I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 127. Year 127

This year's Spring Festival is earlier than ever before, with the Little New Year on the 15th of January and the Lunar New Year's Eve on the 19th.

Due to the impact of last year's virus, the festive atmosphere of this year's Lunar New Year is particularly strong.

With only a few days left until the Lunar New Year, many temporary awnings have been set up in the square, selling New Year's goods, couplets and red envelopes, and hawking discounted shoes and clothes in various sizes. All kinds of low-priced goods are on display.

Deep-fried twisted dough sticks and sesame balls, loose candied winter melon and coconut candy, as well as various miscellaneous candies and chocolates whose names I don't know, attract a constant stream of customers.

"Brother Qingfan, have some!" Lin Wanning held a still-warm fried dumpling to his lips. Because the street was very noisy, the little girl's voice was also particularly loud.

"Delicious." The one he was eating had peanut filling, Xu Qingfan said as he chewed.

Xia Xiaoxiao pouted, silently grabbed a few cat ear-shaped pieces from her bag, and brought them to Xu Qingfan's mouth.

"Not bad, quite crisp." Xu Qingfan leaned forward and caught the cat's ear in his mouth with his tongue.

"Brother Fan, you should try mine too!" Seeing this, Xiao Ruanwen followed suit and happily broke off half of the sugar ring in her hand and gave it to Xu Qingfan.

"Again? This is too hard, I don't like it." He shook his head and waved his hand in refusal.

Sugar rings are a traditional snack in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions. They are made by kneading glutinous rice flour into a dough with brown sugar water, shaping it into a wreath by hand or with a mold, and then deep-frying it. Eating sugar rings during the Chinese New Year symbolizes the addition of children and prosperity.

However, because this stuff is extremely durable, it's usually not finished by the end of the year, by which time the sugar rings have hardened like a rock.

Xu Qingfan ate this stuff for breakfast a lot when he was in elementary school in his previous life. The sugar rings were harder than watching ten movies, and he could say he developed a psychological trauma from eating them.

"They're not hard from being freshly fried, Xiao Xiao, do you want some?" Xiao Ruanwen turned and handed her half of the sugar ring to Xia Xiao Xiao.

"Okay." Xia Xiaoxiao took it.

"It looks so lively over there, Brother Qingfan! Let's go take a look!" Lin Wanning said to the group, pointing to a stage set up not far away.

Xia Xiaoxiao and Xiao Ruanwen also looked at Xu Qingfan.

"Let's go take a look then. Everyone hold hands so we don't get lost," Xu Qingfan said.

"It looks like Brother Qingfan is handing out plush toys, let's go quickly!" Lin Wanning saw the host on stage handing out plush toys to the crowd below from afar, and excitedly grabbed his hand to run.

Xu Qingfan then took Xia Xiaoxiao's hand, and the four of them ran side by side in the square.

"The Smart Star Learning Machine, originally priced at 2888, is being given away for free today! What do you all think?"

"Bravo!" came the enthusiastic response from the audience.

Xu Qingfan immediately realized that it was another scam group that used the guise of giving away free learning machines to actually rip off parents.

"Gentlemen, please move to the back and leave the front seats for us mothers with children. Staff, please help maintain order!" The audience kept pushing forward, and the host called out again.

[It's time to select the target group.] Xu Qingfan thought to himself.

"Brother Qingfan, let's go in too!" Lin Wanning excitedly pulled Xu Qingfan inside when he heard that the children could stand in the first row.

"Let's just look around from outside. There are too many people inside, and a stampede could easily happen." He tapped Lin Wanning on the head lightly.

"You hit Ningning again~" Lin Wanning pouted and held her head.

After the order was restored, the host continued to chatter on stage, saying things like, "This learning machine, valued at 2888, can teach children English, Japanese, French, and many other languages ​​around the world."

"Are we going to deliver it or not?"

"Yeah, if you're going to deliver it, then hurry up and do it. I'm in a rush to get home and clean!"

The audience below grew impatient and complained.

"I'll say three, two, one. Parents who want the learning machine, please raise your hands. I'll see who raises their hand the fastest, that'll be the one! Is that alright, everyone?"

"it is good!"

"Brother Fan, why didn't you raise your hand just now?" Xiao Ruanwen asked curiously after the first learning machine was given out.

Xu Qingfan pulled the three away from the crowd before saying, "That guy is a swindler. His broken learning machine probably only costs twenty or thirty yuan to make. He'll definitely say that the parents who win the prize need to spend 288 yuan to buy some kind of activation card, and then he'll scam them out of money."

"How did you know!" Xia Xiaoxiao blushed as she thought about how enthusiastically she had just participated.

"This is an old scam. If you don't believe me, let's go back and see. Those who just received free prizes are definitely shills, using them to promote how good their products are." Xu Qingfan chuckled and pinched Xia Xiaoxiao's cheek. The little girl's mouth was the most stubborn thing about her.

