We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

White scars? Self-harm? Why?

In an instant, Li Mubai's mind was filled with all sorts of questions.

In the darkness, on the mountaintop where the lights had disappeared, Xie Shu was enveloped in darkness as she slowly told the story of the scar.

It all started when she won first place in elementary school. People are prone to feeling jealous of those around them who are better than themselves.

Children have the clearest sense of love and hate. They said she had taken all the snow for herself, that she was selfish, and even knocked down the snowman, made it into a ball, and threw it at her until they saw her run away. Then they laughed and declared victory.

It sounds absurd, but that's just how kids are jealous.

Xie Shu spent his six years of primary school with many setbacks and loneliness.

She's going to junior high now, and she's so happy. She can get away from those people and maybe try to make some new friends...

She entered a private junior high school and, naturally, was placed in the honors class. At first, the students in the class all kept their heads down and focused only on their own studies.

The rankings were out, and she got first place again. Her deskmate, Ma Juan, invited her to go out and have fun over the weekend, but she didn't seem to have time.

She has a four-hour math thinking class on Saturday mornings, and another four-hour foreign language class in the afternoons, including not only English, but also Japanese and French. She also has to study on Sunday mornings...

Aside from eating and sleeping, her mother, Xu Ting, had her time completely filled, leaving her with no choice but to regretfully apologize to her classmate, Ma Juan.

In another exam, she was still first, but her class's average score became the lowest among the three key classes.

"Look at all of you! All you think about is playing! You're ignoring what the teacher is saying! Why don't you learn from Xie Shu?" the teacher criticized from the stage.

Why learn from Xie Shu? How come she's still number one?

The teacher's words successfully shifted everyone's frustration to jealousy towards Xie Shu.

"Xie Shu, want to go out and have fun this weekend? Lots of girls in our class want to go," her deskmate Ma Juan asked.

"I'm sorry, I might not have time."

Why is she still refusing? Does she want to study on the weekend? Why does she seem out of place with us? Does she enjoy having the teacher praise only her?

I don't know when it started, was it in the first year of junior high? Or the second year? Her schoolbag pocket would always inexplicably have a lot of small pebbles from the playground. At first, she just thought they had fallen in by accident.

Until one evening after self-study, she picked up her schoolbag and felt something was wrong with the weight—a stone covered in soil from the flower bed had been stuffed into it…

"Ma Juan, there's a stone in my bag. Did you see who put it there?" She asked her deskmate as soon as she got back to the dormitory.

Upon hearing her words, the other girls in the dormitory tacitly went about their own business.

"Really? I wasn't in class this afternoon," Ma Juan replied, feigning ignorance.

Since she couldn't get any results, Xie Shu had no choice but to let it go. She went out of the dormitory to get hot water, and the dormitory room immediately started discussing it.

"Hey, Ma Juan, what if the young lady checks the security footage?"

"Haha, don't worry, the school's surveillance cameras are just for show."

"That's good. Seriously, I can't stand her arrogant attitude. Does she think she's so great just because she's good at studying and her family is rich?"

"Yeah, it's a shame she never goes out no matter how many times we ask her to. I think she just looks down on us."

Xie Shu stood at the door, staring blankly at the dormitory floor. After a long while, she silently left.

The next day, except for Xie Shu, all the girls in dormitory 103 were called to the class teacher's office. When they returned, each of them had a resentful expression on their face.

They toned it down a bit for the time being.

Xie Shu was already exhausted. She had very little rest time, and her mother planned to arrange for her to go abroad after she finished her high school entrance exam.

She didn't want to go abroad; she hated going to unfamiliar environments. But her mother was very domineering, and her father was always busy.

She's in her final year of junior high, and a boy confessed his feelings to her, but she rejected him.

I thought the matter was over, but then a rumor started circulating that she was a heartless woman who played with people's feelings and kept that guy hanging on.

What's most infuriating is that the boy actually went along with it and tacitly agreed to it.

Her classmates looked at her strangely, and the students at school looked at her strangely. She really became an "oddball" in the school. Wherever she went, there would be whispers and snickers.

Who exactly spread the rumor? She suspected it was her deskmate, but had no proof.

When she returned home for the weekend, only her mother was there. She cried to her mother, but her mother said that she was not strong enough. She was going to study abroad in the future, so how could she be so fragile? She then urged her to wipe her tears and continue her class.

Studying, going abroad, bad girls...

Three mountains weighed on her, making it hard for her to breathe. She gradually started walking with her head down and often spaced out in class.

"Xie Shu, I know you're excellent, but you can't let your guard down. All your teachers say you often daydream in class. Look at your midterm exam—you actually dropped one place! That's the best proof. Learning is like rowing against the current; if you don't move forward, you fall behind!"

She just nodded mechanically.

"Hahaha."

In the dormitory at night, she didn't know what Ma Juan and the others were laughing about, as if it were a triumphant declaration, just like the girls in elementary school...

"Can you please stop making noise and turn off the lights to rest right now?" she said, clearly annoyed.

"Heh, you're such a spoiled brat, aren't you? It's not like you're the only one in the dorm. If you think it's noisy, go live somewhere else!" one of the girls said sarcastically.

"The dormitory room isn't just mine, but school rules prohibit talking after lights out."

"The lights aren't off, are they?"

*Buzz*—The light went out.

But then the lights came on again in the dorm room. They turned on their desk lamps, making the room look like it was still lit, and continued chatting amongst themselves.

"If you keep doing this, I'm going to tell the dormitory supervisor," Xie Shu said coldly.

"Go ahead!"

Watching Xie Shu get out of bed and leave, one person said:

"She wouldn't actually go, would she?"

"What's there to be afraid of? At worst, the dorm supervisor will scold me, but I can continue after she leaves."

……

Exhausted after returning home over the weekend, she asked her homeroom teacher to change dorm rooms, but the teacher told her to be patient, as there were limited beds available at the school. The teacher also called Ma Juan and the others to the office and gave them a stern lecture.

They restrained themselves again, but being in the same room with them still made her feel nauseous.

"Xiao Shu, what happened? You actually dropped one place in the exam! I spent so much money on tutors for you, and this is how you repay me?"

"I don't want to go to school anymore, and I don't want to go abroad," Xie Shu said in a low voice.

"What?!" Her mother's voice sharpened, piercing Xie Shu's heart. "If you don't go to school, do you want to become a beggar? If you don't go abroad, how can you face us...?"

Xie Shu couldn't remember what her mother said afterward. She was really tired and wanted to get a good night's sleep...

"Xiao Shu! Xiao Shu! Call 120 quickly! Xu Ting!"

In her dazed state, she heard her father Xie Zhiqiang's urgent voice and her mother Xu Ting's panicked voice.

Fortunately, she was unharmed, but she was left with a permanent scar on her wrist.

Does her mother love her?

She loved him, staying by Xie Shu's side all night without rest, but she also projected her own regrets onto Xie Shu, and this love gradually turned into an obsession.

Did her father love her?

He loves her, but he's too busy. He says he has to support his family and ensure that Xu Ting and Xie Shu can live a good life.