We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

"The scores are out!"

"The scores are out!"

"Watch this quickly!"

Li Mubai picked up his phone and saw that Yang Kun had sent three messages in the dormitory group chat.

The class representative also posted it in the class group chat, but he had turned on Do Not Disturb.

Li Mubai logged into his campus system. The prominent entrance to check the city's mock exam results was at the top. His breathing slowed, and his fingers fell.

Chinese 125, Mathematics 120, English 125, Politics 90, History 94, Geography 92, Total 646.

His gaze swept back and forth across the line of numbers twice. His Chinese score was a little lower than last time, but his total score had increased by a few points compared to the end of last semester.

The rankings haven't been released yet, so he's not sure where this score ranks in the city, but he feels it shouldn't be too different from the previous joint exam.

He had just put his phone down when the screen lit up again.

Yan Shu: "Have you checked your score? What was it?"

Li Bubai: "Found it."

He sent the screenshot over.

Yan Shu: "Amazing! Amazing!"

Xie Shu replied almost instantly.

Before Li Mubai could even type a single line, Xie Shu sent another message.

Li Bubai: "I'm not as good as you. What did you get on the exam?"

Yan Shu: "Guess."

Li Bubai: "I won't guess."

Yan Shu: "Let me guess... •͈ ₃ •͈ ~"

Li Mubai stared at the screen for two seconds, his heart feeling as if it had been gently tickled by the tiny emoticons. This was clearly a flirtatious act, wasn't it?

He coughed lightly, suppressing his rising thoughts.

Li Bubai: "700?"

Yan Shu: "That's not right."

Li Bubai: "710?"

Yan Shu: "That's not right either. Let me give you a hint: it's too high."

Li Bubai: "690?"

He guessed them one by one.

Yan Shu: "That's right, exactly 690."

Was Xie Shu possessed today...?

He thought for a moment, his fingertips hovered over the keyboard for a second, and then typed out a line of text.

Li Bubai: "Are you available for a video call now?"

Yan Shu: "It's convenient, what's wrong?"

Xie Shu had just sent the message when her phone vibrated, and Li Mubai's image popped up on the screen. She answered the call, placed the phone on the stand, and leaned back in her chair.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly.

"Uh..." Li Mubai's voice came through the receiver, with a slightly unnatural pause, "Do you remember what gift you gave me for my birthday last year?"

"Your portrait." Xie Shu tilted his head slightly, as if he didn't quite understand why he suddenly asked this.

"Oh," he replied, his tone sounding as if he had breathed a sigh of relief.

"What's wrong with you? Why did you suddenly video call and ask this?"

A hint of embarrassment appeared on Li Mubai's face. He scratched his head and said, "I just felt that the way you were talking was a little different than usual. I was worried that you had been... you know."

"Um... what happened?"

"He's been possessed."

"Possession?" Xie Shu asked in a puzzled tone.

Thinking of Xie Shu's meager entertainment life, which likely meant he hadn't read fantasy cultivation novels, Li Mubai explained:

"Possession is when someone else's soul takes over your body."

"Oh~" Xie Shu drawled, imagining Li Mubai being possessed, "That sounds terrifying."

"Is it scary? Yes, it's very scary." Li Mubai suddenly read in a monotone tone.

Xie Shu chuckled softly, her eyebrows curving like a crescent moon in the night.

Even through the screen, Li Mubai wanted to gently pinch her fair cheek, but his fingers touched the hot screen instead.

"Li Mubai, you've actually been possessed too," Xie Shu suddenly said.

"Huh? I've been possessed?"

Li Mubai subconsciously looked down at his hands and body, and it seemed that nothing was different. He looked up again, and the face in the upper right corner of the screen was still his own.

Why would Xie Shu say that he had been possessed?

"Yes." She nodded, her tone certain. "According to you, people who are possessed will undergo drastic personality changes. You've changed a lot since your first year of high school."

Li Mubai paused for a second, then smiled: "That's different, mine is a gradual change."

