NOVPUBXu Qingfan glanced at Xia Xiaoxiao and opened one of the laser pointers, shining the beam onto the girl’s clothes while circling and saying,
"Come on, meow for grandpa~"
Xia Xiaoxiao cocked her head to look at him and lifted her right hand to her ear, just when Xu Qingfan thought she really wanted to cosplay as a cat girl.
The next second, the girl spun around, whipped her high ponytail across his face, and as she left, she didn’t forget to mock him, "You silly dog!"
Xia Xiaoxiao walked ahead with a light step, occasionally pressing the glowing button on the little dinosaur, which emitted a mechanical Japanese voice:
[Daisuki... Suki dayo!]
"Wasted forty bucks, these crappy laser pens wouldn’t even cost five in the old market."
By the time Xu Qingfan caught up with her, Xia Xiaoxiao had put the keychain back into her pocket, always wearing a slight smile on her face.
"Hmph~ here’s your forty bucks!" She pulled out a fifty from her purse and handed it to Xu Qingfan.
He snatched the purse and the money from the girl’s hand, put the fifty back inside, and slid the purse into his own pocket, saying, "Always wasting money, I’ll keep it safe!"
"Go buy me some takoyaki!" Xia Xiaoxiao pointed to a nearby long queue and said.
Since it was during the New Year period, almost all the shops had long queues, including Huang Zhenlong who sold herbal tea.
She thought: Better you keep it safe, then I don’t have to queue!
"Then you go hold our spot!" Xu Qingfan handed her an oversized Stitch plushie.
"I’ll hold it!" Xia Xiaoxiao observed for a while, and as soon as a table of guests left, she placed the Stitch on the seat, sitting across from it herself.
It didn’t take long for Xu Qingfan to come back after paying, and the snacks were served one after another.
The little shop had many student couples like them, wait, no, they were not a couple!
In this era, middle school students’ dates mostly consisted of claw machines, big-headed photos, and bubble tea shops, sitting side by side on a park bench spilling their hearts before leaving, even a simple touch or handholding would make them blush and excite for a long while.
However, with milk tea, arcade games, and snack bars, it really seemed like a date; Xu Qingfan was momentarily confused about the difference between hanging out with Xia Xiaoxiao and dating her.
"Hello handsome and beautiful, are you guys a couple? We have a promotion today, leave a photo on our message wall, and get a free tiramisu!"
The server spoke up just after delivering the last portion of fried chips.
Xia Xiaoxiao was about to speak when Xu Qingfan said, "No, I’m her brother."
The girl rolled her eyes at him and didn’t argue, instead turning her head to look at the message board on the wall, secretly hopeful.
"Ah?" The server was just a little taken aback, then continued with a smile, "Siblings can too! Just leave a photo on the message wall, and you can get a tiramisu."
Actually, it was mainly because both of their looks were top-notch; otherwise, with so many couples in the shop, why wouldn’t the server ask the others?
"Ah, well.... hehe~" Xu Qingfan was about to refuse when Xia Xiaoxiao jabbed a piece of chicken popcorn into his mouth with a bamboo stick.
"Sure, we’ll participate!" she said with a smile to the server.
"Please wait a moment; I’ll go get the camera!" This counted towards her work performance, and the server smiled in return.
"I want to eat tiramisu!" Seeing Xu Qingfan about to speak, Xia Xiaoxiao glared at him and said.
"If you want to eat, why not just buy it? Why take photos?" Xu Qingfan actually wanted to say that once Donghui City and Wanda Plaza were built, this restaurant would close down within a few years, and taking photos wouldn’t preserve it.
"All you know is how to waste money!" Xia Xiaoxiao retorted using the exact words Xu Qingfan had just lectured her with.
Xu Qingfan had nothing to say, and it wasn’t long before the waiter returned with the instant camera, enthusiastically saying, "Could the handsome guy and beautiful girl sit together please?"
Xia Xiaoxiao looked at him, and he looked back at her, and after exchanging glances for a while, it was Xu Qingfan who gave in first, getting up to sit next to the girl.
"Move a little closer, come on, aren’t siblings supposed to be close?" The waitress waved her hand, signaling Xu Qingfan to scoot closer.
Xia Xiaoxiao’s face remained calm, but inside her heart was racing, as if she had been hit by an immobilization spell, unmoving.
"Smile a little, sis. Big brother is holding your shoulder... yes, yes, yes, just like that, very good..."
Under the waiter’s direction, he and Xia Xiaoxiao posed for three photos. "Each of you can pick one, we just need to keep one in the restaurant."
"You choose." Xu Qingfan moved back to his original seat.
The girl slightly wrinkled her nose, hesitating over which one to keep. Of the three photos, one showed Xu Qingfan embracing her, another had them both giving forced smiles, and the last was them sitting upright facing the camera.
"I want these two, thank you." Xia Xiaoxiao finally kept the one with the forced smiles — it was too fake; she didn’t like it.
"Alright, you can leave a message on the back of the photo. If you come back here in ten years from today, you’ll receive a surprise from our restaurant," the waiter said as he handed them a pen.
Xu Qingfan thought, "This owner’s watched too many artsy films, thinking about ten years. Who knows if we’ll even still be here after high school."
"What are you laughing about?" Seeing him laugh for no apparent reason, Xia Xiaoxiao asked, puzzled.
"Nothing... just thought of something happy."
"Weirdo, it’s your turn to write!" The girl passed the photo and pen to him.
Xu Qingfan flipped it over and wrote in elegant script: Tell the peach blossoms they don’t need to bloom, the person I’ve been waiting for has arrived.
Upon reading it, Xu Qingfan burst into laughter, mimicking in a strange tone, "Tell~ the peach blossoms~ they don’t need to bloom, the person~ I’ve been waiting for~ has arrived haha... hey hey hey, don’t hit, don’t hit!"
Xia Xiaoxiao, embarrassed and annoyed, slapped his head while Xu Qingfan pleaded for mercy again and again.
The waiter covered her mouth and giggled, thinking, "There’s no way they’re just siblings; they seem more like a couple."
"Hmph," Xia Xiaoxiao snatched it back with a tsundere attitude, curious to see what he could possibly have written. "Study hard, make progress every day?" 𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
The girl looked incredulously surprised. For such a poetic and romantic occasion, that’s what he wrote?!
"Yeah, isn’t studying important? Junior high is a lot of pressure; you better not score so poorly again!" Xu Qingfan shrugged.
Xia Xiaoxiao took a deep breath, holding back her words.
Where was she lacking? She was clearly second in her class, just two points behind this idiot!
Without saying another word, the girl passed the photo back to the waiter, "Alright, could you please put it up?"
"No trouble at all," the waiter replied with a smile as she left. Unfortunately, the term ’straight man’ hadn’t been invented yet, leaving the young lady struggling to find an appropriate way to express her frustration.
Xia Xiaoxiao sneakily placed the photo on her thigh and began furiously punching Xu Qingfan’s face on it.
[Damn stinky dog!!!]
