I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 150. Lin Wanning's Ambition
"what?"

"It hasn't been released yet?"

On Sunday, the six-person team arranged to go to Guagreen Square to watch a movie, but when they got to the ticket office, they found out that Iron Man, which Xiao Ruanwen had been looking forward to, had not yet been released.

"Why do all my classmates say they've already seen it?" Xiao Ruanwen asked, still unwilling to give up.

The ticket seller shook her head, looking like a hen: "Iron Man won't be released until May. Kids, why don't you watch some other movies? This Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon is starring Andy Lau, and a lot of people are watching it."

Everyone instinctively turned their gaze to Xu Qingfan, hoping he would make the decision.

Xu Qingfan quickly shook his head. He had never even heard of the Three Kingdoms movie that the ticket seller had mentioned. He knew without asking that it must be a terrible movie.

They didn't get to see the movie in the end, and the group accompanied the extremely depressed Xiao Ruanwen as she left the sixth floor.

"Why do all the boys in my class say they've seen it? They all talk about it like it's the truth!" Xiao Ruanwen couldn't help but complain on the escalator.

"Haha~ They're just trying to get your attention, that's why they're saying that," Xu Qingfan explained with a laugh.

Teenage boys are all too savvy; they always try to show off in front of pretty girls, whether intentionally or unintentionally. This includes, but is not limited to: deliberately pushing their best friend and speaking loudly when a girl they like walks by; striking an NBA shooting pose while littering or walking; and constantly touching their bowl-cut bangs to pretend they look cool.
"I'm speechless. Fan-ge, you guys are so childish and boring!" Xiao Ruanwen complained.

"Brother Qingfan is not childish at all. Brother Qingfan is completely different from the boys in the class!" Lin Wanning immediately retorted upon hearing this.

"Did you hear that?" Xu Qingfan stood at the back of the elevator and reached out to slap Xiao Ruanwen on the head.

"Ah~ I didn't say anything about you, Fan-ge." The girl turned around and gave Xu Qingfan a reproachful look.

"All you do all day is scare the dogs downstairs. You're not much better than them!" Xia Xiaoxiao said with her back to him.

Xu Qingfan was momentarily speechless, offering a weak rebuttal: "Tsk~ I was just trying to raise their alertness. Think about it, if someone steals from any house in the yard, the dogs will be starving. So, what seemed like I was just scaring them was actually..."

"Brother Qingfan, please stop talking. I'm embarrassed for you," Lin Wanning said, covering his ears as he got off the elevator.

"Hahaha~" Everyone pointed at Xu Qingfan and laughed.

"What are you laughing at, you heartless, cold-blooded animals!"

"Ah, right, right, right!" The five of them left hand in hand, leaving Xu Qingfan behind.

After spending a long time with him, the Yin and Yang attributes of the girls were awakened to varying degrees.

Wu Lingyu looked back, worried that Xu Qingfan hadn't kept up.

Xu Qingfan shook his head and followed. The group stopped in front of a photo booth on the third floor of the mall.

The loudspeaker at the door, with its completely broken sound quality, was playing Xu Song's "Funeral of Roses." "The fireworks rain that day~" Xu Qingfan couldn't help but hum along.

"Hey pretty lady, do you want to take photos? Choose a format here, we have eight, eighteen, thirty-eight, and eighty-eight options." The shopkeeper noticed Xia Xiaoxiao at first glance. The girl was wearing a white long dress, her high ponytail simply tied behind her head, and with her height of 1.61 meters, she could easily be mistaken for a high school student.

"Okay, let's take pictures." Xia Xiaoxiao calmly accepted the photo album handed to her by the shop owner and nodded in agreement.

Xu Qingfan wasn't interested in taking photo booth pictures. He sat alone on the wooden bench by the door, waiting for the others to make their choices before acting as their photo-taking assistant.

"Little brother?"

Suddenly, a high-pitched female voice came from behind him. Xu Qingfan shivered when he heard it. He turned around and saw that the proprietress from before had squatted down behind him at some point.

"Is something the matter?" he asked, puzzled.

The five girls who were choosing photos stopped flipping through the pages and turned their attention to this.

"Little brother, are you out shopping with your sister? You can't run around, you know?" It turned out that the shop owner mistakenly thought that Xu Qingfan had been brought out by Xia Xiaoxiao and was afraid that he would run away while playing, so she squatted down and reminded him.

The last time Xu Qingfan heard this kind of double-pitched sound was when he was in kindergarten, when Teacher Xiaoyu told him about it. Xu Qingfan felt so uncomfortable that he got goosebumps all over. After giving the girls behind him who were secretly laughing a helpless look, he said to the landlady, "I know."

