We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

Study hard.

"Okay, Dad."

After saying this, Mr. Li closed the car door. The car stopped briefly at the roadside before merging into traffic, raising a fine cloud of dust.

Li Mubai stood there, watching the black car gradually shrink until it disappeared around the corner of the intersection.

He turned and walked in the opposite direction of the campus...

He returned to the classroom, tidied up the inside of his desk, and made room for two cups of milk tea.

"The milk tea should be fine after two hours, right?" He glanced out the window; the weather wasn't very hot today.

"Is everyone here yet?"

A hoarse voice came from inside. Li Mubai looked away, and Zhong Jianjun walked in carrying a stack of answer sheets.

"Two, four, six..." Lin Xinle whispered, counting the number of people behind her. "Everyone's here, teacher."

"Okay, put down your pens, I have something to say." Zhong Jianjun placed the answer sheet on the podium, paused for a few seconds, and finally looked at Lin Xinle, "Class monitor, please tell everyone."

"Okay, teacher!" Lin Xinle stood up abruptly, her voice brimming with barely concealed excitement. "It's like this, the school has established the Dream Building Scholarship to encourage senior students to study hard."

Building Dreams...a scholarship? Li Mubai looked up at Lin Xinle standing next to the podium.

"In this semester's final exams, the first place got 3,000, the second place got 2,000, and the third place got 1,500."

Well, that has little to do with him. The difficulty for him to get into the top three is roughly equivalent to running ten laps on the track at a steady pace in one go.

Li Mubai withdrew his gaze and gradually lowered his head to look at his homework.

"In addition, five progress awards have been set up for the entire grade. Based on the number of students who make the most progress in the opening exam and the ranking in the final exam, each student will receive a reward of 1,000 yuan."

It seems promising? But how do you define "most significant improvement"? Is it the one with the most improvement in ranking? That seems to give those ranked lower an advantage.

"Also, if I pass the college entrance exam..."

"Alright." Zhong Jianjun raised his hand to interrupt her, his tone dry. "Go downstairs now. These will all be posted on the school's official WeChat account. If you're interested, you can look them up at home."

Lin Xinle was interrupted before she could finish speaking, so she pursed her lips and sat back down.

Zhong Jianjun stood up and slowly scanned the classroom. The students who had been whispering to each other immediately lowered their heads.

"Let me tell you, studying is your own responsibility. Don't think about relying on external aids or taking shortcuts; those are all futile." He paused for a moment, then continued, "Continue studying."

There was a hint of dejection in Zhong Jianjun's tone...

Li Mubai took out his pen and began to do his homework.

When the Chinese answer sheets were handed out, as expected, there were still no red pen marks on his answer sheet.

Never mind, I'll have Xie Shu help him revise it tonight.

At five o'clock sharp, Zhong Jianjun stood up on time, walked out of the classroom with his hands behind his back, paused slightly, glanced at someone standing at the door, and left without saying anything.

"Xie Shu, why did you come up so quickly?" Li Mubai asked in surprise, as get out of class had only ended a minute ago.

"We finished our self-study session ten minutes early today." Xie Shu stood in the corridor, his hands empty.

That's wonderful, that's wonderful...

"Where's my milk tea?" Xie Shu stretched out his hand and opened his palm.

"What milk tea?" Li Mubai pretended not to know.

"You promised me milk tea and snacks." Xie Shu raised her hand and gently punched his arm.

"I remember," Li Mubai smiled. "They're all in my desk, but let's go eat first, I'll give them to you when we get back."

"Okay." Xie Shu put down his hand and nodded.

The second-year high school students returned to school today, and the streets were crowded with people. The cafeteria was also much busier than before.

Li Mubai followed Xie Shu with his tray in hand. At first, he was concerned about the occasional glances from those around him, but he got used to it as they walked.

He sat down, glanced down at his plate, then at Xie Shu's in front of him, and felt that his appetite had decreased since he started eating with her.

