A Young Woman's Heart

An Ruosu, however, did not intend to engage in a battle of offense and defense with Li Hongran. He stood at the three-point line, took a standard shooting posture, and with a light leap, threw the basketball out, which was very elegant and natural.

While the force wasn't as impactful as Li Hongran's dunk, it felt much lighter and more agile.

"Not bad, you actually made a three-pointer!" Li Hongran sprinted to grab the ball that had fallen to the ground, and leaped into the air, but this time she failed to make the shot. The basketball bounced around in the hoop and then bounced out.

Standing by the window, Mo Xueyao felt a little itchy and seemed to want to play basketball too.

She couldn't help but mimic a basketball shooting motion, imagining herself skillfully throwing the ball into the hoop, and mentally cheering herself on.

"What are you doing?" Li Wanyan raised her eyelids and glanced at her.

She immediately withdrew her hand awkwardly: "Uh, it's nothing."

"Let's review. We have monthly exams for three subjects today."

"Yes, today is Chinese, English, and Math, and tomorrow is Physics and Chemistry, right?" Mo Xueyao pushed Li Wanyan's chair, signaling her to move aside.

Li Wanyan moved her chair forward a little: "That's right."

"By the way, when are we going to study biology? I still think biology is more interesting." Mo Xueyao returned to her seat and took out the textbooks for the three courses.

“We probably won’t be studying biology anymore, unless you go to the science class when you’re divided into arts and science classes at the end of this semester.” Li Wanyan turned to look at Mo Xueyao. “I heard that starting with the next grade, only freshmen will study biology.”

"Hey? Then we're at a disadvantage!" Mo Xueyao pouted in dissatisfaction. "The freshmen get to learn, but we don't?"

"After all, education is constantly being reformed and has not yet truly stabilized. Significant changes are common." Li Wanyan turned her attention back to the textbook.

As the two students reviewed, more and more students entered the classroom, just like always.

This is the peaceful, unchanging daily life.

Lu Chengyuan was chatting with her deskmate about a library that had recently opened near Yukong High School.

This project was funded by the Hangzhou government.

Of course, it wasn't actually a new library built, but rather an abandoned gymnasium that was converted into a library.

That library is a product of the 1970s, and it's been around for 30 years now. It looks very old, and compared to modern gymnasiums, it's too small. It might be okay as a gymnasium for a school, but it's not up to standard as a gymnasium open to the general public.

In addition, the design is outdated and the ventilation is poor. If many people exercise together, it may even lead to mild hypoxia.

In recent years, many schools have opened their doors to the public during after-school hours and weekends, allowing the public to use their playgrounds and sports fields, which has reduced the demand for gymnasiums.

The stadiums built recently are designed to accommodate large numbers of spectators for watching games, which is a departure from the original concept of stadiums that were simply meant to provide a suitable place for fitness.

When Mo Xueyao was in the second year of junior high school, she saw this news in the newspaper, saying that the museum would be closed for renovations.

Did I finally finish this year?

It turned out to be converted into a library.

That's true. If it's a library, it doesn't matter if the ventilation is a little poor, since people certainly won't be doing strenuous exercise in a library, and a large group of people won't be crowded in a library all at once.

If the library is nearby, wouldn't it be possible to get a membership card?

Mo Xueyao was somewhat tempted. This way, she wouldn't have to travel all the way to Xinhua Bookstore to read books, and she could also borrow books to read at home at her leisure.

It's worth noting that in Hangzhou's libraries, apart from a deposit, there are no other fees as long as the books are returned within the specified period.

It's much more ethical than the private bookstores near the neighborhood.

The private bookstores didn't have enough books and comics, and some of them were quite old. Not only did they require a deposit, but the daily borrowing fees were also very high—even small comic books cost two cents a day.

If you watch it slowly, it will cost one dollar in five days.

For thicker comics or books, the borrowing fee can be as high as 50 cents a day.

After all, those are privately owned, which is completely different from those owned by the government.

Official libraries are probably operating at a loss most of the time, right?

This is done so that more people can afford to read books, and so that more people can gain more knowledge from books and not be as ignorant as the people of the past.

Go check it out after school.

Mo Xueyao thought to herself.

Would you like to borrow some world classics to read?

I feel like I've read all the books that I was interested in at bookstores over the past few years.

No, some are sealed and can't be viewed directly; maybe you can find them in the library...

She might even find a few martial arts novels she hasn't read, written by Jin Yong or Gu Long.

Although there are four grandmasters in martial arts novels, she only remembers the first two.

Moreover, compared to Jin Yong, she preferred Gu Long's unrestrained imagination.

However, Gu Long's writing style seems to fluctuate; some of his works are enjoyable, while others are rather uninteresting, unlike Jin Yong, whose almost every book is a classic.

Just then, someone nudged her arm. She turned her head slightly and saw Huang Yuxi holding up a whiteboard: "Good morning~"

"Ah, good morning." Mo Xueyao quickly nodded.

