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The Spring Festival Gala of 2010 should be considered the last afterglow of this national-level program.
It was also from this year that the Spring Festival Gala officially transitioned from creating the year’s popular memes to summarizing the year’s popular memes, with countless unwholesome Internet buzzwords like "lethal, you’re OUT, sneaking home to steal crops" being brought to the screen, and the aggressively implanted advertisements seemed determined to fill every possible space.
Despite this, that year’s Gala still offered many splendid performances, such as the comedic dialogue "Can’t Let Him Go", the sketch "Just a Word Away", and the song "Legend" brought by Queen Wang Fei.
However, none of these mattered to Xu Qingfan, as he locked himself in his room after the New Year’s Eve dinner.
With five girls, assuming he made a twenty-minute phone call to each, it would take a hundred minutes, so how to finish all the calls before ten o’clock?
Luckily, he had prior experience handling this and knew who to call first to maximize efficiency.
First and foremost was Wu Lingyu because she was the easiest to talk to; usually, after he said he had to hang up, she would regretfully say "bye".
"Have you eaten yet?"
"Brother Fan, happy New Year, just finished the New Year’s Eve dinner!"
"Me too, Yu, happy New Year to you too, any plans for tonight?" Xu Qingfan replied to Wu Lingyu while chatting with Lin Wanning on QQ.
"Watching the Spring Festival Gala with grandpa, dad, and mom, aren’t you watching the Gala, Brother Fan?" Wu Lingyu walked back to her room, closed the door, and said.
"I might play games later, at my grandfather’s home, not really into watching the Gala, so is there anything you want to tell me?" He continued to multitask, unable to think of any good topics, simply tossing the ball back to the girl.
"Ah~ what I want to tell Brother Fan... just to wish Brother Fan a happy New Year, and that everyone is doing well," said Wu Lingyu, tilting her head and thinking for a moment.
"And you?"
"Me? I’m doing well too!"
"Cough cough~ Right, Yu should also stay well, then continue watching the show, we’ll chat on QQ." It turns out that Xu Qingfan inadvertently spoke the ’And you?’ meant for Lin Wanning, but thankfully the conversation flowed on.
"Okay, then bye Brother Fan, see you after the New Year!"
"Yeah, bye Yu, say hi to your uncle, auntie, and grandpa for me."
"Got it!"
As Wu Lingyu’s voice faded, the call was already hung up, and upon hearing the ’beep beep beep’, she held her phone in front of her eyes, where Xu Qingfan’s phone number was silently displayed on the contact list.
She felt a bit sulky and pursed her lips, then brought her nose to the screen and rubbed it as if in this way she could feel the boy’s touch, laughed, and then slipped the mobile back into her pocket.
"Mom, that was Brother Fan’s call, he asked me to send his regards to grandpa, mom, and dad!"
"Xiao Fan, eh, what a good kid..."
"Yeah!"
The next call was naturally to Xiao Ruawen.
"Ruan Wen, happy New Year."
"Hehe~ Brother Fan, happy New Year, don’t forget to visit my home on the fifth day of the New Year!"
"Remembered, remembered, what are you doing at home?"
"Just performing for them... Brother Fan, wait, my dad is calling me." Suddenly a strange man’s voice calling for ’Second Daughter’ came from the receiver, and Xiao Ruawen then said.
"Let’s chat on Q then, and send my regards to your family!" Xu Qingfan somewhat guiltily said.
"That’s fine, remember to write me a new song, bye ha!"
Xu Qingfan wanted to say more, but in the next second, this ’tigress’ had already hung up the phone.
"Was that boy calling you, let your dad say a few words to him."
"Oh Dad, why didn’t you say so earlier, Brother Fan thought I was busy and hung up."
"Never mind then, my girl, are you saying this youngster can write songs?"
"Yeah, Brother Fan is so cool..."
If Xu Qingfan knew he had just narrowly escaped trouble, he’d surely be thrilled.