"Ningning believes it! Brother Qingfan recognized the other end of the phone as a scammer even before he answered it last time!" Lin Wanning jumped up and down, cheering Xu Qingfan on.

"Brother Fan, should we call the police? We can't let the scammer get away!" Xiao Ruanwen, due to her family background, was extremely righteous and couldn't bear to watch the scammer escape in broad daylight right under their noses.

"Calling the police won't do any good, they probably won't care," Xu Qingfan said, picking his ear.

"Why? Aren't they scammers?" Xiao Ruanwen stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

“His actions constitute consumer fraud and should fall under the jurisdiction of the Industry and Commerce Bureau. The police will not handle it,” Xu Qingfan said, patting the little girl’s head.

"But, but according to what you just said, those people are fraudsters! How could the police not arrest fraudsters!"

Xu Qingfan could understand Xiao Ruanwen's thoughts. After all, from childhood to university, we were taught to find the police if we had any problems. The people's police are a symbol of safety and reliability in the minds of anyone who has received nine years of compulsory education.

He thought so in his previous life, until his phone was stolen for the first time.

"Let's give it a try. If the police come, those parents who are watching probably won't be fooled." Xu Qingfan naturally wouldn't tell the others about these dark aspects of society. He took Lin Wanning's hand and led them to a nearby phone booth.

"Yes, we must catch all those bad guys!"

"Arrest them! Arrest them!"

The three little girls looked very excited, feeling that they were doing something righteous.

After dialing the police, Xu Qingfan briefly summarized the group's scam to the operator, saying, "Officer, they're about to succeed in their scam, so please come quickly!"

"Thank you very much for the information you provided. We will dispatch officers immediately," the operator replied politely.

He put the phone back down, turned around and gave the three of them an 'OK' sign. "Alright, the police will be here to catch the bad guys soon."

"Great!!!"

[Could we publish a hilarious daily anti-fraud book?] Xu ​​Qingfan thought to himself, recalling the anti-fraud app from his previous life.

When the group returned to the crowd, the parent who had just received the learning machine indeed brought her "son" on stage to perform.

"This little boy just spent ten minutes learning on the learning machine backstage. Now let's test him. Are you confident, little boy?" The host shoved the microphone into the face of the boy, who was probably in second or third grade.

“Yes!” he shouted.

"Great!" The parents in the audience applauded.

"For the first question, please say hello to everyone in English, French, and German respectively!"

The child took the microphone and chanted in a series of incantations: "Halou ei wei bodi~ Amiros~ Wai bi bab~"

"Pfft~" Xu Qingfan couldn't help but laugh out loud when he heard the familiar zombie language.

"Brother Qingfan, what are you laughing at? Is what he said wrong?" Lin Wanning asked, blinking.

"Everyone, do you agree with what he said?" "Yes, yes, yes, absolutely right." Xu Qingfan chuckled as he clapped along with the crowd.

"Let's test our math skills again. What is 13,050 multiplied by 32,180?"

The child took the microphone again and shouted without hesitation, "That's three hundred and sixty million seven hundred and thirty-two!"

"Hiss~" The audience gasped, followed by another round of enthusiastic applause.

"How could it be this? Five times eight is forty, how could the ending be thirty-two?" Xia Xiaoxiao was still using the decomposition method to calculate the last ten digits when she heard the child on the stage give the answer.

"He's just talking nonsense." Xu Qingfan said with amusement, not expecting that Xia Xiaoxiao would actually go and do the calculation.

"They really are liars!" Xiao Ruanwen looked at the group of people performing a charade on stage with disdain.

"Brother Qingfan, do you know how to say 'hello' in German and French?" Lin Wanning looked at him with admiration.

"Um, I only speak English and Japanese."

"Brother Fan, how come you can speak Japanese?" Xiao Ruanwen looked at him in surprise, as if she had discovered a new continent.

"I learned it from watching anime, and I only know some everyday phrases," Xu Qingfan explained.

He wasn't lying; he really did learn it by watching legitimate anime series. As for other things, with one hand busy fast-forwarding and the other busy doing other things, he didn't have time to learn a foreign language.

"Brother Qingfan, how do you say 'Hello everyone' in Japanese?"

"Hello everyone in Japanese is Mirasan-kunijiwa~"

"Mira.san.kong.nijiwa?" The three little girls imitated his accent.

"Hmm, almost there." Xu Qingfan nodded in satisfaction.

"Ningning knows how to say 'hello everyone' in Korean," Lin Wanning said excitedly, remembering a drama she had watched last time, "Oppa ari ah si ruo~"

“I also know how to say swear words in Japanese!” Xiao Ruanwen also raised her hand with a smile.

"Do you also know how to say swear words in Korean?" Xu Qingfan flicked the little girl's forehead.

The three little girls all thought of the Korean swear words from the TV series, "Ashiba~" Lin Wanning said first.

