I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 134. Xu Qingfan's Conjecture
"This is Ningning's land, Brother Qingfan, hurry up and pay!" Lin Wanning stretched out his palm to demand payment.

After dinner, the four children continued playing Monopoly.

"I'm out of money," Xu Qingfan said helplessly, spreading his hands.

“Xu Qingfan is bankrupt, let’s continue!” Xia Xiaoxiao picked up the dice and threw them.

"One, two, three," Xia Xiaoxiao controlled her character step by step, moving it within the grid.

"Hahaha~ You'll be in jail!" Xu Qingfan laughed, pointing at her final destination.

"Ah~ I don't have any money for bail." Bail requires fifty yuan, and Xia Xiaoxiao counted the game coins she only had on the table, totaling just over thirty yuan, and said dejectedly.

"Yay! Ningning won!!" Lin Wanning scooped up a large pile of coins in front of her with both hands and tossed them into the air.

"Awesome!" Zhang Yiyi also clapped and cheered.

Perhaps due to home-field advantage, Lin Wanning won all the rounds in a row. Xu Qingfan was getting a little tired of Monopoly and suggested, "Let's play a game without challenges!"

What does it mean to avoid taking on challenges?

"Brother Qingfan, is this a new game?"

"Ok?"

The three women tilted their heads and looked at him in confusion.

"This is a game I came up with myself. We cut out cards the size of playing cards, write down what we need to do on them, and then randomly tie them to our heads so we can't see them, but our opponents can. Then you guys try to trick me into doing what's written on the cards," Xu Qingfan explained to them.

"I don't understand." Lin Wanning shook his head vigorously.

“For example, I write ‘drink water’ on a card and then tie it to your head, Ningning,” he said, making a tying motion with his hands empty towards Lin Wanning. “Wanning, you can’t see the words on the card; only the three of us can see them.”

"Ningning can't see!"

“Okay, then we’ll talk to you to get you to drink water. Once you drink water, Ningning, you lose. That’s what it means to not make a challenge, understand?” Xu Qingfan looked at the three of them in turn.

"Mmmmmmm!"

"It looks like so much fun! ~(*°▽°*)~" Lin Wanning's eyes sparkled.

"Play!"

The four quickly prepared the tools needed for the game: cut-up colorful greeting cards and unusable hair ties.

"Let's draw lots. Whoever's name we draw will be the one we ask the question to." Xu Qingfan spread four crumpled pieces of paper with their respective surnames on them in his palm and gave them to the three of them.

"Xu, Qingfan, it was Ningning who gave you the question!" Lin Wanning said with surprise after unfolding the paper.

Xu Qingfan drew Zhang Yiyi, while Xia Xiaoxiao drew Lin Wanning. The remaining Zhang Yiyi was written by Xia Xiaoxiao.

Considering that Zhang Yiyi usually speaks no more than three words, he wrote on the first card: Look up.

"Can Brother Qingfan write anything?" Lin Wanning asked him loudly from a distance.

"We can't write things that are too easy or too difficult, like breathing or blinking. How could we possibly not do those?" Xu Qingfan explained.

"Hehe, okay~" Lin Wanning nodded and continued writing.

After exchanging the five cards that had been written, the game quickly began.

In the first round, Xu Qingfan's name was "Speaking," Xia Xiaoxiao's was "Laughing," Zhang Yiyi's was "Looking Up," and Lin Wanning's was "Say 'Brother Qingfan'."

After the four tied the cards to their heads, they each tested each other with their eyes.

Xu Qingfan launched the first attack, pointing to the ceiling and asking, "Ningning, why is there a gecko on your ceiling?"

"Hahaha~" As soon as Xu Qingfan opened his mouth, the three women pointed at him and burst into laughter.

"No, I lost?" Xu Qingfan took the card off his head in disbelief. After seeing the message "Speak" written on it, he glared at Lin Wanning with a fierce look.

"That's so stupid!" Xia Xiaoxiao mocked.

