We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

It seems Xie Shu doesn't like eating overly sweet things either.

Li Mubai's main intention was not to ask how the snacks were last time, but to try the same trick again. He didn't accept other people's kindness for nothing, but he still had to figure out what to buy.

"Are you going to buy me breakfast?" Xie Shu asked.

"Um."

"Please bring a loaf of toast and some whole milk."

"...Ah, okay." Li Mubai thought Xie Shu would refuse and say no.

"You really understand that the definition of 'unique' is not as simple as breathing."

You really hope you can clarify how to explain things if there's no heart-to-heart talk.

I really love you

Every sentence is carefully chosen.

eyes drifting

Always having clear insight at crucial moments...

A melody suddenly filled the playground. The music club was trying to attract students with a performance. But was it really okay to sing this song in a school that forbids early romantic relationships? At least for now, it was okay.

A few more people came, and there were only two registration forms left. Actually, it wouldn't have mattered if we didn't hand them all out.

The literary society usually only recruits ten people, supposedly an old tradition. It's not about quantity but quality, although Li Mubai didn't see where the quality lay. But the ancestral rules are unchangeable.

While I was thinking, two more boys walked over.

They went straight to the literary society's shed. One of them glanced at Xie Shu, then picked up an old issue of the society's journal and said to his companion, "Is this the level of our school's literary society?"

A challenger has arrived, although the level of previous years has indeed not been very high.

Li Mubai and Xie Shu exchanged a glance. Seeing that Xie Shu did not speak, he remained silent as well.

Feeling ignored, the boy repeated, "Is this all the literary society in our school is capable of?"

The atmosphere was a bit awkward, not only for Li Mubai, but also for the other party's companions, who didn't know how to respond.

Fine, I'll be the one to break this deadlock.

"This junior, right? Before you launch into your critique, why don't you show us your own work first?" Li Mubai said.

Seeing that someone had responded, the boy's face lit up with joy, but he quickly composed himself, placed the notebook he had prepared on the table, and said, "This is my masterpiece."

With such an arrogant tone, Li Mubai wanted to see if it was a masterpiece or just a burst of excitement, so he first skimmed through it.

"How is it?" Xie Shu didn't come closer to look, but asked directly.

"After a quick look, although the rhyme and tonal patterns are correct, there are still some problems such as awkward word choice, poor parallelism, and unclear meaning," Li Mubai summarized.

"That's just general talk!" The boy was clearly still unconvinced.

"Then choose one of your 'masterpieces'."

The boy took the notebook, flipped through it, and then handed it back to Li Mubai.

Thoughts on returning home in a dream

The moon shines brightly amidst the clouds and mist, while the lamps are dim in the eastern part of this city.

My sleeves were damp with tears in my dreams at night, and I heard the mournful cry of wild geese at dusk.

The pavilion stands amidst verdant willows, the ancient road echoes with a mournful wind.

At the lonely spot where the curtain is rolled up, sorrow lingers for a thousand years.

As Li Mubai read, he commented: "First of all, the title of your poem is too complicated. You can just change it to 'Dreamland'. Secondly, the word choice is stiff. For example, the word 'dark' is like saying 'turn off the lights,' but it sounds awkward here."

Then there's the issue of parallelism. How do "sleeves" and "broken wild goose" match? How do "green willows" and "bitter wind" match? There's also the choice of imagery. Can we still see and hear "broken wild goose" now? This kind of imagery is obviously unusable.

Finally, you summed up your feelings with the word "sorrow," but I couldn't discern what you were sorrowful about; I couldn't find a basis for your explanation.

Li Mubai is generally reluctant to show off, but the opponent just came up close and unleashed his ultimate move.

"The parallelism is not perfect; I just don't want to restrict my own thoughts," the other party said, lacking confidence.

Here we go again. Li Mubai hates this kind of rhetoric the most, such as not wanting to let the rules of prosody restrict their thoughts, but in the end, it just means they can't learn the rules of prosody.

Whether it's meter or parallelism, it's like an admission ticket to poetry. If you don't even understand these things and yet you say such things, thinking you're so great, you should just go home and play by yourself.

"You say you're so amazing, then what about your work? Didn't you say that before criticizing others, you should first show your own work?"

The boomerang hit him, but in order not to expose himself, Li Mubai had long since mastered the art of both offense and defense.

"Does being able to critique poetry mean you have to be able to write poetry? Just like does being a discerning diner necessarily mean you have to be an excellent chef?"

The other person was clearly stunned for a moment, unsure how to refute, and after a long pause finally managed to utter, "You're awesome," before grabbing their notebook and registration form and running off with their friends.

"That's a very good assessment," Xie Shu said.

Li Mubai smiled sheepishly: "It's not that good, I was just saying."

With the last application form taken away, the recruitment of new members for the literary society has come to an end.

"What were you talking about just now? I saw a guy chatting with you quite enthusiastically," Chen Qiuhe said as she ran over from the art club shed across the street while she was tidying up.

"There was a boy who said our literature club wasn't good." Li Mubai's answers to Xie Shu were always quite formal.

"There was also a challenge round, huh? It's a pity I didn't get to see the whole thing." After saying that, Chen Qiuhe looked at Xie Shu and said, "By the way, Xie Shu, what brings you here? Are you also in the literary society?"

"Yes, I am the president." Xie Shu nodded.

Li Mubai was busy tidying up the periodicals and school newspapers when he watched the two girls chatting. The setting sun gave the scene a dreamlike quality.

In Pingyang City, the evening glow in summer always appears, turning the sky red when there are no clouds, and making the clouds look like they've been burned when there are clouds.

"Class monitor, what should we do with these desks and chairs?"

Li Mubai's voice broke the beautiful scene.

"Leave it for now, someone will come to collect it later."

"Okay." Seeing that they were still chatting, mainly Chen Qiuhe was talking, Li Mubai prepared to take the periodicals and school newspaper back to the activity room by himself.

After Xie Shu said goodbye to Chen Qiuhe, he caught up with Li Mubai, who was preparing to leave alone.

"Let me get the school newspaper." Xie Shu didn't give Li Mubai any reason to refuse; she moved closer and took the school newspaper that Li Mubai was holding in his arms.

When Xie Shu caught up, Li Mubai was lost in thought. Was he delighted? Happy? Or afraid? He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to help but openly like her.

……

"Hehe, Xie Shu is really handsome."

After returning from the club's recruitment drive, Chen Qiuhe transformed into Meng Nu.

Li Mubai looked at her strangely. Could it be that she did *that*?

Why are you looking at me like that?

"No, it's just that what you said was too shocking."

"What did you say? Xie Shu is good-looking? Don't you think he's good-looking? If I were a guy, I would definitely like Xie Shu too."

"Heh, if you're a guy and you like Xie Shu, you'll be lining up all the way to France," Li Mubai thought to himself.

Ignoring the dream girl beside him, Li Mubai continued doing his homework. After all, students should focus on their studies at school, especially for him.

Sometimes he wonders what his future will be like, whether he will become a poet.

He didn't know that although he could create now, he was far from being a good writer. He didn't seem to have much talent in this area, and being a poet was nothing special in modern times; anyone who could write poetry could call themselves a poet.

In the future, he might get into an ordinary university, graduate, and get a job, that's all.

Xie Shu seems to come from a well-off family and is also very outstanding. She might get into a good university, or she might go abroad. In any case, her future is bright.

Li Mubai chuckled self-deprecatingly, casting aside these distracting thoughts...