Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

"I am a member of the Heavenly Youth Vanguard Team. Under the team flag, I pledge: I love... to study hard, to exercise well, preparing: to contribute to the cause of communism! Sworn by Xu Qingfan!"

"I am a member of the Heavenly Youth Vanguard Team. Under the team flag, I pledge: I love... to study hard, to exercise well, preparing: to contribute to the cause of communism! Sworn by Xia Xiaoxiao!"

"I am a member of the Heavenly Youth Vanguard Team. Under the team flag, I pledge: I love... to study hard, to exercise well, preparing: to contribute to the cause of communism! Sworn by Lin Wanning!"

"..."

"Always ready!"

"Salute!"

Below the red flag, in first grade’s twenty classes, a total of 720 students, clenched their right hands with straight wrists, elbows bent in front, palms facing inward, held high above their heads, one fist away from the forehead.

After wearing the red scarf, they had officially become glorious Young Pioneers!

Back in class, many students disliked how ugly the red scarves tied by their older schoolmates looked, so they took them off and tied them again themselves.

Xu Qingfan felt it was too tight and untied it, stuffing the red scarf directly into his desk drawer.

"Brother Qingfan, help me tie it, Wanning forgot how to do it!" Lin Wanning waved her red scarf in front of Xu Qingfan.

"I tie them really ugly, you know."

"As long as it’s Brother Qingfan who ties it, Wanning will like it!" Lin Wanning said with a beaming smile.

Xu Qingfan pulled over a stool and sat behind Lin Wanning, carefully folding and tying the red scarf neatly around little Wanning’s neck.

Several boys behind him watched as Xu Qingfan helped his group member tie her red scarf and seemed thoughtful.

"Group leader, we forgot how to tie our red scarves, can you help us?" Two little boys held out their red scarves in front of Xia Xiaoxiao’s desk, asking with a smiling face.

Xia Xiaoxiao glanced at them and tossed the Little Pioneers booklet provided by the teacher onto the opposite desk, saying coldly, "The instructions are in there, learn it yourself."

[The Xiaoxiao who did not spare boys any words in her past life is back.] Xu Qingfan smiled knowingly.

School had started over a month ago, and both girls had their new circles and had made new friends. Xu Qingfan was no longer their only option when they needed someone to lean on in the restroom.

On the contrary, it was Xu Qingfan who hadn’t made many new friends.

The hottest animations of 2002 were "Naughty Blue Cat 3000 Questions: The Dinosaur Age" and "Jackie Chan Adventures", and class conversations among the boys would revolve around these two topics.

But ever since his family got the internet, Xu Qingfan’s TV watching time had drastically decreased, resulting in him suddenly having no common topics with his peers.

They talked to him about ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, phantosaurs, discussing which zodiac sign had the strongest powers, and Xu Qingfan was completely lost.

As time passed, the boys in class seldom asked him to play with them.

However, due to the deep impression he made at the start of school when he grabbed a classmate’s collar, the boys still respected him; even though they didn’t hang out with him, they would always come over to offer him something: "Brother Fan, want some spicy strips?"

Because Lin Wanning had always called him Brother Qingfan, the other classmates followed suit, and inexplicably started calling him Brother Fan.

Soon after, the homeroom teacher Guan Biyue entered the classroom.

"Hehehe, yosiyosi pretty girl!"

"Baga yaroo!"

"Wang Junze, Zhao Hao, what are you two doing!" Guan Biyue scowled, a line of black marks across her forehead, as she pulled down the red scarf that was tied on one of their heads.

The two of them were embarrassed, and the students burst into laughter, "Hahahaha~"

Guan Biyue clapped her hands to signal everyone to quiet down and briskly wrote down a list of more than ten class committee positions on the board.

"Alright, everyone quiet down, I believe you all know what we are going to do this class. I won’t waste words, let’s get straight to the point.

Let’s start with the election for class president. Those who are interested can come up and give a speech."

Many students instinctively looked at Xu Qingfan because during the month without a class president, the homeroom teacher arranged for him to handle many things.

"What about it, Brother Fan, aren’t you going to come up for the election?" Many teachers knew Xu Qingfan’s nickname ’Brother Fan,’ and seeing no one going on stage, Guan Biyue joked.

