We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

The real business is the cost of Daju's check-up, sterilization, and vaccinations on Friday, which we will split. It's a total of 450 yuan, 150 yuan each.

Xie Shu did not refuse; she initiated a group payment collection in the group chat.

I'm so glad I opened a bank account today and deposited 700 yuan into it, otherwise Li Mubai's WeChat Wallet balance of less than 100 yuan wouldn't have been enough to pay.

Looking at the 150 yuan that had been transferred, Li Mubai sighed at how quickly the money was being spent. Could he find a way to make money?

Li Mubai chuckled and said, "Forget it. The most important thing for students is to study. They don't have time to make money."

We're picking up the cat at 3 PM tomorrow. Lan Shiyu has to go to school at 9 AM, so we should be able to make it in time. He can go directly from school to the vet.

That evening, Yan Shu also added him to a QQ group—the Xiyue Province Chuchun Middle School Poetry Competition.

Competition organizer Tang Tao: "New participants, please change your group name to your group name + your personal name."

Li Mubai glanced at it and saw that Yan Shu had already changed his name to "Chunqiuxuan + Chunyu". Li Mubai also used his pen name.

The entire poetry competition group, excluding five staff members, has a total of forty people. It is unknown whether new people will be added later.

Li Mubai glanced down to see if anyone from their literary society was there, but instead saw an unexpected person—Hanlinyuan + Mei Yulu…

Mei Yulu was crying and saying she was busy studying, so how did she have time to participate in the competition?

Her teammate was named Yuan Na, and she and Mei Yulu should both be students at Pingyang No. 1 Middle School.

After scrolling to the bottom without finding any students from their school's literary society, Li Mubai could finally relax. As for Mei Yulu, she probably wouldn't call him by name publicly in the group chat.

Competition organizer Tang Tao: "@Everyone, I will be holding a Tencent Meeting in half an hour, at 8 pm, to explain the competition rules. Everyone must attend on time. If you cannot attend, please ask for leave in advance."

Tencent Meeting? He'll just have to shut up then; he probably won't ask for a video call.

At 8 p.m., after confirming that he wouldn't turn on his microphone or video immediately upon entering the meeting, Li Mubai joined the online meeting. All thirty-five people were present.

A relatively young male voice rang out; it was Tang Tao speaking. He paused for a moment, then began to explain the requirements of the competition, which was scheduled to begin at nine o'clock next Saturday morning:

In the morning, participants will have a one-hour time limit to create matching couplets. The organizers will provide a theme, and within each group, one person will provide the first line and the other will provide the second line.

In the afternoon, participants will have two hours to write poems on the same theme. One person will write a seven-character quatrain, and the other will write a five-character regulated verse.

Finally, the judges evaluated and scored the works, ranking them by adding up the scores for the three categories: verse, seven-character quatrain, and five-character regulated verse.

The first place winner seems to receive a prize of 500, which isn't much, but it's still quite a small amount. If split between the two, that's 250 each...

Fortunately, the prize didn't need to be claimed offline, thus avoiding the risk of exposure.

"Does anyone have any questions?" Tang Tao's voice came through the phone call as the meeting was coming to an end.

"Hello teacher, I'd like to ask how to submit entries for the competition?" Mei Yulu asked.

"We will send out a QR code. Everyone can submit within the specified time. I suggest that you submit 10 minutes or 5 minutes in advance. Submitting at the last minute may cause timeout issues, and you will not be able to submit after the timeout."

"Okay, thank you, teacher." Mei Yulu said and then immediately turned off her microphone.

"Do any other students have any questions? If not, we'll call it a day. Just get ready for the competition next week."

"Hello, teacher." Someone sent a message in the meeting's chat area.

"Hello, Chunyu, is there anything I can help you with? You can speak up directly for easier communication."

Yan Shu? Li Mubai immediately perked up. Would she turn on her microphone? Would her familiar voice come through the phone? Li Mubai's heart began to pound with inexplicable nervousness.

"Hello teacher, I'd like to ask how the prize money is distributed if I win an award?"

Yan Shu turned on her microphone, but a strange voice came from the phone. Li Mubai listened carefully to every sound she made, and it didn't sound like Xie Shu at all. Even if she deliberately pinched her throat, he couldn't tell that it was Xie Shu's voice.

Not to mention, her voice is very natural and fluent, with no trace of deliberate voice alteration.

He was lost in thought. Could this really be a coincidence?

Yan Shu was indeed not Xie Shu, which might be good news for Li Mubai, proving that he had not been exposed all along.

"We will contact the winners and transfer the money to their bank accounts using the personal information they provide," Tang Tao replied.

"Okay, thank you, teacher."

After Yan Shu muted his microphone, Tang Tao asked again if there were any more questions. Once everyone understood the competition rules, the brief meeting ended.

Li Mubai left the meeting, looked out the window at the night sky. The dark clouds from last night had dissipated, and tonight there were scattered stars, so it seemed that tomorrow would be a nice sunny day.

Yan Shu: "Good luck, but who will write the seven-character quatrains then?"

Li Bubai: "I'm fine with anything, it depends on your situation."

Yan Shu said, "Then I'll write a seven-character quatrain."

Li Bubai: "You actually left the difficult part to me?"

Yan Shu said, "Then I will write a five-character quatrain."

Li Bubai: "You actually look down on me?"

Yan Shu: "..."

Yan Shu: "Then what will you write?"

Li Bubai: "I'm fine with anything, it depends on your situation."

The character "言" (yán) means "[fist]".

Li Mubai chuckled twice. Without Xie Shu's identity, he spoke with the boldness and liveliness he had before.

Li Bubai: "I was just kidding. I'll write a five-character quatrain instead; I'm more familiar with it."

Yan Shu: "Okay."

"Hmph," a soft laugh came from the other end of the phone, but unfortunately Li Mubai couldn't hear it.

On Sunday morning, a car stopped downstairs at Li Mubai's house, and Li's mother called him down to help move his luggage.

"Uncle Zhou," he called out to the middle-aged man leaning against the car door.

"Oh, I didn't expect Xiaobai to grow up so big. Come to our house during your vacation, and Uncle Zhou will show you a few cooking skills," Uncle Zhou said with a smile.

"Alright, hurry up and move your luggage. Xiaoyu and Xiaobai need to get back to school," Aunt Lan urged.

"Is there a lot of luggage?" Li Mubai glanced at it and said there wasn't much: one suitcase and a six-piece bedding set, packed in three storage bags.

Lan Shiyu's luggage was moved from one car to another. After it was put away, Uncle Zhou and Aunt Lan gave Lan Shiyu a few words of advice and then drove off.

Li Mubai packed his luggage and got into his family's car. He and Lan Shiyu sat in the back seat, Li's father drove, and Li's mother sat in the passenger seat.

"Xiaobai, take Xiaoyu to the school to familiarize her with the environment. She might be a little unfamiliar with the place since she just arrived," said Li's mother.

"I know," Li Mubai said dismissively. He would at most show the other person where to eat, where to buy things, and where to top up their meal card; the rest was up to them.

The two sat in the back row without saying a word, each looking out the window at the scenery.

When they arrived at the back gate of the school, it was only ten o'clock, and there were no students at all. While unloading their luggage, Li's mother took out a red envelope and gave it to Lan Shiyu. The latter quickly declined, but in the end, she couldn't resist Li's mother's insistence.

Seeing that Li Mubai and Lan Shiyu had taken their luggage, Li's mother gave them a few final words of advice and then left with Li's father.

"Let's go," Li Mubai said.

Lan Shiyu nodded, and the two walked towards the school.