We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

Perhaps it was the jasmine tea that worked, or perhaps it was the continued improvement in his grades; in any case, Li's father didn't mention the cell phone, which relieved Li Mubai.

Ding dong.

That evening, Xie Shu sent him a WeChat message, asking him to do a dictation of words.

Solitudo: "Turn on video, don't talk, communicate by text."

Li Bubai: "Okay."

Although he didn't know why, Li Mubai chose to believe unconditionally.

Having learned from his first experience, he adjusted the angle to ensure that he wouldn't reveal too much about his room before making a video call.

Xie Shu on the other side was still in a black screen state, but he didn't care.

"Package, package," Xie Shunian said.

……

"The dictation is finished, class monitor." After finishing the dictation of twenty words, Li Mubai looked up and said.

Xie Shu didn't respond. Oh, he just remembered that he had turned off his microphone. He turned off the camera, picked up his phone, and saw that Xie Shu had already sent him a message.

Solitudo: "Have you finished listening?"

Li Bubai: "I've finished listening."

Solitudo: "Turn on the camera, let me see."

Li Bubai: "Okay."

Li Mubai pointed the camera at the dictation book and turned it on. The first thing he saw on the phone screen was his room ceiling. He quickly turned the camera around, and this time the dictation book appeared on the screen.

Solitudo: "Six wrong."

They actually broke through the barrier of getting a maximum of five wrong answers.

Just as I was lost in thought, Xie Shu sent another message.

Solitudo: "I looked at it, and there were quite a few unfamiliar words among these twenty words, so getting six wrong is normal."

Li Bubai: "Okay."

Solitudo: "How many words have you written in your misspelling notebook?"

Li Bubai: "Twenty-five."

Solitudo: "Shall we do a dictation test together tomorrow?"

Li Mubai thought about it and figured he had no classes on the weekend, so he could spend more time memorizing vocabulary and agreed.

The scene fell silent for a moment.

Li Bubai: "Class monitor, shall I go do my homework?"

Solitudo: "Okay, remember to hang up."

Li Mubai then remembered that his WeChat call icon in the upper left corner was still lit up. He wondered if anyone had seen the things on the bookshelf while he was typing on his phone.

Li Bubai: "Goodbye, squad leader."

Solitudo: See you tomorrow.

Li Mubai did his homework for a while, and before going to bed, he took out "The Little Prince" from his schoolbag and started reading. This book was even thinner than "Loneliness Is a Gift of Life," and he estimated that he would finish it in no time. He would find other books to read after that.

……

On Saturday noon, Yan Shu sent him a message. Although Li Mubai was 70% sure that Yan Shu was Xie Shu, he chose to avoid the question for the time being.

Yan Shu: "Take a look at the newly written poem."

Ding dong.

Their bi-weekly project stopped after the end of last semester. Yan Shu's reason was that as a senior high school student, he needed to focus on preparing for the college entrance examination.

Is this a case of shooting oneself in the foot?

However, things will definitely be much more intense in the second semester of his junior year. Right now, his main task is to improve his math and English scores, and he should focus on that.

The two-week project has ended, and we've entered the free creative phase.

Li Bubai: "It's fine."

Yan Shu: "That's it?"

Li Bubai: "Yes."

Yan Shu: "It seems someone is about to be surpassed by me."

Is this something Xie Shu could say?

Li Bubai: "Actually, this poem still has some problems, such as..."

Yan Shu: "Alright, it seems it will take some time to surpass someone."

The tactic of provocation may be old-fashioned, but it works; that's what makes it a classic, and classics are things that never go out of style.

Is this really Xie Shu?

Xie Shu's way of speaking... is quite surprising. She usually seems like a very aloof girl, but sometimes she can be quite funny.

Yan Shu: "Have you been writing poetry lately?"

Li Bubai: "No, I've been busy studying lately."

Yan Shu: "Okay, keep it up."

Li Bubai: "By the way, I heard that the top-performing humanities students in the second year of high school are going to No. 1 High School. Will the top-performing science students go too?"

If Yan Shu is Xie Shu, then directly asking about the key liberal arts class might alert him.

However, if he asks about the science class, the other party will think that he is testing his previously exposed science student identity. At this time, Li Mubai might take the opportunity to ask about the humanities class and perhaps get some information.

Yan Shu: "I won't go."

Li Bubai: "Oh, so the humanities class goes all day?"

Yan Shu: "Yes."

The other party seemed a bit wary. If it were anyone else, once they started talking, they would have at least said a few more words about their understanding of the matter.

However, if it were Xie Shu, it would seem reasonable as well.

Li Bubai: "I'm so envious. I've never been to No. 1 Middle School."

Li Mubai pulled out his trump card. He remembered that Xie Shu had mentioned that she had been to No. 1 Middle School. He couldn't just ask her directly if she had been there, as that would be too deliberate.

Yan Shu: "It's alright."

……

Li Bubai: "I'm going to take a nap now."

According to the schedule of senior high school students, they should be taking a lunch break at school on Saturday noon, but he still needs to continue pretending to be a senior high school student.

Yan Shu: "Okay, goodbye."

Li Bubai: Goodbye.

When Zhou Tian returned to school, Yang Kun was still wailing in his dormitory.

"Damn it, as soon as I got home on Friday, my dad took away my phone. I pleaded and begged, but I only managed to get permission to use it for the weekend."

"So what do you use at school?" Zhao Feng asked Yang Kun.

"A basic mobile phone for seniors." Yang Kun took out a simple basic mobile phone, fiddled with it for a bit, and found that it only had functions such as making calls, sending text messages, and taking pictures.

"Haha, Brother Chicken, you've fallen too," Jiao Yong laughed.

"What do you mean by 'also'?"

Jiao Yong didn't speak, but showed his left hand, on which was a phone watch.

"I was also taken in," Feng Wanli said.

"Wow, I didn't expect Feng Wanli, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, to actually carry a cell phone." Yang Kun exclaimed in surprise. He had never seen Feng Wanli take out his cell phone before, except for the sports meet last semester.

"I just check the news and look up information occasionally."

"No, brothers, are there any guys among us who haven't been accepted yet?" Yang Kun asked.

"Haha, mine is still here," Wang Rui said.

"I'm still here too," Li Mubai added.

The dormitory fell silent. I never expected that a parent-teacher meeting would have such a big impact. Of the six boys, four were gone.

However, it's estimated that it won't have such a big impact in regular classes. Those who can get into the honors classes usually have stricter requirements for their children's grades from their families.

"Prison King, Prison White, what did you say? You asked your parents to spare their lives by keeping their cell phones?" Zhao Feng asked.

"My home is not in Pingyang City, so I need a mobile phone to contact my parents," Wang Rui said.

"What about your confession?"

"My parents didn't interfere, as long as it didn't affect my grades."

"I also improved, although I only improved by one place," Zhao Feng said.

"You improved from thirty-seventh to thirty-sixth, can that be called improvement?" Yang Kun questioned.

"So what? Isn't moving up one place a step forward? Unlike you, who's fallen back one place. Don't fall back any further, or you'll fall behind."

Zhao Feng immediately exposed Yang Kun's past, causing the latter to drop from forty-first to forty-second place.

"Hey, I'll surpass you in next week's monthly exam," Yang Kun said defiantly.

"I should be the one surpassing you."

I'll surpass you.

……

Whether or not to confiscate cell phones is mainly a matter of whether parents are open-minded, Li Mubai thought to himself.

Li Mubai's parents' attitude towards early romantic relationships was that as long as it didn't affect his grades, it was fine, although they still openly advised him against it.

Li Mubai thought of Chen Qiuhe and her father again…