I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 72. The Vanished Fried Food Stall 3
"That's all for today's class. I won't keep you from eating. get out of class dismissed!"

"yeah!"

"Thank you, teacher. Goodbye, teacher!"

The bell rang just as get out of class ended, and the students rushed out of the classroom like athletes on a track as soon as the starting gun fired.

The classroom was on the fifth floor, so no matter how much they rushed, they wouldn't get to eat a hot meal first. But Xu Qingfan still admired his classmates' dedication to eating.

"Hehe, time to eat! Ningning wants black pepper pork chop rice today!" Lin Wanning said while tidying up her stationery and books on her desk.

"You have to eat the carrots yourself!" Xu Qingfan tapped the little girl on the head.

Last time we ate pork chop rice, the two little ones gave him the carrots they didn't want, which made Xu Qingfan eat almost the whole carrot by himself.

"No way~ Carrots taste awful!" Lin Wanning whined, clinging to Xu Qingfan's arm.

"Stop shaking it! You're going to shake my brains all over! I'll eat it, okay?" Xu Qingfan was defeated by Lin Wanning's coquettishness and cuteness.

"Hehe, Brother Qingfan is the best!"

"Is it done yet!" Xia Xiaoxiao pouted silently, having witnessed this scene from behind.

"Alright, alright, let's go. Let's go find Wu Lingyu in Class 3 on the second floor first." Xu Qingfan put the school ID card from the cabinet around his neck, got up, and left his seat.

"Let's go~"

Zhang Yiyi and Lin Wanning walked ahead hand in hand. The two little ones probably bought their backpacks together, as they were the same style. Fluffy plush toys, a kitten and a rabbit, were sewn onto the backpacks, and their ears twitched as they walked, making them very cute.

"Your comic is going to be published?" Although the little rascal had already told her, Xia Xiaoxiao still found it hard to believe when she saw the physical book this morning.

This is publishing a book! How could a few elementary school students drawing some comics be enough to publish a book?

In the little girl's mind, only great writers like Lu Xun and Bing Xin could publish books. She had seen the comics drawn by Xu Qingfan and others, and although they were very funny, it was still a bit of a shock to Xia Xiaoxiao's understanding that they could be published as books all at once.

"Probably. Actually, we only drew a few comics. Aunt Zhang helped with the coloring and contacting publishers. I guess she spent a lot of money, otherwise it wouldn't have been so easy," Xu Qingfan explained with a smile.

"That's still amazing. You guys are only in first grade and you've already published a book. I might not be able to do that even in twenty years." Xia Xiaoxiao looked at Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi walking ahead and felt inexplicably envious.

"What's wrong with that? Everyone has their own strengths. You're good at games and studying too. Why do you compare your weaknesses with Wan Ning and the others' strengths?"

"But you..." Xia Xiaoxiao wanted to say that your grades were just as good, but then she thought better of it. Why should she compare herself to that little rascal?

"I'm not as good as you in many ways either. I'm not as good at games as you." Xu Qingfan guessed what Xia Xiaoxiao wanted to say and chuckled as he patted the little girl's head.

"What's the use of being good at games?" Xia Xiaoxiao muttered to herself.

"How is it useless? Maybe if you play games well in the future, you can even participate in the Asian Games. Hurry up and keep up, Wan Ning and the others have already left you far behind." Xu Qingfan pulled Xia Xiaoxiao's hand and jogged.

The little girl didn't say anything more, but in her heart she thought to herself: [That bastard Xu Qingfan is lying again! The news said online games are electronic opium, how could being good at games get you into the Asian Games!]
When the four little ones arrived at Class 3 of Grade 1, most of the students had already left. Wu Lingyu, true to her word, was sitting in her seat doing her homework.

"Wow~ Brother Fan!" The students in the class recognized Xu Qingfan as he walked in and exclaimed.

"Brother Fan, you're my idol! Brother Fan, do you eat spicy snacks? Brother Fan, what brings you here?" A loyal fan of Xu Qingfan excitedly came up to him and handed him the half-eaten pack of spicy snacks he had just finished.

"No need, no need, you eat. I'll find Wu Lingyu from your class." Xu Qingfan waved his hand awkwardly.

Is this what it feels like to be idolized? He's finally experiencing it.

"Oh, you're looking for our class's top student! Xiaoyu, someone's looking for you!" Because of the popularity of Jackie Chan Adventures, Wu Lingyu was given the nickname Xiaoyu in class.

