NOVPUB"Heehee~"
After saying goodbye to Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi, the four of them walked shoulder to shoulder on the way home, arms linked.
"Brother Fan, goodbye, Xiao Xiao, goodbye, Yu, goodbye!" At the crossroads, Xiao Ruawen waved and bid them farewell.
"See you tomorrow!"
"Goodbye, Ruan Wen!"
After Lin Wanning left the group, the team of four became three.
Wu Lingyu had also started to grow taller recently, shooting up from one hundred fifty-one centimeters to nearly one hundred sixty centimeters in six months. Walking between the other two, Xu Qingfan’s position changed from the convex shape they once had in the first grade to the concave shape they had now.
The three of them returned to Lianhua Courtyard in less than ten minutes. The dogs downstairs, not having seen them for a week, excitedly stretched their necks, but the length of their leashes fell short. Ever since the urban dog ownership policy came into effect, the dogs could no longer roam freely.
"Are you on vacation?"
"Mhm."
They exchanged greetings with neighbors and reached the third floor where Xiao Xiaoxiao’s living room light was on but the iron gate at the entrance was locked. Without asking, it was obvious that Aunt Lin Jing had gone to their home.
"Mom!" Xu Qingfan hadn’t even entered the house when he shouted at the door.
"Help me bring that thing from the living room in!" Yao Jiping’s voice came from the kitchen.
"What thing?" Right after Xu Qingfan asked, Wu Lingyu, who had already changed her shoes, took the peeler from the coffee table and went into the kitchen.
"How did Yu’er know what to take, even more than her own child!"
Xu Qingfan: ...
He and Xiao Xiaoxiao changed their shoes as well and came to the kitchen door where Lin Jing and Yao Jiping were cooking, and Wu Lingyu, who had just arrived not long before, had already rolled up her sleeves to help wash vegetables.
"Mom, Auntie!"
"Do you need help?"
"Don’t come in and get in the way. Call your dad and tell him to come back for dinner. Xiao Xiao, come taste this piece!" Yao Jiping stir-fried the pickled cabbage and pork intestines on high heat and spoke without turning her head.
"Alright." He nodded obediently.
Since Wu Lingyu and Xiao Xiaoxiao had joined the family, Xu Qingfan was long used to being the extra that came with the phone credit recharge.
He returned to his bedroom, flopping comfortably onto the bed after being away for a week, and pulled out his phone from his pocket to call his dad.
"Dad, come back for dinner, before five thirty," he said into the phone after the call connected.
"Got it," Xu Aiguo responded succinctly, then hung up the next second.
"Eh~" He tossed his phone on the bed, sighed deeply, and muttered, "Without me, this family would fall apart sooner or later."
In late October, after revealing to Lin Wanning’s parents that they made over twenty million from drawing comics and trading stocks, Xu Qingfan also disclosed some of this to Yao Jiping and Xu Aiguo.
He didn’t dare to reveal too much, since his parents were simple folks; he merely mentioned a figure of three million, with an annual royalty income not less than five hundred thousand. In reality, that three million was the total royalty income for the entire year of 2007.
Once Yao Jiping and Xu Aiguo confirmed the truth with Zhang Chunxue, the elders lived comfortably and without guilt off their children.
"Someone’s muttering to themselves in the room again!" Xiao Xiaoxiao suddenly pushed the door open and walked in.
"I was saying how suddenly there’s a beauty standing at the door," Xu Qingfan turned around and said out of the blue.
The young girl felt secretly pleased inside and was about to retort with feigned arrogance when she heard Wu Lingyu’s voice from behind, "Brother Fan, the food is ready!"
Xiao Xiaoxiao, startled by the interruption, looked back to see Wu Lingyu already standing at the door. She turned around, gave Xu Qingfan an angry glare, and sat straight down at the dining table.
"Coming!" Xu Qingfan said, getting up with a victorious expression on his face.
White radish and lamb soup was already served in the bowls. He sat down and slurped a mouthful while it was hot, instantly feeling warm all over.
"Ah~"
"Auntie, Xu Qingfan made a noise while drinking the soup!" Xiao Xiaoxiao immediately tattled to Yao Jiping who was still in the kitchen after hearing his odd cry, then gave Xu Qingfan a triumphant and mocking look with her hands on her hips.
"Xiao Xiao, hit him for Auntie!"
As Xiao Xiaoxiao raised her hand to strike, Xu Qingfan’s expression went from astonishment to anger.
