The summer vacation flew by, and before we knew it, it was the start of a new school year.
"Hmph, just wait and see how you’re going to explain yourself to Teacher Guan!" Xia Xiaoxiao, carrying her new backpack, looked straight ahead at the ceaseless flow of traffic on the street.
"Whatever, it’s not like Teacher Guan can eat me!" Xu Qingfan, looking half asleep, said languidly.
"Watch her make you clean the blackboard for an entire term!"
"If she dares to make me clean the blackboard, I’ll erase her schedule and replace everything with gym classes!" It had been over two months since he’d last seen Teacher Guan, and oddly enough, Xu Qingfan found himself missing her.
Suddenly, he remembered today was Monday and there was a flag-raising ceremony during the morning reading session. Not wearing the red scarf could mean a deduction of points for Young Pioneers.
Xu Qingfan dug out his red scarf from Xia Xiaoxiao’s backpack and handed it to the little girl, "Help me put on the red scarf, almost forgot it’s Monday."
"Can’t even tie a red scarf," the little girl muttered under her breath, but she still took it and earnestly helped Xu Qingfan tie it.
Xu Qingfan suddenly felt like a clumsy husband having his tie straightened by his wife. After Xia Xiaoxiao was done, he reached out and pinched her cheek.
"Ew~ Gross!" Xia Xiaoxiao swatted his hand away, disgusted.
"Let’s go, the school bus is here!" Xu Qingfan took Xia Xiaoxiao’s hand and ran towards the approaching bus.
The two took their seats at the back by the window, their matching backpacks, one pink and one white, resting naturally on their laps.
Xia Xiaoxiao, looking at their couple-style backpacks, secretly curved the corners of her mouth into a lovely arc. Seeing Xu Qingfan was about to turn his gaze back to the outside scenery, she quickly resumed her poker face.
The backpack was a birthday gift she had given Xu Qingfan during the summer vacation.
Having learned from the previous year’s experience, Xia Xiaoxiao made early preparations this time, taking Xiao Ruawen with her to purchase the backpack she had her eyes on in advance.
Xia Xiaoxiao’s backpack, Xiao Ruawen’s wallet, Lin Wanning’s shoes, Zhang Yiyi’s watch.
Aside from his underwear, almost everything Xu Qingfan was wearing had been gifted by the four girls.
"Hey Brother Fan, morning kiss for Xiao Xiao!" At the next stop, Xiao Ruawen and Wu Lingyu got on the bus together.
"Morning." Wu Lingyu shyly nodded her head in greeting as she followed behind them.
"How come I heard from Yu that we still had to do homework papers and scrapbooks during the summer break? Did you guys know about this?" Xiao Ruawen asked after sitting down, puzzled.
"Pfft~ cough cough cough... Maybe Teacher Guan thought we did well on our final exams, so she specially excused us from it," Xu Qingfan said, grinning sheepishly.
Xia Xiaoxiao glared at her childhood friend: "The homework ended up being taken by Xu Qingfan to Class 19, so the whole class didn’t do their homework. Teacher Guan probably won’t punish us, right?"
"Brother Fan! How could you do this? What am I supposed to say if Teacher Guan asks?" Xiao Ruawen suddenly felt troubled, being the class monitor responsible for collecting the summer homework, she wondered what to do.
"Okay, I’ll go talk to Teacher Guan first, let’s not make things difficult for you." Seeing Xiao Ruawen fretting, Xu Qingfan said amusedly.
"That won’t do, we all benefitted from it, it’s not fair to let you take the punishment alone, I’ll go with you!"
"It’s alright, it’s just a small matter. I heard college students skip classes and don’t do homework all the time, Teacher Guan will understand," Xu Qingfan said with a laugh.
"That can’t be true, college is supposed to be hard!" Xiao Ruawen responded as if she was hearing something unbelievable.
"Really, they all skip compulsory classes and compulsory skip elective ones. Summer vacation is meant for playing, not doing loads of homework."
"Hehe, Brother Fan, you just tell that to Teacher Guan when the time comes."
"Will do, as if she can turn the tables on us!"
