We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

"What are you looking at?"

"Confucius Academy".

"Go if you want, it's so close, you can go in and take a look now."

"No."

Li Mubai looked away and decided to take the bus home as soon as possible; even if he took the first bus after school, he wouldn't get home until after 7 p.m.

The bus, like a bloated old man, swayed and staggered as it approached.

This time, Li Mubai didn't deliberately separate himself from Chen Qiuhe. No matter what, she would stick close to him, so it didn't matter.

"Can I play on my phone for a bit?"

"Didn't you say you stopped using your phone?"

Last week, Chen Qiuhe swore she wouldn't play anymore.

That was me last week, not me now.

"Aren't you the same person you were last week? You've denied relative stillness."

Li Mubai launched a rebuttal.

"So what? I want to play on my phone! Let me play!"

Chen Qiuhe launched a physical attack, shaking his arm repeatedly.

"Okay, okay, I'll give in to you and let you play."

That Chen Qiuhe is so reckless. It's a shame she's older than him, yet she's not as mature and steady.

Chen Qiuhe skillfully cracked the password, but instead of opening the video app, she went to the photo album and clicked on it—"Please enter your privacy password."

"You actually set a privacy password to protect yourself from your best deskmate? Have you forgotten who risked being caught by the teacher to send you the photos?"

Chen Qiuhe wiped away imaginary tears with her hand and said, feigning sadness.

Hehe, that's exactly what I'm doing here.

"Why are you looking at my photo album? It's full of my private information," Li Mubai retorted.

"I just wanted to see if you saved that photo. Since you've already set a password, I won't look at it, hehe." Chen Qiuhe's expression suddenly changed, as if she had figured him out.

"Give it to me."

Li Mubai took the phone, turned his back to her, and unlocked the privacy password: "Here you go, open your beady eyes and see if you can find it."

Chen Qiuhe clicked on all his photos, and to her surprise, there was neither that photo nor any selfies of his; they were all just casual landscape photos.

Chen Qiuhe was still on the first floor, while Li Mubai was already on the third floor. He had long ago saved that photo elsewhere.

"Does your phone have a private photo album?"

Chen Qiuhe clicked around, searching for clues in the private photo album.

"Stop it, I'm not a pervert, why would I randomly save photos of other female classmates?"

"...It's hard to say."

Chen Qiuhe didn't believe he wouldn't have kept it, but she couldn't think of where he had hidden the photo for the time being.

"Do you keep Hakimi at home?" She gestured to show him a few photos.

"No, they're stray cats in the neighborhood." Li Mubai actually likes cats and dogs quite a bit, but his family doesn't allow him to keep them, so he can only feed stray cats.

"I didn't realize you were so kind-hearted."

He smiled but didn't say anything.

"There's also a stray cat at the school," Chen Qiuhe continued.

"Where is it? I've never seen it before."

"I stumbled upon this place by chance. It's quite remote. What, do you want to feed them?"

"If you run into him, feed him." Then he can bring some cat food and cat treats to school.

"I'll take you next time I have time, but I don't know if it'll still be there."

"Um."

Chen Qiuhe started watching videos, while Li Mubai closed his eyes and pondered the topic he had been working on for half a month.

"Oh, thank you, Shu."

Fool, do you think I'd panic?

Li Mubai ignored Chen Qiuhe.

"Such good self-control?"

"I need to rest for a while."

"Then I won't bother you anymore, you should go to sleep."

Chen Qiuhe shut up and stopped talking, putting on her headphones and scrolling through videos.

……

Here's your phone back, see you Sunday!

"We've arrived at Gaoxin Road Station," she said, gently patting Li Mubai awake.

"goodbye."

"Oh, by the way, someone sent you a message while you were asleep."

"it is good."

Li Mubai also set application locks for QQ and WeChat, so he doesn't have to worry about being spied on.

He logged into QQ and saw a message from Yan Shu twenty minutes earlier.

Yan Shu: "Are you home yet?"

Li Bubai: "Not yet, what's wrong?"

Yan Shu: "No, I just wanted to ask how your half-month project is going."

Li Bubai: "I'm starting to get a clue."

Yan Shu: "Then let's discuss it again after we finish writing it."

What does that mean?

Li Bubai: "Offline?"

Yan Shu: "No, it's on QQ."

Li Bubai: "Video? Audio?"

Yan Shu: "No, text chat."

It startled him; he thought we were going to meet up in person.

Li Bubai: "Okay."

Yan Shu: "Always saying 'good' isn't good; it sounds like a superior-subordinate relationship."

Li Bubai: "OK".

Li Mubai watched as the other party kept flashing the message "The other party is typing." Yan Shu must be speechless, haha.

Li Bubai: "Just kidding, but I'm really at a loss for words, I don't know what to say."

A minute later, Yan Shu replied.

Yan Shu: "You can try using words that show closeness, such as 'okay,' 'great,' 'umm,' 'great,' 'okay,' and 'I'll listen to you.'"

Li Bubai: "...Ask about Doubao?"

Yan Shu: "Hmm."

Li Bubai: "Doubao's answer is not in line with human nature and lacks direct relevance to reality."

Yan Shu: "Okay."

"You and Yan Shu have hit it off! You've been messaging each other for three days straight, keep it up!"

What the heck?

He saw a flame appear next to the two characters "言书" and felt the atmosphere was a bit awkward. This lousy QQ is using such suggestive language. What does it mean to spark a flame?

Li Bubai: "Hmm—can we turn off this spark?"

Yan Shu: "Why close it?"

Li Bubai: "It feels pretty strange."

The saying goes: "The innocent will remain innocent."

Yes, I was too sensitive; the other person was more open and honest.

Li Bubai: "Then we won't close it. The innocent will clear themselves."

Yan Shu: "Okay, I'm going to read now, goodbye."

Li Bubai: Goodbye.

Li Mubai returned to the chat interface, and the previously empty interface gradually became more active:

There was a flame next to Yan Shu; this was the first time he had ever come into contact with it.

Qinghe is still on the night she posted the last picture; she probably hasn't gotten home yet.

And last week, some classmates added him...

Click, the door opened, and the cold, empty air, no longer restrained, rushed into the corridor.

Li's parents went back to their hometown for a banquet, so Li Mubai went straight home. He turned on the light to dispel the darkness in the room. There were four red bills on the table. It seemed he could buy books again when he returned to school on Sunday.

At night, Li Mubai turned off the light and went to bed in the dark. The place was so quiet that there was no need to draw the curtains; the room was dark enough.

It's not autumn yet, but when you open the window you can hear the intermittent chirping of crickets and the sound of the stream in the nearby park.

There is no moonlight tonight, and the stars are all obscured by dark clouds.

Li Mubai felt a bit sleepless and bored, so he decided to read a book for a while.

"Buzz!"

The phone vibrated at an inopportune moment, disrupting the quiet and lonely night.

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

……