A Bookworm’s New Routine

TWO OLD MOTHERS

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

There was a sound of a basketball hitting the ground.

“Come on, pass the ball, fuck, can you play, can’t you pass the ball?”

“You can handle it, come on!”

“Fuck!”

Playing basketball can even start a fight. Mu Qi has seen it many times, and every time she watches from the side. But not today. She has a headache.

Maybe it was because yesterday’s illness hasn’t healed yet, or maybe it was just because of playing basketball, she was too hot so she took of her clothes, but now she was cold again.

Anyway, whatever the reason, damn, her brain was going to explode!

“Let’s go!” Mu Qi impatiently put on the cotton-padded jacket, pulled the zipper all the way to the top, buried half her face in the clothes, waved her hands listlessly, turned around and left.

“Qi-ge?” Hu Ying was cursing at the three of them. Seeing that Mu Qi weas leaving, she didn’t care about those people anymore, so she hurriedly chased after her.

Only then did she realize that Mu Qi’s face was wrong. She stretched out her hand and touched her forehead, which was a bit hot. Then she frowned, wanting to talk to her, but thinking that the other party had a headache to clear up, she swallowed the words in her mouth, said nothing, and followed the other party home.

At this moment, Mu Qi was already top-heavy, and when she got to the door, if Hu Ying hadn’t grabbed her, she would have knelt directly at the door.

“Qi-ge, do you want to go for another drip?” Hu Ying helped her sit on the sofa.

Mu Qi didn't have the strength to speak anymore, so she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

When Su Yanxi received Hu Ying’s call, she just finished her math homework and heard that Mu Qi had a high fever again. She took her mobile phone and wallet, and went out with her clothes on.

Her parents had gone to the company, and there was no one at home, so it was very convenient for her to come out.

Ten minutes later, she arrived in front of Mu Qi’s house. Since she had come here once before, she was already familiar with how to get there.

“Why did she have a fever again? Did she not rest last night?” Su Yanxi came in after changing her shoes, and saw the two of them wearing cotton-padded clothes, and fully dressed. No need to ask, they must have gone out this morning.

It was so windy outside, and Mu Qi’s cold hasn’t completely healed yet. Going out this morning and being blown by the wind, it was hard not to fall ill.

"Let’s take her to the hospital.” Su Yanxi glanced at the thermometer, 38.5*, no worse than 39*.

Hu Ying’s face was full of apologies at the moment. She shouldn’t have brought Qi-ge to play basketball this morning. She can play at anytime. Why did she choose this day?

“What did you guys go out to do?” Su Yanxi suddenly said.

Hu Ying blurted out: “Play basketball.”

Hu Ying’s face sank immediately. She took Mu Qi's arm without saying a word, and then looked at her with a frown after seeing that Hu Ying didn’t move for a long time.

Hu Ying was frightened by such a little cutie, and then she reacted. They were going to take Qi-ge to the hospital.

In a daze, Mu Qi felt that she was being taken somewhere, but because her head was so dizzy and her whole body was as weak as mud, she didn't think much about it. When she woke up again, she found herself sitting in the same position as yesterday, with a drip still hanging in her hand.

It’s just that it was the right hand yesterday, and today, it was the left hand.

“Qi-ge, I’m sorry.” Seeing her wake up, Hu Ying said apologetically.

Mu Qi’s gaze stayed on her for a while, and then she was attracted by Su Yanxi, who was trying her best to keep her face straight. She glanced at Hu Ying and stared: “Why is she here?”

Hu Ying touched her nose and whispered, “I can’t drag you alone.”

Mu Qi: “...”

Su Yanxi pursed her lips and looked at her very seriously, “Mu Qi, the doctor just said that if you came one step late, your brain would have burnt out, and you would have to lie in bed as a vegetative person in the future.”

“Pfft!” Hu Ying, who knew the whole process, heard Little Cutie’s serious nonsense appearance, and couldn’t help laughing. When she looked up, she saw that the both of them were looking at her. She quickly held back her smile, but she couldn’t hold back fully, causing her face to turn red.

