NOVPUBI may think so, but Xia Xiaoxiao still felt very uncomfortable.
As a child, she never had this feeling, but ever since she had that embarrassing dream, and after the incident where she was touched on the belly on Xu Qingfan’s bed, Xia Xiaoxiao found that every time she saw Xu Qingfan being close with other girls, she would feel very uncomfortable, very uncomfortable indeed.
Even if the person Xu Qingfan was close to was another one of the four girls in the room, Xia Xiaoxiao would still be unhappy.
But this way of interacting had always been their habit since they were young, and the girl didn’t want to be the reason a rift formed in their friendship. She could only suppress her unhappiness in her heart, constantly telling herself: It doesn’t matter, we used to be like this when we were kids, right? I couldn’t possibly be jealous of that stinking dog, absolutely not!!!
After all, Xu Qingfan wasn’t her private property, and she had no right to demand that others behave according to her wishes. Xia Xiaoxiao wasn’t a domineering person, and the other four girls’ personalities were even better – so up to this point, the six of them had never had a quarrel.
Regardless of what Xia Xiaoxiao thought, the group quickly refreshed themselves and went straight to Gualv Square for lunch.
The strong air conditioning soon dried the sweat on their bodies, and as the initiator of the performance, Xu Qingfan led the way to the food court on the fourth floor. Because there were too many people, they had to sit at two tables.
He was in charge of ordering dishes and greeting the parents of the primary school classmates throughout. His social grace beyond his age really impressed the adults present.
"This student is going to be something in the future," said a student’s parent.
"Of course, he is Brother Fan!" his fanboy replied with a proud face.
Zhang Chunxue wore a light smile. Traditional culture always talked about raising sons for one’s old age, and even though she didn’t need to worry about her own retirement, she genuinely considered Xu Qingfan her half-son. Seeing him become more and more outstanding under her nurturing filled her with a sense of achievement akin to raising a child.
"Here’s to a successful performance tonight, cheers!"
"Cheers!"
...
After lunch, Xu Aiguo and Lin Qiaoshan drove the students and parents who had come to help back home, while they returned to their house next to Licheng Middle School.
"Go to sleep quickly, tonight it’s all up to you," Wen Wanqing said with a smile after everyone came out of the bathroom refreshed.
"Okay!"
"Mum, good afternoon!"
"Good afternoon."
At three in the afternoon, the alarm rang, and Xu Qingfan was pulled out of bed by his mom. "You’re still sleeping here, Yu’er and the others have already gotten up to do their makeup!"
"I don’t need to do makeup," he muttered with his head buried in the blanket.
"Get up anyway, think if there’s anything you’ve missed," Yao Jiping said. As the performance drew closer, she also started getting nervous, though she wasn’t the one who was going to perform.
"I know, I know," Xu Qingfan yawned and got out of bed.
When he went downstairs, the living room was already full of people, with the five girls being made up by professional makeup artists in turns.
"Brother Qing Fan!"
"Tsk~ little sister, don’t move." The makeup artist ended up smudging the eyeliner because of the shout.
"I feel like they looked better before the makeup," Xu Qingfan squatted next to the makeup artist and commented.
"It’ll look good on stage, little brother, if you don’t understand, don’t speak nonsense!" the makeup artist glanced at him and said.
"Okay then." Feeling dismissed, Xu Qingfan sheepishly got up and went to the yard.
"Dad, Uncle Qiao, are you guys pooping?" Lin Qiaoshan and Xu Aiguo were squatting in a corner of the yard chatting, and Xu Qingfan suddenly remembered a certain source of all evil.
"Go away, go play!" Xu Dad flicked some cigarette ash, replying in annoyance.
Not welcome here either, and Little White had been taken back to Bijui Garden, Xu Qingfan was suddenly without any playmates.
He took out his phone, sat on the swing, and scrolled through QQ, posting the photos he took in the morning to the group.
[Tonight at eight, don’t miss out!]
After he finished saying that, countless lurkers responded in the group, and Xu Qingfan also took the opportunity to get into the group chat.
The afternoon passed quickly, and after a simple dinner to fill their stomachs, there was only one hour left until the official performance.
Seven in the evening, Gualv Square.
"When does Brother Fan start?"
"Brother Fan rocks!"
The sky had completely darkened, and nearly a hundred former students of Experimental Primary School had gathered, filling up the front row seats.
"Don’t worry, it officially starts at eight. If you’re idle, help distribute flyers, then go back to the group for a lottery draw and to send red envelopes!" Xu Qingfan came down holding a large stack of flyers that hadn’t been distributed yet and spoke through the microphone.
"Brother Fan rocks!"
He shook his head with a smile as the five girls took turns posing as NPCs and taking photos with classmates. Everyone was happily busy.
At half-past seven, staff from Licheng TV Station arrived, ready to record the performance for broadcast on television.
Xu Qingfan asked Zhang Chunxue, who was also clueless. After inquiring, they found out that the staff had seen the announcement on the internet; Xiao Ruawen had posted that they were going to perform tonight and release two new songs online.
After the cameraman and the lighting technician were in place, the performance seemed to get more formal, drawing attention from passersby who were just there to watch, as they too found seats and settled down.
Eight o’clock, everything was ready, and the performance officially began.
"Fellow alumni of Experimental Primary School, friends from Li City, good evening!"
"I believe everyone has been waiting for a while, so let’s officially start tonight with our first song, an original called Little Apple. We hope you enjoy it!"
