"Here, have some." The snotty kid in front of him turned his head to lean on Xu Qingfan's desk, flauntingly offering a piece of chocolate he had just dug out to Xu Qingfan.
Xu Qingfan hurriedly leaned back, waving his hands awkwardly, "No need to be polite, eat it yourself."
"Oh." The other kid didn't seem to mind his lack of appreciation and simply stuck his fingers in his mouth, sucking on them contentedly.
"What are you eating?" The snotty kid's deskmate saw him enjoying his treat and asked curiously.
"Hold on, I have more, here!"
"Mine tastes better than yours!"
"Impossible, let me try yours!"
Xu Qingfan: ...
[That's more like it, a five-year-old brat should be like this. Xia Xiaoxiao is just a weirdo!]
Xu Qingfan sneakily glanced at Xia Xiaoxiao, who was focused on writing her exam paper and thought to himself.
"What are you looking at? You're not even writing your exam paper. Be careful, or you might not pass!" Xia Xiaoxiao scolded Xu Qingfan with a glance before burying her head back in her test.
The promotion to the first grade of primary school was imminent, and every June, the county's Experimental Primary School organized an entrance exam for children of the appropriate age. Kids with good scores could not only waive their tuition fees but also receive a scholarship subsidy.
Experimental Primary School was not a public institution, and the annual tuition alone amounted to several thousand yuan, which in an era where the average wage was less than eight hundred yuan, was considered exorbitant.
In his past life, both Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao had sat the same entrance exam. Xia Xiaoxiao had passed, but he had not.
For some reason, however, Xia Xiaoxiao ended up attending the same primary school as the one where Lin Jing worked.
In junior high school, the policy of proximity admission had already been implemented, but the top students from the district were still highly sought after by reputable schools. Yet again, Xia Xiaoxiao chose to attend the same junior high as him, citing that she didn't want to be too far from home.
By the time high school came around, Xia Xiaoxiao, who could've attended a provincial key school, once again used proximity to home as a reason to enroll in the county's key high school. Fortunately, Xu Qingfan finally lived up to expectations and aced the middle school exams, just making it into the county's key high school.
Thus, as if by fate, the two of them, from kindergarten to high school, were always in the same class.
Even though Xia Xiaoxiao had made him wait for three and another three years in his previous life, she was always the lighthouse that Xu Qingfan looked out for.
Perhaps without Xia Xiaoxiao, Xu Qingfan would've settled for finishing junior high school and never gone on to attend the best 985 university in the province.
Fortunately, everything had started anew. Even if it was just to repay Lin Jing for all her care over the years, he would not let Xia Xiaoxiao go abroad for further studies.
"How do you do this problem?" Xia Xiaoxiao spread her exam paper on Xu Qingfan's desk and asked, pointing at a math problem.
Xu Qingfan couldn't help but chuckle as he rubbed the little girl's head. The feeling of acting like a teacher was quite pleasant.
Xia Xiaoxiao indignantly pushed away Xu Qingfan's hand, glowering at him with her small eyes.
"This problem is about finding a pattern. If it's just addition and subtraction, you can try them out one by one.
For example, here 3+2=5, 5+1=6, 6+2=8, the pattern is adding one and then adding two right?"
"I get it now." Xia Xiaoxiao's face lit up with understanding, and she took her exam paper back to continue working on the problems.
A kindergarten-to-primary-school test, featuring both the chicken-rabbit problem and pattern finding, was no wonder he did not pass in his previous life.
The admission quota for a school was always a matter of great concern for school leaders.
Kindergartens would boast about how many of their students got into Experimental Primary School that year, and primary schools would tout the number of their students who made it into the district's top ten middle schools.
Hence, the peculiar situation of kindergarten math classes teaching the chicken-rabbit cage problem existed.
But they weren't actually teaching you how to solve it with a system of linear equations. The teacher's method was somewhat like a brainteaser.
Lift all the animals on two legs, and whatever legs that remain, divided by two is the number of rabbits. Although it still overstepped the bounds by using division, it was definitely simpler than Xu Qingfan's approach of directly applying linear equations.