"Hehehe, Teacher Guan, you’re just getting prettier and prettier. I saw the Mona Lisa online over the summer, but I didn’t feel anything then. I only know why now—do you know why, Teacher Guan?"
"Stop trying to bluff your way out of this, what mess have you made now?" Guan Biyue said with a laugh, giving him a stern look as she spoke.
"Ms. Guan, I really have to scold you, you’re being biased!" Xu Qingfan said indignantly.
"Don’t add the ’little’ in front of my name, just tell me, I’m busy!" Guan Biyue said, raising her hand to bonk Xu Qingfan on the head.
"So, uh, last term the test papers I took back for our class were hijacked by Class 19, I worried you were too busy, so I didn’t mention it..." Xu Qingfan said with an embarrassed smile.
"Ha!" Guan Biyue couldn’t help but laugh in frustration, scolding Xu Qingfan for a while before saying, "If they weren’t written, they weren’t written, anyway, you and Wanning should prepare, during the flag-raising ceremony you both need to go on stage to receive an award."
"Award? What award?" Xu Qingfan asked, tilting his head.
"It’s just you, everywhere you go you make a stir, even helping an elderly person gets you on CCTV, I really am impressed with you!" Guan Biyue said disdainfully, but her eyes were full of satisfaction.
"How can you blame me, who knew that ’Focus Talk’ would bother broadcasting such a trivial local matter from our place." Xu Qingfan said helplessly, spreading his hands.
"Alright, alright, get ready, you might also have to speak on behalf of everyone when you’re up there, the principal said he wants to specially award you the ’Act of Courage’ award, each of you will also get an extra three thousand yuan."
"Great!" Xu Qingfan nodded frantically, "Ms. Guan, there’s nothing else, I’ll head back to class."
"Hey, you haven’t told me the reason yet!" Guan Biyue caught him by the arm.
"What reason?" Xu Qingfan asked puzzled.
"Why didn’t you feel anything when you saw the Mona Lisa?"
"Oh, that, haha, why even ask, the moment I first saw you, Ms. Guan, I knew my Mona Lisa was already before me!"
"You little rascal~" Guan Biyue shook her head in amusement as she watched Xu Qingfan run away.
"This summer, three of our students did a good deed, they helped an elderly person who had accidentally fallen, but the elder instead falsely accused them of knocking him down. Faced with the false accusations, the three kids chose to defend themselves with the law, and in front of the cameras, they said, ’Do good deeds, don’t ask about the future!’
Please give the warmest applause to three students from the second grade, class sixteen – Xu Qingfan, Lin Wanning, and Zhang Yiyi. Each one of us should learn from them!"
After the applause ended, the principal continued, "Now, I would like to invite the three students on stage. After deliberation, our school has decided to grant them the "Act of Courage" award, with a 3000 yuan reward!"
"Brother Fan is awesome!!!"
Amidst the envious gazes from all the students, the three of them walked shoulder to shoulder up to the podium.
Several top officials of the school enthusiastically handed the pre-prepared envelopes and the Act of Courage certificates to the three, and took a photo for remembrance.
Second-grade students shouted Xu Qingfan’s name until it echoed thunderously, with students from other grades copying them and joining in.
With that kind of influence, if this were ancient times, slipping a written note saying "King Qingfan" into a fish’s belly would quickly result in owning a territory.
Even ten years later with the advent of mobile internet, he’d still be expert at getting likes on social media or getting a knock-down price on Pinduoduo.
Possibly feeling that Xu Qingfan was too high-profile at school, the principal finally scrapped the planned speech segment. Xu Qingfan, with a speech’s worth of snappy comments held back, glared resentfully at Li Haichao, then joined Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi back at their class team.
"Brother Fan, let us see your certificate!"
"Brother Fan, is the money in the envelope the 3000 yuan reward?"
"Brother Fan, treat us to spicy strips after school!"
After returning, the class buzzed with excited chatter.
"Let’s meet up at the cafeteria’s snack shop later, I’ll treat the whole class to spicy strips and cola!" Xu Qingfan said, raising the envelope in his hand to his classmates.
"Wow~ Brother Fan is awesome!!!" (voice crack.)