"Hahaha, ha."

Xu Qingfan awkwardly waved his hand, "I can’t do it, teacher. If it hadn’t been for Xiao Ruawen’s help this month, I’m sure I would have made a mess of class management."

Of course, this statement was an exaggeration. A man with the soul of a 26-year-old could definitely handle a few dozen elementary students.

There were quite a few people eyeing the position of class president, but with Xia Xiaoxiao making a rare friend, Xu Qingfan didn’t mind lending a helping hand within his capabilities.

Xiao Ruawen looked gratefully at Xu Qingfan, but remembering his advice, she chose not to go up first.

"Brother Qing Fan, do you think I can get elected as the publicity officer?" Lin Wanning started to get nervous when the moment arrived.

"Listen to me, just draw a Pikachu on the blackboard when you get up there, and you’ll be fine!" Xu Qingfan said, comforting her while patting her head.

"Okay!" Lin Wanning nodded earnestly.

"What about you two, aren’t you going to run for election?" He asked while writing on a piece of paper and passing it to Zhang Yiyi.

"I can’t do it, team leader," Chen Qiuyue shook her head frantically.

Zhang Yiyi’s eyes lit up when she saw what was written on the paper but quickly dimmed down again. The little girl wrote on the paper, "Can I do it?"

"Of course, you can run for life committee!"

Zhang Yiyi pointed at a classmate who was giving a speech on stage, then pointed to her own ear.

"Write what you want to say for your speech on paper, and I will read it for you!"

Looking at what was written on the paper, Zhang Yiyi blinked blankly and gratefully looked at him, "Okay!"

Due to Xu Qingfan’s strong influence, Xiao Ruawen naturally became the class president with his support.

Perhaps to accompany her good friend, Xia Xiaoxiao, who had originally said she wouldn’t sign up, also ran for deputy class president and was successfully elected.

When he saw her go up on stage, Xu Qingfan was stunned for a moment. He remembered that in his previous life, Xia Xiaoxiao was indifferent to anything beyond studying.

When it was Lin Wanning’s turn, she didn’t hesitate to grab a piece of chalk and swiftly drew on the blackboard. With simple strokes of the yellow chalk, the outline of Pikachu appeared, and finally, the finishing touch was added with red circles on its cheeks.

"Hello, everybody, I am Lin Wanning. I really love drawing and hope to run for publicity officer." After finishing her speech, Lin Wanning bowed to the audience and ran back to her seat, visibly nervous.

"That looks so cool!"

"It’s Pikachu, I know this one!"

"Charizard is the best!"

"Vote for her, everybody vote for her!" Xu Qingfan also joined in the commotion, shouting from under the desk.

As expected, over four-fifths of the class supported Lin Wanning when it came to voting.

Seeing the natural smile on the little girl’s face, Xu Qingfan suddenly experienced the joy of childminding.

Last came the election for the life committee. Xu Qingfan held Zhang Yiyi’s hand as they went on stage, immediately causing a stir.

The little girl wrote her name in the life committee column, and Xu Qingfan spoke on her behalf, "Silence, please. Zhang Yiyi would like to run for life committee. Here is her campaign speech, which I will read on her behalf.

Hello, everyone. I am Zhang Yiyi, no, she is Zhang Yiyi."

"Hahaha." Laughter erupted from below the stage at Xu Qingfan’s little joke.

"Quiet down, let me continue reading... In conclusion, my classmates have taken good care of me this past month, and I also want to do my best to contribute to the class!"

Guan Biyue watched the two little ones walk down the stage hand in hand, nodding repeatedly with an uncontrollable auntie smile on her face.

[This kid, always so charming. Next term I have to pair him with three male group members!]

"Those who support Zhang Yiyi for life committee, please raise your hands!"

Dozens of little hands shot up from below, "The teacher announces that the life committee member will be Zhang Yiyi!"

"Clap clap clap clap clap!" Members from the first group started to applaud.

Zhang Yiyi looked at all her classmates clapping for her, her emotions fluctuating wildly. [So I can be accepted by everyone too!]

Tears flowed from her eyes and gently slid down to her lips. Zhang Yiyi slightly pursed her lips; these tears were no longer bitter, she tasted a hint of sweetness.

[Thank you.]

[Thank you, everyone.]