"It’s ten o’clock; get up already!"
"Brother Fan has made breakfast."
As expected, Xia Xiaoxiao and Wu Lingyu woke Lin Wanning up in the morning.
"It’s not ten o’clock yet; I’ll hang you up and whip you later!" Xu Qingfan put on his slippers, got out of bed, and rubbed Wu Lingyu’s head, "Morning, Yu."
"Morning, Brother Fan!"
"Rounded up, it’s basically ten o’clock!" Xia Xiaoxiao glanced guiltily at the clock on the bedside table and said.
"Why don’t you say it’s practically noon and it would be better to say we didn’t get up until twelve o’clock?" He pinched the girl’s cheek while Xia Xiaoxiao wasn’t paying attention, and left with a mischievous smile.
"You didn’t fold the blanket again!" She yelled towards the direction of the living room after he disappeared.
"I do as I please!" Xu Qingfan’s voice came from the bathroom.
Xia Xiaoxiao and Wu Lingyu looked at each other and smiled, each grabbing a corner of the blanket to fold it for him.
At this moment, Xia Xiaoxiao was fully engrossed, thinking that Xu Qingfan was like the protagonist in a fable who starves to death because he’s too lazy to turn over his pancake; she said, "If it weren’t for us, he’d starve sooner or later."
Wu Lingyu just pursed her lips, smiling without a word.
Brother Fan cooked for them every day and helped them with life’s troubles; he was far from lazy!
If it wasn’t Xia Xiaoxiao who said these words, but some outsider, Wu Lingyu, despite being gentle, would definitely stand up for Xu Qingfan.
After ten minutes, the three of them appeared together at the dining table in the living room.
The breakfast was dried vegetable and salted bone congee paired with fried dough sticks. Upon tasting it, Xu Qingfan knew it was cooked by Wu Lingyu, because only the prudent Yu would soak the rice in advance, waiting to make congee the next day.
Xu Qingfan glanced at the clock in the living room; it had just reached nine thirty. He rolled his eyes at Xia Xiaoxiao and asked, "What do you two want to do later?"
"The sun is so poisonous; isn’t it better to stay home and play games? I’ve got a date with Ruan Wen to play QQ Speed."
Seeing Brother Fan looking at her, Wu Lingyu thought for a moment before speaking, "Grocery shopping, and the kitchen’s exhaust hood is a bit dirty; I’m thinking of cleaning it."
"Then, Yu, I’ll help you clean it, and after that, we can invite Ruan Wen to play in team mode!" Xia Xiaoxiao was not a delicate girl, speaking up immediately.
Xu Qingfan originally planned to praise one and criticize the other, but seeing the girl’s response, he held back and said, "Then I’ll go grocery shopping. By the way, I’ll pick up Zhang Yiyi and Wan Ningyi for lunch."
"Are Wan Ning and Yiyi coming too? Then should we invite Ruan Wen?" Wu Lingyu blinked, feeling it’s not nice to leave someone out.
"Ruan Wen has to have a meal with her family, while Wan Ning and Yiyi have no one at home, so we’re bringing them over," Xu Qingfan explained, tapping her on the head.
"Oh, oh, okay." The girl nodded vigorously.
Fiddling with the congee with her spoon and wearing a look of a wronged wife, Xia Xiaoxiao said, "Then you better come back quickly after grocery shopping; don’t stay at her place until almost one o’clock, starving us to death!"
"When have I ever stayed at Wan Ning’s place until one o’clock?" Xu Qingfan asked, somewhat speechless.
"Hmph~ Anyway, there was a time." Xia Xiaoxiao pouted and continued to eat her congee.
After finishing eating, just as Xu Qingfan was about to take the bowls to the kitchen to wash, Wu Lingyu stopped him, saying, "Brother Fan, you go on; Xiaoxiao and I will wash them."
"Alright, I’ll be back before eleven thirty to cook, lest someone complains again." Before leaving, he couldn’t resist flicking Xia Xiaoxiao’s head again, then escaped amidst the girl’s murderous glare with a playful grin.
Xia Xiaoxiao darkened her expression as she watched Xu Qingfan put on his shoes and leave; only when the boy had turned the corner did her face suddenly bloom into a bright smile: "Just like a primary school kid."
"Yu, let’s go clean the exhaust hood, or someone will come back and say we didn’t do anything again!" Xia Xiaoxiao’s facial expressions varied widely, now showing a somewhat mischievously proud look.
"Yes!" Wu Lingyu nodded, her hands propping her chin as she smiled at Xia Xiaoxiao.
It hadn’t even reached ten o’clock when he left the house, and the temperature was still around twenty-five or twenty-six degrees.
Dense banyan trees blocked out the sunlight, and dappled leaves fell upon him as the wind passed, rustling.
In the past, he would’ve been holding hands with his beloved companions going left and right.
The plum blossom marks on the ground were still there, but sadly the person who used to paint plum blossoms was no longer to be seen.
Renovations to their new home had begun last month, and Xu Qingfan’s time living there was counting down.
Xu Qingfan withdrew his gaze, mounted the electric scooter parked downstairs, and set off to find Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi.
Caught up in the moment yesterday, he promised Lin Wanning that whatever birthday surprise she wanted, he would grant. Now on his way there, Xu Qingfan was somewhat worried that the girl might ask for something difficult for him to fulfill.
For example, if Lin Wanning’s birthday gift involved snuggling up with him for sleep, that would conflict with the promise he made to Xia Xiaoxiao not to share a bed with anyone else.
But since the picking mushrooms incident took place less than three months ago, Xu Qingfan thought Lin Wanning should be aware of the boundaries.
[She surely wouldn’t ask me to agree to something like sharing a bed... right?]
"What, you want to wake up and see me?" In Lin Wanning’s home, Xu Qingfan pointed to himself with a dumbfounded face.
"Yep, Brother Qing Fan, didn’t you say yesterday any request was okay?" Lin Wanning blinked, her head swaying side to side.
"This... but... doesn’t that mean we have to sleep together to see each other?" Influenced by the habit of not sharing a bed, Xu Qingfan’s mind took a moment to catch up.
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"I don’t know about that; anyway, Brother Qing Fan, you said yesterday, even if it’s a star in the sky, you’d find a way to pluck it down!" Lin Wanning raised her hand, miming the action of plucking a star.