NOVPUBAfter lunch, the little ones had no intention of resting, excitedly clinging to Xu Qingfan to take them fruit picking.
"Brother Qing Fan, hurry up and take us~"
"Pick the fruit!"
Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi each grabbed one of his arms and shook them.
"But it’s so sunny right now!" Xu Qingfan said, enjoying the pampering service while squinting his eyes.
"Hurry up, Brother Fan, us girls aren’t even talking about getting sunburnt, if you are worried we can hold an umbrella for you!"
"Humph, I don’t see you complaining about the sun during gym class!" Xia Xiaoxiao crossed her arms and gave him a stern look.
"Hehehe~ Let’s go play, we’ll only be in the sun for a bit, and once we get under the tree, it won’t be so sunny. Grandma will get you straw hats!" Lai Man Yao laughed so hard he couldn’t close his mouth, fetching five brand-new straw hats from the room and handing them to them.
Xu Qingfan felt that if he did not take action soon, the little ones would start a criticism meeting with grandma, so he reluctantly pulled away from Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi and stood up.
"Then let’s go, I’ll take you fruit picking!"
"Yay!"
"Off to pick fruit~"
"Grandma, are there any sweet potatoes left in the field?" Xu Qingfan suddenly craved roasted sweet potatoes and asked. 𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝙗.𝒄𝒐𝒎
"There should be some left, they’re planted next to the sugarcane field. If you want to eat them, remember to bring a hoe; you can’t dig them out by hand," Grandma replied after a moment of thought.
"Okay!" Xu Qingfan nodded and just as he turned around, he saw Xia Xiaoxiao, who had put on her straw hat and was standing at the door.
The little girl was wearing a pretty, goose-yellow long dress today, her long hair tied into neat twin ponytails. With the yellow straw hat on, she looked like a little elf in the fields, mesmerizing Xu Qingfan at first sight.
"Brother Qing Fan, Ningning will help you with your hat!" Lin Wanning slapped the last straw hat on Xu Qingfan’s head with a "pop," snapping him back to reality.
"A real man should only put on his own hat, you know!" Xu Qingfan turned around and tapped the little girl’s head.
"It was clearly Brother Qing Fan spacing out and ignoring people!" Lin Wanning said, covering the spot she was just hit.
"What are you muttering about, are you coming or not? We’re just waiting for you!" Xia Xiaoxiao urged from the doorway.
"Coming, coming." Xu Qingfan took Lin Wanning’s hand and walked out of the house, "Grandma~ I’ll take your tricycle!" he shouted to his grandmother, who was washing dishes in the kitchen.
"Ride carefully, don’t fall into the fishpond!"
"Got it!" Xu Qingfan put the necessary hoe and fruit picker onto the tricycle and after sitting in the driver’s seat, he turned to the kids and said, "Get on, big brother will take you for a ride!"
"Let’s go~"
The four of them joyfully climbed onto the tricycle, Lin Wanning and Xia Xiaoxiao, because of their skirts, each sat sideways on one of the armrests.
Given the outstanding looks of the four little girls, when the tricycle reached the main road, the passing villagers couldn’t help but make playful remarks.
"Tsk tsk tsk~ isn’t that Aping’s boy, really lucky, eh~ carrying four girls!"
"Going to school in the city really is different, see their shoes? I heard those hooked shoes cost several hundred!"
"Bloody hell~ shoes costing hundreds, are they made of gold or what!"
"..."
"Brother Qing Fan, ride faster!" Lin Wanning said, feeling very uncomfortable being publicly discussed.
"Okay!"
Xu Qingfan stood up to pedal, and soon they overtook the old lady who was carrying two buckets of organic fertilizer.
The kids helplessly held their noses.
Xia Xiaoxiao looked disdainfully at Xu Qingfan’s back and said, "Xu Qingfan, are you capable or not? If not, let me ride!"
"Pff! Am I incapable? Hold on tight!" Xu Qingfan exerted all his strength and finally overtook the old grandmother they had just passed.
When the tricycle reached Chuxi River, since it was nap time for the villagers, all the pedestrians suddenly disappeared, allowing the kids to finally relax and enjoy the scenery while chatting.
