I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 296. Lin Wanning's Inner Thoughts

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the living room was quiet. The six people who had been sleeping on the carpet were still fast asleep, though someone had covered them with blankets.

In the quiet room, the next second, the crisp and melodious chime of the wall clock broke the silence.

The crisp, melodious chimes are like a gentle breeze, lightly brushing against the cheek, or a soft reminder, passing through the veil of time, gently awakening the sleeping world, and cleverly intertwining dreams and reality.

The six people opened their eyes one after another. After a long lunch break, everyone looked a little tired, but when they looked at each other, they couldn't help but smile.

"It's only five o'clock. I thought I could sleep until dark." Xiao Ruanwen propped herself up on the floor, her arms outstretched gracefully, her proud curves soft and upright, like a perfect figure that only appears in anime characters.

"What? It's only five o'clock? You've been sleeping for more than three hours." Xu Qingfan stood up and opened the curtains in the living room. The afterglow instantly fell on him, making his hair look like it was covered with a golden veil.

When he looked back, the setting sun shone through the window into the room, and the five girls were shrouded in a hazy glow, making it impossible to see their expressions.

Lin Wanning looked like a kitten just awakened from a dream, her face still slightly sleepy. She squinted her eyes, gently patted her cheeks with both hands, and said:

"It's so comfortable to sleep together in the living room like this, much more comfortable than sleeping alone at home!"

Xia Xiaoxiao looked up at Xu Qingfan, who was leaning against the windowsill and showing off, and felt the same way.

If I'm all alone, I feel like I've lost track of time when I wake up in the afternoon, but if I can see him as soon as I open my eyes, I don't feel that way.

"Dinner can be made now," Wu Lingyu said, turning on the light after folding and putting away the blankets on the floor.

"Have you bought groceries yet? It's not too late to go now," Xu Qingfan asked the five girls after finishing the tea that had been sitting out all afternoon.

"Hehe~ I bought it yesterday, we're having barbecue tonight!" Lin Wanning quickly regained her energy and bounced around Xu Qingfan.

"She even lied to me and said she went to Ruan Wen's house." Xu Qingfan finally figured out where Xia Xiaoxiao had been all day yesterday.

"Who told you to be so stupid!" the girl said dismissively, curling her lip.

After Zhang Yiyi opened the living room door, she stood at the doorway with a smile, raised her phone, and gently pressed the shutter, capturing herself and the five people in the room in the frame.

After a brief chat, the six of them quickly got to work.

Xu Qingfan was in charge of starting the charcoal fire, Zhang Yiyi and Lin Wanning were fiddling with the juice they wanted to drink, and Xia Xiaoxiao and Wu Lingyu were in charge of skewering the marinated meat.

Of course, Xiao Ruanwen was also present. The girl was currently waving two electric mosquito swatters in the yard, like a Cheng Yaojin from the Chinese server driving away annoying mosquitoes.

After dusk, the remaining sunset glow slowly blended into the deep blue night sky, and the stars began to light up their own glimmers.

Flames leaped and danced inside the barbecue grill, the red flames roaring upwards, and the aroma of barbecue quickly filled the air, mingling with the night breeze and the cheerful laughter of the boys.

"Cough cough cough~ Is this the surprise you were talking about, letting me be the barbecue chef?" A gust of wind blew by, and Xu Qingfan coughed from the smoke.

"Brother Qingfan, are you done yet? I'm starving!"

"Hehe~ It's because you grilled it so well, Brother Fan."

Five girls stood around him, their hands supporting their chins, patiently waiting for the next round of feeding.

"Okay~ all done." Xu Qingfan tasted one himself to make sure it was cooked before distributing the skewers to them.

"good to eat!"

He felt just as satisfied as he watched the others eat, their eyes slightly closed and the corners of their mouths turned up.

The joy of cooking lies in gaining the approval of diners.

"Brother Qingfan, you should eat too." Lin Wanning offered Xu Qingfan the half-eaten chicken leg he had left, and cleverly put the part he had eaten near his mouth.

"Thank you, Wan Ning."

"Hehe~" Lin Wanning simply responded with a sweet smile.

Xia Xiaoxiao glared at the stinky dog ​​unhappily, but didn't say anything.

[I didn't say thank you, Xiaoxiao, when I fed you!]
After Lin Wanning took the lead, the girls also fed Xu Qingfan the food they had half-eaten.

It's not that I have any strange quirks, it's just that this way I can eat a few more rounds of Fan Ge's barbecue.

After Lin Wanning finished feeding him, Zhang Yiyi thoughtfully wiped his mouth with a tissue. Then Wu Lingyu gave Fan Ge a drink to cleanse his palate before it was the next person's turn to feed him.

