NOVPUBXia Xiaoxiao pursed her lips, not impressed, "I want to play with fire!"
"Pfft~ Woman, you want to play with fire?" Xu Qingfan laughed out loud.
"What the heck, Xu Qingfan, what are you talking about?" Xia Xiaoxiao didn’t get Xu Qingfan’s lame joke and frowned at him.
[Trying to look cool again, so annoying!]
"No fire to play with, there’s a fire on the mountain, police station down the hill, let’s head home after we finish eating, call your mom and my parents, and tonight we’ll mooch off Lin Wanning’s dinner!" Xu Qingfan tapped Xia Xiaoxiao’s head and decided.
"Oh!" Xia Xiaoxiao visibly unhappy.
Last night, they were just playing Bubble Bobble, but suddenly the QQ that was left on popped up with a video call request from Lin Wanning, and Xu Qingfan clicked to answer without caring about winning or losing the game.
Xia Xiaoxiao was sulking while watching the two of them video chatting, occasionally having to sneer in response when Lin Wanning mentioned her.
Learning that both Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao’s parents were not at home, the little girl felt envious for a long time. That sense of freedom without adult supervision is what every child dreams of.
Fortunately, Lin Wanning went to bed at ten o’clock, and the video call only lasted for a little over half an hour. After arranging to meet at Lin Wanning’s house for dinner the next afternoon, the call finally ended.
What was supposed to be gaming time alone with Xu Qingfan turned out to be cut by more than half, and Xia Xiaoxiao couldn’t quite say if her late-night gaming with Xu Qingfan until 3 am had anything to do with it.
It took them more than ten minutes to devour the hamburgers, fries, and chicken wings on the table. "Wipe your mouth, we’ll leave once we’re done." Xu Qingfan pointed at the tomato sauce at the corner of Xia Xiaoxiao’s mouth.
"Hmph~"
When outdoors, Xia Xiaoxiao still listened to him. After Xu Qingfan stood up, Xia Xiaoxiao also got up, holding onto the hem of his clothes and following behind him.
After having their fill, the two soon returned to Lianhua Courtyard.
As Xu Qingfan picked up the landline phone to call Yao Jiping, he realized that his mom had already tried to call him over a dozen times, presumably because he was asleep and didn’t hear it.
He immediately called back, and the call was quickly answered.
"Hello, Mom."
"Have you eaten? Why didn’t anyone answer the phone earlier?"
"Ate a while ago. I got up with Xia Xiaoxiao really early today, and we went to the library first thing in the morning to read and do homework." Xu Qingfan lied smoothly.
Xia Xiaoxiao listened until her face turned red, [Clearly, we slept in until 3 pm, and we just had lunch. Xu Qingfan is such a liar!]
"Mom, where are you now, and when will you be back home?" Xu Qingfan continued the conversation.
"Not so soon, maybe in two or three days, we’re in Changsha. Is Xiaoxiao there? Let her speak on the phone!"
Xu Qingfan had put it on speakerphone, and he gestured for Xia Xiaoxiao to speak. 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
"Auntie, I’m here."
"That’s Xiaoxiao, huh, if Xu Qingfan does anything bad at home, remember to call and tell auntie, I’ll get your mom on the phone."
Hearing what his mom said, Xu Qingfan rolled his eyes speechlessly.
"Okay!" Xia Xiaoxiao grinned triumphantly, glancing at Xu Qingfan.
The instructions Lin Jing gave were more or less the same, mostly reminders for Xia Xiaoxiao to stay safe, lock the doors at night, and so on. She did not mention a single word about finding Xia Guofu.
After saying goodbye, Xu Qingfan helped hang up the phone, leaving Xia Xiaoxiao looking like she had many questions to ask, but it was too late.
"Don’t worry, your parents will make up for sure." Xu Qingfan pinched her cheek, and the little girl unusually didn’t resist.
They say women have a sixth sense, and Xia Xiaoxiao always felt that her mom’s trip would bring back bad news.
Similarly, Xu Qingfan himself didn’t have much confidence when saying those words, the voices he overheard in the restroom at Yanjing Mall felt like a thorn stuck in his throat.
[Could it be because I persuaded the adults to wholesale crayfish that changed the timeline?] he wondered internally.
It’s said that men turn bad once they get money, which really could be the case.
After slinging her backpack over her shoulders, Xia Xiaoxiao followed Xu Qingfan out the door, disheartened.
