Not long after, a cool breeze wafted up from the crotch of his pants, and Xu Qingfan shrank his feet and quickly left the rooftop.
He returned to his room almost simultaneously with Xia Xiaoxiao and from his wardrobe, he fetched two clean long johns and underwear, then headed straight for the bathroom.
Ten minutes later, Xu Qingfan stealthily erged from the restroom with his pants freshly changed.
Fortunately, it was late afternoon and both Xu Aiguo and Yao Jinping had gone out, otherwise, with their seasoned experience, they would have instantly realized what Xu Qingfan had just done in the bathroom.
After all, on a fine afternoon, carrying two wet pairs of pants, it was pretty obvious what had happened.
Xu Qingfan nudged away the little dog that was rubbing against his foot and stepped toward the balcony, intending to toss the pants into the washing machine.
In the old-style neighborhood of Lianhua Courtyard, his balcony was only half a ter away from that of Xia Xiaoxiao's family; had there not been a theft-proof fence, one could easily hop over to the other side.
As Xu Qingfan looked down at his phone and then looked up, he noticed Xia Xiaoxiao had also co out to the balcony, holding a dripping pair of pants just like him.
The girl also looked up at that mont and imdiately noticed Xu Qingfan, as well as the similarly wet pants he held.
It was just a simple exchange of glances, but he understood, and so did she.
The scene seed to freeze there, the two gazing at each other's wet pants, tiless in a single glance.
...
Evening.
Six people were walking on their way to buy groceries, with not many pedestrians on the street.
"Xiaoxiao, why do you seem a bit odd today?" Xiao Ruawen walked backward, looking puzzled.
"Ah... really, haven't I always been like this?" Xia Xiaoxiao casually tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Brother Fan, why are you also so silent today?" Xiao Ruawen turned around, casting a questioning glance at Xu Qingfan.
"I'm thinking about a math problem, just mind your path!" Xu Qingfan reached out and pulled her away just in ti to prevent her from bumping into a lamppost.
"Brother Qing Fan, can we have hot pot tonight please!" Up ahead, Lin Wanning, pulling Zhang Yiyi, waved at them from a distance.
"Sure!" Xu Qingfan flicked Xiao Ruawen's forehead and waved back at the adorable Wanning.
"I brought chili sauce for the hot pot." Wu Lingyu looked up quietly at Xu Qingfan.
"Mm, tonight's abalone and pork stomach chicken hot pot, let's nourish well!" Xu Qingfan patted Yu's head.
As he ntioned nourishing well, he seed to recall sothing and instinctively glanced at Xia Xiaoxiao, and as if telepathically, Xia Xiaoxiao also suddenly turned to look at him.
Their eyes t for no more than three seconds, and the two guiltily averted their gazes at the sa ti.
Xiao Ruawen witnessed the whole scene, mulling over her thoughts as well.
[Sothing's not right, very not right!]
The ingredients for the evening hot pot were extrely nourishing, including beauty-enhancing oysters as well as a large plate of chicken.
"Happy 15th birthday, Xiaoxiao!"
"Cheers everyone!"
"Cheers!"
...
The celebration of Xia Xiaoxiao's birthday marked the end of the morable year of 2010.
This year, the 3G network began to spread widely, this year Good Taste Takeout's cornerstones spread across the nation, this year their investnt firm sowed many seeds, this year the number of Good Taste Duck Necks and Good Taste Milk Tea stores each broke through five thousand.
Thousands of people gathered under their banner, together weaving beautiful, happy lives.
Because the company had not yet gone public, Xu Qingfan actually had no clue how much he was worth—maybe five hundred million, or perhaps a billion.
But one thing was for sure, this was just the beginning.
In his ninth year since being reborn, Xu Qingfan had grown from a 6-year-old child to a 15-year-old teenager; life, study, career, family relations, friendships... everything went smoothly.
For him, the first half of his life was as easy as flipping a hand.
Whether his life from teenager to young adult in the next ten years would continue to rise, it should, probably…
...
As winter gave way to spring, at so point, even the students in his class who loved studying the least began to imrse themselves diligently in their studies, with the words "Only 100 days left until the High School Entrance Exam" appearing at the bottom right of the blackboard.
In the hot sumr, cicadas buzzed incessantly.
The old ceiling fan made a "creaking" noise as it worked, and the breeze it produced failed to bring the slightest refreshnt; instead, large beads of sweat appeared on everyone's foreheads.
Sweat droplets fell on the test papers, saring the ink and staining their hands.
Pen refills ran out one after another, and one test paper after another was completed, with no end in sight.
If in the future they were to look back on this period, they would probably sincerely feel "tired" from all the intense studying.
But for the ninth graders in the present, not many felt tired—most felt a fulfilling sense of improvent over yesterday.
...
May 19, 2011, Thursday, clear skies.
With only thirty days left until the High School Entrance Exam, the entire ninth-grade class of Licheng Middle School was not at school but had taken buses to a stadium a few kiloters away.
Because today was the day of the physical fitness test for the entrance exam.
The PE test format of 2011 was still in the format of 1 1, aning boys 1000m/girls 800m, plus an additional event of their choice among rope skipping, shot put, or long jump.
At two thirty in the afternoon, they followed their group to the stadium.
After completing their stretching exercises in the open field, they were promptly taken to the rope skipping test area.
Since rope skipping was the only sport that didn't rely much on natural talent, almost the entire school of Licheng Middle School, including Xu Qingfan and his friends, had signed up for it.
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