Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

Last time, due to midterm review, Xia Xiaoxiao didn't get her glasses made, but after the midterm exams, she eventually did.

Xu Qingfan gazed at her profile with pleasure. Xiao Ruawen endured it for one minute, three minutes, five minutes, until she finally couldn't take it anymore and pushed his head to face forward.

"Pay attention to the class!" she whispered harshly.

Xu Qingfan smiled silently, then once again rested his gaze on her profile.

High-neck sweater, black-frame glasses, the more he looked, the more she resembled May from "The Quintessential Quintuplets".

"Xu Qingfan, read this sentence!" the English teacher, at the end of her patience, said into the microphone.

"Ah..." Xu Qingfan stood up, flipping through the textbook haphazardly.

"Here." Xiao Ruawen handed him her textbook, whispering a reminder.

"China is widely known for its ancient civilisation which has continued..." Xu Qingfan held up the English book and recited fluently.

"Alright, sit down and pay attention to the lesson." The English teacher helplessly shook her head, interrupting him from continuing further.

"Hmph~ See Brother Fan, you're not taking the class seriously." Xiao Ruawen took back her English book, muttering under her breath.

Actually, their group had already moved to the middle of the class, so Xiao Ruawen could see the blackboard clearly with or without her glasses.

But for some reason, she insisted on wearing her glasses every single class.

Xiao Ruawen knew that Xu Qingfan had noticed, and Xu Qingfan also knew that Xiao Ruawen knew he had noticed, but for some reason, neither of them said anything, keeping it as their tacit understanding.

...

After the last history class of the afternoon ended, another week passed.

This weekend was a good one for Xia Xiaoxiao because Wu Lingyu was going home, and Xu Qingfan didn't have to go to the company this week.

The driver dropped them off at Donghui City. Ever since they learned that the convenience store clerk had resigned, Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao had not visited that convenience store for a long time.

"Hey." After crossing the road, Xia Xiaoxiao tugged at his sleeve, "I want to buy some milk tea."

"Are you talking about the Green Tea Island near the primary school, or Good Taste Milk Tea?" Xu Qingfan took her hand naturally, and the two walked hand in hand, looking like a well-matched high school couple.

Xia Xiaoxiao had originally just wanted to drink Good Taste Milk Tea, but if they were to go to the primary school, then she could walk a good long distance alone with her smelly dog!

"Green Tea Island." She replied flatly, as if she wasn't very keen on it.

Xu Qingfan nodded, tucked her hand into his pocket, and walked toward Gualv Square.

Xia Xiaoxiao's pleased expression flashed by, and she feigned ignorance, "Are we walking there?"

"If you want to go by motorcycle, that's fine too." Xu Qingfan pointed towards a passing motorcycle taxi on the roadside.

"No, let's walk." Xia Xiaoxiao said, tilting her head with feigned arrogance.

When it was just the two of them, Xia Xiaoxiao usually remained quiet unless Xu Qingfan initiated a conversation.

Just like this moment.

Xu Qingfan was looking down at his phone, while Xia Xiaoxiao occasionally gave him disapproving glances.

"Xu Qingfan, look over there." Suddenly spotting something interesting, Xia Xiaoxiao nudged him with her elbow.

Xu Qingfan followed her gaze to see a stray dog mounting a Samoyed.

"Are you suggesting something?" Xu Qingfan asked with a sleazy smile.

"What.... Get lost!" Xia Xiaoxiao was so annoyed she felt like coughing blood.

She just wanted to remind Xu Qingfan not to keep looking down at his phone and to talk to her—the hell with suggesting anything!

The Samoyed's owner, who was queueing up inside a shop to pay, saw his dog being mounted and, infuriated, ran out from the shop to kick away the stray dog.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, what's wrong with the dogs, they just want to pursue their happiness." Xu Qingfan clicked his tongue and withdrew his gaze.

Xia Xiaoxiao, who was just looking for a topic to talk about with him, hadn't paid further attention to the two dogs, but instead said, "They say the world is going to end in 2012, do you think it will end, Xu Qingfan?"

With just two weeks left until the new year, Xia Xiaoxiao was indeed curious.

"You believe that? You might as well believe I've come back from the future." Xu Qingfan said nonchalantly.

