We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

On Monday mornings, Huang Lingling always arrived early as was her habit. According to the teachers, this was called "the early bird catches the worm." But at this moment, she glanced nervously at the classroom, which was completely dark, proving that no one was there.

"Click!"

She pressed the light switch, and a blinding white light instantly filled the classroom.

The next second, her pupils contracted—a figure was sitting upright by the window.

"Oh my god! Li Mubai, you scared me again!"

Li Mubai simply sat quietly, without saying a word.

This silence only made her more panicked.

Does he... already know?

She shakily moved to her seat. The huge classroom was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Every second felt unbearable. Her heart pounded: Should she go to the restroom first? When she came back, there should be other classmates.

"Huang Lingling, I have a question for you."

Li Mubai's calm voice suddenly rang out, and Huang Lingling shuddered, causing the books on the table to fall to the ground with a "clatter".

"W-What's wrong?" she asked, trying to sound calm.

"Did you spread those rumors in the class?" He got straight to the point, without any unnecessary words.

"Huh? No! I really didn't!" Huang Lingling immediately shook her head in denial.

No? Li Mubai looked up at her.

She then muttered something under her breath:

"I just... mentioned it to my friend."

"What did you say?"

"I just said your family owns a restaurant, and that was it."

Li Mubai narrowed his eyes and quietly observed her expression. There was no feigned guilt in her eyes, only an unconcealable embarrassment.

It seems the rumors originated from her, but she may not be the one spreading them maliciously.

"Who is your friend in our class?"

"Li Jiayi".

Upon hearing this, Li Mubai frowned and began to recall. Well, it was an unfamiliar name.

"It shouldn't have been Li Jiayi who said it," Huang Lingling quickly added.

Why?

"Uh... this..." She suddenly stammered, unable to give a reason, "Anyway... it couldn't be her."

Li Mubai did not press the matter further, keeping his suspicions to himself.

Some rumors gradually become distorted as they spread from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred. In the end, even the source is often unclear.

"I'm so sorry, Li Mubai! This matter has caused you so much trouble, and I bear a great responsibility for it!" Huang Lingling stood up abruptly and bowed deeply to him.

"It's nothing." He waved his hand gently.

"Actually, I can help you explain..."

Before she could finish speaking, the sound of students laughing and joking came from outside the classroom, and Huang Lingling immediately shut her mouth and sat down.

After going around in circles, it seems we've returned to a dead end.

Rumors are like poisonous insects lurking in the shadows; unless they crawl out on their own, no one can catch them.

What other solutions are available now?

The morning reading bell rang, and the first period was Chinese class.

"There are still ten minutes before class starts. Let's have someone recite Li Mi's 'Memorial to the Throne' first." Teacher Yang's gaze slowly swept across the classroom, finally landing on a girl whose grades were below average, wanting to take the opportunity to urge her on.

"Liu Xiaoqing, you give it a try."

"Memorial to the Throne, Li Mi, Your subject secretly reports...I have been arrested and received by the Holy Dynasty...Holy Dynasty."

"Take a bath to cleanse yourself." Someone whispered a reminder from beside her, but the voice was so soft that she could barely hear it.

"Bathing in Tsinghua... Tsinghua."

"Hahaha—" one of the students couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Liu Xiaoqing's face flushed instantly, and she glared at him fiercely.

"Alright, sit down first. Try harder next time." Teacher Yang raised her hand to stop the laughter, and Liu Xiaoqing lowered her head in embarrassment and annoyance.

"Let's find another student to try. I believe he can recite it. Li Mubai."

Li Mubai was still thinking about spreading rumors when Wang Rui reminded him, and he finally realized what was going on.

"You recite 'The Memorial to the Throne'."

"Memorial to the Throne, by Li Mi. Your subject, Mi, writes: ... I would gladly give my life for you, and even in death, I would repay your kindness with my life. Overwhelmed with fear and trepidation, I respectfully submit this memorial."

He recited it fluently and naturally, without a single mistake.

"Not bad, not bad. You'd better memorize all the classical Chinese texts and poems with the surname Li." Teacher Yang said half-jokingly.

Li Mubai managed a dry laugh.

clap clap clap!

As Teacher Yang led the applause, sparse applause rang out in the classroom. Although some people were rather perfunctory, everyone raised their hands, except for one girl who remained motionless with a sullen face.

The routine meeting started at noon, and it felt like we were back in the beginning, the two of them walking side by side into the meeting room.

Li Mubai sat down next to Xie Shu in a very natural and open manner. The others glanced at Xie Shu, who had returned, with curiosity in their eyes.

Xing Yi sat in the corner of the conference room, and when Li Mubai's gaze swept over him, he turned his head away and did not look at them.

"Alright, now that everyone's here, I'll get straight to the point. There's nothing particularly noteworthy at school lately, except that we'll be going to the senior high school building at the end of the month to shout slogans."

"Senior, could you please tell me the exact time?"

"The school hasn't made any arrangements yet. Based on past practice, we'll guess it will be the 30th or 31st."

"Do the first-year high school students have to go too?"

"We should do that too. Everyone can think about what songs to sing, and it would be best to agree on something."

……

"Shout out, what song should our class sing?" Xie Shu asked, looking at Li Mubai, who was sitting across from him quietly eating his lunch.

"I listen to mostly instrumental music, so I don't know much about this kind of thing."

"Well, in the end, they'll probably take into account the opinions of other classes, so we should just follow suit."

Li Mubai nodded.

Perhaps due to his lack of passion, he had no interest in shouting from the tower.

Xie Shu glanced at his schoolbag; it was clean and tidy, without any decorations. She said:

"Where's the wooden box I gave you?"

"Mujia? I put it on my desk in my room." Li Mubai looked up at her, puzzled.

"Ah Zhi and Mu Jia are actually a pair of keychains." After she finished speaking, she took out her blue and white backpack from behind her back, with Ah Zhi's doll hanging on the zipper.

Isn't this too obvious...?

"I'll go back and put on my casual clothes."

"Okay." Xie Shu smiled faintly.

Li Mubai's chaotic emotions suddenly calmed down a lot.

Before the afternoon class meeting bell rang, Wu Changguo, with a cold face, herded all the students who were still keeping watch outside in the corridor into the classroom.

"Close the door," he ordered the student standing at the door.

With a "bang," the classroom was completely shut out from the outside world.

Everyone was completely confused, thinking that the noise they caused during last night's self-study session had been exposed, and they were all too nervous to make a sound.

"I just want to ask, what are you all doing here at the school?"

Everyone fell silent, sensing the underlying anger in Wu Changguo's tone. No one dared to speak, for fear of being the first to stick their neck out.

"Weren't you all talking so enthusiastically behind my back? Huh?" Wu Changguo questioned, "Why are you all pretending to be mute now?"

The ringing gave everyone a few seconds to catch their breath.

"Is this all the quality you students in the top class of a top high school have? I think you shouldn't even take the college entrance exam, lest you end up harming others in society."

It can't be that serious... They just whispered a few words during evening self-study.

The students muttered to themselves.

"Teacher, we were wrong. We promise we won't make noise during evening self-study anymore." A weak voice emerged.

Wu Changguo ignored the man and instead raised his voice:

"Do you all really enjoy making malicious assumptions about your classmates? Do you even know anything about their family situation? You just spout nonsense!"