Although it not only involved grilling for them, but also taking turns eating the saliva of five girls, what more could one ask for than such attentive service from beautiful girls?
At eight o'clock in the evening, the charcoal in the stove gradually burned out, the red light slowly dimmed, and the heat gradually dissipated.

The skewers that were once piled high on the table are now just bare sticks, and the glass bottles of juice are empty.

Xu Qingfan fetched water to extinguish the charcoal fire. After they cleaned up the yard, it was almost nine o'clock.

"Where's the surprise you promised? Hurry up and translate it for me!" he asked expectantly after wiping his hands with a tissue.

"The surprise is..."

Xu Qingfan thought they would finally tell him this time, but all he heard was the five girls saying in unison, "It's a secret!"

"Don't say yes!"

The next second, Xu Qingfan, looking both embarrassed and angry, sneakily grabbed their armpits and said, "Will you talk or not? Will you talk or not!"

"Ah~ no, haha!"

"Brother Qingfan, don't catch me~"

"Brother Fan is alone, let's fight back!"

"Good~"

"You're going to retaliate against me, aren't you? Ruan Wen, you're in big trouble!" Xu Qingfan instantly turned his gun around and grabbed at the leader.

"Ah! Brother Fan, I was wrong~ Please go and catch Xiao Xiao, okay?"

"Ruan Wen, how could you do this!" Xia Xiaoxiao also betrayed the revolution, helping Xu Qingfan to arrest her.

A few minutes later, Xiao Ruanwen was pressed down onto the sofa by Xu Qingfan, with Xia Xiaoxiao sitting behind her like a crow taking a flight.

"Hehehe~ I was wrong. Xiaoxiao, don't gohehehe." Xia Xiaoxiao kept tickling the soles of her feet with her fingers. Xiao Ruanwen was ticklish to begin with, and now she laughed so hard she was twitching. Her face looked like she had been played with to death.

"Go, go!" Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi stood by her side, cheering her on, while also recording the scene of Ruan Wen being 'bullied' on their phones.

Few people are as bored as Wu Lingyu, so she took advantage of the time to go into the kitchen and wash the plates and cups for tonight.

Fearing he might really hurt the girl, Xu Qingfan only held her down for a minute before letting go.

Next up is Ruan Wen vs. Xiao Xiao, play 1!
Xiao Ruanwen then used a suffocation tactic, burying Xia Xiaoxiao's head in her broad chest.

Xia Xiaoxiao, not to be outdone, used her over-a-meter-long legs to firmly lock Xiao Ruanwen's waist. Xu Qingfan watched with great interest; he absolutely loved watching women fight.

Just as the battle reached a stalemate, Xiao Ruanwen suddenly blew a breath gently into the girl's ear.

"Hmm~"

Xia Xiaoxiao instantly went limp and lost all strength. Xiao Ruanwen seized the opportunity to press her down onto the sofa and slapped her buttocks repeatedly.

"Slap slap slap~ Hahaha, serves you right for scratching me just now!"

"Ruan Wen, you're cheating!" Xia Xiaoxiao blushed and tried to get up.

"Who told you to be so sensitive, Xiao Xiao?" She originally wanted to say, "Who told you to be so sensitive, Xiao Xiao?" But since Brother Fan was still there, she didn't dare to continue.

After Xiao Ruanwen released her, the defiant Xia Xiaoxiao quickly pounced on her again, and the scene of Xiaoxiao vs. Ruanwen played out again in the living room, play 2.

Xu Qingfan shook his head. "I'm going to take a shower. You guys should take a shower early too."

After he went upstairs, the two who were still fighting stopped instantly, and Wu Lingyu also stopped what she was doing and came out of the kitchen.

The five girls nodded in unison; the real birthday surprise was about to begin!

At this moment, Xu Qingfan was unaware that the girls downstairs had already started decorating. After returning to his room to get a change of clothes, he went into the shower room of the master bedroom next door.

He usually takes a quick shower, but this time it took him a long time.

As it was getting closer to midnight, Xu Qingfan guessed that he would see the surprise prepared by the five girls after he finished showering, so he deliberately took a longer shower to give them more time to prepare.

"You want to make me cry?" Xu Qingfan smiled disdainfully.

He promised that someone's head could be severed and blood could flow, but the little pearl could not be lost.

[It can't be the one crying, can it?] He suddenly thought to himself, looking down.

Twenty minutes later, he came out of the bathroom dressed.

The room was pitch black. The lights that had been on had been turned off at some point, and even the curtains were drawn.

Xu Qingfan thought to himself that the surprise was finally coming. While looking forward to it, he took out his phone from his pocket to light his way.

Not only the room lights, but also the hallway lights were off, as were the lights in the living room on the first floor.

Xu Qingfan cooperated by not turning on the lights, since he had lived here for a long time and was unlikely to bump into anything.

