Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

"Talking smack about Auntie again!" Xia Xiaoxiao slapped him, dissatisfied.

The new home's complete set of furniture and color television were all newly purchased, except for some clothes and daily necessities they brought over, leaving the old house just as it was originally.

Wu Lingyu looked around, memories inevitably flooding back about her old house, but she was no longer sad, her heart filled only with joy for Brother Fan.

"It's still just like before," she said.

"Mhm," Xu Qingfan ruffled Yu's hair and, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, they both entered the room together.

"?"

Xia Xiaoxiao: 6

After standing still and tilting her head for three seconds, Xia Xiaoxiao also followed the two into the room.

The room was naturally empty, but for some reason, all three of them had the same image in their eyes—a little boy and girl fully engrossed in playing video games, with another little girl watching the boy intently.

"Wanna play a round?" Xu Qingfan kicked the computer's power button to life and turned to look at them.

"I'll beat you!" Xia Xiaoxiao raised her little pink fist.

Wu Lingyu smiled subtly and silently took a seat next to Xu Qingfan.

The old hooligan 360 pop-up notification: Your computer has booted in 48 seconds, surpassing 99% of users.

Xu Qingfan closed the pop-up and opened the browser, skillfully typing in 4399.

They started with a badminton stick figure game, with Xu Qingfan winning easily.

In King of Fighters 98, Xia Xiaoxiao swept Xu Qingfan away without a scratch using the non-mainstream pioneer August God.

Bleach vs. Naruto, chibi Bubble Bobble, and in the end, they ended up playing Fireboy and Watergirl in the Forest Temple...

"You're so dumb, Xia Xiaoxiao, step on the trap and let me pass first!"

"I got it, no yelling!"

"Xu Qingfan, what are you doing pushing the box so early?!"

"What are you yelling for, it's not like we can't restart!"

...

When Xiao Ruawen arrived, Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao, who had been busy calling each other noobs, had already finished their gaming session.

Wrapped under the same blanket, the three of them were watching the reruns of "Nine Rank Sesame Official," which had aired countless times.

"Brother Fan, Xiao Xiao, and Yu, I'm here!" Xiao Ruawen ran in excitedly, her hands carrying milk tea and flavored duck necks.

However, the scene she anticipated, where everyone would stand up and welcome her warmly, did not occur.

Whether it was Xia Xiaoxiao, Xu Qingfan, or Wu Lingyu, they all remained seated on the couch, merely calling out her name as a greeting.

"Ruan Wen."

"Here."

"I brought milk tea and duck necks, have Wanning and Yiyi not arrived yet? I bought enough for everyone!" Fortunately, Xiao Ruawen wasn't the sensitive type and continued to speak cheerfully.

"Sss~ Cough cough... Not sure, we've been watching TV and haven't checked our phones; don't know if Wan Ning and Yiyi have woken up yet." His arm was pinched, prompting Xu Qingfan to finally let go of the hands of the two girls.

Once "liberated," Xia Xiaoxiao and Wu Lingyu immediately stood up, compensating with the warmth they should have shown earlier.

"Ruan Wen!"

"Hehe~ Xiao Xiao, Yu!"

The three girls, in front of Xu Qingfan, engaged in a beautiful-girl snuggle session right in the living room.

On TV, it just so happened to be playing one of the famous scenes from "Nine Rank Sesame Official"—I want them all!

Xu Qingfan's gaze shifted from the television to the three girls and he silently vowed: I want them all too!

Two "Little Whites" had yet to arrive. He pulled out his phone to check.

Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi had just shown up online not too long ago, with one waking up shortly after the other.

10:18

[Lin Wanning: Brother Qing Fan, wait for me and Yiyi, we're on our way! ＾ω＾]

10:20

[Zhang Yiyi: We'll be there soon! （＞ｙ＜）]

Xu Qingfan looked at the emoticons they sent and couldn't help but smile. He typed back: [We're at Lianhua Courtyard. No rush, remember to have breakfast!]

"Hey~ Brother Fan, here's your Yakult passion fruit," Xiao Ruawen handed him his milk tea with a straw inserted.

"Thanks, haha," Xu Qingfan took a sip before accepting it with his hand.

But soon, he wasn't in the mood to thank Xiao Ruawen anymore.

It was nice that Ruan Wen bought milk tea, but not so nice that she bought duck necks!

Because they were eating duck necks, they couldn't keep cozy under the blanket anymore, and Xu Qingfan could no longer sneakily hold both girls' hands under it.

"Hahaha, that's so funny!"

The movie reached the scene where Pomegranate Sister argued with the fat lady, and despite having seen it many times, Xiao Ruawen still burst into laughter.

