My Name Is Red Scarf

Three days passed quickly. Kraft, with a gift for Aunt May, took a ride to Queens.

"Happy birthday, Aunt May."

Entering the Parker's yard, Kraft handed the gift in his hand to Peter Parker, who was standing nearby. Kraft then hugged Aunt May and greeted the middle-aged man beside her.

"Uncle Ben, long time no see."

"Hello, Kraft."

Benjamin Parker stepped forward, patted Kraft's shoulder, and said with a smile, "I saw news about you on TV a while ago. It really startled me."

Kraft curled his lip. "It's all Stark's fault, that guy who just looks for trouble. I'm so annoyed I could die."

"Hey! How can you talk about Mr. Stark like that?!"

Peter Parker defended his idol from the side.

"Why can't I? He's not my idol. To me, he's just a big problem, nothing more."

"But your products sold so well because of Mr. Stark's promotion!"

Peter Parker argued logically.

"Oh? You think we're short on money?"

Kraft tilted his chin up, looking disdainful.

"You're really annoying right now! Kraft! You've become the very person you used to hate!"

"Yes, because I was just imitating Tony Stark's usual demeanor."

Kraft shrugged mockingly.

"See, without the fan filter, you actually dislike Tony Stark quite a bit too."

"That... that's completely different!"

Peter Parker stubbornly retorted.

At this moment, Aunt May came over to smooth things over. She placed her hands on Kraft's shoulders and guided him inside.

"Alright, alright, stop teasing Peter. Come in and try my apple pie."

"Oh, okay. It is a bit much for a seventh-grader to be bullying an eleventh-grader."

Kraft spread his hands and walked inside, following Aunt May's lead.

"Let's go, Peter. Help me bring out the barbecue grill."

Uncle Ben patted Peter's back as a form of comfort, then pulled him along to go inside.

"Oh! Look who it is! Our little genius, Kraft Lee!"

As soon as he entered the house, the chubby Ned Leeds, shaking his ample flesh, ran over and shouted in an exaggerated tone.

Kraft was quite friendly towards this fellow Asian fatty. He extended his hand for a high-five with Ned, then said humbly, "Come on, Ned, the things I make aren't that high-tech. Haven't quite a few imitation products already appeared?"

America's copyright laws were already quite strict, but capitalists always found loopholes. After the puzzle box was popularized by Stark, various similar but distinct puzzle locks quickly appeared, as well as compulsive fitness equipment like the "break the cauldron and sink the boat" treadmill.

"But none of them were recruited by the famous Tony Stark, were they?"

"Oh, stop joking..." Kraft rolled his eyes. "Do you really think Tony Stark sees me in a special light? He just said it casually."

Without the fan filter, Kraft was quite clear-headed. With Tony Stark's unreliable personality, he might have forgotten Kraft's name after the interview.

Chatting with Ned as they walked into the living room, Kraft picked up a slice of Aunt May's homemade apple pie. While eating, he surveyed the other people in the living room.

A few familiar faces, likely staff from the shelter, and two or three unfamiliar ones, perhaps Uncle Ben's friends. Other than that, there was no one else.

"It doesn't seem like many people are here."

Kraft swallowed the apple pie in his mouth and looked at Ned, puzzled. Given Aunt May and Uncle Ben's kind nature, they should have more friends than this. Martin had also hosted two birthday parties for Aunt May at the shelter before, and each time it was a grand affair, with firecrackers, banners, and a sea of people.

Ned replied unhappily, "Peter's house is just this small. Can so many people even fit?"

"Okay, I was being silly."

Kraft patted his forehead and looked around.

"What about Mary? Why isn't she here either?"

Mary's full name was Mary Jane Watson. Besides being Peter's neighbor, classmate, and crush, she was also the niece of Aunt May's friend, Anna Watson. So, by all rights, she should have attended Aunt May's birthday party.

"It's said that Aunt May assigned the task of inviting Mary to Peter, and then... you know."

Ned shrugged, looking helpless.

"Heh heh~"

Kraft narrowed his eyes, revealing a cunning, fox-like smile.

"There's a Chinese saying, 'A distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor.' It's quite rude of Aunt May not to invite Mary to her birthday, isn't it?"

"You can say that to Peter."

Ned shook his head and picked up his fourth slice of apple pie. This was the number Kraft had seen since he came in; he must have eaten quite a bit before that.

Reaching out to pat Ned's large belly, Kraft sighed, "Seeing you, I feel like I'm seeing David's future."

