NOVPUBIn such an environment, studying also became a joyful experience.
Perhaps, more than ten years later, the girl had grown into a woman and would reminisce about her youthful days with a sigh, "Back then, I thought it was all so ordinary."
"Brother Qing Fan, is there a mistake in this question?" Lin Wanning circled something on the test paper and pushed it towards Xu Qingfan.
"Biting your pen again!" He moved the test paper in front of him and tapped the girl’s head lightly with his hand.
Lin Wanning had a habit of biting her pen when thinking, which Xu Qingfan had mentioned many times but she couldn’t change it. "Wuu~"
He ignored the girl’s sullen and cutesy act, looked down at the circled spot, and asked, "Is there a problem with this question? Her dream is to be a nurse."
The question Lin Wanning had circled was an English fill-in-the-blank question that provided the words ’nurse’ and ’doctor’ for her to choose from.
"Why can’t it be a doctor?" Lin Wanning countered.
"Uh....." Xu Qingfan was stunned by the question, realizing he had never really thought about it. "Because ’nurse’ is generally female, right? The prompt uses ’she’, that’s the focus of the question."
"But there are many female doctors too, like Grandma Tu Youyou, Auntie Li Lanjuan," Lin Wanning counted off on her fingers.
"Exactly, I think so too, and I think being a nurse can only be considered an ambition, not too difficult. One can become one after graduating from a vocational health school. The question uses ’dream’; I think ’doctor’ should be the right choice!" Xiao Ruawen chimed in to support.
"You’re absolutely right, the teacher who made this question is an idiot; they won’t do it like this in the middle school exams!" Xu Qingfan found his own English test paper and crossed out ’nurse’ to replace it with ’doctor’.
"Hee hee~ then I’ll also write ’doctor’!" Lin Wanning took her test paper back and filled in ’doctor.’
"Hee hee, I’m with you guys." Although Xiao Ruawen had argued convincingly, she actually understood all the points; sure enough, when she found her test paper, she had filled in ’nurse.’
As a show of solidarity, she also dug out Xia Xiaoxiao’s English test paper, only to find neither ’nurse’ nor ’doctor’ written on it, just three big question marks.
Xia Xiaoxiao gave her a smug eyebrow raise.
"Geese geese geese... Just like Xiaoxiao!" Seeing such spirited ’???’, Xiao Ruawen couldn’t help but let out a goose honk.
"Focus, Yu is arriving soon, if you can’t finish your homework, you’ll be left home alone!" Seeing Xiao Ruawen veering off topic again, Xu Qingfan slapped her on the head in reprimand.
"Geese... geese... I’ll write now... geese..." The girl covered her mouth with both hands, struggling to hold back her laughter.
"Hahaha..." Watching her struggle to contain her laughter, everyone finally couldn’t help but get sidetracked.
...
Luckily, their efficiency in doing homework was high enough that they managed to finish all the weekend homework before five in the afternoon.
As for Wu Lingyu, she was the most self-disciplined among the six, so Xu Qingfan wasn’t worried at all.
As it neared five o’clock, Wu Lingyu entered through the door carrying big and small bags, "I’m back!"
"Yu!" The four girls, upon seeing Wu Lingyu standing at the door, jumped up excitedly and ran over.
Perhaps because Wu Lingyu always had a soft and gentle nature, she got along very well with everyone.
She was like the universal catalyst in chemistry, reacting positively with every girl in the group.
The girls helped Wu Lingyu carry the bags from her hands, surrounding her like stars around the moon as they returned to the living room.
"Brother Fan!" The girl brightened slightly upon seeing Xu Qingfan, bashfully calling out.
"What snacks did you bring this time?" Xu Qingfan nodded, stood up, and started opening the bags the girl had brought.
"Brother Fan, you’re holding beef sauce, and this is chili sauce, this one is bean paste," Wu Lingyu introduced.
Every time Wu Lingyu went home, her mom prepared a lot of homemade sauces for her to bring back, which had almost become a tradition.
