We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

"Beep!"

A sharp car horn shattered Li Mubai's reverie.

"These damn taxis!" Li's father cursed.

Back to school.

The closer I got to the school, the further away the reality of having barbecue and browsing bookstores with Xie Shu on weekends felt, as if it were a fictional dream.

Just when he was about to give up on his unrequited love, a fleeting dream gave him hope to continue.

The school is Li Mubai's real-life prison. Here, he is an average-to-upper-level student who is bad at math and has no interest in English, a transparent person who is used to hiding in the crowd.

During evening self-study, since Teacher Wu is still hospitalized, Teacher Kong will temporarily take over the class tonight.

Ms. Kong is very young, having only been at the school for a year or two. She is said to be a graduate of a prestigious university; otherwise, she would not be qualified to serve as the head teacher and political science teacher for the top class.

Youth is wonderful; you have plenty of energy to dedicate to your career. But youth also has its downsides; you lack a certain commanding presence.

As a result, the students in the class gradually became bolder. They finished their weekend homework and many of them had nothing to do.

Chen Qiuhe handed over a metal box and a notebook specifically for conversations.

"This week's mobile phone usage fee."

"No."

"You're not letting me play with my phone anymore?!"

"I mean, you gave too much. It's not worth that much for just playing on a phone once."

"So... you mean you want us to be able to play from Monday to Friday?"

"If I let you play with it, what else am I supposed to play with? Besides, students should focus on their studies and not think about playing on their phones all day." Li Mubai wrote down these critical words in his notebook.

"Cough cough!" A clear cough came from the podium; it wasn't a cold.

"Xie Shu, vice class monitor, come to my office. The rest of you continue studying. Don't talk until the end of get out of class. The discipline committee member will keep an eye on things."

Wearing the school uniform, Xie Shu reverted to his aloof demeanor, completely different from yesterday. Perhaps the school uniform not only sealed away his good looks, but also his personality.

"Teacher Wu has already told me that he won't be back for another week. During this time, you will be more responsible for the regular morning exercises. I will also be there." Teacher Kong sat at his desk and casually threw the empty Want Want milk on the table into the trash can.

"Also, Teacher Wu told me to keep a close eye on the class and make sure nothing goes wrong. The midterm exams are coming up soon, so make sure to maintain the good image of the top class," Teacher Kong continued.

"OK."

"It's nothing, you guys go back to study first, I'll come back next evening study session."

Actually, there's something Teacher Kong didn't explicitly say—Teacher Wu also emphasized the importance of early romantic relationships to her, but as someone who's been through it, she believes that it's better to guide than to suppress.

On the way back to class, the atmosphere was subtle. Yesterday, the two of them were "happy and harmonious," but now they were silent like strangers.

After evening self-study ended, Li Mubai returned to his dormitory and sent the poem he had written to Yan Shu:

Listen to the rain

Beautiful scenery is readily available, but a beautiful woman is hard to find again.

We listened to the rain outside the window and counted the few seagulls.

Yan Shu: "Received. I understand the first three sentences. What does 'seagull' mean in the last sentence?"

Li Mubai thought the first question the other party would ask him was who the "beauty" was. It's human nature to be curious, and Yan Shu was surprisingly studious.

Li Bubai: "The sand gull is an allusion. It tells of a man who usually played happily with seagulls when he went out to sea. But one day his father asked him to catch the seagulls, so the seagulls flew very high and refused to come down. This allusion means to follow nature. In poetry, it often expresses a leisurely and carefree feeling, such as Huang Tingjian's 'Returning home by boat after ten thousand miles, playing the long flute, my heart is sworn with the white seagulls.'"

His explanations of the book are very detailed.

Yan Shu: "I've learned something new, and I've also memorized a historical anecdote."

Li Bubai: "By the way, don't write a five-character quatrain; it's very difficult to master."

Yan Shu: "Fine, did you write so little to save time and be lazy?"

You don't understand, this is called "few words, big impact".

Li Bubai: "It's already burned out."

Yan Shu: "Hmph, so what are we going to write about for our first bi-weekly assignment?"

Li Bubai: "Let me think about it."

Setting exam questions is also a skill that requires effort.

Yan Shu: "Don't you dare slack off again!"

Li Bubai: "Understood, it will be released by tomorrow at the latest."

Later, the school's confession wall featured poems by Li Mubai and Yan Shu, as well as poems by others. The confession wall usually designed these works and added pictures, making them much more vivid than the plain text in the school newspaper.

