Everyone sat in the living room. Qiao Lan counted 16 candles and lit them one by one.

Qiao Lan turned to look at Tan Mo. The candlelight reflected on the young man's delicate face. His light brown eyes were as dazzling as amber.

He was so beautiful that Qiao Lan was slightly stunned.

Uncle Chen chuckled and urged Tan Mo to quickly blow out the candles. Qiao Lan came back to her senses and hurriedly stopped him. "Wait a minute. Make a wish first. You don't have to say it out loud."

Tan Mo looked at Qiao Lan in silence. After a moment, he closed his eyes. After a while, he opened his eyes and said faintly, "It's done."

The birthday cake was made by Aunt Chen herself.

Tan Mo loved to eat sweets, but he didn't eat much today. Qiao Lan could tell that Tan Mo wasn't in a good mood.

She thought for a long time, from this morning until now. She tried to think of what could have made Tan Mo in such a bad mood, but she couldn't think of anything.

Qiao Lan sighed. She grabbed the pillow next to her and put it in her arms. She rested her chin on the pillow and sighed softly.

Tan Mo came out of the bedroom. His eyes fell on Qiao Lan, who seemed to be thinking about something.

The weather outside was getting colder, but the house was very warm. The girl had just come out of the shower. She was wearing a comfortable beige dress. Her hair was half-wet and draped over her thin shoulders.

She was curled up on the sofa, hugging a fluffy pillow. Half of her slender white calves and legs were exposed under the beige dress.

Tan Mo looked away. His eyes fell mechanically on the armrest of the sofa next to Qiao Lan. "It's late. Why aren't you sleeping yet?"

Qiao Lan came back to her senses. She looked back at him and smiled. "I'm going to sleep soon."

"Okay." Tan Mo nodded. Just as he was about to turn around and leave, Qiao Lan called out to him. "Tan Mo, you … Did something happen to you recently?"

Qiao Lan thought about it for a long time. It wasn't that Tan Mo was unhappy today. This unusual mood had actually lasted for a long time.

Tan Mo was silent for a moment before he asked her, "Why do you ask?"

"Because you haven't been in a good mood recently."

She was really smart and sensitive, Tan Mo thought. Even Uncle Chen didn't notice it, but Qiao Lan did.

He shook his head and said he was fine. After Qiao Lan went back to her room to sleep, he sat in the dark for a long time. He looked at the moon outside the window, at the spot where Qiao Lan had just sat, and at the pillow in Qiao Lan's arms.

He stared at the pillow for a long time. Then, he carefully took the pillow and hugged it in his arms hesitantly and silently.

On Sunday, Qiao Lan was going to take the bus back to school as usual. After all, there was a self-study session on Sunday night. However, it started to rain outside.

Uncle Chen looked outside and turned to Qiao Lan. "Lan Lan, don't be in a hurry to leave today. I'll send you to school later. Don't refuse. It's raining so heavily outside. It's not a hassle to send you there."

Qiao Lan couldn't refuse Uncle Chen's offer. She thanked Uncle Chen and waited until almost four o 'clock. Then, she picked up her backpack and followed Uncle Chen out.

The Affiliated High School had a self-study session on Sunday night. Many students came early to copy homework. At this time, there were quite a lot of people at the school gate. After Qiao Lan got off the bus and entered the school, a few girls from an unknown class asked hesitantly, "Was that Qiao Lan just now?"

"Yeah." A few girls glanced at each other. There weren't many people in the school who didn't know about Qiao Lan.

"Did she just … get off from that car?"

A girl asked uncertainly. "That car seems to be the one that sends and fetches Tan Mo every day. I think I saw it on the school's forum before. It costs more than eight digits …"

A few girls who didn't pay attention to this matter were first shocked by the eight digits. Then, they found the main point.

"So, the car that sends and fetches Tan Mo every day sent Qiao Lan here today?"

Everyone was silent.

They weren't students from Class 18, but because the incident of Hao Ying chasing after Qiao Lan was too big, students who didn't like to gossip knew a lot. Those who liked to gossip even dug up all the boys that Qiao Lan had a good relationship with. Among them, someone mentioned Tan Mo.

It was said that Qiao Lan's classmate in her first year of high school said that Qiao Lan and Tan Mo were deskmates when they were in their first year of high school. Tan Mo didn't talk to anyone except Qiao Lan.

It wasn't a big deal that they had a good relationship, but today, they coincidentally saw Uncle Chen send Qiao Lan over. This matter was somewhat ambiguous and intimate.

