A Bookworm’s New Routine

Chapter 16 GOING TO THE LIBRARY

The news that Mu Qi was making up classes was known even to the homeroom teacher, Li Wei, who was drinking tea in his office and almost spat out the tea in his mouth. He really couldn’t imagine that Mu Qi, who slept all day and skipped class, would make up classes.

He said to himself uncertainly: “It isn’t for fun, I presume (!).”

(!) 别不是玩玩的吧: This can be also translated as ‘Don’t be playing around.’

After all, he has seen a lot of students who fished for three days and dried the net for two days (!), so he couldn’t really be sure about this news. He had to observe for a few days to see.

(!) 三天打鱼两天晒网 (Three days fishing, two days drying nets): A metaphor for having a lack of perseverance in studying and working, having frequent interruptions, and being unable to persist for a long time

After school, on their way out, Hu Ying was still teasing Mu Qi, and said with a smile: “Qi-ge, why are you making up classes on a whim? You’re not just saying it for fun, are you?”

Mu Qi looked at her for a while just as Hu Ying Zhang’er (!), who was at a loss, scratched her head in confusion. Then, she touched her forehead to determine whether Qi-ge had a fever or was just possessed by a ghost.

(!) This is referring to 丈二和尚摸不着头脑 (Monk Zhang’er is puzzled), which is saying someone can’t figure out the situation. This is from “The Second Collection of the West Lake” by Zhou Qingyuan from the Ming Dynasty.

Mu Qi let her think wildly, and after a long time, she said: “You can make up the lessons too.”

“Hmm?” Hu Ying didn’t hear clearly.

Mu Qi smiled and said: “Make up for the lessons with me tomorrow.” After saying that, regardless of her dumbfounded expression, she looked at Su Yanxi beside her and said: “Don’t mind the two people.”

Su Yanxi looked at Hu Ying’s expression as if she had been struck by lightning, covered her head with a laugh, and shook her head.

Mu Qi was also infected by her and laughed.

And only one person, with a sullen face and a look of disbelief, exclaimed: “Qi-ge, even if you make up for your lessons, why do you have to pull me into the water? I don’t like studying, I love fighting. Fighting makes me happy.”

Mu Qi embraced her shoulders and said: “When you can beat me, I’ll let you go and fight.”

Hu Ying, who has never beaten her before: “...…”

Because she had a goal, Mu Qi’s state of mind was different from before, and she was no longer cold and indifferent every day.

Fan Siyu of class two was the class flower, with several boys in the class pursuing her again and again. Of course, some girls have also confessed to her, but she always refused with a smile.

In fact, every time Mu Qi passed by the door of their classroom, she always looked involuntarily, but because the other party’s grades were very different from hers, and because her family was well-off and her parents had always wanted her to find a son-in-law who was a good match for her family, her idea of wanting to get close to Mu Qi had always been pressed in her heart.

But now, when she heard that Mu Qi was making up the class, her eyes lit up and the little thoughts that she had pressed down to the bottom of her heart came out one by one.

Mu Qi in the next class didn’t know this. At the moment, she was listening to Su Yanxi’s lecture seriously, while Hu Ying, who was brought over, was listening to her with tears in her eyes, as if she was listening to a book from heaven.

Every time her mind was about to wander off, Mu Qi would slap her on the back of her head. After a few times, Hu Ying didn’t dare to stop listening.

The time for the two of them to make up lessons is one hour before the evening self-study every night, which is the time for everyone to eat and rest. In order to seize the moment, Mu Qi and them nibbled on the bread while carefully listening to Su Yanxi. Their hard-working attitude surprised the homeroom teacher who came over quietly every time.

Looking at this power, it shouldn’t be said that they are simply playing around.

Thinking of this, Li Wei walked with the wind and returned to the office. Facing the other classes’ homeroom teachers, he couldn’t help smugly saying: “I have a premonition that for this next final exam, our class results should be raised.”

After all, every time, their class grades were lowered by Mu Qi and Hu Ying. The two of them always managed to lower the class by more than two points.

Every time Li Wei saw the grades of the two of them, he couldn’t help but want to kick them both out of the class in order to feel comfortable.

Now, seeing that the two were making up for their classes, and that they were with Su Yanxi, who is number one in the whole grade, he felt relieved.

The other classes’ homeroom teachers immediately laughed and scolded him as Li Wei sat down in his seat smugly.

The wind of Mu Qi’s make-up lessons had been blowing for many days, and the final exam was approaching.

Hu Ying shrugged her shoulders as she walked weakly. The recent mandatory make up lessons had burned up all her brain power, and she felt that her mind was blank at the moment.

Mu Qi patted her shoulder, turned her head sideways and asked her: “How is it, what have you gained from the recent make up lessons?”

Hu Ying raised her head and looked at her thoughtfully.

Seeing her expression, Mu Qi knew what she was doing without answering. She clicked her tongue and said: “You better go home and go to sleep. Tomorrow is a holiday, so let’s go out and play together.”

“Really?!” The person who was weak just now was instantly full of energy, and said happily: “We don’t need to make up for the lessons? We can play for a day?”

“Yes.” Seeing that she was so happy to hear about playing, Mu Qi didn’t want to hurt her. She smiled assuredly, then looked at Su Yanxi and asked her: “Do you want to join us?”

In the past, when Mu Qi and Hu Ying went out to play, it was without Su Yanxi. After all, those places were not suitable for Su Yanxi to go to, but the place they were going to go to tomorrow was not some ‘immoral’ place, so Mu Qi can take Su Yanxi along, and the other party might be very happy.

“Okay.” Su Yanxi was very happy when she heard that the other party was actually taking her there too.

Looking at how happy the both of them looked, Mu Qi was also very happy.

