Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts-Chapter 443 - 321. The only mistake was falling for you simultaneously_2

However, she soon regretted it, as the only available spot was right next to Xu Qingfan, obviously a tacit agreement among the four girls.

"Xiaoxiao, why are you still standing? Come and have some soup!" Xiao Ruawen waved her over.

"Oh..." Xia Xiaoxiao took a deep breath, held it, and sat down next to Xu Qingfan.

What relieved her was that Xu Qingfan didn’t mock or jeer at her.

But what similarly depressed her was that Xu Qingfan completely ignored her.

"Aunt, try this wasabi shrimp... Wanning, your mantis shrimp.... Yu, try this squid roll..." Xu Qingfan attended to everyone, except he completely overlooked Xia Xiaoxiao.

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Although all her favorite dishes were right in front of her, the girl for some reason felt her appetite vanish.

Xia Xiaoxiao felt she was such a masochist, on one hand not wanting Xu Qingfan’s attention, yet on the other hand wishing he would serve her some food.

"Why don’t you peel one for Xiaoxiao too?" Zhang Chunxue, who was eating the mantis shrimp peeled by Xu Qingfan, noticed Xia Xiaoxiao’s sullen mood, and tapped his hand with her chopstick.

Rolling his eyes, Xu Qingfan reluctantly picked another mantis shrimp into his bowl, peeled it and quietly placed it in Xia Xiaoxiao’s bowl.

"Thank you." Xia Xiaoxiao didn’t dare look at him, lowered her head to the newly added mantis shrimp in her bowl, and murmured.

Xu Qingfan gave a cryptic smile, still remaining silent.

Xia Xiaoxiao was initially happy about the shrimp, but her mood soured again since the stinky dog ignored her.

But truthfully, being treated by Xu Qingfan as if she were thin air truly felt awful.

She wanted to stubbornly tell herself, "If you ignore me, then I’ll ignore you too!"

Yet the reality was, she felt as if a piece of her heart was missing; if this persisted for a day, a week, or even a month, Xia Xiaoxiao felt she would surely go insane.

[If he would only give me a way out... I would apologize... I’m not a big baby!]

Xia Xiaoxiao treated the mantis shrimp in her mouth as if it were that stinky dog, biting it fiercely, venting her inner grievances.

Zhang Chunxue swept her gaze over them, keenly observing the expressions on the six faces.

Xiao Ruawen was a glutton, not worth bothering about;

Wu Lingyu was constantly making sure who needed more rice or drink, clearly the image of a good wife;

Her own daughter, Yiyi, glanced now at Xiao Fan, now at Wanning, showing a blissful demeanor;

Lin Wanning’s whole heart seemed tied to Xiao Fan, her eyes glowing like little stars;

As for Xia Xiaoxiao, head bowed nibbling the mantis shrimp, a picture of a loser.

The term ’’loser’’ was one Xu Qingfan had taught her; Aunt Zhang, not wanting a generation gap, also occasionally watched anime during her leisure time.

As for Xu Qingfan, he pretended to deliberately ignore Xia Xiaoxiao, although he had stolen glances at her numerous times.

[Soon, I’ll know why they argued.]

...

Lunch continued until after 1 PM.

After confirming with Aunt Zhang that she was free all day, everyone decided to save the birthday cake for the evening, as blowing out candles is more atmospheric at night.

Xu Qingfan cooked, the five girls washed the dishes—this had always been the tradition in this family.

After eating, the five girls unspokenly divided the tasks, tidying up the post-meal cleanliness.

Xia Xiaoxiao, as if to spitefully prove she was not a big baby, worked especially hard; today, she alone was worth three to five normal people.

As a result, the living room soon only had Xu Qingfan and Zhang Chunxue remaining idle.

The best way to digest after a full meal was to gossip.

Zhang Chunxue gestured towards the swing chair outside the yard, waving her hand to signal Xu Qingfan to come out, "Let’s go outside and chat for a bit."

"Oh, okay." He naturally followed Aunt Zhang.

Since it had rained in the morning, the afternoon temperature was a pleasant twenty degrees Celsius or so; the harsh sunlight was filtered by the lush banyan trees, making sitting idle in the small courtyard extremely comfortable.

"So tell me, how did you end up arguing with Xiaoxiao?" Although Zhang Chunxue could piece together the whole process from the content just observed, it was far more interesting to hear Xiao Fan recount it directly.

Xu Qingfan sat next to Zhang Chunxue on the wicker chair, his bare thighs touching her black silk stockings, feeling like he was touching silk, cold and smooth.

He lazily rested his head on Aunt’s fragrant shoulder and began, "This matter is a bit complicated..."