Huang Yuxi immediately smiled brightly and handed her a pre-opened packet of instant noodles, seemingly inviting her to take some.

"No need, I'm not hungry." Mo Xueyao shook her head. Recently, her family's financial situation has gradually improved, and she is not so hungry anymore.

Besides, I just had breakfast and really don't feel like eating anything else.

Huang Yuxi tilted her head and looked at her, then nodded slightly before turning to greet others.

Although he can't speak, he's a cheerful and enthusiastic child.

"Okay, everyone, let's all take advantage of this morning to review. The monthly exams will start after the morning meeting. Our class should still be able to get the Outstanding Class Banner this week, so everyone keep up the good work and do your best!"

The monthly exams at Yukong High School are relatively casual.

Without moving classrooms or changing seats, and sometimes without even pulling the desks apart, cheaters are provided with ample opportunities to cheat.

—Although cheating at a time like this is just deceiving yourself…

Furthermore, the exam times for all classes are not the same. The exact time of the exam this week depends entirely on the teacher. Of course, the most important thing is to find a time when the exam is convenient. For example, today, with two Chinese classes and two English classes in the morning, is the most suitable day for the exam.

……

Chapter 148 Junior High School Homeroom Teacher

After school on Monday, Li Wanyan was kept behind by her homeroom teacher to help grade test papers. Speaking of which, has the homeroom teacher been getting lazier lately?

A strange question popped into Mo Xueyao's mind. She said goodbye to Li Wanyan and left the school.

However, she did not go directly home, but walked in the opposite direction, about 500 meters, until she arrived at the newly opened library.

The walls of the four-story building have been repainted. Although the style is old-fashioned, at least it no longer looks dilapidated.

The pinkish-white paint gave the place a more vibrant and youthful feel, although she always felt it looked like the kind of paint used in kindergartens…

There is a brand-new plaque at the entrance of the library with the five large characters "Yinshan Library" written on it.

This immediately brought the saying "There are golden houses in books" to Mo Xueyao's mind. Was this name derived from this saying?

Does the book imply that there are mountains of gold and silver?

After all, if it were named according to the location, it should be called the Half-Mountain Library.

The original outdoor playground of the stadium has been converted into a parking lot, with a few cars scattered around, presumably belonging to staff, and the rest mostly bicycles.

Stepping into the library, you can still smell a faint trace of paint and a light fragrance of books.

The paper posted on the door indicates the opening and closing times.

"From eight in the morning to five-thirty in the evening..." Mo Xueyao muttered to herself, nodding slightly.

This means that the place will be closing in less than an hour.

She muttered to herself as she walked downstairs.

The first floor was surprisingly lavishly converted into a large hall, furnished with relatively inexpensive fabric sofas and ordinary metal coffee tables.

She noticed that the lobby was air-conditioned.

In other words, you can borrow a book and read it here directly?

You can return it on the spot after you finish watching it and borrow a new one. If you don't finish watching it, you can take it home and watch it slowly.

That's pretty good.

However, there was no one downstairs at the time. It was unclear whether it was because the library had just opened and there was no one there, or because very few people would borrow books and leave them in the library.

After going up to the second floor, we arrived at the actual book area.

Floor plans were posted on the wall.

The first floor is the lobby, the second floor is the novel and literature section, the third floor is the science and education materials section, and the fourth floor is the comics and magazine section.

The only thing Mo Xueyao didn't immediately understand was the third floor. After thinking about it carefully, she figured it must be the area where she could borrow knowledge-based books, such as the textbooks used in class, which are the most basic knowledge-based books.

For Mo Xueyao, going to the second floor was usually enough.

At the reception desk on the second floor, a middle-aged woman was sitting leisurely drinking tea, glancing at the clock every now and then—waiting to get off work.

"Auntie, may I ask how I can borrow a book?" Mo Xueyao walked over, trying to make her smile appear genuine.

"Just get a library card. You'll need to pay a 200 yuan deposit, but it's half price if you have a student ID." The middle-aged woman looked Mo Xueyao up and down, her face beaming with a warm smile. "You can borrow a maximum of three books at a time, for a month at a time, and you can only renew for half a month each time. Theoretically speaking, once you exceed the time limit, you can borrow indefinitely as long as you renew every half month."

"What if it exceeds that?"

"Calculated at one cent per book per day, capped at three yuan."

"Wow, that's great. So even if I exceed the limit and forget to pay it back, I won't owe a lot of money?"

The middle-aged woman smiled and nodded, saying kindly:

"That's right, that's exactly it."

"If you want to borrow for a longer period, you can extend it for half a month the first time you borrow it, so you don't have to worry about exceeding the time limit."

Are there any other questions?

“No…” Mo Xueyao shook her head vigorously. “Thank you, but I didn’t bring any money with me today.”