We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

"Most of the sunflowers we planted in Gengjiayuan have already bloomed. Now let's take a look at the fruits of our labor."

"Sunflowers? Time to eat sunflower seeds!"

The sound of commotion occasionally rose from the group, and Wu Changguo quickly reminded them, "You can't eat it yet. Don't try it on your own. The school will not be responsible if you get a stomachache."

The initially excited crowd immediately lost interest; what fun was there if they couldn't reap the rewards?

"This is our class's sunflower. Look around, but don't go in yet. Li Mubai, take the boys to get six water bottles."

The lush green stems were already half a person tall, and some girls were even too afraid to go inside. Chen Qiuhe, however, was not afraid at all and curiously fiddled with the sunflowers facing the morning sun.

Li Mubai was watering the sunflowers with a watering can when he suddenly felt a poke on his back. He turned around and saw Chen Qiuhe.

"What are you doing?"

"hey-hey."

"Stop grinning and get to the point. I need to do farm work."

"Can I play with the water bottle?"

"Do you even know how to water properly?" Li Mubai asked with a questioning look. "Teacher Wu said that you have to control the amount of water and not water too much."

"You were playing in the mud while I was watering the sunflowers!" Chen Qiuhe snatched the watering can, bent down, and watered the roots of the sunflowers, her movements looking quite professional.

"You're taking my job, so what am I supposed to do?"

"Watch me water the plants." Chen Qiuhe said without looking up.

Who wants to watch others water their plants? Li Mubai looked up and saw that the boys were all busy in the fields. He felt embarrassed to stand by and watch, but some girls were standing on the ridges of the field, teasing each other without a care in the world.

Okay, let's leave it at that for now.

"It's only the early flowering stage of sunflowers now, so you should only water them when the soil is dry. Don't water them at all, like this one," Chen Qiuhe said as she walked.

"You're quite knowledgeable."

"Of course, before..." Chen Qiuhe's words came to an abrupt end.

"What happened before?" Li Mubai asked.

"I saw the video before," Chen Qiuhe chuckled, changing the subject, "Can you come with me to the classroom to get something later during PE class?" "No, what could it be that requires two people?"

"It's a very heavy thing; I can't carry it by myself."

Li Mubai hesitated for a moment before nodding, "Alright, where are you going to take it?"

"I'll tell you later," Chen Qiuhe said with a mysterious smile.

What is it? Why are you being so mysterious?

"That concludes this practical labor lesson."

Fortunately, they still have practical labor classes to attend. After the first round of review, some classes' practical labor classes were directly taken over by the homeroom teacher.

"Everyone, gather on the playground for the next PE class." Seeing that everyone was about to leave, Jiao Yong quickly called out.

It's the playground again...

The scorching sun beat down on people, and the PE teacher cleverly chose to stand in the sun.

"You are all the flowers of our motherland, you should get more sunshine!" The teacher paused, "First, do a warm-up, then jog three laps."

"It's so hot!" Yang Kun muttered under his breath.

Li Mubai also took off his unchanging school uniform jacket, revealing a short-sleeved school uniform shirt.

Compared to other brightly colored short-sleeved shirts, he was simply a model student. Actually, school uniform short-sleeved shirts aren't ugly, are they?

After three laps, Yang Kun was slightly out of breath.

"Brother Chicken, you need to start training, or you'll fail the physical fitness test next semester," Zhao Feng said.

"So what!"

"Dismissed! Gather here five minutes before get out of class ends."

"Deng Yi, come play badminton!"

"Qiuhe, are you going?" Deng Yi asked Chen Qiuhe.

"I'm not going, I want to go back to the classroom to study."

"All right."

Chen Qiuhe gave Li Mubai a look, then walked towards the classroom.

In theory, students shouldn't be allowed to linger in the classroom during physical education classes, but in reality, as long as the academic affairs director doesn't patrol, no one cares.

"I predict this stock will go up, look!"

