I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 187. Winter Break is Approaching
Half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

Since New Year's Day, Xia Xiaoxiao has maintained a cold war with him, including but not limited to not sitting next to Xu Qingfan, not being alone with him in a room, and her ever-present arrogant expression has disappeared, replaced by a shy and hesitant demeanor.

The four girls noticed Xia Xiaoxiao's recent strange behavior and asked her, "Why do you seem like a different person?" She stubbornly insisted that she was always like this, "You're just mistaken!"

Xu Qingfan couldn't read minds, so he had no idea what was going on in Xia Xiaoxiao's head and could only let her be.

The Spring Festival came early this year. They finished their seventh-grade final exams on the 16th, and there are only ten days left until the new year.

January 19th.

Today is the day they return to school for the graduation ceremony. At eight o'clock in the morning, they gathered at the rice noodle roll shop at the entrance of Lianhua Courtyard for breakfast.

"I'm so nervous. I don't know if everyone can still be in the top six of the grade this time." Lin Wanning has been so nervous since last night that he couldn't sleep. He's still shaking his leg while eating breakfast.

"Who cares? You've done your best no matter what score you get. Don't overthink it!" He patted Lin Wanning on the shoulder to comfort him.

"Yeah, you'll see soon enough. We promised to go sing karaoke together after graduation, so don't you dare break your promise!" Xiao Ruanwen was very confident about her exam. She patted Xia Xiaoxiao's shoulder and said, "Especially you, Xiaoxiao, you're not allowed to go home and play QQ Speed!"

Xia Xiaoxiao put down the rice noodle roll that was stuck in mid-air, and glared at her best friend with a wronged expression, seemingly very dissatisfied with her friend's lack of trust.

"Alright, it's your fault for playing games all day. If you don't go out and play, you'll turn into a four-eyed little girl!" Xiao Ruanwen put her arm around Xia Xiaoxiao's waist, and her impressive chest bounced as she laughed.

The girl clearly inherited her mother's genes perfectly. At only thirteen years old, she already has a 13cm difference in bust size, and her height has soared to 1.66 meters. It seems that she will become the second long-legged beauty in the group after Xia Xiaoxiao.

Although Lin Wanning, Zhang Yiyi, and Wu Lingyu have also grown taller, they are still quite different from the two. Lin Wanning's most recent height measurement was 155cm, Zhang Yiyi's was 154cm, and Wu Lingyu's was 156cm. As for their bust size, all three of them are currently pitifully small A cups.

Xu Qingfan's height hasn't increased much, remaining at 158 ​​centimeters, which is normal for a boy his age. At least he won't be mistaken for a primary school student when he walks on the street anymore.

[Xia Xiaoxiao, the Glasses Girl Only?] Xu ​​Qingfan imagined Xia Xiaoxiao wearing glasses in his mind. Somehow, as he imagined it, it turned into a scene of her wearing black stockings and a bodycon skirt, holding a ruler and scolding Xu Qingfan, this disobedient bad student.

[What the hell is this?!] He quickly shook his head frantically, trying to banish certain 18+ images from his mind.

"Brother Fan, what's wrong?" Wu Lingyu had been secretly watching Xu Qingfan, and asked with concern when she saw him shaking his head inexplicably.

Although Zhang Yiyi didn't speak, she looked at him with the same concern.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. I accidentally got some water in my ear when I was washing my face this morning." Xu Qingfan glanced at Xia Xiaoxiao guiltily and said, pretending nothing was wrong.

"Brother Qingfan, you have to do it like this!" Lin Wanning tilted his head to one side at a ninety-degree angle, stood up, and jumped around on the spot. "That's how you get the water out!"

Xu Qingfan was amused by his adorable behavior and said, "Listen to our Ningning."

"Hehe~ It's so useful! Every time I get water in my ear, it comes out right away!"

After finishing breakfast and leaving the store, Xu Qingfan was in charge of paying the bill. "Still one or two yuan, right?" He meant one yuan for the minced meat sausage and two yuan for the Vitasoy.

Having done business with him for so many years, the boss naturally understood immediately and explained with a smile, "Prices have gone up. Rice noodle rolls are now two yuan, and Vitasoy has also gone up by fifty cents. Prices are rising everywhere, so business is tough."

Xu Qingfan was slightly taken aback. He had never understood when the price of rice noodle rolls had quietly increased, because in his memory it had always been one yuan, but when he came to eat it again in high school, it was already five yuan a serving.

"Okay, ten plus twelve and a half, that's twenty-two yuan and fifty cents." After he came to his senses, he took out twenty-three yuan from his pocket and handed it to the other person.

"Twenty-two will do." The shopkeeper took the money from his hand, leaving a brand-new one-yuan note untouched.

Xu Qingfan smiled at him, put the money away, and left with his hands in his pockets.

