Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

Xu Qingfan finally pushed Lin Wanning away, burying his head to smell the fragrance of her hair.

"If I really wanted to marry all five of you, would you still like me, Wanning?" he whispered into the girl's ear.

"Ah?" Lin Wanning stayed in place, blinking, and after making sure she hadn't heard wrong, she turned her head around, "Brother Qingfan, are you serious? You really want to marry the five of us as your wives?"

"Of course not, I'm not being serious. I was just saying 'what if,' it's not ancient times anymore, and marrying five wives is a crime." Xu Qingfan pushed her along leisurely as they walked.

"You scared me for a moment there; I thought Brother Qingfan really wanted to marry five wives." Lin Wanning patted her innocent heart, feeling a sense of discomfort since the morning because of bad Brother Qingfan's teasing.

"If we're talking 'what ifs,' then... Brother Qingfan has to marry me and Yiyi first!"

"Then comes Yu, Ruan Wen, and Xiao Xiao definitely wouldn't agree!"

Lin Wanning counted on her fingers, seriously considering things for Xu Qingfan.

"Wanning, why are you actually counting? I really was just talking off the cuff."

The dog of a man touched the girl's soft cheek, then suddenly changed his tone, "But if, I'm saying 'if,' okay, if Wanning and Yiyi regardless of worldly opposition, would rather die than not marry me; if that's the case, then I also wouldn't care about worldly opposition, I'd rather die than not marry Yiyi and you, Wanning."

"Of course, I'm just saying 'if,' nothing more."

In just a few short sentences, Xu Qingfan said 'if' five times, his intentions as transparent as those of Sima Zhao.

"Hehe~ Wanning gets it!" Lin Wanning rested her head under his chin, nodding vigorously like a woodpecker.

Xu Qingfan always felt like Lin Wanning saw right through him, sending shivers down his back.

"What do you get? I told you it's 'if.' Okay, let's catch up with them and then talk." After saying that, he took her hand and they started to jog.

[You should hurry up and tell Yiyi and Yu!]

[Brother Qingfan must be thinking that way for sure, hehehe...]

Lin Wanning watched his retreating figure, feeling delighted inside.

...

The trip from Donghui City to the high school section of Licheng Middle School took just over ten minutes by car. After everyone got into the vehicle, they arrived at their destination just before three o'clock.

The autumn wind whispered, and the dead leaves of the banyan trees outside danced in the air. In the courtyard, pink bougainvilleas hung heavy on the branches. The southern bougainvilleas bloomed all year round, flourishing most in November.

"Not bad, not bad, is someone taking care of the yard? It's quite clean." Xu Aiguo sat on the stone bench at the entrance, admiring the yard.

"Uncle, the property management comes once a week to take care of it; they have the keys to the yard," Xia Xiaoxiao answered.

After Xu Qingfan took out the keys and unlocked the door, everyone quickly filed in.

"Uncles and aunties, please put on some shoe covers, we don't have that many slippers at home." Xu Qingfan found ten pairs of slippers from the shoe cabinet; aside from the six pairs for themselves and Zhang Chunxue, the remaining three pairs were for guests.

"The house is spotless too; you guys really like to clean, huh?" Zhao YueMin's finger gently swept over the shoe cabinet, coming away clean without a speck of dust.

"Mom, we do big clean-ups regularly, of course, it's clean!" Xiao Ruawen stood with her hands on her hips.

All the visitors had been here before, but this was the first time so many came together.

The five girls led their mothers on a tour around the house, while Xu Aiguo and Lin Qiaoshan took a quick look around the living room before going back to the yard to play with the dog.

"This pool is really nice, it's been quite a while since I swam," Zhang Chunxue said as she slowly squatted down and scooped up a handful of water.

The casual shirt and trousers could not conceal the auntie's stunning curves; Xu Qingfan air-drew an "S" shape with his index finger.

"Auntie, if you want to swim, you can do it after the parent-teacher meeting. I'll re-filter the water and it should be ready in about two hours," he said.

Zhang Chunxue turned around, sprinkling the water in her hand onto him, "Let's talk about it when Xiao Fan hosts the barbecue; I heard from Yiyi you guys also have pool parties."

"Xiao Fan, why only invite Sister Zhang? You're not unwelcoming us, are you?" Lin Jing smiled with pursed lips.

"I've already heard about it from Wanning; I heard there are fireworks at night too. It's made me so curious." Wen Wanqing spoke softly, covering her mouth delicately with her hand.

