We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

"Qiuhe, why are you back so late? It's already eleven o'clock."

Chen Qiuhe tossed her schoolbag onto the table, took a few breaths, and replied, "It's our group's turn to do chores today."

"Wait a minute, isn't Manqi in your group too? She came back about ten minutes ago."

"Hmm? Are you calling me?" Ye Manqi, with a face mask on, peeked half her face out from the bathroom.

"Uh...it's nothing, I didn't call you."

Deng Yi looked at Chen Qiuhe next to her again.

"I'm going to throw out the trash." Chen Qiuhe waved her hand, turned around, and said, "I'm going to study now."

"Alright." Deng Yi said no more.

Chen Qiuhe secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She quietly raised her head and glanced around the dormitory. Xie Shu was leaning against the bed flipping through a book, Deng Yi was holding a memorization manual, and Ye Manqi was washing up...

Without making a sound, she pulled an unassuming notebook from her bag. After confirming that everyone in the dorm was doing their own thing, she slowly opened it and picked up a pen…

February 23rd, cloudy.

The sound suddenly came from behind her. Almost at the same second, Chen Qiuhe slammed the laptop shut, the force of which made a dull thud on the table.

She turned her head and saw that Ye Manqi was already standing next to her, looking at her notebook.

"Why do you walk so silently! You're like a female ghost!" Chen Qiuhe said, her voice trembling with excitement.

"A female ghost? Have you ever seen such a beautiful female ghost?" Ye Manqi took off her face mask. "I was just passing by and thought I'd check out what my roommates were up to."

Chen Qiuhe didn't reply. She was silent for a few seconds, then turned around and stuffed the notebook back into her bag.

Noticing that her expression wasn't good, Ye Manqi quickly apologized.

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't know you were writing in a diary. I thought you were studying."

"It's nothing." Chen Qiuhe raised her hand, wanting to end the topic as soon as possible.

Journal?

The small dormitory room had almost no secrets, and that phrase immediately popped into everyone's mind.

Deng Yi put down the memorization manual, glanced at Chen Qiuhe, who threw her schoolbag onto the bed and prepared to wash up.

Only girls with worries would write in a diary.

She glanced at Xie Shu, who was leaning against the bed, quietly turning the pages of a book, as if he were in another world.

Does Shu Bao keep a diary? Is her diary filled with memories of her time with Li Mu Bai?

She shook her head, kicking those distracting thoughts out of her mind.

Hurry up and study! In a few days, there will only be 100 days left until the college entrance exam...

Li Mubai looked at the huge electronic screen—Pingyang No. 6 Middle School's 100-Day Countdown Rally and Scholarship Award Ceremony.

The auditorium was filled with all sorts of banners for the college entrance examination, red with white lettering, hanging from the walls on both sides all the way to the ground.

Good morning, teachers and dear senior students!

The principal's impassioned voice came from the podium, and thunderous applause rang out in the auditorium, pulling Li Mubai, who was hiding behind the curtain, back to reality.

Time never reminds you like an alarm clock does, it just slips away silently until the 100-day sprint quietly arrives before him, and only then does he belatedly look up.

Li Mubai turned his gaze from the podium to his side.

"Nervous? It's okay, take a deep breath and you won't be nervous anymore, I'm here too." Xie Shu turned his head slightly.

"Okay." He did as instructed, and his chest gradually calmed down.

"Don't be too obvious when reading from the script. Glance at the script, jot down a sentence, and then keep your eyes on your classmates. Don't keep your head down." Not far away, a science teacher was quietly instructing two students.

Li Mubai looked in the direction of the sound and saw Xiao Qingqing standing next to the science class representative, listening quietly.

There were four student representatives in total, half from arts and half from sciences, and he was one of them.

"Xie Shu, Li Mubai, come here."

A hoarse voice rang out, and Zhong Jianjun waved to them.

"Teacher Zhong."

"Did you bring all your manuscripts? Let me take another look and check them," Zhong Jianjun asked.

"I brought it." Li Mubai took out his slightly revised manuscript.

Zhong Jianjun glanced at it, and after confirming that there were no major problems, returned it to him.

"I wasn't prepared," Xie Shu said calmly.

Zhong Jianjun's gaze lingered on her face for a moment, but he didn't say anything more.

"Whether you have prepared a speech or not, you must have a speech in mind. The 100-day countdown rally is the last leg of your senior year..."

Zhong Jianjun gave a long, worried speech, but Li Mubai's attention was entirely focused on the last stretch of road for the seniors.

What is this all about? Faced with predetermined destiny, will Sisyphus silently complete each step forward, or will Achilles face it with composure?

Suddenly, his sleeve was gently tugged.

Li Mubai looked up and found Zhong Jianjun staring at him with his perpetually stern face.

"Okay, Teacher Zhong," he replied.

"Alright, go and prepare yourself mentally. After the science student representatives are done, it will be your turn."

