"Senior Gao said that he also hopes that we can study with them, so we can learn about uncommon idiomatic expressions," Mu Qing said a little sadly. Gao Haiming felt a little sad that they were not able to help much. He was probably under a lot of pressure. She really wanted to help him with his burdens. She was aware that Shuishui had a lot of things to do. The debate was definitely more important because it was a large-scale competition.
She knew what Shuishui was capable of. If she tried her best, she might even be able to win the said competition.
She couldn't drag Shuishui down either.
Mu Zilin placed his hands on the back of his head and said, "Don't be too attracted to old Senior Gao. After all, the Book Club isn't an important club. Shuishui has something important to do. Shuishui has already signed up for the club like you requested. Now, you're asking her to do something useless. This time, Shuishui is the main debater. She's under a lot of pressure."
Mu Qing immediately refuted Mu Zilin. "I know. Do you even need to say it?"
Shuishui interjected. "All right. Mu Qing, we just joined so the club won't be dissolved and signed up for the competition so they can be registered. Even if we cram and try to memorize those idioms at the last minute, it's useless. It's basically stock knowledge and knowledge retention. I can only say that I'm not that interested in the arts, but I'll help if I can. You know that I have a lot of things to do here, so I won't be able to go attend and join in the club's affairs before next Wednesday."
"Ai, it's fine. If you have something to do, go ahead," Mu Qing replied. How could she have the nerve to let Shuihui pour out her heart and soul into the club? Although she liked Gao Haiming, they weren't in a relationship. She had already accepted that her feelings might not even be reciprocated. She had seized the opportunity. She didn't know if she would succeed. She felt that although Gao Haiming was passionate about the club, there have been times when he would casually avoid talking about certain things with her.
Shuishui patted Mu Qing's shoulder. "Don't force yourself to do things that are beyond your ability. It's too forced."
"I know. I just want to try. Don't worry. Every time I see you, I am reminded that I need to always act rationally. I won't act rashly." Mu Qing had already told Shuishui that she liked Gao Haiming. She felt that Shuishui would definitely understand.
Shuishui wasn't very happy with Mu Qing's recent behavior. She had already made her move, and she had dropped several hints for Gao Haiming to understand that she liked him. Shuishui knew that Gao Haiming knew Mu Qing liked him, but he had always been very casual towards Mu Qing. He didn't really reject her. Mu Qing had always believed that she had a chance because Gao Haiming would sometimes be very nice towards her.
Mu Qing knew that Gao Haiming somehow avoided her, but she still hounded him. Shuishui believed that as a woman, Mu Qing needed to preserve her dignity. It would be best if she would not simply profess her feelings to him.
Of course, this was only her opinion and not Mu Qing's opinion. They were different. Shuishui could only wish her well.
Mu Zilin did not continue to say anything about Mu Qing. Besides, they were not very close. He believed that Mu Qing had to learn things the hard way for her to understand where she went wrong.
He was somewhat gloating and somewhat curious about what would happen to Mu Qing in the future.
He thought that she acted too rashly.
Mu Qing returned to her seat and lowered her head, deep in thought. She did not know what to do. She was not as smart and as good-looking as Qian Shuishui. When she was in junior high school, she fell in love with someone and had had her heart broken. She did not want to give up this time.
Mu Qing was still a little girl. Her thoughts weren't mature enough, but she was driven and courageous.
After their afternoon classes, Shuihui went to the office and left the school with Mu Zilin. They planned to have hot pot at Shuihui's house, and Mu Qing couldn't go because she had a private tutorial session. Mu Qing really wanted to go. She tried to find a way to excuse herself from her class, but she knew that she had to go. It was also because of her own doing. She was very annoyed that her mother had hired a tutor for her and would pester her about meeting the tutor every weekend. She felt that no first-year students had to attend make-up classes.
"I'm so envious. You guys don't have tutorial classes, but you still have good grades." Mu Qing was confused. Mu Zilin didn't have a private tutor, but his ranking was higher than hers. It was simply indescribable.
Mu Zilin and Shuishui walked on, and Mu Qing watched as they left.
She had not told her mother about how Mu Zilin and Shuishui did in school. She couldn't explain to her mother how they have good grades despite not having tutors. She didn't want anyone to think that she was stupid. Mu Qing was also quite arrogant, but when she got into the third high school, she realized that her grades were simply not good enough. How could she be so arrogant?
She looked at them enviously and then went home quietly.
Mu Zilin kept tugging Shuishui's bag. "Your bag is so light," he said.
"That's not right. I see that you often bring books home. Why is your bag not heavy?" Mu Zilin asked as he opened Shuishui's bag from behind. He saw that there was a book and a water bottle inside. The water bottle was also empty. He was confused.
"I went to the library to borrow books. I left them in my drawer. They are not high-value items." Shuishui shrugged her shoulders. She did not want to carry a heavy backpack every day.
Mu Zilin was mroe confused. "Didn't you bring your homework with you?"
They stopped as they reached the school gate because it was very crowded.
Shuishui took a few steps back. "Come over here. I finished my homework at school while you were playing."
