It's the students' fault if they are too popular.

On Sunday night, when Xu Dongyang returned to school, the first thing he saw was the honor roll at the stairs.

She was ranked third in the grade this time, very close to the first two. Her goal was to stay in the top five. There were only a few famous top students in the grade, and they all had their own wins and losses.

She then looked for Gu Nian's name, looking down, down again... and finally found it at grade 46. Gu Nian had regressed this time, and was only ranked third in the class.

The Honor Roll only published the top 200 students in the grade, and there were 15 classes in the second grade. Usually Bai Lu was not on the list. Sure enough, she was not found this time.

She couldn't tell what she felt. When she reached the classroom door, she saw the head teacher talking to Gu Nian in the corridor. When Gu Nian saw her, she lowered her head even lower. Xu Dongyang knew how uncomfortable it felt to have a decline in grades and how bad it was to be looked at by classmates when being talked to by the teacher, so she quietly entered the classroom from the back door.

Bai Lu had already arrived. She sat with her back to her seat, chatting happily with the boys and girls at the table behind her, as if they were playing some games. When Dong Yang passed by, these people were just talking about something happy, and they burst into laughter, making the whole classroom lively.

She originally wanted to talk to Bai Lu, but she has never been good at joining in other people's fun, so she gave up and opened her book to study.

There are more than forty minutes left before evening self-study.

The head teacher came in early and saw the noisy classroom. His face was terribly gloomy:

"What are you arguing about? Ah? You still have the nerve to play after such a bad test! Why don't you study more since you came so early? You lost points for the poetry dictation this time, so copy each poem five times!"

The whole class fell silent.

Knowing that they did poorly on the exam, no one dared to offend the teacher.

After the conversation, Gu Nian came in from the back door and sat down quietly. Xu Dongyang turned around and saw that Gu Nian's eyes were red, so he gave her a comforting look. Gu Nian forced a smile and lowered her head to bury herself in the wrong questions.

The atmosphere in the class was depressing, and in the corridor one could hear students from other classes running around and chasing each other and playing.

Suddenly, with a bang, the door was kicked open. The most lively boy in the class kicked the door open as usual, and was immediately dumbfounded.

The head teacher looked like he wanted to eat him.

The students in the audience held back their laughter and mourned for him in their hearts.

Xu Dongyang tilted his head and found that Bai Lu was also smiling. Her smile was clean and innocent, without any gloom.

She realized that she seemed to have been too sentimental.

After finally getting through the get out of class, the head teacher left and everyone in the class complained to each other about how difficult the exam questions were and the head teacher's temper. Dong Yang turned around and whispered to Gu Nian:

"Which subject did you fail in?"

Gu Nian shook his head, unwilling to say more, and sniffed: "It's okay."

Xu Dongyang looked at her for a while, then said "hmm" and turned back.

The moment she turned back, she seemed to find Bai Lu looking at her. She turned her head immediately, only to find that Bai Lu was looking at her homework.

After school in the evening.

When Xu Dongyang was about to suspect that she and Bai Lu were in a cold war, Bai Lu knocked on her desk and smiled as usual:

"Let's go back to the dormitory together."

She almost didn't react:

"okay."

"What's wrong? You're so silly."

"No," she said embarrassedly, "I thought you ignored me."

Bai Lu threw her schoolbag aside and said nonchalantly: "Why? You didn't talk to me, how do you know I'm ignoring you?"

Dongyang paused, speechless.

She thought that Zhou Mo's words hurt Bai Lu's heart. When girls are heartless, they are really heartless. She has seen many best friends fall out because of a conflict, and they want to spit each other into the ground. She knows Bai Lu will not be like that, but it is not impossible that she will ignore her in the future.

On the way today, Bai Lu did not hold her hand.

She felt a little weird, not disappointed, nor happy, but just surprised that she paid attention to this detail - it turned out that they used to hold hands when they walked.

"Winter Sun."

Bai Lu suddenly stopped.

The street lights were dazzling, lengthening their shadows on the road.

Xu Dongyang looked at her in confusion. She smiled, as if she was relieved:

“I feel like I’m giving up.”

After that, without giving the girl time to think, she took Xu Dongyang's hand again and said, "Let's go."

Extra: Winter Sun (Twenty-one)

Xu Dongyang knew what Bai Lu was talking about giving up.

Under the shower and light in the bathroom, she applied shower gel to herself and couldn't help thinking a lot.

This may be the best way.

But at what cost?

Can she and Bai Lu still be as close as before?

Complex thoughts rolled into a ball in her mind. She inserted the water card back into the card slot and waited for the hot water to fall from the sky.

As a result, the showerhead remained indifferent.

She didn't give up and plugged it in again several times, like expecting a cell phone that had run out of battery to turn on again, but it was all in vain.

The water card is out of money.

The water card design in the dormitory is a bit anti-intellectual. You can't see how much money is left, you can only know how much money you have used.

She was embarrassed and covered in foam. She gently opened the door a crack and called her roommate's name.

I shouted several times, but no one responded.

"They went to sleep together."

Suddenly, Bai Lu's voice rang out. She seemed helpless, walked to the bathroom door, turned away, and asked, "What's wrong?"

——She really shouldn’t have come here.

Through the crack in the door, she caught a glimpse of Xu Dongyang. She saw Xu Dongyang's shoulders, which were very smooth, and water drops could slide down without any hindrance. She had liked this crystal-clear girl since she was a child, so how could she give up...just give up.

There will definitely be some reluctance.