"Pssh, you think you're some kind of magic mobile phone that can travel back from the future?" Xia Xiaoxiao gave him a disdainful look, "If you really did come back from the future, then you....."

As she spoke, Xia Xiaoxiao suddenly found herself unable to continue; she had wanted to say "then why didn't you go buy a lottery ticket," but Xu Qingfan, as a kid, seemed to have actually gambled on soccer.

[Isn't that right, Xia Xiaoxiao? What's with that look? You don't actually believe him, do you?]

"I was just joking, hahaha, you didn't really take me seriously, did you?" Xu Qingfan was startled and said with a laugh while gesturing jokingly at her.

"If you were from the future, then... then who would you end up being with?" Xia Xiaoxiao eyed him suspiciously.

"Tsk, I already said it was a joke. I'm not really from the future, but if you really want to know, then I can only tell you I'm going to have five wives," he said, raising his eyebrows at her dismissively.

You'd think he was pathetic.

"You get five wives, and I'll call the police on you!" Xia Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes at him again, feeling mentally drained.

"Why don't you ask if you're one of those five wives?" Xu Qingfan countered her question.

Xia Xiaoxiao looked at him and snorted disdainfully through her nose, "Hmph."

Xu Qingfan, feeling underestimated, thought to himself, "Let's take this to the rooftop!"

"Like I'd ever marry you," Xia Xiaoxiao muttered under her breath, moving past the topic.

...

For the rest of the way, Xu Qingfan put away his phone and reminisced with Xia Xiaoxiao about the fun times they had running around the streets with dogs when they were young.

Chatting as they walked, they quickly arrived at Green Tea Island, near the entrance of their primary school.

"Two cups of pudding milk tea, less pudding in mine and add it to hers," Xu Qingfan handed over a five-yuan bill, and the shop owner gave him one yuan in change.

Back when they were kids, a large cup of pudding milk tea only cost one yuan, but now a medium cup went for two yuan.

Xu Qingfan remembered that in four or five years, even a small cup of pudding milk tea would cost three yuan.

After leaving Green Tea Island, they each held a warm cup of pudding milk tea in their hands.

Sipping her milk tea, Xia Xiaoxiao squinted her eyes slightly; it still tasted just like their childhood.

"I also want some takoyaki," she continued to tell Xu Qingfan.

As a sweet little girl, saying this seemed like adorable whining; as an adult, it had the tone of a queen's command.

The two bought takoyaki and wheel cakes from the familiar snack stall, and in the winter, holding the two delicious items in their hands was enough to make the school children they saw envious to tears.

"Buying so much, you won't be able to eat dinner later, and my mom will start her sermon again," Xu Qingfan commented as he adjusted the two snacks in his hands, teasing her.

He didn't actually like these sweet treats that girls enjoyed; they tasted good when he was a kid, but as he grew up, he felt that nothing was better than his mother's cooking.

After eating a takoyaki, Xia Xiaoxiao stopped two younger primary students passing by.

"Would you kids like some takoyaki? My brother and I bought too much and can't finish it," she said, bending slightly and offering them the box of hot snacks.

The little boy was quite shy, stealing a glance at the beautiful sister before bowing his head, too timid to look again.

The little girl observed the two of them for a moment; seeing Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao dressed in school uniforms, she smiled sweetly and said, "Thank you, sister, you're so pretty!"

"And you're very pretty too, little sister," Xia Xiaoxiao patted the little girl's head, took the wheel cakes from Xu Qingfan's hand, and divided one between them.

"This cake, my brother and I were going to split, so you two split it as well, okay?"

Xu Qingfan didn't speak, standing behind and watching the interactions between Xia Xiaoxiao and the little girl.

"Wow~ Thank you, sister!"

After speaking, she nudged the boy standing next to her, who murmured his thanks hesitantly, "Tha...thank you, sister."

"No need to thank us. Are you two classmates?"

"Sister, she's my neighbor. Auntie told me to keep an eye on him after school and not let him go to the river to catch fish."

"Oh, you're such a good child," Xia Xiaoxiao turned to glance at Xu Qingfan.

Xu Qingfan returned the glance with an equally challenging stare, but after a moment, they both smiled at each other.

...