Suddenly, a pair of chopsticks appeared in his line of sight, picking up a few pieces of green pepper and placing them on his plate.

"These green peppers are too big; I can't eat much of them."

Li Mubai nodded, picked up a piece and put it in his mouth. Hiss—it was quite spicy…

"Xie Shu, wait for me, I'll be right out." Li Mubai said to Xie Shu before walking into the classroom.

Xie Shu gave a soft "hmm," though he might not have heard it, or he might have been talking to himself.

She walked to the railing on the fifth floor and quietly gazed into the distance. Behind the mountains were plains, and beyond the plains was the ocean. Where would they be a year from now?

"Xie Shu, what are you looking at?"

She then came to her senses and found Li Mubai already standing beside her.

"I'm spacing out."

Li Mubai gently ruffled her hair, then quickly loosened it.

"I bought you milk tea."

Are both glasses the same?

"The same."

Xie Shu took the milk tea he offered. It was at room temperature; she probably wouldn't be used to drinking it iced.

"Let's go for a walk on the playground." She wasn't in a hurry to taste it.

"OK."

Xie Shu smiled slightly; at least they were happy now.

The weather wasn't hot today, especially in the lush, tree-lined suburbs, where a refreshing breeze blew gently in the evening.

There were already quite a few people on the playground. Some were jogging, while others sat in twos and threes in the stands. Xie Shu and Li Mubai walked slowly on the rubber track.

"Let's go sit down for a bit." Xie Shu suddenly stopped and pointed to the flower bed stone under the big camphor tree by the playground.

She sat down, gently poked the straw, and heard a soft pop.

"Jasmine milk tea?" she asked.

"Hmm, how is it? I bought it from a traditional tea shop near the school."

"It's delicious." Xie Shu lowered his head and took another sip, his cheeks puffing out slightly.

Li Mubai smiled, tore open the straw packaging, poured it into his cup, took a sip, and found the taste to be similar—a light jasmine flavor, not too sweet, but not bland either.

"Are we all the same?" Xie asked casually.

"What?" Li Mubai was stunned, seemingly not having reacted yet.

"This." She shook the milk tea in her hand.

Huh? Didn't Xie Shu just ask that once? Or was he just imagining things?

"They're the same, both are jasmine milk green tea."

"So, do you think it tastes good?" Xie Shu then asked.

Li Mubai thought for a moment and commented, "It's alright."

Xie Shu didn't respond immediately. She took a sip of her milk tea and swallowed it slowly, as if she was preparing a good answer.

"If the same milk tea gets two different reviews, there are only two possibilities. First, we have different tastes. But you and I both like jasmine, so that's not the case."

"And the second one?" Li Mubai put down his cup and looked at her.

"Secondly—" Xie Shu paused slightly, "These two cups of milk tea look the same, but they are actually different, so I want to try them out and taste yours."

Li Mubai was stunned for a moment, then realized that after going through all that trouble, she just wanted to drink the cup in his hand. Why didn't she just say so? He smiled helplessly.

"Then you can try it." He handed over the milk tea in his hand.

He handed her his milk tea, but Xie Shu didn't reach out to take it. She lowered her head and bit the straw.

The two suddenly became very close, so close that Li Mubai could see her long, slender eyelashes.

"How is it?" He watched as Xie Shusong opened his straw and sat up.

"It tastes better than mine."

"real?"

Li Mubai was somewhat skeptical; weren't these all jasmine milk green teas with the same level of sweetness?

"Then try this." Xie Shu handed over the milk tea he was holding.

Li Mubai hesitated for only two seconds before Xie Shu had already placed the straw near his mouth.

He opened his mouth and bit the straw... It was indeed much sweeter than his.

Sunlight spilled onto the green lawn, and the sunset hung on the edge of the white clouds. In a corner where no one was paying attention, they sat quietly side by side.

A breeze brought a touch of coolness, and it seemed as if their summer was quietly slipping away.