Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

Yao Jiping said she was going to get her phone and then never came back.

In the kitchen, Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao were quiet and silent, one stir-frying while the other washed vegetables with her head down.

Xia Xiaoxiao wanted to say something several times, but in the end, she held back.

It was you who said we're not a couple, and you who said you didn't want to date in high school or college. So what's there to explain now?

In the same space, their moods were worlds apart, but the emotions on their faces were the exact opposite.

On the surface,

Xu Qingfan: Ouch!

Xia Xiaoxiao: I'm an innocent bystander.

But internally,

Xu Qingfan: Awesome!

Xia Xiaoxiao: Annoyed to death!

...

As it was nearing six in the evening.

Lin Jing came home after getting her hair done, her golden, wavy tresses complementing her conservatively styled black long dress, her austerity maxed out.

No matter the age, loving beauty is a woman's nature. Seeing that it was Xu Qingfan who came to open the door for her, Lin Jing turned in a circle on the spot.

"How do I look, do I look pretty?"

Xu Qingfan blinked and hesitated for a moment before shouting towards Xia Xiaoxiao in the kitchen, "Xia Xiaoxiao, your sister is back!"

"Pff..." Lin Jing instantly laughed at Xu Qingfan's remark, playfully twisting his ear, "So disrespectful."

Xia Xiaoxiao, with a puzzled look, came out of the kitchen and her confusion turned to surprise when she saw it was her mother.

"Mom!"

"What do you think, does mom's hairstyle look good?" Lin Jing let go of Xu Qingfan's ear and stretched out her arms to welcome her daughter.

"It's beautiful, mom always looks good!" Xia Xiaoxiao was now taller than Lin Jing, so she couldn't act like a child in her arms like before, so instead, she glared at Xu Qingfan.

"All right, Auntie, you've just had your hair done, so don't go into the kitchen. You two have a nice chat, I'll go back to cooking," Xu Qingfan said after standing by and admiring for a while.

"You should be the one cooking anyway!" Xia Xiaoxiao was still annoyed about him not following the script earlier, so her tone was a bit harsh.

"What a way to speak, Xiao Fan has been working hard," Lin Jing chided Xia Xiaoxiao, calling out to Xu Qingfan's retreating back.

"It's okay, this Xia Xiaoxiao is always like this, I'm used to it," Xu Qingfan waved his hand dismissively and walked away.

Xia Xiaoxiao, unable to retort, just clenched her fists even tighter in frustration.

"With you always being so fierce, Xiao Fan will stop playing with you," Lin Jing said, shaking her head and smiling once Xu Qingfan had left.

"He wouldn't dare!"

"It was clearly him bullying me first!"

Xia Xiaoxiao felt anger before feeling wronged, struggling inwardly, but couldn't express it.

"Ugh, so annoying!" Seeing Lin Jing still looking unconvinced, Xia Xiaoxiao felt even more aggrieved.

"Alright, alright, mom believes you, happy now?" Lin Jing could barely suppress her laughter; her daughter's drama was quite entertaining.

"Then why are you still laughing!" Xia Xiaoxiao pouted.

"Mom wasn't... pff!" Lin Jing instinctively denied it but betrayed herself with the snort that escaped her lips.

"?"

"Ugh, I'm not talking to you anymore!" Xia Xiaoxiao was stunned for a moment, and the next second, she huffed and turned to leave.

"Xiao Xiao, come back, I really wasn't laughing... ha, mom really wasn't... really not.... hahaha..."

Xia Xiaoxiao: Love is dead to me, world, go ahead and end!

...

At eight in the evening, after dinner, everyone became busy with their own activities.

Xu Qingfan headed back to his room to deal with official business, while the fisherman Xu Aiguo continued to act the part of the bait-preparing sage, Lin Jing and Yao Jiping watched TV in the living room.

The exception was Xia Xiaoxiao—the girl didn't, as usual, use the excuse of conserving electricity to cool the air conditioning while lying on Xu Qingfan's bed playing with her phone, but instead she went back to her own home.

In Xia Xiaoxiao's bedroom, after the girl locked the door from the inside, she sat in front of the dressing mirror and took out her diary that was hidden in a drawer.

After entering the password to unlock the diary, she began to flip through the most recent entries.

"2011.10.22, Stinky Dog said he hoped our friendship would last forever. What does he mean by that, isn't what we have more than just friendship? (Scribbled out)"

"2011.10.23, Yu was acting really weird today, does Yu have some secret?"

"2011.10.25, Yu has been looking at me strangely recently, I always feel like Yu is hiding something from me."

Xia Xiaoxiao closed her eyes pretending to nap, recalling Wu Lingyu's behavior over the week but not noticing anything unusual, so she temporarily put this matter aside.

"2011.10.27, This stupid Stinky Dog, he went to the convenience store again today, it won't be good if mom finds that dirty thing in my drawer (Scribbled out), should I just use it up?"

By the time she got to the last entry, the bottle of "dirty thing" was already in Xia Xiaoxiao's hand.

"What the heck." Xia Xiaoxiao's cheeks were slightly warm as she pretended not to care and tossed the lubricant onto the bed.

"He only knows how to bully me, I surely won't reward him."

"Hmph~ I hope you suffer holding it in!"

"Hehehe..."

Suddenly imagining Stinky Dog holding it in and begging her, Xia Xiaoxiao burst into laughter.

[Pull it together! Pull it together!]

Xia Xiaoxiao held her face in her hands, quickly stopping her laughter.

She pushed back her bangs, pressing her palms against her forehead, and feeling her body temperature was several degrees higher than usual.

"Stupid Dog...all those questions, if you like asking so much, why don't you just ask me if I like you!" Thinking about the two questions Xu Qingfan had asked her, Xia Xiaoxiao began to complain again, huffily.

What? You say the first question was brought up by herself?

Xia Xiaoxiao insists I'm not listening, I'm not listening! (Monkey covering ears.JPG)

"So stupid!"

"Who could be so dumb!" Xia Xiaoxiao muttered irritably.

She might have been cursing herself, or Xu Qingfan, or perhaps both.

After cursing, Xia Xiaoxiao calmed down again and started to seriously rethink the conversation they had in the evening.

[Stinky Dog held my hand, and when I asked what our relationship was, he hemmed and hawed, then counter-asked whether what we had counted as a couple's relationship.]

[He said that our holding hands was something couples do, could it be Xu Qingfan actually wants to be in a sweet relationship with me, but fears rejection, and that's why he hinted at it like this?]

[After I denied we were a couple, he didn't seem too upset or unhappy, strange, really strange.]

[In the kitchen, he asked me if I was not planning on dating in high school or university, could it be, could it be!]

Xia Xiaoxiao suddenly had an epiphany.

[Could it be Stinky Dog thinks that if not in high school, there's still a chance in university, and that's why he didn't feel dejected then!]

"That must be it!"

"Uh-huh~"

Xia Xiaoxiao slapped her thigh in regret, only to realize it was her own leg.

"And then I went on to say I wasn't planning on dating in high school or university, he must have been so disappointed after hearing that..." She suddenly felt like she truly deserved to die.

Xia Xiaoxiao penned in her diary: [2011.11.4, Xu Qingfan is just a stupid dog, a dumb dog, too dumb!]

"No, I must go and clear things up with him!"