The Little Bookworm Marked Her Ex-aunt - Chapter 30 Hmm, Consider It a Return Gift for Borrowing Books

Chapter 30 Hmm, Consider It a Return Gift for Borrowing Books

The distance from Shu Yue’s residence to the village elementary school was short; it took about ten minutes to walk. Zhou Miao led Shu Yue and the others, leaving Fu Xitang and two senior brothers at home to watch the birds.

Along the way, the village was quiet, with the sound of the wind and bird calls clearly audible.

Ji Shiyi suddenly tilted her head and asked Shu Yue, “Is this call the one you mentioned last time, the white-headed bulbul?”

Shu Yue’s eyes lit up. “Yes!”

Her shoe tip lightly kicked a small stone in front of her.

“Miss Ji, you still remember.”

Ji Shiyi replied, “Of course, my memory isn’t that bad.”

Shu Yue lowered her head and smiled, saying nothing, enjoying the natural sounds of the village path with Ji Shiyi.

It was Thursday, and when they arrived at the village elementary school, the children were in class. On the school’s concrete playground, one class was having a physical education lesson, and upon seeing them, the children couldn’t help but cast curious glances.

The principal was waiting early, greeted them upon arrival, and led them to the library.

It was called a library, but it was actually a previously unused classroom. After the new principal was transferred, she started renovating and transforming it into a library.

Upon entering, wooden bookshelves lined the walls.

The principal introduced, “These bookshelves were donated by the people in our village. They said buying shelves from outside wasn’t cost-effective, and since a few were skilled carpenters, they got together and made the shelves for us.”

The walls were full of bookshelves, but the books were sparse, filling less than a third.

However, they brought many books.

The classroom was stacked with cardboard boxes, sealed with uniform tape. Shu Yue glanced and noticed the name of a company under Ji Shiyi’s management, which Lin Chu had mentioned before.

The principal happened to bring this up, her eyes full of gratitude.

Ji Shiyi said calmly, “Madam Gu, you don’t need to be like this; it’s really nothing. These weren’t expensive. After learning a couple of days ago that you were short of books, I had my subordinates organize an event at the company—old books for new ones to earn points—so many colleagues donated their books.”

“I had someone screen them again, picking out ones suitable for children, and also selected some must-read book lists online to complete the collection. So, if you must say, we didn’t spend much money on new books. Don’t be so polite.”

“It’s getting late; shall we start organizing these books?” Ji Shiyi suggested.

Principal Gu nodded. “Of course, of course. I also called some teachers to help; we’ll do it together.”

To maintain the library’s normal operation, Principal Gu had previously asked a classmate to create a mini-program. After entering book information into the program and attaching barcodes to the books, it was like making an ID card for each book.

Students borrowing books only needed to bring their borrowing card or a card with a borrowing QR code, scan it, and scan the book they wanted to take, completing the entire borrowing process.

Their task today was to create IDs for the new books and enter them into the mini-program.

The workload was considerable. Shu Yue estimated that there were at least a few thousand books in the boxes.

Principal Gu found seats for them, letting them settle in to work slowly.

Soon, the school’s free teachers came over, and everyone quickly got to work.

Ji Shiyi sat across from Shu Yue, watching her take out a book, attach a label, type into the computer, and bend down to grab another book.

Over and over, the young woman’s waist bent countless times.

Ji Shiyi’s fingertips tapped lightly on the book Shu Yue had just picked up.

“I’ll attach the codes; you enter the data?”

Shu Yue pushed up her glasses, which had slipped slightly from bending over.

“Okay,” she said. “This should be faster.”

Ji Shiyi moved her chair closer, picked up a thick stack of books, attached a code to one, and handed it to Shu Yue. After Shu Yue quickly entered the information on the computer, Ji Shiyi handed her the next one.

The summer cicadas chirped loudly. The village school had no air conditioning, and a standing fan creaked in the corner, occasionally flipping book pages and lifting strands of the women’s hair.

The strands lightly tickled Shu Yue’s arm, brushing past, and Ji Shiyi tucked them behind her ear.

After several moments of this subtle yet hard-to-ignore sensation, Shu Yue paused her typing hands.

“Need it?” She took off the black rubber band from her wrist.

Ji Shiyi pressed down the QR code she had just attached, tilting her head. “Hmm?”

Shu Yue gestured. “Your hair.”

Ji Shiyi smiled knowingly. “It does need it; thanks.”

Ji Shiyi took the rubber band, combed her long hair with her fingers, and loosely tied it up. A few stray strands fell, swaying slightly when the creaking fan turned their way.

Whenever Shu Yue glanced in her direction, she could see the omega-specific suppression patch on the back of Ji Shiyi’s neck.

It was simple silver-white, without extra patterns, just like the impression Ji Shiyi gave.

Not flashy, not overly ornate, not too much or too little—just right.

“Did I tie it poorly?” Noticing Shu Yue’s gaze, Ji Shiyi asked softly. “Is my hair loose?”

Shu Yue shook her head. “It’s good like that, very refreshing.”

Her gaze was clear, her compliments simple and straightforward.

