Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

Girls running can make the muscle lines in their legs bigger. Knowing someone was drooling over her legs, Xia Xiaoxiao normally only did yoga for exercise, even if she ran, it was at a ten-minute aerobic pace.

Wu Lingyu was exercising on another treadmill, like Xu Qingfan, for half an hour, but her pace was also ten minutes.

Maybe it was the exhaustion from the night before, or maybe it was because he hadn't exercised for two days, but by the time he hit three kilometers, he was panting heavily, and by the time he hit five kilometers, he was drenched in sweat.

In fact, Xu Qingfan was in pretty good shape. Running at a four-kilometer pace for half an hour was almost at the level of a second-tier athlete.

"Huff, huff, huff~" After sprinting the last minute, his shirt was completely soaked with sweat.

"Running really requires consistency, usually running for half an hour isn't this tiring." Xu Qingfan said as he took off his shirt, revealing his strong back and well-defined eight-pack abs.

Both Xia Xiaoxiao and Wu Lingyu's eyes were instantly drawn. Even though they had already explored every inch of his body the night before, seeing it with their own eyes still made them captivated by the aesthetic lines of Xu Qingfan's strong physique.

But soon, the two of them realized something was wrong—Xu Qingfan's back had a lot of scratch marks!

Xia Xiaoxiao thought she had made them the night before. Remembering that she had indeed scratched his back with her nails last night, she quickly averted her gaze, feeling guilty.

Only Wu Lingyu knew that most of the scratch marks were left by her, as she had vented her grievances on Brother Fan time and time again the previous night!

But she also knew what Xiaoxiao was thinking at that moment. If she ignored it, it would seem strange, and smart Sherlock Xia might guess something from it.

So putting on an innocent act, Lingyu asked in confusion, "Brother Fan, why do you have so many scratch marks on your back?"

At this moment, Xia Xiaoxiao had only one thought in her mind: We're screwed!

She forced herself to look at Xu Qingfan with a calm demeanor, but inside she was panicking badly!

"Huh?"

Xu Qingfan, who was still walking slowly on the treadmill, was stunned, then turned his head to glance at his back.

[Why are there so many scratch marks? Aren't you two little goblins responsible for it!]

He hardly took any time to think, and firmly said, "Oh... these, I got bitten by some kind of bug and scratched myself."

"Pfft!"

Seeing Xu Qingfan lie so smoothly made Xia Xiaoxiao want to laugh, but she was thankful that at least it had been covered up.

Seeing the two of them watching her, she said, "No, Yu also said she got bitten by some bug, you two are really in sync."

Xu Qingfan looked at Wu Lingyu, who nervously rubbed the back of her neck and said, "I got bitten here. Xiaoxiao noticed it yesterday."

"Pfft.... rural areas do have a lot of bugs, huh."

Seeing where she was rubbing, Xu Qingfan instantly recalled certain scenes, the dog-man and her shared a tacit understanding.

[I need to control myself next time, no more random kisses!]

[And those scratch marks on my back, who knows how many days they'll take to disappear. I need to avoid Wanning and Yiyi these days!]

With just a few words, Xu Qingfan managed to fill in all the gaps.

"Yep, yep... really a lot of bugs in rural areas!" Wu Lingyu nervously echoed.

Xia Xiaoxiao glanced at the scratch marks on the dog's back again, thinking: I need to trim my nails later.

"I think it's fine, maybe it's just different body constitutions? I didn't get bitten."

Xu Qingfan and Wu Lingyu looked at each other: "Right, right!"

Xu Qingfan: [Want to get bitten? I'll fulfill your wish next time!]

Wu Lingyu: [You haven't been bitten yet, but I heard everything last night!]

...

At three in the afternoon, six people gathered at their secret base from middle school.

The yard, uninhabited for more than two months, was covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves, and the ripe childhood sweethearts fallen to the ground had attracted countless ants.

It might be the species or the climate, but their childhood sweethearts still had a tart taste even when ripe, so apart from making wine, not many people ate them.

After all, it was a place where they had lived for three years, and seeing the now desolate yard made the six of them feel quite emotional.

Only Little White, carefree, dashed into the yard to play as soon as Xu Qingfan opened the door.

