We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

"Li Mu Bai, Li Mu Bai."

"Huh?" Li Mubai looked at Chen Qiuhe in confusion.

"What are you thinking about? I called you twice before you responded."

"I'm thinking about what to do in club class later."

"What else can I do? Do my homework, of course." Chen Qiuhe shrugged.

……

"Here's the school newspaper, but the quantity is limited. After you've finished reading it, remember to share it with others."

Han Xiaowei placed a stack of newspapers on the table. Li Mubai wanted to take one to read, but when he arrived, all that was left was a bare tabletop.

"Senior, do you want to see this?" Zhou Ruo asked, holding up a copy of the school newspaper.

"No."

Li Mubai returned to his seat and continued doing his homework, but a copy of the school newspaper was placed on his desk.

"I've seen it, here's a copy for you," Xie Shu said.

"Okay, thank you, class monitor."

Xie Shu returned to his seat, and Li Mubai flipped to the literature section. His own work was at the top of the list? He had selected ten poems, and they were all published. Wasn't it supposed to be a maximum of five?

He looked down again and saw it was Yan Shu's, but under the pen name Chunyu. There was only one poem. Did she only submit one poem?

After looking at the other people's works, Li Mubai folded the newspaper. Should he return it to Xie Shu or put it on the table?

"Class monitor, I've finished reading it."

"Okay, put it here."

Back in his seat, Li Mubai continued doing his homework.

"Hey, isn't it supposed to be a maximum of five classical poems that can be submitted?"

"Who knows? Maybe an exception will be made if it's well-written?"

……

Li Bubai: "I read the school newspaper today, and it seems you only have one poem?"

Yan Shu: "Yes, I only submitted one poem."

Li Bubai: "Why didn't you throw more points?"

Yan Shu: "One song is enough, I'll let you steal the spotlight."

Ah... I do want to be recognized, but I don't want to be pretentious or treated specially. I just want to be recognized in a low-key way.

Yan Shu: "I actually think your works are all quite good. Why don't you try submitting them to a provincial publication?"

Can he publish a provincial-level journal?

My phone vibrated again; Yan Shu had sent me an email.

Li Bubai: "What is this?"

Yan Shu: "Email address for submitting manuscripts to provincial poetry and couplet publications."

Li Bubai: "I'm kidding, really? You're so full of pebbles."

…No wonder Chen Qiuhe called you a fool, Li Mubai; a quick online search will show it.

Seeing that Yan Shu didn't speak, Li Mubai assumed that she was shy because of his praise, since girls are generally more reserved and easily embarrassed.

Li Mubai will save it for now, as he hasn't made all the necessary preparations for submitting it to the provincial journal yet. He'll take it out again when he wants to submit it later.

Li Bubai: "Thank you."

Yan Shu: "You're welcome."

Li Mubai suddenly remembered the AI's answer from last week.

Li Bubai: "'You're welcome' sounds too formal. You should say, 'Why are you being so polite with me? We're like family!'"

puff...

"Hey~ Li Mubai, how high is your affection level with XS?" Chen Qiuhe asked on the bus on Friday.

"My favorability rating is -100," Li Mubai said casually.

"Hehe, let me tell you, XS always laughs a lot at night. Do you think he's chatting with someone?"

Is Xie Shu chatting with other boys?

Then Li Mubai cursed himself inwardly, wondering why he was being so jealous. Even if they had talked about it, he had no right to say anything.

"Xie Shu also carries a cell phone?" He really didn't know that.

Realizing she had let something slip, Chen Qiuhe immediately shut up, not wanting to ruin the image of Li Mubai's ideal woman.

Actually, Li Mubai didn't think much of it; in fact, not carrying a cell phone was a breath of fresh air.

"Li Mubai, tell me, do you like XS?" Chen Qiuhe asked seriously.

"...No."

If there's a chance, let's just be friends openly and honestly, like with Chen Qiuhe.

He glanced at the person next to him; Chen Qiuhe was staring at him suspiciously.

On Saturday morning, Xie Shu sent him a WeChat message asking how the revised essay was going.

Li Bubai: "It's almost finished being revised."

Solitudo: "Then we'll take it to Teacher Yang for a look during Monday evening self-study, and if it's okay, we'll submit it."

Li Bubai: "Okay."

Li Mubai tried to think of a few topics to continue the conversation, but none of them seemed appropriate.

If the person on the other end was Chen Qiuhe, what would he say? Tell her to stop playing on her phone and focus on her studies? Something like that.

Ugh.

"What are you doing?" Chen Qiuhe asked as Zhou Tian returned to school.

"Practice calligraphy," Li Mubai replied.

"What calligraphy practice book should I use? I'll take a look and buy one later."

Chen Qiuhe took the book and read aloud, "How to write quickly with a fountain pen? Is practicing this effective?"

"I've only just started practicing, how would I know?"

But since it was recommended by Xie Shu, it should be useful, right?

Speaking of which, Monday's class monitor meeting was uneventful for a while, just the usual discussion about hygiene inspection rotations.

"Cough cough."

Xiao Qingqing cleared her throat, signaling everyone to listen carefully, as what was about to happen was very important.

"Isn't today the 12th? New Year's Day is just around the corner on the 31st. According to past practice, each class will hold a New Year's Eve party in their own class."

The New Year's Eve party held little appeal for Li Mubai; the only redeeming feature was the day off he could take.

"But things have changed this year. The school's auditorium has been renovated and is ready for use, so the New Year's Eve parties will no longer be organized by individual classes, but will be held together in the auditorium."

Well—it's just that the small classroom has been upgraded to a large classroom.

"Senior, are we still performing?"

"Yes, each class needs to put on at least one performance to showcase their class spirit. Just like the last sports meet, it will also be reviewed. But don't worry, the school's principle is to approve as many as possible."

This has nothing to do with Li Mubai anymore. He's already experienced the sports meet performance and doesn't want to experience it a second time.

"Can I bring my own snacks?"

This has a lot to do with Li Mubai. Eating snacks and watching programs in the auditorium is such a pleasant thing.

"Hmm—the school hasn't told me about this yet. I'll ask the school for their opinion later, and I'll let everyone know as soon as there's any progress."

Snacks must be allowed! Go for it, student council president!

"Does anyone have any other questions? If not, you can go eat now. The class monitor who will be inspecting hygiene next week, come here to pick up the forms."

Xie Shu remained silent the entire way, seemingly deep in thought.

Back in the dormitory, Li Mubai shared the good news with the boys.

"Great! We can see the performances by girls from other classes," Yang Kun said.

"While snacking and singing, you might just meet the girl you fall in love with at first sight!"

……

A heated discussion broke out in girls' dormitory 412, since there had been few school activities since National Day, but there had been a lot of exams.

"Deng Yi, how about we go dance again?" Liu Ting said.

"I guess I'll have to talk to Zhang Qian, the arts and culture committee member, about this."

"All right."

"Should our dorm put on a show?" Ye Manqi asked.

"Uh—well, let me think about it some more." As the dormitory head, Deng Yi needed to think it over carefully, since performing in a show would take up a lot of study time.

"Deng Yi," Xie Shu called out after remaining silent.

"Hmm—what's wrong, Shu?"

"I want to act in a play."