After returning in the evening, Hu Ying fell head first onto the bed and slept deeply with a ‘hu hu’ (!).

(!) 呼呼 (hu hu): onomatopoeia; sound of the breathing of someone who is sound asleep.

Su Yanxi sat happily at her desk, turned on the lamp, and wrote in her diary seriously, with the smile on the corner of her mouth never stopping.

On the other side, Mu Qi, after taking a shower, lay on the bed, took out her tablet, and watched a TV series.

The name of the TV series, << Next Year’s Spring>> , looked exactly like something her mother would watch at her age, but Mu Qi was not impatient at all. Instead, she concentrated intently on watching.

Because in this drama, her mother, Liu Xin, played the heroine, a young 28-year-old wife who had just married her husband.

Although her mother is already 38 years old this year, indeed, one can’t see that she is old. So much so that because she continuously maintained her child-like nature, as a result, her whole person was very youthful.

There were also many people who chased her. Back then, she was arrogant and rejected many people, but then she met her father and the two fell in love at first sight, and in a flash, fell into the river of love.

For so many years, the two had been a model couple in the circle.

But her father was the chairman of Mu’s Entertainment Corporation. Being in this position, naturally, there were many young stars who wanted to climb to the top through her (!), and naturally, there was that scandal two years ago.

(!) The author used 她 here, which is the pronoun for ‘she’; Not sure who exactly the ‘she’ here refers to though.

And her mother couldn’t accept that her husband had someone outside, so she divorced without the slightest hesitation.

Thinking of this, Mu Qi pursed her lips.

Looking at the photo of the family of three on the bedside table, she never believed that her father had anything to do with the little star, because that woman was not as beautiful as her mother and her temperament was not as good as her mother’s, so, she didn’t believe that her father would be blind and fall for the little star who couldn’t catch up with her mother in anything.

However, two years have passed and her father had no explanation, so Mu Qi stopped thinking about it and continued to watch the TV series.

The next day, the weather was sunny. In this cold winter, it was rare to have a good weather, so the three of them who were ready to go out and play were in a great mood.

Hu Ying asked impatiently: “Qi-ge, where are we going to play today? The nightclub? The volleyball room?”

Standing at the bus stop, Mu Qi glanced at her and said with a smile: “The library.”

“Hmm?” Hu Ying was still thinking about where to go, and when she suddenly heard Mu Qi say library, her mind had not yet managed to turn around. Once the bus arrived, she boarded, and only then did her eyes open wide with surprise, and said: “Going where? The library?”

Because she was too shocked, her voice was slightly loud, and everyone on the bus looked over. However, at this moment, Hu Ying was not concerned about that, and said: “I want to get off the bus, I’m definitely not going to go. It’s hard enough for me to make up for my classes every day (!), and now I even have to go to the library. Are you going to buy a three-year college entrance examination and five year simulations, or a Dahuanggang?” At the end, Hu Ying was about to cry.

(!) 我这天天补课已经够辛苦了: Another possible translation is ‘..., I’ve been working hard enough to make up lessons every day...”

The people on the bus, however, couldn’t help but want to laugh, thinking that this little classmate was a little funny, and listening to the other party’s words, there was no thought of studying.

Mu Qi had a headache and pressed her temples, while on the side, Su Yanxi leaned forward behind Mu Qi, laughing hard.

There were too many people in the car, so Mu Qi and several other people could only stand in the aisle. But as the car turned and braked from time to time, Su Yanxi, who was behind her, was thrown around. Mu Qi originally wanted to say something to Hu Ying, but seeing the girl behind her exclaim once more, she clicked her tongue, turned around, and embraced the girl’s shoulder. She let the other party move to the front, and let the other party hold the railing. She stood behind the other party, with one hand holding the railing and the other hand holding the strap handle, and just happened to be surrounding the girl with her embrace.

Su Yanxi’s ears were not only red, but even her face was red. Fortunately, she was wearing a hat and had her head slightly lowered, so no one saw her.

At this time, Mu Qi said to Hu Ying: “Go to the library, and I’ll bring you to go to the amusement park.”

Even though Hu Ying was now a high school student, she couldn’t be happier to hear about the amusement park, her eyes immediately brightened, and she said: “Really?”

“Really, you can play whatever you want.”

Hu Ying couldn’t be happier, and she forgot the matter of going to the library.

There were also several children on the bus, and when they heard that they were going to go to the amusement park, they also looked at their mothers happily and said that they also wanted to go to the amusement park to play. The mothers were so worn out by them that they helplessly responded.

Mu Qi looked at the scenery outside the window, wanting to see where she was. At this moment, she felt the girl in her embrace move, so she withdrew her gaze and lowered her head to look at Su Yanxi.

Su Yanxi twisted her head slightly, blinked her eyes, and asked: “Can I play too?”

“What?” Looking at her expectant little eyes, Mu Qi was a bit dazed for a moment. Then, she came back to her senses and realized what the other party was saying, so she nodded and said: “Of course, you can play whatever you want.”

Su Yanxi immediately raised her head with a smile on her face , her eyebrows and eyes arched, and her smile showing a row of spotlessly white teeth, obviously happy.

Mu Qi was dazzled by her smile for a moment, and soon after, the corners of her mouth curved up as well. Bending down slightly, with her mouth leaning against the other party’s ear, she asked softly: “Do you like going to the amusement park a lot?”

“Hmm.” Su Yanxi gave a heavy nod, turned her head to look at her, and said seriously: “Because I have fond memories there.”

When the other party said the words ‘fond memories’, Mu Qi inexplicably saw someone else’s shadow in her eyes, making her heart a little sour. However, she didn’t pay much attention to it, and simply just nodded her head.

Su Yanxi had already turned her head away, so naturally, she did not see Mu Qi’s thoughtful expression.