Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

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Ding ding ding ding—

Xu Qingfan reached out to turn off the alarm clock on his bedside, his eyes half-open and groggy, and he sat on the bed for several minutes before beginning to dress.

The living room was empty; his parents were still sleeping in their room. The transportation and wholesale of crayfish were easier to conduct at night, and for the past two months, Xu Qingfan's parents had been busy until almost dawn before coming home to sleep.

It was tough, but with tens of thousands coming in every day, they both found joy in it, their faces showing not the slightest trace of fatigue.

Tiptoeing into the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth, Xu Qingfan suddenly recalled how, just last month in kindergarten, the female teacher would assist the boys in the restroom, guiding them with her hands.

It was a pity he was late for that; otherwise, he too might have enjoyed being steered.

While washing his hands, Xu Qingfan smiled at his reflection in the mirror, his thick eyebrows and large eyes, "Handsome, so handsome!"

As he spoke, his missing front tooth whistled.

Xu Qingfan moved closer to the mirror and bared his teeth; his left front tooth had been gone for a while, and the right one had fallen out just as he was brushing his teeth this morning.

He swore to himself that he would always cut apples before eating them in the future!

After spitting out a couple of mouthfuls of bloody saliva, Xu Qingfan put on his shoes and went to Xia Xiaoxiao's place.

Xia Xiaoxiao and her mother were having breakfast in the living room, homemade steamed buns with milk and black tea.

"Good morning, Auntie." Xu Qingfan took his seat and added some piping hot black tea and milk to his ceramic cup.

"Hahahaha, Xiao Fan, you've lost your right front tooth, too!" Xia Guofu was still asleep, while Lin Jing laughed heartily in a hushed tone.

Lin Jing reached out to pry open Xu Qingfan's mouth and took a close look at his fallen front tooth, "So cute!"

She ruffled Xu Qingfan's hair and took a small knife from the kitchen to help cut his steamed bun into small pieces.

"Hehe!" Xia Xiaoxiao also covered her mouth, snickering at the side. Seeing Xu Qingfan glaring at her, she swiftly reverted to a serious expression, pretending nothing had happened.

To avoid hurting his gums, Xu Qingfan tilted his head and finished his breakfast.

Before leaving, Xia's mother inspected both children's stationery and exam admission tickets meticulously, "Good luck, Mom believes you're the best! Xiao Fan is too!"

Rushing just before the morning commute peak, the streets were bustling with people.

Fortunately, in 2002, not many families could afford to buy cars, and the road was unobstructed for Xia's mother's little electric scooter.

Upon arrival at Experimental Primary School, dozens of parents were already standing on both sides of the school gate, with several security guards maintaining order to ensure the students could enter smoothly.

A guide teacher was arranged at the entrance. After Xia's mother handed over their exam admission tickets, she turned to them and said, "Mom's going to buy groceries to cook something tasty for you guys. Xiaoxiao and Xiao Fan must behave and listen to the teacher during the test. Don't leave the school until I come back, you understand?"

"We understand, Mom, go ahead."

"Don't worry, Auntie, mission accomplished!"

After bidding farewell to Xia's mother, the teacher led the two to the basketball court where hundreds of students were lined up in long and short queues.

Following the classroom numbers written on their tickets, the teacher separated them into different queues.

Lin Jing registered them both simultaneously, so logically, they should have been assigned to the same exam room. As to why this was not the case, Xu Qingfan had no clue.

After scanning the surroundings, Xu Qingfan saw several former kindergarten classmates. Lin Wanning stood at the front of her line, more than a dozen meters away from him—he would just have to find her after the Chinese exam.

After standing in place for seven or eight minutes, as the queue grew longer and his group seemed to have gathered, the teacher led them away first.

Xu Qingfan looked back to see Xia Xiaoxiao also watching him; he made an encouraging gesture, and the little girl imperceptibly nodded.

"Go Brother Qing Fan!" Lin Wanning, after scanning the crowd for a while, finally spotted Xu Qingfan, who was leaving. Gathering her courage, the little girl shouted out loud.

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Xu Qingfan nodded with a smile, swung his hand suavely, and the team quickly vanished from the two girls' line of sight.

The leading teacher zigzagged through the corridors, escorting everyone into a science laboratory that was over fifty square meters.

[Clearly, you pay for what you get!] Looking at the electronic balances placed in the corner, Xu Qingfan couldn't help but remark.

In his past life, after being admitted to a chemistry major through college adjustment, even in his 985 university, they only had two balances for the whole class to share during lab courses, yet here there were more than thirty right on the floor.

He had no clue whether there was some trickery in the procurement of lab equipment or if it indeed was that expensive, but he remembered in his freshman year needing an electric stove for an experiment. It was a small and quite handy one, with not too high of a power rating. Xu Qingfan had thought at the time if he could buy one just like it to have small hotpots in the dorm.

He looked it up on Taobao only to find out it was 788 apiece, never mind then.

At 7:55 am, the pure white Chinese exam papers were distributed.

After writing his name on the paper, Xu Qingfan started flipping through it from the back to the front.

Very routine questions, all of which he had gone over during review, Wanning should be stable!

The exam duration was an hour and a half, and as the bell rang at eight, he picked up his pen and began answering questions without haste.

Half an hour later, Xu Qingfan capped his pen and began to check his answers.

After all, it was about a tuition waiver and scholarship; it wouldn't do to lose to a six-year-old kid due to a silly mistake.

After meticulously checking his paper three times, Xu Qingfan raised his hand.

The invigilator walked over, puzzled, "Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

"Teacher, I've finished writing. Can I hand in my paper early?" Xu Qingfan pointed to his paper and then gestured towards the outside.

"No, if you're finished, just check your work. You can't leave until 9:30!" The teacher glanced casually at Xu Qingfan's paper and noticed that the handwriting was pretty good.

"Okay then..."

The lab's tables were made of rubber material, and a ballpoint pen couldn't leave any ink on them, so Xu Qingfan even lost his last resort to doodling for entertainment.

Struggling through an hour, the bell finally rang for the end of class.

However, when he was preparing to find Lin Wanning and Xia Xiaoxiao, he sadly realized he had no idea where their examination rooms listed on the admission tickets were actually located.

After a fifteen-minute break, the invigilators began herding students back to the classrooms.

The math paper was slightly challenging, with the last fill-in-the-blank question asking: It takes Grandpa Li 3 minutes to climb four floors, how long does it take him to climb eight?

Xu Qingfan counted on his fingers, climbing four floors meant going up three flights, so one minute per flight, and not taking endurance into consideration, it should take 7 minutes for eight floors.

There was also a particularly tricky question, with a rough sketch of a bus on the test paper. A large rectangle for the body, four small squares for windows within, and two circles at the bottom for wheels, the question asks from which side is the bus arriving?

After finishing the other questions, Xu Qingfan circled back to ponder this one, but couldn't figure out what the point of the question was even if his life depended on it.

"How would I know which way it's going!" he muttered to himself, recalling the buses he had seen regularly.

[Buses have windows on both sides!!!]

"Everyone, please check your name and your admission ticket. There's ten minutes left in the exam," the invigilator's voice drifted from the podium.

"Everyone? Door! That's it, the drawing doesn't have a door!" Xu Qingfan realized as though waking from a dream.

Imagining a bus in his mind facing a side without a door, "Left! It's heading left!"

He filled in the last answer and took a long deep breath.

Damn, my lifetime of reputation is finally preserved!