Actually, Wu Lingyu had already noticed Xu Qingfan and the others entering the classroom long before that person called out to her. The little girl tidied her desk, put on her backpack, and got up.

"Hello everyone." Wu Lingyu walked up to Xu Qingfan, timidly looking down at her shoes. "Let's go! Let's eat first." Xu Qingfan tugged at her sleeve, and together with the rest of the group, they walked out of the classroom.

"Don't worry, Xiaoyu, Brother Qingfan will definitely help you punish that bad landlord!" Upon seeing the person in question, Lin Wanning couldn't wait to wave her little pink fist and say.

"No, no need," Wu Lingyu glanced up at Xu Qingfan, then immediately lowered her head nervously again.

Sometimes Xu Qingfan felt helpless about Lin Wanning's inexplicable self-confidence. He hadn't really figured out how to punish the landlord, since what the landlord did wasn't illegal or criminal, but it was very immoral.

"Xiaoyu, why doesn't your mother rent a new shop?" Seeing that everyone called her Xiaoyu, Xu Qingfan also started calling her that.

Wu Lingyu nervously clenched her fingers, unsure of how to begin.

"Is it inconvenient to say?" Xu Qingfan asked again when the other party remained silent.

"No, it's not that we don't have any money at home," the little girl said in a voice barely audible.

"Huh? How could that be? Didn't we compensate you with 10,000 yuan last time?" Xu Qingfan was full of questions.

The little girls remained quiet and obedient, waiting for Wu Lingyu's reply.

"Waaah~" The little girl choked up, as if remembering something sad: "The money from last time...waaah, it was stolen when I went to the doctor with Daddy, waaaah~"

After she finished speaking, Wu Lingyu's eyes were already filled with tears.

"Don't cry, Xiaoyu. Ningning still has lots of New Year's money, it's all for you!" Seeing Wu Lingyu suddenly cry, the group looked at each other in surprise. Lin Wanning pulled out a tissue and wiped away her tears.

Seeing that they had already arrived at the canteen, Xu Qingfan decided to ask the remaining questions later.

There were no dramatic scenes like Wu Lingyu not being able to afford food when getting meals; the top twenty students in each grade at the Experimental Primary School received scholarships every month.

The scholarship was directly deposited into her meal card. Although Wu Lingyu had fallen out of the top 20 in her grade this midterm and no longer received a scholarship, she still had several hundred yuan left from the previous semester.

After the group finished getting their food and sat down, Xu Qingfan asked, "What illness does your father have? Does it require a lot of money?"

Wu Lingyu's tears had stopped, but her nose and the area around her eyes were still red. She looked down at the food in front of her and choked out, "I don't know either. My mother said it's called uremia, and it costs a lot of money."

"Huh?" Xu Qingfan opened his mouth wide in surprise.

Xia Xiaoxiao, Lin Wanning, and Zhang Yiyi didn't know what uremia was, so they didn't react as strongly as Xu Qingfan.

The girls looked at Xu Qingfan with suspicion, waiting for him to explain.

Xu Qingfan learned about uremia through a news report—"Liao Dan's case of carving a seal to save his wife."

Liao Dan's wife was diagnosed with uremia. The fragile family could not afford the dialysis that required three times a week and the medical expenses that amounted to thousands of yuan.

Liao Dan accidentally discovered a loophole in the hospital: after paying, the hospital would only stamp the receipt with the hospital's official seal. With no other options, he chose to forge the seal to save his wife.

When questioned by the judge, Liao Dan, with tears in her eyes, said helplessly, "What can I do if we don't have money? I can't let her die at home, and I can't strangle her either."

Xu Qingfan finally understood why Wu Lingyu's mother had half a head of white hair at such a young age, and also understood why their family looked so poor despite the fact that the fried food stall was so profitable.

Let alone now, it's only 03. Even ten years from now, in 13, uremia will still be the same disease, a disease of poverty!

A single dialysis session costs four or five hundred yuan, and the medications cannot be reimbursed by medical insurance. The total medical expenses for a month can reach six or seven thousand yuan. How many ordinary families can afford that?

Xu Qingfan only calculated that Li Meijuan could earn 4,000 yuan a month selling fried skewers when her business was booming, but he forgot that every business has a peak and off-peak season. How many people would come to eat fried skewers when it was cold?

“Your mother is a hero,” Xu Qingfan said after a long silence.

(End of this chapter)