We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

"The third sub-question should be that logarithmic addition equals the product of the arguments, with all the numbers canceling out in between. Then, using the conclusion from the second sub-question, we can take a special value..."

"Oh—I see." Feng Wanli nodded repeatedly, adjusting his glasses. "You're really something, Li Mubai."

"Actually, I got this question wrong." Li Mubai smiled, put down his pen, and said, "Xie Shu taught me."

"Won't you two being together affect your studies?" Feng Wanli asked, unusually curious.

"It's alright." Li Mubai thought for a moment, "I feel like my studies are even better now."

"Really?" Yang Kun poked his head out of the bed. "Then I need to find a girlfriend too."

"Don't drag others down with you," Zhao Feng glanced at him.

"That's just ridiculous. I'll definitely find a good student to tutor me. My goal right now is to get into a top university."

Seeing that the topic was getting further and further off track, Feng Wanli quietly put away his test paper and returned to his seat.

"Now is a good time to find a partner. Look at Li Mubai, he does whatever he wants every day and nothing happens to him. He's about to take the college entrance exam. As long as he doesn't cause any major trouble, the school won't interfere too much," Jiao Yong said, leaning against the bed rail.

A hint of embarrassment appeared on Li Mubai's face, but he didn't say anything.

"That's true, but can Brother Chicken find someone who meets these conditions?" Zhao Feng looked Yang Kun up and down.

"Heh." Yang Kun chuckled coldly twice, without refuting him.

"Speaking of which, it seems like only two people in our dorm have partners, right?" Zhao Feng looked around. "Isn't it supposed to be that liberal arts students are guaranteed job placement?"

"Then why even ask why? You must have been rejected by someone ugly."

"Aren't you one?" Zhao Feng quickly retorted.

Yang Kun opened his mouth, but surprisingly did not refute it, and turned back to recite his text.

Zhao Feng didn't press the matter further and changed the subject: "So, does anyone know who Wang Rui's boyfriend is?"

"I don't know. You should ask Brother Yong. He's the closest to him."

Zhao Feng looked at Jiao Yong.

Jiao Yong flipped through a page of his notes and shook his head: "I don't know either. He and his girlfriend rarely see each other at school, and they always avoid everyone when they do meet."

"We'll interrogate him properly when he gets back."

"You do the work, I need to study hard, the provincial mock exam is in two weeks." Yang Kun turned his head back to the exercises on the table, "Remember to tell me the answers after you finish."

Zhao Feng then looked at Jiao Yong.

"I need to study too, the provincial mock exam is very important, bro." Jiao Yong waved his hand.

"Study, everyone study, studying is good." Zhao Feng sounded like a weathered old man.

During the provincial mock exam, Li Mubai twirled his pen in his hand, then his gaze returned to the exercises on the table…

"The first question asks for the range of values ​​for m. The first step is to write the domain. f(x) has lnx, so the domain x is greater than 0... Finally, there must be two intersection points, which means 0 is less than 2m and less than e, that is, 0 is less than m and less than half of e."

Xie Shu stopped speaking, waiting for him to process the information.

Her gaze shifted, looking at him sitting beside her. Li Mubai remained motionless, his eyes fixed on the draft paper, seemingly deep in thought.

"I understand. What's the next question? I had a vague feeling that something was wrong when I wrote the second step." Li Mubai pointed to the second question.

She looked away and returned her gaze to the question.

"Take it slow. We know that x1 and x2 are the zeros of the derivative..."

After explaining a set of questions, Xie Shu's arms were slightly sore, so she put down her pen and moved her wrists.

In contrast, Li Mubai remained with his head down, looking at the draft paper filled with the solution steps, thinking and digesting the information.

"Aren't you tired?" Xie Shu asked.

"Tired?" Li Mubai looked up at her. "Not tired, I feel fine."

Is it because boys have more energy than girls? It doesn't seem so. After explaining a set of questions, you could see a hint of fatigue on Li Mubai's face.

"We're going to have to save time from the mock exam, but we also need to pay attention to balancing work and rest," Xie Shu said.

"Okay, got it."

Xie Shu didn't say anything. She rested her hand on the table, propped her chin on her hand, and watched Li Mubai looking down at the questions.

She suddenly thought, why not bring him home this weekend? Xu Ting always has the housekeeper cook lots of nutritious dinners, and they never seem to finish them all. It would be good to give him some extra nutrition.

"Want to come to my house this weekend?" she asked.

"Huh?" Li Mubai was taken aback. "Let's not go. It was quite awkward last time."

"Grandpa Yang even said he would take you with him more often."

"Maybe it's just polite talk," Li Mubai chuckled.

"No, Grandpa Yang wouldn't say such polite things." Xie Shu lowered his hand and looked at him.