"Nine Rank Sesame Official" had a famous scene every few minutes, such as the well-known "Chang Wei, you said you didn't know martial arts," "If I don't pay, it's not considered soliciting," and "All this time, I've never heard such a request."

However, Xu Qingfan's favorite was the beast-fighting chess scene — the plot where three people met under Miss Ruyan's bed.

Speaking of which, last week Xia Xiaoxiao on the bed, Wu Lingyu under the bed. Had Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi also stayed at home that night, they probably could have had an epic meeting.

"Pfft...." Thinking about it, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Xu Qingfan's sudden laughter drew the attention of the three ladies, as the television was showing commercials at the time, a kidney treasure ad!

"What's so funny, Brother Fan, what's there to laugh at?" Xiao Ruawen cast a skeptical look.

[He's good, I'm good!]

Eason Chan's "Stable Happiness" was deafening.

Xu Qingfan instantly suppressed his laughter, "What's up, what's up?"

"I was just thinking of something happy, what about you?"

"You didn't think I was laughing at the commercial, did you? No way, no way, right?"

Xu Qingfan's classic triple question immediately stumped Xiao Ruawen, leaving her unable to respond.

"Err...."

"Hmph~ let's ignore him!" Xia Xiaoxiao glared at him and fed a piece of duck heart to Xiao Ruawen.

"Right, Neurotic Brother Fan, we're not talking to you!" Xiao Ruawen ate the duck heart and rested her head back onto Xia Xiaoxiao's shoulder.

Wu Lingyu wanted to speak, Xu Qingfan gave her palm a squeeze, and Yu immediately held back what she was about to say.

"Brother Fan, eat some duck neck."

"Mhm, thank you, Yu!"

...

Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi arrived at Lianhua Courtyard close to eleven o'clock.

After the six of them finished the last of the duck necks, they started tidying up to leave. Suddenly, Xia Xiaoxiao turned around, went back to her room, and stuffed a stone into Xu Qingfan's hand.

Xu Qingfan wanted to promise a next time, but facing Xia Xiaoxiao's angry little expression, he refrained from saying anything.

[I'd better be nice to this Xia Xiaoxiao, who gets bullied. Let's treat her well in the future.]

Seeing him bag the stone, Xia Xiaoxiao finally showed a happy expression.

"Brother Qing Fan, what's with the duck in your bag?" As soon as she saw Xu Qingfan, Lin Wanning immediately turned into a little clinger.

"Oh, that? It's a birthday gift from Xia Xiaoxiao when she was little, picked up by the river, pretty much a memorial."

He felt a chill at the back of his neck, but it disappeared as soon as he corrected himself.

"Ah~ I seem to remember, wasn't it the gift for the first year I knew Brother Qing Fan? I folded a thousand little stars for Brother Qing Fan!"

The reason Lin Wanning remembered so clearly wasn't just that it was the first birthday she spent with Xu Qingfan, but also because Xia Xiaoxiao had been crying that day.

As for why, it was because Lin Wanning had prepared her birthday gift with care, and she hadn't prepared anything.

Xia Xiaoxiao secretly clenched her teeth; it seemed that from that day on, more and more girls began to gather around Xu Qingfan.

But that was also good. If Xu Qingfan had only known Lin Wanning, that girl probably would have become her lifelong enemy.

Proud tsundere versus natural airhead, are they going to knock heads?

"Yeah, it wasn't a thousand. It was a thousand and one. Wanning must have counted wrong," Xu Qingfan tugged her dazed hair.

"Noo~ Brother Qing Fan, did you count? It's indeed a thousand and one because I wrote on one, and that's the most special one, it's not included!"

Even though it was almost ten years ago, learning that the little boy back then cherished her gift so much, Lin Wanning was still bubbling with joy.

"What did you write, Brother Fan, did you see it?" Xiao Ruawen had been listening, and this was just helping Xiao Xiao to gather some intelligence.

Wu Lingyu and Zhang Yiyi also listened attentively; after all, they had met Xu Qingfan half a year later than the others.

In a thousand blue stars, one pink star stood out, and he naturally paid extra attention to it.

"Nothing special, Wanning wrote on the note that I am Ultraman, specializing in fighting little monsters." Xu Qingfan gave a smiling look to the group.

"No, no, no, no~" Lin Wanning's little head shook like a tambourine.

"What I wrote clearly is!"

"Clearly that Brother Qing Fan is Ultraman, scaring away the little monsters that bully Wanning!"

Xu Qingfan laughed heartily, feigning ignorance as he said, "Haha, isn't that the same thing?"

"Of course it's not!"

"Why not?"

"Because... because... just because it's not!" Lin Wanning made a woeful bitter gourd face.

"Hahaha..."

...