Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts
Chapter 767 517:

After discovering that half of the porridge was crab leg meat, Xiao Ruanwen subconsciously looked up at Xu Qingfan, and then saw the annoying guy grinning at her with his big teeth.

Xiao Ruanwen glared at him and immediately looked away.

[Don't think you can bribe me like this...]

A moment later.

"Wow~ Ruanwen, you've got so many crab legs in your bowl." Wu Lingyu pointed at the crab legs on her plate, towering over everyone else's.

"Yeah, Ruanwen's bowl has a lot of seafood!"

"Wow, Qingfan brother is so biased!"

Xia Xiaoxiao glanced up at Xu Qingfan but didn't say anything.

Xiao Ruanwen quietly drank her porridge, her mouth slightly curved up, wanting to see how Brother Chou Fan would explain.

But to be honest, being specially taken care of like this felt pretty good.

"I was afraid there wouldn't be enough to go around before, so I served Ruanwen last, that's why she got a bit more." Xu Qingfan explained without a hint of panic, spreading his hands.

"That's how it is, Qingfan brother, I want to eat mantis shrimp!"

"Okay." Xu Qingfan added a mantis shrimp to her bowl.

Xiao Ruanwen had a gut feeling that Brother Chou Fan did it on purpose, well, it couldn't even be called a gut feeling, after all, he kept winking and staring at her, all his little actions said it all.

[Hmph~ I'll let it go this time, but if he dares to drag me to the lab building again, I'll... I'll beat you to death!]

When Xu Qingfan looked over, Xiao Ruanwen made a punching gesture in front of him.

[Beat the hell out of Brother Chou Fan!]

...

...

In the following days, Xiao Ruanwen was always on guard against Xu Qingfan, determined not to be alone with him.

Maybe it was because he couldn't find an opportunity, or maybe Xu Qingfan gave up, the annoying guy was always well-behaved, even changing his usual shoulder-hugging gesture to holding her backpack.

...

Time quickly moved to Wednesday.

Tomorrow would be the New Year's Eve party, followed by a three-day mini-holiday starting from Friday after school, the whole campus was enveloped in a kind of heated atmosphere.

"Without delaying everyone's rehearsal time, perform well at the New Year's Eve party tomorrow, dismissed!" As soon as the bell rang, the teacher announced the end of class into the microphone.

The classmates didn't rush out of the classroom. After the teacher left, many of the somewhat familiar classmates gathered around the first group where Xu Qingfan was.

"Class president, which performance order is ours?"

"Are we going to the stage rehearsal now?"

"Is there anything we can help with?"

Xiao Ruanwen seemed to be in a good mood, after all, she could "perform a concert" tomorrow, and in a band with Fan Brother, singing a new song that Fan Brother wrote.

"Our class is the thirteenth, I calculated the time, it will probably start at around 9 PM."

The New Year's Eve party starts at 8 PM and ends at 10:30 PM, with each grade presenting eight acts, along with the school's annual teacher's act, the Eight Brocades, totaling twenty-five acts.

Within this framework, estimating our class's performance time is no big deal.

"Let's go, let's go, check out the stage the school set up, I heard the screens are huge, wonder how big." Wu Shichong was eager to see the performance stage.

Xu Qingfan and Xiao Ruanwen walked side by side in the middle of the crowd, surrounded by the various discussions of their classmates.

"What's the next line after you call me useless?"

"Why isn't the song called 'Choose B'? I didn't know the last multiple-choice question on the midterm physics exam, but guessed B and got it right."

"I guessed two As on the English reading and got them right too!"

"You guys are silly, with A, B, and C, of course, choose C, those who know, know!"

"Why don't you choose D, doesn't the class president have a D..."

Although the person deliberately lowered their voice, Xu Qingfan and Xiao Ruanwen still heard it, he elbowed Xiao Ruanwen, but the girl ignored him.

The New Year's Eve performance stage was set up in the large square at the school gate, covering tens of acres, accommodating more than three thousand students and teachers with ease.

Starting early in the morning, various building materials were transported in truck by truck, casually stacked on the ground.

By now, a mega stage with one main screen and two sub-screens had been built, appearing before everyone's eyes.

