Chapter 189: Sprint Explosive Power buff

Chapter 189

Sunday, Xiao Qi woke up right on time.

She got up at 6 o'clock, got out of bed, washed up, practiced writing characters, then went for a run.

After running, she returned to the dorm. Wei Cheng had just woken up and was lying in bed, rubbing her eyes, not wanting to get up.

Gu Yunshu, however, did get up because flowers were being delivered for her early in the morning. She wanted to trim and arrange them herself to bring to Grace in the afternoon.

Wei Cheng also got up and was reciting English vocabulary words. She was still very nervous about going to a foreign teacher's house as a guest that afternoon, so she specifically downloaded an app for daily English phrases to learn and memorize sentence by sentence, hoping she wouldn't be mute and unable to say a word when the time came.

Xiao Qi was quite tired after just finishing her run. She returned to the dorm to rest and gave Gu Yunshu a hand at the same time.

Gu Yunshu seemed quite professional after only going to the flower arranging club a few times. She took a green sponge and large leaves, wrapped the sponge with the leaves, making it look like an elegant base.

"You can add water to this sponge soil to keep the flowers fresh," Gu Yunshu explained to Xiao Qi who looked quite curious.

Then she started trimming the flowers. Xiao Qi saw her chopping boldly without any hesitation. She cut a large bouquet and stuck it in the sponge soil. It looked quite stylish. CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m

In Xiao Qi’s eyes, flowers were always big blooms. At her aunt’s dorm, her aunt would bring flowers, also in large bouquets. She would trim them evenly, insert them nicely, and really liked the feeling of large flowers crowded together in full bloom.

But what Gu Yunshu liked seemed more sophisticated. To put it vulgarly, if sold in a flower shop, it would probably sell for a higher price.

Even dead branches could be incorporated. Xiao Qi thought of Gumu Village where you could casually pick up bundles wherever you went. Here you had to buy them with money. She asked Gu Yunshu how much these kind of branches cost. Gu Yunshu said the branches cost more than the flowers because they lasted longer.

Xiao Qi: ...

She felt that in the mountains nothing was valuable, they could only be used as firewood. But here, they became precious for some reason. There probably weren’t any worthless things, just things in the wrong place.

After Gu Yunshu finished arranging the flowers, Xiao Qi tidied up a bit before going to breakfast. She and Wei Cheng went to the library while Wei Cheng planned to be lazy in bed all morning. Gu Yunshu continued reading her novel.

At the library, Xiao Qi had a clear goal today. Because her roommate Gu Yunshu was addicted to reading novels, Xiao Qi was quite curious about what novel she was reading. The result was that recently Gu Yunshu had been reading Pride and Prejudice fan fiction.

Xiao Qi still didn’t know there was such a genre. Only after Gu Yunshu's introduction did she know what fan fiction was - it was still writing about someone from the book, not necessarily the protagonist, maybe a supporting role or villain, or someone who didn't appear in the book, but the storyline was still roughly the original. The author incorporates themselves and goes through experiencing that story.

She was quite familiar with the classic Pride and Prejudice, but she hadn’t read it herself. She had read Jane Eyre, The Thorn Birds and so on. Anyway, Xiao Qi felt her own reading volume was far from enough. While still young, she should read more books. Reading more was definitely the right way. Reading other people's life experiences to gain your own experience was much easier than stumbling through gaining them yourself. But after reading, you had to think carefully in order to make it useful to yourself.

To study without thinking is futile, to think without studying perilous.

Xiao Qi selected the Chinese and original English versions.

After getting the books, she found a seat by the window and sat down to read.

Wei Cheng also didn’t disturb Xiao Qi, selecting a book and sitting down across from her.

The library was very quiet. There was no need to wear headphones. Accompanied by the sound of waves from the lake outside the window, it was tranquil.

Besides, she could always come to the library anytime.

