We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

Ring ring—

"The exam is over. Everyone, put down your pens." The teacher scanned the room, finally fixing his gaze on seat number ten. "The boy in the back."

Li Mubai quickly added a period and then stopped writing.

Seeing that everyone had stopped, the teacher began collecting the answer sheets.

Another weekly test has ended, and he feels numb to exams. He used to get nervous about monthly, midterm, and final exams, but now he seems to have gotten used to it.

This is probably what people often mean when they say, "Treat a small test like the college entrance exam, and treat the college entrance exam like a small test."

Li Mubai handed over his answer sheet, saying he could keep the weekly test paper for himself.

"Alright, you can leave the exam room now."

Li Mubai stood up and walked out of the examination room.

"Are you taking the bus?" Xie Shu asked as she walked up to him.

"Yes, no one is coming to pick me up from home today."

"Okay." Xie Shu's tone held a hint of disappointment. "Remember to bring me milk tea and snacks tomorrow."

"I won't forget." Li Mubai smiled. "Then I'll be going now. See you tomorrow, Xie Shu."

"Okay, see you tomorrow."

Picking up his tote bag, Li Mubai walked towards the front door.

After finally getting downstairs, he immediately spotted Chen Qiuhe carrying a schoolbag. She seemed lost in thought, her head bowed.

"Chen Qiuhe." Li Mubai approached and called out to her.

Chen Qiuhe suddenly raised her head and shrank back slightly: "You scared me."

"What are you thinking about? You've been looking down the whole time," Li Mubai asked.

"I wasn't thinking about anything." She withdrew her gaze and gradually lowered her eyes again.

Li Mubai opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say anything. They walked to the bus stop, got on the bus, and Chen Qiuhe remained unusually silent the whole way.

In the past, she might have started showing off how much she had improved, or perhaps gossiping about his progress with Xie Shu.

She's like a sunflower, once full of vitality, but now somewhat withered.

He glanced at Chen Qiuhe sitting by the car window, then tentatively asked:

"Chen Qiuhe, is there... something going on at your home?"

"No," Chen Qiuhe turned to look at him, forcing a smile, "I'm perfectly fine!"

"I don't see what's so good about it."

Chen Qiuhe's face stiffened; she hadn't expected Li Mubai to be so outspoken now.

She turned her gaze away and looked out the window.

A few seconds later, she spoke again softly:

"Li Mubai, compared to you and Xie Shu, isn't my life terrible?"

"Why do you think that?" Li Mubai frowned.

"I don't come from a prominent family, not even a harmonious one. My grades are mediocre; I seem to be stuck at around seventeenth or eighteenth place and can't improve. This Wednesday I even had low blood sugar..."

She spoke faster and faster, her voice trembling slightly, and her shoulders shaking gently.

Li Mubai raised his hand, struggled for a long time, and finally placed it on her trembling shoulder.

"It's okay, my family is a mess too. I actually have an older brother who doesn't treat me very well either." He shared his family affairs.

"real?"

"Really, why would I lie to you?" Li Mubai smiled. "My grades in junior high were even more average. I barely made it into No. 6 Middle School in the high school entrance exam, so I just need to work hard."

Chen Qiuhe's shoulders stopped trembling, and Li Mubai withdrew his hand upon seeing this.

"Actually, I really admire you. Your circumstances were even more difficult than mine, but you still made it into the top 20. With your current grades, getting into a good university shouldn't be a problem, especially since you have to work at your cousin's place on weekends," Li Mubai said sincerely.

"We're not going now," Chen Qiuhe suddenly said.

"Not going?"

"Yes." She nodded. "My cousin told me to study hard in my senior year of high school and not waste any time."

That seems to be true. He and Xie Shu haven't written poetry in a long time, and they simply don't have time to do anything else in their senior year of high school.

"And your...living expenses?"

"I'll use what I saved up before. My cousin originally wanted to give it to me directly, but," Chen Qiuhe paused, "I didn't want to do that."

Li Mubai immediately understood why Chen Qiuhe was so depressed. On the one hand, she hadn't made any progress in her studies recently, and on the other hand, she had no stable source of income, which was why she had become anxious.

But he did admire Chen Qiuhe. If he had such a disastrous start, he might have given up on himself and wouldn't have been able to get into the provincial key school and the honors class.

"Actually, my dad used to be quite good, before he lost his job," Chen Qiuhe continued. "Do you know why he lost his job?"

Li Mubai thought for a while. He remembered that Chen Qiuhe had said that her father was unemployed in his fifties and hadn't reached retirement age yet. Then he shook his head.

"Because the company asked him to recruit illegal workers, without providing them with social insurance and housing fund benefits, and with very low wages, he was unwilling to do such a thing, so the boss fired him."

Upon hearing this, Li Mubai's eyes widened. He had always thought that Chen Qiuhe's father was the way he knew him...

"Because of his age, he couldn't find a job, and my mother's mental illness relapsed, so he started drinking heavily, and his personality gradually changed."

Chen Qiuhe spoke very softly, so much so that Li Mubai had to listen carefully.

"Things should get better when you go to university. I also hope your aunt gets better soon," he comforted her.

"I've done the math. If I start using my savings frugally from now on, I can get my mom into a better hospital."

"Then you should eat. Don't go hungry, or you'll have low blood sugar like last time," Li Mubai reminded him.

"Um."

"And about the poverty assistance we talked about last time, if possible, you should apply for it. It can help ease your burden quite a bit."

"I've thought it through, I'll give it a try first."

The atmosphere became slightly somber, and the two remained silent for a moment. After thinking for a while, Li Mubai spoke:

"Chen Qiuhe, I'll give you thirty million, ten million..."

"Wait a minute."

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Qiuhe interrupted him. She pulled out the old notebook from her schoolbag and was surprised to find that it showed no signs of wear and tear even after a year.

Chen Qiuhe quickly wrote a sentence on it: "On August 26th, Li Mubai agreed to give Chen Qiuhe 30 million yuan free of charge."

Finally, I signed my name and handed it to him.

"Okay, sign your name."

"You really intend to ask for thirty million!"

"Didn't you plan to give it to me? I can't afford it now. I'll come back to you when I have the money." A slight smile finally appeared on her lips.

"Okay, okay."

Li Mubai took the paper and pen and signed his name on the notebook.

Chen Qiuhe glanced at it, then tore the paper off the notebook and put it in her wallet.

"Make money well in the future," she encouraged. "If you become rich and powerful, don't forget me."

Li Mubai was both amused and exasperated. How could he be so rich? He probably didn't have as much money as Chen Qiuhe.

Fortunately, Chen Qiuhe was no longer as gloomy and anxious as before. She took out her headphones and MP4 player, listened to music, and hummed along softly, as if she had returned to the past...

After bidding farewell to Chen Qiuhe, Li Mubai returned home alone.

He inserted the key, turned it gently, and the door opened. Just as he was about to change his shoes, he paused for a moment. All the lights in the room were on. Usually at this time, Li's parents should still be at the restaurant.

Li Mubai walked into the living room with a puzzled look in his eyes. His father and mother were sitting on the sofa, both looking at him. The TV was off, and the room was so quiet that the low hum of the water pipes in the walls could be heard.