We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

Li Mubai turned the key, and with a click, the door opened.

What a tiring day.

He took out his phone, and the screen was full of messages from Li's mother, one after another, asking him if he had returned home yet.

"I've had dinner, just arrived," he replied in a low voice.

Xie Shu quietly took his schoolbag, unzipped it, took out the gift box that Chen Qiuhe had given him, and gently placed it in Li Mubai's room.

"Are you going to study tonight?" She sat back down on the sofa.

"Mm." Li Mubai nodded.

Xie Shu was silent for a moment, then, as if gathering his courage, he asked, "I'd like to take a shower, is that alright?"

"Take a shower?" Li Mubai was taken aback for a moment, then realized that it was hot during the summer vacation, and he had been out all day, so taking a shower was perfectly normal, but...

"It's convenient, just wait while I buy a new bath towel."

"Thank you, just buy me a disposable bath towel."

"it is good."

He opened the food delivery platform and placed an order. He then casually checked the text messages, but the message he had sent at noon remained silent and unanswered.

Xie Shu's parents seem to really not care about her.

The moment this thought popped into Li Mubai's mind, a secret, inappropriate joy arose in his heart.

If she could stay home a few more days...

"By the way, Xie Shu, what about your clothes?" He glanced at Xie Shu, who was still wearing yesterday's dress, with a few wrinkles and dust on the hem.

"That's fine..."

The air was silent for a few seconds. After hesitating for a long time, Li Mubai finally spoke up: "If you don't mind, I can lend you my washed short-sleeved shirt and a pair of unworn summer shorts."

He had considered giving Li's mother's clothes, but those were for middle-aged and elderly people, and it would be too strange to give them to Xie Shu.

He should be able to find a few less masculine short-sleeved shirts among his own clothes, as well as a pair of denim shorts that his mother bought for him. He doesn't like wearing shorts, so he has never worn them.

"I don't mind." Xie Shu smiled gently.

Li Mubai got up and went back to his room, rummaging through drawers and cabinets. After a while, he finally found a white cotton T-shirt. It had been washed several times, the fabric was soft and flimsy, and it didn't have much of a shape, but at least it was clean.

He then pulled out a pair of light blue denim shorts from the bottom of the drawer. They were a bit large, but better than nothing.

"Look, are these two okay?" He came out carrying the clothes.

"it is good."

dong dong dong.

The takeout has arrived.

Li Mubai opened the door, took the bag, handed the bath towel to Xie Shu, and explained to her how to turn on the water heater.

The bathroom door was closed, and after a while, the sound of running water could be heard through the door.

Should he take a shower later? Then he can study with Xie Shu, say goodnight to each other afterward, and end another wonderful day.

As he thought about it, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curved into a smile. He could make Xie Shu breakfast tomorrow morning and let her taste his cooking.

Ring ring—

His phone suddenly rang, the sharp ringtone pulling him out of his reverie.

He glanced down and saw that the caller ID showed Jiangnan as the location. He switched to the text message interface and compared it with Xie Shu's parents' contact information. It wasn't the same number. Was it a sales pitch? A scam?

After hesitating for a second, he still pressed the answer button.

"I am Xie Shu's father. Is Xiao Shu with you?" Before Li Mubai could even speak, the other party had already thrown the question at him.

He was stunned, and his heart suddenly raced.

"Speak up quickly." Xie Zhiqiang said in a deep voice, his tone barely concealing a hint of anger.

"Yes...yes, Uncle."

"I'll be there in a few minutes."

Before he could finish speaking, the phone call was disconnected.

The constant beeping sound was like a countdown, tapping away at his nerves.

Li Mubai slowly put down his phone, turned to look at the bathroom, where the sound of running water continued, gushing. Reality had come much faster than he had imagined.

"I'm done washing."

The bathroom door opened, and Xie Shu came out. She was wearing his white T-shirt and denim shorts, her hair was slightly damp and draped over her shoulders, and she smelled of shower gel as she sat down.

"Do you want to take a shower? You must have sweated a lot today." She turned her head to look at him.

"Hmm... I'll shower later."

"...What's wrong?" Xie Shu noticed the low tone in his voice and paused for a moment.

"Your dad just called," Li Mubai said without hiding anything. "He said he'll come pick you up later."

The living room suddenly fell silent.

Xie Shu didn't speak, but slowly leaned closer and gently rested her head on his shoulder.

Li Mubai reached out and put his arm around her. Neither of them spoke; this was the last moment of silence.

The clock in the living room ticked away. Sometimes Li Mubai would complain that the clock his parents had bought was too loud. When it was quiet, the sound it made was like a hammering on one's heart.

Ring ring—

The phone rang again, and Li Mubai withdrew his hand.

"I'm at the entrance of your community. Tell Xiaoshu to come out; I'm here to take her home."

Li Mubai looked at Xie Shu, and she slowly nodded.

"Okay, Uncle."

Xie Shu packed her things, and Li Mubai gave her his schoolbag to carry.

Click, the door opened again.

"Li Mubai," Xie Shu called out to him.

"What's wrong?"

Xie Shu, carrying his bag, opened her arms and gently hugged him.

