NOVPUBThe 5 p.m. alarm hadn’t gone off yet when Xu Qingfan felt a figure moving in front of him; he opened his eyes to check and, unsurprisingly, it was Wu Lingyu standing by the bed.
"Brother Fan, did I wake you? Sorry," Wu Lingyu said quietly, worried she had disturbed the four girls still sound asleep next door.
"It’s okay." Xu Qingfan picked up the bedside alarm clock to see, and it was still five minutes to five.
"Let’s go down and start cooking," he said as he got out of bed and slipped on his slippers and ruffled the girl’s hair.
"Yep!" Wu Lingyu had come to check if Xu Qingfan was awake so that he could go down and help prepare the New Year’s Eve dinner, and immediately nodded in agreement.
Xu Qingfan smiled, and the two headed downstairs one after the other.
The living room had transformed into something new by their early morning efforts, adorned with festive elements like Chinese knots and red lanterns. The over one meter tall peach tree was hung with pink petals; even though it was only the 27th of the month, it truly looked like they were celebrating the New Year.
He and Wu Lingyu entered the kitchen and worked together seamlessly; before long, the aroma of the food wafted upstairs.
The four girls smelled it and soon all appeared at the kitchen doorway, peeking in to check on their busyness.
"Brother Fan, do you need help with anything?"
"Wow~"
Xu Qingfan was stir-frying choi sum on high heat when he tossed the wok, creating a flame wave over thirty centimeters high, which made the onlookers scream in amazement.
"Wash your hands and get ready to eat; I don’t need your help; I have Yu with me," he said, turning to address the four.
"Hmph~" Lin Wanning pouted but still ran into the kitchen to wait.
[It’s not enough to just have Yu; you need me too!]
The kitchen was over ten square meters, so adding Lin Wanning didn’t make it feel crowded. Seeing the girl standing to his left, Xu Qingfan scooped up a stem with his spatula for her to taste: "Help me taste this, see if it’s soft enough."
"Hoo hoo hoo~" Lin Wanning clamped the stem between her teeth, blowing on it before eating, "Delicious, Brother Qingfan, it’s soft enough!"
"It’s the greens that are soft enough, not me," he said with a forehead going dark as he lightly bumped his head against hers.
"Huh?" Clearly not the bus to elementary school, Lin Wanning wore a confused expression.
Xu Qingfan didn’t explain; after he had plated the last choi sum, he followed Lin Wanning out of the kitchen.
"Time to eat~" Having brought the last dish to the table, their eight dish, one soup New Year’s Eve dinner was officially complete.
"Let’s have a drink before we eat!" Xiao Ruawen raised her glass, filled with vibrant grape juice.
Everyone stood up in response, and the crisp sound of glass clinking filled the room.
"Cheers!!!"
"Thanks to Brother Fan for looking after us all this year. Now, please let the best, best, best Brother Fan in the whole world give a speech!" Xiao Ruawen said with a giggly smile as she sat down.
All four girls stopped reaching for their chopsticks and focused their attention on him.
Xu Qingfan blinked his eyes and stood up after thinking for a moment, "Ahem~ then let me just say a few words."
"Alright~"
"Go on, Brother Qingfan!" The room immediately filled with enthusiastic applause.
He glanced at Xia Xiaoxiao before starting: "Our friendships have walked with us since the first grade of elementary school..."
"Brother Qingfan, I—we knew each other since kindergarten!" Lin Wanning interrupted.
Xu Qingfan gave her a fierce glare, and the girl immediately covered her mouth with her hands in a gesture of injury.
Xia Xiaoxiao thought: I’ve known this stinky dog since I was born!
"I’m really grateful to have had everyone’s company during the childhood of this life. We’ve done many crazy things together on the road to growth… though it seems like most of the time it was me taking care of you guys, handling one mess after another."
Xu Qingfan’s nostalgic reflection initially moved all five girls to the brink of tears, but his sudden shift had everyone burst out laughing.
"Pfft, Brother Fan, who behaves like that!"
"It was definitely me who took care of you!"
"Brother Qing Fan is the best!"
"Brother, the best in the world!"
Wu Lingyu didn’t speak but kept her gratitude to herself: [Thank you, Brother Fan.]
"Alright, alright, I haven’t finished yet, everyone stop!"
The room quickly quieted down again, and Xu Qingfan continued, "But we’ve all grown up now. The textbooks say that the Tot’s Feast is for ages eight to twelve, and we’re all thirteen already.
I know that with puberty, everyone starts to experience all sorts of troubles, perhaps physical development, or maybe something else..."
Even the usually carefree Lin Wanning fell into deep thought after hearing what he said, clearly, everyone had their own little secrets.
"But I still hope the six of us can always be like when we were kids, that our friendship can continue forever, and we don’t drift apart because of some conflict or friction. We should meet every year like today, with not a single one missing!"
"Yes!" After Xu Qingfan finished speaking, the five girls clapped again until their palms were red before stopping.
"Not even one less!" Lin Wanning stretched out her right hand and declared.
"Not one, less." Zhang Yiyi also stacked her palms on top.
"Not even one less!" The group exchanged smiles and gradually put their hands together.
"Not even one less!" The six finally pressed down together, shouting in unison.
"Hey, hey~ Wanning, don’t knock over the food!"
"Hahaha..."
Following Xu Qingfan’s pre-dinner speech, the New Year’s dinner atmosphere reached its peak, with the projector playing Infernal Affairs 3, starring Liang Chaowei and Liu Dehua. The five girls shamelessly grabbed chicken legs and large shrimp to gnaw on, their faces smeared with grease, but this way of eating was the most enjoyable.
The movie on the projector was just for atmosphere, as everyone was more into chatting together.
"Gosh~ whoever marries Brother Fan really hits the jackpot!" Xiao Ruawen drained her soda, belched, and then spoke.
At this comment, the others quickly turned their gazes her way.
"Eh~ that’s not possible, Brother Qing Fan can’t get married; Brother Qing Fan is supposed to cook for us his entire life!" Lin Wanning, still holding the leftover shrimp heads in one hand and a half-eaten chicken leg in the other, argued.
"Brother Fan is a boy; he only marries a wife, he doesn’t get married," Wu Lingyu corrected.
"I know, duh, the newspapers say you have to give a dowry when you marry a wife!" She exchanged a glance with Zhang Yiyi after she finished speaking.
Xia Xiaoxiao didn’t retort or belittle Xu Qingfan as usual because marrying him seemed, actually, quite nice...
"That’s easy, I’ll take the hit, let you five marry me!" Xu Qingfan, also high from drinking pineapple beer, blurted out.
"Geez, that’s totally unnecessary!"
"No worries, my mom says that taking a loss is a blessing, and if none of you object, I’ll take it as your consent!"
"Sure, sure, Yiyi and I will marry Brother Qing Fan together!" Lin Wanning was the first to drag her best friend into her spontaneous declaration.
Wu Lingyu was about to speak, but Xiao Ruawen beat her to it: "Wanning, are you crazy, a husband can only have one wife—"
Xia Xiaoxiao, with a skeptical look, glanced at Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi and countered, "Stop daydreaming, Little White is a female dog, you should marry Little White instead!"
"That’s not possible, Little White has been neutered!" Lin Wanning said earnestly, she wanted to argue how Brother Qing Fan could marry Little White instead of herself, but Xiao Ruawen’s interruption quickly dissipated her brief bout of courage.
"What’s with you, thinking on my behalf now?" Xu Qingfan grabbed her by her hair.
"Ahahaha..."
