I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 234. A Cup for a Lifetime
After Xu Qingfan personally called Xia Guofu to apologize and made up a lame excuse that he had forgotten to turn off the gas at home, the matter of his disappearance without saying goodbye came to an end.

This trip with Xia Xiaoxiao back to her hometown wasn't entirely fruitless. At least the two red envelopes from Uncle Xia contained 10,000 yuan. Xu Qingfan refused to return half of it to Xia Xiaoxiao, as it was the reward he deserved!
We had arranged to go to Bi Gui Garden on the third day of the Lunar New Year to visit Wan Ning and Yi Yi.

Before he left, he asked Xia Xiaoxiao, "I'm going to Bigui Garden, are you coming?"

Xia Xiaoxiao has reverted to her internet-addicted girl mode. After getting up at nine o'clock, brushing her teeth, washing up, and eating breakfast, she played a game of QQ Speed ​​without even changing out of her pajamas.

"Where are you going?" she asked, taking off her headphones and turning around.

"Discussing comics and stuff."

"Then what should I do?" Xia Xiaoxiao thought for a moment before putting her headphones back on and said, "Bring me a cup of milk tea when I get back!"

Xu Qingfan wanted to say something more, but the girl had already turned her head back. He rolled his eyes at her, twirled the keychain, and left.

This year's Spring Festival came particularly late, on February 14th, the first day of the Lunar New Year. However, schools did not start until the 19th, meaning that students had to return to school on the 6th of the Lunar New Year. Boarding students were in an even worse situation, as they had to return to school to report on the evening of the 5th of the Lunar New Year.

As a province renowned nationwide for its large number of migrant workers, the train stations and national highways were already packed with migrant workers returning to work. This is why Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi both returned to Licheng early this year.

As for Wu Lingyu, she will be taking a bus back tomorrow. The six of them will have their last day of rest on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year before starting the new semester of the second semester of eighth grade.

When he woke up, the temperature in Licheng had suddenly returned to the twenties. The damp and humid weather was both stuffy and hot. Even though he had lived in this city for more than 30 years in total across two lifetimes, he still could not adapt to the humid climate.

Xu Qingfan rode his beloved bicycle out the door. Today he was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt and loose sweatpants, but pedestrians on the street were wearing all sorts of clothes.

People wearing down jackets, thermal pants, and shorts and short-sleeved shirts walking together are a perfect illustration of one person in winter and the other in summer.

When the car arrived at Lin Wanning's house, Lin Qiaoshan and Wen Wanqing were both home at the same time, a rare occurrence. The couple were busy wiping the water droplets off the exterior wall with the windshield wipers.

Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi were also busy outside the yard, squatting on the ground observing the flowers and plants they had planted.

Wen Wanqing noticed Xu Qingfan first, stopped what she was doing and smiled, "Xiao Fan is here, you've grown so much taller."

"Brother Qingfan is here?" Lin Wanning looked up when she heard the voice and saw Xu Qingfan pushing his bicycle into the yard.

"Brother Qingfan, it's been a long time!"

"Happy New Year, brother!"

The two excitedly got up and jumped around Xu Qingfan.

"Happy New Year, Uncle and Aunt." Xu Qingfan greeted the two adults first, then took Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi's hands and asked, "What were you looking at just now?"

"I was just looking at the four-leaf clover duck, but that's not important. Brother Qingfan, come with us, there's a little surprise!" Lin Wanning took the initiative and grabbed Xu Qingfan's hand, ready to run into the house.

"Girl, don't run so fast! The floor is slippery, be careful not to fall!" Lin Qiaoshan shouted from behind.

However, her daughter seemed not to hear her and did not turn her head.

He gave an embarrassed look, and after exchanging a glance with his wife, they smiled at each other.

The three of them quickly arrived at Lin Wanning's room. Because the air conditioning had been on all along, the sheets and furniture were all dry and clean.

Xu Qingfan was forced to sit up on the bed by the two girls. Looking into their mischievous eyes, he asked, "Tell me, what little surprise is it?"

"Brother Qingfan, you need to close your eyes first!"

Before Xu Qingfan could speak, Zhang Yiyi had already put her hands over his eyes.

"What are you two up to now?" he said, but his face was already beaming with joy.

"Ta-da!" Zhang Yi removed the hand covering his face in a second, and a high-quality but crudely made ceramic cup appeared in front of him.

"A cup for a lifetime, this is for you, Brother Qingfan!" Lin Wanning held the ceramic cup in both hands and handed it to Xu Qingfan.