The countryside in summer, free from the annoying heat island effect, always maintained a pleasant temperature; the refreshing breeze created ripples as it blew over the river, crinkling the pond like spring water.
The sky was as clear as blue paper, with a few thin white clouds that seemed to be dissolved by the sunlight, drifting slowly with the wind.
Planes streaked across the sky, dragonflies circled over the lake, such a perfect summer day, it would have been even better paired with a song by Liang Jingru’s "Ningxia."
Unfortunately, this song wouldn’t be released until 2005, "Let’s sing a song together!" Xu Qingfan suggested.
"Yes, yes, which song, Brother Fan?" Xiao Ruawen, who loved singing most, was the first to raise her hand in response.
"Sing a song!"
"How about ’Sunny Day’?"
"Yes!!!"
"The little yellow flowers of the story~"
"Have been drifting since the year of my birth~"
"..."
During the duration of a song, the tricycle reached the second junction of Litchi Forest.
"Get off, we are here." Xu Qingfan parked the tricycle to the side and said to everyone.
"So this is it, it’s not that far~" Xiao Ruawen turned to look back in the direction they came from; the distant Chuxi River had shrunk to a mere dot.
"Let’s go, follow me, and be careful not to step on any snakes." Xu Qingfan picked up the fruit picker and said.
"Eh~ There are snakes here!" Xiao Ruawen glanced nervously at her feet, she was terrified of these creatures.
"Brother Qing Fan, scare the snakes away, Ningning is scared!" Upon hearing about snakes, Lin Wanning nervously clutched Xu Qingfan’s shirt.
"I just want you to be cautious. People come here often, there are rarely any snakes around, no need to worry!" Xu Qingfan chuckled and patted Lin Wanning’s head.
"It’s fine if you just tap the ground with a stick before walking, to scare the snakes off!" Xiaoxiao, the college whiz, suggested.
"Let’s go, the grass has been trampled flat here, if there were any snakes, we would see them right away. Keep up, keep up." Xu Qingfan waved his hand and led the way inside.
"One, two..... six, these trees are all ours now!" he counted along the way and upon reaching the destination, he told the kids.
"This is a yellow-skinned fruit!" Ruan Wen exclaimed with excitement, pointing to an over two-meter tall yellow-skinned fruit tree, having thrown her fear of snakes aside upon seeing the fruit-laden trees.
"You guys use the fruit picker; I’ll climb the tree!" Seeing the crooked tree, only seen during his childhood, Xu Qingfan was overwhelmed with enthusiasm and handed the fruit picker over to Xia Xiaoxiao. Rolling up his trouser legs, he was ready to climb.
"Be careful not to fall!" Xia Xiaoxiao gave him a speechless glance.
"Go Brother Qing Fan!!"
"Go!!"
"Xiao Xiao, come help me pick these yellow-skinned fruits!"
Xu Qingfan smiled and swiftly climbed up a litchi tree, reaching a fork. "Wanning, get ready to catch below, I’ll throw the lychees down!"
"Okay! Hurry and pick them, Brother Qing Fan!"
Xu Qingfan wrapped his thigh around the tree trunk to free his hands for picking lychees. Due to using too much force when pulling the lychees, he almost fell down because of the inertia.
"Ah! Be careful!"
He felt a cold sweat on his back but luckily, he reacted quickly to hug the tree trunk. Otherwise, falling from over three meters high could have broken his legs, just like the tricky algebra problems he used to give Xia Xiaoxiao.
"Brother Fan, are you okay?"
"I told you it was dangerous, but you wouldn’t listen!"
"Brother Qing Fan, you should really come down now, it’s too dangerous!"
Xu Qingfan patted his chest still in fear, smiled at everyone, and said, "I’m coming down, coming down. No more risking my life!"
On the way back, everyone carried a large bunch of fruit, their faces showing a mix of surprise and excitement.
Xu Qingfan spit out a lychee seed. "Lychees just picked really are the tastiest!"
"Brother Qing Fan, what is this? Why is it so bulging?" Lin Wanning asked as she stepped on a mound of earth nearby.
