Chapter 144 Chapter 144 Playing Ball

Xia Qinqin shook her head: "No, I can't help you."

"Why?" Zhang Jiahuan frowned, took a deep breath and said, "Look, since you don't plan to get married, Lu Yannan will definitely marry someone else in the future. What if his partner doesn't get along well with you?"

Xia Qinqin asked curiously, "If we can't get along well, then we can't get along well. So what?"

Zhang Jiahuan sighed and said, "You are still too young to understand the importance of relationships. Isn't the relationship between your two families severed?"

Xia Qinqin said: "Brother Yannan will not cut off ties with us."

"Humph, you still don't believe me even though I told you you don't understand. After they get married, they become a family and they will definitely listen to their wives." Zhang Jiahuan continued to convey his views: "We are classmates and good friends. If Lu Yannan and I were together, I would definitely let him continue to associate with you guys, so that our relationship would not be severed."

Xia Qinqin found her words funny. She suddenly looked into Zhang Jiahuan's eyes and asked, "Jiahuan, did you make friends with me at school just to get me to help you get together with Brother Yannan?"

Zhang Jiahuan was stunned for a moment, then shook his head: "No."

She actually said this from the bottom of her heart. At first, she tried to make friends with Xia Qinqin because she heard that her father was a teacher. At that time, she didn't know Lu Yannan's family background. She thought he was just staying at his promising uncle's house, so she didn't pay much attention to him.

Otherwise, she would have definitely established relationships long ago, instead of taking action now after graduation.

Xia Qinqin nodded and said seriously, "Jia Huan, I came here sincerely to celebrate your birthday today. If you still regard me as a friend, please don't say such things again."

Zhang Jiahuan glared at him: "What did I say? I just asked you to do me a small favor. Isn't it the way friends should help each other?"

Her words sounded natural and justified.

Xia Qinqin sighed softly and said, "Maybe we have different concepts about friends. I won't let my friends do anything they don't want to do. I can't help you with this. I have something else to do, so I'll leave first."

After saying that, she turned around and left. Zhang Jiahuan called out again from behind, but Xia Qinqin ignored him.

After leaving the restaurant, Xia Qinqin went to get her bicycle in a depressed mood. This was the first time she had met such a friend in her life.

She rode her bike around a street and came to a library. She parked her bike, lowered her head and walked in, heading towards the innermost bookshelf as if she knew the place well.

It was noon and there were hardly any people in the library. It was very quiet.

As she was walking, she stopped and saw a familiar figure standing next to the innermost bookshelf, reaching for a book.

Xia Qinqin trotted over and asked in surprise, "Brother Yannan, you didn't go home?"

Lu Yannan turned around, and his originally cold features softened in an instant after he saw Xia Qinqin.

"Have you had dinner?" he asked softly.

Xia Qinqin nodded: "I have eaten. Have you eaten?"

Lu Yannan also nodded. Seeing that she was in a bad mood, he asked, "What's wrong? Are you unhappy with your meal?"

Xia Qinqin walked over and said in a muffled voice, "You figured it out."

It seems like nothing can be hidden from Brother Yan Nan from childhood to adulthood.

Lu Yannan glanced at the beads of sweat on her forehead, pointed at the chair by the window, and said, "Sit down and take a rest first."

"Oh." Xia Qinqin nodded, walked over and sat down. Lu Yannan also sat opposite her, took out the water bottle from his bag and handed it to her. "What happened?"

After Xia Qinqin drank two sips of water, she told him what had just happened.

"I don't want to be friends with Jiahuan anymore. I think..." Xia Qinqin felt upset, but couldn't say it.

Lu Yannan asked, "Do you think she is powerful?"

Xia Qinqin said: "I still remember when I first transferred into the class, the school hadn't distributed the textbooks to us yet, so Jiahuan lent them to me."

She recalled that when she was in school, Zhang Jiahuan sat in front of her and Lu Yannan. He was very warm and cheerful.

"After class, she asked me to go to the toilet with her, and to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy snacks together... Why do I suddenly feel that she has changed..."

After listening to this, Lu Yannan said calmly: "Because we have left school now, we are no longer classmates. She is going to start working, and her mentality and behavior patterns are also beginning to change to those of adults."

Xia Qinqin was puzzled: "Why does she want to marry you when she grows up? She even insisted that I help her, but I already said I don't want to."

Lu Yannan: "...She doesn't want to marry me, she wants to live a better life. She asked you to help her because she couldn't find any other way."

"If she likes you, she can come to you directly. Aren't we classmates?"

Lu Yannan smiled slightly and said, "We are no longer classmates. After leaving school, she has no other way to contact us."

Xia Qinqin blinked, not quite understanding.

Lu Yannan said: "It's good to have someone like Zhang Jiahuan who is not very smart but has big ambitions. At least she can reveal her purpose quickly. Once you see through her, just ignore her."

Xia Qinqin said: "Anyway, I don't want to play with her anymore."

Lu Yannan laughed and said, "This Zhang Jiahuan is really trying to steal a chicken but ends up losing the rice. Losing a friend like you is probably the biggest loss in her life."

Xia Qinqin said: "I can't marry her."

Lu Yannan patted her head with amusement, "I'm not talking about this, do you know where her father works?"

