A Bookworm’s New Routine

PINK

After a dreamless night, Mu Qi woke up the next day feeling like she had been sleepwalking for the past few days.

"Qi-ge!" Hu Ying had gotten up ten minutes early today, and at this moment, just happened to bump into her outside her door.

"So early today?" Mu Qi closed the door and went downstairs with her.

"I'll see if you're doing well or not, and if not, just stay home and keep sleeping. I'll help you ask for a leave." Hu Ying said as she lifted the schoolbag on her shoulder.

Mu Qi embraced her shoulders and with a smile on her lips, she said: "No, it's much better. My head is clear now."

Hu Ying worriedly glanced at her and found that she was indeed more energetic, so she felt relieved, and then she said: "Qi-ge, didn't you say that you are in great shape? Why did you collapse?"

This question caused the smile on the corner of Mu Qi’s mouth to freeze, and when Hu Ying didn't take note of it, she flashed it away quickly, slapped the back of her head and said: "You also said that you drink a lot, but don’t you just pour one glass every time?"

Hu Ying: "...Fuck." Then the two looked at each other and laughed.

Walking towards the front of the community, Mu Qi (!) reflexively stopped and looked left and right.

(!) Instead of Mu Qi, the original text said 慕子瑶 (MuZiYao). I'm not sure if this is supposed to mean something else (if it's a pun, or if it's just a typo) so I just left it as Mu Qi. (Though ‘ZiYao’ is supposed to mean ‘precious child’)

"Huh, where's the Little Cutie?" Hu Ying also stopped. In the past few months, every time they walked to the front of the community, they could see Su Yanxi's figure, however, they didn't see it today.

Mu Qi frowned, and said: "Maybe she went to school. Let's go."

However, after arriving at school, there was no sign of Su Yanxi at all. Mu Qi sat in her seat and was still thinking that the girl would not be late, but by the end of the morning self-study, the girl hadn't arrived.

She tried to make a phone call, but there was always a constant prompt that the phone was off, which made her more irritable. Finally, she got up and went to the office, and the answer she got was that the girl was sick and had a high fever.

When Hu Ying heard this, her first reaction was to look at Mu Qi.

Mu Qi tilted towards her: "What are you looking at me for?"

Hu Ying said: "Little Cutie has been taking care of you these days and was infected."

"I… Fucking..." Mu Qi was about to say she didn't but the other party has been taking care of her these days. Thinking of this, she scratched her hair irritably and said: "Do you want to go to her house after school?"

"Do you know which building her family lives in?" Hu Ying glanced at her.

Mu Qi didn't know why she was pleased with herself, so she raised her eyebrows and said happily: "Yes, not only do I know the building that her family lives in, I also know the floor she lives on."

Hu Ying looked at her in surprise and said: "How did you..." Then she remembered something and realized: "Oh, it was last time."

Mu Qi hummed.

On their way out of school, Hu Ying suddenly recalled Little Cutie's strict upbringing. Would her parents mind if they passed by? Thinking of this, she bumped her elbow against Mu Qi and said: "Qi-ge, how about we call and ask Little Cutie first, otherwise, it wouldn’t be good to go over there so rashly."

Mu Qi thought about it too, so she picked up the phone and called. She thought that the other party's phone was still off, but she didn't expect it to go through, so she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The phone rang for a long time, and just as she was about to hang up, the other party picked it up, and then came a weak voice, "Mu Qi."

The girl, was usually spirited with energy in her voice, but now, the voice was soft and even made people feel a little pitiful.

Mu Qi asked: "Have you gotten better from your cold?"

Su 'Little Pitiful' Yanxi didn't expect Mu Qi to call to ask her about her health, so she was immediately happy, but the illness made her lose all of her strength, which made her smile fragile. Fortunately, the person on the other side of the phone couldn't see it. She said softly: "It's much better, I'll be able to go to school tomorrow."

"Why don't you take another day off at home tomorrow, and get more rest." After Mu Qi fell ill, she seemed to have instantly become an experienced old doctor.

Su Yanxi was not willing to be at home. There was going to be another holiday in two days, and if she doesn't go to school tomorrow, she would only see that person for one day, so she shook her head and said: "No, I'm much better. Plus, I have classes to attend, and I have to take an exam at the beginning of next month."

Mu Qi: "..." Why would the other party bring up the exam when they were obviously talking about her sickness?

For Mu Qi, the exam was simply torture.

"Okay then, see you tomorrow." Mu Qi hung up the phone.

Su Yanxi pouted, looked at the disconnected screen on the phone, and muttered: "Didn't even say much words."

"Xixi, have you finished using the toilet?" Mama Su called outside the door.

"Finished." Su Yanxi muted her phone the first moment she saw Mu Qi calling, put it in her pocket, and went to the bathroom.

A classmate called to express their consolation. There was no problem if her mother found out about it, but she somehow felt that Mu Qi was different.

The next day, Mu Qi and them (!) saw the girl in front of the community again, all wrapped in a down jacket with half of their face buried in a scarf and a threaded hat wrapped around their head. The plush balls on both sides of the hat swayed as she walked.

(!) Yes, instead of saying Hu Ying, it really said 'Mu Qi and them'.

"Hahahahaha!" Hu Ying didn't know why but she inexplicably got hit with a laugh, so she pointed at Su Yanxi and laughed.