It seems that because of the popularity of Xiangpiaopiao milk tea, popular phrases such as "I want to hold you in my palm" and "a cup for a lifetime" have become particularly popular on the Internet. Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi obviously decided to give him the cup after seeing it.

"Thank you, Wan Ning and Yi Yi. This is such a unique cup. Did you have it made?" Xu Qingfan asked, feigning surprise and delight as he took the ceramic cup and examined it closely.

"No, the cup was made by Yi Yi and me. Do you like it, Brother Qingfan?" Lin Wanning and Zhang Yi Yi sat on the bed in a row, staring intently at Xu Qingfan, not wanting to miss any expression on his face.

"I really liked this cup, but..." Xu Qingfan changed the subject, and the two of them clenched their fists nervously, afraid that they would hear Qingfan say that he didn't like it.

"But since the cup was made by the two of you, a DIY project, then of course I can only like it even more!" He put the cup on his lap, put his arms around the two of them, and laughed heartily.

"Brother Qingfan is playing tricks on us again!"

"You big bad guy, brother!"

"Hey hey hey~ Don't shake it, or the cup will break!" The cup almost fell to the ground, but luckily Xu Qingfan caught it with his thigh.

Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi patted their chests simultaneously, making expressions of relief.

"Brother Qingfan, you must take good care of it. If it breaks, it'll be gone forever!" Lin Wanning nervously lifted the cup to check, thankfully it wasn't broken.

"Mhm!" Zhang Yi nodded in agreement.

"You two silly girls, this cup is so meaningful, even if it breaks, I'll keep it for a lifetime, so it's still for a lifetime!" Xu Qingfan stroked their heads like he was petting a cat.

"Really?" This was a path Lin Wanning had never imagined. It just goes to show that men's words are indeed deceitful. She stared at Xu Qingfan with starry eyes.

"Of course, didn't we pinky swear to be together forever?" Xu Qingfan didn't think about it as a romantic relationship. He had always treated them like his younger sisters, like raising daughters, which gave him a great sense of accomplishment.

"Brother Qingfan is the best!"

"Hello, brother!"

After the two cuddled and snuggled with Xu Qingfan's arm for a while, Lin Wanning put the ceramic cup engraved with the seven characters "Qingfan's Cup" back into the gift box and handed the box to Xu Qingfan for safekeeping.

"Don't worry, I guarantee the cups will be perfectly intact even in ten years!" he promised the two of them, extending his hand.

"Ok!"

Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi also placed their hands on the back of his hand as a pledge, pressing down heavily.

Looking at the cup in his hand, Xu Qingfan for some reason thought of the useless stone in his room, which was a birthday gift Xia Xiaoxiao gave him when he was very young.

Xu Qingfan had wanted to throw it away several times because he thought it was taking up too much space, but every time Xia Xiaoxiao came to his room and saw that the stone was missing, she would ask, "Where's the stone I gave you?"

He had no choice but to take it out from the bottom of the drawer and place it in the most conspicuous spot on the table.

[At the time, she seemed to be saying that she wished our friendship would be as enduring as this stone.]
Xu Qingfan stopped his wild thoughts and looked at the person in front of him, saying, "Wan Ning and Yi Yi both gave me gifts, so should I give Wan Ning and Yi Yi gifts too to even things out?"

Zhang Yiyi gently shook her head. The girl clearly didn't care about these things, because her brother was the best gift.

Lin Wanning felt the same way, but receiving a gift was of course even better, especially since it was from Brother Qingfan!

"Really? Brother Qingfan also prepared a little surprise?" She stamped her feet in surprise and asked.

Luckily, the girl lived in a detached villa, otherwise the downstairs neighbors would have suspected someone was jumping rope upstairs. Xu Qingfan didn't keep them in suspense and took out two smooth bamboo stalks from his pocket.

"Here, this is it." He handed the two bamboo stalks to Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi respectively.

"Huh?" The two looked at the small stick in their hands and blinked in surprise.

"Brother Qingfan, is this for scratching an itch?" Lin Wanning stretched the bamboo stick to his back to scratch, but it wasn't as effective as using his hands directly.

"What tickling? This is called a bamboo tube gun. Haven't any of you ever played with one?"

Xu Qingfan had only played with bamboo tube guns in his previous life when he was a child. His family was not wealthy at that time, and he didn't have many toys during his childhood. When he returned to his hometown, his grandfather specially made a bamboo tube gun for him.

After placing two unidentified green fruits into a bamboo tube, a small, long stick is used to push it forcefully inside. The fruits in front are then ejected instantly due to the compressed air, accompanied by a very loud popping sound.

