We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

"The exam results are in."

Li Mubai looked up at the sound and saw his homeroom teacher, Wu Changguo, posting the report cards from the last monthly exam on the bulletin board at the front of the classroom.

"Damn, Chicken Bro, you're still last place!" Zhao Feng glanced at the notice board and immediately shouted.

"Understood." Yang Kun sat in his chair, calmly waving his hand to signal Zhao Feng to keep his voice down, as if he were the top dog, not the bottom dog.

A sense of unease rose in Li Mubai's heart. He hadn't forgotten Zhong Jianjun's earlier warning, nor Wu Changguo's expectations of him...

Since his relationship with Xie Shu became public, he has been under immense, invisible pressure, and often asks himself these questions late at night:

Does he really deserve the outstanding Xie Shu? He desperately wants to prove himself, yet he is also afraid that he might inadvertently disappoint everyone's expectations.

After posting the report cards, Wu Changguo stood on the podium and glanced at Li Mubai, who was sitting quietly in his seat, before preparing to begin the class meeting.

Taking advantage of the smaller crowd, Li Mubai slowly stood up and walked to the bulletin board.

Xie Shu was first in his class and first in his platoon.

She surged back to the top spot. Xie Shu might be a genius, but is he?

Li Mubai's gaze swept carefully from the first place down, his heart pounding faster and faster.

Li Mubai, 10th in class platoon, 39th in company platoon...

"Haha! I got 130 in English this time, but unfortunately I did poorly in Chinese, only 110, and my humanities score wasn't great either."

In the afternoon, before Li Mubai even reached the club activity room, he heard Chen Qiuhe's smug laughter coming from inside.

Upon seeing him enter, Chen Qiuhe immediately shut her mouth.

"Little Deng, how did you do on the exam?" Chen Qiuhe quickly changed the subject, looking at Deng Yi beside her.

"Sixth place."

"Squadrons?"

"It's definitely the class platoon. How could I possibly get into the top ten in the joint platoon?" Deng Yi said helplessly.

"Let's practice English composition today," Xie Shu said, breaking the casual conversation.

"Okay! I'll keep up the good work." Chen Qiuhe was full of energy and picked up her English composition book to start writing.

After Li Mubai and Chen Qiuhe finished writing, Xie Shu took a red pen and graded their work. She returned Li Mubai's composition book to him, which was covered with red ink marks. At the end of the composition, a line of neat handwriting stood out.

"There's still room for improvement, keep up the good work! ^o^"

A small smiley face was drawn at the back.

After grading Chen Qiuhe's essay, Xie Shu turned to Li Mubai and asked, "Are you in a bad mood?"

Chen Qiuhe also stopped what she was doing and looked over.

Li Mubai quickly suppressed his gloom, not wanting to infect those around him with his bad mood. He smiled and said, "It's nothing."

"Did you not do well on the exam?" Xie Shu didn't give up asking. She usually didn't look at her grades, and her grades were only told to her by others.

"It's nothing, let's continue studying." Li Mubai waved his hand, trying to avoid the topic.

Xie Shu looked at him quietly for a few seconds, then didn't press him further, only softly comforting him:

"It's normal for grades to fluctuate once or twice. Life isn't always smooth sailing. It's okay to encounter headwinds and temporarily take a few steps back."

"Exactly!" Chen Qiuhe immediately chimed in. "I also dropped two places last time, but I've slowly caught up, haven't I? Just like you said before, a drop isn't the end, it's a reminder that there's still room for improvement. Relax!"

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable being comforted by the two, Li Mubai forced a smile and said, "Okay, thank you."

"Once the answer sheets are out, show me the papers you think were the worst, and I'll help you analyze where the problems are," Xie Shu said after a moment's thought.

"Okay." Li Mubai nodded. He glanced at Xie Shu, wondering how she would feel if she were to step down.

I still vividly remember Xie Shu saying that she had regressed. She kept saying that she had regressed, but her face remained expressionless.

Li Mubai temporarily suppressed the gloom in his heart.

On Monday evening, Ms. Yang, the Chinese teacher, was grading homework at the podium when she suddenly saw a figure walk into the classroom.

Teacher Yang quickly stood up, stepped forward, and asked in a low voice, "Director Zhong, is there anything I can help you with?"

"It's alright, you go ahead with your work. I just came to check on the students' study habits."

Zhong Jianjun's distinctive hoarse voice rang out, and even though he lowered his voice, it was still clearly audible in the quiet classroom.

Yang Kun, who had been slouching at his desk doing his homework half-heartedly, was so startled that he immediately sat up straight.

There was silence at the front of the classroom, except for the sound of footsteps slowly approaching.

Li Mubai seemed to be able to foresee his fate. The next second, Zhong Jianjun might call him out of the classroom and then use his poor ranking in the monthly exam as evidence to order him to break off his relationship with Xie Shu, or else he would call both of their parents.

As expected, Zhong Jianjun stopped beside him. Li Mubai's heart jumped into his throat. He tried his best to remain calm, his pen hovering over the assignment, unsure of what to write next.

Squeak - squeak -

Unexpectedly, cicadas were chirping at night, adding a touch of summer vitality to the otherwise quiet and dull classroom.

Li Mubai didn't hear Zhong Jianjun call him to leave; the person standing next to him seemed to have left.

The bell rang, and Yang Kun immediately asked:

"Hey Lao Bai, did you offend Old Man Zhong? He locked onto you the moment he entered the classroom. It was the same last time; he stood next to you for ages."

Huang Lingling and Zhao Feng also looked over curiously.

"No, it's probably because I'm the class monitor of Class 3, so it's normal for the teacher to pay attention to me."

"Could it be that he's here to avenge Xing Yi, the one who fought with Lao Bai?" Zhao Feng speculated. "Old Zhong was also the Chinese teacher of Class One, wasn't he?"

Li Mubai really didn't know this, but he probably wouldn't be that petty...

"It can't be that serious. Old Man Zhong's surname is Zhong, not Xing. Is it really necessary for him to get involved?" Yang Kun immediately retorted, then added mysteriously, "I bet you cheated on Old Man Zhong's daughter, so he's here to avenge her."

"Yang Kun, you have quite the imagination! You actually dared to think of this." Huang Lingling couldn't help but complain.

"Of course, I ride in a convertible!"

Ignoring the wild guesses of the crowd, although he didn't know what Zhong Jianjun meant, he was spared a severe scolding and thus escaped a terrible ordeal.

As for Wu Changguo, Li Mubai also felt guilty. He had previously sworn to Wu Changguo that he would get into Peking University, but he was soon proven wrong.

He didn't dare to speak during political classes, fearing that one day Wu Changguo would suddenly remember this incident and call him to his office.

Fortunately, Wu Changguo didn't contact him privately until after school on Friday. Perhaps, dropping one place was really just within a reasonable range? Maybe he was putting too much pressure on himself.

"Thank you, bye-bye!" Chen Qiuhe waved and dragged her luggage to the classroom.

Only Li Mubai and Xie Shu remained in the classroom. He looked up at Xie Shu at the other end of the classroom, and she looked back at him.

"Thank you, see you on Sunday," Li Mubai said.

"Okay, see you on Sunday."

Xie Shu dragged his suitcase and arrived at the back gate of the school alone. The BMW was already parked on the side of the road right on time.

She silently put her suitcase into the trunk, then opened the passenger door and got in.

The BMW slowly started, gradually drove away from the school, and disappeared at the intersection.

"Xiao Shu, I've already asked your school for leave. It's for three days. You can go home on Monday to pack and get ready, and then return to school on Wednesday."

Tuesday, June 20th...