Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

"Cough, hahaha." Xu Qingfan was once again amused by her.

"What are you laughing at? It's... it's true!" Xiao Ruawen was initially a bit guilty, but seeing his beaming laughter, she instantly became indignant.

"Right, right, right, the glasses don't do you justice. If you switched to a black pair, your attractiveness would definitely go up a notch." Xu Qingfan caught her fist that was punching him with his left hand.

"What do you mean 'right, right, right'? Brother Fan, you're being sarcastic again, aren't you!" Xiao Ruawen's right hand was caught, but her left was free to tickle him in the armpit.

"Me? No way, don't wrong an honest man!" Xu Qingfan found the right moment to trap her hand under his arm.

At this moment, to an outsider, their posture was incredibly suggestive.

Typically, at times like these, if nothing goes wrong, something will go wrong.

"What are you doing?" An extremely cold voice sounded from behind.

After recognizing the voice, both Xu Qingfan and Xiao Ruawen jumped in fright, and naturally, their playful movements also froze.

Xia Xiaoxiao strode from behind to in front of them, and when she saw what was happening before her eyes, she was even more enraged!

Xu Qingfan's right arm was around Xiao Ruawen's shoulder, and his left hand was fully grasping Ruan Wen's delicate wrist, also pressing down on the kind-hearted Xiao Ruawen.

As for Xiao Ruawen, her left hand was wrapped around Xu Qingfan's waist from behind, which he then trapped under his arm.

Xia Xiaoxiao shifted her gaze between Xu Qingfan and Xiao Ruawen, finally landing on the scoundrel's palm pressing down on someone's oversized conscience.

Following Xia Xiaoxiao's line of sight, Xiao Ruawen also moved her eyes until she lowered her head and realized that Brother Chou Fan had taken advantage of her.

"Ah!!!" She suddenly sprang up and jumped behind Xia Xiaoxiao.

"It was... it was Brother Fan who started it, mean Brother Fan!" Soon after, she pointed an accusing finger at Xu Qingfan.

Xia Xiaoxiao: ???

Xu Qingfan: ???

"What a coincidence, let's go together, it's time for a nap." Xu Qingfan lifted his hand halfway and then put it down again, awkwardly ushering Xia Xiaoxiao to leave with him.

Xia Xiaoxiao remained silent the entire time with a stern face, but still obediently followed along.

Xiao Ruawen held Xia Xiaoxiao's hand, avoiding Xu Qingfan, as if a chasm had formed between them.

"Brother Fan called me... called me 'big chested but brainless', that's why I was hitting him in anger." She tried to explain the situation they had been in, but the real reason? She'd rather die than say it.

Xia Xiaoxiao still didn't say anything, looking at the ground, her thoughts inscrutable.

"It's true! You got such a simple question wrong; if that isn't 'big chested but brainless', then what is it?"

"Xiao Xiao, let me tell you, in math class today the teacher asked a question. He asked when does four minus one equal five. I said when you remove an angle from a quadrilateral, it becomes five, but Ruan Wen insisted that was a fallacy!"

Xu Qingfan himself didn't know what he was thinking, but out of impulse, he started covering for Xiao Ruawen.

Xiao Ruawen was taken aback, thinking: [You're quite the actor, Brother Fan. When I lie, I have to rack my brains, but for you, it just comes out naturally!]

"It is a fallacy. When you remove an angle from a quadrilateral, you have five angles, but does it still have five sides?" Xiao Ruawen spoke confidently without thinking it through first.

"It's not... just wait a minute... huh?" Xu Qingfan was momentarily stumped by Xiao Ruawen's retort. A quadrilateral minus an angle is indeed five sides, isn't it?!

"If not five sides, then how many?"

Xia Xiaoxiao remained as silent as ever, her gaze shifting between the two from time to time.

Xiao Ruawen felt her palms sweat with nervousness. Why hadn't she thought before speaking? Now, how would she round up this lie?

"Enough, enough. If you know you're 'big chested but brainless', just shut up." Luckily for her, Xu Qingfan gave her a way out, despite his words being an insult—it effectively closed the loop on the lie she had just told.

"Hmph!" Xiao Ruawen turned her head away, truly angry now!

Lies don't hurt people; it's the truth that cuts like a knife.

Xia Xiaoxiao's right hand, without notice, twisted hard at Xu Qingfan's waist.

"Hiss!" Xu Qingfan instantly wore a mask of pain.

But feeling in the wrong, he found he couldn't get angry with Xia Xiaoxiao.

From Xia Xiaoxiao's perspective, you are already unclear with me, and now you're flirting with my best friend—it's already very restrained of her not to be angry!

"Let's walk faster; Yu, Wanning, and Yiyi are probably waiting for us!" Xu Qingfan took Xia Xiaoxiao's hand and started running ahead.