The square was quite lively, with nearly half of the school's students gathering to watch the excitement, even more than during the club recruitment at the start of the school year.

Xu Qingfan immediately spotted Lin Wanning, Zhang Yiyi wasn't beside the girl, she probably went to find a teacher to sign in.

Xiao Ruanwen looked at the stage before her, larger than any event she'd been part of from childhood to now.

"Let's go sign in with the teacher first." Xu Qingfan squeezed her hand, planning to find Lin Wanning and the others after they were done.

"Okay!" Xiao Ruanwen nodded, looking straight ahead, with a thin layer of sweat appearing on her forehead unconsciously.

The classmates who followed along went off to find their own programs, while Xu Qingfan and Xiao Ruanwen went to the stage to sign in with the teacher responsible for the party.

"I remember you guys, class 16 singing." Before Xu Qingfan could report their class, the responsible teacher had already marked them off, "All right, line up over there, your song is great, good luck."

"Thank you, teacher." Xu Qingfan and Xiao Ruanwen said in succession.

Perhaps to avoid stage accidents, the New Year's Eve party planning wasn't handed over to the student council. After all, dealing with advertisers, coordinating staff to build the stage – it's really not something the average high schooler could handle.

Xu Qingfan and Xiao Ruanwen went to line up on the other side of the stage, Wu Shichong, Lai Chenglang, and He Caiting quickly returned to their side.

"Class president Fan Brother, I just asked a senior from second year, heard that someone from the TV station will come to broadcast live tomorrow!" Lai Chenglang said.

"They'll surely have a replay on Friday, I'll stay glued to Li City TV when I get home tomorrow and film our performance with my phone!" Wu Shichong said, his enthusiasm high.

He Caiting looked at Xu Qingfan and Xiao Ruanwen, glanced at their hands forgotten still holding, bit her lip softly without a word.

...

Their rehearsal turn came up shortly, just a quick run-through of the procedures to avoid any rush and errors during the official performance tomorrow.

Xu Qingfan led Xiao Ruanwen onto the stage, with Wu Shichong and the others following them up the steps.

The stage was temporarily empty, a staff member came up to tell them, tomorrow here will be the drum set, here the keyboard, the main singer will stand here, and so on.

"Alright, remember your positions, gather in the waiting room ten minutes early tomorrow in case the music needs audio adjustments." Once they were in position, the staff quickly waved them off, eager to clock out.

Xu Qingfan and the others were like ducklings being herded, spending less than three minutes from going on stage to leaving.

"We still need to accompany them, if you guys are busy, you can go eat first." Off the stage, Xu Qingfan pointed to Xia Xiaoxiao and Zhang Yiyi, who were still lining up, and spoke to the three of them.

"Oh, who has the appetite to eat now, of course we're sticking with you, Fan Brother!"

"I'm not hungry either, I'll just have a midnight snack, instant noodles will do."

"I... I still need to shower, I'll head back first." He Caiting saw Xu Qingfan hold Xiao Ruanwen's hand again and her words got stuck in her throat.

"Okay, bye-bye."

"Bye-bye." He Caiting nodded and turned away.

Once she left, Xiao Ruanwen discreetly withdrew her hand from Xu Qingfan's hold, and trotted off to find Xia Xiaoxiao.

"Xiaoxiao, which performance slot is yours? We're thirteenth." She knew all the classmates in Xia Xiaoxiao's class, exchanged a simple greeting, then hugged Xia Xiaoxiao to start chatting.

"We're second to last, have to wait until flowers wilt." A girl from Xia Xiaoxiao's class said with a smile.

"Hey, you guys are closing the show."

"Okay, bye-bye." He Caiting nodded and turned away.

Once she left, Xiao Ruanwen discreetly withdrew her hand from Xu Qingfan's hold, trotted off to find Xia Xiaoxiao.

"Xiaoxiao, which performance slot is yours? We're thirteenth." She knew all the classmates in Xia Xiaoxiao's class, exchanged a simple greeting, then hugged Xia Xiaoxiao to start chatting.

"We're second to last, have to wait until the flowers wilt." A girl from Xia Xiaoxiao's class said with a smile.

"Hey, you guys are closing the show."

...