```
"Why are you staring at me like that, not writing your exam?" Xu Qingfan stretched out his hand to straighten Xia Xiaoxiao's head.
Ever since she returned from the office, Xia Xiaoxiao had been observing him as if he were an alien, continuously staring at him.
"Who are you!" Xia Xiaoxiao pushed Xu Qingfan's hand away, looking at him suspiciously.
"I'm your dad," he blurted out.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than he was thwacked on the head.
"Just last month, it was me who helped you get your pencil case back after someone snatched it from you, when did you start getting bold enough to fight people!" Xia Xiaoxiao crossed her arms in front of her chest and scrutinized Xu Qingfan.
More than twenty years had passed; how could he remember what happened last month? However, his impression was that before junior high, Xia Xiaoxiao had always been his protector.
The only exception was in the first year of junior high.
Girls generally mature earlier, and by the first year of junior high, Xia Xiaoxiao had already nearly reached one meter seventy tall, forming a stark contrast with the green, younger students.
At the time, some older students, attracted by her good looks, would often call her "big sister-in-law" and purposely cornered her after school.
In elementary school, Aunt Lin was there to watch over them, but once in junior high, some bad students didn't even fear the teachers, so Xia Xiaoxiao's complaints to the school were never resolved.
Xu Qingfan, who at the time was only about one meter fifty tall, couldn't take on a group of second and third year students, so he didn't choose to fight head-on; instead, he used his wits.
A lot of people knew that his relationship with Xia Xiaoxiao was extraordinary. Xu Qingfan spread rumors that Xia Xiaoxiao was his girlfriend and even flipped off the boss of the Brotherhood Study and Aid Group right to his face.
Sure enough, that very night, the opposing party called five or six people to corner him at the student dormitory.
After getting kicked a few times, Xu Qingfan spotted the right moment to take off running, with several students hot on his heels.
The student dormitory had staircases on both the left and the right; however, the one on the left was rarely used because the door on the first floor was locked.
He seized this opportunity and set up barriers before it was time for lights out.
As expected, when he reached the staircase, the older students who were in pursuit all stumbled over the wire he had fixed in advance.
One broke his arm, another suffered a concussion, and the incident even made the news.
In the end, Xu Qingfan was placed on school probation, but from then on, no one dared to bother Xia Xiaoxiao again.
"What are you grinning about, I'm talking to you!" Seeing Xu Qingfan's baffling auntie-like chuckle, Xia Xiaoxiao poked his arm with a pen.
"If anyone bullies you again, tell me, and Dad will protect you," Xu Qingfan said softly, patting the little girl's head.
Xia Xiaoxiao was originally quite pleased that the little troublemaker said he would protect her, but upon hearing what he said afterwards, her face immediately darkened.
"I'm not talking to you anymore!"
True to her word, she no longer fixated on Xu Qingfan and returned to focusing intently on her paper.
It seems there's a reason why top students are top students; if it were him, he couldn't settle down to study.
Having lived a second life, he certainly didn't want to tear out his hair studying science and math again.
[I still remember a bit of the 2014 college entrance exam questions; I'd better write them down!]
As a repeat student, the previous year's real exam papers were what he had encountered the most during his repeated year, filled with the frustration of failing the college entrance exam, the unwillingness to prove himself, and the 2014 papers that Xu Qingfan had done at least twenty times during his repeat year.
The last class reached its end unknowingly amidst Xu Qingfan's reminiscence.
"Is my face still swollen?" Remembering the incident that happened in the morning, Xu Qingfan asked his deskmate, who was packing up her bag.
```
"Much better, but there's still some swelling." Xia Xiaoxiao was also in the office at the time and couldn't help feeling some heartache when she remembered that nasty old hag slapping him hard.
"Don't tell my dad, okay?"
"Why not? That old hag is so mean. Why not tell Uncle Xu!"
"I hit back, didn't I? If there's a grudge, I'll avenge it myself. What kind of man would I be if I ran to my parents!" Xu Qingfan said with righteous indignation.
"Humph! It's none of my business if you get beaten to death." Xia Xiaoxiao was genuinely concerned for him but Xu Qingfan was unappreciative.
Seeing Xia Xiaoxiao's proud little expression, Xu Qingfan couldn't help but laugh.
"What's so funny, hey! Don't pinch my cheeks!"
The two of them left the kindergarten amidst their playful scuffle.
Only around Xia Xiaoxiao did Xu Qingfan feel like a five or six-year-old child. Perhaps this is what they meant by a man is forever a boy at heart.
"You got into a fight?" Xu's dad asked with a puzzled look upon seeing his son's swollen face.
"A boy in the class next door was flipping up a girl's skirt, so I beat him up."
"Hahaha, looks more like you're the one who got beaten, look at that face. Swollen like a pig's head. Wait till we get home and see how your mom yells at you."
"Uncle Xu, Xiao Fan was so awesome, those three boys who flipped up the girls' skirts couldn't even stand up after he fought them!" Xia Xiaoxiao said with shared pride.
"Then why is your face swollen, haha." Xu's dad was equally pleased knowing his son stood up for justice.
"That's because..."
"He was dishonorable. The teacher was already there and hit me when I wasn't paying attention, but I fought back," Xu Qingfan said as he put his hand over Xia Xiaoxiao's mouth, continuing to speak.
"As long as you fought back, that's good. We don't bully others, but we can't let others bully us either."
Xia Xiaoxiao pouted and turned her head to glare at Xu Qingfan, but ultimately she didn't spill the real story.
Our little Xiao Xiao is so cute, he couldn't resist pinching her cheek again.
"By the way, Xiao Xiao, your dad is back. Let's have dinner together later."
"Ah! For real!!" Xia Xiaoxiao waved her little hands excitedly, not even caring about Xu Qingfan pinching her cheek anymore.
Xia Xiaoxiao's dad was originally the head of the drivers in the factory. When the factory's performance declined, he voluntarily resigned and used the savings he had accumulated over the years to buy a large truck.
Don't underestimate truck drivers. In those years without reliable maps, a lot of the routes were navigated based on experience. Truck drivers had absolute bargaining power; they were treated like VIPs wherever they went.
No security deposit was needed. The co-driver, who watched over the cargo, was responsible for all the meals and even had to be reimbursed for the round trip fuel costs.
Xia's dad initially hauled goods for others. Once he figured out the tricks of the trade, he started hauling on his own, earning thousands for each trip.
It was only when more and more people entered the industry and truck drivers began to cut rates like mad, turning the market from a seller's to a buyer's market, that Xia's dad started to give up on this line of work. But the money he had made over a decade was enough for their family of three to live on interest alone.
The motorcycle soon arrived at Lianhua Courtyard. As soon as she got off, Xia Xiaoxiao ran home in such a hurry that she didn't even have time to grab her backpack.
The only downside was that he was away all year round, leaving less time to accompany his wife and child.
[Should I find an easy and respectable job for the adults of both families?]
Watching the retreating figure of Xia Xiaoxiao running, Xu Qingfan thought to himself.