Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Childhood Nicknames

Xia Yuan had always been an action-oriented person. Once she made up her mind to do something, she would immediately start making arrangements. Lin You Xi was pulled into Xia Yuan’s room by her, leaving Mei Fang alone in the living room.

To be honest, even though their relationship was already quite close, Mei Fang had never been to Xia Yuan’s room before.

There might have been a chance during kindergarten, but now that Xia Yuan was starting to develop gender awareness, there were some areas that Mei Fang, as a mere boy, could not enter.

Of course, Xia Yuan entering his room was very casual…

Mei Fang took a short nap on the sofa at Xia Yuan’s house and soon heard loud footsteps coming from the stairs.

Slippers, long white socks, pleated skirt, bow, and twin tails. After changing into Xia Yuan’s clothes, Lin You Xi instantly transformed from a wild neighbor girl into a little princess next door.

In order to match Lin You Xi, Xia Yuan also changed into twin tails. Although neither of them had long hair, they looked very energetic.

“Mei Fang! Look! Doesn’t our Lin You Xi look good?”

“Quite a contrast…”

Mei Fang was comparing with the previous life’s Lin You Xi.

In her past life, Lin You Xi always wore long flowing hair and a school uniform jacket in high school. Her silky and elegant long hair left a deep impression.

Now, the once aloof female prodigy appeared before Mei Fang like a child star idol, and it was strange if he wasn’t surprised.

“Just one sentence about the contrast? You’re not giving Lin You Xi enough face.”

Xia Yuan pushed Lin You Xi forward, “You should wear more pretty dresses in the future. Don’t just wear shirts all the time. I can lend you my clothes.”

“I feel it’s still not quite right…”

Lin You Xi twisted her black slippers, “I feel something is off.”

“There’s nothing off! It’s just that you’re not used to it for the first time.”

Xia Yuan continued to say sweet words to Lin You Xi, “Although I have many friends in class… I really like you the most! We didn’t have a chance to be in the same class in elementary school, but we can try harder in middle school!”

“I heard from my mom that Experimental Middle School divides classes based on grades. If we both work hard, we might end up in the same class when we go to middle school.”

“Mm-hm… okay.” Lin You Xi nodded, “I’ve been studying hard all along.”

“Alright, let’s put this aside for now. Let’s practice dancing together first.”

“Mm… okay.”

“You see, I said you don’t need me.”

Seeing that he couldn’t integrate anymore, Mei Fang thought of an excuse to leave, “Can I go home now? I might have something to do at home.”

As he stood up, Xia Yuan grabbed his arm fiercely and wouldn’t let him go.

“No way! You need to help us evaluate the performance!” Xia Yuan frowned, “What could you possibly do at home besides playing games?”

“I still need to learn programming code. I have to watch online video lessons today.”

Mei Fang noticed that Lin You Xi had been looking at him all along, showing great concern.

Maybe she wanted to learn code with Mei Fang more than dance?

“You can learn online later. Wait until my dad comes back, then you’ll go home.”

Xia Yuan’s tone suddenly became pitiful, “You haven’t come to my house for two weekends. Now you want to leave after just staying for a while. Do you not like playing with me anymore?”

As she spoke, she leaned towards Mei Fang, tiptoeing to get closer to his face. Mei Fang instinctively stepped back.

Damn… Don’t look at me like that!

Too cute!

“Don’t say silly things.”

Mei Fang tapped Xia Yuan’s head, “I’m just worried that you and Lin You Xi will feel awkward with me here.”

“With other boys, you’d definitely feel awkward, but Mei Fang, you’re different.”

Xia Yuan said seriously, “We three are childhood friends. There’s nothing to feel awkward about.”

“Childhood friends…”

Children in the 2005 era didn’t know everything from their phones like now, so Lin You Xi was hearing this term for the first time, “What does it mean?”

“Childhood friends refer to good friends who grew up together. Girls like you and me are called plum blossoms, and boys like Mei Fang are called bamboo horses. It’s similar to the term ‘childhood buddies’ in our hometown.”

After explaining, Xia Yuan suddenly realized that although they were such good friends, they didn’t have any special nicknames.

She had a nickname, Yuan Yuan, but Lin You Xi had never called her that.

Mei Fang had called her once, but he seemed to have forgotten it afterward!

“Come to think of it, since we’re so close, using just our names seems a bit distant, doesn’t it?”

