Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

Xia Xiaoxiao was the class monitor, and the program selection in the class was done through voting, quite in line with a young girl's personality.

"We could do a skit, ya—more people, more fun, and it's okay if we don't make it to the finals."

"Our class is practicing 'Langya Mountain Five Heroes.'"

Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi exchanged smiles. Besides the 'Five Heroes', the rest of the students were assigned by them to play the enemy soldiers.

Xu Qingfan didn't say anything throughout, just letting them exchange ideas.

When everyone had almost finished talking, he reached out and ruffled Yu's head, saying, "Yu is so smart, she must know how to make good decisions."

"Yeah!" Wu Lingyu nodded, giving him a slight smile.

...

"Brother Fan, did you find some money this morning? Why are you reading so loudly?" After the morning reading session, Wu Shichong took out his packed sticky rice chicken and asked while eating.

"Find money? Where, where is the money?" Lai Chenglang, looking half-dead, suddenly sat up, his confused little eyes looking around at everyone.

"Go back to sleep, there's no money to be found. I just got up at five in the morning and ran five kilometers on an empty stomach," Xu Qingfan waved his hand, teasing the two.

"Holy moly, for real?" Lai Chenglang's face was in shock.

"I thought Brother Fan you were cough cough coughing last night, yet so energetic early this morning," Wu Shichong said, making a gesture that every man understands.

Xu Qingfan glared at him, "Know too much, do you not value your life!"

"You really ran five kilometers this morning?" Xiao Ruawen looked at him with doubtful eyes, unable to believe it.

"What else could it be? I got up so early today, and even cooked breakfast for you guys," Xu Qingfan straightened her head, not giving the young girl a chance to ask further.

"Hmph—don't know who it is that sleeps until 6:40 every day and has to be dragged out of bed by us," Xiao Ruawen pouted her lips and continued to write down her answers.

Wang Xuan, watching the interactions between the two, felt full of envy.

[How nice....]

Being classmates with Xu Qingfan and Xiao Ruawen, she never dozed off in class anymore, instead, felt quite sour every day.

...

The first and second periods in the morning were consecutive math classes.

Xu Qingfan never listened during math class. He used his books to build a small crevice on the desk, perfectly placing his phone inside.

Due to his alteration, history had deviated slightly; through his influence, social networks were launched half a year earlier than scheduled and received rave reviews.

Xu Qingfan swiped through his social feed, liking Lin Jing's casually taken photo of a little flower!

Liking Zhang Chunxue's beautiful selfie!

(Comment: Auntie is beautiful!)

Liking Mom and Dad's travel photos!

[Oh no, that's not right!]

Xu Qingfan quickly withdrew the like he gave his mom's post; he'd be exposing his phone use in class if he kept it up.

Luckily, both elders were probably still not up. Xu Qingfan waited a long time but neither Yao Jinping nor Xu Aiguo sent a message, but he did receive one from Aunt Zhang.

[Xiao Fan playing with his phone in class again, beware I might tattle. smirking.jpg]

Xu Qingfan formed a slight grin, stealing a glance at the class teacher who was lecturing, and typed a reply with his head down.

[Meow meow meow meow, I'm not Xiao Fan, I'm little bro, meow meow meow~]

He happened to have a selfie of "little bro" in his phone, Xu Qingfan found it and sent it right away.

[photo.jpg, A picture speaks a thousand meows.]

In Hong Kong, Zhang Chunxue, skiving off in her office, almost spat out her tea laughing when she saw Xu Qingfan's reply.

She set down her tea, still squinting and smiling for a while, and tapped the screen.

[Only you would be so cheeky, don't ever ask me to face your parents again if you get caught, it's embarrassing!]

[Meow meow meow?]

[Auntie, can you speak Meow meow language? I'm little bro.]

Zhang Chunxue looked at the two new messages, laughed, but did not reply and just packed her phone away to focus on work.

Xu Qingfan also tacitly stopped "disturbing" auntie and switched to browsing QQ Farm.

QQ Farm, Pasture, and Car Parking Games are still some of the hottest games around. With five girls always keeping him company in the game, Xu Qingfan found climbing the levels quite fun.

He had just filled Lin Wanning's virtual farm with bugs and weeds when her message came through.

When not interacting with elders, they all preferred using QQ.

