Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

"I'm going to beat you!" Xiao Ruawen was so furious that she gritted her teeth, then gave him another punch on the shoulder, "So when exactly is it this year?"

"Probably during summer vacation, no rush. It's up to you whether to participate or not. If you don't want to, we can just focus on studying without any pressure," Xu Qingfan patted her shoulder to comfort her.

Brother Chou Fan finally said something sensible, and Xiao Ruawen wanted to cry... of course, she didn't.

She gratefully looked at Xu Qingfan, nodded, and agreed, "I haven't decided yet, Brother Fan. If I want to sign up, do I need to prepare in advance?"

"Who do you think you're looking down on? If you need to prepare, isn't my money spent in vain?" Xu Qingfan rolled his eyes.

Xiao Ruawen stuck out her tongue: "I know you're awesome!"

"I'll think about it some more... I'll let you know once I've made a decision, Brother Fan."

She looked into Xu Qingfan's eyes and took the initiative to give him a hug, "Thank you, Brother Fan."

"It's only right to be good to you, you guys are the most important people in my life," Xu Qingfan patted her back, being a gentleman for once.

"Tch~ go tell Wanning Xiaoxiao, I'm leaving!" Xiao Ruawen was afraid Brother Chou Fan would pin her against the wall again, so she let go of him and ran away.

Xu Qingfan watched her cheerful, carefree back, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his lips.

...

"Brother Fan, where did you guys run off to just now? You disappeared in the blink of an eye."

"My hands are all red from it!"

When Xu Qingfan returned to the class, Wu Shichong and Lai Chenglang immediately spread their hands to complain, seemingly waiting for him. Their hands were black with dirt, deliberately not washed after moving books.

Xu Qingfan said nothing, silently took a bottle of cola out of the bag and placed it on the table.

"Originally, there were eight people moving the books, your share and the class president's... uh..." Wu Shichong got stuck because Xu Qingfan had already placed the third bottle of cola.

"But then again, what's wrong with moving a few more books? What's wrong with contributing more to the class?!" Wu Shichong quickly changed his tune, "Lai Chenglang, I've been wanting to say, moving just a few books, is it tiring? Not tiring at all!"

"Hehe~ Thanks, Brother Fan!" Lai Chenglang grinned cheekily and took the most expensive Youyi C bottle.

"I never said it was tiring. I don't even know who said not to wash their hands to extort Brother Fan later. Thanks, Brother Fan, thanks, Brother Fan." Lai Chenglang also picked a bottle of cola, and the two of them joked around with each other.

"Brother Fan, do we get some too?" Wang Xuan looked at him, smiling as she pointed at herself.

"Of course, it's bought for you guys, and also for those who just helped move the books. You two go and distribute them as well."

Xu Qingfan patted Xiao Ruawen's shoulder, and she instantly understood and said, "Yep, that's right, Brother Fan and I just went to buy drinks for you."

"I told you, how could Brother Fan, the class president, be the type to slack off!"

"Brother Fan is awesome, the class president is awesome too!"

They cheerfully took the drinks and went off to play the role of the dad.

Xu Qingfan only bought seven drinks in total, and Xiao Ruawen thought she wouldn't get one. Then she saw him take out a can of herbal tea from his pocket.

"You drink this, I noticed you seemed a bit overheated earlier."

Xiao Ruawen immediately suspected that it was because her breath smelled earlier, and Brother Fan noticed it, curling her toes in her shoes.

She pinched her nose and finished the herbal tea, then quietly breathed into her hand but didn't detect any bad smell. Nevertheless, she still chewed two pieces of gum.

Actually, the real reason was that Xu Qingfan bought it and suddenly didn't feel like drinking it anymore, so he randomly found an excuse to give it to her.

...

During the reshuffling of groups at the evening self-study, although their group stayed the same, Xu Qingfan still went up to make a show of it for formality's sake.

After a semester of effort, the gap between classmates was already quite evident. Out of the nine group leaders from the previous term, just four remained the same this term.

And for someone like Xu Qingfan, who could keep the group number unchanged, he was the only one.

Since it was the night before the beginning of the new term, even though the class teacher sat on the podium, the classmates continued to chat as they pleased.