Xu Qingfan felt that if he wanted Zhang Chunxue’s advice, it was better not to beat around the bush, so he decided to wrap up the storyline and start from the beginning.

"It just so happened that last time I had promised Xiao Xiao not to let Wanning get into the blanket. She probably thought I was not keeping my word, so she got really angry. I was unjustly blamed and was angered too. In a fit of emotion, I yelled at her. Then, Xiao Xiao also lost her cool, threw things, and said a lot of angry words before running out of the house in the rain."

"Wait, just stop there." Zhang Chunxue suddenly interrupted him.

"What is it?" Xu Qingfan asked, looking up.

"You said Xiao Xiao said a lot of angry words, what exactly did she say? Tell me about that." Zhang Chunxue was just nosy, but she spoke as if she really cared about the matter.

"Um..." Xu Qingfan tilted his head and thought; he still remembered: "Basically just angry words, saying things like she never wants to see me again, she no longer likes me, she’s not annoyed by me anymore, and such."

[Xu Qingfan, I don’t like you anymore!] Zhang Chunxue imagined the scenario, a mischievous smile appearing on her face.

After controlling her smile, she spoke again, "So, didn’t you realize anything?"

"Realize what?" Xu Qingfan looked up at her.

Zhang Chunxue saw his clueless expression, seemingly oblivious to the matter.

[Xiao Xiao is jealous of you and Wanning, Xiao Xiao likes you, it’s not about whether you keep promises or not, Xiao Xiao was clearly just jealous and you yelled at her, so she got mad. Isn’t Xiao Fan quite a smart guy, how could he not notice that?]

Zhang Chunxue, hesitant to speak her mind, ultimately chose not to tell the young man the truth: "Alright, continue."

Xu Qingfan, feeling a bit uneasy under her gaze, nodded and finished the story about how he texted that Xiao Xiao was being a giant baby.

"That’s the whole story, Aunt, you see Xiaoxiao is really making a fuss over nothing, right!"

"Eh~" Zhang Chunxue patted his head and sighed deeply.

[It’s all my fault for only teaching him how to deal with businessmen, not how to interact with women.]

"Aunt, why are you sighing? It can’t be my fault, right? That text message wasn’t intended to be seen by her, and moreover, she misunderstood me first thing in the morning!" Xu Qingfan thought Zhang Chunxue was taking Xiaoxiao’s side and immediately became anxious.

Xiao Fan is not wrong."

Xu Qingfan had just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Aunt say, "Xiao Xiao is not wrong either."

"It’s not my fault, nor is it Xiao Xiao’s fault, it can’t possibly be Wanning’s fault!" Xu Qingfan instantly protested, not seeing how this could involve Wanning.

"Wanning is even less at fault." Zhang Chunxue continued, humorously patting his head.

"Then whose fault is it?" Xu Qingfan was at a loss; Aunt was playing riddles with him, it seemed.

Zhang Chunxue really wanted to say, their mistake is that they both fell for you at the same time!

But obviously she couldn’t tell Xu Qingfan that; after all, Xiao Fan, dim as he was, seemed to have not yet realized this fact.

"Not all arguments have a right or wrong, nor do all disputes have winners and losers. Xiao Fan, you are probably annoyed by Xiao Xiao being too controlling."

Xu Qingfan’s eyes lit up instantly, because that’s exactly how he felt. This Xiaoxiao wasn’t his anything; why should she try to control everything, manage everything!

"Hmm, Aunt, what then?"

"Well, as you said, now that you both have grown up, it’s definitely not possible to interact like you did as children. After all, you are living together with six people; you should consider Xiao Xiao’s feelings a bit."

"Oh." Xu Qingfan, although dissatisfied with what Aunt said, indeed found no point to argue.

"How to make up with Xiao Xiao is your own business, I won’t interfere~" Zhang Chunxue patted his head, hinting deeply: "But, don’t you think, Xiao Fan, that apart from studying, the center of these girls’ lives now is entirely you? You’re so smart, think about it yourself."

"Aunt, are you suggesting that I should....."

Before Xu Qingfan could finish, Zhang Chunxue pressed her finger to his lips.

"I didn’t say anything, don’t falsely accuse me; otherwise Wan Ningyi and the others will come to complain to me." She playfully winked her right eye and gave Xu Qingfan a wink.

"So should I..."

"I don’t know, I don’t know, I’m going back to take a nap now." Zhang Chunxue didn’t let him finish, got up, patted her backside, and slipped away.

"No way."

Xu Qingfan watched Zhang Chunxue’s retreating figure, speechless for quite a while.

Monthly bonus chapter: (12/16)