When they returned to the first floor, only the television on the cabinet was lit up. The five girls who had been there not long ago had vanished without a trace.

"Where is she?" He instinctively ran to the kitchen to look for her, but there was no one there.

Just then, the television, which had been paused, suddenly started making noise again.

"No way, they're testing the cadres with just an edited video?" Xu Qingfan knew that the others must be hiding in some corner eavesdropping, so he shouted loudly after sitting down on the sofa.

However, the only response he received was from the television.

Like a countdown during Chinese New Year, the screen displays the countdown "10, 9, 8, 7" accompanied by the voices of five girls counting down.

As the countdown ended, accompanied by the background music of the five members singing "A Little Happiness" together, the TV screen began to play snippets of their lives over the past year.

"Here we go again? You think you can make me cry with this?" Xu Qingfan chuckled and began to concentrate on the images on the screen, reminiscing about the past.

Not many interesting things happened to the six of them during that year; apart from two trips during the winter and summer vacations, it seems there were none.

Therefore, the video quickly showed their recent trip to Hong Kong, including Xiaoxiao's embarrassing moments on the roller coaster, taking Wanning to see a doctor late at night, and watching the sunset with Yiyi.
As the song gradually came to an end, the final scene showed five girls making her a birthday cake.

As the music ended and the audience dispersed, the television screen went black, plunging the living room into darkness once more.

"Come out, everyone. Isn't it time to blow out the candles and sing 'Happy Birthday'?" Xu Qingfan, thinking he had figured out the five girls' plan, called out to the dark and empty living room.

However, no one responded to him. Just as Xu Qingfan was about to get up and find the naughty kids to spank them, the television suddenly made a "squeaking" sound.

The screen suddenly lit up again in the next second, showing Lin Wanning's room.

The footsteps grew louder as they approached, and suddenly, Lin Wanning's smiling face appeared on the screen.

"Ahem~" The girl cleared her throat and sat up straight. "What I want to say next is to Brother Qingfan!"

After she finished speaking, she started to stumble, but fortunately the girl had prepared a draft beforehand.

Lin Wanning glanced at the manuscript before speaking again: "What I want to say to Brother Qingfan, cough cough~ let's begin."

"I first met Brother Qingfan when I was five years old. It's been exactly ten years now. Ten years. Time flies like an arrow. Maybe it's because the time I spent with Brother Qingfan was so happy that time has slipped away in the blink of an eye."

Brother Qingfan always says that Wanning has grown up and is a big girl now. Sometimes I take out our childhood photos and realize that I was so tiny back then. It seems that, just like Brother Qingfan said, Wanning has really grown up.”

Tears welled in the girl's eyes. After a pause, she continued, "But, but I always feel like I haven't grown up yet. Brother Qingfan always says I'm silly. I always feel like time is still stuck in my childhood. Brother Qingfan would hold Wanning and sing lullabies to her as she fell asleep. Brother Qingfan would let Wanning ride on his shoulders and pick the most beautiful flowers. Brother Qingfan would stay up all night on the phone with Wanning because she was startled awake by thunder in the middle of the night. Brother Qingfan would..."

As the girl spoke, tears welled up in her eyes, until she could no longer hold them back and burst into tears: "Waaah~ Waaah, Brother Qingfan, I don't want to grow up! I want to be like I was when I was little, okay~ Waaah!"

Her eyes were red as she sobbed, "Brother Qingfan, you always say that when you grow up, men and women should not touch each other, but... but how can anyone suddenly grow up like a duck? Wan Ning is still a child, not a grown-up girl!"

After Lin Wanning finished speaking with a firm look in her eyes, she disappeared from the camera's view again.

Xu Qingfan's eyes had also become moist without him realizing it. He was lost in thought, pondering Lin Wanning's last words.

The girl was right. She had spoiled Wan Ning since she was little, and it would be unfair to suddenly change the way they got along.

Having been given a second chance at life, Xu Qingfan finds that he still makes a mess of things when it comes to relationships.

"Ugh~" He held his head and sighed helplessly.

A dozen seconds later, Lin Wanning reappeared on the screen.

The girl had already returned to her playful and cheerful self, and Xu Qingfan couldn't help but laugh as well when he saw her smile.

"Ahem~ What I just said was all from Wan Ning's heart." The video must have been filmed a few days later, as Lin Wan Ning had changed her clothes again. When she said this, she shyly avoided eye contact, clearly recalling the scene of the little pearl falling that day.

Happy 15th birthday, Qingfan! May you always be happy!

I, Lin Wanning, swear before the earth, before the sky, before the clouds, before the wind, before the flowers and rainbows, that I will only ever love Qingfan-gege in this life, I love Qingfan-gege the most, the most, the most, the most!

"fool."

Bonus chapter for monthly pass subscribers: (6/8)

(End of this chapter)