Mu Zilin looked bitter. "Why didn't you remind me? I would have done it with you."
Shuishui covered her mouth and laughed. "I told you. You would have copied it directly from me."
"It won't hurt to let me take a look, right? Besides, what are friends for, right?" Mu Zilin winked at Shuishui.
Shuishui couldn't look at him anymore. She tugged at Mu Zilin and said, "Come. Let's go to the supermarket first. I don't have much meat left at home."
"En, I'm just a coolie anyway. You can order me around to do whatever you want," Mu Zilin said then laughed loudly.
They chatted and laughed as they left the campus.
Shuishui had also asked Qian Anzhi to drop by the supermarket after school to buy a few drinks.
Qian Anzhi complied because he was also excited to eat hot pot that night in the apartment. Back at home with their family, they didn't eat hot pot with their own family members. Their family was not really fond of hot pot, and they also found it troublesome to prepare.
He liked cheerful environments and did not like to eat at home alone. He did not like feeling lonely. He often went out to eat with friends just to avoid the loneliness. Anything was better than eating alone.
In the past days, he basically ate with his second sister every night. However, he noticed that they almost ate fans every night. They had not eaten anything else except when he would go buy groceries and Shuishui would have other ingredients to cook with. He noticed that fans was a constant ingredient in the kitchen. When he asked Shuishui why, she only said, "It's convenient."
For their hot pot night, they had meatballs, vegetables, and all other ingredients with the necessary nutrients.
Qian Anzhi had bought more food along with the drinks.
Shuishui had completely forgotten that Akong was going to pick her up on Friday.
She and Mu Zilin bought a lot of fresh vegetables and meat.
Mu Zilin grabbed a box of fried chicken wings, and the two of them went back home happily.
Mu Ziyu arrived early, and he met Qian Anzhi on his way up. He helped Anzhi carry some of the things. "You bought a lot of things. Didn't Shuishui already buy vegetables?" Ziyu asked Anzhi.
Anzhi whined and complained about the food in the apartment. "Yes. I bought other groceries just to fill up the fridge. Shuishui cooks noodles for me every night and in the morning. Oh my god. I've been eating fans for a whole week. I'm so fed up with it."
Mu Ziyu laughed and remembered how Shuishui liked fans. She really liked convenient food, which was in line with her personality. "You don't have to complain. Your sister has always been like this. She doesn't like trouble." Mu Ziyu thought it was very cute.
"Yes, she doesn't like fuss, so I bought more ingredients she can use. This way, she won't find an excuse to say that she doesn't have any ingredients. She can then stop cooking and eating too much fans." Qian Anzhi thought that if Shuishui had more ingredients to choose from, she would stop eating fans too often.
Ziyu laughed.
They walked into the apartment and cleaned up. They took out the kitchen utensils and prepared for the hot pot.
When Shuishui and Mu Zilin arrived, they only needed to wash the vegetables and cut the meat.
The soup in the pot had already started to boil. They put in the lotus root and the meat cuts. They didn't care about the soup bottom. Just as they were about to take their seats, Shuishui's phone rang.
Shuishui glanced at her phone and said, "I'll be back in a few minutes."
She walked out of the kitchen to take the call. Shuishui went out and returned around ten minutes and brought someone with her. Mu Ziyu glanced at the person. It was Coach Akong.
"We have another friend with us. Coach Akong, we decided to have hot pot at home." Shuishui was a little embarrassed. She had forgotten that Akong would pick her up.
Coach Akong called Shuishui to inform her that she was on her way to pick her up. They thought that they could eat first then head out after.
No one said anything. When Akong sat down, she introduced herself. "Hi. How are you? My name is Akong. You can call me Sister Akong. I won't mind."
Shuihui introduced them briefly. "Zilin, Ziyu, Anzhi," she said. Everyone then sat down to eat.
Mu Ziyu looked at them. "Coach Akong, what are you doing here today?"
"I'm here to pick up Shuishui. I promised to give her a gift." She picked up a piece of meat and put it in her mouth. "En, en, I like eating hot pot at home. It's fresh."
Shuishui asked curiously, "What do you eat in the army?" Although Shuishui had been to military training, it was surely different from what Akong experienced every day.
"We are served food cooked in a big cauldron. It tastes terrible. Besides, I can't cook well. I was planning to eat something casual, so I won't be polite." Akong had a ruffian air about her. After all, she had been with the army for quite a while.
Shuishui admired her heroism. She had tried to forget what had happened between them in their last two sparring sessions.
They noticed that Akong ate a lot. She seemed quite hungry, though they basically didn't say anything.
Although they didn't really talk to each other during the meal, they were very happy.
When they finished, Akong said to Shuishui, "Go and pack your clothes. We'll leave in a while."
Shuishui was confused. She didn't expect that she would be asked to bring clothes. "What do you mean? Do I need to bring clothes?"
"En, en, you'll know when you we get there. You'll be absent from school on Monday and Tuesday." Akong saw that Shuishui was still in a daze. "Go quickly. I promised I'd give you a gift. Hurry up. I'm afraid we'll be late."