I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 110. Sealed Memories

"This is so annoying! These questions are impossible for a human to answer!"

"Damn, I haven't even finished half of it, and I can't understand it at all. I'm speechless!"

"."

Xu Qingfan and his two companions were in the farthest exam rooms, so they were the last to return to the starting point. When the three of them came back, the third-year students were already there, complaining in frustration.

"How did you do on the exam?" the team leader asked with delight when Xu Qingfan and the others returned.

"Brother Biao, get three plane tickets to Yanjing ready. It's easier than the district exam!" Xu Qingfan said coolly, one hand in his pocket.

The math teacher who taught them in the second and third grades was named Wang Wenbiao. Because he was a very approachable person, the students liked to call him Brother Biao.

"Awesome!"

"Great! I want to take the lower grade level test papers too!"

"Don't you have any ambition? Can't you even outperform those fourth graders?" Wang Wenbiao slapped the student who had just spoken twice in annoyance, then smiled and said to Xu Qingfan and the others, "Then I'll wait for the Education Bureau to announce your good news!"

"Brother Biao, what are we going to do now?"

"Brother Biao, where should we eat? I'm starving!"

Once everyone was there, the students chattered and bombarded Wang Wenbiao with questions.

"Everyone line up! The school has booked a restaurant for us. We're taking the subway to eat now!" Wang Wenbiao announced to the crowd through a megaphone.

"Okay!"

"Xu Qingfan, do you know what the subway looks like?" The three of them walked at the front of the group and arrived at Shipaiqiao subway station. Xia Xiaoxiao looked around like a curious child.

"That's it, pretty much the same as a train."

"Then why build it underground? Why not build it on top like a train?" Xia Xiaoxiao pressed.

"Stupid! Because building it down below won't affect traffic, building it up above would be so congested, and the housing prices here are ridiculously high, where would the government get so much money to compensate for demolition?" Xu Qingfan reached out and flicked Xia Xiaoxiao's head.

"How expensive can a house be!" Xia Xiaoxiao said dismissively.

"Look!" Xu Qingfan pointed to an advertising board inside the subway station, "One-stop transportation, convenient and worry-free, starting at 6999 yuan/㎡."

"How is this expensive? Xu Qingfan, you're trying to scam us again. 6999 a room is not expensive at all!" Xia Xiaoxiao hadn't learned about units of area yet, and blurted out the first thing she saw when she saw the billboard.

"Pfft~" Fortunately, Xu Qingfan was short, so he only sprayed a leg full of spittle on Brother Biao in front of him. "This symbol is called a square meter. This advertisement means that a small square with a length and width of one meter sells for 6999 yuan!" He used his leg to gesture a 1m×1m square.

"Isn't that robbery?!" Xia Xiaoxiao exclaimed, her mouth agape in shock.

"Haha! Kid, you're right. Isn't this just robbery? Two years ago, it was selling for 3999, and in just two years, the price has doubled. I think the housing prices will drop sooner or later!"

Xu Qingfan glanced sideways at the passerby who had interrupted. The man was in his fifties, fanning himself with a flyer from the real estate agency, wearing flip-flops and a classic white tank top.

"Grandpa, did your house just get demolished?" Xu Qingfan asked curiously.

"Hey~ not yet, not yet, I heard some rumors, isn't there some talk about building an Asian Games Village? My home happens to be in the Liede area!" The old man grinned from ear to ear.

Xu Qingfan:
[Damn, I've run into a potential billionaire.]
Last year, Gangcheng successfully bid for the Asian Games, and they already found out about the demolition so quickly. Xu Qingfan silently gave a thumbs up to the intelligence system in the old man's village.

It was rush hour, and the subway station was packed with people. To make matters worse, Xu Qingfan and his group were taking the notorious Line 3.

"You guys stay here, I'm going to buy tickets!" Wang Wenbiao glanced at the overcrowded ticket counter and sighed in exasperation.

"Brother Biao, hurry up!"

"Teacher, I need to go to the toilet!"

"Hold on, and remember not to run around. Xu Qingfan, you keep an eye on them for me!" After saying that, Wang Wenbiao squeezed into the crowd without looking back.

Xu Qingfan shrugged helplessly. "Everyone, don't run around. I heard that there are human traffickers in the subway station who abduct children to remote cities, cut off their hands and feet, and make them beg on the streets!"

"Fuck!"

"A beggar stared at me several times as soon as I entered the subway entrance!"

"Oh my god~ How scary!"

"Brother Fan, tell me you're lying!"

“Why would I lie to you? Haven’t you ever encountered disabled children around our age begging on the street? Those children are all trafficked and trafficked to make money by exploiting people’s sympathy!” Xu Qingfan said with a serious expression.

"Holy crap! I really did run into him on the street, and I even gave him 50 cents back then!"

"I've encountered that before, someone with a broken leg using a skateboard to walk!"

Xu Qingfan's words indeed stunned the group of elementary school students. No one thought about running around anymore, and they all vividly recounted their own fantastical experiences.

