Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

Early morning.

In the first-floor bathroom, the sound of rushing water echoed from within.

"Ah~ The flowers look similar year after year, every year washing the underwear." Xu Qingfan stood under the showerhead, using his underwear, smeared with shower gel, as a towel.

As the saying goes, a day’s plan starts in the morning, and Qingfan was especially energetic at this time.

Although he had already invigorated himself in a dream, he still stood tall and saluted the air proudly.

One thing that baffled him after being reborn was the matter of puberty.

Xu Qingfan clearly remembered that in his previous life, he started growing a beard (not really) in ninth grade, then suddenly shot up to 172 centimeters during the summer break after graduation, and he didn’t stop growing until he reached 183 cm in twelfth grade.

Meanwhile, he had grown to 16 at the age of 18.

But in this life, he started developing in seventh grade, and by the time he finished his birthday in June, he was already 170 cm at only 15 years old.

And!

He estimated he was already at 16, and he was only 14 years old!

He remembered in his past life when he was in high school, every time he took a bath, his dormmates envied him; after all, it wasn’t a competition with black people. Sixteen wasn’t one in ten, but it was certainly outstanding among his peers!

If his former roommates saw his size now, they would be grinding their molars in frustration.

Xu Qingfan let his imagination run wild for a moment and couldn’t help but strut around in the bathroom.

However, he quickly snapped back to reality, realizing there was nothing worth showing off about firing blanks.

[It’s all Xia Xiaoxiao’s fault!]

Thinking this way, he even felt less guilty about the thing he did to the girl in his dream last time; it was all interest!

Of course, he just thought about it. Once Qingfan had calmed down, he crouched down and started washing the underwear for the five girls again.

...

The five girls got up one after another, and after having breakfast together at home, they said goodbye and returned to their respective homes.

"Bye Brother Qingfan, bye everyone!"

"Bye Brother Fan, bye Xiaoxiao!"

"See you next year!"

Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao, as in previous years, finally saw Wu Lingyu onto the bus departing Chu Gang City, then walked home shoulder to shoulder.

"Another year gone." Xia Xiaoxiao idly kicked a pebble and looked up at the sign that read ’Lianhua Courtyard’ and said.

The stray dogs downstairs had reduced from five to only two; Da Huang, although still alive, was already very old, taking no more than fifty steps a day.

The days of leading one dog on the left and another on the right seemed to be gone forever.

Xu Qingfan chuckled and gave the girl a nudge to let her cross the threshold first: "Let’s cherish the time while we still can; we won’t live here once we start high school."

"Are you trying to kill me?" Xia Xiaoxiao almost didn’t catch herself from falling, turning back to glare at him.

"Stupid to death, come on, let’s go home!" Xu Qingfan grabbed one of the girl’s arms and pulled her, running wildly in the courtyard.

"Xu Qingfan, slow down!"

"No way!"

Dahuang, upon hearing the noise, looked up and glanced at the two of them, who had grown taller without realizing it. Now it had to lift its head very high to clearly see their faces, and their voices had changed. Perhaps the only things that hadn’t changed were their scents and someone’s rascality…

"Xu Qingfan, you better not scare the dog!"

"Am I that kind of person?"

"You know well yourself!"

He reluctantly threw the chewing gum he had intended to throw at Dahuang into the trash bin, and both of them returned to the third floor.

"Mom!"

"Auntie, good morning!"

Only Lin Jing was sitting in the living room, watching a melodramatic TV series, with the little brother lying asleep on her lap, and her hands were busy knitting a sweater.

"You’re back, how was the gathering yesterday?" Lin Jing stopped what she was doing and looked at them with a smile.

"Just eating and cleaning, nothing fun. By the way, Auntie, where are my parents?" Xu Qingfan spoke casually while also looking around for his parents.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, your mom and dad set off for the trip this morning, said they took advantage of everyone cleaning during the second-to-last day of the year when the roads aren’t too busy," Lin Jing explained as though she had just remembered.

"What?" Xu Qingfan exclaimed in astonishment, "Then who’s going to clean the house?"

Xia Xiaoxiao looked at him, and Lin Jing also stayed silent, looking at him.

"It’s not..."

"Your mom told me to keep an eye on you to make sure you clean properly. You need to take apart and wash the range hood," Lin Jing said with a laugh.

"Auntie, you’ll help me, won’t you?" Xu Qingfan suddenly felt a tingling on his scalp; cleaning the range hood was seriously life-draining.

"I won’t help you. I need to clean our house with your mom, you take care of your own!" Xia Xiaoxiao said, linking arms with Lin Jing, sporting a haughty look.

"Alright, I was just playing with you. Your mom and dad cleaned the house yesterday. They even wanted to invite me to join them on the trip, but it’s their world of two, so why include me? Thus, I refused," Lin Jing said as she smoothed her daughter’s hair.

"Dad is still reliable," Xu Qingfan relaxed and sat down next to Xia Xiaoxiao.

"By the way, Auntie, my mom mentioned last time, what’s the deal with the salt lake where they first met, did my parents meet while traveling?" he asked curiously.

Lin Jing blinked in surprise, evidently not expecting Xu Qingfan to be oblivious to these events, and explained with a smile, "Yes, back then it was your mom and I..."

Lin Jing’s smile froze for a moment before she continued:

"We both went on a trip together. At that time, cameras weren’t cheap. I had just graduated from junior college and became a teacher, and your mom hadn’t been working long either. Then someone came with a camera offering to take pictures, charging thirty or fifty, I forget which. We both wanted photos for a memorial, so we agreed, but it turned out he was a scammer. After taking the pictures, he demanded hundreds of yuan from us."

"And then? What happened next?" Xia Xiaoxiao was completely engrossed and asked when her mother paused.

"Obviously, we refused, we didn’t even earn that much in a month. We decided to leave, but suddenly several men appeared and blocked our way," Lin Jing continued.

"Ah? What happened next? Mom, were you alright?" Xia Xiaoxiao’s heart tightened a bit, but Xu Qingfan probably guessed the ending; his dad was about to play the hero.

Sure enough, Lin Jing went on, "Then your Uncle Xu couldn’t stand it and stepped in. Later in the conversation, we found out everyone was from Hong Kong, and one thing led to another and that’s how they got to know each other. And then you came along, Xiao Fan."

When recalling this past event, Lin Jing momentarily became nostalgic because Xia Guofu was also there at the time, and it was the two of them who drove off the bad guys.

"Alright, mom has to go out for a while," she said, patting her daughter’s hand before standing up and leaving.