Li Mo

In mid-October, the autumn atmosphere gradually deepened.

The results of the Teachers' Day blackboard newspaper competition were announced first. The blackboard newspaper of Class 2 of the Science Department, mainly designed and illustrated by Li Mo, won the first prize without any suspense due to its novel ideas, neat handwriting and meaningful pictures.

When Sun Sisi excitedly announced the news and mentioned that each member who participated in the creation would receive a prize of one hundred yuan, Li Mo lowered her head to organize her notes, and the corners of her mouth curved slightly.

This money is enough for her to buy several of the reference books she's been longing for.

Immediately afterwards, the results of the first monthly exam of the senior year were also posted.

During break, the bulletin board was crowded with anxious students.

Liang Xinchong squeezed into the crowd, his eyes eagerly scanning the middle and back of the report card, searching for his name.

He found it, and a surge of joy filled his heart. Compared to his previous ranking, he had indeed improved. But as his gaze continued upwards, counting the gap between himself and his target rank, that joy was instantly extinguished by more than half.

He has made progress, but he is still dozens of places away from Li Mo's requirement of "improving by 100 places", and he is still the last in the class.

Overwhelmed by a sense of loss, he wilted like a frostbitten eggplant, dejectedly preparing to squeeze out of the crowd.

Just then, someone exclaimed, "Holy crap, the top student in the grade has changed!"

Liang Xinchong abruptly stopped in his tracks, his heart clenching as if gripped by something. He almost held his breath, his gaze snapping to the very top of the report card—

Grade ranking: 1

Class: Science Class 2

Name: Li Mo

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the crowd, landing precisely on the two ink-printed characters in regular script, making Liang Xinchong's eyes dazzled.

He blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

Li Mo... ranked first in the grade?!

She not only surpassed Qi Anxin, who almost always held the top spot in the class, but also took first place in the grade!

In an instant, the disappointment and frustration of failing to meet the standard were replaced by a more overwhelming and proud ecstasy.

He even forgot about his minor frustrations about not meeting the standard, and only one thought was screaming in his mind: Li Mo is first in the grade, she is first in the grade!

According to the seating arrangement principle of Yuehai Middle School, which is to "help struggling students with high-achieving students", the top student in the class and the last student in the class are seated together.

He and Li Mo are going to be deskmates!

Liang Xinchong squeezed out of the crowd with a silly grin, completely out of place with the atmosphere of mixed joy and sorrow around him.

Sure enough, at the class meeting after the monthly exam, the old class teacher Yuan Hai took out the new seating chart and began to announce the adjustment results.

"Li Mo, you're at the same table as Liang Xinchong."

"Qi Anxin, you're at the same table as Chen You."

The words had barely left his mouth when the reactions varied.

Liang Xinchong acted almost immediately, his face beaming with an undisguised smile. He deftly tidied up his books and belongings, then moved the table with a clanging sound, precisely placing it in the empty seat next to Li Mo. His eagerness was like that of a large dog finally allowed to approach its owner, with an invisible tail wagging happily behind it.

On the other side, Qi Anxin's face instantly darkened.

She has a boyfriend, and she likes to sit with Liang Xinchong, not because of any romantic feelings, but simply because she thinks Liang Xinchong is handsome, cheerful and interesting. Apart from his poor grades, sitting with him makes her feel proud.

As for Chen You... she glanced at the boy who always kept his head down, whose face was covered with acne, and who was taciturn, and felt an indescribable sense of rejection and disgust.

During the break, Qi Anxin went directly to Yuan Hai's office. "Teacher Yuan, can I not sit with Chen You? He... we don't get along very well."

She tried to express herself tactfully.

Yuan Hai adjusted his glasses, glanced at her, and said in a calm but authoritative tone, "Qi Anxin, the seating arrangement is for everyone's mutual improvement. Don't be prejudiced against your classmates. Chen You is a very reliable student. Try getting along with him for two weeks first, and if you still have problems, come to me."

Qi Anxin was rebuffed and felt even more unhappy, so she returned to the classroom dejectedly.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere was somewhat delicate in the seats of the new "first and last place" combination.

Looking at Liang Xinchong beside her, whose smile was too dazzling and whose whole body exuded an aura of "I'm very happy," Li Mo felt that she was not entirely happy.

She knew, of course, why he was so happy, but the thought of having to endure his constant nagging for a long time in the future, which might distract her, gave her a headache.

Sure enough, as soon as Liang Xinchong put the last book into the drawer, he came over with his eyes shining brightly and his voice was full of barely suppressed excitement: "Li Mo, you're amazing! You're first in the grade, and we're actually sitting together."

Li Mo sighed, put down her pen, turned her head, and looked at him very seriously: "Liang Xinchong, now that we're deskmates, we need to make a three-point agreement."

“That’s fine too.” Liang Xinchong immediately sat up straight, adopting a posture of attentive listening, but the corners of his mouth still couldn’t help but turn up.

"First, you are not allowed to talk to me during class, pass me notes, or do anything that might distract me from the lesson."

"Second, you must remain absolutely quiet during self-study periods. You can ask questions, but you cannot chat."

“Third…” Li Mo paused, “At school, our relationship is just that of ordinary classmates who sit together because of policy arrangements. We cannot have any words or actions that go beyond the boundaries of classmates.”

