We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

"Students, a new day has begun. Tidy up your belongings and get ready for today's lessons."

Li Mubai got up early and, upon hearing the wake-up call, quietly opened the dormitory door and went out.

The campus was exceptionally quiet in the early morning. A gentle breeze, carrying the coolness of June, felt wonderfully comfortable on my face. Dewdrops from the previous night still clung to the leaves of the trees along the roadside. The sun had not yet fully risen, and the sky was a pale, fish-belly white.

"An egg and a bowl of porridge."

"Young man, you're not going to have much energy if you only eat this little for breakfast!" The cafeteria auntie reminded him when there were no other students in the cafeteria.

"Mmm." He's always eaten like this; he's gotten used to it.

After finishing breakfast on the spot, I headed towards the teaching building. The sun had not yet fully risen, and the light was soft, shining into the classroom through the glass windows of the teaching building, making the room neither too dark nor too dim.

He walked to his seat, put down his backpack, and instead of immediately taking out his books, he lay on the table, quietly lost in thought. This was a way to relieve stress and allow him to temporarily clear his mind.

"Why aren't the lights on?" A clear and gentle voice suddenly rang out in the classroom, breaking the silence.

Li Mubai's heart tightened, and his body trembled involuntarily. The stack of books on the table was knocked over and fell to the ground with a loud noise.

He didn't have time to pick it up. He immediately looked in the direction of the sound and saw another person sitting at the other end of the classroom. Since the other person was against the wall and his seat was by the window, he hadn't noticed him when he came in.

"Hmm—" Li Mubai narrowed his eyes, his tone tinged with surprise, "Xie Shu, why are you here so early today?"

"They say you're the first one to arrive at the classroom every day, and I want to see what you do after you get there," Xie Shu said calmly.

...So that's the reason? Now that Xie Shu knows, the first thing he does when he gets to the classroom is to quietly space out in the dark for a while. Will this be considered some kind of quirk?

Xie Shu slowly stood up. Li Mubai thought she was going to turn on the light. He squinted, preparing to face the discomfort that came with escaping from darkness to light.

But the expected white light did not appear. Xie Shu did not go to the switch, but went straight to his seat, squatted down gently, and picked up the books scattered on the ground. Li Mubai was stunned for a moment, then quickly came to his senses and squatted down as well.

The scattered books were neatly gathered and piled back on the table, and the classroom fell silent again, with an awkward atmosphere in the air.

Just as Li Mubai was about to ask Xie Shu if he had eaten breakfast, the white light suddenly turned on, instantly illuminating the entire classroom.

He squinted instinctively, and it took him a while to adjust before he looked up and saw Huang Lingling standing at the front door, looking bewildered, unsure whether to come over.

A lone man? A widow? No lights on? She shook her head, trying to clear the terrible thoughts from her mind.

Probably not, Li Mubai and Xie Shu are both good students...

Xie Shu noticed Huang Lingling's gaze, but showed no panic. He calmly returned to his seat, sat for a short while, and then turned and left the classroom.

Huang Lingling put down her schoolbag, glanced at Li Mubai who looked completely at ease, then turned her head to look at the empty classroom, and couldn't help but ask curiously:

"Li Mubai, where were you and Xie Shu just now?"

"study."

"Study?" Huang Lingling's tone was full of doubt. "How can you study in such dim light? And I didn't see you reading when I came in."

"Hmm, just about to start." Li Mubai didn't explain much. After speaking, he took out a vocabulary list, opened it, and began to memorize it seriously, looking very focused on studying.

Seeing that he was unwilling to say more, Huang Lingling did not press him further. She simply took out her books and quietly began to memorize them.

Xie Shu left, not even attending the regular meeting. After class, he said goodbye to Li Mubai and left in a hurry, not showing up for any of the afternoon classes.

"All you soon-to-be senior high school students, it's time to perk up!" Wu Changguo's voice suddenly rose as he was lecturing, waking up the students who had been dozing off in the afternoon.