"Hehe, Qingfan, it's your own fault for being bad, you can't blame Ningning."

"Hahahaha!" The three turned to point at Lin Wanning's card.

"Ah!" Lin Wanning covered his mouth in surprise upon seeing it.

"Still laughing? Here you go!" Xu Qingfan reached out and pulled the card off Xia Xiaoxiao's head, handing it to him to look at.

"Damn it!" The usually quiet Xia Xiaoxiao rarely uttered a curse.

Zhang Yiyi kept suppressing her laughter, covering her mouth with both hands to prevent herself from speaking, afraid of following in the footsteps of the three.

The three of them changed to new cards. This time, Xu Qingfan said a four-character idiom, Xia Xiaoxiao agreed, and Lin Wanning said strawberry cake.

Having learned from the experience of the first round, all four of them were very cautious this time. Xu Qingfan inexplicably raised his head and looked at the ceiling.

Lin Wanning and Xia Xiaoxiao immediately understood and followed suit.

Zhang Yiyi blinked at the three of them in confusion, then looked up as well.

The three covered their mouths and chuckled, none of them saying a word. Xu Qingfan reached out and took the card off Zhang Yiyi's head, showing it to her.

After seeing the contents of the paper, Zhang Yi smiled and took a new card (and high-fived someone) and put it on her head.

"Three men can make a tiger." With Xu Qingfan's user manual, Xia Xiaoxiao launched the second round of attacks.

"The tiger is majestic and powerful." Sure enough, Xu Qingfan, who loves playing word games, immediately fell for it.

"So majestic! And Brother Qingfan, you've lost!" Lin Wanning pointed at him and laughed.

"Damn it! Xia Xiaoxiao, you better remember this."

"Young lady, you're amazing!"

"Awesome!" Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi clapped and said.

"I'm not afraid of you!" Xia Xiaoxiao's face showed a smug little expression.

"Give it to me!" Xu Qingfan reached out and snatched the card from Xia Xiaoxiao's head.

"No, when did I agree?" Xia Xiaoxiao retorted after reading the above content.

“Wan Ning and Yi Yi just praised you for being amazing, but you didn’t respond. Knowing you as I do, your silence means you agree!” Clearly, Xu Qingfan also has a user manual for Xia Xiaoxiao.

Okay, no problem.

The knife-wielder's gaze was unmistakable, and Xia Xiaoxiao did not refute it, instead equipping herself with a new card.

"Yay!" Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi high-fived in celebration.

"Hehe~" Lin Wanning chuckled as he helped Zhang Yiyi remove the card she was wearing on her head.

Zhang Yi took it and looked at it. After reading it, her eyes widened in disbelief.

The game was getting better and better, and the four of them were having a great time.

Around 9 p.m., Zhang Chunxue went to Lin Wanning's house to pick up Zhang Yiyi and take her home.

"Mom, wait!" Zhang Yi got up, hugged Zhang Chunxue, and then returned to the table to continue playing the game.

"It's okay, you guys keep playing, I'll watch you play from here."

Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao have already been eliminated because they kept hurting each other. Now, Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi are the only two left to compete in the Imperial City. Both of them only have one card left.

Zhang Yiyi nodded in agreement, while Lin Wanning offered to help others.

"Yi-yi, do you want some water?" Lin Wanning asked. Zhang Yi-yi shook her head.

"Shall we have strawberry cake?"

Zhang Yiyi shook her head again.

Lin Wanning suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "Yiyi, let's go out and play together tomorrow!"

Zhang Yiyi also had a sudden inspiration. After nodding, she pretended to look for a notebook to write something and said, "A notebook, I need one."

"Haha~ You lost!" In the end, Lin Wanning proved superior and won the championship of this year's "Don't Do a Challenge" competition.

Zhang Chunxue quickly understood the rules of their game and said with a smile, "Your game is so much fun! Can Auntie join in next time?"

"Of course! It was invented by Brother Qingfan!" Lin Wanning said excitedly.

