Chapter 4: Mutual Exchange of Conditions

  Basketball is Xia Meng's favorite sport, and she trains with the school team every morning. The training time is from 6:30 to 7:15, and classes start at 7:30, so Xia Meng doesn't even have time to go to the cafeteria to buy breakfast after returning from the court.

  Chen Yu Meng said she would take care of Xia Meng's breakfast, and she really did it. Every morning, she brought Xia Meng's breakfast: two meat buns, a box of milk, an egg, and an apple to the classroom.

  "Xia Meng, did you tell Li Han that I like him?" Chen Yu Meng blinked her eyes and asked Xia Meng, who was eating voraciously.

  Chen Yu Meng has a head of shiny black hair, a small face the size of a palm with a pair of big watery eyes, high nose bridge, not tall in person, but well-proportioned.

  For some reason, Xia Meng felt particularly close to Yu Meng at first sight, perhaps because Yu Meng looked a bit like her favorite star Zhou Xun, or because she herself was tall and sturdy (Xia Meng is 168 cm tall with a larger bone structure due to long-term athletic training). Therefore, Xia Meng especially liked those delicate, petite, and quirky girls, such as Chen Yu Meng.

  Xia Meng's mouth was stuffed with food, and she murmured indistinctly.

  "Don't forget!" Chen Yumeng helped Xia Meng wipe away the sweat on her arm and forehead with a paper towel.

  Because she had just finished training, Xia Meng hadn't had time to change her jersey yet, and her whole body was sticky with sweat.

  Finally finished two classes, Xia Meng rushed back to the dormitory to change into a blouse and skirt.

  Li Han came out of the toilet and looked up to see Xia Meng with her hair down, wearing a cotton long skirt, loose white shirt, and black cloth shoes, rushing over like a gust of wind.

  Xia Meng's outfit looks like that of a patriotic female student from the Republic of China era, as if she is ready to take to the streets and demonstrate at any moment.

  "Dummy!" This is Xia Meng's nickname for Li Han, meaning "stupid fool". "Wait for me under the Longing Tree after lunch."

  The high school where Xia Meng was located, the trees all over the campus were lantern trees and jasmine trees. In a remote southeast corner of the campus, next to the football field, there was a hundred-year-old Acacia tree. Under the Acacia tree, there was a pavilion. Standing in the pavilion, you could see the river surrounding the school. Xia Meng's high school was located on an island surrounded by the river and connected to the city by a large bridge.

  After lunch, Xia Meng found an excuse to get rid of Ye Nuo and Wang Qi, and secretly made her way to the pavilion.

  The pavilion was empty, and Xia Meng sat down on the stone bench with a huff. "That rascal Li Han, not coming!" Just then, there was a loud crack as Xia Meng's head hit against a tree branch. She looked up to find Li Han sitting in the tree, grinning from ear to ear.

  "Come on, Xia Mengyu!" Since Li Han became the class monitor, he had been calling Xia Mengyu directly.

  Xia Meng's tree-climbing skills were exceptionally high, her grandma who lived in the suburbs had several decades-old loquat trees, Chinese bayberry trees, pomelo trees, orange trees, pear trees and peach trees in front of her house. When the fruits were ripe, she could climb up to pick the sweetest ones, but today she was wearing a skirt...

  "Aren't you coming up? If the Director of Education passes by here, we'll all be in trouble."

  The head of the Education Commission is a short and stout middle-aged woman named Lai. Because her body shape resembles a lantern, and the most common flower in school is the lantern flower, students secretly call her "School Flower". The School Flower mainly cracks down on early love among students. Once she discovers any signs of early love between male and female classmates, they will be taken to the teaching affairs office for severe interrogation, while also notifying their parents to come to school to cooperate with education. Their school is famous for its strict control over early love.

  Xia Meng thought for a moment, grabbed the tree trunk and climbed up to sit face to face with Li Han. "White Egg, I've taken a liking to your deskmate. You must ask her out this weekend!" Xia Meng instructed without hesitation.