Five young girls were waiting for him under the banyan tree. The sun was shining brightly outside, and the morning sun at eight or nine o'clock was full of vigor, just like their age.

Soft sunlight streamed under the banyan tree, the leaves and the breeze separated the girls' shadows, and the air was filled with the scent of youth.

"Let's go." Xu Qingfan gave a slap to signal them to follow, and led the way.

"Here you are!" Five girls followed behind, laughing and chatting about private topics among girls.

The girls walking on the street were still the focus of everyone's attention. They were holding hands and seemed to be on good terms. If you didn't know better, you would think they were filming Tiny Times.

The six returned to school shortly afterward, and the first thing they had to do was go to the office to find their homeroom teacher and get their respective middle school student evaluation booklets.

The middle school student evaluation handbook is a book with a cover similar to a marriage certificate. It records your midterm and final grades and your homeroom teacher's summary comments for the semester.

This thing exists for parents to see, and it has to be returned after school starts. If it gets lost, you have to spend money to buy a replacement. Xu Qingfan remembers it costing about five yuan a copy.

For countless primary and secondary school students, a single harsh comment written by their homeroom teacher can sometimes lead to a disastrous winter (or summer) vacation.

When they arrived at the office, a long line had already formed at the door, including students from their class and other classes, all of whom were there to get into the office to retrieve their middle school student evaluation booklets.

They arrived at the door shortly after queuing. When the homeroom teacher saw that it was Xu Qingfan and his group, his face immediately lit up with a smile, and he warmly invited them in.

"Qingfan is first in the grade this time. He got full marks in all subjects except Chinese, where he lost three points. Xiaoxiao and Lingyu are tied for second place, with their total scores only three points behind Qingfan's." The homeroom teacher specially placed their student handbooks on the other side so that they could be handed them over as soon as they arrived.

"Teacher, what's my ranking?" Lin Wanning asked impatiently after taking her student handbook, while constantly flipping through the pages.

The homeroom teacher smiled without saying a word. When Lin Wanning saw his score, he jumped up excitedly, "Yay! I'm sixth!!"

“I’m fifth.” Xiao Ruanwen unfolded her student handbook and showed it to Lin Wanning.

"Where's Yi Yi? Is Yi Yi fourth place?"

"Hmm!" Zhang Yi flipped through the student handbook and showed it to her.

"It's rare to see students like you consistently ranking in the top six of the grade."

"Haha~ Yeah, I remember when Wan Ning entered school, her grades weren't even in the top 100 of the grade. You guys helped each other improve."

"Keep it up."

Many of the teachers in the office were the ones who taught their class, and they all gave them kind smiles.

"Thank you, teacher. We'll head out now, so as not to disturb your work." Xu Qingfan smiled back and pushed the overjoyed Lin Wanning away.

After they sat back down in class, they excitedly exchanged their student handbooks.

"This student is intelligent, helpful, and has a planned and goal-oriented approach to learning," Xu Qingfan read the homeroom teacher's comments to Lin Wanning and said speechlessly, "Why are they all the same template!"

"Haha, Brother Fan, I have this one too!"

"Brother Qingfan, why do you guys get full marks in politics? I only got 88!" Their politics exam was open-book, and Lin Wanning felt she had copied all the passages she needed to, but she still lost twelve points. "Who told you to just copy from the book? You have to express yourself in your own words. Anyone can copy from the book, but just copying from the book will definitely not get you full marks." Xu Qingfan patted the girl's head.

"Okay~"

It must be admitted that there are indeed differences in learning talent among people.

The midterm exam might have been designed with the school's concern for the students' new environment in mind, hence the relatively easy questions.

After the multiple-choice questions 11 and 12, the fill-in-the-blank questions 15 and 16, and the last two essay questions in the math final exam became more difficult, it will be very difficult for Lin Wanning, Zhang Yiyi, and Xiao Ruanwen, who did not participate in the math olympiad in elementary school, to get full marks again.

Fortunately, there are only three abnormal students like Xu Qingfan and his classmates in Licheng Middle School. Although the three girls' grades have fallen far behind Xu Qingfan and his classmates, their ranking in the grade still did not fall out of the top six.

"Please come up to the stage to receive your award if your name is called above. First place."

Although the order had changed, it was still the six of them who went on stage to receive the award. As they walked back to their seats with their certificates, Xu Qingfan clearly felt the envious glances from countless classmates.

To be honest, this kind of subtle, pretentious feeling is really quite enjoyable.

He originally planned to just coast through junior high school, since with his foundation from his previous life, getting into a top-tier school in the district would be a piece of cake.

However, in order to leave them with more wonderful memories during their adolescence, they should still study hard!

[After all, I'm supposed to be their role model!] Xu Qingfan suddenly felt great.

After reading the same old, tired instructions about safety during winter break, including prohibitions against playing in places like reservoirs, internet cafes, and karaoke bars, and warnings about the safety of setting off fireworks and firecrackers, their winter break officially began.

