33: Chapter 33 Lin Xi

After an hour, the group of four had visited over a dozen households. With only the last two left to go, today's task would be complete.

Although they had been walking for an hour, Chen Fan didn't feel the slightest bit tired. Chen Tong, on the other hand, couldn't move her feet anymore.

"Chen Fan, let's discuss something."

"What is it?"

"I can't walk anymore. Could you carry me back?" Chen Tong asked, sounding a bit weak.

"In your dreams. Keep moving. There are only two houses left; once we finish visiting them, we can go back," Chen Fan said bluntly.

"You, Chen Fan! When we were little, I carried you so many times. Now that I'm asking you to carry me once, you won't do it."

"When we were little was when we were little. You're an adult now; you need to learn to be reserved."

"Get lost!"

After some bickering, Chen Tong had no choice but to follow along and keep walking.

...

In the blink of an eye, four days had passed.

With the final reunion dinner on the afternoon of the fifth day of the Lunar New Year over, the families of Chen Jianguo and Chen Jianjun were both set to leave.

Only Chen Fan's grandparents were left at home.

Although the two elders were not short of money, Chen Fan still gave each of them five thousand yuan.

This amount wasn't much for Chen Fan, but it was a token of his affection as their grandson. Besides, if he gave too much, the two elders wouldn't accept it.

After leaving Chenjiapo, Chen Fan's family did not return to Wang Village but went straight to the county seat.

The new house in Zijin Garden in the county seat had finished renovations, but it needed about three months of ventilation before they could move in.

After returning to the county seat, Chen Fan felt a bit bored for a while.

Living in the county, he hardly knew anyone. After his rebirth, he had been busy writing novels, so he wasn't very close with his classmates.

Apart from Jiang Chen, whom he was slightly familiar with, he didn't know many others. But Jiang Chen had no other hobbies besides surfing the internet; if he went to find him, the two of them would inevitably end up at an internet cafe.

After thinking about it, Chen Fan decided to take a good stroll around the county town.

In his previous life, from the time he graduated high school until he was in his thirties, he had only returned to the county a few times, and each stay was for a very short period.

Therefore, he was already very unfamiliar with the layout of the county town.

After getting dressed, Chen Fan went out.

The first stop was the Cultural Square of the county.

Every year at this time, this place was the liveliest. Right now, there were still quite a lot of young people in the county, unlike more than a decade later when most young people would head to big cities.

As a result, the small Cultural Square was already packed with people at this moment.

On the east side of the square, several inflatable castles and trampolines were set up, with red, yellow, and blue colors mixed together, crawling with children.

A little girl of three or four slid down a slide, lost her footing, and landed on her bottom in the air cushion. She paused for two seconds, then climbed up by herself and started heading back up the slide.

On the west side was a pirate ship swinging back and forth. Every time it swung to the highest point, a chorus of screams erupted from above.

The colorful lights hanging on the bow of the ship flickered, reflecting against the sky that had just turned dark.

Chen Fan looked around, and suddenly, a fragrant scent wafted over.

Following the source of the scent, he saw it was a stall selling chicken tenders.

In his previous life, Chen Fan loved eating chicken tenders when he was in high school and always felt they were the most delicious thing, perhaps because he hadn't eaten anything better back then.

More than a decade later, when he bought a portion of chicken tenders to taste, he always felt they weren't as good as the ones he had eaten in the county during high school.

Smelling this enticing aroma, Chen Fan suddenly had the urge to try some.

He walked up to the stall.

"Boss, how do you sell the chicken tenders?"

The owner was a middle-aged man around thirty. Hearing Chen Fan's words, he looked at him with confusion. "You're buying chicken tenders, right? There are 3-yuan, 5-yuan, and 10-yuan portions. How much do you want?"

"A 5-yuan portion is fine."

"Alright, wait a moment."

After about five minutes, Chen Fan's portion of chicken tenders was ready.

After paying, he went to a pavilion next to the square to sit down, then, unable to wait, used a skewer to pick one up and put it in his mouth.

Mmm, it was still that familiar taste.

After finishing, Chen Fan habitually reached into his pocket for a tissue to wipe his mouth, only to find there was nothing in his pocket.

