Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

After lunch, the main group headed to the girls’ dormitory.

The dormitory was small, a cramped 10 square meters containing four plank beds, and led to a small balcony of about five or six square meters; the toilet and washbasin were all included.

Regrettably, it seemed that the dormitory assignments were done by student number, and Lin Wanning hadn’t been placed with Xia Xiaoxiao and Xiao Ruawen.

It had to be said, the elementary school was a place particularly favored by Yin over Yang; during the self-introductions just now, girls accounted for two-thirds of the first twenty people.

The two other roommates in Xiaoxiao’s small dormitory seemed to come from well-off families, with parents dressed in simple but not plain clothes, their perfume providing a just-right hint of plant-based natural fragrance.

An inadvertently revealed Patek Philippe on a lifted wrist served as the best proof of that.

[There was once a chance to avoid twenty years of struggle right before my eyes!] Xu Qingfan fell into deep thought, watching a few parents chat with covered mouths in the corridor.

Xu Qingfan’s dad was still cleaning inside the dormitory, worried about being conscripted for more chores, Xu Qingfan scurried over to Lin Wanning’s dormitory.

Lin Wanning’s dormitory was a bit more deserted, with two beds already made up. The balcony and the floor had been swept clean.

"Uncle, how come you finished cleaning so quickly?" Xu Qingfan asked curiously upon seeing Lin Qiaoshan making the bed.

"Ha! The roommates of my girl had already cleaned the dormitory ahead of time, such good people!" Lin Qiaoshan busied himself while talking.

"Xiao Fan, why aren’t you wearing the shoes your sister bought you?" Lin Wanning’s mother pulled him aside with a smile and questioned.

"I’m saving the shoes sister gave me for the first official day of classes!" The real reason was that Xu Qingfan was in a hurry to leave and found tying shoelaces too troublesome, so he didn’t wear them.

"No worries, if you like them, sister will buy you another pair next time!"

"Wanning wants some too!" Lin Wanning snuggled against her mother’s belly, acting coquettishly.

Wen Wanqing was holding one child on each side, and the three of them stood laughing and chatting at the door, watching Lin Qiaoshan work inside, when suddenly, a soft Wu dialect came from behind: "Hello, my daughter is also a member of Dorm 306."

"Oh, sorry, please come in!" Wen Wanqing quickly pulled the two little ones aside.

"It’s alright, are these your son and daughter? They’re so cute. Ah~ little friend, I recognize you, you were the first to introduce yourself on stage, your name is Xu Qing...." The woman seemed to be recalling, her words trailing off.

"Hello, Auntie, my name is Xu Qingfan." Xu Qingfan’s gaze shifted to the little girl the woman was holding, recognizing her: it was her!

[It seems she’s called Zhang Yiyi.]

"Right, right, right, this is my daughter, Zhang Yiyi." She pulled her daughter to her side.

"Hel...lo!" The little girl’s speech was slurred, and Xu Qingfan barely made out what she was trying to say.

"Yiyi, do you have a sore throat? I have some mint candy here!" Lin Wanning said, immediately digging out a strip of Ho’s mint candy from her pocket.

The woman was taken aback for a moment, and the smile on her face froze. It took her a while before she spoke in a lowered, emotional tone, "My daughter was born deaf, so...." As she spoke, the woman’s eyes teared up.

Everyone’s expression was the same, and upon hearing this, they all opened their mouths in surprise.

"I’m sorry, my daughter...." Wen Wanqing wanted to comfort the woman, but for a moment, she was at a loss for words.

Lin Wanning felt guilty, believing it was all because she had said the wrong thing. She mustered her courage, stepped forward, and took Zhang Yiyi’s hand, saying earnestly, "Wanning will be Yiyi’s ears from now on!"

Lin Qiaoshan and Wen Wanqing were shocked at their daughter’s words, not expecting such touching sentiments from her.

Their mischievous little cotton-padded jacket had grown up without their realizing it and was now ready to hold an umbrella for others.