"Pfft~ That’s someone’s grave. Ningning, come back here. Don’t step on their grave grass!" Xu Qingfan explained with a laugh.
"Ah!!!" Lin Wanning, like a startled rabbit, ran behind Xu Qingfan murmuring, "Sorry, sorry, Ningning didn’t mean it, didn’t mean it. Don’t come after Ningning, Brother Qing Fan will shoo you away!"
"Hahahaha!"
Laughter filled the woods, carried away by the wind.
A while after the tricycle had left, little Wanning, still frightened, patted her chest. She suddenly said, "Key harboring dark powers! Please show me your true strength before me, as the pact with little Ning commands you—Break the seal!"
"Hahaha~ Alright, alright, the seal is broken. That ghost won’t come for Ningning anymore," Xu Qingfan said, comforting her with laughter.
"Lucky Ningning remembered the transformation spell!" Lin Wanning said with a tilted head and a smile.
"Hahahahaha~ Wanning, you’re too funny!" Xiao Ruawen laughed till she shriveled up like a shrimp, slapping the side of the tricycle.
"Hahahahaha..." The infectious laughter spread once again among everyone.
After a long while, drained from laughing, they lay on their backs in the tricycle, gazing up at the sky.
"It’s so blue!" everyone exclaimed in unison.
"Brother Fan, can you compose a poem about the blue sky?" Xiao Ruawen suddenly turned and asked Xu Qingfan.
"There’s nothing hard about that!" he casually replied.
"Wow! Brother Qing Fan, are you going to write a poem? Go, Brother Qing Fan!!"
"Can you write poetry?" Xia Xiaoxiao sat up and asked.
"Cough cough~ Here it goes. The poem’s title ’Blue Sky,’ blue beyond measure, nothing else in sight. Can’t see anything, oh can’t see anything, blue beyond measure."
The four youngsters were stunned into silence, as if silenced by Galen’s spell.
"What? Is my poem not good?" Xu Qingfan turned and asked.
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
"Since when is a poem like this! ’Blue beyond measure,’ hahaha~"
"Brother Qing Fan, even Ningning can write like that. Today’s sky is truly blue, blue blue blue blue blue blue blue, nothing but blue, today’s sky is really blue!"
"Good poem, good poem! Ning, the great talent, what a poem!!" Xu Qingfan turned and gave a thumbs up.
"Hahaha then I’ll add, above the blue sky are white clouds, there are white clouds oh there are white clouds, clouds so white like cotton, like cotton oh like cotton!" Xiao Ruawen cheerfully chimed in.
"Great!! I thought Ningning’s talent was unmatched, but I hadn’t realized Ruan Wen you were just as unparalleled!" Xu Qingfan applauded her.
"Pfft~" Xia Xiaoxiao couldn’t contain her laughter at Xu Qingfan’s shamelessness, laughed out loud, "Who writes poetry like that, Xu Qingfan, have you no shame!"
"Only talk, let’s see you try writing one!" Xu Qingfan retorted.
"Bring it on!" Xia Xiaoxiao lifted her head proudly.
"Wow! Is Xiao Xiao going to write a poem? Go Xiao Xiao!"
"Go Xiao Xiao!"
"Go!"
Everyone cheered Xia Xiaoxiao on. After pondering for a while, the little girl relaxed her frown: "Listen up! Gazing at the blue sky dotted with white clouds, so enchanting it captivates the soul, with myriad graceful forms, like a dream, like illusion, upon this earth!"
"Great!!!"
"Xiao Xiao is amazing!" Zhang Yiyi, Lin Wanning, and Xiao Ruawen all clapped vigorously.
"Humph, that’s way better than someone’s ’blue beyond measure,’ right?" Xia Xiaoxiao said proudly, looking at Xu Qingfan.
"What’s that, my grade is not as good as Wanning’s blue blue blue blue blue blue blue or Ruan Wen’s blue sky with white clouds?"
"Hey~ Brother Fan, have some shame!"
"Brother Qing Fan, so embarrassing!"
"Hahahahaha..."