Mu Qi raised her eyebrows to look at her, not knowing what she was laughing at.

Su Yanxi was also a little confused, and looked down towards herself to see what was wrong.

Seeing as neither of them laughed, rather, they wore a 'look at this idiot' (!) expression, so Hu Ying quickly said: "Look at her, doesn't she look like a penguin?"

(!) Shoutout to NU Forum for helping me out with this phrase.

With the straight down jacket reaching the calf, plus the other party's height, which was not very tall, it was indeed a bit similar.

With such a visualization from Hu Ying, Mu Qi couldn't help but laugh.

Su Yanxi shook her lower lips, her face a little red, walked forward, stepped on the feet of the two, and then walked away angrily.

"Ouch~" Hu Ying jumped on the spot holding her feet.

Mu Qi moved her toes. It didn't hurt very much. Looking at the girl's figure moving away, she patted Hu Ying's head and said: "Okay, stop pretending, she's going away, let's go."

Hu Ying said with a sad face: "It really hurts!"

Mu Qi watched the girl’s leaving figure, and the corners of her mouth curled up in a good mood.

Seeing her smile, Hu Ying said: "You've been fucking (!) stepped on, yet you still laugh!"
​
(!) So, via MTL, 娘的 was translated to 'mother' or 'mother-in-law'. However, it's also equivalent to the 'damn it', and 'fucking'  so, I wasn't too sure how to interpret it. So another possible translation is: "Your mother was trampled on, yet you still laugh!" 

Mu Qi restrained her smile and said: "Not laughing, let's go."

This was even more infuriating than laughing. Hu Ying rolled her eyes and moved her slightly painful toes, thinking that Little Cutie's power was still quite strong.

After catching up with Su Yanxi, the other party was no longer angry, and even slowed down to wait for the two of them. She stood beside the door of a shop selling breakfast, and looked back at them.

"I'm buying buns, I'm starving to death." Hu Ying immediately went over to order a large number of buns. Just as she was about to order meat buns for Su Yanxi, she thought of the other party's cold, so she replaced them with vegetable buns.

(!)大通 was translated as 'datong (a district)' or 'a large order'. I looked it up on an online dictionary and there was no clear definition, so I just left it as ‘a large order…’ because that makes the most sense.

It was cold, so everyone stayed inside the class and didn’t want to go out. Even when they went to the toilet, they would stock up if they weren’t in a hurry.

"Do you want me to get hot water for you?" Mu Qi couldn't help asking when she saw that Su Yanxi had finished drinking all the water in the thermos.

Su Yanxi shook her head and said: "I'll go by myself." Then she glanced at her desk and asked: "Didn't you bring a cup?"

"No." Mu Qi lazily leaned against the wall and said: "It's too much trouble."

Su Yanxi stared and couldn't believe that this person was too lazy to drink water.

In the afternoon, when Mu Qi sat on her seat, she found a pink (!) thermos cup on her table with a picture of Peppa Pig on it.

(!) Originally, the text said 粉.嫩, which was translated to either 'pink', or 'pink and tender' via MTL. In the dictionary, the characters are translated to 'pink' and 'tender'. I'm not too sure if the presence of the period changes its meaning, but I checked with the Forum, and they either said 'light pink', 'soft and pink', 'adorable/cute'. I left it as 'pink' because that makes the most sense here when describing the thermos Su Yanxi got for Mu Qi.

Peppa Pig is tattooed on the body, and applause is given to the community! (!)

(!) So, this phrase, 小猪佩奇身上纹，掌声送给社会人!, is apparently a popular expression in China. Check here for more info.

Inexplicably thinking of this sentence, Mu Qi couldn't help but laugh, and then she saw Little Cutie come in with a stack of math books, who asked each group leader to pass it on.

The teacher kept wanting to move the seats so that Su Yanxi could sit in the front, but it wasn’t known what she said to the teacher after class, because after that, though she adjusted the seats once a month, the positions of her and Mu Qi never changed.

"Is this yours?" Mu Qi asked as the other party came over, pointing to the pink cup.

Su Yanxi nodded and said: "Tomorrow is Christmas, a gift for you."

"Christmas gift?" When Mu Qi was growing up, the Christmas gifts she received were apples (!) and nothing else.

(!) I searched this up and apparently, in China, friends and coworkers give each other apples for Christmas because ‘Christmas Eve’ is ‘平安夜’(Ping’anye), which sounds like ‘苹果’(Pingguo), which is ‘apple’ in Chinese. Check here for more info. 

But looking at this pink cup, she was really afraid that she would have to spray out a mouthful of water.

Seeing her slightly disgusted expression, Su Yanxi pursed her lips aggrievedly, looked at her with red eyes, and said: "Don't you like it?"

"I..." As soon as Mu Qi looked up, she saw that she was about to cry again, with black lines all over her face. Then she waved her hand and said: "I don't not like it, I'm just not used to it."

These words successfully made Little Cutie put away her tears and carry a smile, "As long as you like it."

​Mu Qi sighed, looking at the pink cup, feeling a little helpless.
 

Naemjyu's note: I was working on this when Weebly suddenly logged me out so I lost me progress... Anyways, anyone here listen to TWICE? Who else is psyched for the new album?