NOVPUBCompared to first grade, the curriculum in second grade hadn’t changed much.
The multiplication table that was supposed to be learned this semester had already been memorized by a few of them back in first grade to deal with the bonus questions during mid-term and final exams.
"Having two consecutive Chinese language classes is so annoying!" As soon as the Chinese language class ended, Lin Wanning slumped over her desk, complaining listlessly.
"You just played too wild during the summer break, and you’re not used to the school routine yet," Xu Qingfan said languidly as he drooped over his desk, looking at Lin Wanning.
"Brother Qingfan, you’re the same way!" The little girl showed a weary smile on her face.
"Ugh~ Early classes are so annoying!" Xu Qingfan yawned and complained.
"Physical education class, let’s go!" Zhang Yiyi pointed at the schedule on the blackboard, reminding the two not to be late.
"Let’s go~ Time to play badminton!" Lin Wanning sprang to her feet as if revived, and, side by side with Zhang Yiyi, they pulled Xu Qingfan up.
Since they had already finished learning the broadcast exercises last semester, physical education classes generally consisted of free activities. Xu Qingfan looked back and saw that most of the classmates had already left, and Xia Xiaoxiao had also left with Xiao Ruawen at some point.
"Let’s go!" He grabbed his water bottle for a swig and then hurried out of the classroom with the others.
The three of them arrived at the sports field just before the bell rang. After the roll call, the PE teacher announced, "No leaving the sports field before class ends, report to me if you need to, dismissed!"
"Yay!!"
"Is anyone playing soccer?"
"Who’s going to play basketball with me?"
After the dismissal, the classmates immediately began to form teams and look for partners.
"Brother Qingfan, want to play badminton?" Lin Wanning picked up a set of badminton rackets previously placed on the sports field and asked.
"Brother Fan, we’re going to play ping pong, you coming?" Xiao Ruawen also ran over to ask.
Both sides were eagerly looking at him, leaving Xu Qingfan overwhelmed: "What’s so fun about ball games? Let’s play tag instead!"
"I’m in, Brother Fan!"
"I want to play tag too!!"
With Xu Qingfan leading the call to action, more than a dozen classmates promptly responded.
"Then Ningning and Yiyi will play tag too!" Lin Wanning tilted her head to think, then decisively abandoned her badminton racket.
"Then we’ll join too!" Xiao Ruawen consulted with her three roommates for a moment before they also agreed.
"Alright, we’ll split into two groups and play Rock–Paper–Scissors. There are a bit too many of us, so we’ll need two seekers," Xu Qingfan suggested.
"Come on, come on!"
"Rock, paper, scissors!"
"Haha~ Brother Qingfan, you lost!" In the first round of Rock–Paper–Scissors, only Xu Qingfan had scissors while it seemed as if everyone else had conspired to pick rock together.
"I’ll seek, I’ll seek. Wait until I specifically catch you, shorty!" Xu Qingfan laughed and playfully patted Lin Wanning’s head.
On the other side, the winner was quickly decided—an unlucky Xia Xiaoxiao was chosen to be the seeker.
"Xia Da is the seeker, let’s run for it!"
"Run quickly!"
After deciding the winners, the two looked at each other and smiled slightly: "Do we seek together or separately?" Xu Qingfan asked.
"You chase the boys, I’ll chase the girls!" Xia Xiaoxiao replied.
"Okay."
"Twenty-nine, twenty-eight... three, two, one!" After counting down thirty seconds, Xu Qingfan patted Xia Xiaoxiao’s head and then ran toward the closest boy.
The rules of the "Tag" game they played were: the person who lost at Rock–Paper–Scissors had to be ’it’, the seeker stayed in place for thirty seconds before starting to chase, and touching someone with your hand was considered a successful capture. The game continued until all players were caught, after which captured players played Rock–Paper–Scissors to choose a new seeker.
Of course, if there was someone the seeker couldn’t catch, they could declare defeat, and those not caught didn’t have to play Rock–Paper–Scissors the next round.
Because he had always insisted on exercising, Xu Qingfan was half a head taller than his peers and was already over one meter three even though he was just in second grade.
"Got one!" He easily caught up with a boy from his class and patted his shoulder to signify that there was no need to run anymore.
"Haha~ Zhao Hao, you loser!" Seeing someone eliminated so quickly, the boys in the class ridiculed without restraint.
"Just wait, it’ll be your turn soon. Brother Fan, go catch them!" Zhao Hao retorted loudly, not willing to be outdone.