He paused for a moment and was about to wipe his mouth carelessly with his hand when a hand suddenly extended in front of him—a fair, slender palm holding a pack of tissues.

Chen Fan followed the hand and looked up.

"Lin Xi~"

She was wearing a white short-style down jacket with her scarf wrapped up to her chin, looking down at him with a hint of a smile in her eyes.

"Wipe your mouth." Lin Xi held the tissues out toward him.

Chen Fan took them, pulled out a tissue to wipe his mouth, and smiled somewhat awkwardly. "Thanks. Why are you here?"

"I'm here to visit the temple fair." Lin Xi came over and sat down next to Chen Fan.

"Are you alone?" Chen Fan asked.

"I came with my mom, but she got tired from walking and went back early." Lin Xi pointed to a woman walking out not far away. "Look, isn't that her? She's heading back now."

Chen Fan looked in that direction; a middle-aged woman in a dark-colored cotton-padded jacket was carrying a shopping bag, walking unhurriedly toward the square exit.

"What about you? Are you here alone too?" Lin Xi asked.

"Yeah, just wandering around."

"Then let's go together," Lin Xi said quite naturally. "It's boring wandering around by myself."

Chen Fan was stunned for a moment, then nodded. "Alright."

Lin Xi stood up and patted the dust off the back of her down jacket. "Let's go then."

Chen Fan stood up too. Lin Xi turned around and was about to take a step forward when she suddenly paused. She lifted her head again and looked at Chen Fan.

—He hadn't noticed while sitting, but now that they were standing, he realized Chen Fan was almost a head taller than her.

"You..." Lin Xi subconsciously took a half-step back and looked him up and down. "When did you grow so tall? You're almost a head taller than me."

"Just recently. Maybe it wasn't time for me to have a growth spurt before," Chen Fan smiled and said casually.

A few days had passed, and Chen Fan had grown a little taller; he was now 182cm.

Lin Xi stared at him for two seconds, her gaze lingering on his face for a moment longer, before she suddenly looked away, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

She remembered the previous Chen Fan; his looks could only be described as delicate, and he wasn't very tall. She hadn't expected that after not seeing him for a while, not only had he grown so much, but he had also become sunny and handsome.

Chen Fan hadn't been bad-looking to begin with; it was just that he hadn't been tall and was a bit thin, which made him look unremarkable. Now that he had grown taller, and with his facial features becoming more defined, he gave off the impression of a sunny, handsome guy.

She muttered to herself in a low voice, "Why does he also seem to have become more handsome..."

"What?" Chen Fan didn't hear clearly.

"Nothing." Lin Xi turned around, her earlobes a bit red. "Let's go, let's go see over there."

The two walked forward side by side. Chen Fan could smell a faint scent wafting from Lin Xi—not the kind of strong perfume, but a light fragrance, like laundry detergent mixed with a touch of sweetness.

"Oh, by the way~" Lin Xi turned her head to look at Chen Fan. "I heard from our teacher that you scored over 580 points on the last exam. Is that true?"

"Yeah," Chen Fan nodded.

"That's higher than me." There was a hint of unconscious coquettishness in Lin Xi's tone. "I only scored over 570."

"That's not low, but it's not as high as yours." Lin Xi took a step forward, then turned back to face him, walking backward with her hands behind her back. "Honestly confess, did you secretly study hard?"

"It's mainly because I'm smart; I can score over 500 with just a little bit of studying."

"You're so thick-skinned," Lin Xi couldn't help but laugh. "How come I didn't notice that when we were desk mates before?"

Chen Fan also smiled and didn't respond.

Lin Xi walked backward for a few steps, then suddenly tripped over a wire on the ground, and her body tilted backward.

Chen Fan was quick-witted and grabbed her arm. Lin Xi steadied herself, paused for two seconds, and her earlobes turned red again.

"Th-thanks." She pulled her arm back, lowered her head, and patted her clothes as if to hide something.

"Watch where you're going," Chen Fan said.

"I know," Lin Xi muttered softly. This time, she obediently turned around and walked side-by-side with him.

After walking a few steps, she couldn't help but turn her head to look at Chen Fan again.