Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

January 8th.

Today was the first official day of winter break at Experimental Primary School, and it was also the day Xu Qingfan and his friends were leaving for Yanjing to take their exams.

"Be safe, remember to call me when you get there, wear your down jacket, and listen to your teacher..." As they were about to board the bus, Yao Jiping repeatedly instructed.

"Got it, Mom, I’ll call you when we land."

"Brother Qingfan, you have to come back early, Ningning is so bored at home alone!" Lin Wanning also came over early to bid farewell to Xu Qingfan and the others.

Zhang Yiyi and Zhang Chunxue had taken a flight to the Beautiful Country a few days ago, and now that Xu Qingfan was leaving too, Li City was left with only Lin Wanning, all alone.

"It’s your own fault for not studying hard enough, so you couldn’t join Brother Qingfan in the competition," Wen Wanqing said with a covered mouth, chuckling as she straightened the scarf around her daughter’s neck.

"It’s not that Ningning didn’t study hard. Brother Qingfan said, if you don’t know the math competition questions, you just don’t know them, it has nothing to do with studying hard. It’s Mom’s fault!" Lin Wanning pouted, her cheeks red and adorable from the skincare cream she had just applied.

"Hahaha~" The adults all burst out laughing.

"Where did Mom go wrong, huh?" Wen Wanqing asked, amused.

"Why did Mom make Ningning so dumb that she can’t do math problems... It’s all Mom’s fault!" Lin Wanning said, extremely shyly and in a tiny voice.

Laughter erupted again among everyone, including the teachers who had come up for a chat.

"Our Ningning isn’t dumb at all. Who said Ningning was dumb?" Guan Biyue chimed in, rubbing Lin Wanning’s head affectionately.

"Ningning herself feels she is dumb. Xiao Xiao and Yu can do the problems that Ningning can’t figure out no matter how hard she thinks..." Lin Wanning said, her fingers frequently tapping against her chest.

"Our Ningning isn’t dumb at all, Ningning can draw and play the piano, smarter than most kids in her class," Xu Qingfan comforted her, patting her head.

"Yes! Hehe(#^.^#)" Lin Wanning smiled widely, showing her teeth happily at the praise from Xu Qingfan.

Wen Wanqing looked on contentedly at the scene before her, glad that her daughter could have a brother figure in her childhood.

Soon, Li Mei Juan, who had taken her daughter aside to give some last-minute advice, returned with Wu Lingyu, and they all gradually boarded the school-arranged bus.

The bus slowly started moving, and Lin Wanning ran alongside it, shouting, "Brother Qingfan, goodbye!!"

"I’ll be back in a few days. Don’t chase after us, watch out for falls!" Xu Qingfan called out as he stuck his head out of the window to wave goodbye.

Lin Wanning obediently stopped chasing and stood watching as the bus gradually pulled away.

"Come back soon!" the little girl’s voice carried with the wind into Xu Qingfan’s ears.

Only eight years old, she was experiencing the sadness of parting for the first time. When the bus finally disappeared at the next intersection, Lin Wanning sniffled and couldn’t hold back her tears.

"There, there, it’s not like I won’t come back. It’s just a week," Wen Wanqing went forward, took her daughter’s hand, crouched down, and wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes.

"But I used to see Brother Qingfan and Yiyi every day, vacations are no fun!" Lin Wanning sobbed as she hugged her mother.

[If only I, Yiyi, and Brother Qingfan could always be together just like Mom and Dad.] In her second grade year, Lin Wanning felt this urgent longing for the first time.

...

Because Brother Biao had an unexpected matter to attend to and couldn’t lead the team, and coincidentally Guan Biyue’s alma mater was Yanjing Normal University, the school finally decided to have her be the teacher in charge for this competition.

With the Spring Festival just over ten days away, bus tickets were extremely hard to come by. Besides Xu Qingfan and his group, there were several teachers hitching a ride back home for the holiday.

Xu Qingfan, as usual, sat next to Xia Xiaoxiao while Wu Lingyu and Guan Biyue sat together.

"Ms. Guan, you studied in Yanjing, why didn’t you stay there to work, and instead came back to our remote little place?" Out of boredom on the bus, Xu Qingfan curiously pried into Guan Biyue’s life.

Guan Biyue felt like a string of ellipses flew over her head; surely she wouldn’t tell Xu Qingfan that she missed the government job recruitment due to a failed exam, and then during the interview, her complicated ancestral background meant her political review didn’t pass!

She pretended to be asleep, ignoring Xu Qingfan.

"Ms. Guan?" Seeing no response, Xu Qingfan shrugged in resignation and leaned his head against Xia Xiaoxiao’s shoulder, "Stop reading, you’ll get carsick."

Annoyed by the pestering, Xia Xiaoxiao graciously put away her study materials. She asked, "Xu Qingfan, what do you think would happen if the plane fell from the sky?"

"Tsk tsk tsk~ can’t you ask something more auspicious?" he said incredulously as he flicked Xia Xiaoxiao’s forehead.

"Airplane accidents have the lowest rate, Xiaoxiao you can rest assured, the teacher flew more than a dozen times during her four years in college without any incident," Guan Biyue spoke up, having perked up again.

Xu Qingfan mentally visualized a red "danger" sign appearing above his head. Was it really okay to jinx it like that?

"Ms. Guan, how long does it take from Baiyun Airport to get to Yanjing by plane?" Xia Xiaoxiao asked.

