We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

"Dad, I want to go to Li Mubai's house."

? ?

Li Mubai, who had been relaxed, sat up straight instantly and turned his head to look at her.

Xie Zhiqiang didn't react much. He looked ahead and paused for a moment before speaking, "Yeah, don't come back too late."

"Okay." Xie Shu turned his head and smiled gently at Li Mubai.

Li Mubai withdrew his gaze, not telling Xie Shu about Xie Zhiqiang's offer to let him go abroad.

The car came to a smooth stop at the entrance of Hualian Residential Complex, and Xie Shu got out of the car with Li Mubai.

"Dad, am I leaving now?"

"Okay, be careful." Xie Zhiqiang glanced at her through the car window.

He only looked away and drove off after the two figures disappeared into the gate of the residential area.

"Welcome home, homeowner!"

Xie Zhiqiang opened the door and immediately saw Xu Ting sitting in the tea room, holding a cup of tea and slowly turning the pages of a book.

"Where's Xiao Shu? Didn't you go to pick her up?" She put down her book, her tone indifferent.

"I went to Li Mubai's house."

"Heh." Xu Ting chuckled. "Now you're not trying to break up a couple? Last week you even invited them to your house. Anyone who didn't know better would think they were your son, Xie Zhiqiang."

Xie Zhiqiang remained silent with a sullen face. He walked to the tea table, pulled out a chair, sat down, and poured himself a cup of tea. The tea water poured from the spout into the cup, steaming hot.

He held his cup but didn't drink immediately. After a while, he spoke: "What do you think of Li Mubai as a child?"

"That's fine, she's not suitable to be Xiao Shu's partner." Xu Ting rarely spoke sarcastically; her tone was quite normal.

"Not suitable?" Xie Zhiqiang put down his cup, took out his phone from his pocket, opened Douyin (TikTok), scrolled to his favorites, and pushed it in front of Xu Ting.

"I'm not some kind of genius... My goal is Peking University, maybe that's a bit unrealistic... Good luck, my class monitor Xie Shu."

The video was restarted, but Xie Zhiqiang stopped it and put it away.

"Isn't this suitable?"

"So what? What do young people know about relationships? They think that if they meet someone they like, they'll definitely be together forever." Xu Ting laughed, her tone dismissive.

"That's not what you said back then."

Xu Ting was silent for a while before slowly speaking: "It's precisely because I've walked this path that I don't want Xiao Shu to follow in my footsteps."

Xie Zhiqiang opened his mouth slightly, then closed it again; he didn't refute.

Xu Ting's ability to have this idea is partly his own responsibility. For the first twenty years of his life, he was always busy with work and neglected to spend time with his family, which turned what was once a warm home into a cold one.

"When we're both retired, let's take this little book with us and travel around the world."

"We'll see," Xu Ting said, showing no expectation, and continued flipping through the book in her hands.

The conversation seemed to have come to an end, but then Xie Zhiqiang thought of something else.

"Next month is Teacher Yang's birthday banquet, and we'll go and see him then."

"Hmm." Xu Ting's finger paused on the page. "Teacher Yang must be eighty this year."

"Yes, it's my 80th birthday, and many old classmates will come."

"Okay." Xu Ting nodded.

Although they had differing opinions, she still respected Ms. Yang quite a bit, after all, she was the class monitor back then, and Ms. Yang was their homeroom teacher...

Li Mubai put his schoolbag on the chair, and Xie Shu followed him into the room. After glancing at it, he lay down on the bed and buried his face in the blanket.

"Xie Shu, would you like to eat?"

"I want to sleep." Her voice was muffled by the pillow and could not be heard clearly.

Why did Xie Shu seem like a completely different person once he arrived at his house?

Li Mubai walked over and patted the bulging backpack on her back: "Don't sleep, or you'll wake up in the middle of the night."

"Then I'll go back tomorrow." She turned over and tossed her schoolbag aside.