"It's okay, we'll see each other again after school starts." He comforted Xie Shu, and also comforted himself.

"Mm," Xie Shu responded, and quickly released his grip.

From the stairwell to the entrance of the community, the road seemed to suddenly shorten. Li Mubai followed behind her, watching her wet hair sway gently in the late summer breeze, and wanted to slow down his pace.

But every road has an end.

At the entrance of the residential compound, a black Mercedes-Benz was parked quietly, with the engine running and the headlights on.

"Xiao Shu, get in the car, let's go home." Xie Zhiqiang leaned over from the driver's seat and opened the passenger door.

Xie Shu glanced around and saw that only Xie Zhiqiang was in the car.

"Then I'm leaving," she said, turning back to Li Mubai.

"Okay. Go quickly."

Xie Shu got into the passenger seat.

Before the car door was fully closed, Li Mubai suddenly bent down and said to the driver's seat, "Uncle, please keep an eye on Xie Shu."

In the passenger seat, Xie Shu paused for a moment, then turned to look at him. Xie Zhiqiang didn't respond immediately, and his expression was not very clear under the streetlights.

"I don't need you to say anything more." After a long pause, he coldly uttered these words.

Xie Shu wanted to say goodbye, but the car window slowly rolled up, the black glass blocking her view and also blocking Li Mubai from finishing his sentence.

The car started, its taillights casting two dark red streaks in the night, growing farther and smaller until they disappeared at the end of the road.

Li Mubai stood still, a breeze blowing, carrying the warmth and humidity unique to the end of July, then turned and walked back.

"Xiaoshu, I've already talked to your mother properly. Please don't be so willful in the future, okay?" Now that only the father and daughter were in the car, his tone softened considerably.

"Okay." Xie Shu nodded gently. She still had a good impression of her father. The first time she went to an amusement park was when Xie Zhiqiang took her.

"And this kid named Li Mubai." Xie Zhiqiang paused for a moment, "Dad will transfer the money to you, and you can transfer it to him in return. Consider it as staying in a hotel for one night."

"Dad, he probably won't accept it."

"Then transfer the money directly to him via bank card."

Xie Zhiqiang wanted to undermine the relationship between Xie Shu and Li Mubai by setting clear prices.

He couldn't be so foolish as to simply throw millions at the other person without batting an eye, like in a novel, to make him leave his daughter, but he had other ways...

"Okay, I know his card number." Xie Shu was thinking of not letting Li Mubai suffer a loss.

"Oh, right, Xiao Shu." Xie Zhiqiang took a box out of the armrest box and handed it to him. "This is a new phone I bought for you."

Xie Shu glanced at it; it was the latest Apple model.

"I'd like to use Android, is that okay?"

Li Mubai also uses Android.

Xie Zhiqiang was taken aback for a moment, then smiled gently: "Okay, Dad will take you to buy it now."

The car veered off course and headed towards the nearest mobile phone store...

Xie Shu and Xie Zhiqiang returned to the cold villa. Xu Ting sat on the sofa, glanced up at Xie Shu's cheap short-sleeved shirt, and then looked away.

Xie Shu didn't look at her, and went straight back to her room with her schoolbag on her back.

The moment the door closed, silence filled the living room.

"You, as a mother, aren't you worried at all about Xie Shuli leaving home!" Xie Zhiqiang slammed his car keys heavily on the coffee table, his voice low. "Luckily, this time it was at a classmate's house. If something had happened outside, I think you'd be regretting it!"

Xie Zhiqiang truly regretted not being there these past two days, which resulted in Xie Shu running off to Li Mubai's house.

Xu Ting lowered her head and remained silent...

Upstairs, Xie Shu placed her schoolbag at the foot of the bed, unzipped it, and inside were the square box Li Mubai had given her, the copy of "Pride and Prejudice," Chen Qiuhe's birthday gift, and her dress.

She took the box out and placed it on the bedside table.

The cicadas outside the window are still chirping, exactly the same as last night, but it's no longer the same place...

Two days later at noon, Li Mubai was staring blankly at his math test paper when his phone suddenly vibrated.

It was a bank notification that a few hundred yuan had been deposited into my account, with only six words in the message: "Xiaoshu's accommodation fee."

He stared at those six characters for a long time, his brows slowly furrowing. What did they mean?

"Xiaobai, can you help me check where this package is?" Li's mother suddenly sent a voice message along with a screenshot.

"It seems to have been delivered, but why wasn't it delivered to the parcel locker? It was delivered to the security office."

"I bought a box of paper on Pinduoduo, could you go and get it for Mom?"

Okay, I've been sitting for too long, I'll get up and move around a bit.

He changed his shoes, pushed open the door and went downstairs. The afternoon sun was so bright that it was hard to open his eyes. He could barely open them when he reached the security room of the community.

"Uncle, where is the package?"

The security guard was still video chatting with someone when he casually pointed to a corner in the security room where large packages were piled up.

Li Mubai walked over and searched slowly.

"You might not believe me!" the security guard suddenly raised his voice. "This neighborhood may look old, but there are still rich people here! Just a few nights ago, I saw a BMW worth millions drive into our complex!"

A BMW worth millions?