Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

"That's better!" Xu Qingfan clicked the mouse, and seconds after, an article titled "5-Year-Old Daughter Becoming Increasingly Withdrawn, Parents Regretful Upon Learning the Truth" was published on Tianya Net by him. He proceeded in the same manner, reposting the article on other major portal sites such as Old Wave, Goupu, and Web Difficulties. Of course, doing just that wasn't enough to make his article stand out among the thousands of contents on the forums. So, how could he increase the exposure of his content? In 2002, there wasn't the savvy operation of buying traffic, but with twenty years of surfing experience out of thin air, Xu Qingfan deeply understood the nature of Huaxia netizens. What would you do if I posted a few risqué pictures at the bottom of my own article? He uploaded the provocative uncensored photos he had prepared in advance, and then he just waited for public opinion to ferment. In the article, besides using the full name of the Sunflower Kindergarten that Zhang Yiyi once attended, Xu Qingfan omitted the middle character of the names of other students involved in the bullying. Getting tooth-for-tooth revenge on those who had once bullied Zhang Yiyi was difficult, but the inaction of the school teachers was also a major reason for the tragedy, and Xu Qingfan was not prepared to let it slide. Only by suffering dire consequences would the existing schools realize the severity of school bullying. Xu Qingfan saved the article he had written to his email, stood up, and shut down the computer. He had promised Xia Xiaoxiao that he would accompany her to the library to borrow books. Even before the computer screen went black, Xia Xiaoxiao's urging voice reached him, "Are you done yet? Three minutes after three minutes, I've been waiting for half an hour!" "Alright, alright, nagging as if my life depends on it. Isn't it just perfect to go out now, when the sun was so scorching a moment ago?" Xu Qingfan emerged languidly from the room. "Hmph! No matter what, you always seem to be in the right," replied Xia Xiaoxiao, giving him a speechless glance. "There, there, I'll treat you to milk tea, with an extra two servings of pudding!" Xu Qingfan said, grinning as he put on his shoes and took Xia Xiaoxiao's hand. "I want some fried skewers, too!" Xia Xiaoxiao bargained. "Buy, buy, buy!" Xu Qingfan declared with a grand sweep of his hand, as he was indeed flush with cash lately. At school, other than spending money on meals, his other expenses were essentially covered by Lin Wanning, Zhang Yiyi, and the others—Monday treated by Wanning, Tuesday hosted by Yiyi, Wednesday saw gifts from Chen Qiuyue, Thursday brought bonding with Xiao Ruawen, followed by weekend breaks, and then the cycle would start anew the following week. One can only say, it's nice to live off others temporarily, but it's bliss to do so continuously. The two mounted the slightly undersized bicycle parked downstairs and happily cycled away from Lianhua Courtyard. The bicycle was a gift from Uncle Xia last week, which he also had in his previous life. However, unlike his past life, this time the bicycle came three years earlier. Xu Qingfan simply attributed this to the butterfly effect of him and Xia Xiao Xiao both scoring full marks on their midterm exams, without giving it much thought. His casual hint seemed to have opened the door to a new world for Xia Guofu. Based on the snippets he overheard, last month alone Uncle Xia made over two hundred thousand yuan from transporting and selling crayfish. In an era dominated by landline telephones, Xia Guofu wasn't shy about flaunting his wealth, buying a Nokia 7650 for personal use and another Ericsson music phone for Lin Jing as a gift. However, the downside was that Uncle Xia spent less and less time at home with his wife and daughter. Xu Qingfan could understand, after all, the boom wouldn't last forever and it was best to earn as much as possible before more people joined the fray. After cycling for about fifteen minutes, they arrived at the district library. Once they had secured the bicycle with locks on both the inside and outside, they walked into the library, hand in hand. The library had been built just last year. It had three floors and covered more than ten acres, containing over a million volumes. Xia Xiaoxiao was there to borrow books related to Olympiad Math, while Xu Qingfan was aimless, simply following behind and browsing casually. He, too, had aspirations. The last time he accompanied Xiaoxiao to borrow books, Xu Qingfan thought about borrowing some programming books for self-study, well aware that in two years, the hao123 navigation website would be bought by Baidu for an exorbitant sum of 50 million yuan plus some original shares. Yet, within a couple of days, he gave up. JavaScript, from beginner to burying oneself. He simply wasn't cut out for that kind of work! Of course, he had considered taking advantage of Xia Xiaoxiao's future talents as a computer genius girl, but even now the little