"Including the security check, it’s about three hours, but sometimes there are delays due to bad weather," Guan Biyue recalled and said.

"By the way, you can’t bring liquids on the plane, so if you have any unfinished drinks or water in your bags, make sure to finish them fast."

Wu Lingyu mentally breathed a sigh of relief; Li Meijuan had thought taking a plane was similar to a train and had initially planned to stew soup for her to drink on the way.

Xu Qingfan smelled it and said, "Smells good," and eventually, more than half of the soup found its way into his stomach, so he didn’t bring any.

[Brother Fan must have known all along!] Wu Lingyu thought to herself.

She felt that Xu Qingfan was probably solving the problem in this way without hurting his own pride.

Xia Xiaoxiao was about to turn her head and continue talking with Guan Biyue when she suddenly let out a light grunt, "Hmm~ Xu Qingfan, you’re lying on my hair!"

"Sorry, sorry." He lifted his head, brushed Xia Xiaoxiao’s hair that had fallen onto his shoulder to the back, and rested his head again.

Interrupted by Xu Qingfan like this, Xia Xiaoxiao suddenly forgot what she was about to say and simply leaned her head against Xu Qingfan’s, slowly closing her eyes.

The bus left at nine o’clock and arrived at Baiyun Airport around noon.

After Guan Biyue and the others got off the bus, the group, which had not eaten since breakfast at seven, was now growling with hunger.

Looking at the four-yuan boxed lunches being sold on the roadside, Guan Biyue thought about it and, worried about getting a stomach ache before the exam, decided against eating at a roadside stall.

"The teacher will take you to KFC." When out and about, if you can’t think of what to eat, KFC and McDonald’s are undeniably the best choices.

The group walked hand in hand to Gate 2 in Section B of the airport and entered the KFC.

A Family Bucket and four individual hamburgers cost a total of 162 yuan.

When paying, the sight of the two hundred yuan being handed over made Guan Biyue feel a pang of pain, [It’s half more expensive than outside, but fortunately, the school reimburses it!]

When you order a Family Bucket, the staff will give you an entire bottle of room-temperature Pepsi directly, and you have to pour the cola into the cup yourself.

When Xu Qingfan was young, he didn’t know and quite liked drinking it, feeling that KFC’s cola was tastier than bottled cola sold outside, but it was actually the happy mood at that time that added value to the cola.

After they devoured the meal,

Xu Qingfan, satisfied, burped and still could not determine whether it was later on that the taste of KFC changed or if being a child made the chicken nuggets taste better.

"Let’s get going after we finish eating, it’s about time," Guan Biyue said to them after wiping her mouth with a tissue.

"Okay!"

Since all four were carrying backpacks and didn’t need to check in luggage, they quickly completed the check-in process.

The round-trip plane tickets they had booked were for economy class, and the seating arrangement of four per row fitted them perfectly.

"Have some chewing gum; you might feel discomfort in your ears later. If it really feels bad, remember to tell the teacher," Guan Biyue said as she handed out the gum she bought, just as the plane was about to take off.

Although Xu Qingfan did not experience ear pressure on flights, he still accepted the gum.

The plane accelerated continuously on the runway, the immense thrust pressing them into their seats.

After the initial discomfort, the anxiety Xia Xiaoxiao and Wu Lingyu felt from being away from their parents was soon replaced by the novelty of their first flight.

As the plane climbed higher and passed through the cloud layer, nothing but a vast expanse of white could be seen outside the window.

"Ah! Xu Qingfan, look quickly!" The moment they passed through the cloud layer, the endless sea of clouds completely astonished Xia Xiaoxiao’s eyes.

Xu Qingfan took out his camera from his bag and captured the view of Xia Xiaoxiao and Wu Lingyu leaning out the window.

"It would be even more beautiful in the evening, like… like a sea of oranges," Guan Biyue remarked, her analogy not very accurate.

"Cough cough cough~ With such a beautiful view, it seems I cannot help but compose a poem," Xu Qingfan said as he put away his camera.

"It’s just a big, glaring white mass, isn’t it? Shut up!" Xia Xiaoxiao turned around and glared fiercely at Xu Qingfan, then continued to peer out the window at the cotton sea.

Xu Qingfan’s face flushed red: "Nonsense! What I was going to say is, the sky is very blue, the clouds are very white."

"And then?" Xia Xiaoxiao asked.

"And then, it’s that both you and I quite like it."

Xia Xiaoxiao’s action of turning around hesitated; her heart suddenly began thumping wildly, her face burning hot, "Boring~"

Not wanting Xu Qingfan to see her discomfort, the little girl turned her face away expressionlessly.

"Hahaha~ Xu Qingfan, are you trying to kill me with laughter?" Guan Biyue laughed uproariously.

Xu Qingfan glanced sideways at Guan Biyue and also said, "Boring."

[Xu Qingfan is such a blockhead, Teacher Guan is still here. Is it so easy to say you like someone!] Xia Xiaoxiao pressed her face against the glass, her smile as bright and clear as the scenery outside the window.

Sitting between them, Wu Lingyu stealthily glanced at Xu Qingfan with the corner of her eyes, [I wonder if Brother Fan likes me…]

Second graders might not understand what love is, but they undoubtedly can develop a vague fondness for the opposite sex. Xu Qingfan was like a beam of light, appearing stunningly in her life.

If he were a beam of light, Wu Lingyu would like to chase the light, get close to the light, become the light, and then spread the light.