She finished speaking in one breath, looked at him, and asked, "Can you do it?"

Liang Xinchong was extremely happy and was almost completely obedient to everything. He smiled and nodded repeatedly, his eyes gentle and focused: "Anything is fine, anything is fine, whatever you say is fine!"

Seeing his silly look, as if he said, "I'll agree to any condition as long as you let me sit next to you," Li Mo's helplessness dissipated a bit, and she even felt like laughing.

She turned her head, picked up her pen again, and said calmly, "Remember what you said."

Outside the window, the autumn sun shines brightly.

One second he said "Anything is fine," the next second he rested his chin on his hand, turned his head, and looked at her with a smile.

Li Mo: "..."

She couldn't hold back any longer, reached out and pushed him away, angrily shouting, "The 38th parallel!"

Liang Xinchong paused for a moment, then said, "Naive!"

Who's really being childish, Liang Xinchong?

Li Mo pushed his book away and said coldly, "Don't cross the line."

Liang Xinchong burst out laughing.

Haha, that's just weird.

-

Even though she achieved good results in her first monthly exam in her senior year of high school, Li Mo still felt a lot of pressure.

To relieve this tension, Li Mo developed a new habit—every evening after school, she would temporarily put aside her books, put on her silver Walkman, and run a few laps on the playground alone.

With intense rock music or soothing folk songs playing in her headphones, sweat washes away fatigue, and the rhythm of her steps becomes a way for her to cope with stress.

These short twenty minutes are a rare moment of relaxation for her, a time that belongs only to her during the day.

However, this time alone was soon broken.

She didn't know when it started, but as soon as she stood firm on the track, a familiar figure would appear beside her without fail. Liang Xinchong wouldn't say anything, just grin at her, and then run alongside her, maintaining a perfect distance.

When she first noticed he had followed her, Li Mo frowned, stopped, and looked at him seriously: "Liang Xinchong, here are three rules!"

Liang Xinchong grinned, already prepared to play the rogue, and pointed to the other students exercising on the track: "Li Mo, this playground isn't owned by us. So many people can run here, I want to run and exercise too, is that against the rules?"

Li Mo was speechless for a moment, knowing that he was arguing unreasonably, but she couldn't refute him.

For several days in a row, he always managed to find various seemingly reasonable excuses to appear on the track.

That evening, the setting sun burned the clouds into a magnificent purplish-red.

Liang Xinchong arrived as scheduled, with that same "What a coincidence" smile on his face.

Li Mo looked at him, then suddenly stopped, took off one earphone, turned around, and looked directly at him. Her voice was slightly panting from running, but it was unusually clear and cold:

“Liang Xinchong, stop doing such annoying things.”

Liang Xinchong's smile froze instantly, solidifying on his face. He seemed to be rooted to the spot, staring blankly at Li Mo's face, which was filled with a hint of anger and aloofness.

A few seconds later, he awkwardly raised his hand to scratch his cheek, his eyes flickering with obvious guilt and panic. His voice lowered, tinged with a cautious probing: "I... I didn't mean to. I just... couldn't help wanting to find you."

"Don't you have anything to do?" Li Mo's tone remained unyielding, as if stating a simple fact. "You don't have to run with me. You can go eat, or do your homework, or memorize classical poems... Your time should be used for more meaningful things."

Liang Xinchong paused for a moment, then looked up at her with a determined gaze, his voice not loud, but unusually firm: "But I want to stay with you even more."

These blunt words made Li Mo's heart skip a beat, but she forced herself to harden her heart. She took a deep breath and used her "trump card": "This is pointless. At this rate, when will you ever improve your ranking by a hundred places? Are you really serious when you say you like me?"

"It's true..."

She interrupted him before he could finish speaking, her tone almost cruelly calm, "Liang Xinchong, don't always put me before these things. Right now, I'm not that important. And you're not that important to me either."

The light in his eyes dimmed at a visible speed, and his shoulders slumped almost imperceptibly.

He lowered his head, staring at the dusty tips of his shoes, and after several seconds, answered in a muffled, almost breathy voice:

"……I know."

"If you know, go to the classroom and do your homework." Li Mo didn't look at his instantly dejected expression.

Liang Xinchong raised his head and, as expected, revealed that familiar, aggrieved expression that Li Mo knew so well—as if he had been abandoned by the whole world. His lips were slightly pursed, and his eyes were moist.

Normally, Li Mo might have softened her heart, but at this moment, she knew she couldn't back down.

She hardened her heart, turned her gaze away, and said in a stiff tone, "Pretending to be wronged won't work!"

After saying that, she stopped looking at him, put her headphones back on, and turned up the volume, as if to shut out all external interference, including him.

Then, she started running and continued along the track without looking back.

Liang Xinchong stood there, watching her resolute figure run away, looking particularly lonely against the backdrop of the magnificent sunset.

He raised his hand, rubbed his hair in frustration, and ultimately didn't follow.

He realized that his approach, his desire to "be with you more," was, in her eyes at that moment, an inappropriate disturbance, or even... "an annoying thing."

He silently turned around and walked towards the teaching building. The afterglow of the setting sun cast a long shadow of him, filled with a sense of loss.

On the track, Li Mo ran with all her might, the music in her ears was deafening, but she could not suppress the slight stinging feeling in her heart caused by the harsh words she had spoken.

Was what she just said too harsh?