Don't you really like yourself at all?

"Water card, no money left."

Xu Dongyang's weak voice brought her back to consciousness, "Lulu...can you help me borrow some from the next door dormitory, or ask the teacher to top up the money?"

"Ah? Oh, wait a minute."

Bai Lu nodded repeatedly and helped her close the bathroom door before leaving to prevent the air conditioning from getting in.

The dormitory was quiet.

Xu Dongyang hugged her arms, the heat gradually dissipated, and she felt it was getting colder. The mirror was blurry, and the water drops on the tiles on the wall formed transparent lines. It might be impossible to borrow a water card because she heard the sound of water next door and across the street. The teacher who recharged the water card only accepted cash, and she didn't know how long she had to wait.

……

"Dong Yang!"

Bai Lu's voice came, full of joy. Dong Yang was slightly stunned, not expecting it to happen so soon. She opened the door again, and Bai Lu was just at the door, passing the card to her through the gap:

"The teacher is not here. He must have gone to check the dormitories. You can use this first."

Xu Dongyang took the water card. It was marked 407, which was not the dormitory of their class.

"…from another class?"

"Yes, but you should wash it quickly, because they will need it later."

"Well," Xu Dongyang closed the door, "...thank you."

Bailu is very cheerful, so she has many friends from other classes.

Xu Dongyang is different. She doesn’t like to go to other classes or dormitories. She likes places that she is familiar with.

Plug in the water card and water starts flowing in the pipe.

Being showered with hot water is a real treat.

She washed very quickly, fearing that others would think she used too much water. As soon as she was clean, she took out the card, opened the door, and stretched out her wet arms from behind it:

"Lulu, I've washed it. You can return the card to them."

"Oh."

Bai Lu came over and was a little dazed when she saw the arm. She suddenly had a dirty urge to drag the owner of the hand out naked and hold it in her arms - or she could go in and hold it, as long as she could see Dong Yang's ashamed and angry look, Dong Yang would definitely not blame her. She had never seen Dong Yang get angry since she was a child... Of course, it was just a thought, because it was too rogue, and she, like most people, only dared to be perverted in her heart.

After receiving the water card, Bai Lu went out silently and returned the card. When she came back, the dormitory had become lively. The roommates who visited her room had returned. Xu Dongyang was also standing by the socket, using a hair dryer to blow dry his hair. His big T-shirt just reached his hips, and his legs were dazzlingly white.

Bai Lu was disappointed. She had originally thought that she could spend more time alone with Dong Yang.

The person you like is tempting you all the time.

"Lights out, lights out!" The dormitory manager began to urge outside with a harsh voice, "If you haven't gone to bed yet, hurry up and go to bed!"

Really disappointing.

Bai Lu climbed onto the bed and hid under the quilt. She had just said that she was going to give up, but it was like a smoker who went out without cigarettes for the first time and ran into a tobacco shop when he was craving for cigarettes... He might break his habit in less than a day.

Lower bunk...I could vaguely hear the sound of Xu Dongyang sucking in air when he drank milk.

The roommate suddenly spoke up: "Dongyang, what did Shen Ao say to you after class this morning?"

Xu Dongyang hummed in confusion. Bai Lu thought that Xu Dongyang must be tilting his head slightly at this moment, and his eyes reflected the light outside under his long eyelashes.

"He said his class will play a basketball game with Class 1 the day after tomorrow and invited me to watch."

The roommate screamed gossipingly: "He is hinting that you should bring him some water and a towel! Ahhhh!"

"Don't yell." Bai Lu interrupted unhappily, "What's so good about Shen Ao? He only knows how to play basketball and act cool."

Roommate: “But he’s so handsome!”

Bai Lu: "The more handsome you are, the less reliable you are. Can being handsome be used to make a living?"

Roommate: "But he has good grades and sings well. Hey, Dongyang, aren't you and him rehearsing that show? Tell me what happened to you..."

Bai Lu suddenly felt stupid. It was like a boy telling his roommates in the male dormitory, "What's so good about Xu Dongyang? The prettier a woman is, the more likely she is to cheat." Who would believe it? The boys probably thought that even if they were cheated, it was worth it to be cheated by Xu Dongyang.

If Dong Yang was willing to use sweet words to deceive her... she estimated that he would be around her every day.

I can't be so bad.

Before falling asleep, her last thought was that if Xu Dongyang didn't walk towards her, then she would... no longer take the initiative to walk towards him.

Just waiting for her.

-

-

On the weekend after the exam, many children have to face questioning from their parents.

Why did we regress this time?

Didn’t you listen carefully in class?

Gu Nian had no experience in dealing with these things and was very nervous before entering the room.

My dad must have known the results from the parents’ group a long time ago.

She would definitely be asked why she was falling behind. She knew the reason. She had indeed not paid much attention to her studies recently. So where was her attention? On the art festival, on rehearsals, on... Xu Dongyang.

After I moved my seat to behind Xu Dongyang, I would sometimes be in a daze for a short while during class. The competition for the top spots in the grade was fierce, and everyone had similar IQs. If you weren't careful, you'd be surpassed by someone who worked harder.

"dad."

When I got home, my father was preparing dinner.

The man said busily, "I'm back. I figured it's time. Eat it while it's hot."

She nodded and silently took the bowl to serve the rice.

At the beginning of the dinner, we just chatted about daily life, but halfway through the meal, my father couldn't help but ask:

"What's going on with this exam? Are the questions difficult?"

"..." Gu Nian swallowed a mouthful of food, "No."