The young girl opened her mouth to tattle again, but Xu Qingfan had to surrender, shrinking back with his neck and pleading, "Go easy."
Unexpectedly, the hand Xiao Xiaoxiao had raised didn’t come down. Instead, it slipped under his shirt and viciously pinched the flesh around his waist.
"Hiss—" Xu Qingfan inhaled sharply from the pain. He covered the spot where he was pinched and extended his index finger, giving a "you just wait" gesture.
Xiao Xiaoxiao stuck out her tongue at him victoriously, while Wu Lingyu enviously held her bowl of soup, watching from the side.
She just couldn’t naturally act like Xia Xiao Xiao, teasing and playing with Xu Qingfan, or intimately hook her arm around Brother Fan’s, leaning against him as Lin Wanning did.
It wasn’t long before Xu Aiguo also returned home, and the six of them sat down for a warm dinner at the table.
"Scolding your mother for stealing, don’t run away!"
"Old Xu, help me catch him!"
"Catch the thief!"
"Woof woof woof!"
The sound insulation in the old-style neighborhood buildings was not very good; as they were eating, suddenly a cacophony of shouting came from outside.
"I’ll go have a look," Xu Aiguo said, putting down his chopsticks and heading out.
The noise moved farther and farther away before long, and they all lost their appetites, curious, they walked outside to watch the commotion unfolding below from the corridor.
"Damn thief, stealing things!"
"Call the cops on this blind thief!"
"Damn right, caught stealing, wow!"
"..."
The neighbors vividly expressed their feelings with the charm of Cantonese.
Before long, two subdued thieves were escorted by the neighbors to the nearby police station, and Xu Aiguo returned upstairs.
"So many of us have had things stolen this month!" Lin Jing said, shaking her head as she sat back at the dinner table.
"What safety can there be when you let those crooks rent a place here!"
"Why don’t we move too? The Donghui City next to Licheng Square has started presales, right? We could go check out the houses and shops ahead of time," Yao Jiping suggested with increasing confidence after having raided her son’s profits.
"That’s an idea, I’ve never used my housing provident fund, we could go take a look together tomorrow."
"No worries, if money’s tight I’ll cover it for now, consider it a dowry for Xia Xiao Xiao," Yao Jiping laughed heartily.
"Haha, sure, I can’t wait for such a good thing!" Lin Jing also laughed heartily.
Xia Xiao Xiao blushed, her gaze involuntarily drifted towards Xu Qingfan, but seeing that he was only focused on eating, the girl angrily stepped on his foot under the table.
"Tsk, why are you stepping on me!"
"It was an accident!"
Xu Qingfan wasn’t about to indulge her, he raised his hand and knocked on the girl’s head.
"Why did you hit me!" Xia Xiao Xiao said, touching the spot where she had just been hit, looking aggrieved.
"It was an accident!"
"Hahaha...."
All the adults were laughing, and even Wu Lingyu joined in, with her eyes forming crescent moons, though her heart inexplicably felt sour.
She felt like a freshwater fish that had strayed into the ocean, her smile growing wider, but her heart ached all the more.
"Eat up!" Seeing Wu Lingyu just staring at her food, Xu Qingfan picked up some spicy stir-fried beef with his chopsticks—the girl’s favorite—and put it into her bowl.
"Ah...." Wu Lingyu snapped back to reality, and seeing her favorite beef in the bowl, her emotions rode a rollercoaster from the valley to the peaks.
"Hmm!" She smiled sweetly at Xu Qingfan and took a bite of the beef.
"Spicy enough?" Yao Jiping also asked with a smile.
To cater to Wu Lingyu’s taste, Yao Jiping had deliberately added a lot of chili peppers when cooking.
"It’s delicious, Auntie!"
"If it’s delicious, eat more."
"Hmm!" Wu Lingyu felt warm inside.
Having grown up, she of course understood that repaying Xu Qingfan with her body was impossible, because after all, repaying with one’s body implied becoming Brother Fan’s wife, which was not a repayment but a reward!
[Xia Xiao Xiao, Lin Wanning, Zhang Yiyi, Xiao Ruawen, they are all very excellent, much more eligible to be Brother Fan’s wife than I am,] Wu Lingyu thought to herself.
But so what? As long as she constantly did good for Brother Fan, and for Brother Fan’s father and mother, she would likewise be able to repay Brother Fan!
At the same time, Wu Lingyu also harbored a secret wish in her heart that she couldn’t share with anyone.