"It's so dangerous outside!" Xia Xiaoxiao and Wu Lingyu were both frightened by what Xu Qingfan had just said, and the two little girls unconsciously moved closer to him.

A few minutes later, Wang Wenbiao returned and handed out the dozen or so sensor tags he had just bought: "Don't drop anything you're holding. You'll have to return it when you leave the station. If you don't have it, you won't be able to leave, understand?"

Xu Qingfan fiddled with the sensor board, which was about the size of a coin, with the words "Gangcheng Metro" engraved on the green plastic circle.

Xu Qingfan remembered that the green ticket cost two yuan; he hadn't bought a ticket since the introduction of QR codes for boarding in his previous life.

"Follow me into the station!"

Many students were riding the subway for the first time, and they followed Wang Wenbiao's instructions to place the sensor cards on the display screen.

"Go in one at a time, be careful not to get pinched!" Wang Wenbiao warned.

Following Xu Qingfan's instructions, Wu Lingyu placed the sensor card on the screen. Seemingly worried about getting it caught, she rushed over as soon as the door opened.

Xu Qingfan noticed that Wu Lingyu kept looking at the ticket counter and asked curiously, "Why do you keep looking over there?"

"I want to see how they buy tickets so that I can take the subway next time I visit my dad with my mom!" The little girl scratched her head a little shyly.

Xu Qingfan suddenly recalled the scene when he returned home for the first National Day holiday during his freshman year of college in his previous life, and Xia Xiaoxiao taught him how to take the subway step by step.

"Is there something on my face?" Xia Xiaoxiao asked, rubbing her face in confusion when she noticed Xu Qingfan staring at her.

Xu Qingfan shook his head: "Taking the subway is actually very simple. You can do it like this first." He patiently explained to Wu Lingyu.

"Speechless~" Xia Xiaoxiao pursed her lips in disgust and muttered under her breath.

"When you exit the station, just drop this coin-like thing in here, and the door will open!" When Xu Qingfan got off the subway and arrived at the exit, he inserted his license plate, and the automatic door opened immediately.

"Thank you, Brother Fan, I understand!" Wu Lingyu said with a bright smile.

After walking another seven or eight hundred meters, the group arrived at a restaurant where people ate snacks. When they entered the restaurant, it was already full of students wearing the uniforms of the Experimental Primary School, with nearly forty students from grades four, five, and six combined.

"Six people per table, please sit wherever you like!" Wang Wenbiao gestured for his students to sit down, while he himself went to the teachers' table.

"Let's sit there!" Xu Qingfan pointed to a window seat and pulled the two of them over.

"Brother Fan, we'll sit with you!"

They must have ordered in advance; while the group was still washing dishes, the waiter brought out dishes like garlic spare ribs, chicken feet, and shrimp dumplings. Xu Qingfan's table was mostly occupied by girls, so unlike other tables, they didn't fight tooth and nail for food.

"Teacher, is there anything else we do after dinner?" an older student asked loudly after the meal.

"Teacher, I want to go shopping at Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street!"

"What's so fun about the pedestrian street? Why not go to Zhengjia Plaza? They sell authentic Gundam models there!" a kid immediately retorted.

"I want to go to Chimelong Safari Park!"

"Teacher, it's me."

Wu Lingyu seemed to have thought of something, and her eyes suddenly lit up, but when she realized that no one would agree with her suggestion, her eyes quickly dimmed again.

[If only I could go see my dad!] she thought to herself.

Wu Lingyu instinctively picked up her teacup to drink, but the hot water she had just poured scalded her. "Ah!"

"What are you doing? Did you burn your mouth?!" Xu Qingfan quickly grabbed a tissue to stop the hot water that had spilled on the table.

"It's nothing," Wu Lingyu said, licking the spot where she had just been burned, looking completely distraught.

"Waiter, could you please bring some ice? My classmate burned his mouth with his tea!" Xu Qingfan waved his hand to signal.

"How is it? Is the tea alright?" A teacher immediately stood up and asked.

"Pfft~ Hahahaha!"

At first, no one realized that Xu Qingfan had just made a blunder, but after the teacher pointed it out, everyone burst into laughter.

"Haha~ Xiaoyu, I'm asking you, did you get burned by the tea?" A girl at the same table as Wu Lingyu joked with a laugh.

"No, it's nothing," the little girl said awkwardly, scratching the back of her head.

"What were you thinking about just now? You were so lost in thought. Keep the ice in your mouth." Xu Qingfan handed her the glass full of ice that the waiter had brought over.

At Xu Qingfan's prompting, Wu Lingyu put an ice cube in her mouth and mumbled, "I miss my dad."

Xu Qingfan suddenly realized what Wu Lingyu had told him before, 'Dad rented a house near the hospital.'

“Oh right, your father is seeing a doctor here. I’ll go and talk to the teacher for you!” He said, getting up to leave.

"No need." Wu Lingyu tried to stop him, but failed.