"Let's clean up a bit, then we'll go back to school." Xu Qingfan said, picking up a broom.

"Okay!"

The "Peace and Joy" sticker on the glass had already turned yellow. Lin Wanning's radiant smile in the photo seemed as if it were still from yesterday.

The five girls gathered around as they saw Xu Qingfan looking at the glass.

"Haha, I still remember, Wanning pasted the 'Joy' first, and without 'Joy', 'Peace and Joy' couldn't be complete, so we printed out Wanning's photo as the 'Joy'!" Xiao Ruawen laughed, pointing at the photo.

Lin Wanning groaned in embarrassment and looked at Xu Qingfan: "That was in our second year of middle school."

Xu Qingfan rubbed the girl's head and stood up, saying, "Where are we celebrating the New Year this year, here or at our new home near the high school?"

"I think either is fine. It's convenient to play here, but there we have a new home for the New Year!" Xiao Ruawen said.

"Anything's fine."

"Wherever Brother Qing Fan says!"

Xu Qingfan glanced at the five of them: "Then let's go there, listening to Ruawen, new year, new home."

"Hehe~ okay!"

The six of them quickly cleaned up the yard, went inside to have a look, but the house cleaning would have to wait for the next big clean-up.

After locking the gate again, the six of them took a car back to school.

Except for Yu, who had obediently finished her assignments early, the others had kept their assignments in Xu Qingfan's bag for the whole seven days of the National Day holiday, untouched.

Obviously, he wasn't the only one with such an idea.

"Over twenty worksheets, are they nuts?" Xiao Ruawen said, as she finished copying her fifth one and counted, realizing she still had twenty left.

"Ruawen, I finished this one, let's swap." Lin Wanning exchanged her worksheet with Xiao Ruawen's.

"I have a good reason not to do homework, why didn't you guys do it?" Xu Qingfan was multitasking, copying homework while chatting with the five girls.

Xia Xiaoxiao pouted: "What's the point, it's not like we don't know how to do it."

Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi exchanged glances: "We were drawing comics!"

Seeing Xu Qingfan look at her, Xiao Ruawen puffed her chest: "Busy watching Weibo, is that not allowed?"

Ever since posting "Misaligned Time," the traffic had been flooding in, and the comments section was full of talented people with pleasing words.

Xu Qingfan tapped her head with his pen: "Did you tell your dad about this? And your grandparents?"

Speaking of this, Xiao Ruawen's eyes sparkled, and she stopped copying: "Yes, my grandpa said the lyrics were well-written, and I said Brother Fan wrote them. Hahaha! My grandpa said Brother Fan hasn't been a guest at our house for a long time, he's recently had new insights into calligraphy!"

"Also, my dad specifically called to praise me, and Brother Fan too. He said their team played that video as a memorial clip."

"And, and, and..."

Xiao Ruawen seemed to turn into a cheerful magpie, her smile bright and endless.

Mostly because she had gained the approval of her family, which was the happiest thing for a girl with dreams of music.

"Enough, enough, no more talking, back to homework!" Xu Qingfan tapped her forehead with his pen.

Xiao Ruawen playfully stuck out her tongue: "Hehe!"

The other four girls couldn't help but laugh at her antics.

"Ruawen is going to be a big star!" Lin Wanning raised her little pink fist.

"Can anyone help the future big star with her National Day homework?" Xiao Ruawen made a comical, tearful face.

"No way!"

"Hahaha!"

Xu Qingfan shook his head and smiled, resting his chin on his hand as he continued to copy worksheets, though his mind was on other matters.

The first season of Huaxia's Voice was scheduled for next year. He was considering whether to let Xiao Ruawen participate.

Maybe due to Good Taste Takeout's early entry, the capital giants who should have focused on group-buying in 2011 were already testing the waters of the takeout industry.

Xu Qingfan guessed that with the wider adoption of smartphones next year, the "Takeout Wars" that erupted in 2015 in his previous life might happen sooner.

To maintain Good Taste Takeout's leading edge and to boost its visibility, securing the naming rights for Huaxia's Voice seemed necessary.

[Then I'll write a few smash hits for Ruawen, with the biggest sponsor backing her, the championship would be ours to decide, wouldn't it?]

...