We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

"What did you take?" Li Mubai asked, feigning ignorance. In truth, he and Xie Shu had nothing to do with each other; they were just friends who had gone to see the scenery and had simply forgotten the time.

"What do you think?" Chen Qiuhe asked in return.

Li Mubai lowered his head and remained silent. Actually, being friends was quite nice; there was no need to worry about differences in family background or academic performance...

Seeing this, Chen Qiuhe wanted to pat his shoulder, but she withdrew her hand halfway and said:

"Go for it, Li Mu Bai."

……

When Li Mubai returned home, Mei Yulu, who had been quiet, sent him a message.

Plum Rain: "I'm sorry, I was too emotional today and caused you trouble. I apologize."

Sigh, why did our once close relationship have to turn out like this? Li Mubai sighed inwardly.

Li Bubai: "Don't dwell on the past, and don't fantasize about the future. I hope that you and I can be down-to-earth, live each day well, and pursue our own future."

He thought for a moment and sent the other person a final piece of advice.

Mei Yulu seemed to be silent for a long time before responding.

Plum Rain: "Okay, I will try to get through this slowly, thank you."

Li Mubai exited the chat with her, and regardless of whether Mei Yulu was telling the truth or not, he stopped replying.

Xiao Yao: Good evening!

……

He had just solved one problem when another one came along. He never imagined that one day he would also be annoyed by too many QQ messages.

He ignored the other person for several minutes before replying to their message.

Li Bubai: "What is it?"

Xiao Yao: "Nothing much. By the way, were you busy on Thursday?"

On Thursday, Xu Yao sent him a message, which Li Mubai saw, but he did not respond.

Li Bubai: "My phone is dead."

Xiao Yao: "Okay, so what are you doing now?"

Li Bubai: "Do your homework."

Xiao Yao: "Then I won't bother you anymore, bye."

This time, Li Mubai deliberately waited a few minutes before saying goodbye to the other party.

I just put my phone down, but it vibrated again. Sigh.

Solitudo: "Prepare for dictation."

oh oh……

The dictation of twenty words was completed quickly. Li Mubai picked up his phone to type to Xie Shu that he had finished.

"What are you doing?" Xie Shu's voice came directly through the phone screen.

Li Mubai deleted the four words "Dictation done" that he had just typed. He quickly typed "I'll type it to you and say the dictation is done" and then clicked send.

"Just speak directly," Xie Shu's voice rang out again.

He thought they would communicate by typing like before.

"I've finished the dictation, class monitor," Li Mubai said, putting his phone back in its place and holding up the dictation notebook on the table, filling the screen.

"Hmm, two are wrong, the third and the twelfth."

"Okay, thank you, class monitor."

After Li Mubai finished speaking, he was about to hang up the phone and start making corrections, but Xie Shu's sudden remark made his raised hand freeze.

"I didn't expect you to know so many girls."

Uh--

Xie Shu's expression was not visible on the black screen, and her words were calm, as if stating a fact.

Actually, there aren't many. Xie Shu, Chen Qiuhe, and Mei Yulu are just people I've met once or have only casual acquaintances with.

"Lift your head up and look at your phone screen."

Xie Shuming was clearly a year younger than him, but he could never resist what she said.

Perhaps it's because the other person is the class monitor, or perhaps it's because of unrequited love. Unrequited love always makes one person cautious and lower their status in the relationship.

Li Mubai slowly raised his head and looked at the black screen, where his image appeared in the upper right corner of the phone.

After a few more seconds of silence, Xie Shu asked:

"Is it pretty?"

Li Mubai was even more speechless. Who was Xie Shu asking? Was he asking if she was pretty? Or was he asking if he was pretty?

Based on the preceding text, Xie Shu was essentially asking him if he thought he was good-looking.

"It's not good-looking, it's pretty average." After thinking for a long time, Li Mubai replied habitually.

"If you weren't good-looking, why would so many girls want your contact information?" Xie Shu retorted.

Seeing Li Mubai lower his head and remain silent, Xie Shu continued:

"So, be more confident. You're actually quite good-looking. The proof is that so many girls want your contact information."

……

"Thank you, class monitor." When you don't know what else to say, just say thank you.

"Class monitor, shall I hang up now and go correct my homework?" Li Mubai said.

"Okay, goodbye."

Goodbye, class monitor.

Li Mubai put down his phone and glanced at the night view outside the window.

This is an old residential area. The security windows are rusty, and the windows are not so clean and spotless. Together they form a protective net that keeps the moon out. Only the sad and miserable moonlight shines through this intricate net and enters the room.

In the journey of unrequited love, no one was his match; his true opponent was always his own inferiority complex...

He sighed deeply under the moonlight.

Forget it, I shouldn't overthink it. I was just advising others to be down-to-earth, and now I'm indulging in sentimentalism.

Li Mubai smiled, no longer thinking about these vague and ethereal things, and took out a red pen to start correcting his mistakes.

……

On Saturday, Li Mubai ignored Xu Yao's QQ harassment, retrieved the poetry magazine from the community's express delivery locker, took a picture, and sent it to Yan Shu.

Only one poem each from him and Yan Shu was selected for publication, appearing on a page of the campus poetry section. Fortunately, they were both using pen names, so they didn't expose him.

He wasn't sure if there were any royalties. He checked online and found that the poetry and literature publications of Xiyue Province seemed to pay for publications. However, if he wanted to earn royalties, he probably would need a bank card, which he didn't have yet.

Ding dong.

Yan Shu: "I received it too."

After Yan Shu finished speaking, he sent another link.

Li Mubai clicked on it and saw a competition notice issued by Xiyue Poetry and Couplets.

Yan Shu: "Do you want to participate?"

He reread it carefully. The competition was only open to secondary school students and required participants to form teams of two. The competition consisted of two rounds: the first round was for matching couplets, and the second round was for composing poems.

The competition is scheduled for March 18th and 19th, which is the weekend after next, and will be held online.

Why do I have to arrange things for him every week... Next week he has to go with Xie Shu to get Da Ju vaccinated.

Li Bubai: "Wouldn't it be a waste of time to participate? Would it just be a formality in the end?"

He still subconsciously revealed his fear of difficulty.

Yan Shu: "You're a senior in high school, so I'm only here to give you a chance to go through the motions. I've looked at other people's work, and none of it is as good as yours."

Are you a senior in high school? You actually believe I'm a senior in high school?

The words in the letter made Li Mubai doubt whether the other party was Xie Shu or not. If he was, he probably wouldn't have asked him to consider a senior high school student.

Or perhaps, Yan Shu is Xie Shu, but she doesn't know who she is?

Li Mubai chuckled at his own bold guess; the latter seemed unlikely.

But could he find out the answer by participating in the competition? Li Mubai wanted to know the answer, but he was also nervous.

He suppressed his anxiety and looked at the other people's works in the publication. They were indeed similar to what Yan Shu had said. However, this only represented the level of a portion of the people. He didn't know what the competition would be like.

Li Bubai: "Sure, how do I participate?"

……