On the way back, the girls, who had originally gone home empty-handed, now each had at least five or six certificates of merit.

There are students who are in the top ten of the grade, students who are in the top ten of the class, students who are first in the grade (class) in a single subject, and students who are "three good students".

During your student days, if you had an award certificate in your hand, you were the coolest kid on the block.

In rural areas, people take pride in having an entire wall covered with certificates of merit in their living room.

Lin Wanning cherished these hard-won certificates of merit because she had only received a progress award once in elementary school. After entering junior high school, she finally experienced the glory of her brother Qingfan receiving an award on stage.

They returned to their secret base first. When they encountered neighbors, they saw the many certificates they had and came up to congratulate them, saying, "Wow, you're so talented! So many certificates!"

"Look how smart your older siblings are, while you're still reading trash!" Of course, some parents also take the opportunity to discipline their own children.

The kid looked at their certificates with envy and, in a fit of anger, decided to steal his mom's money when he got home to buy game cards and QQ coins. [It's almost Chinese New Year, and the little penguin needs new clothes too!]
"Hahaha!" As soon as they got home, they locked the door and collapsed onto the sofa and tatami mat, laughing loudly.

The laughter continued for a while, and Xiao Ruanwen, a little out of breath, asked, "Ahem... when are we going to eat and sing karaoke?"

"Let's talk about it at 12 o'clock. It's only a little past 10 now. Let's stay home for a while. By the way, Ruan Wen, when are you going to your dad's?" Xu Qingfan and Lin Wanning were leaning to one side, and he nudged each other before asking.

"Not so soon. We have to wait until the 28th of the lunar year to finish cleaning the house before we go. It'll probably be around the 24th or 25th. What do you think?"

"No, I was thinking we could have a New Year's Eve dinner here early, clean up and put up couplets or something," Xu Qingfan said after bumping Lin Wanning's head again.

"Okay, okay, when!" Lin Wanning responded with delight, while also mimicking Xu Qingfan by bumping his head.

The five girls all looked at Xu Qingfan, waiting for his answer.

"Let's make it the 27th of the year. From now on, the 27th of the year will be our Lunar New Year's Eve!" He looked at everyone.

"Yay!!!" The five girls agreed in unison.

"So what do we do now? Are we just going to sit here until midnight?" Xiao Ruanwen asked.

"Ponyo, the movie!" Miyazaki Hayao's "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" has only recently been released in China, and Zhang Yiyi immediately bought the original Chinese DVD, waiting for everyone to watch it together.

"This is good, this is good!" Xiao Ruanwen nodded vigorously.

“Okay,” Xia Xiaoxiao nodded in agreement.

"I'll go make some tea." Wu Lingyu got up and went into the kitchen.

"Xiaoyu, wait for me, I'm getting the potato chips!" Lin Wanning got up from beside Xu Qingfan, put on his slippers, and caught up with him.

"Take less, we still need to eat later!"

"Okay~" The girl smiled silently at Xu Qingfan's nagging.

After Xia Xiaoxiao drew all the curtains in the living room, she turned around and saw that the seats on both sides of Xu Qingfan were empty. She hesitated for a long time.

Seeing that Lin Wanning and Wu Lingyu were about to come out of the kitchen, the girl bit her lip and walked step by step to his side and sat down.

Xu Qingfan was slightly surprised, not understanding what was wrong with Xia Xiaoxiao this time, why she came over and sat next to him.

"What are you looking at!" Seeing Xu Qingfan turn his head to look at her, Xia Xiaoxiao reverted to her usual behavior, irritably raising her hand to push him back.

But after doing all that, her heart started beating very fast for no reason.

A bright smile appeared on Xu Qingfan's face. Although he didn't know what had happened to Xia Xiaoxiao, he was still happy that she could return to her usual liveliness.

"Just looking at the dogs!" he said.

"Who is the dog looking at?"

"I'm not looking at you!" Xu Qingfan blurted out, falling right into Xia Xiaoxiao's trap.

"Hmph~ Good to know!" Xia Xiaoxiao was extremely smug.

"Silly dog." Xu Qingfan shook his head helplessly, thinking to himself, [It's good that you're back.]
Lin Wanning came out of the kitchen with her hands full of snacks. When she saw that Xia Xiaoxiao had taken her seat, she pouted almost imperceptibly.

"Has the movie started?" After jogging over and placing the snacks on the coffee table, she sat down on the other side of Xu Qingfan without stopping, taking over the seat that Wu Lingyu had originally occupied.

When Wu Lingyu came out and saw that her original seat was gone, she didn't seem to mind. She enthusiastically poured black tea into everyone's cups and then casually found a place to sit down.

"Right away!" Zhang Yiyi put the disc into the DVD player, and the familiar opening sequence immediately started playing on the TV.

(End of this chapter)