I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 22. Little Sunflower's Classroom

After the kindergarten closed, Lin Wanning started visiting more often.

The exam is just a few days away, and the two girls are starting to get nervous. They spend their days either doing practice questions or on their way to do practice questions.

After experiencing a week of staying up late and waking up early, Xu Qingfan was pulled from his bed to his study desk by two little girls.

"I've finished writing, Qingfan, please grade it for me!" Lin Wanning handed him a test paper and slumped weakly on the table.

"Let me see."

Since the leaked past exam papers did not contain answers, Xu Qingfan was forced to take on the role of a marker.

[I am between 0 and 2, am I the same as?] He helplessly rubbed his forehead, marked an 'X' with a red pen, and corrected the answer.

"Brother Qingfan, did Wanning do badly on the exam?" The little girl looked at Xu Qingfan pitifully as he kept sighing.

Having worked as a tutor in his previous life, Xu Qingfan knew that what children of this age needed most was to build their self-confidence. He patiently said, "No way, you improved by eight points this time. Wan Ning is great!"

Lin Wanning took the corrected test paper and nodded earnestly, "I will do my best!"

"Brother will explain this to you. There are four pigeons inside the house and four pigeons outside. Isn't that 4 + 4 = 8? How do you write 1 + 4 = 5?"

“But I can’t see how many pigeons are in the house!” Lin Wanning said, pointing to the pigeon house on the paper.

"There's a number 4 on the picture, which means there are four pigeons in the house."

"But this room is so small, I don't think it can fit four pigeons. How could there be so many!"

[Stay calm, be patient, Xu Qingfan, you can do it!]
His lips trembled: "Look how small Doraemon's pocket is, yet it can still hold the Anywhere Door, right? This room is the same."

"Oh, I understand, thank you, Brother Qingfan!"

Xia Xiaoxiao chuckled, but quickly straightened her face and continued working on her problems.

Xu Qingfan secretly pinched Xia Xiaoxiao under the table before continuing to explain the problem to Lin Wanning.

"Let's continue. In this question, aren't there four people in total: Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, Tang Sanzang, and Sha Wujing? Why is your answer 2?"

“Pigsy and Monkey King are not human, they are animals, isn’t that right?” Lin Wanning tilted his head and looked at Xu Qingfan.

"Right... cough cough... they're all standing, right? Just think of those standing as people," Xu Qingfan said awkwardly.

"The monkeys in the zoo stand up too, so are they people too?"

Patience is key in life. Xu Qingfan, you must be patient!
“Then Pigsy and Monkey King can talk, right? Being able to stand, walk, and talk means you’re a human.” Worried that Lin Wanning would give the example of a parrot, Xu Qingfan tightened the restrictions all at once.

"Okay, then there are four people!"

"Yes, that's great, let's continue."

Fortunately, Lin Wanning is cute. If it were Xiao Bao from last time, Xu Qingfan might have slapped him across the face during the second question. Why are there so many questions!
After tutoring Lin Wanning, Xia Xiaoxiao handed over her test paper, saying, "I've finished writing it. Please correct it for me."

Xia Xiaoxiao's side was much better; all the corrections she made were marked with red checkmarks, so it was no wonder she was so worried!
"Xiaoxiao, come here. This question: You have 55 yuan, and you spent 30 yuan to buy a soccer ball. How much change should you get? Shouldn't it be 55-30=25? Why did you say 50-30?"

Xia Xiaoxiao looked at him as if he were an idiot: "Why would I give him 55 yuan for no reason? Can't I just give him 50 yuan?"

"Hmm, that seems to make sense," Xu Qingfan nodded subconsciously, then realized in an instant that elementary school math doesn't test logic!
"Think about it this way: Xiaoming might buy a football abroad, where the currency is 55 yuan a note."

"Why do you have to speak Chinese when buying footballs abroad?" Xia Xiaoxiao asked confidently, pointing to the dialogue box on the picture.

Xu Qingfan:
"Because our motherland has become strong! There's a song that goes something like this: 'The whole world is learning Chinese—Confucius' words—and it's becoming more and more international!'"

"That sounds awful!" Xia Xiaoxiao pouted and took back her test paper, correcting the only word problem she got wrong.

