I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 230. Childhood sweethearts can't compete with the realities of daily life.

When he carried Xia Xiaoxiao back to the Lotus Courtyard, it was already close to midnight.

As for why he got home so late, it must be because he was carrying that girl and causing trouble. Halfway there, she complained that she was hungry. Xu Qingfan said he would cook noodles for her when they got home, but the girl refused and insisted on eating stir-fried beef noodles and crucian carp porridge from a street food stall.

After deboning the fresh crucian carp meat, put it in a clay pot with white porridge and simmer until cooked. The freshness can be fully released, and the taste is just as good as seafood porridge. Most importantly, it is economical and filling.

The melodramatic plot of being harassed by thugs, as depicted in TV dramas, certainly didn't happen. Not to mention the ongoing campus rectification campaign over the past two years, even in my previous life when I lived in this city with Xia Xiaoxiao for over twenty years, nothing like that ever happened.

Xu Qingfan does hope that one day the campus rectification movement can be extended beyond the province to the whole country, but neither he nor Zhang Chaoqun currently has that kind of influence and still needs to work hard.

"Did you leave the lights on?" Xu Qingfan looked up and saw that Xia Xiaoxiao's lights were on, and asked.

"Huh?" The girl looked up and saw that the lights in her living room were on.

She said uncertainly, "I remember turning it off. Could a thief have broken in?"

Xia Xiaoxiao easily came to the conclusion that if Lin Jing were to go home, her mother would definitely call her at such a late hour.

“No thief would turn on the light while stealing something. Maybe Auntie just got home. Don’t scare yourself.” Xu Qingfan picked up a steel pipe that was not in use on the first floor and carried Xia Xiaoxiao upstairs.

Xia Xiaoxiao also took out her phone, ready to call the police immediately if anything seemed amiss.

"Hey~"

Upon arriving on the third floor, the two were relieved to see that the person sitting in the living room playing on their phone was Lin Jing.

"Mom, why didn't you call me when you got home?" Xia Xiaoxiao asked at the door, forgetting for a moment that she had gotten off Xu Qingfan's back.

"I was just about to call you. Oh, it's Xiaofan back. I was wondering where you'd been so late at night."

"Yes, Auntie, I'll be back tonight. Happy New Year, Auntie!"

"Come in and we'll talk. I haven't given you a red envelope yet." Lin Jing said as she got up, took the key, and opened the outermost iron gate.

Seeing her mother looking at her with a puzzled expression, Xia Xiaoxiao finally came to her senses and got off Xu Qingfan.

"This Xia Xiaoxiao is so stupid, she fell down in Guagreen Square." Xu Qingfan scolded Lin Jing, which was also a way of explaining why he was carrying Xia Xiaoxiao on his back.

"You're the stupid one!" Xia Xiaoxiao moved the rose to her left hand and angrily punched him on the shoulder.

Lin Jing glanced at the roses in her daughter's hand and smiled almost imperceptibly. Only she knew what she was thinking.

"Why are you home so late? Where did you fall?" She helped her daughter sit down on the sofa.

"I guess her knee is swollen from the fall. She said it stings when she walks, and it wasn't convenient to look at it while we were outside." Xu Qingfan was at Xia Xiaoxiao's house as if it were his own home, and he looked for the first-aid kit as he spoke.

Xia Xiaoxiao glanced at him guiltily but didn't say anything.

[That's what he said himself; I didn't lie to my mother!]
Xu Qingfan soon brought over safflower oil, iodine, and cotton swabs, and stood aside waiting for Xia Xiaoxiao to take off her thermal underwear so he could treat her wound.

Several dozen seconds passed and the girl still didn't move. Just as he was about to urge her, the girl glared at him and said, "How am I supposed to do anything if you're standing here!"

"What's wrong with letting Xiao Fan take a look? Isn't there a skirt to cover it up?" Lin Jing was very generous, treating Xu Qingfan like family at all.

