We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

Clang.

On Wednesday evening, November 2nd, after self-study ended, the sound of desks and chairs being moved could be heard in the classroom.

Li Mubai put all his textbooks in the cabinet. The classrooms at No. 6 Middle School all have a row of cabinets for students to put their things in. Students would put labels on their cabinets, but some students didn't and then couldn't find their own cabinet.

After putting the books away, he returned to find himself preparing to move the desks and chairs outside the classroom, as only thirty desks and chairs could remain inside.

"Hey, don't move it," Chen Qiuhe said, pressing down on his table.

"What's wrong?"

"I want to sit at your desk, please bless me so I can do well on my Chinese exam."

Are you stupid? If it really worked, he would be sitting in Xie Shu's chair.

"Where do you want to sit?" Li Mubai asked.

Number eight.

After Li Mubai and the others from number eight left, they moved their table to this spot, and Chen Qiuhe helped drag the chairs along.

"Do you need to move your tables and chairs out?"

"I'm not moving, I'm too lazy to move."

...Among those who are harmed while moving tables and chairs, there must be boys.

Today it was their group's turn to clean again. Li Mubai carried the mop to the bathroom; they still needed to mop the floor before the exam.

The sound of running water came from the washbasin outside.

He came out carrying a wet mop.

"Class monitor."

Deng Yi wasn't there; she was probably waiting for Xie Shu in the classroom so she could wash the rag.

"Um."

Just as Li Mubai was about to leave, Xie Shu turned on the tap and followed him.

Does Xie Shu do housework at home? I glanced at her hands, which were still dripping wet. Because of the cold weather, her originally fair hands were a little red.

"Li Mubai".

Ok?

"Keep it up tomorrow."

……

Read the following text and answer questions 1-5.

The first subject of the exam was Chinese, which Li Mubai excelled at.

He spent some time completing the modern text reading comprehension questions before moving on to the classical poetry and prose reading comprehension.

One hundred and five nights gazing at the moon, Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu…

Isn't this my brother Du? What a coincidence.

Li Mubai carefully read each option, and then chose C without hesitation.

Jingle Bell!

"Hey, what did you choose for question 15?"

"D."

Why choose D? The two girls behind Li Mubai were discussing the question.

"I chose C, what's wrong with D?" one of the girls said.

"D says it's a regulated verse, but the second couplet doesn't even rhyme, so how could it be a regulated verse?"

……

I don't even want to talk about the math class this afternoon.

Evening self-study wasn't held in the classroom, but in the multimedia classroom, next to the class of the top thirty science students.

"Li Mubai, what did you choose for question 1 in the Chinese exam?"

Zhang Chun was number 17 and sat in front of him. Before evening self-study started, she turned around and asked.

"C".

"What about question 15?"

"C".

"Should I really choose C? I see a lot of people choosing D."

"I don't know, but I chose C."

"I also chose C, I hope I didn't make a mistake."

Friday morning is for humanities subjects, and Friday afternoon is for English.

The humanities subjects weren't too difficult for him, and he didn't want to speak English anymore.

"Li Mubai, how did you do on the exam?" Chen Qiuhe asked him while waiting for the bus after school.

"have no idea."

The outcome is still uncertain; we could all be dark horses.

"I feel like I have a chance to make it into the top 30 this time."

"Really? Congratulations on your progress."

"Hehe, but why do you seem a little unhappy? Your tone is also indifferent."

Can you be happy if you're veiled by math and English?

Ding dong.

My phone beeped with a message right on time that evening. It seems Yan Shu is a night owl, always out at night.

Yan Shu: "A half-month project."

Li Bubai: "Let's wait until the midterm results come out before we see."

The second and third years of high school take their midterms at the same time, so there's no need to worry about exposing any problems.

Yan Shu: "Okay, how did you do on the test?"

Li Bubai: "That's it."

Yan Shu: "Don't be discouraged, keep going!"

"Hmph..." Li Mubai chuckled lightly.

The results were released during the first political class on Monday afternoon. Wu Changguo pinned the results sheet to the bulletin board, and after class, the students swarmed around it.

"Brother Jiao, can you check how I did on the exam?"

Jiao Yong gave Wang Rui an OK sign.

"Aren't you going up to take a look?" Chen Qiuhe asked.

"No, the result is what it is, it's the same whether you see it sooner or later."

And now it's impossible to squeeze in.

"That's right, you're smart. You wait until there are fewer people before you go."

After saying that, Chen Qiuhe also lay down on the desk to rest.

"Qiuhe, Qiuhe, I saw your grades!" Zhang Chun ran back and said.

"How much?" Chen Qiuhe immediately sat up.

"I can't remember the scores for each subject, but your school ranks 30th."

"Really?"

"Really, really."

"Li Mubai, did you hear that? Now I can go to the multimedia classroom too!"

"Yes, congratulations."

Zhang Chun pulled Chen Qiuhe aside and whispered in her ear, "Qiuhe, what's wrong with Li Mubai? He seems a bit unhappy."

"I don't know, could it be that I didn't do well on the test?"

"No, he actually improved by three places."

"Did it fail to meet expectations?"

"That's possible."

Li Mubai didn't know what was wrong with him; he hadn't been able to muster any energy these past few days. Perhaps it was the ancient Chinese saying that autumn is a season of sorrow and loneliness.

"What's wrong with you? I noticed you were unhappy last Friday," Chen Qiuhe wrote in her notebook.

"It's nothing." He composed himself.

"If there's anything bothering you, you can tell me. Just talking about it will make you feel better. Although I can't help you improve your grades, I can still comfort you."

"Thank you, but it's really nothing." Li Mubai tried to force a smile.

"All right."

Although Li Mubai's smile was awkward, Chen Qiuhe didn't press him since neither of them wanted to talk. Perhaps it would be better for them to be alone for a while.

"I'm sure everyone has already seen their grades, so I won't go into details." Wu Changguo began the mid-term summary during the class meeting.

Li Mubai also looked at his scores—Chinese 137, Humanities 263, Math only 101, English 107.

Compare Xie Shu's scores: Chinese 135, Humanities 271, Math 143, English 141.

This test paper was only of medium difficulty, so it's quite surprising that I scored so high. The difference in scores is really significant.

(The cutoff scores vary from place to place; the author used the cutoff scores from their own region.)

"Three students in our class were surpassed by students from other classes. These three students need to come to my office after lunch this afternoon."

Wu Changguo didn't explicitly name the three, to save face for the students, but everyone knew perfectly well that they were those not ranked within the top forty-two.

"In addition, starting today, the seats will be rotated every week. For example, Li Mubai is currently sitting in the fourth row of the fifth column, and next Sunday he will be moved to the third row of the first column."

That's really something. There are three large groups in the classroom, which means that next week he and his deskmate will have to give up their window seats and move to the seats against the wall.

"One last thing, as I mentioned before about changing seats, I've already arranged them. We'll switch seats after evening self-study tonight."

Wu Changguo then pulled up a seating chart.

...He was moved to sit next to Wang Rui; in fact, all the boys were assigned to sit together.

...Chen Qiuhe was moved to sit next to Xie Shu, and their seats were right in front of him.