We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

Li Mubai sometimes feels that he is rather vulgar, that he is a sucker for good looks, and that he has a crush on Xie Shu simply because Xie Shu is very handsome.

There's a saying circulating online: "A beautiful appearance is a dime a dozen, but an interesting soul is one in a million." Many people believe that we shouldn't judge a person by their looks, but rather by their character.

Li Mubai thought there was some truth to it, but it wasn't entirely true. Good-looking people naturally make others want to get closer to them. If someone doesn't have a good-looking appearance, why would a stranger want to understand their soul?

He always felt that he was not good-looking. Although many people said he was handsome, he thought it was just a polite remark. After studying "Zou Ji Advises King Qi to Accept Criticism", he became even more convinced of this.

"My wife praises me because she loves me; my concubine praises me because she fears me; my guest praises me because he wants something from me."

People are good at making polite remarks. In business negotiations, saying a few words of praise at the beginning is a way to lower the other party's guard.

Even if you have no desires or wants from someone, you can still say a few nice words to make both parties feel happy.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?"

Chen Qiuhe gently patted Li Mubai's shoulder, interrupting his thoughts.

"It's alright, get ready for morning reading."

"You don't know, you looked so gloomy just now, I didn't dare to sit next to you." Chen Qiuhe exaggeratedly showed her fear.

Li Mubai chuckled softly. His laughter was always restrained; he never laughed heartily, but only chuckled lightly and then stopped.

Some people used to say he had a high threshold for laughter, while others said his laughter sounded sarcastic.

Li Mubai had thought about changing, about laughing heartily like a cheerful person, laughing heartily and freely, which might make him more approachable, but it had already become a habit.

"Ring ring, class is starting. Students, please return to your seats."

The emotionless machine voice rang out, and sometimes he was the same way, speaking without feeling. He hid all his emotions deep in his heart, unwilling to reveal them easily.

Never mind, don't overthink it, just focus on your class.

After two consecutive periods of Chinese and math classes, it was time for the morning exercise break. At Pingyang No. 6 Middle School, the morning exercise break is rotated; if you do running exercises today, you have to do radio calisthenics tomorrow.

"We learned our morning exercises from Hengshui High School, but thankfully, there are more girls in our class, so we don't have to smell the boys' stinky, hard body odor. Instead, we smell sweet, soft little cakes."

"Ugh~ Do you have to be so weird? I just love smelly feet." Zhao Feng and Yang Kun were verbally abusing each other.

"From the congee bar."

……

Li Mubai and Chen Qiuhe walked behind the two, listening to the incredible speech.

"Are all boys this perverted?" Chen Qiuhe was slightly shorter than Li Mubai. She covered her mouth with her hand as she whispered, and a warm breath brushed against Li Mubai's ear, making him feel ticklish.

"They are not boys; they have been expelled from the male community."

"Hahaha."

Upon arriving at the rubber track, Li Mubai and the boys stood in the last row, while Chen Qiuhe stood in the row in front of him.

Only the sports committee member, Jiao Yong, stood at the very front of the group. He had to carry the class flag, even during recess exercises.

Li Mubai stood there blankly, staring straight ahead. He saw Xie Shu line up from the front row and then walk towards the back row. He pretended not to notice and kept his eyes fixed on the front.

"Come here for a moment." Li Mubai's sleeve was gently tugged, and then he heard Xie Shu's voice.

"Okay, sure."

She led Li Mubai out of the line. "During the morning exercise, we need to count the number of students to make sure that everyone in the class is here except those who asked for leave."

"OK."

Li Mubai started counting on his fingers one by one, and after confirming that everyone was there, he said to Xie Shu, "They're all... they're all here, class monitor."

"Okay, after confirming that everyone is in place, I reported to Teacher Wu and then returned to the group to prepare for morning exercises."

"OK."

Li Mubai glanced around and found Wu Changguo standing not far from the group. After reporting, he returned to the group.

