxue looked doubtfully at Xu Qingfan, the seemingly innocent young man. Innocent? He was sharing dirty images by the time he was in first grade. Innocent?

[But he does pretend quite well. When he talked about marrying five wives, could that have not been a spur-of-the-moment thought?]

Different from the mothers' shame, the five young girls had nothing but question marks in their minds at the moment.

Especially Xiao Ruawen, who knew a little secret about Brother Fan, looked at Xu Qingfan with a mix of distance and curiosity.

[No way, does Brother Fan really want to marry all five of us?]

[How could he dare...]

"Actually, if Xiao Fan has the skills to keep five wives happy, I think marrying five at once isn't necessarily out of the question," Zhang Chunxue finally spoke with a bombshell statement.

She looked at Xu Qingfan with amusement, as if seeing right through him, making him feel as though he stood naked before her eyes.

Everyone thought Zhang Chunxue was joking, but she was serious.

"Haha, I don't see why not, we do have five girls, after all. Xiao Fan, if you can charm Wenwen, auntie here won't object," Zhao Yue Min joked without any restraint, thinking it was all in fun.

"Mom!" Xiao Ruawen didn't expect that the joke would suddenly turn on her, and her expression quickly shifted to one of embarrassed annoyance.

Xu Qingfan appeared to be meditating, thinking to himself: Auntie, I'll remember what you said!

"Ah, look, our Wenwen is getting anxious."

"Alright, alright~ Mommy will stop talking now."

After being glared at by her daughter, Zhao Yue Min closed her mouth with a smile.

Lin Qiaoshan was constantly watching his wife, fearing she would also say something like, "If you charm Wanning well, I have no objections."

[My girl doesn't need charming; she'd probably skip over there in a heartbeat if she could.]

Lin Wanning was looking forward to her mother saying something similar.

[Mom, please say it, I want to marry Brother Qing Fan with Yiyi!]

"My Wanning can marry whoever she wants when she grows up, Mommy supports her!" Wen Wanqing cheerfully told her daughter.

Lin Qiaoshan's heart was half relieved.

"Hehe~ Thank you, Mom!" Lin Wanning said, giggling.

...