"Brother Biao, I have something to tell you. Can you come out with me for a bit?" Worried that Wu Lingyu didn't want too many people to know about her father's illness, Xu Qingfan called Wang Wenbiao outside.

“Sure, I’ll take you there. It won’t take long anyway!” Wang Wenbiao agreed immediately after hearing the whole story.

"Then I'll thank the teacher on Xiaoyu's behalf!" Xu Qingfan smiled and gave Wu Lingyu inside the glass a 'OK' sign.

[It's so nice to know you!] Wu Lingyu pressed her face against the glass, smiling broadly.

The group eventually split into two: Xu Qingfan and his two friends, along with Wang Wenbiao, went to visit Wu Lingyu's father, while the other students walked to Zhengjia Plaza to watch a movie.

"Thank you all," Wu Lingyu said gratefully on the subway to the Provincial People's Hospital.

She felt guilty because of her, as Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao hadn't been able to see the movie.

"Why are you being so polite? What good movies are there in September? We're just going to sleep in here anyway, so we might as well come out for a walk. Xiao Xiao, don't you agree?" Xu Qingfan said nonchalantly.

“Yeah, domestically produced movies aren’t very good.” Xia Xiaoxiao nodded seriously.

"Lingyu, can you contact your father? You can use the teacher's phone to talk to him in advance." Wang Wenbiao handed over his phone.

Wu Lingyu shook her head and said with great guilt, "Teacher, I'm sorry, my dad doesn't have a cell phone."

"It's okay, it's okay, going directly is the same." Worried that he might hurt the child's self-esteem, Wang Wenbiao quickly tried to salvage the situation.

"Call Auntie and ask, Brother Biao, give me the phone!" Xu Qingfan reached out to ask for the phone.

"Is the aunt you're talking about Lingyu's mother? You even know her mother's phone number?" Wang Wenbiao asked in surprise.

“Yes.” Xu Qingfan was too lazy to explain the intricacies, so he took the phone and dialed the store’s landline.

"Hello, who is it?"

"Mom, this is Xu Qingfan. Is Aunt Li there? Xiaoyu needs to talk to her. Please let her answer the phone."

"You little rascal~ How did your exams go? Are you still in Gangcheng? Meijuan, your phone number. Your daughter!"

"The exam went well. I'm still in Gangcheng. Mom, I'm giving my phone to Xiaoyu." Xu Qingfan said, handing the phone to Wu Lingyu.

"Mom, we're going to see Dad. Okay. Okay. Okay!" After Wu Lingyu said that, Li Meijuan continued talking on the phone until the little girl hung up a few minutes later.

Seeing that everyone was looking at her, Wu Lingyu said nervously, "My father is being treated at the Provincial People's Hospital, and my mother said she doesn't know which room he's in."

"It's alright, just ask the nurse at the front desk when you get there," Xu Qingfan reassured her.

“Yes, as long as we know which hospital it is, that’s fine,” Wang Wenbiao said.

"Yes!" The little girl nodded gratefully.

The Provincial People's Hospital was only a few subway stops away from where they were eating. After exiting the subway and walking for a few more minutes, the four of them quickly arrived at their destination.

Wang Wenbiao led them to a fruit shop across from the hospital, where they bought two pounds of apples and carried the fruit into the hospital.

"Hello, we've come to visit the patient, but we don't know which department the patient is in."

"Name." The middle-aged woman sitting at the front desk looked up.

"Lingyu, what's your father's name?" Wang Wenbiao asked, looking down.

"Wu Suowei." Wu Lingyu's voice was neither loud nor soft, but it struck Xu Qingfan like a thunderbolt.

"Write it down," the middle-aged nurse continued indifferently.

When Xu Qingfan saw the little girl neatly write the three characters "Wu Suowei" on the paper, he was completely petrified.

Countless long-buried memories flooded his mind: hospital, jumping off a building, urban village, mother and daughter, suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.
"Wait!" Xu Qingfan, as if possessed, suddenly grabbed Wu Lingyu's wrist.

"Xu Qingfan, what are you doing?" Everyone was startled by his reaction. Xia Xiaoxiao was the first to come to her senses and slapped Xu Qingfan on the back of the head.

"No," he glanced at Wu Lingyu with a complicated expression, then explained with an awkward laugh, "I just saw someone run a red light and almost get hit by a car."

"Idiot!" Xia Xiaoxiao pouted and reached out to pry his hand off Wu Lingyu.

"Don't make a scene in the hospital, the patient is in room 732 on the seventh floor!" the nurse said, glaring at Xu Qingfan.

"Sorry, thank you!" Xu Qingfan awkwardly scratched the back of his head, his eyes unconsciously glancing at Wu Lingyu.

Wu Lingyu was also looking at him. She had a feeling that Xu Qingfan's "wait" was directed at her, and his eyes were not the same as before.

[What's wrong with Brother Fan?] the little girl wondered to herself.

(End of this chapter)