But to work so late, Yan Shu is really hardworking.

He gave it a thumbs up, dedicating one part to Yan Shu and nine parts to himself.

Yan Shu: "Get some rest early, goodnight."

Li Bubai: "Okay, see you tomorrow."

Yan Shu: "Aren't you going to say goodnight?"

Woman, you're asking for too much.

Li Mubai decided to pretend to be asleep. Seven billion people in the world have this ability—to fall asleep instantly—which he, a frequent sufferer of insomnia, greatly envied. Nighttime was his most active time; he would often be so excited by a brilliant line that he couldn't sleep, and wouldn't stop until he finished writing it down.

"Let us drink and sing, for life is short! Like morning dew, the days gone by are many. I must try to find peace, for my sorrows are hard to forget. What can dispel my sorrows? Only wine..."

On Monday, in Chinese class, we began studying Cao Cao's "Short Song Ballad." Wine culture is a major area of ​​poetry, and it seems that all ancient poets drank wine. Works like Du Fu's "Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup" and Li Bai's "Bring in the Wine" are well-known.

Li Mubai's province is a place with a rich wine culture. In the past, when he returned to his hometown for the Spring Festival, his relatives liked to dip their chopsticks in a little white wine to tease the children until they cried from the spiciness.

He doesn't drink alcohol, so he rarely uses the word "wine" in his poems. This imagery, which is inconsistent with his age, easily pulls the reader out of the story, just as Xin Qiji wrote: "Forced to write new poems, he feigns sorrow."

"I know Cao Cao's military strategy, do you want to hear it?" Chen Qiuhe passed him a small notebook again during class.

"Tell me about it?"

"As the saying goes, a victorious army is bound to be arrogant, an arrogant army is bound to be defeated, a defeated army is bound to be miserable, a miserable army is bound to be victorious, and a victorious army is bound to be arrogant..."

"...If I hear any more jokes about the new 3rd generation, I'll go deaf."

"Deafness is a sign of an emperor."

Monday is also the day for the regular meeting. In other classes, the class monitor and vice-monitor take turns attending, but in their class, the class monitor and vice-monitor attend every single week.

Xie Shu remained silent, just as he had been the day before.

Xing Yi didn't come this week, so I don't have to listen to his incessant chatter anymore.

"The flag-raising ceremony next Monday will be for Class 3 of Grade 11. The theme is unity and friendship. Please have Class 3 prepare your speech and submit it to Teacher Lu in the Academic Affairs Office for review before this Friday," Xiao Qingqing said.

"OK."

After it's over, there's still plenty of time, so we can go to the cafeteria for lunch.

Li Mubai no longer resists spending time alone with Xie Shu. Over the past three weeks, since becoming the vice class monitor, they seem to have often spent time alone together. It has become a habit, and they have gradually gotten used to it from the initial tension and timidity. However, it seems that the two of them don't have much to talk about.

"class……"

"country……"

The two spoke at the same time.

"Class monitor, you go first," Li Mubai conceded.

"Yes, both the class monitor and vice class monitor will give a speech under the national flag, so remember to write a speech as well. We'll review each other's speeches during club class on Wednesday."

"OK."

He was about to ask about this when Xie Shu brought it up as well. What was this? Was it a telepathic connection?

Note:

①Sha Ou: "Collected Explanations of Liezi": "There was a man on the sea who loved bubble birds. Every morning he would go to the sea and play with the bubble birds. Hundreds of bubble birds would come and stay. His father said, 'I heard that all the bubble birds follow you. Bring them back so I can play with them.' The next day, he went to the sea, but the bubble birds danced and did not come down. Therefore it is said that the ultimate words transcend words, and the ultimate actions are non-action. The knowledge of those with limited wisdom is shallow."

② "Returning home by boat after a long journey, I play my flute; my heart is pledged to the white gulls." Huang Tingjian's full poem is as follows: "The foolish child has finished his official duties, leaning against the pavilion in the evening sunshine. Fallen leaves cover a thousand mountains, the sky is vast and distant; a clear river flows, the moon shines brightly. The zither strings have been broken for the sake of the beauty; my eyes are now fixed on the wine. Returning home by boat after a long journey, I play my flute; my heart is pledged to the white gulls." Huang Tingjian's poetic style emphasizes that every word has an origin. The second couplet, "Fallen leaves cover a thousand mountains, the sky is vast and distant; a clear river flows, the moon shines brightly," is an allusion to Du Fu's "Boundless fallen leaves rustle down; the endless Yangtze River rolls on."