Xia Yuan smiled at Lin You Xi, “From now on, I’ll call you You Xi! That sounds more intimate. And you can call me—”

“Yuan Yuan.”

Lin You Xi quickly gave Xia Yuan the answer she wanted, seemingly having wanted to do this for a long time, which made Xia Yuan very happy.

“What about Mei Fang, Mei Fang?”

“We agreed that only when we’re alone—”

“It’s okay, You Xi isn’t a stranger!”

Xia Yuan climbed onto the sofa, using a super cute duck-like sitting posture to avoid dirtying the sofa, and pulled on Mei Fang’s arm pleadingly, “Call my nickname again… call it again.”

“Yuan Yuan.”

Mei Fang responded quickly. Xia Yuan blushed slightly after being called, but she quickly composed herself.

“Lastly, about Mei Fang’s nickname!”

Xia Yuan thought for a moment, “It seems your family calls you by your full name directly.”

“Yeah, I was born into a family that doesn’t care much about me, and they gave me a name casually.”

Lin You Xi chimed in, “I talked to Mei Fang about this before. Using your name as a nickname sounds good too, like you did. But he doesn’t like it… I think it suits you well.”

Hearing this, Xia Yuan scratched her head and laughed bashfully.

“Hehe… indeed, one is Yuan Yuan (round round), and the other is—”

“I don’t like it! Don’t call me like that!”

Mei Fang firmly refused again, “You can give me a nickname or pet name. Call me Big Fang, Second Cat, Third Dog, anything but that.”

“Why don’t you like that name…”

Xia Yuan thought for a moment, pressing Mei Fang’s shoulder, and suddenly had an idea, “How about Xiao Fang? It sounds natural. Lin—no, You Xi, what do you think?”

“Whatever Yuan Yuan thinks is fine,” Lin You Xi obediently followed Xia Yuan’s lead.

“Are you not going to give me a say?” Mei Fang protested, “This name sounds too feminine. If people call me a sissy, you guys are responsible!”

“You said you would accept any name except that one. Liar.”

“Liar is a good name!” Lin You Xi raised her hands in approval, “I think that’s the best. Mei Fang is the liar.”

“That’s true! Hahaha! From now on, you’ll be called Liar! Liar, Liar, Liar—”

Xia Yuan happily shook Mei Fang’s shoulders, and Mei Fang, looking utterly hopeless, let her play with him.

As they played around, Xia Yuan pushed Mei Fang down onto the sofa too hard.

Xia Yuan fell down sideways too, supporting herself with her hands, her twin tails naturally hanging down as she quietly stared at Mei Fang.

…

This up-and-down staring position was something Mei Fang had never experienced in two lifetimes.

But seeing Xia Yuan’s obviously embarrassed expression yet struggling to get up, Mei Fang felt less psychological pressure.

Xia Yuan slowly got up from Mei Fang, tidied her hair a bit, and looked at Lin You Xi again,

“The nickname ended up longer than the real name. It doesn’t seem appropriate, does it, You Xi?”

Lin You Xi had been staring blankly this whole time and nodded after Xia Yuan reminded her, “Then how about keeping it simple, like Ah Mei, Ah Fang?”

“Ahh Fang sounds nice… What do you think?”

“It’s okay,” Mei Fang had no objections, “That works.”

But somehow, it felt like a funny little character from a creative advertisement. The video was popular for a while.

Ah Fang and Ah Mei were common male and female names in Guangdong and Guangxi regions. Thinking about his parents giving him such a cheap name, Mei Fang felt annoyed.

“Then… let’s settle it like this!”

Unconsciously licking his lips, Xia Yuan sat up on the sofa, looking at Mei Fang who had also sat up, and stammered, “From now on, we’ll call you ‘Ah Fang’!”

“Ah Fang…”

Lin You Xi tried calling it out, and Xia Yuan imitated her, leaning close to Mei Fang and shouting incessantly in his ear.

“Ah Fang Ah Fang Ah Fang Ah Fang!”

Mei Fang covered his ears and shouted loudly to express his protest, “I heard it! I heard it! I heard it! I heard it!”

“Hahahaha!”

The girls’ cheerful laughter echoed throughout the living room.

This chapter will feature Lin You Xi’s solo twin tails. In the next chapter, it will be Lin You Xi and Xia Yuan’s combined twin tails!

(End of Chapter 40)