"Yes, we want to come to the pool party too!" Zhao YueMin joined in, stirring up excitement.

Xu Qingfan felt overwhelmed; the scenario was too beautiful for him to even contemplate.

And if ten people really went swimming in the pool, it wouldn't be swimming anymore, it would be like dropping dumplings in a pot.

"How could that be? I was just worried the pool isn't big enough. I think maybe we should do this: next time, let's have a pool party at home for the aunties, and I'll wrap a white towel around my head to barbecue some lamb skewers for everyone, how about that?"

"Sounds good."

"I've noted this down, next time Xiao Fan you'll be grilling lamb skewers for us!"

"I've noted it down too, goose goose goose..."

The moms were chuckling with delight, and everyone soon left the pool.

...

After touring the second and third floors, it was almost time for the parents' meeting at four o'clock.

"The teacher said students can't attend the parent meeting, so we'll clean the house first and wait for you to come back for dinner together," said Qingfan.

"If the teacher praises us, Mom, remember to take photos!" exclaimed Xiao Xiao.

"Mom, I'm in Class 16 of the first year, same as Brother Fan, don't get it wrong!" said Ning.

After seeing off the adults, the six of them returned to the house.

"So, what's it going to be, draw lots or the usual rules?" Xu Qingfan pulled Lin Wanning up from her slumped position on the sofa and asked.

"Hehe, usual rules, usual rules!" After saying this, Lin Wanning immediately dragged Zhang Yiyi and Wu Lingyu upstairs.

Xu Qingfan watched the three of them leave and blinked: "Wanning, you said usual rules, but why are you taking Yu away?"

He scratched his head and turned to Xia Xiaoxiao and Xiao Ruawen.

"Ruawen and I will clean the living room; you take care of the yard yourself," said Xia Xiaoxiao before dragging Xiao Ruawen away with her.

"Brother Fan, the yard, you're on your own!" Xiao Ruawen turned back and made a face at him after walking a few steps.

"On my own then!" Xu Qingfan glared back, resigned to handling things himself. It was just his luck that someone had already cleaned the outside yard this week, so he only needed to take care of the inner courtyard.

...

Upstairs.

"Yu, Yiyi, let me tell you, just after we got out of the elevator, Brother Qing Fan asked me, 'Wanning, if in the future I want to marry five wives, will Wanning still like me?'"

"I told him if Brother Qing Fan wants to marry five wives, he has to marry Wanning, Yiyi, and Yu first, or no deal!"

"Then Brother Qing Fan said if me, Yiyi, and Yu... if we... anyhow, really wanted to marry Brother Qing Fan, to marry him all together, then he would marry all of us," said Lin Wanning, who no longer remembered Xu Qingfan's exact words, so she just paraphrased.

After speaking, she looked at the two of them, expecting them to shower her with praise.

Zhang Yiyi and Wu Lingyu exchanged a look, then both reached out and patted Lin Wanning on the head at the same time.

"Brother Fan is starting his conquest," said one.

"Is brother trying to persuade Wanning first, then convince the rest of us?" asked the other.

"Yiyi, what do you think about what the moms said at noon, how much of it was true and how much was fake?"

"Hard to say, the moms definitely like brother, but if brother really wants five wives, it's likely to be tough to agree," replied Yiyi.

"My mom probably won't agree either," said the one.

The two of them talked back and forth like this.

Lin Wanning looked from Wu Lingyu to Zhang Yiyi, wanting to say something but also afraid to interrupt their train of thought.

"Did Brother Fan say anything else?" Wu Lingyu suddenly asked Lin Wanning.

Given her turn to speak, Lin Wanning immediately replied, "Brother Qing Fan also said 'if, if, if,' a lot of ifs."

"Pfft... yeah," said Wu Lingyu.

"Yu, what do you think?" asked Lin Wanning.

"Brother Fan probably really thinks that way, the problem now is, we don't know if Brother Fan has kept anything from us, involving Ruawen, Xiaoxiao..." said Wu Lingyu, before trailing off, but Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi understood her perfectly.

"He probably hasn't, because Brother Fan hasn't even kissed Yu yet," Lin Wanning pointed out, looking at Yu.

"Let's assume for now there's nothing like that, and if we find out there is, we'll think of a way to bring Ruawen into the fold. As for Xiaoxiao..." she didn't finish her sentence either, but Lin Wanning and Wu Lingyu understood.

"That's the only way then," they agreed.

"Uh-huh..."

The three picked up their cloths again and got back to cleaning.

...