Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

It was past eleven o'clock at night, and the six of them had all taken their showers and returned downstairs.

Yao Jiping and her group's late-night snack was ready, just a simple pot of noodle soup.

Perhaps because everyone was busy preparing for the New Year's Eve party in the afternoon and didn't eat much, they were starving by now. Although it was just a plain bowl of noodle soup, they still enjoyed it immensely.

"Burp~ I'm full." Xiao Ruawen put down her bowl, leaving only a bit of soup in it.

Zhao YueMin handed her two napkins and said, "Wipe your mouth first. Why are you eating in such a hurry? It's bad for your stomach."

"Thanks, Mom." Xiao Ruawen smiled as she took the napkins. She actually just looked like she was gobbling everything down, but her eating pace wasn't much faster than anyone else's.

See? She had just put down her bowl, and the others were quickly reaching the last step—enjoying the soup.

"What time do you guys usually go to bed?" Yao Jiping glanced at the wall clock; it was already half-past eleven.

Xu Qingfan guessed what his mom meant, so he said, "A bit past eleven, before twelve. At our age, staying up a little late is fine, we won't be sleepy getting up early the next day."

As for whether they would be sleepy the next day, the most drop-resistant pen seemed to have a lot to say; once it fell under the desk, it took five minutes, and after picking it up, pretending to drop it again took another five minutes.

Lin Jing filled Xu Qingfan's cup with tea, and seeing this, Xu Qingfan promptly tapped the table to express his gratitude.

"It's not good to go to bed right after eating, let's rest until twelve, chat with us a bit and then sleep." Lin Jing suggested.

Xu Qingfan sipped his hot tea slowly, and a glance around the dining table revealed all top-tier faces.

Xia Xiaoxiao sat beside Lin Jing, and Xiao Ruawen sat next to Zhao YueMin. As they aged, the similar contours between mother and daughter became more and more apparent.

Even though he had no inappropriate thoughts about the aunt, that didn't prevent it from being truly pleasing to the eye!

"By the way, after the performance tonight, where did you go? Didn't even bring an extra coat, didn't know it was cold?" Yao Jiping finally remembered to ask.

She actually wanted to ask Xiaoxiao why she kissed the kid on stage in front of everyone but was afraid of making Xiaoxiao feel embarrassed, so she held back for the time being.

Everyone stopped what they were doing instantly and looked at Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao. Not just Yao Jiping, who wasn't curious among every person present?

Xia Xiaoxiao said nothing, and Xu Qingfan leisurely put down his tea cup and said, "Mom, you mean that, right? Someone foolishly started cheering. I was afraid staying there would lead to misunderstandings, and leaving by myself would embarrass Xiaoxiao, so I simply pulled her along and ran."

Xu Qingfan spoke confidently and with a clear conscience, making Yao Jiping almost believe him.

"Teehee~ How come it seems like I saw Xiaoxiao kiss you, Qingfan? Did you two whisper on stage?" Yao Jiping had nothing to say, but Zhao YueMin said what she couldn't say.

Xu Qingfan continued with confidence, "Oh, that was something we agreed upon before. Xiaoxiao said if I dared to go on stage to give her flowers, she would dare to kiss me in public. I thought she was joking..."

"Hahahahaha, Auntie, you didn't think we were in love, did you?" Even before Zhao YueMin could respond, Xu Qingfan counterattacked directly.

"Uh..." Zhao YueMin was a bit speechless; wasn't that love? Who jokes around like that?

"Then Qingfan, where did you guys run off to, for so long, like... thirty minutes!" Lin Wanning chimed in slyly.

"Wasn't that long..." Xu Qingfan thought Xiao Ruawen was coming to his aid, but then he heard her continue, "Just about twenty minutes or so."

Sweat!

"We initially planned to make a circle and come back, but when we reached the teaching building, Xiaoxiao suddenly said she wanted to go up and see what it felt like to overlook the New Year's Eve party from a high place, so we got delayed a bit."

It was Xu Qingfan's first time being so impressed with his wits; he somehow crafted a flawless excuse in just a few words.

Xia Xiaoxiao quietly looked at him without speaking, her thoughts a mystery.

"What was it like, did you take photos, Qingfan?" Xiao Ruawen kept pressing.

"It was just like that, nothing special, looked for a while and came down, no photos." Xu Qingfan answered matter-of-factly.

"Oh, oh, that's how it was." Xiao Ruawen nodded, contemplating.

Although still feeling something was a bit off, everyone reluctantly accepted Xu Qingfan's explanation.

"I thought Xiaoxiao and Qingfan were in love, good thing they're not... wait?" Zhao YueMin suddenly, apparently, realized she might have said something wrong and awkwardly shut her mouth.

"We don't plan to date in high school." Xia Xiaoxiao finally said, without admitting to being in love or not with Xu Qingfan, just that they don't plan to date in high school.

Furthermore, the "we" was quite intriguing; was it specifically her and Xu Qingfan, or was she, as a representative, summarizing for all six of them? Very thought-provoking.

"Not dating in high school is right, focus should be on studies, you'll have more freedom once you're in college." Although Yao Jiping never attended college, or even high school, it didn't stop her from speaking in a worldly manner.

Xu Qingfan held back his urge to laugh, nodded in agreement, "Mom is right."

"If Qingfan is not dating in high school, neither am I!" Lin Wanning, without much scheming, blurted her true thoughts.

When she realized the ambiguity in her words, she shyly peeked at everyone present.

Fortunately, everyone could see her little secret, so no one laughed at her.

"Then I won't date either!"

"Even dogs don't date!"

"Not dating!"

Wu Lingyu, Xiao Ruawen, and Zhang Yiyi also made their "independent declarations" one after another.

Lin Jing looked somewhat helplessly at her daughter; how did things go from a perfectly favorable situation to a fifty-fifty split in the blink of an eye, even slightly against them!

[Already had the courage to kiss Qingfan's face in public tonight, how come there's no courage to admit being together now?]

Thinking of this, Lin Jing gave Xia Xiaoxiao a "hate iron for not becoming steel" glance.

Zhao YueMin laughed, saying, "It doesn't have to be so absolute, maybe Qingfan still wants to date in high school."

Xu Qingfan finally realized who Xiao Ruawen's goose laughter came from, "Afraid Mom will break my legs, how dare I not obey Mother's words, I won't date in high school, I won't date at all!"

He waved his hand to express.

Normal people date 1v1, obviously, a dog man's 1v5 scenario can't count as dating, so he wasn't lying with what he said.

"Right, right, never seen you being obedient." Yao Jiping rolled her eyes at him, reluctantly and humorously. She still had half a sentence left: listening to Aunt Zhang is top-notch.

But if she had really said that, Xu Qingfan would definitely say rightly: What else should I do?

And then would hurry to slip away right after saying it.

...