Li Mo

As the bell rang, Liang Xinchong, filled with trepidation, dawdled toward the homeroom teacher's office.

He had just gone in when Li Mo was called away by her classmates, who said that Teacher Yuan was looking for her.

In the office, none of the other teachers were there; only Yuan Hai sat behind his desk, tapping his fingers on the surface with an unusually serious expression.

Liang Xinchong had just entered when Li Mo arrived shortly after.

"Close the door," Yuan Hai said to Li Mo, who came in later.

The door clicked softly, shutting out the noise from outside, and the air inside the office instantly became still.

Yuan Hai's gaze swept over the two men, finally landing on Liang Xinchong, and he cut to the chase: "Do you know why I called you here?"

Liang Xinchong pursed his lips and remained silent, while Li Mo lowered her eyelashes and her fingers curled slightly.

“I don’t object to normal interactions between boys and girls,” Yuan Hai’s voice was not loud, but each word was clear and carried a heavy weight. “But what time is it now? There are less than a hundred days left until the college entrance examination. Every minute and every second is more precious than gold.”

He picked up the newly released monthly exam report card from the table and pointed at it with his finger: "Li Mo, you have always been the benchmark of the grade and a promising candidate for Beichuan University. Liang Xinchong, you have made great progress recently, which everyone has noticed. This shows that your focus on your studies has been effective."

He changed the subject, his tone becoming more serious: "But look at yourselves, in this monthly exam, Li Mo dropped to sixth in the grade, and Liang Xinchong, your ranking also dropped by more than ten places compared to last time. I know one exam doesn't tell the whole story, but shouldn't this raise your awareness?"

His gaze sharpened as he looked at Liang Xinchong: "Especially you, Liang Xinchong, relationships require responsibility and ability. If you truly care about her, you should know what's most important to her right now, instead of dragging her down with you!"

Then, he looked at Li Mo, his tone softening slightly but still stern: "Li Mo, you have always been sensible and have your own opinions. You should know what you are carrying on your shoulders and what your goals are. Don't let a moment of emotion ruin your efforts of more than ten years and your family's expectations."

He concluded firmly, "That's all I have to say. As your homeroom teacher, I do not support you dating right now. For your respective futures, I hope you can handle this calmly and put your feelings aside for now. After the college entrance exam, everything will be clear, and I will not interfere with your choices then."

The two remained silent as they left the office. Reaching a quiet corner behind the teaching building, Liang Xinchong abruptly stopped, his eyes red as he looked at Li Mo: "What do you think of what Lao Yuan said?"

Looking at the figures running on the playground in the distance, Li Mo's voice was a little hoarse: "Teacher Yuan is right. Maybe we really shouldn't be here at this time, so I think we should split up for now..."

"So you want to break up?" Liang Xinchong interrupted her, his voice filled with disbelief, anger, and grievance. "Li Mo, we've only been together for two months, and you're just going to break up with me so easily?"

“It’s not a breakup,” Li Mo tried to explain, her brows furrowed with anxiety. “We can calm down for a while, and then…”

"I disagree." Liang Xinchong almost roared, grabbing her wrist tightly, his eyes stubborn like those of a trapped animal. "Why should we wait until after the college entrance exam? I can work harder, I promise I won't affect you, I..."

“Liang Xinchong.” Li Mo pulled her hand back, interrupting him, her voice tinged with weariness and a barely perceptible tremor. “This isn’t something you can solve just by promising it.”

The conversation ended without a conclusion, and the two were locked in a stalemate.

Liang Xinchong would still subconsciously approach her, but Li Mo began to intentionally or unintentionally avoid her.

The results of the third mock exam, which came out in mid-to-late April, were like a bucket of cold water, chilling Li Mo to the bone.

Still ranked sixth in the grade, this ranking instantly brought her back to the state she was in when she first transferred to the school in the second semester of her junior year.

After evening self-study, she sat alone in the empty classroom for a long time, looking at her report card. An unprecedented anxiety entwined her heart like vines.

The dream of Beichuan University and the expectations of her family weighed heavily on her shoulders like two mountains.

For the first time, she felt genuine fear—if things continued like this, she might really fail to get into Beichuan.

She took a deep breath and, on her way back to the dormitory, called out to Liang Xinchong, who was walking ahead of her.

The streetlights were dim, casting long shadows of the two people.

“Liang Xinchong,” Li Mo’s voice sounded exceptionally clear and calm in the night breeze, “I’m not feeling well lately. I’m very anxious.”

Liang Xinchong looked at her, a bad feeling rising in his heart.

“I’m scared,” Li Mo looked up and stared into his eyes, where her usual calm was gone, replaced by utter exhaustion and determination. “I’m afraid I won’t get into Beichuan University. I can’t afford to be distracted anymore.”

