Once everyone got out of the car, Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle were already waiting outside. Xu Qingfan greeted each of them, and the four little ones imitated Xu Qingfan’s calls and greeted as well.
"Hahahaha, you can’t call him Uncle, you have to call him Uncle Yao," Yao Jiping laughed, seeing her parents and brother standing there dazed and confused.
"Xiao Fan, are all these girls your classmates? They all look so lovely!" Grandma happily grabbed Xu Qingfan’s hand and asked.
"Grandma, these are all my classmates..." Xu Qingfan started to introduce them one by one, but Lin Wanning interrupted him, "Hello, Grandma, my name is Lin Wanning, she is Zhang Yiyi, Yiyi has trouble hearing, so she usually communicates by writing. She might cause some trouble for you, but we are all Brother Qingfan’s best friends!"
[My socially anxious childhood sweetheart Ningning is so brave today?]
"Oh, I’m so happy you could come, Grandma doesn’t mind, not at all!"
"Hello, Grandma, I am Xia Xiaoxiao."
"Hello, Grandma, I am Xiao Ruawen, the class monitor!"
"Oh, Xiao Xiao, Grandma knows you! And you are the class monitor? That’s amazing!" Grandma gently stroked both of their heads with her rough hands.
Lin Wanning stood beside Xu Qingfan, holding Zhang Yiyi’s hand, tapping her small chest to calm herself down.
"How did you dare to talk to strangers so much today?" Xu Qingfan secretly asked, leaning in close to her ear.
"Brother Qingfan’s Grandma is not a stranger!"
Lin Wanning of course didn’t tell him that she practiced this short introduction in front of the mirror over and over again last night...
Everyone exchanged pleasantries all the way back home. As soon as the door opened, a cool breeze greeted them, revealing that Grandpa and Grandma had turned on the air conditioner ahead of their arrival.
"Eat some lychees, just picked from the tree yesterday!" Yao Shulun took some frozen Guiwei lychees out from the fridge and placed them on the table.
"Thank you, Grandpa!" The little ones nodded politely.
"Grandpa, you all go ahead and do your things, don’t worry about us!" Xu Qingfan said with a smile.
With the election voting starting in the afternoon, Grandpa and the others needed to visit and connect with people one last time.
"Okay, if you get thirsty, go buy some sodas." Yao Shulun cheerfully pulled out a wad of loose cash from his pocket, took out a ten yuan bill, and handed it to Xu Qingfan.
"Thank you, Grandpa!" Xu Qingfan happily accepted it.
Although he already had over a hundred yuan on him, he didn’t want to ruin one of his Grandpa’s rare moments of being able to act the big shot in front of him.
The adults quickly set out to canvass votes, while Grandma busied herself in the kitchen preparing lunch. Suddenly, only the little ones were left in the living room.
With the adults gone, everyone relaxed and started to look around the house.
"Brother Qingfan, what’s this used for?" Lin Wanning asked, picking up a large wooden rake from the corner.
"Oh, that’s used to collect dead leaves."
"Why collect dead leaves?"
"To use for firewood. In the earth stove, you put in some dead leaves, light a piece of firewood, and it lights up. I’ll take you to see it!" Xu Qingfan waved them over to follow him into the kitchen.
"It’s not time for lunch yet, are you hungry?" Grandma asked, plucking chicken feathers as she saw them all crowd into the kitchen.
"Grandma, I’m just showing them the earth stove. They’ve never seen one before."
"It’s just a few broken bricks. Fanfan, be careful! The sugarcane leaves have thorns, don’t hurt your hands!"
Xu Qingfan cleared away the dry cane leaves at the top and used the straw underneath to demonstrate how to light the stove.
"Watch closely, first lay this straw at the bottom, then place some small twigs on top." He finished adding them and picked up a matchbox, pulling out a full matchstick.
"Now, for my magic trick!" Xu Qingfan held the matchstick firmly against the side of the matchbox, the phosphorus tip touching the sandpaper.
"Hold your breath and watch closely!" He made an ’OK’ gesture with his right hand and flicked, only for the match to break awkwardly.
Xu Qingfan felt like crows were flying above his head, and Lin Wanning asked in an odd voice, "Brother Qingfan, can we breathe now? Ningning can’t hold it any longer!"
"Hahahaha!" The kitchen filled with mocking laughter.
"Ahem... ahem... it’s okay, it’s okay. Look, this is how you light the stove." Xu Qingfan awkwardly wiped his forehead and pulled out another match from the box. After striking it, he threw it into the stove. The straw at the bottom immediately started to burn.
"The fire is about to go out!"
"No worries, just blow on it a bit, huff... huff... see!" Xu Qingfan picked up an iron pipe from the ground and blew air into the stove, causing the fire to grow several times larger immediately.
"Wow, Brother Fan, you know how to do everything!" Suspecting she had laughed the loudest just now, Xiao Ruawen tried to make up for it by complimenting him.
"Piece of cake. Now, isn’t the twigs burning too?" Xu Qingfan smugly flicked his hair and pulled out a partially burning twig from the stove to show them.
"At this point, you add slightly thicker branches, and the stove will be fully lit. As long as you keep adding firewood, it can burn all day without going out. Who wants to try?" Xu Qingfan turned and asked.
"Ningning wants to try too!"