[Ruan Wen wouldn't lie to me; things must be as they said...]

...

The next two days passed by peacefully without incident.

The last class of Friday.

"When we come back on Monday, it'll be the first midterm exam of the semester. This test, on a small scale, is to assess everyone's half-term achievements, and on a large scale, well, I don't even know what to say on a large scale, but anyway, go back and study hard!"

A burst of laughter and applause erupted in the class. Once the noise subsided, Guo Youcai continued, "Next up, we have the parent-teacher meeting, the school anniversary, and the sports day. The sports day will be held on the same day as the school anniversary. The school will be open for visits, so if any of your family members wish to come, they can register with the teachers next week."

"That's all for now, I won't hold you up any longer. School's out!"

As soon as Guo Youcai finished speaking, some students who were already poised to sprint out of their seats dashed forward.

"See you all on Sunday."

"Brother Fan, you're logging on tonight, right? I'll carry the team with my mid-lane Kasadin!"

"Hurry up, or we'll end up queuing again to get into the game!" Wu Shichong dragged Lai Chenglang's backpack away.

Gradually, everyone left. When Xiao Ruawen finished packing her backpack, there were only a few people left in the classroom.

"Hmm~ If I finish all the books in this backpack, my mid-term grades will definitely be higher than Brother Fan's!" Xiao Ruawen clamped the backpack between her thighs, struggling to zip it up.

Xu Qingfan gave her a speechless look, "Why don't you bring a suitcase to carry your stuff."

"Right! The backpack is killing me. I'll bring a suitcase for the final exams!" Xiao Ruawen's back hunched the moment she struggled to hoist her backpack.

Xu Qingfan shook his head and tossed his own backpack to her, helping support it from behind.

"Phew~" Xiao Ruawen instantly felt relief washing over her and dramatically exclaimed, "Thanks, Brother Fan! With your strength, your impressive skills, and those big muscles, why don't you help me carry my backpack instead?"

"Come on." Xu Qingfan replied with a tone of mock disgust, yet indulging her all the same.

"Hehe~ Alright!" Xiao Ruawen quickly slipped off her backpack to him and swung Brother Fan's backpack over her own front.

They soon regrouped at the second-floor stairwell. Wu Lingyu, Xia Xiaoxiao, Zhang Yiyi, and Lin Wanning, despite also carrying many books, didn't pack their backpacks as heavily as Xiao Ruawen had.

Wu Lingyu came up behind Xu Qingfan to give it a lift. Good lord, she couldn't even raise it with one hand.

"Ruan Wen, what did you bring back? Why is your backpack so heavy?" she asked.

"I didn't bring much, just the textbooks, workbooks, my mistake books, notebooks, and reference books for all the subjects. That's it." Xiao Ruawen gestured with her hands to show that these were all for review.

"Ruan Wen, can you actually get through all that?" Zhang Yiyi voiced the question everyone was thinking.

"That's how I used to review in middle school," Xiao Ruawen said matter-of-factly.

"But you only had to take six subjects in middle school," Lin Wanning reminded her.

"Ah... that's true!" Xiao Ruawen realized belatedly, but then quickly said with a beaming smile, "Hehe~ No problem, I have Brother Fan!"

"Ow, Brother Fan, stop hitting me." After getting thumped on the head a couple of times, she ducked behind Xia Xiaoxiao.

"You didn't bring a single book, and she brought so much – it's like she's also carrying your share!" Xia Xiaoxiao always stood up for her best friend at critical moments.

"Exactly, that's right!" Xiao Ruawen brightened up, latching onto the argument.

"Didn't you get glasses?" Xu Qingfan simply shot back a rhetorical question.

"Ah~ Right!"

Only then did Xiao Ruawen remember she had to do that, but she quickly figured it out: glasses could be gotten any time, but she didn't have that much time for revision.

"I won't get them; I need to study hard to outperform Brother Fan!"

"How about we all go to the old house for a study session this Saturday?"

Xiao Ruawen's suggestion instantly evoked memories of the time the girls spent studying there for their middle school exams.

"Hehe~ Sure!" Lin Wanning was the first one to agree.

"Okay," Xia Xiaoxiao nodded.

"I can do it," said Wu Lingyu, who had initially planned to go home to see her parents that weekend. But now with exams on the horizon, she decided to postpone her visit.

"Old house, revision!" Zhang Yiyi extended her hand, and the others followed, placing theirs on top.

They looked at Xu Qingfan still standing there.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Xu Qingfan smiled and reluctantly placed his hand on theirs.

"Study session!"

"Nail it!"

"Good luck on the midterms!"

"Old house!"

Unrehearsed, everyone yelled out different things.

For a moment, the six of them looked at each other, and then laughter brought them together.

"Hahaha..."

...