NOVPUB"Ah?"
"It hasn’t been released yet?"
On Sunday, the six-person squad had agreed to go to Gualv Square to watch a movie, only to find out at the ticket counter that Iron Man, the movie Xiao Ruawen had been eagerly anticipating, hadn’t been released yet.
"Then how come all our classmates are saying they’ve already seen it?" Xiao Ruawen asked, still unwilling to give up hope.
The ticket clerk shook her head like a mother hen, "Iron Man isn’t coming out until May, kids. Why don’t you watch another movie? This ’Three Kingdoms: Dragon Unarmed’ starring King Liu is very popular; lots of people are watching it."
The group instinctively turned their gaze to Xu Qingfan to make the decision.
Xu Qingfan quickly shook his head. He hadn’t even heard of that ’Three Kingdoms something-dragon’ the ticket clerk mentioned, and without asking he knew it must be a terrible film.
In the end, they didn’t watch any movie and left the sixth floor with an utterly dejected Xiao Ruawen in tow.
"How come those boys in our class are saying they’ve seen it, talking like it’s true!" Xiao Ruawen complained on the escalator.
"Hahaha~ They said that just to get your attention," Xu Qingfan explained with a laugh.
He understood adolescent boys all too well. They always tried to show off in front of pretty girls, intentionally or not. This included, but was not limited to: deliberately shoving their buddies and speaking loudly when a girl they liked passed by, striking an NBA shooting pose when throwing away trash or walking, and always touching their fringes pretentiously as if they were cool...
"I can’t even, Brother Fan, you guys are so childish and so boring!" Xiao Ruawen critiqued.
"Brother Qing Fan is not childish at all, he’s nothing like those boys in our class!" Lin Wanning immediately retorted, unhappy with the comparison.
"Hear that?" Xu Qingfan stood at the back of the elevator, reaching out to knock Xiao Ruawen on the head.
"Ah~ I wasn’t talking about you, Brother Fan," the girl turned around and gave Xu Qingfan a glare.
"All you know is to scare the dogs downstairs, you’re not much better than them!" Xia Xiaoxiao said, her back facing him.
Xu Qingfan was left speechless, weakly retorting, "Tch~ I do that to keep them vigilant. Think about it; if someone’s house got burgled, the dogs would have to fend for themselves in the future. So, it looks like I’m scaring them, but actually..."
"Brother Qing Fan, you better stop talking. I’m embarrassed for you," Lin Wanning said as she got off the escalator, covering her ears.
"Hahaha~" The group pointed at Xu Qingfan and laughed.
"What are you laughing at, you heartless cold-blooded animals!"
"Ah, exactly!" The five linked arms and left, leaving Xu Qingfan behind.
After spending time with him, the slight Yin and Yang attributes of the young girls were all awakened to various degrees.
Wu Lingyu worried that Xu Qingfan hadn’t followed and looked back at him.
Xu Qingfan shook his head and caught up. The group stopped at a photo booth on the third floor of the mall.
At the entrance, a speaker with completely busted sound quality was playing Xu Song’s "Funeral of the Rose," "that day’s fireworks rain~" Xu Qingfan couldn’t help but hum along for a few lines.
"Pretty girl, want to take a picture? Choose a format here. We have eight, eighteen, thirty-eight, and eighty-eight yuan options." The owner first noticed Xia Xiaoxiao, who was wearing a white dress and had a high ponytail tied simply at the back of her head, paired with a height of 161 centimeters - easy to mistake for a high school student.
"Uh, take a picture." Xia Xiaoxiao, unfazed, took the album the owner handed over and nodded.
Xu Qingfan had little interest in taking photo stickers, sitting alone on the wooden bench at the entrance, waiting for the others to make a choice and then offer his services as the designated photographer.
"Little brother?"
A sudden shrill female voice behind him sent shivers down Xu Qingfan’s spine. He turned around to see the owner’s wife squatting behind him, appearing out of nowhere.
"What is it?" he asked, puzzled.
The five girls, who had been selecting photos, also stopped flipping through the album and shifted their attention.
"Are you out shopping with your sister, little brother? You can’t just run off, you know," the owner had mistaken Xu Qingfan for someone brought along by Xia Xiaoxiao and crouched down to warn him, fearing he might wander off.
The last time Xu Qingfan heard such a shrill voice was when he was in kindergarten, listening to Teacher Xiao Yu. With goosebumps all over and casting a helpless glance at the giggling girls behind him, Xu Qingfan said to the owner’s wife, "Understood."
Xu Qingfan, dragged back inside by the owner, sat down sullenly before asking the others, "Have you made up your minds? What kind of eyes does this owner have, calling me little brother, whipping out...," he hesitated, realizing the rest of his sentence might not be suitable for the girls and quickly censored himself.
"It’s because you’re short, Brother Fan," Xiao Ruawen said, covering her mouth to giggle.
"Brother Qing Fan, let’s take the eighty-eight yuan one, okay? We can make the photos into a puzzle like this!"
Ignoring Xiao Ruawen’s tease, Xu Qingfan followed Lin Wanning’s pointing and saw a 20 cm x 15 cm photo puzzle sample. In 2008, such a photo was still quite novel.
"Alright, let’s take that one. Eighty-eight yuan isn’t too expensive." Seemingly to regain some dignity, Xu Qingfan immediately took out his wallet, pulled out a hundred yuan bill, and told the owner, "We want the most expensive one!"
"Alright~ Little brother has so much pocket money, eh? But no refunds after we take the photos, okay? Did you get permission from your parents to spend this money?" the owner said, giving him twelve yuan in change.