Xu Qingfan was pulled back into the shop by the boss. After sitting down resentfully, he asked the others, "Have you made your choice yet? What kind of eyes does this boss have? 'Little brother,' he said. He took it out and compared it to hers, cough cough." The rest of his words seemed inappropriate to say to the others, so he quickly stopped the car.

"It's because you're short, Brother Fan." Xiao Ruanwen covered her mouth and chuckled.

"Brother Qingfan, shall we take a picture of this eighty-eight? We can make a collage like this from the photos!"

Xu Qingfan ignored Xiao Ruanwen's teasing and looked in the direction Lin Wanning was pointing. The example was a 20cm x 15cm jigsaw puzzle photo, which was quite novel in 08.

"Then let's take this one, eighty-eight yuan isn't too expensive." As if to save face, Xu Qingfan directly took out his wallet, pulled out a hundred-yuan bill, and said to the proprietress, "Boss, we want to take the most expensive one!"

"Okay~ Little brother, you have so much pocket money! No refunds after you take the picture, okay? Did you get permission from your parents before spending this money?" The shopkeeper took the money and gave him twelve yuan in change.

Xu Qingfan was speechless. How could a twelve-year-old be 1.5 meters tall? Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi were fine, but he was treated like a child every day.

After the group entered the photo studio covered with red cloth, the girls finally couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Xu Qingfan's face turned fierce, and he slapped everyone on the head. "Hurry up and take the picture. There's a time limit. You only have 2000 seconds in total!" After saying that, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Haha~ Who told you to have such fair skin, even more delicate than us girls, like a porcelain doll."

Xu Qingfan's family has a really strong gene for fair skin. For example, his uncle Yao Jianjun has been farming for decades and should have been tanned to a dark brown, but after he started the factory, he didn't work in the fields for more than half a year and his skin gradually became fair again.

Xu Qingfan operated the photo booth machine, switching between various unconventional images and texts for the group to choose from.

"This one, this one looks good!" Xiao Ruanwen exclaimed when she found a pattern with Patrick Star and SpongeBob SquarePants sitting at the bottom of the border.

"It looks great. Who wants to take the picture first?" Xu Qingfan confirmed the choice and quickly began the ten-second countdown for taking the picture.

"Hey~ Why are you starting so fast!"

Seeing that the time was almost up, the group hurriedly struck poses.

The image froze completely, capturing Xiao Ruanwen, who was rushing to tap the screen to pause the video, Xia Xiaoxiao, who stood gracefully, Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi, each holding one of Xu Qingfan's arms, and Wu Lingyu, who was standing on the edge looking at Xu Qingfan.

"Fan-ge, it's all your fault! You wasted such a great opportunity!" Xiao Ruanwen couldn't help but complain when she saw how silly she looked in the photo. "What's a waste? I think it looks great!"

"You're all good-looking, but I'm ugly!"

"Hahaha~"

The group was randomly assigned to different groups in the studio, and soon the computer showed that there was only one more chance to take a photo.

"The last one, of course, is a group photo!" Lin Wanning said, raising her little pink fist.

"Choose the blank ones, and we'll all stand behind Xu Qingfan!" Xia Xiaoxiao suddenly came up with a wicked idea and suggested.

Xu Qingfan looked up at her, pressed the shutter button, and the five girls ran up behind him.

When the countdown on the screen reached 3, Xia Xiaoxiao suddenly placed her hand on Xu Qingfan's head, and the others, as if by unspoken agreement, placed their hands on top of it as well.

Five girls laughed innocently behind him, while Xu Qingfan was the only one who hunched his neck comically because of the immense pressure above him.

"Great, it looks really good!" Xia Xiaoxiao nodded in satisfaction after seeing the result.

"Brother Fan, you look like he's only 1.4 meters tall, hahaha!"

"Qingfan's expression looks just like that funny guy on Tieba!"

Everyone subconsciously made connections in their minds after hearing Lin Wanning's words, and then they could never go back. Laughter filled the small studio.

The photos were eventually made into a jigsaw puzzle and placed in Xu Qingfan's bedroom to commemorate their youth and childhood, which they have had, are experiencing, and are gradually leaving behind.

The six of them finished taking photos and came down from Guagreen Square. It was not even 4 p.m.

We had planned to watch a movie together, and after it was a little after 5 p.m., we would go home to eat. But now we don't know where to go next.