“If I'm a vegetable, you’ll take care of me?” Mu Qi was amused by her schoolmate at the same table, and her eyes couldn't help but smile and she didn’t even tease the other person.

“Ah, okay!” Su Yanxi nodded.

“Hahahaha!” Hu Ying couldn’t help laughing out loud, which made Mu Qi forget the joke she had just made, so naturally, she didn’t care about Su Yanxi’s answer.

But she didn’t notice that when Su Yanxi said those two words, her hands on her knees were tightly clasped together, and her eyes were firm.

“Little Cutie, I didn't expect you to have the potential to tell corny jokes.” Hu Ying said with a smile to her unconcernedly. 

Su Yanxi didn't mention it anymore, smiled, then stood up and said: “I’ll buy you something to eat, it’s noon now.”

“I’m going!” Last night, she bought the supper. How could it be possible to let the other party buy it today? Hu Ying rushed out first, but after half a minute, she came back, stood at the door, and said, “Little Cutie, you can eat here too, don’t go back at noon.”

After all, most of the semester was over, and they have a slight understanding of Xiao Ke (!). Knowing that her parents are strict, she still sneaked out last night. If she didn't return at noon today, her parents would have something to say.

(!) Xiao Ke is part of Xiao Ke Ai, which means ‘little cutie’. So, Xiao Ke is just a short form of it, I'm assuming? I don’t know how to shorten ‘little cutie’ so I’m leaving it as is.

But if one always listens to parents so much, life will be boring, and youth will be more willful to stimulate.

Just as Su Yanxi was about to refuse, her mother called and said she was going to her aunt’s house at noon and asked her to fry the meat in the refrigerator at noon.

Because it was quiet in the ward, Hu Ying naturally heard it, and immediately turned around and ran away.

Su Yanxi put her phone in her pocket and turned to look at Mu Qi on the hospital bed. The other party was poking at her phone bored at this moment.

Because there was no Hu Ying to set up the mood, the ward was very quiet at the moment, but neither of them felt embarrassed. One was playing with a mobile phone, and the other was watching the drip carefully.

After a while, Hu Ying came back with takeout. She was usually sick, and her mother always whispered in her ear about eating light food. Even the lunch and dinner were neither spicy nor meaty, so now, she carried a few boxes of vegetables and a few boxes of rice in front of them, and even ordered three-point soup (!).

(!) No idea what a three point soup is... 

Mu Qi looked around and saw all the food, and couldn’t help but say: “Are you planning to become a monk?” (!)

(!) I believe that monks usually eat vegetarian dishes, so that’s probably why Mu Qi said something like this.

Hu Ying sat down, and in order to order these dishes, she asked for delicious food. She ran for a long time and was tired now. When she heard Mu Qi’s words, she rolled her eyes and said, “That’s it, you have to eat even if you don’t want!” (!)

(!) Last part of the dialogue was originally translated as ‘you have to eat if you don’t eat!’

“Hey!” Seeing that the other party was getting angry, Mu Qi stared at her.

Hu Ying remained motionless, and now, she was hungry and buried her head to eat.

Su Yanxi broke apart the disposable chopsticks and put them in Mu Qi’s hands. She stood by Hu Ying’s side and said, “You have to eat these for the next two days, so you will get better quickly.”

“What the hell...” Mu Qi, who was unhappy without meat, almost burst into foul language, and finally looked at the serious expressions of the two of them. In the end, she rubbed her face in frustration and surrendered: “Okay, okay, I will become a monk for the next two days.”

Hu Ying smiled immediately, her eyes narrowing into a slit.

Su Yanxi also smiled and showed her dimples.

Mu Qi couldn’t help muttering: “It used to be enough to have one old mother, but now there is another one.”

“You are too casual by yourself. Someone has to take care of you.” Hu Ying couldn’t help but say.

However, after speaking, the ward calmed down. Mu Qi lowered her head, her eyelids covered the expression of her eyes. A trace of annoyance flashed across Hu Ying’s face, knowing that she had just talked about the other party’s heartache.

Su Yanxi handed the soup to Mu Qi, breaking the peaceful atmosphere, and said: “Have some soup, the soup is not bad.”

