A Young Woman's Heart

Li Wanyan has a larger English vocabulary than Mo Xueyao, thanks to the fact that she has read more foreign books.

So she even knows some English slang and dialects.

Mo Xueyao's interests naturally lie in science fiction, but she is also open to martial arts or fantasy.

Occasionally, she would go up to the third floor to find magazines or comics to read.

The third floor is usually noisier than the second floor because most of the comic book readers are children, and there are many picture books with pinyin, so even elementary school students can read them smoothly.

She didn't go to the third floor today because she found some new books and books that had been returned by others on the bookshelves on the second floor, including two science fiction novels that she hadn't read.

She read a brief summary of one of the books, and it turned out to be about future games.

It is said that in two hundred years, humans will be able to enter a virtual world as if they were in the real world.

But upon closer reflection, it is quite terrifying.

If humans cannot distinguish between the virtual and the real, will it give certain individuals or forces an opportunity to exploit the situation?

And how can you guarantee that you are in reality?

After all, the feeling in real life can also be found in games...

Moreover, the entire process of eating and excretion can be completed automatically in the life support capsule.

Mo Xueyao felt that this must be a story about a conspiracy.

For example, humans may find themselves controlled by AI in a virtual world—like in The Matrix.

She was filled with excitement and couldn't wait to return to the table to read it.

……

Chapter 82 The Last Three Days

However, to her disappointment, it was a very mediocre science fiction novel.

Although it had a great idea, the content was incredibly boring.

Simply put, it's like playing a game: kill monsters, complete the storyline, and level up.

There was no conspiracy behind it all. By the end of the book, the protagonist had simply become the strongest player on the entire server.

Although summer vacation is long, it's still a bit infuriating to waste an entire morning watching this garbage.

Even towards the end, she kept wondering if there would be a plot twist, but of course, there wasn't.

"Tsk, what a waste of a good subject." Mo Xueyao muttered, took out a washed apple from the bag, subconsciously wiped it with the hem of her clothes, then suddenly realized what she was doing, glanced at Li Wanyan cautiously, and finding that the other party had not noticed her, she casually wiped it again with a handkerchief.

The library is a great place to enjoy free air conditioning, and as long as it's not closed, no one will ever kick you out.

For convenience, regular visitors usually bring some food and water.

Mo Xueyao brought it along as well, of course.

Because my family owns a fruit shop, we substituted fruit for snacks.

The bag contained a few apples and oranges, which could be eaten as snacks or used to cleanse the palate after a meal.

They naturally brought their own water bottles. Li Wanyan's water bottle contained tea leaves, while Mo Xueyao's contained water that had been frozen in the refrigerator overnight.

Although it was packed in a plastic bag, the cloth bag still got a little damp.

"I almost forgot about the ice water..." Mo Xueyao quickly took out the water. Although the air conditioning in the library was already quite cold, most of the ice water had melted, leaving some broken ice mixed in.

This ice water is actually her favorite drink.

Especially when drinking crushed ice, it feels like eating a shaved ice.

Perhaps it was the crisp sound of her biting into the apple that tempted Li Wanyan. After glancing at her, the latter also took out a clean apple, wiped it carefully with a handkerchief, and took a small bite.

Although the apple was only the size of a child's fist, Mo Xueyao knew that she could eat it for half an hour.

"Is Wanyan hungry?"

"It's alright." Li Wanyan quietly chewed the apple in her mouth without making any crunching sounds like Mo Xueyao. "Are you hungry?"

"A little." Mo Xueyao tossed the apple core she hadn't finished eating into the plastic bag she had brought. Probably because her family owned a fruit shop, she was used to seeing fruit and it wasn't unusual for her, so she was particularly wasteful when eating fruit, often throwing away the core before even eating the seeds.

Unlike Li Wanyan, who sometimes eats the whole apple, leaving only the large seeds.

Doesn't she find the last part particularly bitter?

"Then you eat first."

"Ah."

There were four aluminum lunchboxes in the bag, which the two of them carried separately.

The dishes were all the same; after all, it's impossible to cook two different lunches just because of personal taste.

The difference might simply be that Mo Xueyao ate a little more, while Li Wanyan ate a little less.

To make it easier to carry, the lunchboxes used at the library are all the smaller kind.

The larger ones are a bit bulky, and they hurt my legs when I carry them, so I haven't used them.