"don't know."

"never play it."

Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi shook their heads at the same time, no matter how hard they tried to imagine, they couldn't figure out what the small section of bamboo in their hands was for.

"I'll show you something. It might not be very fun, but I made it myself last night." He tore two small pieces off Lin Wanning's draft paper and crumpled them into balls.

"Give me one of yours."

"Ok!"

After taking the bamboo tube gun from Zhang Yiyi, he inserted the two 'ammunition' into the two small holes of the bamboo tube, one in front of the other.

"Watch closely." He aimed the solid stick at the bamboo hole, and the next second he pushed hard.

"Snapped!"

A tremendous explosion suddenly rang out inside the room, and at the same time, the small pieces of paper in front of them were propelled three or four meters away by the force.

"Wow~"

"Wow, that's amazing! Brother Qingfan, I want to play too!"

He smiled and returned the bamboo gun to Zhang Yiyi, then acted as a mechanic, helping the two girls manually prepare the ammunition.

"Clap!"

Two loud explosions rang out one after the other inside the house, clearly indicating that the two girls had grasped the essence of the bamboo gun on their very first try.

"Wow, that's amazing! How did you come up with that idea, Brother Qingfan!" Lin Wanning looked at the bamboo in his hand with great affection.

Actually, the bamboo wasn't anything special, and the bamboo gun wasn't anything fun, but in this atmosphere, and because it was a gift from Brother Qingfan, the two girls were very happy.

Actually, as long as someone truly loves you, even if you give her the ugliest DIY handmade gift, or even just a wildflower or a weed by the roadside, she will still be very happy and content as long as you put your heart into it.

"I'm glad you like it." Xu Qingfan smiled happily as well.

The bamboo gun was a sudden idea he came up with yesterday when he was setting off firecrackers to blow up bamboo in the countryside, so he cut off a small section with a knife and put it in his pocket.

He only made these two because he wanted to relive his childhood memories. He would be even happier if Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi liked them.

"I like it!" Zhang Yiyi said sweetly.

"Super, invincible, the number one favorite in the universe!" Lin Wanning also said.

"You think you can only say two words when you bully someone?" He slapped Lin Wanning on the head.

"No!"

After playing with the two of them using bamboo guns for a while, the three of them sat down in front of the computer and discussed how to write the script for the comic.

After all, a novel is just a novel, and it takes quite a bit of effort to present the content in the form of a storyboard.

The novel has been serialized for 30,000 words, and it just so happens that the useless male protagonist is trampled underfoot by the aloof female academic genius. When they touch each other, he unexpectedly discovers that his cheat ability is to copy other people's talents. Then he shouts out that passionate line: "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, never underestimate a young man's potential!"

There are already tens of thousands of comments in the comment section. After all, it's their own software, so this level of traffic promotion is understandable.

Of course, the most important thing is that the novel's content is captivating; just look at the comments below urging for more updates.

"Knife in hand, follow me, let's slaughter all those 'fake writers' in the world, hahaha, Brother Qingfan's comment is hilarious!"

"And this too, Grandma said she followed a novel when she was young and asked me to finish it for her. Now it seems she'll have to pass it on to my granddaughter, hahaha."

Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi browsed the comments below with great interest, occasionally reading them aloud.

Xu Qingfan's forehead went black. Killing all the comic book writers was tantamount to killing himself. He smacked the two of them on the head in annoyance and took control of the mouse: "Don't forget we're here to write comic book scripts, so get serious!"

"Brother Qingfan is fierce again!"

"Extremely fierce."

The two girls were just talking; they quickly got into a serious work mode.

"I think it could be like this or like this."

"No, like this, like this?"

"Yes, that's good!"

"That's it!"

Xu Qingfan had not specifically studied comic scriptwriting. He sat in the middle listening to the two girls' encrypted conversation. Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi were very focused on their work and completely ignored Xu Qingfan in the middle, happily typing and deleting words in the Word document.

Almost an hour later, Lin Wanning suddenly patted his shoulder: "Brother Qingfan, what do you think?"

Zhang Yiyi was also looking at him sideways, waiting for his answer.

"what?"

Xu Qingfan had almost fallen asleep when he awkwardly scratched the back of his head and said, "I think it's great."

"Hehe~ Brother Qingfan really thinks it's good too!"

"Ah."

"start!"

"Ok!"

(I'll be adding an extra chapter tomorrow. I haven't had enough rest since finishing the provincial exam the day before yesterday, so I still owe two more chapters for the monthly ticket bonus.)
(End of this chapter)