After finally finishing reviewing the test papers with the two young ladies, Xu Qingfan slumped onto the table, utterly dejected.

After several days of tutoring and practice, Lin Wanning's math score finally stabilized at around 70, while Xia Xiaoxiao consistently maintained a score very close to full marks. The Chinese exam only consisted of simple memorization and fill-in-the-blank/sentence construction, which the two girls handled with ease. Aside from occasionally asking Xu Qingfan minor questions like, "Why can't this question be about the principal dancing for me?" or "Why can't we make up the word 'Doraemon'?", things were generally quite harmonious.

The admission requirements for Experimental Primary School are a minimum score of 60 points in each subject and a total score of no less than 150 points.

Lin Wanning consistently scores above 90 in Chinese, and even when he falters in math due to nervousness, his total score is still above 150.

Xia Xiaoxiao, needless to say, achieved near-perfect scores in both subjects, clearly aiming for a tuition waiver.

Even if you don't pass the exam, it's not a big deal. After all, it's a private elementary school. If you don't pass, you can buy points. One point for a single subject is worth 3,000 yuan, and one point for the total score is worth 1,000 yuan.

Xu Qingfan carefully studied the past exam papers, and the difficulty of the questions was distributed in a ratio of 5:3:2.

The study plan he devised for Lin Wanning was to make sure he got full marks on the easy questions, try to get the medium-difficulty questions right, and skip the questions that would pull him apart.

After a week of hard work, Lin Wanning's review results were remarkable. After giving up on the "chicken and rabbit in the same cage" problem, the little girl's enthusiasm for learning soared, and her grades improved from the initial forty-something points to seventy.

The wall clock chimed crisply, its hands pointing to the five o'clock position.

"Alright, alright, study time is over. Hurry up and put them away so you can watch TV!" Xu Qingfan was fully recharged and quickly helped the two little girls pack up their stationery and test papers.

After folding the table and moving it to the corner, he immediately turned on the TV, pressed the "2" button with the remote, and after a two-second pause, the TV switched to Jade Channel.

The timing is perfect. Yesterday, after the first season of Digimon finished airing, the trailer announced that Pokémon would start airing tomorrow.

The theme song just started playing on the TV, and seven Poké Balls were spinning eerily in a large circle on the screen.

Pikachu~

Life is full of possibilities within the planet.

【Combined Energy, Super Elastic】

【The stars that accompany my spirit every day】

[Walking the long road with friendship as our guide]

Living in the galaxy solely through love

Finally, with unwavering determination, victory is assured.

The theme song is a Cantonese version translated into Chinese. Lin Wanning had played Pokémon games when he was very young. After seeing all kinds of Pokémon on the screen, he stared at the TV without blinking.

"That wasn't it!" The image of the little dragon flashed by, and Xia Xiaoxiao recognized it as the backpack charm she had given to Xu Qingfan.

The three little ones sat in a row on the sofa. When they saw Ash and Pikachu being chased by a large flock of sparrows, Lin Wanning and Xia Xiaoxiao clenched their fists in distress.

Ash stood alone in front of Pikachu, who finally managed to unleash Thunderbolt at the last moment, and the TV switched to a commercial break.

The two girls, who had been holding their breath, relaxed now, and Xia Xiaoxiao quickly asked, "Did Pikachu chase away those bad birds?"

"Brother Qingfan, when we turn ten, can we get a little elf too?"

"They must have chased them away, otherwise how could the broadcast continue? When Wan Ning turns ten, Brother Qingfan will give you a little elf." Adhering to the principle of treating everyone equally, he patted Xia Xiaoxiao's head again: "I'll give you one too."

"Yay! I want to play Pikachu!" Lin Wanning excitedly raised his hands.

Xia Xiaoxiao wrinkled her nose slightly and didn't say anything more.

The commercial ended quickly, and after the rain stopped, a colorful golden bird flew across the sky.

Soft music played from the television. Xu Qingfan looked out the window. The clouds stretched out like terraced fields, shimmering golden in the sunlight.

They wouldn't miss the sunset's glow, and they could also enjoy a sky full of stars. Xu Qingfan grabbed Lin Wanning and Xia Xiaoxiao's hands and held them tightly.

(End of this chapter)