"Okay..." Xie Shu didn't insist any further, her gaze falling on him through the screen. "Anyway, you've changed a lot. You've become even more handsome."

"Really?" He awkwardly looked away, somewhat embarrassed by such a direct compliment.

Meow~

A meow came from the receiver, and then the screen was mostly blocked by a fluffy yellow blob.

"Xie Shu?" he called softly.

"Yes, I'm here."

A few seconds later, she reappeared on the screen wearing pajamas, with a large, fat yellow cat lying on Xie Shu's lap.

"Look, this is a big orange, isn't it different from before?" She held up the big orange and faced the screen.

"It's definitely different now; I've gotten fatter."

Li Mubai suddenly thought of a poem: "From afar, the fat cat looks big; up close, the big cat is fat." The fat cat really is big, truly a very fat cat.

"Of course, all it does all day is eat and sleep, and it's always going to play with the other kitten." She said, getting up and disappearing from the edge of the frame. A little while later, she came back carrying both kittens. "Look."

"It's great, it's the kind of life everyone envies," Li Mubai said.

"Would you like to come to my house and see them?" Xie Shu suddenly asked.

"Uh—" He hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand to refuse, "...No need."

Xie Shu lowered his head and thought for a moment: "...Okay."

dong dong dong-

Three soft knocks came from the phone. Xie Shu turned her head, and the two cats took the opportunity to jump off her arms.

"I'm hanging up now. I need to study for a while tonight. See you tomorrow, Xiaobai."

See you tomorrow... Xiao Shu.

With a beep, the screen returned to the chat page.

Li Mubai glanced at the homework spread out on his desk, then looked at Yang Kun sharing his grades in the dormitory group chat.

Should we ask Chen Qiuhe how she did on the exam?

Li Bubai: "How did you do on the city's first mock exam?"

The message was sent, but it seemed to disappear without a trace.

After waiting for a while without receiving a reply, Li Mubai put his phone aside and focused on doing his homework.

As it approached ten o'clock, he put down his pen, stretched his aching wrists, and picked up his phone again.

Chen Qiuhe didn't say anything, but sent a screenshot of her score half an hour ago.

Chinese 113, Mathematics 112, English 128, Politics 93, History 90, Geography 91, Total 626.

Li Bubai: "You did alright on the exam. Do you want to study law? Do you have a target university?"

After waiting for a while without receiving a reply, he put his phone down and prepared to wash up and go to bed...

When Zhou Tian returned to school, Li Mubai hadn't left yet when he heard Jiao Yong complaining:

"This is incredible! There's no way I can finish this homework!"

"Does your class have a lot of homework?" Zhao Feng asked.

"Yeah, the answer sheets have been handed out. They told us to correct the mistakes so they can go over them in class tomorrow and check everyone's work." Jiao Yong didn't even look up. "I don't even have time to play basketball anymore."

"I'm about to take the college entrance exam, how can I possibly have the mind to do anything else? I haven't logged into my King of Glory account in ages," Zhao Feng said with a touch of melancholy.

"That's different. Studying is studying, and life is life."

"Holy crap! Holy crap!" Yang Kun suddenly shouted twice in the dormitory, his voice carrying an emotion that was hard to describe as either surprise or excitement.

"What did Chicken Bro do? Did he withdraw his winnings?"

"No, there's a fight." He put down the phone and checked his watch.

"A fight?" Jiao Yong immediately put down his pen and stood up. "Where? I'll go take a look."

"Fighting online is also arguing."

"Oh, that's no fun." Jiao Yong sat down again.

"Who's arguing with whom? Do you know the three elements of news? Timeliness, authenticity, explain it clearly." Zhao Feng looked at him.

"He's from our class," Yang Kun gestured towards Li Mubai's direction, "and Lao Bai knows him."

Li Mubai slung his backpack over his shoulder, then pulled back the foot that was about to step out the door, turning his head to look at him with a puzzled expression.