She paused for a moment, as if she had used all her strength, before she said, "Let's... separate for now. I swear it's not a breakup, it's just that right now, studying hard is the most important thing for me."

Liang Xinchong looked at her silently. He saw the dark circles under her eyes, and the barely perceptible vulnerability beneath her forced composure.

He knew what she was carrying and how much this drop in grades had affected her.

This time, he didn't refute it as passionately as before.

He remained silent for a long time, so long that Li Mo thought he would refuse again.

Then, he heard his own dry voice:

"good."

He looked up, his eyes red-rimmed, but he forced a smile that looked worse than crying, and spoke slowly and deliberately, as if emphasizing something, or perhaps saying it to himself:

"It's a temporary breakup."

"On the day the college entrance exam ends," he looked into her eyes, his gaze filled with an unprecedented seriousness and stubbornness, "I will pursue you again, you have to wait for me."

Li Mo felt as if something had clenched her heart, leaving her with an indescribable bitterness.

She neither nodded nor shook her head, but simply gave him a deep look before turning around and quickly walking into the girls' dormitory building.

Liang Xinchong stood there, watching her figure disappear behind the door, clenching his fists tightly.

The night breeze was cool, but he felt a fire burning inside him.

It's only temporary, he told himself.

Yuan Hai acted swiftly; shortly after the conversation, the seating chart was readjusted.

Li Mo was moved to the middle of the classroom, while Liang Xinchong was assigned to the corner of the last row, with more than half a classroom between them.

Li Mo seemed to have completely accepted the arrangement and was strictly adhering to the decision to "temporarily break up".

She devoted all her energy to her studies, never leaving her seat during breaks and always staying in the classroom to do practice problems during lunch breaks, like a precise learning machine.

Liang Xinchong's gaze mostly fell upon her profile, buried in her books, distant and indifferent.

This deliberate distancing was like fine needles pricking Liang Xinchong's heart.

It had only been a week since the breakup, but it felt like an eternity to him.

Lying in bed at night, all I see when I close my eyes is her image—the slight furrow in her brow as she explains a problem, the slight upturn of her lips when he makes her laugh, the slight blush on her earlobes when he holds her hand…

Longing, like vines, grew wildly in the darkness, entwining him until he was almost suffocated.

He tried to be as focused as she was, but his gaze kept drifting in her direction.

When he saw her occasionally rubbing her temples, he would instinctively want to go over and ask her what was wrong.

When he sees that her water glass is empty, he remembers how he used to refill it for her without hesitation...

This feeling of being able to see something but not touch it is driving him crazy.

He finally couldn't take it anymore.

During a lunch break, he watched as Li Mo, alone with a water cup and a workbook, walked towards a relatively quiet empty classroom in the laboratory building.

He got up almost immediately and followed.

Li Mo had just sat down in the empty classroom and hadn't even had a chance to open a book when the door was gently pushed open and then closed again.

Liang Xinchong's tall figure blocked the doorway, backlit, making his expression impossible to see, but that familiar, somewhat stubborn aura instantly filled the entire space.

Li Mo was startled, but maintained a calm expression: "Is something the matter?"

Liang Xinchong walked up to her step by step, without his usual joking and smiling face, nor did he angrily question her.

He simply lowered his head, his eyes surrounded by obvious dark circles, his gaze filled with undisguised, intense longing and grievance, his voice hoarse, carrying an almost humble plea:

“Li Mo…” he called her name, his voice trembling almost imperceptibly at the end, “I can’t take it anymore.”

"Let's get back together, okay?" He looked at her desperately, like a drowning person grabbing onto the last piece of driftwood. "I promise I won't affect your studies. I... I won't talk to you first, I won't disturb you while you're doing your homework, I'll do whatever you say, as long as... as long as it's not like this breakup situation..."

Seeing him like this, Li Mo was not entirely unmoved, but she forced herself to harden her heart and rationally asked, "If we get back together, but you don't contact me or talk to me, what's the difference between that and breaking up now?"

“It’s different,” Liang Xinchong retorted immediately, raising his voice slightly with a stubborn seriousness, “It’s completely different.”

He leaned closer, his gaze fixed intently on her, as if stating a crucial truth:

“If we get back together, I’ll still be your boyfriend. Even if I only contact you once every two weeks… no, once a month, as long as we get back together,” he paused, a pure longing in his eyes, his voice lowering with a pitiful plea, “I… I can still occasionally… hold your hand.”

He spoke those last few words very softly, yet they swept over Li Mo's heart like a feather.

He doesn't need constant intimacy; he's even willing to accept a relationship that's almost like "living a widow."

All he wanted was the official title and the tiny, insignificant right to physical contact that occasionally confirmed their relationship.

The empty classroom was so quiet that you could hear his slightly rapid breathing.