"So, did you buy it?"

"no."

Upon entering the classroom, I saw Yang Kun standing on the podium fiddling with the multimedia computer, with Zhao Feng standing next to him.

"Why are you guys playing on the computer?" Li Mubai asked.

"Oh my god! You scared me! I thought the teacher had come," Yang Kun exclaimed.

"I'm no longer the Audiovisual Education Committee member; now I'm the Audiovisual Committee member." Zhao Feng took out the keys to the multimedia system.

"All right."

"Let's go, I've got my things." Chen Qiuhe walked over with her hands behind her back.

"Isn't it very heavy? You've already taken it?" Li Mubai asked, puzzled.

"Hey, let's hurry up and go!" Chen Qiuhe nudged Li Mubai.

Seeing that there were other girls studying in the classroom, Li Mubai didn't struggle much and left the classroom with Chen Qiuhe.

Instead of leading Li Mubai to the playground, Chen Qiuhe took him to the empty balcony on the fifth floor.

"No, what are you going to do? If there's nothing else, I'll go back to the classroom to study," Li Mubai said.

"Take a guess," Chen Qiuhe said with a grin.

"Even if I didn't guess, I wouldn't have guessed."

"Idiot! No wonder you can't learn English well." Chen Qiuhe punched him lightly, then took out her left hand from behind her back. "Here, this is for you."

Li Mubai glanced at it; it was a painting, framed and mounted.

"What are you giving this to me for?"

Happy 18th birthday! May you always be like this sunflower, always moving towards the bright sunshine.

The weather is nice today, with a clear blue sky, a wisp of white cloud drifting by occasionally, and sunlight shining through the clouds, slanting across the balcony.

The wind was a bit strong, ruffling Chen Qiuhe's hair, but she remained all smiles.

"Thank you." Li Mubai accepted it solemnly. He himself had forgotten that it was his birthday today, and he didn't expect that someone would remember.

Li Mubai looked up at the girl in front of him. He didn't know when it started, but his relationship with Chen Qiuhe had gradually faded. He could feel that Chen Qiuhe was intentionally avoiding too much contact with him, and he was the same.

"Li Mubai, actually..." Chen Qiuhe stopped smiling and looked away.

No way... He prayed in his heart that the other person's next sentence wouldn't be that one.

Actually, I'm quite envious of you.

Li Mubai's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, settled down: "I have nothing to envy."

"No," Chen Qiuhe shook her head, "I envy that your crush succeeded."

...Li Mubai remained silent.

"Li Mubai, have you always been curious about my family?" She paused, "...and my father's situation."

He nodded slowly.

Chen Qiuhe turned her gaze to the distant mountains and said softly, "My mom and my dad got together because my maternal grandmother arranged it. My mom wasn't sick yet at the time."

"My father is from Pingyang City, so he brought my mother here. My father used to be an employee of a company, but he lost his job when he was in his fifties. Since then, the family has lived on savings and a monthly subsistence allowance of 2,000 yuan."

Her tone was calm, without a trace of sadness, as she quietly gazed at the distant mountains.

Li Mubai didn't know how to comfort her.

"But it's okay." She smiled. "My dad's relatives are very good to me. They give me a lot of money every year for the New Year. And my cousin works at her shop on weekends. I want to save this money so that when I get into university, I can leave the mountains and study in the north."

"Yes, it will definitely happen," Li Mubai affirmed.

"Thank you so much. It's a pity I can't make you a birthday cake at school, otherwise I would definitely make one for you. We'd go to a dark place, turn off the lights, light the candles, and you could make a wish."

"No need, actually even my parents didn't pay attention to my birthday."

"That won't do! Today is your 18th birthday! But even without a birthday cake, I'm sure your wish will come true!"

Li Mubai smiled, then looked away from Chen Qiuhe and turned his gaze to the distant mountains.

"You can close your eyes and make a wish now."

Should he make a wish? What should he wish for?