NOVPUBThe anime had just started airing not long before, coinciding with the episode where the disciplinary committee member Hibari appeared. Xu Qingfan remembered that in his past life, he had also come across this anime around this same time. Unfortunately, after watching on TV for just a few minutes, he had to return to school for evening self-study.
It wasn’t until he entered high school that he was able to finish the whole series of over two hundred episodes on a pirated website.
Just like the anime’s dialogue said, "The ring bears the inscription of our time together."
They continued to eat, chat, and watch TV at the same time. After taking a bite of the crispy rice crust, Wu Lingyu asked, "Are we going back to school tomorrow?"
"I don’t know if they’ll call the roll, but I really want to sleep in until nine o’clock at home!" Xiao Ruawen looked at Xu Qingfan.
"Trust me, there won’t be a roll call. Let’s pull an all-nighter tonight and sleep till we wake up naturally tomorrow!" Xu Qingfan said, snapping his fingers.
"Yay, great! Brother Qing Fan, what are we going to do tonight?" Lin Wanning, upon hearing they could sleep until they naturally woke up, immediately asked with glowing eyes.
"We’ll stay at home, what else?," Xu Qingfan replied, patting the girl’s head. "You can continue without doing challenges, play Three Kingdoms Kill, or watch a movie, anything’s fine."
"Boring, we’ve played all of that too much!" Xia Xiaoxiao pouted and said.
Three Kingdoms Kill had just been released that year, and Xu Qingfan had bought a box right away. The six of them made a perfect group: one lord, one loyalist, two rebels, and two spies.
Playing tabletop games with a lot of people was quite fun. For instance, Wu Lingyu might have high test scores, but she seemed clueless, always getting fooled by Xu Qingfan, the spy, when she was the lord, yet she always took it in stride, unfazed.
And such as Xia Xiaoxiao, who would aim for Xu Qingfan first whenever she drew the loyalist role. After it happened a few times, everyone started to pick up on the pattern.
However, the initial characters in the game weren’t very diverse—Da Qiao, Zhen Ji, Sun Shangxiang, Zhuge Liang—it was always the same few characters. After playing several times, the five girls grew tired of it.
"Where do you want to go play then? We definitely can’t go to Gualv Square, we might bump into Ruan Wen’s mother. So that leaves us with Licheng Square, or do you also want to go to square dancing?" Xu Qingfan counted off on his fingers for them.
"Brother Qing Fan, let’s play Truth or Dare!" Lin Wanning suggested excitedly.
Truth or Dare somehow became popular among middle and high school students, spreading like a tornado.
"Yeah, that’s a great idea, let’s play Truth or Dare!" Xiao Ruawen agreed with sparkling eyes.
"I’m in."
"Let’s play!"
Xia Xiaoxiao and Zhang Yiyi also said at the same time.
Xu Qingfan had a bad feeling as he said, "How about we go to Li City Square to fish for goldfish instead?"
"No way, taking a cab there is such a hassle, and for the six of us, we need to take two cabs. Let’s just play Truth or Dare!" Xiao Ruawen said with her arms crossed.
"Exactly, Brother Qing Fan, let’s play Truth or Dare together!" Lin Wanning hugged his arm and acted coquettishly, "Don’t tell me you have secrets that Brother Qing Fan can’t share?"
"Come play with us, Brother!"
Defeated by the ’great method’ of the girls’ coquetry, Xu Qingfan flipped his chopsticks around and tapped them on their heads as he said, "We’ll talk after we eat, your bowls are still full, only Yu’s is almost finished!"
"Teehee~"
After finishing dinner, eager to start playing Truth or Dare, the five girls diligently began cleaning up the table and washing the dishes.
The leftover soup was put back in the kitchen, to be used later for a midnight noodle snack.
When Xu Qingfan returned from walking the dog and taking out the trash, the five girls were already seated in the living room waiting for him. The coffee table was filled with snacks they had bought from the supermarket that morning, along with chilled bottles of Hong Kong’s famous drink—pineapple beer.
"Brother Qing Fan, come join us!" The five girls sat around the tatami on the floor, waving for Xu Qingfan to come sit down.
After washing his hands in the bathroom, Xu Qingfan sat between Lin Wanning and Xia Xiaoxiao and asked, "How do you want to play?"
Xia Xiaoxiao pointed to the Pearl River beer bottle on the floor and said, "Whoever it lands on, takes a turn!"
The beer had been bought previously for cooking. Since none of them had ever drunk alcohol, each had only tasted a little of the remaining small bottle—it was unanimously declared disgusting!
"Does it have to be this thrilling?" Xu Qingfan chuckled and placed his hand on the bottle before giving it a spin.
The bottle spun rapidly on the tatami, gradually slowing down and pointing at each person in turn, counterclockwise.
All six held their breath, quietly waiting for the bottle to come to a stop.
"Hahaha, it’s you, Brother Qing Fan!"
"Noob!"
"Haha, Brother Fan, it landed on you!"
When it finally pointed in Xu Qingfan’s direction, the five girls laughed uproariously.
"Can this round be a trial? Let’s start the next round," Xu Qingfan said with an embarrassed smile.
"No way!"
"Truth or Dare, choose quickly!" Xia Xiaoxiao demanded with wide eyes.
"Then... Truth it is," Xu Qingfan said, wary of the possible shenanigans from the five girls.
"Me! Me! Brother Qing Fan, do you have someone you like?" Lin Wanning couldn’t wait to raise her hand and ask.
The other four remained silent, eagerly anticipating Xu Qingfan’s answer.
He smirked and said, "Of course I do!"
"Ah~ Brother Qing Fan, who is the person you like?" The girl looked at Xu Qingfan, nervous and expectant.
"That’s a second question!" Xu Qingfan raised his hand and tapped Lin Wanning’s head, "Let’s continue!"
The second person to be pointed at by the bottle was Wu Lingyu, who also chose Truth.
Xu Qingfan asked, "Who was the last person you dreamed of?"
All four girls lit up, thinking Xu Qingfan’s question was quite intriguing.