"Let’s clear the table, and we’ll go buy groceries now, Yu, you help me with the remaining one." Xu Qingfan, holding two glass jars of sauce, prepared to return them to the fridge.
The chili sauce was somewhat acceptable, but like this homemade bean paste and beef sauce, because they contained no preservatives, they would spoil if left out at room temperature during summer after a day or two.
"OK!" All five girls responded in unison.
After the last piece of the puzzle had returned, they locked the door and together strolled to Fupeng Market to buy groceries.
The clouds drifted leisurely in the sky, and the pedestrians below moved just as leisurely.
Usually, if they had to go to school on Monday, the anxiety would always kick in on Sunday evening.
But quite clearly, none of the six of them felt that angst because being in school meant they could all be together, which had gradually become something they looked forward to.
By the time they got back from buying groceries, dusk had settled and the dim streetlights along the road were already lit, with annoying swarms of mosquitoes buzzing persistently underneath them.
They turned on the yard light, adding one to the many lights of the households, and sat around on stone benches, preparing the ingredients for the barbecue dinner.
[Brace girl~ such lovely beauty~ sister has such strong, beautiful legs~]
Xu Qingfan, while wearing gloves, was massaging the chicken wings when his phone in his pocket suddenly rang.
"Brother Fan, can’t you change your ringtone?" Xiao Ruawen complained in disbelief.
"What do you know." Xu Qingfan gave him a look and took off his disposable gloves to answer the call.
After seeing that it was Uncle Xiaohai on the caller ID, he turned on the speakerphone.
"Uncle Xiaohai!"
"Xiao Fan, have you eaten yet? The fraudster has been detained, but we have to wait for the court’s decision. You guys can rest easy now."
The five girls, upon hearing this, exchanged high-fives in celebration.
"Uncle, what did he do that we have to wait for the court’s decision?"
"Yes, this bastard drugged and molested several female students, even recorded videos to threaten the victims. We caught him red-handed this time." Fang Xiaohai switched from his kind tone to one of anger.
"Alright, alright, thanks, Uncle Xiaohai. Haven’t eaten yet, we’re planning a barbecue tonight, Uncle Xiaohai, do you want to join us?"
Fang Xiaohai realized that he had been a bit harsh earlier, so he softened his tone," It’s me who should be thanking you guys. I’ll skip the barbecue. This was clearly a sophisticated scam; I suspect a major case. I need to continue the interrogation tonight and once it’s over, I’ll organize a dinner at the Licheng Hotel to thank you all!"
"Sure, Uncle Xiaohai, you go on with your work, and we await your triumphant return!"
"Haha~ Alright!" Fang Xiaohai burst into laughter at Xu Qingfan’s words about his triumphant return.
After hanging up the phone, Xu Qingfan glared fiercely at Xiao Ruawen, "Did you hear that? The fraudster’s been caught; don’t be foolish enough to get conned again and end up in small videos!"
Xiao Ruawen cowered, meekly admitting her error.
"Exactly, Ruan Wen, you should watch more ’Hilarious Daily’ on fraud prevention!" Lin Wanning, seizing the opportunity to scold, also chipped in.
"And you have the nerve to talk, who wanted to chase after the bad guys this morning?" Xu Qingfan said, pulling on the girl’s tuft of hair, annoyed.
"Ooh, Brother Qingfan, I know I was wrong."
"Hahaha..."
...
Catching a big fish was something Xu Qingfan hadn’t anticipated; [it seems I really am a godsend in Uncle Xiaohai’s career,] he thought to himself.
By seven in the evening, it had become fully dark.
Underneath the dim incandescent light, the glowing charcoal added a sensuous shade of red to the night, and the dripping fat from the meat sizzled as it hit the charcoal.
After the girls had each tried grilling a round, they insisted on having everything grilled by Xu Qingfan.
The five girls surrounded the grill, watching Xu Qingfan barbecue.
"Brother Qing Fan, is it ready yet? I’m starving!"
"Brother Fan, when will the oysters be ready?"
"Xu Qingfan, can you check if this chicken wing is done?"
"Brother, open your mouth."
"Brother Fan, here’s your honey water!"
...