Vegetable soup.

Mu Qi glanced at the girl. She really didn’t understand what was so delicious about this vegetable soup. Because she caught a cold and her nose was stuffed at the moment, in the end, the meal was eaten like she was chewing wax.

“You guys go back first.” After all, both of them were sitting here with her, as if she had a terminal illness.

It was only half past twelve, and there was no one at home, and in addition, Su Yanxi wanted to be here with her, so she shook her head and said, “I’ll wait for your drip to end before going back.”

Mu Qi looked at Hu Ying.

Hu Ying stood up and said, “I’ll go back and find you at night.”

“Okay.” Mu Qi nodded.

In the end, only Mu Qi and Su Yanxi were left in the ward.

Seeing the other party’s tired face, Su Yanxi said, “You can sleep for a while, and I will call you when the drip is over.”

“Thank you.” Mu Qi didn’t pretend to be hypocritical with her. She was really sleepy at the moment, and it took a while for the drip to be over, so she might as well take a nap.

This illness made Mu Qi finally take a two-day vacation, and she spent it all in the hospital and in bed.

On Monday, her nose was still stuffed. Her head was awake, but the stuffed nose made her feel hypoxic and want to sleep.

So she lay on the table all day, without raising her head.

Fortunately, there was no class with the head teacher or the Big Eyes today, allowing her to spend the day safely (!).

(!) Big Eyes is the nickname for Liu Juan, who is one of the teachers in their school

Su Yanxi didn’t call on her today, and let her fall asleep quietly on the table. When classmates came to ask questions during class, she went to the others’ desks to tell explain to them, determined not to be in her seat.

After school, Mu Qi was awakened by Su Yanxi, and she was still a little confused.

“Go home.” Su Yanxi said softly.

Hu Ying rushed over at this time, exclaiming: “Qi-ge, go, go home, you have been sleeping all day.”

After being called out by her like that, Mu Qi was shocked and woke up immediately. Looking around, there were only the three of them left in the class, and there were only a few scattered people in the corridor.

“Let’s go.” After sleeping for a day, her bones seemed to be stiff. She stretched her waist, stood up, and left.

“Qi-ge, schoolbag!” Hu Ying bent down and took out the schoolbag from her desk.

“Hmm.” Mu Qi took the schoolbag from her hand, threw it behind her, and walked away yawning.

Looking at the shriveled and deflated schoolbag, Su Yanxi was behind and shook her head helplessly, thinking that she would urge the other party to do her homework again tomorrow.

Actually thinking about it, for most of the semester, the other party did the homework in the morning of the next day. She was also happy to let the other party copy the homework. Although the other party also refused, she copied it helplessly most of the time.

This made Su Yanxi laugh silently from behind.

She thought that the other party usually looks very impatient and can’t be dragged, but on some things, she was still very easy to talk to.

As everyone knows, every time Mu Qi compromised, it was because of her pitiful appearance. Coupled with her appearance of crying but not crying, it was difficult not to compromise. 

She has never met such a crying girl since she was a child.

Mu Qi’s cold came and went quickly.

Her parents’ monthly meeting was now gone for three months. Mu Qi was inexplicably relieved, but she was also a little disappointed.

From the time she was born to last year, her parents have been loving and the family has been in harmony. Since May last year, there has been no more pictures of her parents’ love at home everyday, only quarrels and quarrels.

She almost ran away from home because of the quarrel. In the end, after she left, she thought that her future was uncertain so she gave up that impulse, went to her school honestly, and went into the room when she got home, out of sight and out of mind.

Now, when the door was opened, the room was cold, and there was no more non-stop quarrels in her ears, nor any sign of her parents’ love.

Standing in front of the door, Mu Qi watched for a long time, then finally took a step back, closed the door, and went downstairs.

After wandering outside for a long time, it was really cold in the end, so she went back.

​Because her brain was blown away by the wind, she didn’t sigh so much anymore, so she lay down on the bed and closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Naemjyu's note: I almost forgot to do this today lol. Also, I might be busy next Thursday, so next week's update might be posted during the next weekend instead (not this coming weekend). Sorry about that! ​