NOVPUB"You see this problem, 12 willow trees are planted in a row, and 3 peach trees are planted between every two willows. How many peach trees are there? This is still a typical tree planting problem, you just need to pay attention to whether to add one or subtract one, got it?" Xu Qingfan stopped writing and turned his head to look at Wu Lingyu.
"I got it, this one requires subtracting one, three trees for two gaps, so twelve trees make eleven gaps, 11×3=33, the answer is 33 trees!" The little girl nodded in answer.
"Great! You’ve got this type of problem down now, right?"
"I’ve got them, thank you Fan... Brother Fan, I can do the rest on my own." Wu Lingyu nodded vigorously, speaking shyly.
"Mhm, then we’ll call it a day for our lesson. By the way, where’s your dad?" Xu Qingfan patted the little girl’s head and stood up, stretching his muscles and bones.
"Dad and grandpa rented a place next to the hospital."
"Oh, so it’s just you and your mom living here?" He glanced around the interior of the house, one living room, one bathroom, in a tiny space of just over twenty square meters.
Because the location was in an urban village, surrounded by densely packed residential buildings, even during the day not a single ray of sunlight could be seen inside the house.
"Mhm." Wu Lingyu, fearing that Xu Qingfan was disparaging the conditions of her home, unconsciously lowered her voice when she spoke.
Xu Qingfan was tempted to advise Li Mei Juan to move to another house, as the urban village’s security was not good—it wasn’t uncommon to hear about murders and petty thefts in his memory.
But thinking about their temporary financial constraints, Xu Qingfan swallowed back what he wanted to say.
Seeing the sensitivity in the little girl’s emotions, Xu Qingfan patiently stepped forward to comfort her, "Why are you always looking down? Afraid if cars see you they’ll blow a tire?" He flipped Wu Lingyu’s bangs back and tied them into a ponytail in his palm.
"Pfft~ no... I’m not looking down anymore." Wu Lingyu, recalling the boys in her class often saying ’beloved by people, flowers bloom, cars see cars blow tires’, quickly replaced her insecure mood with a smile.
"You look really pretty when you smile, so smile more for grandpa in the future!" Xu Qingfan said as he pinched her little face with a grin.
"I... my grandpa is in West Gate, I can only see him once a month." Wu Lingyu’s voice changed because her cheeks were being pinched.
Xu Qingfan was taken aback, then burst into laughter when he finally understood what she meant.
"Did... did I say something wrong?" Wu Lingyu originally wanted to ask Xu Qingfan why he was laughing, but thinking about how capable he was, she assumed there had to be a reason and instead asked in embarrassment.
"No.. heh~ no, I just had a brain fart. Come on, let’s go to my place, I’ve got something nice to show you!" Xu Qingfan, holding back his laughter, grabbed Wu Lingyu and headed for the door.
"I haven’t taken the keys yet!"
After both of them picked up their keys and set out again, Xu Qingfan reminded, "Remember, if Xia Xiaoxiao asks..."
"We met on the street, and we weren’t doing Olympiad math at home!" Wu Lingyu chimed in.
"Drop that last part!" Xu Qingfan flicked her on the head.
"I know, I’m not a simpleton!"
"Are your parents from Chuanyu?" Xu Qingfan asked curiously.
"My grandpa is from Chuanyu."
```
As the two chatted leisurely, a large cockroach flew towards them in the dark and damp alley.
"Crap~" Xu Qingfan pulled Wu Lingyu down to squat, narrowly avoiding the cockroach’s flight path.
"You scared me! Is it a mutant or what, it’s so big!" He complained, pulling the little girl out of the alley and looking back.
"Brother Fan, are you afraid of cockroaches?" Wu Lingyu asked curiously, as if she had discovered a new continent.
"Tsk~ Let me tell you, it’s not about being afraid; that thing was unusually large, you don’t usually see a cockroach that big, alright!"
"I get it now!"
"What do you get now?" Xu Qingfan felt utterly bewildered.
"I won’t tell anyone that Brother Fan is scared of the ’oil thief granny’!"
"What? What’s an ’oil thief granny’?" Xu Qingfan was baffled.