Because there was no limit to the activity area, running around the entire playground was still exhausting, but luckily, children of this age all liked to stick together. If everyone had run to the farthest four corners of the playground, catching them all would have left Xu Qingfan worn out.
"Two!" After catching another boy, Xu Qingfan turned to check on Xia Xiaoxiao’s situation.
"Ao ao ao~ Miss Xiaoxiao, don’t catch Ningning ya!" Lin Wanning was hiding under a huge banyan tree, playing tag around the trunk with Xia Xiaoxiao.
Xu Qingfan burst into laughter like a pig and ignored them, proceeding to catch the third boy.
After seven or eight minutes, all eight boys in the class had been caught by him, while Xia Xiaoxiao still had one girl, Xiao Ruawen, left to catch. Xu Qingfan decisively ran over to help.
"Can’t catch me, can’t catch me, Xiao Xiao, you can’t catch me!" Xiao Ruawen and Xia Xiaoxiao ran circles around the soccer goalposts, with the little girl proudly boasting.
Xu Qingfan sneaked up behind Xiao Ruawen and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Brother Fan, why are you hitting me, don’t get in the way!" Xiao Ruawen hadn’t realized Xu Qingfan was there to catch her and was preoccupied arguing with Xia Xiaoxiao.
Seeing Xia Xiaoxiao standing in place, laughing, Xiao Ruawen suddenly realized: "Ah!!!"
"Brother Fan, you’re cheating! I was having a showdown with Xiao Xiao, why are you butting in!"
Xiao Ruawen reluctantly ran into the crowd to join the rock-paper-scissors game.
The chaser this round was still one boy and one girl. The boy probably knew his odds and gave up on Xu Qingfan straight away, charging towards Zhao Hao, who was the easiest to catch.
"Brother Qing Fan, let’s hide under that banyan tree; there are so many pretty grasses there," Lin Wanning said, holding Zhang Yiyi’s right hand and grabbing Xu Qingfan’s wrist with her free hand to run.
Without students stepping on them for over two months, many originally bare patches of ground in the schoolyard were now covered with lush grass.
"Look how nice it is, Ningning didn’t lie to you!" After running to the base of the banyan tree, she pointed at a large patch of vibrant green grass beneath it and said.
"This is clover!" Xu Qingfan said with a smile.
"One, two, three, oh~ it’s true, it really does have only three leaves!" Lin Wanning crouched down, counting the leaves on one of the clover plants, finger by finger.
"Clover is also called lucky grass; it’s said that only very lucky people can find a four-leaf clover among them," Xu Qingfan patiently explained.
"Yiyi, let’s look for it quickly!"
"Luck!"
The two little girls, their eyes lighting up upon hearing this, squatted down and began to search patiently.
"One... two... three, this one has three leaves too."
"Still three leaves!" 𝘯𝑜𝑣𝑝𝑢𝘣.𝑐𝑜𝑚
"It’s said that among every eight thousand clovers, there is only one four-leaf clover, so it’s quite normal not to find one," Xu Qingfan said to cheer them up as they seemed a bit disheartened.
"Ningning will definitely find one!"
"Will find, definitely!"
Xu Qingfan, inspired by their stubborn spirits, also squatted down to search.
Perhaps luck was really on their side; the moment he squatted down, he found a clover that seemed to have four leaves. He separated the plants that were close together and found it was indeed a four-leaf clover.
"Come and look, I found it, a conjoined four-leaf clover!" Xu Qingfan exclaimed excitedly.
"Really?"
"Wow!!!" When they saw the plant Xu Qingfan was pointing at, both little girls cried out in unison.
"It’s a four-leaf clover, Brother Qing Fan, it’s a four-leaf clover! And there are two!" Lin Wanning stomped her feet excitedly.
"Brother, luck!" Zhang Yiyi looked at Xu Qingfan, her eyes filled with light.
"This one is Yiyi, and this one Ningning; you lent your luck to me," Xu Qingfan said, pointing to the two four-leaf clovers for the two girls.
"And what about Brother Qing Fan?"
"Me? I’m the sun in the sky, providing you with nutrients to grow strong and healthy!"
"Brother Qing Fan is the best!"
To avoid ’Ningning’ and ’Yiyi’ getting trampled, Xu Qingfan, in the presence of the two little girls, dug up the extremely rare four-leaf clover, roots and all.
"We should plant it in Ningning’s yard and be the luckiest kid ever!" said Lin Wanning, gently poking the four-leaf clover in Xu Qingfan’s hands, beaming with excitement.
Zhang Yiyi looked at the two, smiles of happiness on their faces, thinking, [Being together with everyone is the luckiest thing!]