"Ring, ring, ring—"
"Xu Qingfan, I'm going to get water. Do you want any? I'll get it for you." After class, Xia Xiaoxiao asked with her pink water cup in hand.
"Hm?" Xu Qingfan looked at her with a curious blink.
"This is for teaching me how to solve the problems." Xia Xiaoxiao said with wide eyes.
"Let's go together." Xu Qingfan wasn't busy, so he pulled out his ancestral Kang Shifu iced tea bottle from the drawer.
At room temperature, it's like horse urine; chilled, it's like nectar. Too bad there isn't a Pro version available yet; otherwise, Xu Qingfan would definitely steal his mom's money to buy loads!
The water filling area in the kindergarten was placed next to the toilet, and, following the principle of "since I'm already here," Xu Qingfan handed the plastic bottle to Xia Xiaoxiao and said, "I'm going to use the restroom. Help me fill this up with cold water."
"Remember to wash your hands." Xia Xiaoxiao took Xu Qingfan's water bottle with disdain.
"Do you believe I can pee from the door into the sink?"
"What's so great about that, I can do it too!"
"But you can't pee as far as I can!"
"I can definitely pee farther than you!"
As he entered, he encountered a pair of clowns; Xu Qingfan, afraid of becoming an innocent victim, went into a stall to pee.
When he came out after washing his hands, those clowns were still standing in the same spot.
"Why aren't you peeing?"
"Why aren't you peeing either?"
"I can't pee!"
Xu Qingfan: ...
After washing his hands and leaving the restroom, Xia Xiaoxiao was already waiting by the water dispenser.
"Did you wash your hands?"
"I did. If you don't believe me, look." Xu Qingfan showed Xia Xiaoxiao his dripping hands and flicked a water droplet at her when she wasn't paying attention.
"Xu Qingfan!!!"
Xu Qingfan took off running, but he, wearing sandals, obviously couldn't outrun the little girl in sneakers.
"If you keep running, I'll tell Auntie you tricked me out of my money!" Before long, Xia Xiaoxiao, out of breath, grabbed his wrist.
The little girl didn't have many ways to punish someone, so she reached out and gave a fierce twist to the soft flesh on his waist.
"Sss~" Xu Qingfan pretended to be in great pain, although he didn't actually feel much.
"Hmph, see if you dare to bully me again!" Considering Xu Qingfan's cooperative attitude, Xia Xiaoxiao decided to forgive him this time.
"I was just letting you win." Xu Qingfan put his wet hand on her shoulder, looped his arm around Xia Xiaoxiao, and they both headed back to class.
"Hmph!" The little girl pouted haughtily, but she didn't brush off the hand he placed on her shoulder.
As the two were about to reach Class A, Xu Qingfan caught sight of some mischievous boys from the next class lifting a girl's skirt.
True to the saying "like draws like," the one laughing loudest was someone he recognized—it was the chubby kid from yesterday!
He stuffed the water bottle into Xia Xiaoxiao's hands and, without saying a word, charged in.
A crotch strike was swiftly delivered with no hesitation.
In the back of his mind, Xu Qingfan thought he heard the sound of eggs cracking.
The chubby kid met with disaster and lost his ability to fight; his expression was ferocious as he squirmed on the ground like a maggot.
Xu Qingfan doled out the same treatment to the remaining two with another kick.
Very soon, there were three fresh, wriggling maggots on the ground.
The more Xu Qingfan thought about it, the angrier he got. He grabbed the chubby kid's collar and gave him a big smack, and the other two got the same treatment.
"If you like lifting girls' skirts so much, why don't you go home and lift your mom's!?" Xu Qingfan kicked at the chubby kid's belly once more.
Kindergarten kids had never seen such a scene; apart from the three maggots on the ground clutching their groins and crying, many other children in the class were also scared to tears.
Only then did Xu Qingfan have the time to look at the girl who had just been bullied.
The little girl's eyes were red, and tears seemed ready to spill out at any moment; she looked as pitiable as could be.
"Holy shit!"
When Xu Qingfan got a clear look at her face, he blurted out an exclamation. With her smooth short hair tied up in a little horn, wasn't this Takanashi Rikka??
How did she end up in kindergarten???