There was also an indescribable strangeness.

A boy only talked to one girl. Every day, he would teach this girl questions and even send her breakfast. Now, he even sent a car to fetch her. If it were other people, they would almost be sure that there was something fishy going on between the two.

However, if it was Tan Mo, everyone would feel that it shouldn't be like this.

It shouldn't be like this, but it was too ambiguous, so it felt even more indescribably strange and awkward.

"I heard from my friend that she had a good relationship with Qiao Lan's roommate. Qiao Lan's roommate said that Qiao Lan's family was very poor, so Qiao Lan deliberately hooked up with Tan Mo. After all, Tan Mo's family is very rich."

"No way, I don't think Qiao Lan is that kind of person. Otherwise, why would she reject Hao Ying's pursuit? Don't tell me Hao Ying's family doesn't have money?"

"Then why is she always so nice to Tan Mo? And why is she taking Tan Mo's car to school now?"

Qiao Lan didn't know what was going on. In the middle of the evening self-study session, Bai Yu poked Qiao Lan. Her expression was not very good, and she whispered to Qiao Lan, "Lan Lan, why did you come to school today?"

Qiao Lan didn't tell anyone that she usually went to Tan Mo's house on weekends. She subconsciously wanted to brush it off, but when the words were about to come out of her mouth, she suddenly realized that something was wrong. "What's wrong?"

"Someone took a picture of you getting out of Tan Mo's car on Tieba. Now, many people in WeChat Moments are talking about it."

Qiao Lan was stunned. She took Bai Yu's phone and looked at it. Someone had posted a picture of her getting out of Uncle Chen's car today and said that it was definitely the car.

Nowadays, as long as the names Qiao Lan, Hao Ying, Chen Yaoyang, and so on were involved, all the gossip seemed to explode in an instant. However, there were still people who deliberately led her in this direction and jokingly said that the school belle rejected Hao Ying's roses, but she didn't reject Tan Mo's luxury car.

It seemed like a joke, but it couldn't hide the sarcasm directed at Qiao Lan. After work, there were even people who followed the trend and said that they had long heard that Qiao Lan started because Tan Mo's family was rich, so she took the initiative to contact Tan Mo.

Qiao Lan's popularity was getting better and better, but there were also more and more people who disliked her, especially girls. Qiao Lan didn't even know many of the girls.

Now, these people were speaking as if Hao Ying had been wronged. They said that comparing Hao Ying to a disabled person was an insult to Hao Ying.

Qiao Lan's face had never looked so ugly before.

She didn't know if it was because of her and Tan Mo, or because the setting of the novel, the students in this school were always so annoying. She couldn't figure out why so many people liked to use this kind of gloating and disgusting attitude to judge a stranger.

What benefit could this bring to them?

Psychological comfort?

Qiao Lan couldn't figure it out, and she didn't want to think about it. Her first reaction was that she didn't want Tan Mo to see these messy things. Qiao Lan returned the phone to Bai Yu and said to Bai Yu, "Don't let Tan Mo see these things, and don't mention it when Tan Mo is here."

However, Qiao Lan forgot that Tan Mo's perception of the surroundings was many times more sensitive than hers.

He didn't know what was going on, but he could feel that people who clearly didn't know him were sizing him up.

However, no one around him told him what was going on.

It was another week of PE class. Everyone left the classroom. Tan Mo sat in the classroom and read a book. The girls outside who didn't want to be under the sun ran to the shadow of the teaching building and hid from the sun to chat. Tan Mo wasn't in the mood to listen to what they were saying, but he suddenly heard Qiao Lan's name.

Tan Mo never dared to let Qiao Lan and other people know his thoughts. He was afraid that his broken body would bring rumors to Qiao Lan. However, Tan Mo never thought that the rumors would jump into his ears in a way that he couldn't accept.

"That's Qiao Lan in the distance, right?

Do you think she's like what everyone said? That she deliberately got close to Tan Mo because of Tan Mo's family's wealth? "

"I don't think so," someone said. "I think Qiao Lan is really good to Tan Mo."

"I really don't understand. How can Tan Mo compare to Hao Ying? Is Qiao Lan blind?"

Tan Mo didn't understand the meaning of this sentence, but the next sentence suddenly made his rationality collapse.

"You don't understand," the girl laughed for a long time. "Have you heard of a phrase?"

"What?"

"Mu Can't Do It."