"David? Oh, the one whose family owns a restaurant!" Ned licked his lips, quickly recalling Fatty Liao's identity. "Their food is really delicious! Just too expensive!"

"Wait! Weren't we just talking about Mary Jane? Why are we talking about my weight again?"

Ned swatted Kraft's hand away from his belly and took a deep breath, trying to make his stomach look less round, but unfortunately, he failed.

"What Mary Jane?"

Hearing the name he cared about, Peter, who was busy with something, quickly came over and then stared at Kraft with a wary look.

"Don't mess around, Kraft!"

"How am I messing around?" Kraft retorted righteously. "Is calling Mary to come to the party messing around?"

"Uh..." Peter's face suddenly turned red, and he said sheepishly, "But, will it be too late to notify her now?"

Kraft looked contemptuously at the coward who was a million percent willing but still hesitating. "And who's the reason it's so late? Huh?"

Peter Parker covered his face and fled in shame.

Ned shook his head helplessly and sighed. His friend's personality was indeed a bit too soft, actually being completely bullied by a kid four or five years younger than him.

"Let's go."

Kraft tugged on Ned's arm.

"We'll go call Mary over."

"If you're calling Mary, can't you just go by yourself? It's next door anyway..."

As Ned spoke, he kept glancing at Uncle Ben, who was carrying raw meat and hot dogs outside, and occasionally swallowed saliva.

Just get fat then!

Kraft said with a dark line across his forehead, "Really not going? Then don't blame me for not taking you along later."

"Huh? You're planning to trick Peter again?"

Ned pulled his attention away from the barbecue and looked at Kraft with a serious expression.

As Peter's good friend, Ned had seen more than once how this brat in front of him found ways to bully Peter. Thinking that Peter was about to be tricked by Kraft again, he took a deep breath.

"Please, definitely take me with you!"

Kraft stretched his neck and looked around. Peter was being held by Uncle Ben to help and wasn't paying attention to them. Then, he grabbed Ned's arm and ran outside quickly.

The two ran out of the Parker house and around to the back, arriving downstairs at Mary's house.

Ned watched as Kraft took a palm-sized voice amplifier out of his pocket, fiddled with it a few times, and then brought it to his mouth.

"Hi~ Ned, it's me, Peter Parker, your best friend!"

From the voice amplifier, Peter Parker's voice came out.

"Holy crap—!!!"

Ned's chubby face contorted into an exaggerated expression. He snatched the amplifier from Kraft's hand and brought it to his own mouth, trying it out a few times.

"I, Peter Parker, am Ned Leeds' most loyal little brother."

"Wow! This thing is amazing! Kraft, you little brat, you're a genius!"

Ned played with the voice amplifier in his hand, unable to put it down, and gave Kraft a thumbs-up.

Reaching out to take back the voice amplifier from Ned's hand, Kraft turned the volume to maximum and then aimed the amplifier at Mary Jane's house, shouting in Peter's voice, "Mary! I miss you! Mary! I miss you so much I can't sleep!!!"

After shouting, Kraft quickly put away the voice amplifier and took off running. Ned was stunned for a moment and then quickly followed him, making a getaway.

The amplified voice not only startled Mary Jane, who was resting in the house, but also Peter Parker, who was helping Uncle Ben and Aunt May.

"Who is it? Someone's confessing their love to Mary!"

Peter Parker's heart tensed. When people speak, there's a slight difference between the sound they hear and what others hear, so he didn't recognize that the voice just now was actually his own.

However, Uncle Ben and Aunt May were very familiar with Peter's voice.

"Peter, was that just now your voice?"

Uncle Ben scratched his head in confusion and instinctively reached out to touch Peter in front of him. He still hadn't figured out what was going on.

"My voice?"

Young Peter, although timid, had no problem with his intelligence. In fact, his intelligence was higher than that of ordinary people. So, he quickly figured out the whole story.

"Kraft!!!"

Peter Parker dropped what he was doing and sprinted towards Mary Jane's house.

He then happened to bump into Mary Jane, who had pushed open her window to look outside.

"Peter?"

Mary Jane, with her red hair, raised an eyebrow, her expression a mixture of amusement and seriousness.

She and Peter Parker were neighbors and classmates, and their elders were also close friends, so they were quite familiar with each other. Mary could naturally sense Peter's feelings for her, but this guy usually couldn't even say a word for half a day. Today, he was actually this bold?

"N-no, it's not like that... I... uh..."

Peter Parker, at this moment, seemed to have fallen into the greatest crisis of his more than ten years of life.