"Xie Shu," Li Mubai couldn't help but ask, "Why do you seem like a different person as soon as you get to my house?"

"Has it changed?" She sat up, looking somewhat surprised.

"Take a look for yourself." He took out his phone and turned on the front camera. On the screen, Xie Shu's hair was a little messy from being pressed down by the pillow, with a few strands sticking up.

She raised her hand and straightened it.

"Your room is so warm, I felt sleepy as soon as I came in," she said.

Li Mubai looked around his room. The small space contained a bed, a wardrobe, a bedside table, and a desk. That seemed to be all.

"I don't feel that way in my family," Xie Shu added.

"Isn't living in a villa very lonely?" Li Mubai had been wanting to ask this question.

"There's one thing: there are only three people in the empty house, and sometimes you can hear the echo when you speak loudly in the living room."

"Then we won't be living in the villa anymore," Li Mubai joked.

"Hmm..." Xie Shu lowered his head, as if he was seriously considering the matter.

Li Mubai quickly interrupted her: "Hurry up and study, the provincial mock exam is coming up soon."

"Okay." Xie Shu took his schoolbag and placed it on the table. "Do your math homework first, then we'll compare our work, and I'll explain the mistakes to you."

"Okay," Li Mubai asked again, "What time are you going back?"

She glanced at her watch: "Nine o'clock."

"So you're not having dinner?"

"There's no rush yet."

Li Mubai moved a chair over, and the two of them squeezed together in front of a small desk.

His room was a bit dark, so he turned on the table lamp, and the light focused on the table, illuminating the books and draft papers laid out clearly.

The room gradually quieted down, leaving only the scratching sound of the pen tip gliding across the paper.

"Let me tell you, now that the kids are about to take the college entrance exam, they can eat more eggs, fish and other things to supplement their protein intake."

"Okay, okay, I'll buy a fish tonight, and Xiaobai and Xiaoyu can have plenty."

Click.

The door was pushed open, and Li's mother walked in. The corridor was dark, with only a sliver of light shining through the crack under the door to Li Mubai's room.

"Xiaobai," she called out, but no one answered.

"She's probably studying peacefully in her room," Aunt Lan said with a smile.

"Xiaoyu, could you please go and call Xiaobai? Your mom and I will start preparing the vegetables."

"Okay, okay." Lan Shiyu walked to Li Mubai's room door, raised her hand and knocked twice. "Li Mubai, Aunt Yang wants you to come out."

A few seconds later, the door was pulled open a crack, and Li Mubai stood behind it, asking, "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing?" Li Mubai blocked the gap in the door.

"Aunt Yang is calling you." She glanced at Li Mubai, whose eyes kept looking behind him.

"Oh," Li Mubai responded, carefully stepping out and quickly closing the door behind him.

"Why are you acting like a thief?" Lan Shiyu tilted her head to look at him. "Have you been keeping a mistress?"

Li Mubai's heart tightened, and he didn't answer her question: "Why did you suddenly come?"

"666, do you think I wanted to come? I still need to study hard! My mom said the provincial mock exam is coming up soon, so I came to see you guys. Then Aunt Yang said I should stay for dinner, and that's how it ended up."

Li Mubai frowned, turned around, and went into the kitchen.

"Mom, Aunt Lan."

"Xiaobai, your Aunt Lan and her family are having dinner at our house tonight. You're studying, right?"

"I'm studying," Li Mubai replied. "Why aren't you going out to eat?" he asked again.

"Eating out is so expensive! And it's not healthy either!"

"I want to eat hot pot," he tried to persuade him.

"Let's eat again next time, the dishes are already being prepared." Aunt Lan waved her hand with a smile.

"Let's make hot pot next time," Li's mother added.

"Alright..."

"Go back to your studies first, and call Xiaoyu to come along." Li's mother gestured with her chin towards the living room. "I'll call you when it's ready."

"Hmm." He retreated to the living room.

Lan Shiyu was lying on the sofa playing on her phone, munching on potato chips.