Xiao Qi separately returned the Chinese and English Pride and Prejudice to the shelves. Her mind was actually still a little muddled after reading the book. She had subconsciously ruffled her own hair while reading, leaving it a little messy.

After leaving the library with Wei Cheng, there was a lake bay right outside. The wind was quite strong, carrying the fishy smell of the river. The wind blew on Xiao Qi and made her feel completely sober.

The sunshine outside was bright and the streets were wide, with buildings scattered around. It was an advanced modern society, not the 19th century where you could see feces everywhere when riding a carriage.

"Xiao Qi, I took a photo of you when you were reading just now." Wei Cheng handed her phone to Xiao Qi.

Wei Cheng's phone was just an ordinary smartphone without much capacity or beautifying filters.

However, this photo was taken very well, with contrast between light and shadows. Half of Xiao Qi's face was bright and the other half dark. Her hair was a bit messy and her expression was extremely focused and serious. In front of her was a book fully in English.

"You have a very good talent for photography. This doesn't look like a phone photo - it's more like a professional took it with a camera." Xiao Qi praised.

"That makes me really happy! When I finished taking it, I also felt it looked very good. I just happened to look up and see you while you were reading and thought you looked good, so I snapped the photo." Wei Cheng smiled with eyes bent into crescents, clearly very delighted.

"Wait, stay just like that. Let me take a photo of you too." Xiao Qi remembered she also had a beginner level of photography skills, she just rarely took photos so she wasn't highly skilled at it.

As soon as Wei Cheng heard she was going to be photographed, she became a bit stiff in her hands and feet, flustered as she awkwardly refused, "I'm not very photogenic, I don't look good. Don't take it."

"It's fine, if it doesn't look good we can just delete it. No one else will see it anyway. Just walk naturally, don't be nervous."

Between two dormmates where the family circumstances were the same for both, Wei Cheng was the most relaxed in front of Xiao Qi. She relaxed very quickly, but there was still some shy stiffness when she smiled.

"You don't have to deliberately force a smile, just do whatever feels natural to you." Xiao Qi encouraged, while at the same time holding up her phone. She chose the Portrait Studio Lighting mode in her phone camera app, which could blur the background and highlight the person being photographed, making it fresher and more delicate.

Xiao Qi took several shots, they seemed better than she'd imagined. Wei Cheng was tall, her face wasn't the traditional melon-seed shape but a bit bigger. Her hair at chin-length was also windswept from beside the lake into slight disarray, which actually nicely framed her face shape. Her face shape in the photos looked very high-class, giving a sense of sophistication.

Under the bright sunshine, even the freckles on her face looked cute. Xiao Qi randomly snapped several shots and sent the one she was most satisfied with over to Wei Cheng.

Upon receiving the photo, Wei Cheng's face showed surprise.

"Do I really look this good? Is this really me? You took it so well! Really good!"

Indeed, the young girl walking casually beside the lake with her schoolbag looked very beautiful in the photo. Her chin-length hair was windswept somewhat disorderly, her eyes had a bit of daze but radiated cheerfulness at the same time. She hugged some books in her arms, with a trace of a smile at the corners of her mouth yet possessing some gravity. Even with the freckles on her face, it was a pleasure for one to look at such a pretty girl.

Wei Cheng was very excited, looking over and over again, before finally deciding to post it on Moments.

Went to the library with my roommate (smiley face)

She posted two photos - the one Xiao Qi had taken of her reading, and the one Xiao Qi sent to her that she took herself.

At this moment, Xiao Qi heard a burst of "ding ding dong dong" sounds near her ears, followed by the familiar mechanical voice again: "The host took a nice photo for her roommate, encouraging her roommate and increasing her self-confidence; rewarded with 30 days of Sprint Burst buff."

Xiao Qi thought that was it, but the mechanical voice continued: "The host completed immersive reading of a book in 3 hours 21 minutes; rewarded with 1 Random Skill Learning Card that is applicable to this book. Use the card now?"