Mo Xueyao opened an aluminum lunchbox with a slightly dented lid; inside were boiled whole grains.

Three small potatoes, a small sweet potato the size of a thumb, and four pieces of corn.

This can be used as a snack, or of course, as a main dish.

Then she opened another lunchbox, which contained the leftover cold dishes and rice from last night. Her mother had reheated them in the steamer this morning, but it was already noon, so they were only slightly warm.

Fortunately, it was summer, and the warmth was just right.

Because the lunchbox is relatively small, it is mostly filled with dishes, with rice taking up only a little over a quarter of the space. This is where the whole grains come in handy.

After all, some dishes are hard to eat without staple food.

The dishes included braised lion's head meatballs and eggplant, both of which were Mo Xueyao's favorites, or rather, the most appetizing dishes.

Eating is not allowed in the library, but the staff usually turn a blind eye, as long as you don't make other things dirty and the smell isn't too strong.

The advantage of cold dishes is that they have almost no odor and won't bother others.

But you can't eat instant noodles or anything like that here.

After all, nobody wants to come to the library to read books and instead smell the aroma of instant noodles, right?

You can read while eating lunch; in fact, reading while eating is one of the most enjoyable things to do.

Eating is already the most enjoyable time of the day, but reading while eating doubles the pleasure.

Because she reads very slowly, she also eats very slowly.

It's probably only at times like this that she can unconsciously eat slowly and carefully.

After a short while, Li Wanyan also got a little hungry and took out her portion to eat.

The two spent more than an hour eating lunch, savoring the words they saw as if they were food, chewing them carefully before swallowing them.

The other science fiction novel she brought was quite good; it was so enjoyable that even the food tasted much better.

After finishing my meal, I put away the lunchbox to wash later. Then I spent the rest of the time lying on the table reading, killing time and waiting for the hottest day of summer to pass.

Around 4 o'clock, Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan packed up their things and prepared to leave, not forgetting to borrow two books to read back home.

Evenings also need the company of books.

By the time I had chosen the books I wanted to read, it was almost five o'clock.

In fact, a lot of the time was spent standing next to the bookshelf reading the synopsis and the first few chapters, and putting back any books I didn't like. After reading a lot of books, it's really not easy to find one that suits your taste all at once.

"Wow—it's so hot—" As soon as Mo Xueyao stepped out of the library, she felt a wave of heat wash over her, and the cicada chirping that she hadn't been able to hear clearly in the library suddenly became much clearer.

"Zi'er wa—Zi'er wa—" The cicadas' chirping came in waves, as if they were calling out right next to our ears, as if they were constantly shouting "It's so hot!" on behalf of humankind.

"Okay." Li Wanyan nodded gently. "Let's go home."

"Oh, right, let's buy some popsicles on the way."

"He's wasting money again."

"What? How can that be considered wasting money?"

"Don't we have some at home?"

"Uh... I'm getting a little tired of it?" Mo Xueyao tilted her head and said jokingly.

Use it sparingly.

"Yes, yes, yes... then I'll buy a bottle of Coke?"

"Didn't we just drink it yesterday?"

"Yesterday is yesterday, cough um..." Mo Xueyao guiltily avoided Li Wanyan's gaze and muttered softly, "Okay, okay, I won't buy it then..."

It's really a headache sometimes that I have to be so careful when I'm spending my own money.

He could only buy it secretly when Li Wanyan wasn't around, and then hide somewhere to enjoy it by himself.

She suddenly understood why those boys always liked to hide in alleys to smoke.

The reasons for both are surprisingly similar.

"Back to the fruit shop?"

"No, let's go home. That broken ceiling fan at the fruit shop isn't even as good as the air conditioner at home. At least it blows cold air when you add ice, although it feels a bit damp..." Mo Xueyao hung her arms listlessly and handed the cloth bag to Li Wanyan to carry.

Now she even wants to turn around and go back to the library.

However, the museum was closing in half an hour, and there was no way to delay any longer.

"Ah—it's so nice to have air conditioning." She drew out her voice, like a long shadow cast by the setting sun.

Actually, I didn't get to use the air conditioning, and it just passed by like that. But once I experienced air conditioning in the sweltering summer, going outside again would be really unbearable.

It was like falling from heaven to hell all at once.

So on the way back, Mo Xueyao deliberately dragged Li Wanyan onto a bus without air conditioning, just so she wouldn't feel like getting off while sitting on the bus.

This is nothing unusual.