"’Oil thief granny’ means cockroach!"
"Ah?" Xu Qingfan cocked his head, scrutinizing her, "Which part of those three words has anything to do with cockroaches? Don’t tell me you made that up."
"I... I did not! ’Oil thief granny’ is just another name for cockroaches, my grandpa said it’s because they always like to sneakily eat sesame oil, so they’re called ’oil thief grannies’!" Wu Lingyu felt wronged and pouted slightly.
"I see, sorry about that," Xu Qingfan reassured her by ruffling the little girl’s hair and continued to inquire, "Then why is it called ’oil thief granny’ and not ’oil thief grandpa’?"
"Because... because....." Wu Lingyu pondered seriously for quite some time. It seemed to the little girl that it had always been called that, and she didn’t know why.
"Sorry, I... I don’t know." Wu Lingyu looked ashamed, fearful she might be scolded by Xu Qingfan, and hung her head.
"Head down again! Careful not to end up with a hunchback, that would be so ugly," Xu Qingfan pinched her shoulders, helping her straighten her back, "Not knowing is fine, why apologize? When has Xia Xiaoxiao ever apologized to me!"
"Got it..."
Seeing her shy and bashful expression again, Xu Qingfan helplessly touched his forehead and gave up on correcting her misconception.
When Xu Qingfan stopped speaking, Wu Lingyu sneakily glanced up at him and, worried about being caught, quickly looked down again.
[Xia Xiaoxiao is smart and pretty, how can I compare to her? And Xia Xiaoxiao has known Brother Fan since they were little.] She gazed at her street stall sandals on her feet and thought of the various beautiful dresses Xia Xiaoxiao wore each day, which made her head hang even lower.
Several times when Xu Qingfan invited her to play at Lin Wanning’s house, Wu Lingyu had politely declined, using excuses like having homework to do or needing to help her mother at the shop.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go, but the glued part of her cloth shoes had come loose, and they made a squeaking sound when she walked. Wu Lingyu felt in her heart that it would be inappropriate for her worn-out shoes to appear in a house that seemed like a palace.
Of course, she envied those kids who wore shoes costing hundreds or thousands of yuan a pair and envied Xia Xiaoxiao and Lin Wanning for being able to wear different clothes every day. But she was more aware of how hard her mother worked, and aside from buying stationery and books, she never asked for anything material.
Just like this time, when her mother noticed her shoes were worn out and wanted to buy her a new pair, Wu Lingyu chose a pair of sandals that cost only seven or eight yuan and confidently justified her choice: "Sandals are comfortable in the summer!"
The little girl’s sensibility was heart-wrenching. 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘱𝘶𝘣.𝘤𝘰𝑚
```
"Brother Fan, I need to go look after the shop for Mom." When they reached the convenience store opposite, Wu Lingyu thought about going over, but Xu Qingfan was still holding her hand.
"What shop are you looking after? It won’t hurt to wait a bit. Come home with me, I have something nice to show you!" Xu Qingfan gripped her left hand even tighter.
"Okay then…" Wu Lingyu glanced back at the shop and hurried her steps to keep up with Xu Qingfan’s pace.
When the two arrived on the third floor of Lianhua Courtyard, both the Xia and Xu families’ doors were tightly locked. Pretending to be clueless, Xu Qingfan blabbered, "Who knows where Xia Xiaoxiao has run off to play again this time."
He took out his keys to open the door, "Oops, my shoelace came undone, Lingyu, can you help me with the door?" Xu Qingfan purposely spoke loudly.
Wu Lingyu didn’t doubt why he was tying his shoelaces at the doorstep and nodded as she took the keys, "Okay!"
The lock clicked open as she turned the key, and the little girl pushed the door open instinctively. The next second.
"Wow!"
"Happy Birthday!!"
The device set up above the door was activated, and colorful confetti scattered from above.
Inside, Zhang Yiyi, Lin Wanning, Xia Xiaoxiao, and Xiao Ruawen were lined up from left to right, each holding a beautifully wrapped gift box in their hands.
Wu Lingyu’s eyes reddened in an instant; she stood incredulously at the door, her little nose twitching, with emotions transitioning from confusion, surprise to joy and touch.