Li Mubai thought for a moment and changed the subject: "This Mr. Yang... have you known him for a long time?"

"Yes." Xie Shu nodded. "He watched me grow up. Every year during holidays, my parents would take me to see him."

"I only met him once, but he seemed like a nice person."

Moreover, he seemed like Zhong Jianjun, Li Mubai silently added in his mind, only not as strict as Zhong Jianjun.

"Back then, my parents were in a relationship, which was discovered by the school's ideological and political education department. They wanted to call the parents, but it was Grandpa Yang who overruled everyone's objections and saved their relationship."

Okay... he was wrong, this should be Wuchang Kingdom.

"Actually, we're a bit like them too." Xie Shu turned his head to look at him, a faint smile on his lips.

"That's true... a little bit." Li Mubai nodded as well.

"However, my mother couldn't go abroad at that time."

"Your mother also went abroad?" Li Mubai asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Yes, she received an acceptance letter from the University of Birmingham, but due to various factors, she ultimately went to Fudan University with my dad."

"So... is this why your mother has always wanted you to study abroad?"

Xie Shu did not answer immediately, but nodded slightly after a while.

The office fell silent for a moment.

Drop drop-

The digital clock on the table chimed, breaking the silence.

"Let's go, it's ten o'clock," Xie Shu said.

"Um……"

At the end of March, it seemed that another rainy season was about to begin. The night sky was so dark that neither the moon nor the stars could be seen.

He and Xie Shu strolled on the playground, which was full of classmates. This was a rare moment of leisure in their senior year of high school.

As we approached a bend in the road, under the dark trees, we could vaguely make out two figures embracing.

Are you no longer shying away from talking about it now that you're in your final year of high school?

Li Mubai withdrew his gaze and looked ahead.

A man and a woman were standing very close together on the rubber track ahead, holding hands...

"Li Mubai, are your uncle and aunt usually very busy?" Xie Shu asked suddenly, stepping on the white line.

He paused for a moment, then realized that Xie Shu seemed to be asking about his parents.

"It's alright. I used to be very busy, but I haven't been as busy lately."

"So you cook for yourself every time you get home from school?"

Li Mubai thought for a moment: "Sometimes I cook it myself, and sometimes I go to the shop."

"Then come to my house, and we can have dinner there too." She returned to the previous topic.

"Come to my house, and I'll invite all my aunts, uncles, and other relatives to introduce you," Li Mubai joked.

"Okay." Xie Shu nodded in agreement without hesitation.

"..."

They slowly walked to the gate of the playground, turned around, and prepared to go back to their dormitory.

"You're already exhausted after just two laps, are you even capable?"

"Don't criticize me too harshly. You have to eat one bite at a time and lose weight one step at a time. Although I only ran two laps today, it was a big step forward in my weight loss journey."

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Li Mubai paused slightly and turned his head to look.

Holy crap!

"I told you to stop swearing. Swearing is uncivilized, don't you know that?"

Yang Kun didn't respond.

"What a coincidence," he said, his tone still somewhat surprised.

"Yang Kun? Huang Lingling?" Li Mubai asked in confusion.

"Hey—" Huang Lingling turned her head and saw them, then waved to Xie Shu, "Hello, Li Mubai, Xie Shu."

"Mm." Xie Shu nodded.

"..."

Li Mubai and Yang Kun exchanged a glance, and the latter guiltily looked away.

"Are you going back to the dorms too?" Xie Shu asked.

"Yes, what a coincidence!" Huang Lingling naturally walked to Xie Shu's side. "Are you taking a walk?"

Two girls walked in front, while Li Mubai slowed down and walked alongside Yang Kun behind.

Huang Lingling was talking to Xie Shu with her head turned to the side, and Xie Shu occasionally responded.

Li Mubai glanced at Yang Kun, who was wiping the sweat from his face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in a low voice.

"Let's run together, what's the problem?" Yang Kun said.

"Oh, it's nothing."

Li Mubai nodded, but he didn't believe it. This reason was just as far-fetched as Xie Shu always saying that they were friends.

"But please, don't tell the other people in the dorm. Although Huang Lingling and I have a normal relationship, if it gets spread too much, it will inevitably cause trouble."

"I understand, I understand."

Yang Kun glanced at the two people in front of him and added, "If you tell anyone else, don't blame me for taking your virginity for Xie Shu."

Li Mubai felt a chill and instinctively moved away from Yang Kun.

"Don't be like that, I was just kidding, your brother Chicken is straight."

Li Mubai shook his head. He wouldn't tell anyone that he wasn't really interested in his classmates' romantic relationships.

He looked up at the sky; thick clouds blocked out the light, and it looked like it would rain tomorrow.