"I saw it online, I didn't invent it," Xu Qingfan explained with a smile.

"It's getting late, everyone, let's continue playing tomorrow. Xiao Fan, how did you get here? Do you want Auntie to drive you home?"

Xu Qingfan was about to speak when Lin Wanning interrupted, "Brother Qingfan, why don't you and Xiaoxiao stay overnight at Ningning's house? We can all sleep together tonight. Ningning's bed is huge!"

Xia Xiaoxiao instinctively didn't want to hear the suggestion, not because Xu Qingfan wanted to sleep with Lin Wanning, but mainly because she felt awkward staying in someone else's house.

This is an experience many people have had: when visiting a classmate's or friend's house, they feel very awkward if the other person's parents are home, and even more uncomfortable if they have to sleep at the other person's house.

Xu Qingfan was an exception, of course. Lin Jing and Yao Jinping had been inseparable playmates since they could remember. Aunt Yao had also watched her grow up. Xu Qingfan's home was like half of her home, so Xia Xiaoxiao naturally didn't feel restrained or uncomfortable.

It's always impolite to object directly, so Xia Xiaoxiao secretly reached out and squeezed Xu Qingfan's hand, hoping he would refuse.

Xu Qingfan had been a child once too, so he immediately understood. He grasped Xia Xiaoxiao's hand and shook his head, saying, "Let's talk about it next time. I didn't bring any change of clothes, and I can't fit into your clothes, Ningning."

"Okay~" Lin Wanning pouted in frustration.

"I'll come visit you again tomorrow," he said, standing up and patting Lin Wanning's tuft of hair. "Auntie, could you please take me and Xiaoxiao home? No need to trouble Uncle Lin."

Lin Qiaoshan was worried that it wouldn't be safe for Xu Qingfan and the others to ride bicycles at night, so he said he would go upstairs to let them know when they left and then send them home. But Zhang Chunxue had been there for so long and the two adults hadn't come down yet, so maybe they were upstairs having sex. Xu Qingfan decided not to disturb Uncle Qiao.

"Goodbye, Ningning. Please say goodbye to your mom and dad for us."

"goodbye!"

Lin Wanning saw the four of them off at the door, and only returned home reluctantly after they had all gotten into the car.

The bicycle was left in Lin Wanning's yard, and Zhang Chunxue soon took the two of them back to Lianhua Courtyard.

Because Xu Qingfan had just refused Lin Wanning's request to stay overnight, Xia Xiaoxiao was in a good mood, humming a song as she climbed the stairs alongside Xu Qingfan.

After returning to Xu Qingfan's home, she felt instantly relieved and collapsed onto the sofa.

Xu Qingfan picked up the landline at home and dialed his mother's number. As expected, there were several missed calls from Yao Jinping.

"Mom, Xiaoxiao and I went to Lin Wanning's house for dinner tonight. Have you found Uncle Xia yet? When are you coming back?" Xu Qingfan said after dialing the phone.

"Hmph! Mind your own business, you'll be back the day after tomorrow," Yao Jinping said, seemingly extremely angry. After taking the phone from her ear, she asked, "Jingjing, do you want to say a few words to Xiaoxiao?"

Lin Jing sniffed, coughed twice, and then nodded.

"Let Xiaoxiao answer the phone."

Xia Xiaoxiao had perked up her ears as soon as she heard her father's name. When she saw Xu Qingfan waving the microphone at her, she quickly ran over to answer the phone.

"Mother."

"Did you take a shower? What did you have for dinner? You have to listen to your brother Qingfan at home." Lin Jing's voice sounded like she had a cold, and her accent was different from usual.

"Not yet, I'll wash up in a bit. I had dinner with Xu Qingfan at Lin Wanning's house. We had stir-fried beef with tomatoes and mint omelets." Xia Xiaoxiao noticed the strangeness in her mother's voice, but didn't ask.

"Okay, Mom will be home soon. If you're too scared to sleep in a room by yourself tonight, you can sleep at your Aunt Yao's house."

