I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 117. Xia Xiaoxiao's Angry
"If you don't want to come back, then don't come back at all, not even for Chinese New Year. My daughter and I can still manage!"

Xu Qingfan, who had just returned from a raid on a bubble tea shop, hadn't even stepped through Xia Xiaoxiao's front door when he heard Lin Jing's angry shouts from inside.

After a mental struggle, Xu Qingfan continued on his unfinished journey.

The autumn sun sets particularly quickly. It was only a little past six o'clock, and the lights of thousands of homes outside were already on. The living room lights were off, and the house was shrouded in darkness.

The television was on silently, and the dim light from the screen illuminated Xia Xiaoxiao's face, making her look very lonely.

Lin Jing was still holding the phone she had just hung up on. She raised her hand as if to throw it, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Xu Qingfan standing at the door.

"Xiao Fan is here. Why don't you come in and sit down?" Lin Jing quickly composed herself and said in an extremely unnatural tone.

Xu Qingfan turned on the light switch by the door, and the bright incandescent light quickly illuminated the room. "Auntie, have you eaten? I bought you milk tea!"

Xu Qingfan pretended nothing had happened and enthusiastically handed one of the sago milk tea cups to Lin Jing.

The turned-on lights seemed to breathe life into the deathly silent room. Looking at Xu Qingfan's smile, Lin Jing suddenly felt less sad. "You and Xiaoxiao drink, Auntie doesn't like to drink."

"Auntie, you drink this. I've already had mine. I originally bought both cups for Xiaoxiao; she has a big appetite!" Xu Qingfan helped insert a straw and handed her one of the cups.

"You're the big eater!"

Xia Xiaoxiao, who had been sitting silently on the sofa sulking, suddenly became furious and grabbed a cushion from the sofa, throwing it at him.

"Auntie, look at her! All she does is bully me all day long. She's not acting like a girl at all!" Xu Qingfan complained to Lin Jing, pushing away a flying pillow with her head.

"Pfft~" Lin Jing was amused by Xu Qingfan's jokes and smiled. She gave her daughter a reproachful look and said, "Xiao Fan was just joking with you. Why did you hit him with a pillow? Apologize to Fanfan right now."

"Hmph, sorry!" Xia Xiaoxiao said, feigning resentment.

"I'll forgive you this time." Xu Qingfan smiled, picked up the pillow from the ground, put it back in its place, and handed her the remaining cup of pudding milk tea.

"They're all liars." Xia Xiaoxiao reached out and took the milk tea, deliberately sitting a little further away from Xu Qingfan.

"Alright~ You two chat, Auntie's going to the kitchen to cook." Watching the little interaction between the two, Lin Jing's mood immediately improved, and she hummed a little tune from the teahouse as she walked into the kitchen.

As soon as her mother entered the kitchen, Xia Xiaoxiao put down the milk tea she was holding and then pounced on Xu Qingfan.

"Liar, liar, big liar, I'll bite you to death!"

Xu Qingfan was tackled onto the sofa by her, looking up at the little girl who was making a ruckus on him.

After suppressing her anger for a while, Xia Xiaoxiao felt her anger subside and was about to get up.

"what!"

Both he and Xia Xiaoxiao cried out in pain simultaneously inside the room.

The two men, their masks contorted in pain, stared at each other and said in unison, "What are you yelling about!"

Xu Qingfan clutched his groin, which had just been fatally struck, his meaning unspoken.

Xia Xiaoxiao pointed to the injury on her right knee: "You hurt me!"

He glared angrily at the little girl, then squatted down to ease his pain.

"Are you alright?" Xia Xiaoxiao asked with some concern when she saw Xu Qingfan looking like he was in a lot of pain.

"What did you say?"

"I'm sorry, I forgive you for being late, let's call it even!" she said, pouting. Fortunately, Xia Xiaoxiao also had an injury on her knee, so she hadn't pressed down too hard. After a few minutes, Xu Qingfan felt less pain and sat back down on the sofa.

He hadn't intended to let Xia Xiaoxiao off so easily, but thinking of the phone call he'd overheard before entering, Xu Qingfan sighed silently.

"Be careful next time, don't press on me there, it hurts!" he said irritably.

"Oh!"

Xia Xiaoxiao had heard her mother talk about some physiological knowledge when she was in kindergarten, but not much. She only knew that boys' private parts were different from theirs, and she didn't know that they were so fragile.

Thinking about all this, Xia Xiaoxiao remembered that she had once taken off her underwear in this very spot.
[Ahhhhh—I'm so embarrassed!!!] She instinctively covered her face with her hands.

"What are you doing?" Xu Qingfan asked, seeing Xia Xiaoxiao acting strangely.

"Mind your own business! You said you'd be back before six, and it's almost seven now!!" Xia Xiaoxiao felt her face burning and turned her head to the side as she spoke.

"Aunt Zhang is treating us to dinner. Oh, and I brought this for you." Xu Qingfan said, pulling a large hairy crab from his pocket. "This one cost over a hundred yuan, and it's full of roe."

September is for females, October for males. October is the best time to eat male crabs. The hairy crab in front of me weighs nearly five ounces, which can be called the best of the best.

Even though Xu Qingfan is someone who dislikes trouble and never eats crabs, he still proudly showed off two crabs during the meal.

"How are we supposed to eat this?" Xia Xiaoxiao asked excitedly as she took the crab from Xu Qingfan, looking completely at a loss for words.

"Go get a spoon and scissors, I'll teach you." He was eager to show off his newly learned crab-dissecting skills.

"Oh!" Xia Xiaoxiao excitedly ran into the kitchen with the crab in her hand. "Mom~ Xu Qingfan brought me a big hairy crab!"

"Fanfan is so nice, you guys eat, Mommy doesn't want any." Lin Jing thought her daughter was going to come in and share half with her, so she said.

"Mom, I want scissors and a spoon. Xu Qingfan has already eaten. Let's eat together!"

"Yes, my daughter is so good." Lin Jing rubbed her daughter's head and handed her the washed spoon and scissors.

"Watch closely, break off the crab's legs first, because the legs cool down the fastest, so you should eat them first. Of course, they're already cold now, so it doesn't matter." After getting the tools, Xu Qingfan broke off the crab's eight legs with his bare hands.

“Then cut here, and the crab leg meat will come out with a poke,” he said, turning the crab’s shell upside down on the table and scooping the crab leg meat and crab roe onto it. “This part hidden inside is the crab intestine, which is also inedible. The rest is all edible!” He scooped all the sorted crab meat and crab roe onto the crab shell and handed it to Xia Xiaoxiao.

"Mmm-hmm!" The little girl excitedly took the spoon and crab shell and ran back into the kitchen.

"Mom, you eat!"

Lin Jing scooped up a spoonful and put it in her mouth. The moment the crab roe touched her mouth, her eyes lit up. "Wow, crab is so delicious! Let's make it at home from now on!"

"Delicious!" Xia Xiaoxiao exclaimed with delight after taking a spoonful.

Not long after, Xia Xiaoxiao came out of the kitchen empty-handed. "Thank you," she said softly to Xu Qingfan as she sat back down on the sofa.

"What did you say? I didn't hear you clearly." Xu Qingfan was busy cleaning the crab legs on the table and only vaguely heard Xia Xiaoxiao speaking.

"Fine, if you can't hear me, then so be it!"

"Get out of here, you riddle maker!"

"Silly girl~" Xia Xiaoxiao hummed a song, happily watching the busy people in front of her.

(End of this chapter)