Ji Shiyi’s lips curved slightly, pushing the book with the attached code toward Shu Yue.

“Time to enter this one.”

Shu Yue picked up the book and quickly entered the information.

The entire afternoon, they were immersed in this work rhythm. After over two hours, they finished entering all the books, sorted them by category, and placed them on the shelves. The once-empty classroom was now filled with books, from classic must-reads to popular comics, neatly arranged.

Shu Yue stretched, raised her hand to rub her sore shoulders, and curiously walked to the bookshelves to look around.

Suddenly, a row of neatly arranged books caught her eye.

She hadn’t entered this batch earlier and only noticed now.

“Miss Ji?” Shu Yue quietly called to Ji Shiyi, who was flipping through a picture book at another shelf. “Did you buy these?”

The set of books she had recommended to Ji Shiyi a few days ago was now fully displayed on the shelf.

Shu Yue counted; there were at least three complete sets.

Ji Shiyi glanced over. “I bought them. What’s wrong?”

Shu Yue said, “So many?”

Ji Shiyi replied, “Because I looked at them, and they’re indeed good books, suitable as basic science books for kids to read. As for the other ones, I haven’t read them yet, but since you recommended the series, I figured they wouldn’t be bad.”

“Oh my gosh!” Lin Chu, browsing at another shelf, was shocked. “This whole cabinet of professional books was donated too?”

She couldn’t move just looking at them.

“Donating these books for kids—can they really understand them? Will they actually read them?”

Lin Chu was practically drooling.

Principal Gu laughed heartily, walking over to explain. “This shelf is specifically for teachers to borrow books. It was Miss Ji’s suggestion; she said since it’s the school’s library, we shouldn’t only consider the students’ needs.”

Lin Chu reached out to touch the spine of a thick professional book, reluctantly asking, “Principal Gu, do you think we could borrow some books too?”

“Of course,” Principal Gu said cheerfully, walking to the library’s work corner and pulling out five cards with QR codes and the owners’ names already attached.

“Knowing you were coming today, I prepared these early,” Principal Gu said. “From now on, whenever you want to borrow a book, just bring this.”

Shu Yue took the card from Principal Gu’s hand.

She gently ran her fingers over the black-and-white QR code on the card, glanced at the full shelf behind Lin Chu, thought of something, and secretly smiled to herself.

Ji Shiyi saw and shook her head.

What a bookworm.

A few books made her so happy.

Lin Chu excitedly pulled Shu Yue to stand in front of the shelf, discussing.

“Look, look, junior sister, this row is all books in our field. Oh my gosh, a collector’s edition? And this one—this is hard to find, right? Last time I checked, you could only borrow it from the provincial library. I didn’t expect to see it here.”

Lin Chu was so excited she lost her bearings, looking like she wanted to pitch a tent in the classroom and live there.

Shu Yue was also thrilled but not as expressive as Lin Chu. Her fingertips slid over one book spine after another, then she suddenly thought of something and turned to look back.

Ji Shiyi happened to look up from her phone.

Shu Yue’s pocket vibrated slightly.

She took it out and saw a new message from Ji Shiyi.

“Do you like it?”

Shu Yue paused, stepped aside to a corner where Lin Chu couldn’t see, and quietly replied to Ji Shiyi.

“Miss Ji, did you donate them?”

Shu Yue glanced at Ji Shiyi, who was talking to Principal Gu. She noticed that although Ji Shiyi seemed aloof, she actually had a good temper, could chat with anyone, and easily gained trust.

Just like now.

Principal Gu was clearly enjoying the conversation with Ji Shiyi, her eyes full of smiles.

Honestly, Shu Yue was a bit envious of Ji Shiyi’s ability.

She was always relaxed and at ease, no matter the environment. As long as Ji Shiyi was there, she naturally became the one controlling the pace.

Unlike Meng Zhiyu’s commanding presence that drew all attention, or Shu Yue’s habit of shrinking into corners even in an elevator, Ji Shiyi was the type who could effortlessly take charge from the sidelines.

Shu Yue didn’t know if this was a talent, but she thought it must be quite something to achieve.

Ji Shiyi was truly remarkable.

She looked away, squatting to straighten the slightly tilted books on the bottom row.

Her pocket buzzed again.

Shu Yue pulled out her phone to check.

Instinctively, she glanced in Ji Shiyi’s direction.

Ji Shiyi was talking to Principal Gu about online education and AO physiology classes, topics Shu Yue didn’t fully catch. Looking at Ji Shiyi, she wondered how she found time to reply.

Holding the phone, perhaps because of the summer heat and poor heat dissipation, her skin felt layers of warmth.

“Hmm, consider it a return gift for borrowing books.”

“Since you’ll be staying in the village for a long time, I thought if you could occasionally borrow books to read, these days might feel a bit more colorful.”

The cicadas kept chirping, noisily buzzing on the branches outside the window. The sunlight shifted, and the shadows of the tree gaps fell into a corner of the room. The library was filled with constant discussion, and one new book after another drew everyone’s attention.

At that moment, Shu Yue suddenly heard her heartbeat skip, like a dangerous warning, making her body tense and her thoughts scatter for a moment.