In the group, Lin Wanning tagged him: [Brother Qing Fan, playing with your phone in class, points off!]

Xu Qingfan pretended not to see, and the rest of the class was also intently listening, so only Lin Wanning's message hung alone in the chat.

After realizing she had been tricked, Lin Wanning decisively returned to QQ Farm, took a screenshot of the time Xu Qingfan had just visited her farm, and sent it to the group.

[Picture proof: Brother Qing Fan secretly playing with his phone during class!]

Lin Wanning also added an angry little dog emoji at the end.

"Pfft..." Xu Qingfan almost laughed out loud after seeing the picture, but he still didn't reply.

"Pay attention to your class, the teacher's watching you," Xiao Ruawen quietly nudged him with her elbow, whispering a reminder.

That scoundrel just pushed his arm, used a book to cover his phone, stared at the blackboard, and nodded slightly, pretending to be attentively listening.

Slacking off during class was nothing unusual.

...

Wasting two periods on his phone, the battery had used up fifty percent—Apple phones might not lag, but their batteries genuinely don't last long.

The tune for exercising looped on the broadcast, and Xu Qingfan instinctively looked down to check; his shoelaces weren't loose.

"Brother Fan, help me pull up my shirt." Xiao Ruawen grabbed the hem of her undershirt, indicating for him to hold it, worried about accidentally exposing herself while taking off her outer layer.

Xu Qingfan caught a glimpse of the grandeur that even four layers of clothing couldn't hide, and sneakily peeked a few more times.

"All set, thanks Brother Fan."

Xiao Ruawen put the sweater back in the drawer, took a sip of water, then trotted out to line up in the hallway.

Xu Qingfan grabbed his school card and followed her out.

The big break in winter switched from broadcasting calisthenics to ten minutes of jogging, including the distance jogged to the playground to assemble, it was about enough to break a light sweat.

In the south, running drills didn't require neat formations; faster students rushed deadly ahead while slower ones followed leisurely at the back, creating a scene like a wave of zombies attacking.

Lin Wanning loved running drills, looking forward to the feeling of finding Xu Qingfan in the vast crowd.

She held Zhang Yiyi's hand, and the two ran across the field like two unleashed elves, searching for the first ray of the morning sun.

"Yu!"

They first found Wu Lingyu, but Yu was a good girl, not daring to fall out of line and run wildly like them.

Wu Lingyu nodded at them, smiled slightly, and soon they disappeared from her sight.

Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi continued to run forward, overtaking the classes in front of them—one by one—tenth class, eleventh class... sixteenth class.

"Brother Qing Fan!"

"Brother!"

After spotting Xu Qingfan's figure, the two girls excitedly sped up and quickly reached his side.

The two were obviously not doing this for the first time; Xu Qingfan wasn't surprised, and neither were the students of the sixteenth class.

"Wanning, you were playing with your phone during class, I've already taken a screenshot!" Xu Qingfan grabbed Lin Wanning's hand and pulled her to run together.

"Huff~ It was clearly, clearly Brother Qing Fan who was playing with his phone during class!" Lin Wanning was a bit out of breath, panting heavily.

"Yiyi also saw it, right? Wanning playing with her phone during class," Xu Qingfan said to Zhang Yiyi, who was beside him.

"Saw it, brother is liked mom's Moments, brother played with the phone!" Zhang Yiyi glared at him.

"Hey~ you guys are here, want to go to the snack bar together after dispersal?" Xiao Ruawen, hearing their voices, slowed her pace and joined Xu Qingfan's side.

"Huff huff~ Sure!"

"Yeah!"

"Brother Fan, you have good stamina, you go talk to Yu and Xiao Xiao." Xiao Ruawen swatted away Xu Qingfan's hand and took Lin Wanning's herself.

To reach out to both, they would need to speed up and lap Xia Xiaoxiao and Wu Lingyu.

Xu Qingfan glared at her: "You have good stamina too, why don't you go?"

"Because Brother Fan is awesome~"

"Brother Fan is the best!"

Xiao Ruawen gently nudged him with her arm.

"Stop it, stop it, I give up," Xu Qingfan gave in to Xiao Ruawen's coquettishness and rushed off.

"Go Brother Qing Fan, cheer up!"

The sound of Lin Wanning's voice drifted into his ears with the wind.

.....