A Bookworm’s New Routine

PROTECTING SHORTCOMINGS

The next day, the monthly test scores came down, and Su Yanxi was undoubtedly the first in the class and the first in the whole grade, with only four points deducted from the Chinese language composition.

But beside her, Mu Qi still didn’t have as much as Su Yanxi.

Hu Ying, who had similar scores as her, and Mu Qi stared at each other.
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Su Yanxi took Mu Qi’s paper and read it from top to bottom, and then looked at her seriously, “Mu Qi, starting from tomorrow, I'll give you make up lessons.”

“No.” Mu Qi took the paper.

Hu Ying ran away with her papers at this time.

Su Yanxi glanced at her, then her gaze fell on Mu Qi again. She stretched out her hand and tugged at the other party’s sleeve. 

This coquettish action startled Mu Qi, who looked at her in surprise.

Su Yanxi’s face was a little red, but in order to make the other party make up the class, she resisted, bit her lower lip, and said: “You'll fail the college entrance exam with this score. Don’t you want to go to the same university as me?”

Mu Qi looked at her seriously, then shook her head.

Su Yanxi looked at her, and her eyes moistened immediately. Then, when Mu Qi didn’t react, her tears fell.

Mu Qi: “...…?” Here we go again!

Su Yanxi really cried this time. She had been looking for the other party for so many years, but she didn’t expect that the other party didn’t remember her, and not to mention, she unexpectedly didn’t want to go to the same university as her. How could this not make her feel sad?

Mu Qi immediately felt helpless, and hurriedly coaxed: “I’ll make it up, I’ll make it up without question.”

Mu Qi really couldn’t understand why this girl was strongly attached to her, but at the same time, she also felt that the other party was truly concerned about her, especially when she had a fever. That time, the other party cried, and she thought that the other party did so in order to make her go to the hospital, but after she thought about it, the girl’s eyes were full of worries.

Therefore, why she wasn’t so firm at that time must be because she was moved by the worry in the girl’s eyes.

Thinking of this, Mu Qi sighed, and at the same time, a warm current passed through her heart.

When the girl said that she wanted to go to the same university with her, it wasn't that she wasn’t tempted, but when she thought of her parents, she was silent again.

Now, she was very conflicted, and she doesn’t know whether to continue with her original ideas or not.

“Really?” Su Yanxi looked at her with red eyes, because she cried a little hard just now and was now still sobbing spasmodically.

Mu Qi nodded in affirmation while holding her forehead.

Immediately, with tears still on her face, a smile spread across Su Yanxi’s face. Mu Qi looked at her and couldn’t help but scratch her nose, and smiled: “Crying again and laughing again, like a little fool.” 

Returning to her seat while continuously paying attention to their side, Hu Ying, at this moment, was a little speechless.

Qi-ge’s attraction skills were top-notch. She made Little Cutie cry, and after just a few words, she made the other party laugh through tears. How did she not realize before that Qi-ge could tease so well?

In the evening after school, Hu Ying took advantage of Su Yanxi’s inattentiveness and couldn't help asking Mu Qi next to her, “Qi-ge, what did Little Cutie say today that made you make other people cry?”

Mu Qi, however, didn’t answer her, but rather, she watched Su Yanxi’s back while thinking about something. After a while, she turned her head towards Hu Ying, and asked in a low voice: “You say, is it childish to deliberately fail the exam in order to attract your parent’s attention?”

Hu Ying was a little stupid and didn’t know what Qi-ge was talking about. Then she turned this sentence around in her mind a few times, and finally said with disbelief: “Qi-ge, the person you’re talking about isn’t you, right?”

Mu Qi glanced at her with disapproval, and then caught up with Su Yanxi’s footsteps.

Hu Ying looked at Mu Qi’s back and scratched her head, wondering what was going on.

With the sentence just now, Mu Qi was not trying to get Hu Ying’s answer, but rather, she was asking herself. At this moment, she was enlightened (!). In two months, she will be 18 years old and will belong to the ranks of the adults. 