"Exactly, what's wrong with showing a bit of thigh? Haven't you ever worn shorts in the summer?" Lin Jing didn't treat him like an outsider, so Xu Qingfan was even less likely to be polite. Under Xia Xiaoxiao's sharp gaze, Xu Qingfan finally turned around. After all, taking off thermal underwear meant starting from the bottom of the pants, which would reveal even the underwear underneath.

"It doesn't look too serious. Did you break a bone? If it still hurts when you wake up tomorrow, you should go to the hospital for a CT scan," Lin Jing instructed while cleaning the wound.

When Xu Qingfan turned around again, Xia Xiaoxiao's knees and above were completely covered by her skirt, and her flesh-colored thermal stockings, which she had taken off, were placed aside.

"Maybe it won't hurt tomorrow, I don't know." Xia Xiaoxiao avoided eye contact with Xu Qingfan.

"Alright, if it still hurts tomorrow, go to the hospital. We can talk about going back to your grandfather's house another day." After applying safflower oil to the bruises, Lin Jing clapped her hands and stood up.

"thanks Mom."

"Why are you thanking Mom? It's not like Mom carried you back." Lin Jing touched her daughter's face, seemingly in a good mood.

"He deserved it. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have fallen." The girl pouted and said arrogantly.

"Only Xiao Fan can put up with your personality." Lin Jing shook her head, both amused and exasperated, and took out a thick red envelope from her bag, handing it to Xu Qingfan. "Xiao Fan, Happy New Year, this is Auntie's red envelope."

"Hehe~ Thank you, Auntie. Actually, I can't stand her either. If it weren't for the fact that she's your daughter, I would have abandoned Xia Xiaoxiao long ago!" Xu Qingfan said with a grin after accepting the red envelope.

"Xu Qingfan, say that again if you dare!" Xia Xiaoxiao clenched her fists, her angry and furious expression perfectly suited for making a meme.

"Auntie, you see? You're so gentle and intelligent, how come Xia Xiaoxiao looks so crooked?" Seeing the girl about to hit him with a pillow, Xu Qingfan quickly hid behind Lin Jing.

Lin Jingwei was stunned for a moment, seeing a reflection of herself as a child in her daughter.

She longed to be like Xia Xiaoxiao, but her roles as a mother and teacher constrained her personality. More importantly, the person who was once willing to tolerate her was gone, and once the mask was worn for too long, it could no longer be taken off.

"I'm not as nice as you two. I'm going to take a shower. You should get some rest too." Lin Jing patted Xu Qingfan's hand on his shoulder, then turned and went back to her room to find her pajamas.

In the living room, Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao were still playing around. Xia Xiaoxiao, who seemed to have injured her knee, could only sit on the sofa while Xu Qingfan touched her face and patted her shoulder.

"You can't hit me, you can't hit me~" Xu Qingfan jumped left and right, petting Xia Xiaoxiao like he was petting a cat.

"Boring!" The girl rolled her eyes at him disdainfully and took out her phone to play by herself.

"You know you're boring, huh?" Without any feedback, Xu Qingfan lost interest in masturbating and sat down next to the girl to rest.

"Go to hell, you stupid dog!" Little did she know that Xia Xiaoxiao was playing the Art of War. As soon as Xu Qingfan sat down, she grabbed a pillow and pressed it against his face.

"Zhao, Xia Xiaoxiao, you're playing dirty tricks!"

"Who told you to be so stupid!"

Lin Jing came out of the room and saw the two of them playing around on the sofa again, so she could only smile helplessly.

Back then, she and Xiao Xiao's father were in the same situation. For six years in elementary school and three years in junior high, they were in the same class, and of course, there was also Yao Jinping, who was like a third wheel.

What was supposed to be a childhood sweetheart relationship ended in divorce.

A failed marriage made Lin Jing realize that marriage and dating are different, and childhood sweethearts can't withstand the realities of daily life.

[I hope Xiaofan and Xiaoxiao will both be well in the future, whether they stay together or not. Don't let them end up like her.]
(End of this chapter)