After graduating from kindergarten, Lin Wanning started visiting more often.
Just a few days until the tests, the two girls started to get nervous, spending every day either practicing problems or on their way to practice problems.
After experiencing a week of staying up late and getting up early, Xu Qingfan was dragged by the two little girls from his bed to the study desk.
"I'm done, Brother Qing Fan, please correct my paper!" Lin Wanning handed him a test paper and languidly lay on the desk.
"Let me see."
Since the past years' test papers had no answer key, Xu Qingfan was forced to take on the role of a grading teacher.
[I am between 0 and 2, I am.... and?] He helplessly rubbed his forehead, marked an '×' with a red pen and then corrected the answer.
"Brother Qing Fan, did Wanning do very badly?" Seeing Xu Qingfan keep sighing, the little girl looked at him pitifully.
Having experience as a tutor in his previous life, Xu Qingfan knew that what little kids needed most at this age was to build self-confidence, so he patiently said, "Not at all, you've improved by eight points, Wanning did great!"
Lin Wanning took the corrected paper and nodded seriously, "I will keep trying hard!"
"Brother will explain this question to you. There are four pigeons inside the house and four outside, so it should be 4+4=8, right? How did you write 1+4=5?"
"But I can't see how many pigeons are inside the house!" Lin Wanning pointed at the pigeon house on the paper.
"Isn't there a '4' written on the picture? It means there are four pigeons inside the house."
"But this house is so small, I don't think it can fit four pigeons, how could there be so many!"
[Stay calm, be patient, you can do this Xu Qingfan!]
His lips trembled, "Look, Doraemon's pocket is so small, yet it can still fit the Anywhere Door, right? The house works the same way."
"Oh~ I got it, thank you, Brother Qing Fan!"
"Heh cough cough...." Xia Xiaoxiao, sitting beside them, snorted with laughter, then quickly composed herself to continue working on problems.
Xu Qingfan pinched Xia Xiaoxiao secretly under the table and went on to explain another problem to Lin Wanning.
"Let's continue, aren't Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, Tang Sanzang, and Sha Wujing a total of four people? Why is your answer 2?"
"Zhu Bajie and Sun Wukong aren't people, they're animals, isn't that right?" Lin Wanning tilted her head and looked at Xu Qingfan.
"Right....sort of...cough cough... since they all stand up, consider everyone who stands up a person," Xu Qingfan faltered.
"Monkeys in the zoo also stand up. Does that mean they're people too?"
[Patience is key in life, be patient, Xu Qingfan, be patient!]
"But Zhu Bajie and Sun Wukong can talk, right? Anything that stands and talks like a person is a person." Worried that Lin Wanning might bring up parrots, Xu Qingfan made the criteria extremely strict all at once.
"Alright, then there are 4 people!"
"Yes, great job, let's continue..."
Fortunately, Lin Wanning was adorable; if this had been Little Bao from last time, Xu Qingfan might have smacked him with the back of his hand at the second question. Why are there so many whys!
After tutoring Lin Wanning, Xia Xiaoxiao handed over her paper, "I've finished, please help me check it."
Xia Xiaoxiao's work was much better, resulting in all red check marks as he graded—no worrisome issues at all... right!
"Xiao Xiao, come here. In this problem, you have 55 yuan, and you spent 30 yuan on a soccer ball. Shouldn't the change be 55-30=25? How did you get 50-30?"
Xia Xiaoxiao looked at him as if he were an idiot: "Why would I give him 55 yuan for no reason? Can't I just give fifty yuan?"
"Well... that seems to make some sense..." Xu Qingfan nodded subconsciously, then immediately realized his mistake. Elementary math doesn't test logic!
"Think of it this way, Little Ming might be buying a soccer ball in a foreign country, and that country could have banknotes worth 55 yuan each."
"Why would you speak Chinese when buying a soccer ball in a foreign country?" Xia Xiaoxiao asked righteously, pointing at the dialogue box in the picture.
Xu Qingfan: ...
"Because our country has grown powerful, how does the song go again, 'The whole world is learning Chinese~the words of Confucius~becoming more and more international!'"
"Ugly!" Xia Xiaoxiao pouted and took her test paper back, correcting the only application question she got wrong.
