We ordinary people also need to fall in love.

Chapter 54 A Steady Flow

"Buzz!"

...He wanted to see who was bombarding him with messages at seven o'clock on Saturday morning.

Qinghe: "Aren't you getting up?"

Li Bubai: "You'd better be in trouble."

Chen Qiuhe didn't explain first, but instead sent him more than a dozen photos.

Qinghe: "I should still take some photos of myself in high school so I can look back on them later."

Li Bubai: "Thank you."

Qinghe: "oioi~ Are you crying from being so touched right now?"

…What's there to be moved about? Some of these photos are of him practicing dancing, enough to make him dizzy. He has no intention of keeping the other photos.

Li Bubai: "Delete these photos."

He cited those "dark history" photos.

Qinghe: "Hehe, but you do look pretty handsome in some of the pictures."

Indeed, some of the scenes are quite beautiful, but the people... are just average.

Qinghe: "I used it for online dating."

Li Bubai: "Don't bring me trouble."

Chen Qiuhe didn't reply; it's unclear whether she was pretending not to see it or had actually gone offline.

On Saturdays, students who have been busy all week choose to go out and relax or stay home and play games.

For Li Mubai, besides doing homework, he also read books.

In this kind of life, time passes by and it's evening before you know it.

Yan Shu: "Have you finished writing?"

Li Bubai: "Hmm."

As a "senior and great master," Li Mubai decided to set an example by offering his own insights.

"peanut"

Autumn Guest

Forget the city streets, and return to the fields outside the village.

Peanut leaves are slender, but the peanuts are round when ripe.

Each seed is nestled within its pod, and hangs from the rafters of every household.

This is necessary to sober up; otherwise, the feast cannot be complete.

Li Bubai: "The first couplet is actually not very tight, and I feel that the whole poem is a bit mediocre."

He began with self-criticism.

Yan Shu: "Hmm, I also feel it's a bit bland, but what direction should good poetry take?"

Li Bubai: "Hmm—I think there are two points. First, it wins with its sentences, producing excellent lines; second, it wins with its ideas, making the whole poem interesting."

Li Bubai: "This is my personal opinion."

He added a disclaimer.

Yan Shu: "I see, that's impressive."

Li Mubai: "It's just a little insight, I hope it can help you."

Yan Shu: "Then what do you think of my poem?"

"litchi"

Chunyu

The garden is lush and green, and the spring breeze carries the fragrance of lychees.

Her scarlet robe still held dew, her white jade seemed to be covered in frost.

Winning Yang Guifei's smile can soothe Su Shi's sorrow.

Pick three hundred berries, and invite guests to drink goose-yellow wine.

Li Bubai: "Not bad, you also wrote a five-character quatrain. I thought it was a seven-character quatrain."

Yan Shu: "Hmph, don't underestimate me."

Li Bubai: "No, it's just unexpected. Let me savor the saltiness."

…surprisingly, it was pretty good.

Li Bubai: "The second couplet is quite good, using metaphors to describe lychees. The third couplet uses allusions, but the sentence structure is a bit stiff."

Yan Shu: "What does '呆' mean?"

Li Bubai: "It's too plain and rigid, lacking poetic flavor."

Yan Shu: "I understand. Anything else?"

Li Bubai: "Do you drink?"

Yan Shu: "I don't want to drink, what's wrong?"

Li Bubai: "The use of 'goose yellow' in the final couplet is not quite appropriate; it feels a bit like 'forcing a new poem to express sorrow.' Also, wine and lychee don't seem to have any direct connection."

Yan Shu: "Okay, I understand."

Li Bubai: "That's all. Overall, it's not bad. It's the first five-character quatrain."

Yan Shu: "Can you guess where 'Su Zi' and 'three hundred grains' come from?"

Li Bubai: "I'd rather say Su Shi's line, 'I'd eat three hundred lychees a day, and gladly be a Lingnan native forever.'"

Yan Shu: "You're right."

But is it really possible for someone to eat 300 lychees a day? Definitely not. This statement isn't factual; it's just to highlight how delicious lychees are.

How come Yan Shu has improved so quickly? Aren't students supposed to be busy with classes and homework? Could it be that she's an uneducated girl who's wasting all her talent on poetry?

You should try to persuade her, since classical poetry has basically become a "crooked path" in modern times.

Li Bubai: "Do you spend time studying poetry every day?"

Yan Shu: "Yes, I want to catch up with you as soon as possible."

Stop rushing, you're almost overtaking me.

Yan Shu: "Are there any other ways to improve? I feel that simply reading 'Chinese Poetics' won't help much anymore."

Li Bubai: "Hmm—although I don't know how your grades are, it's still best not to spend too much time writing poetry."

Yan Shu: "What's wrong?"

Li Bubai: "Because no matter how well you write poetry, it can't help you get into university; it can only be developed as a hobby."

For very practical reasons, writing poetry cannot put a poet's stomach.

Yan Shu: "My grades are very good, don't worry."

Li Bubai: "Then we can't delay it any longer. I'll feel guilty if your grades drop."

Yan Shu: "If I keep getting good grades, can you recommend me?"

Li Mubai thought about it and decided that as long as it didn't affect his grades, developing a hobby was a good idea, and more importantly, it could be a partner for him.

Li Bubai: "Okay."

Yan Shu: "Then I promise you, I'll keep up the good grades next time."

Why are you so persistent...?

Li Bubai: "If your grades drop in the next midterm exam, I won't teach you anymore."

Li Mubai decided to impose a punishment.

Yan Shu: "Okay, you can make your recommendation now."

He thought for a while.

Li Bubai: "You can read Qiu Zhao'ao's 'Detailed Annotations on Du Fu's Poems.' The annotations in this book are very comprehensive and are of great help in accumulating knowledge of words and classical allusions."

Yan Shu: "Okay."

Li Bubai: "Buy the simplified Chinese version, don't buy the wrong one."

Actually, the traditional Chinese characters are better. Simplified Chinese characters will merge the meanings of the two characters. For example, the character "云" can be written as "云" or "云". The former means clouds and rain, while the latter means "to say". In the case of "古人云", the latter should be used, and the former should not be used.

However, high school students haven't even mastered all the traditional Chinese characters yet, so they can't just jump right in to tackle the big boss.

Yan Shu: "Thank you. Are you reading it too?"

Li Bubai: "Yes."

He also had one, but it was in traditional Chinese characters.

Li Bubai: "However, this book is a long one, so it's best not to spend too much time reading it. Read it slowly and steadily."

Yan Shu: "Okay, we should also take it slow and steady."

...What does that mean? Li Mubai began to ponder the sentence.

The saying goes: "Learn from each other and make progress gradually."

Seeing that Li Mubai did not reply, she added.

Is that what you mean? Something feels off.

Li Bubai: "By the way, it's your turn to submit the research paper next month and a half later."

Yan Shu: "Hmm, wait until I give you a super difficult question."

Li Bubai: "Don't make things difficult for yourself."