He shook his head and proceeded to call Zhang Yiyi.
"Yiyi, happy New Year, what’s mom doing?"
"Brother, happy New Year!"
```
"Xiao Fan, are you looking for Aunt Zhang?" The phone was on speaker, and Zhang Chunxue happened to be right there, so she asked.
"Auntie is there too, huh? Nothing much, just that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and I thought of sending you flowers." Since Lin Jing had received some, it only made sense to send some to Aunt Zhang, who also treated him like a son, Xu Qingfan said.
"Sending flowers to Auntie on Valentine’s Day, what’s that about? Mother’s Day would make more sense!" Zhang Chunxue teased, laughing merrily.
"That works for me; if you like it, Auntie, I’ll send you flowers every single day of the 365 days a year," Xu Qingfan said, going with the flow.
"Hehehe~ Alright then, I’ll wait for you to send me flowers every day to see if you can really do what you say."
Zhang Yiyi scratched her head, confused. Why was Brother Qingfan talking to her mom instead of looking for her?
After chatting a bit more with Zhang Chunxue, the phone was handed back to Zhang Yiyi.
"You can start drawing the comic now; I’ve already written about ten thousand words," Xu Qingfan said.
"Okay!"
"I’ll come to see you and Wanning the day after tomorrow. How about we all go to the park and take pictures?"
"Sure!" the girl said, her eyes sparkling.
"Right, and if those two siblings come up to you again with their odd talk, let’s not pay them any mind. Yiyi has her mom, and you have me too."
"And Wanning, and everyone else!" Zhang Yiyi added.
"Haha, yes, and Wanning and everyone else. So, Yiyi, you must never feel down, okay? We all are your best friends!"
"Okay!"
"Well, I’m going to hang up now. I haven’t called Wanning yet. We’ll chat on QQ."
When she heard he was going to call Lin Wanning next, Zhang Yiyi immediately nodded and said, "Okay~ Brother, goodbye."
"Yiyi, goodbye."
After ending the third call, only a little over fifty minutes had passed. Clearly, it was entirely possible to finish five calls before ten o’clock.
Since calling Lin Wanning would likely take a long time, Xu Qingfan, after some thought, decided to call Xia Xiaoxiao first. As for managing time, he was on point.
"Happy New Year, Xiao Xiao Xia."
"What do you want?" Xia Xiaoxiao asked with impatience in her voice.
"What do you want?"
"Get lost, I’m not playing your shell game. Just spit it out if you’ve got something to say!"
[Next stop, Jigong Ridge!]
"Aren’t you spending the New Year in the countryside? How come I hear the sound of a bus?"
"I went back, they wouldn’t believe that my mom’s flowers were from you. They kept asking questions, more annoying than you!"
"Xiao Xiao, watch how you speak!" Lin Jing scolded from the side with a tap.
"Uh... then apologize to Auntie for me, and give me a call when you get home to let me know you’re safe," Xu Qingfan said, a bit tongue-tied, not having expected this situation over the New Year’s.
"Yeah, got it." Hearing his words of concern, even Xia Xiaoxiao’s tone softened.
"Alright then, I’ll make my rounds tomorrow for red packets and won’t stay overnight in the village. I’ll come back and hang out with you." It was kind of boring staying alone in Chuxi Village without his parents around, so Xu Qingfan simply decided.
"For real?" the girl asked, surprised.
"Yes, for real. That’s it for now, I’ll see you tomorrow, and remember to let me know when you get home," Xu Qingfan said, as Lin Wanning was already asking on QQ when he would call her.
"Hmph~ See you tomorrow!" Not waiting for Xu Qingfan to hang up, she cut the call herself first.
Looking at the screen with the number of the stinky dog and holding the two roses in her hand, the girl felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
It was twenty minutes past nine in the evening, and Xu Qingfan made his last call to Lin Wanning.
"Brother Qing Fan, Happy New Year!"
"..."
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