(!) 茅塞顿开 (murky darkness suddenly opens)

It is indeed too childish to do the same thing as two years ago.

Seeing the smile on Mu Qi’s face, Su Yanxi tilted her head suspiciously, and asked: “Mu Qi, did you encounter something that made you feel happy?”

Mu Qi patted her head and smiled without saying a word.

Because of a single matter, when Mu Qi returned to the cold home, she didn’t feel lonely, so much so that she was even in a very good mood. She made a very delicious supper to eat,  and when she went to bed, she had good dreams all night.

The next day, when Su Yanxi and Hu Ying saw Mu Qi, they felt that the other party had changed a little.

Hu Ying glanced at Mu Qi with uncertainty, and asked: “Qi-ge, did you pick up money at the door early this morning? So happy?”

Mu Qi smiled and said: “Yes, let’s go, I’ll treat you to breakfast.”

Seeing Mu Qi like this, Su Yanxi also had a smile on the corner of her mouth. She took the other party’s hand, and said loudly: “Okay, I want to eat two big meat buns!”

Hu Ying also shouted at the side: “I want to eat five!”

Mu Qi smiled, slapped the back of her head, and scolded: “You can’t eat to death!” 

When the three of them walked into the classroom together, the students also discovered that the present Mu Qi was different.

Usually, Mu Qi always had a calm face, as if someone owed her money, but today, her face was full of spring breeze (!).

(!) 春风满面 (spring breeze): Radiant with happiness; pleasantly smiling  

There was no denying it, no matter which type of Mu Qi it was, it was inexplicably attractive to the eyes.

However, these students were taught by their parents that grades determined everything. No matter how beautiful their appearance was, if they didn’t have good grades, they will not have good jobs when the time comes.

Because Mu Qi promised to make up the class, Su Yanxi asked her to do her homework during the evening self-study, and after she was done, she would check it for her, and later, teach her how to correct it.

Sitting in front of Mu Qi were two female classmates. Usually, these two would not turn their heads to talk to them. Of course, sometimes they had to turn around in order to ask Su Yanxi a question.

But now, when they actually heard that Su Yanxi was helping Mu Qi make up lessons, the two of them looked at each other with their eyes full of surprise.

After all, the name Qi-ge was familiar to everyone. Her grades have continuously been at the tail end of the car (!) since her first year of senior high school. Originally, her grades from junior high school (!) were so poor that she couldn’t even meet the qualifications for school admission to be promoted to senior high school.

(!) 直在车尾 (tail of the car): Referring to 'the bottom of the list.'
(!) Schooling in China goes from kindergarten, primary school, junior high (aka middle school), and senior high (aka high school)

Later, people heard that Mu Qi’s father bought her way in with money.

But no one saw it, so this rumour was only passed on in secret.

But the most important thing is the hobby of fighting. On top of that, in class, from time to time, she skips or sleeps, never taking it seriously, and never even doing much homework.

Since the transfer student Su Yanxi transferred over, this Qi-ge was worn down by the transfer student for a long time, and only then did she copy her homework everyday.

But now, listening to the sound of people talking in the back, this Qi-ge was studying seriously?

The two secretly turned their heads and saw that Mu Qi was indeed doing her homework very seriously. They didn’t know how to ask Su Yanxi beside her, whose serious appearance made the two girls look a little stunned.

When Su Yanxi noticed that Mu Qi was being stared at, she immediately raised her head, squeezed her body towards Mu Qi, looked at the two girls and asked: “What’s the matter with you?”

The two girls immediately shook their heads and turned away, not daring to look at them again.

But because of Su Yanxi’s squeeze, Mu Qi, who was leaning directly against the wall, raised her eyebrows. The girl’s whole body was leaning in her arms, and this posture made Mu Qi feel a little lost and her ears a little red. Finally, she coughed and poked her finger on the girl’s shoulder.