  All along, Li Han seemed to be her private property, he had to listen to her.

  Li Han stared into Xia Meng's eyes, this girl's eyes were clear and bright, her big watery eyes filled with warm smiles, even when scolding people, her eyebrows were curved. From her eyes, there was no sign of hesitation or doubt, since she had stepped on the rhythm of finding him a girlfriend, wouldn't his efforts of over 10 years be in vain?

  He has been patiently waiting, waiting for the day when his brilliance will shine brightly enough to make her take notice, and also waiting for the day when she grows up and is willing to accept him with all her heart. But that day is still far away, isn't it? He must bide his time and wait for the energy of his small universe to explode, and he will surely attract the girl he loves like the gravitational force of the earth attracts everything on it.

  Li Han was seen daydreaming again, and Xia Meng kicked him with a leg, "You have to treat Yu Meng well, do you understand?" "Oh oh oh, this one is okay, but you have to agree to two conditions of mine!"

  "What conditions?"

  "First: I have a date with Chen Yu Meng, and you and Zhang Li must follow; Second: My grades are so poor, you have to find time to tutor me!"

  Just as Xia Meng was about to open his mouth and scold, Li Han continued: "If Chen Yu Meng and I go out, our love affair will be known throughout the school. I'm the class monitor, if it gets to the school flower's ears, it won't just be me who's in trouble, but also Chen Yu Meng, our class, and the teacher."

  Pausing for a moment, Li Han said with a blush: "Although I'm the class monitor, my grades are actually at the bottom of the class. You have to give me some extra tutoring." Here we go again, every time Li Han hung his head and furrowed his brow like a shy little wife, Xia Meng's heart would soften.

  "Alright then, you'd better make a date with Yu Miao this week. As for your tutoring, we'll discuss it later!" Xia Meng said as she prepared to slide down from the tree.

  "Hey, wait, I'll go down and take a look if there's anyone around!" After finishing speaking, Li Han quickly climbed down the tree. As soon as he looked up, he saw Xia Meng's pink polka-dot underwear tightly wrapped around her cute "little sister". Li Han couldn't help but feel his face burning hot, his throat tightening, he was no longer a little boy.

  "Is someone coming from that direction?" Xia Meng asked nervously from the tree. "No... no... none, hurry down." Li Han stood under the tree with open arms. Xia Meng ignored his embrace and slid down from the tree.

  Before afternoon class, Xia Meng told Yu Meng that Li Han had agreed to go out with her.

  Although the voice was not loud, it still reached Li Han's ears: When did I agree to be with Chen Yu Meng? Silly girl, I just... Yu Meng turned around and looked at Li Han with a loving gaze, blushing and smiling, Li Han could only stiffen his face and nod at her.

  Zhang Li glanced at Chen Yu Meng, and with a smile asked Li Han: "Did Meng Meng successfully confess?" Li Han smiled strangely and asked Zhang Li: "What's your impression of Chen Yu Meng?" "Not bad, quite cute, a lively girl, actually..."

  "On Sunday, I made an appointment with Chen Yumeng and Xia Meng. We will go to the grassland behind the school for a barbecue after school. How about it?"

  "Is Xia Meng leaving too? Alright." Zhang Li's heart skipped a beat when he heard Xia Meng's name.

  During class break, Xia Meng opened her phone and found a text message from Li Han. "Sunday, let's go to Chen Yu Meng's place for a barbecue, Saturday you come to my house for tutoring, the tutoring starts at 11:30." Li Han knew that Xia Meng had basketball practice on Saturday morning, which ended at 11 o'clock, and he also had to play soccer with Qin Lang and others in the morning.

  Xia Meng turned around to see Li Han with an innocent look on his face, holding up his phone. "Saturday at 11am, I'll be waiting for you at the big bridge in front of the school gate. Don't be late!" Xia Meng saw another text message from Li Han.