girl struggled with Olympiad Math problems, and Xu Qingfan really couldn't bear to poison such a future flower of the nation. "All set, let's go," said Xia Xiaoxiao, satisfied with her choice of two books, as she turned to Xu Qingfan. "Let's go then," Xu Qingfan said as he stepped forward to walk, when suddenly, a comic book in a child's hand in the resting area caught his eye. The little boy was holding a colored edition of the Old Master Q comic book. A light bulb went off in Xu Qingfan's head, and he thought, he could do that too! Old Master Q comics had a style similar to that of a scene play, often comprising four or five panels to form a complete, standalone comic strip, utilizing a variety of expressive techniques, predominantly featuring jokes. What Xu Qingfan really thought of was 'Adventures of A Shuai', a comic that was extremely popular in his middle school classes. It was simple to produce and even simpler in content, perfect for elementary school students to read. With his more than twenty years of surfing experience providing hot topics, plus Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi helping with the illustrations, a small comic studio seemed like it could be established at any moment! Xu Qingfan made up his mind and took Xia Xiaoxiao's hand, running towards the art district. "What are you doing? The stairs are on the other side." Xia Xiaoxiao tightly hugged her books to her chest, staggering as she ran along with Xu Qingfan. "I'm looking for a few books, wait for me a second." Xu Qingfan said this and then started scanning the bookshelves one level at a time. After satisfyingly finding three nanny-level tutorial books, the two of them went to register the books for loan at the reception area on the first floor. "You carry them!" The three books Xu Qingfan borrowed were each as thick as an Advanced Mathematics textbook, and Xia Xiaoxiao's backpack was stuffed full in an instant. "If I'm carrying, I'm carrying, deep-fried skewers—bam! Gone." Xu Qingfan put on the backpack and clapped his hands together, smiling mischieously. "Then I'll eat by myself!" Xia Xiaoxiao took out her small wallet and headed towards the door with an air of haughty pride. "Then you treat me!" "I won't. Let your little sister Wanning treat you!" "What little sister Wanning? We're not that close. I only know little sister Xiao Xiao!" Xu Qingfan hastened his steps and caught Xia Xiaoxiao's hand. "Get lost, who's your little sister? You have so many little sisters, you won't miss one less!" Xia Xiaoxiao snatched her hand back with pride. "Ahem... we're classmates, why do you talk like that? Let's go, I'll treat you to deep-fried skewers, French fries, buy! Chicken wings, buy! Starch sausage, buy!" Xu Qingfan continued to take her hand. This time Xia Xiaoxiao didn't pull away, "I also want to eat boneless chicken feet!" "Buy!" "Chicken tenders!" "Buy!" "..." At 3 p.m., the sun was at its harshest, and neither of them wanted to put in the effort to bike to Gualv Square, so they chose a nearby roadside stall set up in a residential building to eat deep-fried skewers. The woman selling the skewers seemed to be aged from years of labor, looking somewhat elderly with her hair nearly half-gray, but her appearance didn't seem like that of a woman in her forties or fifties. It was really quite difficult to guess her specific age. "Little friends, do you want to eat deep-fried skewers?" Just as a couple finished eating and left, the lady owner came out to clean the tables and, seeing Xu Qingfan and friend standing still, asked kindly. "Yes." He nodded. "Pick whatever you like to eat. I'll be right there." "Is it good here?" As they entered the shop, which was only a little more than three square meters in size and surrounded by bare red walls, Xia Xiaoxiao started to have second thoughts and whispered to Xu Qingfan. "Now that we're here, see how many customers are sitting outside? It should taste good." "Fine..." "Chives, banana boats, French fries, chicken wings... That should do it, right?" Xu Qingfan turned around with the selected food to ask Xia Xiaoxiao. "I want pudding milk tea!" "Okay, I'll buy it for you in a moment!" After paying, Xia Xiaoxiao stood outside and looked around, thinking, [There's no milk tea shop around here, let's see how you're going to buy pudding milk tea for me!] "Just sit here, I'll go get you milk tea." "Where are you going to buy it? If it's too far, forget it!" Xia Xiaoxiao shouted to his retreating back. Xu Qingfan waved his hand dismissively and walked into a nearby Meiyijia convenience store. Three minutes later, he returned to the skewer stand. "Is this the pudding milk tea you bought?" Xia Xiaoxiao asked, pointing at the items Xu Qingfan placed on the table. "Yep, pudding!" Xu Qingfan pointed at the large astronaut-aspiring jelly from Xizhilang, "This is milk tea." He then pointed to the Wangzai milk, the favorite of class 3 year 6's Li Xiaoming. "Pudding, milk tea, no problem, right?" Xu Qingfan spread his hands, asking rhetorically. ┓(´∀`)┏ Xia Xiaoxiao: ...