Zhong Jianjun did not pursue the matter of him being distracted. After he finished speaking, he walked straight off the stage and returned to his seat in Class 18.

"What were you thinking about just now?" Xie Shu asked, tilting his head.

"I'm thinking about what Teacher Zhong just said. This is the last stretch of our senior year." Li Mubai looked at the podium, and the science student walked up to it.

"This is indeed the last stretch of the road in our senior year of high school, but it is not our last stretch," Xie Shu said firmly.

"Of course." Li Mubai nodded affirmatively.

Xie Shu looked at him, and the next moment, she suddenly took half a step forward and gently hugged him.

Li Mubai's heart skipped a beat, but before he could react, she had already let go.

"If you ever change your mind, I'll lock you in a dark room to reflect on your actions." She clenched her fist and raised it.

Before Li Mubai could answer, the host's voice came from the podium.

"Please welcome Xie Shu, representative of Class 3, Grade 12, to speak."

Xie Shu stepped out of the shadows of the curtain, and bright light draped over her, as if spreading a halo.

Li Mubai withdrew his gaze and glanced around discreetly. Apart from Xiao Qingqing looking at him, everyone else was busy with their own things, and he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"Li Mubai, please get ready." The host walked back from the front of the stage and whispered a reminder to him.

"it is good."

He took a deep breath and exhaled heavily, squeezing out all the emotions in his heart.

"I wish every student the best of luck in getting into their dream university. Thank you everyone."

Xie Shu took half a step back, bowed slightly, and then stepped behind the curtain.

"Keep it up." She came to Li Mubai's side.

"Mm." Li Mubai nodded.

"Please welcome Li Mubai, representative of Class 38, to speak."

As the host stepped down, Li Mubai slowly walked out with heavy steps. The bright spotlight made his pupils feel uncomfortable for a moment, but he quickly adjusted.

He walked to the platform, his speech manuscript spread out in his palm, and gently tapped the microphone, producing two muffled thuds.

Wearing glasses, he scanned the audience below the stage and saw many familiar faces: Chen Qiuhe, Huang Lingling, Yang Kun, Lan Shiyu, Zhao Feng…

"Dear teachers," he paused, "good morning, students."

Applause erupted from the audience, giving him a chance to catch his breath. Looking at the speech he had written meticulously according to the template, he felt an urge to deliver the speech without notes.

The applause gradually subsided, and his breathing slowed down.

"I am Li Mubai from Class 18 of Senior Three. I am very happy to stand on the platform and speak."

He raised his eyes and looked at the dark mass of people below the stage, with school leaders and teachers sitting in the first row.

"Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, we only have one hundred days left in high school. I still remember when I stepped into the campus of No. 6 High School at the age of sixteen, full of curiosity about everything. I also remember the first evening self-study session and the self-introductions of my classmates..."

His voice became more natural.

"I'm not a child prodigy, nor do I come from a privileged family. Like many of my classmates, I was just a Sisyphus, burying my head in my studies day after day. In my first year of high school, I didn't know what I was doing; I just knew I had to keep moving forward..."

His voice paused for a moment, and the auditorium fell silent.

"I used to think my life would just pass by like this, ordinary and uneventful: get into a good university, find a job, get married and have children, and live out my life in a very ordinary way. But..."

"Until my second year of high school, everything changed. Someone barged into my previously unchanging life..."

There was a slight commotion in the audience.

"She is very capable, but I feel inferior. However, she told me that if a person does not even have the courage to express their own needs, that is not inferiority, but cowardice."

"I'm not a genius, but I also want to express my own desires, I want to get closer to her, and I want to stand on her side!"

He stopped and his gaze swept over the young faces below the stage.

"Because I realized that I'm still just a teenager, I still have time to change, I still have the opportunity to change!"

"My goal is Peking University. It might seem a bit far-fetched, and I might be ridiculed by others, but I want to pursue it! I want to use the time I have left to prove that I can do it! I'm capable!"

"Because I am still just a teenager, an age full of possibilities."

His voice stopped again, then resumed after a moment.

"And you, my classmates at No. 6 Middle School, are also young people! As long as you have a goal in your heart and a direction in your heart, why not boldly and resolutely move forward?"

"As teenagers, we should possess youthful vigor; as teenagers, we should have the courage to pursue our dreams. Don't wait until ten years later to look back on your youth and regret it alone."

As soon as he finished speaking, thunderous applause erupted.

But Li Mubai did not leave; he remained standing on the podium.

The applause gradually subsided.

"Finally, let's all cheer each other on! Fellow students, fellow young people! Go for it! My... class monitor, Xie Shu."

That concludes my remarks. Thank you everyone.

He left the stage immediately after speaking, leaving the auditorium completely silent.

After two seconds of silence, someone clapped their hands first, and then applause rang out continuously, mixed with faint shouts, filling the entire auditorium.