Xia Qinqin nodded: "I know, it's a military factory. Apart from those in the military, the parents of our school students are mostly from military factories."

Lu Yannan said: "The military factory is directly led by the army. Uncle Xia will take over a military project next year, and he will definitely have frequent contact with them."

Xia Qinqin glared and said immediately: "My dad would never be partial to others!"

Lu Yannan smiled and explained, "This matter really won't alarm Uncle Xia. All he needs to do is for Zhang Jiahuan's father to spread the word in front of some people that his daughter and Master Xia's daughter are good friends after Uncle Xia goes to the military factory. Then naturally someone will rush to curry favor with him."

Xia Qinqin was surprised and said, "Isn't that taking advantage of my dad? And none of this is what my dad meant. Why would those people try to curry favor with him? Even if they did, my dad wouldn't accept the favor."

"It's not to make your dad appreciate the favor, but to prevent others from saying bad things about him in front of your dad. It's easy to please King Yan, but it's hard to deal with the little devil. Sometimes giving benefits is not for gaining something, but to protect yourself from losing something."

Xia Qinqin fell silent for a moment. The adult world is so complicated...

Lu Yannan continued, "As long as Uncle Xia's position continues to rise, there will be many more people like him around in the future."

Xia Qinqin said gloomily: "Then the new friends in the future will only play with me because of my father's identity and you..."

At the age of thirteen, Xia Qinqin felt the complexity of the adult world for the first time and experienced the discomfort of friendship mixed with calculations.

Lu Yannan comforted her: "Not everyone is like this. There will always be people who want to be friends with you just because of you. Aren't such friends more precious?"

Xia Qinqin thought about it, nodded and smiled: "Yes, there are still people like this, we are one of them. Brother Yannan, you are the best and most precious friend of my life."

Lu Yannan was silent, nodded and said with a smile: "Yes, we are the best."

Xia Qinqin felt much better after talking about what was in her heart. She quickly put this unhappy thing behind her and went to the bookshelf to find a book to read.

In the past few years, libraries across the country have undergone major changes. Now there are not many interesting books on the shelves. You have to search slowly to find one or two books that interest you.

Xia Qinqin and Lu Yannan have been here several times. They found that interesting books are usually placed on the inconspicuous bookshelf at the back, so they go straight to the back every time they come.

The two of them watched what happened for the entire afternoon. It was almost evening when Xia Qinqin finally responded: "Brother Yannan, aren't you going to play ball with my dad and the others?"

Lu Yannan nodded, closed the book and said, "Then let's go back now."

Xia Qinqin immediately started packing her things. "Hurry up, don't let the elders wait for you. Be careful or Uncle Lu will scold you."

Lu Yannan packed his things slowly and said with a smile, "I told him before I left that I was sending you to attend the class reunion, so he won't scold me no matter how late I go back."

Xia Qinqin snorted, "Brother Yannan, you are such a sly thing to do. You were the one who took Uncle Lu's telescope to look at the stars last time, and you even said it was me who wanted to look at them. As a result, the next day Uncle Lu asked me if the stars were beautiful."

Lu Yannan shrugged: "Who made me, your uncle, like you more?"

Xia Qinqin smiled and said, "Just stop arguing with Uncle Lu."

As they talked, they packed up their things, left the library, and rode their bicycles back home.

In the evening, the sun is not so hot and the temperature has dropped. It is quite comfortable to ride a bicycle on Wutong Avenue.

"Brother Yannan, why are you riding so slowly? Go back and play basketball!"

"Why are you in such a hurry? It won't take a moment."

"No! My dad is waiting for you too, let's go back quickly."

"……All right."

The two rode all the way into the family yard, and when they passed by the basketball court, they saw a few people who had already changed into jerseys and were playing basketball.

"Dad, Uncle Lu, why didn't you wait for Brother Yannan before starting the game?" Xia Qinqin stopped the car and shouted towards the basketball court.

Xia Junshan turned around and saw his daughter on the sidelines. He stopped what he was doing and walked over to her and asked with a smile, "Qinqin is back. How was it? Did you have fun today? Have you had dinner?"

Xia Qinqin replied: "I haven't eaten yet."

Lu Shaohuan also ran over, wiping the sweat off his forehead and said, "Qinqin, what do you mean we won't wait for Lu Yannan? We haven't taught this brat a lesson for being our pigeon yet."

Xia Qinqin smiled and said, "Brother Yannan and I were reading in the library and forgot about the time."

Lu Shaohuan threw the ball in his hand to Lu Yannan and said, "Okay, Qinqin is here to talk to you, so I'll spare you today. Come on, come on, you're the only one missing, stop dithering."

Xia Junshan told his daughter, "Your mother is at home. You two should have dinner first. I will have dinner with your uncle Lu and the others tonight."

Xia Qinqin nodded and warned, "Then you can't drink or smoke, or I'll tell Mom."

Xia Junshan said with a smile: "I know, I know, how could I not remember your mother's words."

Lu Shaohuan on the side laughed and said, "Captain, now you are not only being controlled by your sister-in-law, but your daughter is also starting to control you."

Xia Junshan patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "You kid, you just need someone to take care of you."

Lu Shaohuan hurriedly said: "Hey, let's play ball, let's go, let's go..."