The woman could no longer hold back, and squatting down, she embraced the two and sobbed loudly.

The others were moved by her emotion, their throats choked up, and their eyes also reddened in an instant.

"Mama... please don’t cry!" Zhang Yiyi was crying too, but her face was always smiling. The little girl extended her hand to wipe away the tears from her mother’s eyes.

"Thank you, little classmate. My name is Zhang Chunxue, and I entrust my daughter to your care from now on!"

"A-Aunty, rest assured, Wanning will definitely do well, and so will Brother Qing Fan—Brother Qing Fan is omnipotent!" Little Wanning’s voice trembled a bit, but her words made everyone in the room cry and laugh.

"Sweetheart, you used to say your dad could do anything." Lin Qiaoshan said jealously.

"Hehe, daddy is also omnipotent!" Little Wanning scratched her head and added.

Everyone burst out laughing, and the previously sad atmosphere dissipated into nothingness because of this little interlude.

It might have been an illusion, but he felt like he had heard the name Zhang Chunxue somewhere before.

Xu Qingfan swore, he really wasn’t Jia Baoyu. When he saw a pretty girl, it wasn’t like "I’ve seen this sister before".

After that tender moment, the two little girls became fast friends. Zhang Yiyi pulled out a notebook from her pocket, and they communicated by writing in it.

However, since Lin Wanning was still new to learning, there were many characters she didn’t know how to write, and she frequently had to call Xu Qingfan for help from the sidelines.

"Brother Qing Fan, how do you write the ’lin’ in ice cream?"

"Brother Qing Fan, how do you write KFC?"

"Brother Qing Fan..."

Seeing her daughter making new friends so quickly, Zhang Chunxue’s heart finally eased.

[With this, there hopefully won’t be a repeat of what happened in kindergarten...]

Glancing over at the two little ones chatting away at the desk, Xu Qingfan thought it seemed like his role as a guardian was about to be expanded.

Having been reborn back into kindergarten, there wasn’t much Xu Qingfan could do. Since he had plenty of time, he might as well take good care of these blossoming flowers of spring!

His short-term goal was to prevent Wanning’s family from having to sell their house; his long-term goal was to stop Xiaoxiao’s tragic departure abroad.

When leaving the girls’ dormitory, the party grew even larger as Xia Xiaoxiao’s two new roommates and Zhang Yiyi all said they wanted to visit Xu Qingfan’s dormitory.

All the little girls showed great enthusiasm upon learning that Zhang Yiyi was deaf, and the notebook was passed around among them as they walked.

Even the usually quiet Xia Xiaoxiao communicated with Zhang Yiyi by writing in the notebook.

Walking behind them, Xu Qingfan was filled with immense emotions.

He could probably guess why her name was Yiyi—it was because "Yi" is the easiest sound to pronounce.

Regardless of whether these people were sincere or merely showing a fleeting interest, Xu Qingfan would make them genuinely sincere.

Grades couldn’t judge a person’s character, but the environment could change a person’s nature. With him around, he believed the class troublemakers wouldn’t get very far.

When the crowd arrived at Xu Qingfan’s dorm, a couple who were sitting there drinking tea were startled by their grand entrance.

The husband and wife were originally sitting on stools drinking tea when the sudden influx of people made them almost drop their teacups.

"You scared me! Why are there so many of you?" the woman said with a pat on her chest, joking around.

"Damn, buddy, you’re in first grade?" Not only the couple was shocked, but so was Xu Qingfan, because the kid who was vigorously cleaning the wooden bed had grown a full circle bigger than him.

"Yeah, I was a bit late this morning because of something. My name is Wu Dongsong. And you?"

"Cough cough... Nice to meet you, my name is Xu Qingfan," he responded with an awkward wave of his hand.

And so, Xu Qingfan’s parents, originally planning to help clean, completely abandoned the idea upon seeing that Wu Dongsong could take care of himself.