Feeling down, the little girl had no desire to ride bikes, sitting on the backseat of Xu Qingfan’s bicycle in a daze.
"Hey!" Xia Xiaoxiao leaned her face against his back, heaving a sigh of disappointment.
Unsure how to comfort her, Xu Qingfan rode the bicycle in silence, and soon they arrived at Bijui Garden.
As they bicycled up to Lin Wanning’s house, Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi were out front playing with the new watchdog, a little earthy dog.
"Brother Qing Fan, come quick and look!" Upon seeing Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao riding their bicycles over, the two little ones eagerly pushed them in front of the little dog.
"Little White can do math. I’ll show you, Brother Qing Fan!" Lin Wanning excitedly said, "Little White, what’s 1+1?"
"Woof Woof!" The fluffy white local mongrel barked loudly.
"Look, Brother Qing Fan, look!" Lin Wanning pointed at the little dog, proudly boasting, "What’s 4 minus 2, Little White?"
"Woof Woof!" Little White continued to bark twice in response.
"What’s 10 minus 8, Little White?"
"Woof Woof!"
"Isn’t it amazing?" Lin Wanning, after petting the dog’s head, turned back with a grin and said to the two of them.
Xu Qingfan seemed to have caught on, as long as you call its name it will "woof woof" twice, "What’s 8 divided by 4, Little White?" he mimicked and asked.
However, Little White just looked up at him and then nestled its head back into Lin Wanning’s palm.
Xu Qingfan: ...
"Hahaha~" Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi pointed at Xu Qingfan’s embarrassed face and burst into laughter, rolling back and forth, and even the usually downcast Xia Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but smile.
"What’s 8 divided by 4, Little White?" Lin Wanning repeated.
"Woof Woof!" The little dog immediately responded enthusiastically.
"Wanning, ask it what’s 1+2," Xu Qingfan said, crouching down to pet the dog and speaking to Lin Wanning.
"That won’t work, Brother Qing Fan, Little White can only count answers that are two!" Lin Wanning’s eyes sincere, she explained to him.
"It’s clearly just because it can only bark two times," Xia Xiaoxiao also crouched to pet the dog and said.
"Woof Woof Woof!" Who knew that just after she spoke, Little White, as if to prove itself, barked three times in a row.
Xia Xiaoxiao, startled, ended up sitting on the ground with a jolt.
"Little White, don’t scare people!" Lin Wanning scolded, knocking on the dog’s head, and Little White whimpered, looking up at its little master with a wronged expression.
"It’s okay, I just wasn’t careful." Xia Xiaoxiao patted the dog’s head and got back up.
After all, girls just love cute fluffy animals; if it had been a Teddy, Xia Xiaoxiao would probably have scornfully kept her distance.
"Let’s go inside and say hello to your parents," Xu Qingfan also stood up and said.
"Okay!"
The four of them entered, one after the other, and Lin Qiaoshan and Wen Wanqing came out of the kitchen to hand out red envelopes to the two of them.
"Happy New Year, you’ve grown another year older."
"It’s been such a long time since Xiaoxiao came to visit our house!"
"Uncle, may you find prosperity in the New Year. And may sister stay forever eighteen!" Xu Qingfan gleefully accepted the red envelope from Wen Wanqing’s hand, he had been looking forward to this red envelope since he was twenty-eight.
"Happy New Year, Uncle and Auntie," Xia Xiaoxiao said somewhat awkwardly.
[Having such a childhood friend is so embarrassing!]
"Hey~ play at home for a while, dinner won’t be ready for another hour." Wen Wanqing was extremely pleased with being called sister and contentedly ruffled the little heads of both of them.
"Okay!"
The four little ones sat around playing a couple of rounds of Monopoly, and soon it was time for dinner.
Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao hadn’t eaten much at McDonald’s earlier, with only a small portion of fries and splitting an Orleans grilled chicken wing each, so they weren’t too full for dinner.
"The last time we all ate together at home was when you graduated from kindergarten to elementary school. In the blink of an eye, you’re already in the second grade," Wen Wanqing noted, laughing as she watched all four children insist on sitting together in a row.
"Ningning remembers. Back then, Brother Qing Fan toasted to celebrating that we could all attend the same elementary school!" Lin Wanning swallowed the food in her mouth and raised her hand to say.
"This time, let’s toast to meeting Yiyi and many new classmates! Cheers!" Xu Qingfan lifted his own cup.
"Cheers!"
The crisp sound of glass clinking echoed in the living room, along with everyone’s laughter and joyful voices.
...