In early April, Licheng was already sweltering in the summer heat. The group of people started sweating on their foreheads after walking for only a short while after leaving the mall.

"Brother Qingfan, what are we going to do now?" Lin Wanning opened a pack of tissues, handed one to each person, and asked while wiping his sweat.

"The boys in my class are really something. They said they'd already seen a movie that came out in May back in March. I wouldn't even dare to do that!" Xu Qingfan's mindset has changed. He finds it hard to understand why teenage boys would brag like that.

"My two group members talk about Michael Jackson all day long, it's driving me crazy. Their combined English scores are less than 80, and they act like idolizing a foreigner is so cool." Xiao Ruanwen nodded in strong agreement.

"Yours is alright, those two idiots in my group keep asking me if I want to get a permanent Renault, and they want my QQ number and password." Xia Xiaoxiao also joined in the rant.

"Huh? Is it really possible to get a permanent Renault?"

"Pfft~" Xu Qingfan didn't think anything of it when Xia Xiao said it, but he really couldn't hold back Lin Wanning's "Ah?"

"What are you thinking? Car washes are all scams. Be careful, they might swindle you out of everything!" Xu Qingfan reached out and slapped Lin Wanning on the head.

"Waaah~ You keep hitting my head, you're going to make me stupid," Lin Wanning complained, pouting, and continued as if indignant, "If I get swindled out of all my money, I'll wear Qingfan's clothes!"

This time, everyone broke down, "Hahaha~"

Lin Wanning then realized what nonsense she had just said, blushing and covering her cheeks, "Oh dear~ don't laugh, I just misspoke!"

The crisp laughter echoed through the street as the group walked away into the distance.

"Brother Qingfan, have some coffee!" Lin Wanning pointed to the coffee shop and said, "I don't know when Starbucks opened in Licheng."

Xu Qingfan glanced at the others, who all seemed indifferent. "Let's have coffee then."

"I'll treat you!" Wu Lingyu took two quick steps, walked to the front of the group, and said sincerely.

Xu Qingfan was about to say no, but when he met the girl's longing eyes, he changed his mind and said, "Then you're treating!"

"Thank you Xiaoyu!"

"Long live Xiaoyu!"

The women, all of whom possessed high emotional intelligence, immediately surrounded Wu Lingyu in the center, expressing their gratitude.

"It's nothing, everyone always treats me to meals," Wu Lingyu said shyly, scratching the back of her head.

Although Haowei Duck Neck is currently in a strategic loss-making phase and dividends are still a long way off, Wu Dahe's annual salary and year-end bonus combined are enough to buy a small apartment in the current port city.

The family has more than enough money to treat Wu Suowei's illness, but in order to save money and prepare for a kidney transplant that may come at any time, Wu Lingyu and her family are still renting a house.

Perhaps to make up for the years she neglected her daughter, Wu Lingyu has been given an extra 500 yuan in pocket money every month since the family's situation improved, after deducting food expenses. This was quite high for children in 2008.

After ordering their food, the group found seats. The six cups of coffee cost over a hundred yuan, which didn't fit Wu Lingyu's spending habits, but she was still happy because it was money spent on her companions.

Over the years, whenever they went out to play, everyone took turns treating. Whenever it was her turn, she would only buy bottled water and lollipops. Wu Lingyu was touched and wanted to do more.

So she usually accompanies Yao Jinping to the shop, helps both families with housework, and plays online games with everyone, even though she thinks studying is more interesting than playing games.

Wu Lingyu is always willing to put in a little more effort, otherwise she feels she's letting down the good fortune she's received.
"It's alright, but it's really expensive," Xiao Ruanwen couldn't help but complain after taking a sip of her strawberry Frappuccino.

"I'll have Aunt Zhang take you to America sometime. It's pretty much the same there, but prices are much higher there. It's about the same price as a Coke at McDonald's."

"A Coke at McDonald's only costs eight yuan, so why is Starbucks so expensive? They're both foreign brands!" Lin Wanning asked curiously.

"Because we have Wallace here, three hamburgers for ten yuan, and they also have competitors like KFC, so naturally they don't dare to sell at a higher price," Xu Qingfan explained.

"Oh~ I get it! Starbucks is so expensive because it has no competitors. When I grow up, I want to open a chain of coffee shops like Sister Qingqing so that everyone can drink affordable coffee!" Lin Wanning said, waving her little pink fist.

Everyone assumed Lin Wanning was just saying it casually, but Xu Qingfan's eyes lit up. "Why don't we snatch Luckin Coffee away too?"
(End of this chapter)