"Hee hee hee~" Hearing Xiao Wanning's soft Spanish, Xu Qingfan and Xiao Ruanwen laughed so hard they almost fell over.

Xia Xiaoxiao didn't find it particularly funny at first, but after hearing the two of them making honking noises, she couldn't help but join in.

Lin Wanning scratched his face cutely, and smiled along with everyone else.

On one side are ignorant parents, enthusiastically waving their hundred-yuan bills after being successfully swindled by scammers, eager to buy counterfeit and shoddy products.

On one side were four children who had already seen through everything and were watching the show with glee, laughing so hard they were doubled over.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment, capturing a bizarre and absurd scene.

The sirens of the police cars grew closer and louder, and the crowd, who had already entered the trap set by the swindlers, turned around in surprise and saw four policemen getting out of the car.

As the police approached, the initially enthusiastic crowd seemed to have been doused with cold water, and they immediately calmed down.

The host visibly panicked, and everyone realized they had been tricked.

"I don't want to buy it anymore, give me my money back!" Many people who had already paid stepped forward to ask for their 300 yuan back.

"Don't let them get away!"

"What are you doing? You want to come along and catch the swindler?" Xu Qingfan reached out and grabbed Lin Wanning, who was eager to try.

"Hehe~" The little girl stuck out her tongue at him with a playful smile.

"Brother Fan, you still say calling the police is useless? Look, the police have arrested them!" Xiao Ruanwen said happily after watching the host being subdued and pinned to the ground.

"It's best to catch them on the spot. If they run away after swindling the money, calling the police won't help."

"With Brother Qingfan here, the bad guys won't get away!"

“Yeah, Brother Fan, you’re amazing. You could tell these people were scammers at a glance,” Xiao Ruanwen nodded in agreement.

"Just average, third in the world. Let's go, I still need to help Xiaoyu put up the couplets." Xu Qingfan said, lifting the bag containing ink and red paper.

"Smug," Xia Xiaoxiao muttered under her breath as she listened with pride to the two praising the little rascal.

"Time to put up the couplets!"

The four people left Guagreen Square hand in hand, with a picture of a bear being handcuffed by a dog policeman behind them.

Because of his elegant calligraphy skills displayed while strolling through the flower market last year, Yao Jinping directly entrusted Xu Qingfan with the task of adding and replacing couplets, "Good Fortune Arrives," and "Peaceful Beginning" at home this year.

When the topic of couplets came up, Xu Qingfan remembered that when he visited Wu Lingyu's house last time, her doorway was empty and there was nothing pasted up. That's when the idea of ​​a few people going to help her put up couplets came up.

Xu Qingfan thought Li Meijuan was too busy with work to do it, but the truth was that the house in Qiujie Village was newly built and she was too lazy to do it at the time.

The group arrived at Xu Qingfan's convenience store. With the end of the year approaching, the store was extremely busy.

"Young Master is back!" Yao Jinping's newly hired female employee greeted Xu Qingfan and his group with a smile.

Xu Qingfan pursed his lips speechlessly. He really disliked this nickname. It would be fine if his family owned a large enterprise, but it was just a small convenience store of a few dozen square meters.

"Mom, I've bought the things." He rolled his eyes at her and called out to Yao Jinping.

"Go home and write after you've bought it. I don't have time for you right now. Here's your twenty-five yuan change, pretty lady," Yao Jinping said as she took the money from the cashier.

"Xiaoyu, come out here for a moment!" Xu Qingfan waved to Wu Lingyu, who was helping her mother pack fried skewers.

The little girl nodded, took off her disposable gloves, and ran out, calling out, "Brother Fan."

"I bought couplets for everyone. After we finish writing them, we'll go to your house to put them up together," Xu Qingfan said, pulling Wu Lingyu to the doorway.

"Huh?" Seeing everyone looking at her, Wu Lingyu paused for a few seconds before quickly saying, "Yeah, thank you, Brother Fan. I need to go back and help my mom." She pointed in the direction of the shop.

"Go ahead, we'll come find you when there are fewer people." Xu Qingfan smiled gently and patted Wu Lingyu's head to encourage her.

The little girl nodded and ran back into the store.

[So sensible it's heartbreaking.] Xu Qingfan sighed, then smiled again and left with the others.

"The country is prosperous and the people are at peace, and everyone is happy. Ma Lou's life is also a life. What the hell are you talking about? Xu Qingfan, what kind of nonsense are you writing!" Xia Xiaoxiao said irritably after reading the couplet he wrote.

"Such a timeless masterpiece, Xiaoxiao, your ability to appreciate Chinese language is still lacking!" Xu Qingfan said, laying down another sheet of red paper.

"Brother Qingfan is awesome!" Lin Wanning clapped in response.

"Hahaha"

Amidst laughter and chatter, everyone finished writing on the red paper they had bought.
Thank you to Shangxue Mengshang for the 100 Qidian coins.

Thank you to "Flying Bird Fish" for the 100 Qidian coins.

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(End of this chapter)