He stood there like a large dog that had been abandoned and finally found its owner, but only dared to cautiously beg for a little bit of petting, its eyes wet with unease and anticipation.

Li Mo's fingers tightened slightly as she gripped the pen, her nails digging into her palm.

Looking at the dark circles under his eyes and his almost humble plea, the cold "no" rolled in her throat, but she couldn't bring herself to say it immediately.

In the empty classroom, time seemed to stretch out.

Looking at Liang Xinchong's reddened eyes and his tightly pursed lips, Li Mo felt the prepared, absolutely rational refusal linger on her tongue before finally swallowing it back.

She couldn't deny that she had also been suffering this week. Deliberately avoiding his gaze required extra effort; hearing his hearty laughter as he and Lin Shusen discussed basketball—even though that laughter was much less frequent than before—would cause her to pause involuntarily.

However, Ms. Yuan Hai's words were still ringing in her ears, and the slip-up in the last monthly exam was a sword hanging over her head. She could not, and absolutely would not, allow herself to repeat the same mistake.

“Liang Xinchong,” she finally spoke, her voice calmer than expected, “we all need to calm down.”

The light in Liang Xinchong's eyes dimmed instantly, as if he were about to be sentenced.

“However,” Li Mo changed the subject, looking at him sharply, “your current state will indeed affect your studies, and it will also affect me.”

Liang Xinchong opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but found himself speechless.

It's a fact that he spent the week in a daze and with extremely low efficiency.

“So, I have a suggestion.” Li Mo’s voice was even lower, with an undeniable determination, “We can continue to break up ‘on the surface,’ keeping it a secret from Teacher Yuan and all the classmates.”

Liang Xinchong looked up abruptly, hope rekindled in his eyes, but confusion lingered more.

Li Mo continued to explain, her logic as clear as if she were solving a difficult problem: "This means that in the classroom and in public places, we should keep our distance and not interfere with each other, just like we are now. You can't take the initiative to talk to me, and you can't do anything that goes beyond the boundaries of ordinary classmates."

She paused, observing his reaction, before throwing out the most crucial part: "But that only applies to weekends. Don't bother me at other times. On weekends, we can meet like we are now, at a safe time and place where we won't be discovered, like an empty classroom during lunch break, or on other weekends... We can study together."

She looked him straight in the eye, her tone unusually serious: "This comes with conditions. First, it absolutely cannot affect our grades, yours and mine. If either of our grades drop in the next monthly exam, this agreement will be void immediately. Second, I have the power. When and where we can meet is up to me. You must cooperate unconditionally."

Liang Xinchong gave a low "hmm," his voice muffled and filled with obvious frustration.

He lowered his head, his gaze falling on the tips of his slightly faded sneakers. His thick eyelashes cast a small shadow under his eyes, and he was enveloped in a low atmosphere of "although he agreed, he was still aggrieved."

Seeing him like this, with none of his usual flamboyant and carefree demeanor, Li Mo's heart softened completely. Her hardened reason and rules temporarily took a backseat to his pure emotions at this moment.

She sighed silently, took a small step forward, and closed the already thin distance between them.

Liang Xinchong was slightly startled by her sudden approach and subconsciously raised his eyelids.

The moment he looked up, Li Mo lightly tiptoed, tilted her head back, and moved as quickly as a dragonfly skimming the water. Her soft lips pressed a brief but incredibly clear kiss onto his slightly pursed lips, which were pursed in surprise.

Instantly separate.

Liang Xinchong froze completely, his mind went blank, and only the fleeting soft touch on his lips and the sudden, out-of-control pounding of his heart echoed in his ears.

Li Mo's cheeks flushed quickly, but she tried to remain calm. Her clear eyes looked at his somewhat dazed expression, and her voice was much softer than before, carrying a hint of doting and comfort that she herself was unaware of:

"Be good, study hard, okay?" She paused, her gaze serious, and added clearly, word by word, as if giving him the most solemn promise, "And don't feel insecure."

“I only like you,” she added.

"Mmm." He responded forcefully, his voice hoarse and nasal, yet filled with the relief of something lost and found, and an unprecedented determination. "I understand. I'll be good."

Li Mo didn't push him away, letting him hold her, feeling the warmth of his embrace and his slight trembling. She raised her hand and gently patted his back.

"Now," she said softly after a while, her tone returning to its usual calm, yet carrying a hint of barely perceptible tenderness, "can you let me go so we can start studying, boyfriend?"

It's not the weekend now.

They cannot meet at school.

The word "boyfriend" made Liang Xinchong tighten his arms around her for a moment before reluctantly letting go. His ears were red, and he leaned down to lightly touch her forehead before turning away.

"I'm going to study." After his lewd act, he turned and ran away quickly.

It's a bit like fleeing in panic.