The running exercises at Pingyang No. 6 Middle School are not as tightly packed as those at Hengshui Middle School, leaving some distance between the students.

Chen Qiuhe has shoulder-length short hair, which she doesn't tie up. The school only requires long hair, especially during recess exercises, so Chen Qiuhe's short hair looks like flying willow catkins when she runs.

If it were Xie Shu's long hair, it might have floated onto his cheek, Li Mubai thought, but then he realized it was impossible; it wouldn't be possible at his jogging pace, unless a strong wind blew it away...

Li Mubai looked up slightly; the weather was clear and there was no east wind.

After finishing their morning exercises, the students returned to the classroom laughing and joking with each other, leaving a ten-minute break between classes.

There were two main classes in the morning, one of which was history, a subject that Li Mubai was interested in. Li Mubai listened with great interest, but was interrupted by Chen Qiuhe, who handed him a note.

"I want to be the emperor! I'll have a harem!"

"You're turning back the clock on history."

"I don't care, I'll be the emperor, and you'll be the prime minister. No, no, you're too cold, not suitable to be prime minister. You'll be my Cold-Noodles General, fighting for me in the north and south, and stopping the children from crying."

Li Mubai smiled and wondered if he was really that aloof.

Seeing that Li Mubai didn't reply, Chen Qiuhe picked up her pen again, tore off a piece of paper from her notebook, and asked, "If you became emperor, would you have a harem?"

Li Mubai thought for a moment and then replied, "No."

Why?

"Because I can't be emperor."

"I meant if, you idiot (crossed out) moron! (｀Δ´)!"

"Probably."

"So you admit you're a womanizer?! You scumbag!"

"No, I was referring to the political environment at the time. It's not possible for an emperor to have only one concubine. Even if he wanted to, his ministers wouldn't. That's why others forced him to have a harem."

"Master, please stop chanting!"

"Pay attention in class, and you can be like me."

"No, I don't want to become a human-machine."

Li Mubai did not reply.

"What's wrong? Are you angry?"

"The teacher is looking this way."

Chen Qiuhe immediately sat up straight, looked down at the blackboard, and pretended to be taking notes.

The history teacher looked around and saw that no one was daydreaming, then said:

"Alright, let's look at the 'Window of Learning and Thinking' on page four of the book. 'Emperor Guangwu was angered by the loss of power over several generations and resentful of the usurpation of authority by powerful ministers. He overcorrected and made the government too rigid, neglecting the duties of his subordinates. Although he was in charge of the Three Dukes, the affairs were handled by the central government. From then on, the positions of the Three Dukes became merely nominal.' What are the reasons for the weakening of the power of the Three Dukes, as summarized by Zhong Changtong, a political theorist of the Eastern Han Dynasty? Let's ask a student to answer this."

"There aren't many boys in our class, so let's give the boys a chance to shine. Yang Kun, you answer this question."

"Huh?" Yang Kun hadn't reacted yet. He thought they were going to ask about Li Mubai, but wasn't the answer just written in the book? "It's because Emperor Guangwu established the Secretariat, so the power of the Three Dukes was weakened."

"Okay, Yang Kun, sit down first and listen to what the other students have to say."

What? Something's not right!

"Let's find another girl to answer. Xie Shu, you can try."

Xie Shu slowly stood up. "Zhong Changtong's summary is based on subjective reasons, which lie in Emperor Guangwu's reflection on Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han throne. The establishment of the Secretariat was a means to weaken the power of the Three Dukes."

The history teacher smiled and said:

"Hmm, not bad. Xie Shu, please sit down. Actually, the answer is quite obvious. You must be careful when reading the materials and be good at summarizing. Xie Shu just mentioned knowledge that is not in the textbook: Wang Mang usurped the Han throne. This is indeed the subjective reason for the weakening of the power of the Three Dukes summarized by Zhong Changtong. As for the objective reasons..."

Li Mubai thought of a TV series he had watched, in which a character talked about why he fell in love with a girl much younger than him. He said, "She's different; she knows about the history of the Ming Dynasty."