Li Mubai snapped out of his reverie, looked up, and found Wu Changguo also staring at him…

"I've noticed you've been a bit distracted in class lately. What's going on?" Wu Changguo immediately called him to his office.

"It's nothing, teacher. I just wasn't paying attention in class." Li Mubai lowered his head and sincerely admitted his mistake.

Wu Changguo paused for a moment, then said, "Don't be discouraged just because you did poorly on one exam. Your goal is the college entrance exam. If you're still in this state, I think it's just wishful thinking for you to talk about getting into Peking University."

Perhaps he has always cared too much about other people's expectations and was too afraid of failure, which made him increasingly anxious and unable to concentrate in class.

"Alright, hurry up and go eat, then get ready for evening self-study." Wu Changguo waved his hand, indicating that he could leave.

Li Mubai walked out of the office. Wu Changguo was right. He probably should adjust his mindset. He couldn't continue like this, otherwise he would only get further and further away from his goal.

After leaving the cafeteria, he didn't have to go to the club activity room today, which was unusual. He returned to the classroom, where most of his classmates were studying hard.

"Brother Chicken, wanna go to the convenience store?" Zhao Feng whispered.

"No, I'm not going. Final exams are coming up soon, and I need to study." Yang Kun was doing his homework while lying on the table.

"Stop pretending. You're already in last place, what are you still learning?" Zhao Feng sneered.

"I'm last in my class, not last in the grade."

Seeing that Yang Kun remained unmoved, Zhao Feng played his trump card: "I'll invite you, are you coming or not?"

Yang Kun paused, somewhat tempted. He looked up at the mountain of homework on the table, then at Zhao Feng, and hesitated for a long time before saying, "You can ask Lao Bai to go with you."

"You love studying that much?" Zhao Feng was somewhat surprised.

"Please, final exams are coming up soon, if I do badly I won't have a peaceful summer vacation."

"Alright then." Zhao Feng looked at Li Mubai. "Li Mubai, are you going or not?"

"I'm not going, I need to study too."

Even before Yang Kun mentioned him, Li Mubai's attention had already fallen on the person behind him.

"I went, but they all seem so studious. Oh well, I'll go by myself!"

"Remember to bring me two packs of missing teeth." Yang Kun suddenly looked up and said quickly.

"Then you can come with me."

"Never mind then." Yang Kun immediately lowered his head and continued doing his homework.

"Password!" Zhao Feng cursed under his breath.

Li Mubai's attention returned to the homework on the table...

The bell rang, signaling the end of evening self-study. Li Mubai packed his bag, returned to his dormitory, washed up, went to bed, and repeated his daily routine, which was mundane and monotonous.

Li Mubai took out his phone, unaware of what Xie Shu was doing.

He thought for a moment, then sent Xie Shu a message, but waited a while without receiving a reply.

Li Mubai put down his phone, his gaze inadvertently falling on "The Little Prince" on his pillow. He always kept this book by his pillow, even after he had finished reading it.

Reaching out, I picked up the book, gently wiped the dust off the cover, and turned to the first page. A gilded bookmark slipped out of the book and fell onto my pillow.

He carefully picked up the bookmark, put it back in the book, and then turned back to the first page, ready to read it again.

Nourishes—

The dormitory lights suddenly went out, plunging the room into darkness, before two desk lamps were turned on again.

"Lao Bai, Wang Rui, aren't you two asleep yet?"

"Let me read for a little while longer."

Li Mubai turned down the brightness of the desk lamp and turned the pages of his book quietly, trying not to make too much noise so as not to disturb his roommate's rest.

Beep beep! Beep beep!

Suddenly, someone's watch chimed at midnight. The crisp sound was particularly clear in the quiet dormitory, reminding Li Mubai that another day had passed.

He put down the book, took out his phone and glanced at it. Yesterday was over, today was June 20th, time to rest.