"Happy Birthday." Xu Qingfan stood up, took Wu Lingyu’s hand, and led her to sit down at the dining table in the living room.
"Whoo, thank you all…" Looking at the cake in front of her with seven candles inserted, Wu Lingyu could no longer control her tears and burst into crying.
"Why cry on your birthday? Forgot what I told you before? Smile for everyone!" Xu Qingfan took a tissue and wiped the tears from her face.
Wu Lingyu broke into a smile: "Hehe, thank you, everyone!"
"Quick, blow out the candles, Brother Qingfan, light the candles!" Seeing Wu Lingyu smile, Lin Wanning clapped her hands and cheered.
"Here it comes." Xu Qingfan took the lighter from the kitchen, usually used for the gas stove, and lit all seven candles.
"Happy Birthday to you~ Happy Birthday to you~" Everyone clapped their hands rhythmically as they sang the birthday song.
"Yu, close your eyes and make a wish!" Xiao Ruawen reminded her when she saw the girl just sitting there dazedly.
"Oh, okay…" Wu Lingyu, snapping back to reality, hurriedly closed her eyes and prayed.
[I hope dad gets well soon, I hope mom doesn’t have to work so hard anymore, I wish everyone can always be happy!] Accompanied by the neat birthday tune, Wu Lingyu made her first wish in life.
As the song ended, Wu Lingyu blew out the candles to everyone’s anticipation.
"Happy Birthday!!!" Everyone shouted in unison.
"Time for cake, Yu, you cut the cake!" Little Wanning, who had been eyeing it for a while, spoke up.
"Oh, okay…" The little girl, who had never eaten cake before, didn’t know how to cut it and looked completely at a loss.
Xu Qingfan picked up the plastic knife and hugged Wu Lingyu from behind, guiding her by hand to divide the cake into six parts.
Xia Xiaoxiao, watching the scene, pouted in a fit of jealousy, but said nothing.
"Thank you, everyone!" Wu Lingyu said, sniffling as she handed out the slices of cake to everyone.
"Cake time~ Brother Qingfan, open up!" Lin Wanning picked an orange from her slice of cake to feed Xu Qingfan.
"Giving me what you don’t want to eat again!" Xu Qingfan leaned in and bit into it.
"Xu Qingfan!" Xia Xiaoxiao also picked up a strawberry and offered it to him.
"Aren’t you the one who eats strawberries?" Xu Qingfan looked at her questioningly but obediently ate the strawberry anyway.
"This is the gift we’re giving you, Yu, quickly open and see!"
"Gifts, everyone!"
"The blue one’s from Ning!"
"This one is mine."
After finishing the cake, the four girls pointed at the gift boxes on the table to Wu Lingyu.
"Mhm, thank you all!" Wu Lingyu felt her eyes welling up again and opened the gift boxes in front of everyone.
She opened the first one—it was empty. Wu Lingyu blinked in confusion, then opened the second one, which was also empty.
"Hahaha~" Xiao Ruawen was the first to burst out laughing at Wu Lingyu’s bewildered expression, and soon everyone else joined in, filling the room with waves of laughter.
"This is the real gift for you, a joint gift from all of us!" Xu Qingfan laughed and pulled out a gift box that had been placed under the table beforehand.
"Ah? Okay..." Wu Lingyu took the large gift box from Xu Qingfan’s hands with a dumbfounded expression.
When she opened it, a shoe box with a familiar logo appeared before the little girl’s eyes.
As she opened the box and saw the pretty pink shoes lying quietly inside, Wu Lingyu’s eyes brimmed with tears, and a warm current seemed to flow through her tiny heart.
"Thank you all, boo hoo hoo…"
"Big crybaby, try the shoes on and see if they fit. This is a present from all of us, you can’t refuse!" Xu Qingfan squatted down, took off the girl’s sandals, slipped a plastic bag on for trying on, and helped her put on the shoes.
The little girl suddenly felt like she was Cinderella in a fairy tale, with her prince helping her put on her beautiful glass slippers...
[Too bad the prince already has his Snow White…] Wu Lingyu looked around at the girls in the room and suppressed that improbable fantasy in her heart.