He looked away without saying anything and went back to his room.

dong dong dong-

"What are you doing?" Li Mubai opened the door.

"My mom told me to stop playing on my phone and study with you guys." Lan Shiyu stood at the door holding her phone.

"You're a science student, and I'm a humanities student, how can we study together?"

"Lend me your Chinese textbook, I want to memorize some classical Chinese texts."

"Wait here." Li Mubai closed the door and returned a minute later, handing her a memorization booklet.

Lan Shiyu took it and casually flipped through two pages: "Wow, the handwriting is quite neat."

"Hmm," Li Mubai responded indifferently.

Just as Lan Shiyu was about to go inside, Li Mubai closed the door again.

Something's not right, something's very wrong. Could Li Mubai be doing *that*? It's not that it's hard to not understand, after all, he's at the age when he's just starting to experience romantic feelings.

She thought for a moment, then picked up the book again and went back to the living room...

"Xiaobai, go downstairs and call your dad and Uncle Zhou up for dinner," Li's mother's voice came from the kitchen.

Li Mubai opened the door and walked out, then closed it behind him. He didn't go downstairs, but instead went into the kitchen.

"Mom, one of my classmates is here too. Can we invite her to have dinner together?"

"A classmate?" Li's mother was still holding a spatula. "Let him come over. It's just one more pair of chopsticks."

"it is good."

"Where is your classmate?" Li's mother asked casually.

"In my room." Li Mubai said and ran off, leaving his mother standing there stunned, holding a spatula.

"Your Xiaobai must have a boyfriend now," Aunt Lan said with a smile from the side.

"Not yet, it's a male student who's coming," Li's mother said, smiling as she came to her senses. "He's still focused on his studies."

……

"Hello, uncles and aunts." Xie Shu stood in the living room, bowed slightly, and spoke in a more restrained and proper tone than usual.

"..."

Li Mubai lowered his head guiltily, while Lan Shiyu stared wide-eyed at the two of them, and the entire living room fell silent.

"Where's my teammate?! Help!"

"Help me!"

"Help me!"

"What is Number Four doing!" Lan Shiyu quickly turned off the volume on her phone.

"Xiao Bai didn't tell me you were here too," Li's mother said with a stiff smile, turning to Aunt Lan and the others, "This is Li Mubai's classmate, the top student in their school."

"Wow, that's amazing! You got first place!"

"Auntie, you flatter me. I just happened to be passing by today, so I came to do my homework with Li Mubai."

"Let's eat first, it's getting late," said Mr. Li as he sat down at the table.

"Let's eat, let's eat." Uncle Zhou was already smiling as he went to serve the rice.

"Okay." Xie Shu took the bowl, bowed his head, and thanked her.

Her movements were very elegant, unlike the casual manner she displayed in the school cafeteria, just like when Li Mubai visited her home last time.

Li's mother gave Li Mubai a meaningful look.

"Uh..." Li Mubai turned his head away. "Xie Shu, try this fish, it's quite delicious."

"Okay." Xie Shu nodded, but didn't move.

Li's mother raised her chin slightly towards Li Mubai.

"..." Li Mubai hesitated for a moment, then picked up a piece of fish and put it into Xie Shu's bowl.

"Thank you," Xie Shu said softly, glancing at the piece of fish in the bowl.

"Don't mention it." Li Mubai smiled awkwardly.

Lan Shiyu sat to the side, observing the two from time to time. She secretly took out her phone, leaned back, and pretended to play with her phone, but actually secretly took a picture.

"Come on!" Uncle Zhou raised his glass. "Today, let's send our three children off to the provincial mock exam!"

It's like the college entrance exam...

Li Mubai poured Xie Shu a drink and slowly raised his glass.

I wish you all the best in your studies.

"Bags, bags."

Li Mubai turned his head and glanced at Xie Shu beside him.

She was also holding up her cup, with a slight smile on her lips.

The sky outside the window had completely darkened, and the living room was warmly lit.