This seat arrangement resembling "chocolate" was something many started experiencing only in high school, allowing even the option to choose group members.

Couldn't imagine how enjoyable it would be to chat with good friends until tired, then conveniently attend class for a while.

However, the classmates who scored high enough to get into the high school department are quite diligent during classes and won't do things that disturb others.

Everyone makes noise when it's time to, and gets really serious when it's time to study.

But tonight, Xiao Ruawen seemed a bit uninterested. Sometimes she stared at a page of the textbook for over ten minutes, and when she snapped out of it, she couldn't remember where she left off, so she had to start over.

When the evening self-study was finally over, Xiao Ruawen couldn't wait to drag Xu Qingfan away.

After meeting up with the four girls, the six of them walked home together.

Due to the rain in the evening, the night sky was clear with a bright moon and scattered stars, no clouds in sight.

Xiao Ruawen recounted what Xu Qingfan mentioned in the evening to the four girls: "What do you think, should I participate? But isn't it a bit early for a first-year high school student?"

"If you participate, wouldn't Uncle and Auntie disagree?" Xia Xiaoxiao asked.

"Of course, even if I were in college, my dad wouldn't agree, let alone now when I'm just a high school freshman." Xiao Ruawen said with a long face. The opposition from her family was a major reason for her hesitation.

"Let Brother Qingfan persuade Uncle and Auntie, he can definitely do it!" Lin Wanning, unable to skip anymore, tip-toed like a cat as she walked.

Everyone couldn't really provide good advice, because ultimately, it all depended on whether Xiao Ruawen herself wanted to participate.

"So, does Ruawen want to participate?" Zhang Yiyi asked.

Xiao Ruawen asked herself this question too, and after a few seconds, she replied with a slight hesitation, "I think I do..."

"Then write your concerns in a notebook. Solve the ones you can and overcome the others, and you'll be fine." Zhang Yiyi smiled gently.

It was indeed a good suggestion. Xiao Ruawen nodded and said with a smile, "Then I'll give it a try."

"Is Brother Qingfan on that spinning chair show we watched on the computer last time?" Lin Wanning shook his arm and asked.

"Yes, what we watched last time was 'The Voice of Beautiful Country,' and if Ruawen participates, it would be 'The Voice of Huaxia.'" Xu Qingfan explained.

'The Voice of Beautiful Country' premiered last year, and at that time he downloaded it as a popular video for everyone, and also to practice English listening, killing two birds with one stone.

"If Ruawen participates, all the mentors will definitely spin their chairs!" Lin Wanning said.

"If Ruawen sings 'Misaligned Time,' who would dare not spin? The netizens would scold them to death." Xu Qingfan joked to lighten the mood.

Everyone was laughing, and Xiao Ruawen joined in, feeling a bit inspired.

[If the first song is 'Misaligned Time,' then neither dad nor grandpa could complain, hehe~ if they have opinions, let Brother Fan scold them to death.]

It almost led to an uproarious laughter, but Xiao Ruawen patted her face to calm herself down.

"If I participate, would Brother Fan have to prepare a new song for me?" Xiao Ruawen spread her hands, asking coyly.

Xu Qingfan still had several songs up his sleeve that even dogs would nod to, like 'Mercury Record', the melody that takes you back to that summer's 'The Wind Rises', or even a song like 'Boundless' that made it to the national team.

[But 'The Wind Rises' seems to already have a song, from the Little Days over there, so I'd have to buy the authorization.]

After not having to worry much about money, Xu Qingfan stopped recklessly writing songs, mainly out of fear of accidentally overlapping with someone else's works.

He was very careful with things that could leave traces now.

"If you want to participate, from the preliminaries to the finals, I'll prepare new songs for you all the way." Xu Qingfan pretended to hit her, but Xiao Ruawen dodged it.

"Hehe~ Then I'll have to think about it seriously!" Xiao Ruawen happily retracted her hands.

"Brother Qingfan, I'm hungry."

Being the first meal of the new semester, after leaving the canteen's utensils unused for a whole winter holiday, they didn't eat at school.

"Is everyone hungry? How about going home to cook some midnight snacks?"

"Hungry, hungry!"

"Food, food!"

"Brother Fan, Brother Rich!"

"Hahaha..."

...