Having finally finished reviewing the exam papers for the two young misses, Xu Qingfan felt utterly dispirited as he slumped onto the table.
After several days of intense tutoring, Lin Wanning's math scores had finally stabilized around 70 points, while Xia Xiaoxiao consistently maintained scores infinitely close to perfect.
With the Chinese exam focused on simple recitation and creating sentences with given words, the two little girls faced no difficulty, aside from occasionally asking Xu Qingfan small questions like "Why can't this question be about the principal grandpa dancing for me, why can't 'duo' be used to coin the term 'Doraemon'," but overall, things were quite harmonious.
The entrance requirements for Experimental Primary School were no less than 60 points in each subject, and a total score of at least 150 points.
Lin Wanning could steadily score over 90 points in Chinese, and even if she got nervous and slipped up in math, her total score would still ensure she surpassed 150 points.
As for Xia Xiaoxiao, it goes without saying that she could score nearly perfect in both subjects, clearly aiming for the tuition waiver.
Even if she couldn't pass the exam, it wouldn't be a big deal, since it was a private school. If she didn't get in, she could still buy points, with three thousand for each point in individual subjects and one thousand for each point in total score.
Xu Qingfan had carefully studied the previous exams and found that the difficulty level was distributed in a 5:3:2 ratio.
The review plan he set for Lin Wanning was to get full marks on the easy questions, strive to do the medium ones correctly, and completely give up on the difficult ones.
After a week of hard work, Lin Wanning's review showed significant progress; her enthusiasm for learning skyrocketed after giving up on brain-burning problems like the chicken and rabbit cage question, and her score improved from initially around forty points to seventy.
The wall clock ticked crisply, its hands pointing towards five o'clock.
"Alright, alright, study time is over, hurry up and pack up to watch TV!" Xu Qingfan perked up, swiftly packing away the two little girls' stationery and exam papers.
After folding the table and moving it to the corner, he hurried to turn on the TV and pointed the remote at it, pressing the "2" button. After a two-second pause, the channel switched to Jade Channel.
Just in time, the preview from yesterday's episode indicated that Pokémon would start airing tomorrow, following the end of the first season of Digital Monster.
The theme song began playing right on cue on the TV, with seven spiritual balls forming a large circle and spinning eerily on the screen.
"Pikachu~"
"Living inside the ball is all about life"
"Converging Energy Elasticity with mighty power"
"Day by day accompanying me are the stars of the Elves"
"Walking on a long journey with friendship"
"Living in the galaxy depends all on love"
"Eventually, with perseverance, victory can be achieved"
The theme song was the Cantonese version adapted into Mandarin. Lin Wanning had played Pokémon-related games when she was very young, and as soon as she saw the various Elves appearing on screen, she stared unblinkingly at the TV.
"That just now was!" Xia Xiaoxiao recognized the brief image of Charmander as the same as the backpack charm she had given to Xu Qingfan.
The three little ones sat in a row on the sofa, and when they saw Ash and Pikachu being chased by a flock of Ghost Sparrows, both Lin Wanning and Xia Xiaoxiao clenched their fists anxiously.
Ash stood bravely in front of Pikachu, and Pikachu managed to unleash a powerful Thunderbolt at the last moment; the TV then switched to commercials.
Just having held their breath through the tense scene, the girls now relaxed, and Xia Xiaoxiao eagerly asked, "Did Pikachu manage to drive away those mean birds?"
"Brother Fan, when we turn ten, can we also get our own Elf?"
"Sure they were driven away, otherwise how could the show go on? When Wanning turns ten, Brother Fan will give you an Elf." Keeping the principle of fairness, he ruffled Xia Xiaoxiao's hair too: "And I'll give you one, too."
"Yay, then I want Pikachu!" Lin Wanning excitedly raised her hands.
Xia Xiaoxiao's nose wrinkled slightly, but she said no more.
The commercial soon ended, and after the rain cleared, a colorful phoenix flew across the sky.
Soft music resonated from the TV, and Xu Qingfan's gaze drifted outside the window. The clouds resembled terraced fields stretching continuously, bathed in brilliant sunlight.
No more missing the lingering glow of sunset, and the stars in the sky were also within reach. Xu Qingfan grabbed the hands of Lin Wanning and Xia Xiaoxiao tightly.