"Okay, Mom." Xia Xiaoxiao blushed, thinking of the scene last night when Xu Qingfan held her while she slept.

Lin Jing fell silent for a moment, and Xia Xiaoxiao, who was waiting with the microphone under her head, also remained silent.

"Daughter, if..."

"Mom, what's wrong?" Xia Xiaoxiao asked, pressing her mother for an answer when she stopped mid-sentence.

"Cough cough. It's nothing. Take good care of yourself and listen to your brother Qingfan. Mom is hanging up now."

The microphone soon went silent, leaving only the beeping sound of a disconnected line. Xia Xiaoxiao sat there frozen in the position of answering the phone for several minutes until Xu Qingfan noticed something was wrong and patted her shoulder. Only then did the little girl put the microphone back on.

"What's wrong with you? You seem distracted." Xu Qingfan waved his hand in front of her and asked.

Xia Xiaoxiao burst into tears the next second. She clearly heard her mother cry at the end. Although she didn't know why her mother was crying, or why she was crying, she still cried.

"Xu Qingfan~" Xia Xiaoxiao hugged him tightly, her face full of helplessness.

After a two-second pause, Xu Qingfan gently hugged her, patted her back, and asked, "Why are you crying? Tell me what happened, and I'll definitely be able to handle it!"

Xia Xiaoxiao shook her head and just kept crying. She didn't know what had happened, but her intuition told her that something very serious had occurred.

It's even worse than when Mom and Dad argue!
"Okay, okay, don't cry, don't cry. Did your mother say something to you? Don't you still have me? Why are you crying?" He stroked Xia Xiaoxiao's head and comforted her gently.

"Mom seems to be crying," Xia Xiaoxiao said, sobbing.

"Um, maybe, maybe," Xu Qingfan said, "maybe I won't go down."

[Could it be that I guessed right? Xia Guofu turned bad after getting rich, had an extramarital affair and even had a child?] He thought to himself.

"What's the point?" Xu Qingfan said, finding it hard to understand.

After she was reborn, many people and things got better, so why did things only get worse for Xia Xiaoxiao's parents?

[I'd never heard of Xia Guofu having illegitimate children in my past life, and the affair must have happened in the second year of junior high, or maybe I just didn't know?]
Xu Qingfan suddenly felt a little guilty. From everyone's perspective, he shouldn't feel guilty, but knowing the original trajectory, he did feel guilty.

Will Xia Xiaoxiao's family break up because of her changes?

"No matter what happens to your parents, you'll always have me. I'll always be your brother," Xu Qingfan said in Xia Xiaoxiao's ear as he hugged her tightly.

"Mmm," Xia Xiaoxiao nodded, sobbing.

"Don't cry, let's take a shower first, and then we'll play Bubble Fighter together, okay?"

"it is good."

After finally calming Xia Xiaoxiao down, Xu Qingfan sat at the bathroom door, keeping her company as she took a bath.

Having been reborn, he never actually intended to continue pursuing (or flattering) Xia Xiaoxiao and then stage a happy ending for the lovers.

Xu Qingfan only regards Xia Xiaoxiao in this life as his younger sister, a slightly willful and slightly arrogant younger sister.

He cares for her, looks after her, and treats her well only because he considers her his own sister.

Xu Qingfan even wondered if the reason Xia Xiaoxiao kept him hanging in the air in his previous life, and even went abroad in the end, was because she actually only treated him as a brother, and that's why she dragged things out when he confessed his feelings.

On one hand, she was worried about hurting her self-esteem; on the other hand, she hoped her useless brother would improve himself, so she sacrificed her own 26 years of being single to become a strategist and enter the game.

Thinking about it this way, many things seem to make sense.

Damn it, I can't overthink it. This isn't some bad woman; she's practically a saint!
Xu Qingfan sat outside the door and shook his head with amusement. "Let me take care of you for the rest of my life."

Thank you to me, the frivolous scholar, for the 100 Qidian coins.

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(End of this chapter)