We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

On the fifth day after the holiday, the final exam results were finally released.

Wu Changguo's phone vibrated as he sent the grade sheet to the class group chat.

Li Mubai almost instinctively held his breath, his fingers trembling slightly as he opened the document.

The screen was filled with densely packed tables, and he scrolled down quickly, his eyes searching back and forth between the names and numbers.

He found his name.

Li Mubai, ranked twenty-ninth in the joint ranking.

His heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled back into his chest. He leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath. Although he hadn't seen the class rankings yet, since the joint class had improved, there was no reason for the class rankings to fall behind.

It's a pity that Li Mubai didn't have Zhong Jianjun's contact information, otherwise he would have sent him the ranking and let him speak!

Unfortunately, his total score was 633, which was still a bit far from Peking University. Li Mubai sighed silently in his heart.

He re-ranked the top, first place Chen Yutong, second place Shen Nianning, third place Xie Shu...

My phone vibrated again.

"Among three people walking together, there must be one who can teach me."

Qinghe: "Hahaha, guess what rank I got this time?"

She started off laughing again, and you could feel her joy even through the screen. Li Mubai could almost picture her expression when she sent the message.

Li Bubai: "Twenty-nine in a row."

Qinghe: "No, I'm still a bit far from being in the top thirty."

Li Bubai: "I'm talking about myself."

Qinghe: "Keep pretending! Pride makes one arrogant, while humility makes one progress."

Qinghe: "No, pride makes one fall behind, while humility makes one progress!"

Li Mubai was speechless, wondering who was trying to show off. Xie Shu, however, remained silent, perhaps busy or perhaps he hadn't done well on the exam.

Li Mubai left the group chat and opened Xie Shu's private chat page. The last conversation was yesterday, and the last message was "Goodnight" from Xie Shu.

He stared at the message for a while, seemingly lost in thought. His fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment before he finally typed out a line.

Several minutes passed without a reply. He put his phone down, then picked it up again two minutes later, but still nothing.

Looks like he's busy.

He put down his phone, took out some stationery from the drawer. July 20th was just two days away, and he didn't have enough stationery, so he needed to go to the stationery store to buy some more.

This kind of letter paper wasn't sold in the nearby supermarkets, so Li Mubai had to go to the stationery store near Yexian Bookstore.

Having made up his mind, and seeing that it was a sunny day with a relatively mild sun, he decided to set off immediately.

While his parents were still in the restaurant, he easily slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked out of the house.

"Boss, how much is it in total?" Li Mubai not only bought the letter paper, but also a small square box.

"Ten yuan."

After paying, Li Mubai walked out of the stationery store, glanced at the depths of the alley, and thought, since he was already here, he might as well go and take a look at the bookstore.

A long shadow cast by the sun entered the bookstore. Shen Nian'an put down her book, looked up, and said, "It's been a long time."

Upon hearing this, Shen Nianning stopped writing her homework, looked up and saw Li Mubai, and nodded slightly.

Li Mubai nodded in agreement.

Li Mubai was not used to being too enthusiastic, but fortunately, the Shen sisters greeted him and then ignored him, so Li Mubai wandered around the bookshelves on his own.

He didn't plan to buy books, since he was about to enter his senior year of high school and might not have time to read extracurricular books.

After circling around, he prepared to leave.

Shen Nian'an glanced at Li Mubai's empty hands, then asked, "Didn't you find anything you liked?"

"without."

"Your standards are so high? None of the books here can satisfy you." Shen Nian'an picked up a book from her hands. "Take a look at this one, 'Pride and Prejudice'."

"No, I'll be a senior in high school soon, so I probably won't have time to study," Li Mubai said truthfully.

"Sit down and let me tell you about it." Shen Nian'an patted the chair next to her and said confidently, "I'm sure you'll be interested in this book."

Li Mubai glanced at Shen Nianning, who was sitting by the window doing her homework with headphones on, hesitated for a moment, and then pulled up a chair to sit down.

"Legend has it that a long, long time ago, so along along along..." Shen Nian'an cleared her throat.

"Can you get to the point?" Li Mubai couldn't help but interrupt her.

He also had to rush back to upload his homework to DingTalk. There were fixed daily check-in tasks, and the system would shut down after a certain time, at which point the homeroom teacher would have to call roll in the group chat.

"Legend has it that in a gentry family in Great Britain during the 18th and early 19th centuries, there were five daughters. The eldest daughter was so beautiful that suitors wore down the threshold by three inches! Today's story focuses on her second daughter, Elizabeth..."

Li Mubai curled his lip, really wondering what Shen Nian'an used to do, turning foreign stories into Chinese storytelling.

"...Did Elizabeth and Darcy ultimately overcome the barriers of class and ideology to be together? Buy the book for details!"

Shen Nian'an slammed her hand on the table, adopting a posture of ending the argument.

Li Mubai sat there for two or three minutes, finally listening to Shen Nian'an finish telling the story outline, and in the end, she even left a cliffhanger in a seemingly convincing way.

"How much is one copy?" Li Mubai asked directly.

"Not expensive at all." Shen Nian'an smiled smugly, waving the book in her hand. "This hardcover edition is priced at fifty-five, but I'll give you twenty-seven per book."

Li Mubai thought for a moment, an idea popped into his mind, and then he said, "I'll buy two books."

"Two books?" Shen Nian'an was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Then I'll charge you fifty."

She stood up, went to get the book, and returned shortly afterward.

"By the way, do you have a target university yet?" she asked while scanning the books.

"Got it."

"Which school are you applying to?" Shen Nian'an turned to look at him with interest.

Li Mubai hesitated for a moment. The weight of this question when spoken was completely different from that when thought in one's mind. When thought in one's mind, it was just a thought, as light as a cloud in the sky.

But once it's spoken, it may become a promise, something that needs to be fulfilled.

"Peking University," he said anyway.

"Hiss—" Shen Nian'an gasped, nodding thoughtfully. "Didn't you say before that you wouldn't get into Peking University?"

"The plans have changed, and I want to give it a try," he said.

Ding! Your WeChat account has received 50 yuan!

"Haha, that's ambitious! I wish you success in your exams. I think you're cut out for Peking University." Shen Nian'an handed him the book.

The expected questions did not arise, and Li Mubai secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had not told many people that he wanted to take the entrance exam for Peking University, and even if he did, many people just thought he was joking.

"Xie Shu, are you also going to take the exam for Peking University?" a voice suddenly rang out.

Li Mubai looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it wasn't Shen Nian'an who was speaking, but Shen Nianning. She stopped writing, took off her headphones, and looked at him quietly.

Li Mubai nodded slowly.

"I also want to apply to Peking University," Shen Nianning said calmly.

Shen Nianning made a statement that left Li Mubai completely bewildered.

"If you're not going to Peking University, where are you planning to apply?" Shen Nian'an immediately retorted.

"Actually, Fudan University and Zhejiang University are also good, and they are both in the south, which I prefer," Shen Nianning replied.

"No way, sis, you have to go to Peking University to follow in my footsteps."

Seeing that they had started chatting about everyday matters, Li Mubai said goodbye and left.

The bookstore was empty except for the sisters Shen Nian'an and Shen Nian'ning.

"So when did you start eavesdropping on our conversation?" Shen Nian'an asked, puzzled.

"Sis, you mean a long, long time ago?"

"Fine! You dared to eavesdrop on my sales pitch? You have to buy a copy too!"

……