Only then did Su Yanxi come back to her senses. She moved to the side, her face also slightly red. She held the exercise book and lowered her head and said: “Let’s write quickly.”

The corners of Mu Qi’s mouth bent a little, and without teasing the girl, she lowered her head, and said ‘Okay’, and continued to hold the pen and work seriously.

However, the scene just now lingered in Mu Qi’s mind, so much so that she even involuntarily looked at Su Yanxi next to her.

The serious girl was very beautiful and cute, with the long and curled eyelashes appearing similar to a butterfly’s wings, which incited Mu Qi’s heart at the same time.

“What’s up?” Su Yanxi looked at Mu Qi looking at her in a daze, and reached out and waved her hand.

Only then did Mu Qi return to her senses. Facing the girl’s puzzled eyes, she smiled and said: “I’ve finished writing.”

Seeing that she had finished writing so quickly, Su Yanxi was surprised for a moment, then took her workbook and read it. Within three minutes, she furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Mu Qi with her mouth puffed out.

“What’s wrong?” Seeing her expression, Mu Qi inexplicably felt a little guilty.

“Ten questions, with eight questions wrong.” Su Yanxi continued to pout.

Mu Qi coughed, took the workbook, glanced at it, and felt that it was all right. However, facing the girl’s angry expression, she touched her nose, forced a smile, and said: “It’s still not bad, there’s two questions correct.”

Seeing her expression, Su Yanxi wanted to laugh but held it in, until her face flushed red. Coupled with the appearance of pretending to be angry, Mu Qi couldn’t help but poke her face with her fingers, and her mouth was accompanied by a ‘pfft’ (!) sound, which was simply extremely childish.

(!) 破: This was translated to ‘broken’ . I’m guessing here, Su Yanxi puffed out her cheeks, and when Mu Qi poked her face, the air escaped and produced that ‘broken’ sound, which I imagine would sound like ‘pfft’

And because of her action, Su Yanxi couldn’t hold it in and laughed. At the same time, she poked her face with her finger, which, like her, was accompanied by a ‘pfft’ sound.

So as to match her, Mu Qi also puffed out her mouth, making the girl have the appearance of  popping a balloon.

But not far away, there was a pair of bitter eyes looking at the two of them.

From the very beginning, Hu Ying had been paying attention to the two of them, watching them childishly poking each other in the face. And if that’s not enough, they even dubbed their voices. Especially Qi-ge, the childish appearance of the other party made her shiver and rub her shoulders, withdrawing her gaze with an ‘eek’.

She decided not to watch it as she was afraid that she would be assimilated.

The evening self-study passed quickly, and the time Mu Qi used for sleep was now used as homework time, causing her to feel all relaxed and walk with the wind when school ended.

Hu Ying was carrying her schoolbag and looked at Mu Qi who was empty-handed. She couldn’t help but ask: “Qi-ge, where’s your schoolbag?”

“I’ve done my homework, why bring a schoolbag?” Mu Qi looked at her with askance. 

Hu Ying: “...…” She wanted to beat Qi-ge.

“Then what do you usually do when you bring your schoolbag home? You don’t do any of the homework for the next day.” Hu Ying said.

Mu Qi’s feet paused, and then said with no worry: “Pretend”

Hu Ying: “...…” She didn’t want to talk to Qi-ge for the time being.

After making up lessons for several days, not only were the two girls in the front seats shocked, but even the whole class knew about it.

Although the vast majority of people found it very novel, there were some who were secretly watching the play.

It was almost the end of the term, and they didn’t believe that Mu Qi, who was at the bottom of the whole grade, could improve in a short period of time.

Mu Qi didn’t pay attention to the reactions of the crowd at all, and just did what she usually does.

Hearing what everyone said in secret, Su Yanxi was a little unhappy, and at the same time, she secretly said in her heart: Wait until the time our family’s Mu Qi takes the exam and gets a good grade, it will scare you to death. See if your face doesn’t turn red then.​