GTRSV – Chapter 31

This chapter reminds me as to why I chose to translate this novel. It’s so realistic in the way it describes their relationship, showing us that it isn’t perfect and there are problems they need to get through. Don’t be sad guys 😌

One more chapter coming up!

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 Qiao Lan felt that she might have really gotten paler. After Uncle Chen had mentioned that she had gotten pale, some of her classmates also told her the same thing when they saw her.

Sure enough, she was too hungry before, and now after she slowly recuperated, her body was getting better, and so her complexion had gotten much better.

But when she thought about the plump and white Second Sister Qiao who had become more plump and white since she married into a “rich family”, along with the fat little white boy Qiao Yuan, Qiao Lan felt that there was still a lot more room for improvement.

(TN: When Qiao Lan says plump and white she doesn’t actually mean that truly. She means that Qiao Yuan and SSQ are well taken care of so they are fat and white. B/c back in the days poor people were farmers and so they were tan from the sun and skinny due to lack of nutrition, if one was fat and white it meant they were living well)

In the future when Qiao Lan became healthier, she would look in the mirror in surprise. In the book the original Qiao Lan’s return was described as a “surprise”, looking at her face now Qiao Lan could truly see why. She had never expected that this face could look so good. 

Can skin color really affect a person’s appearance so much?

But all of that would happen in the future.

— —————— 

In the class, apart from Tan Mo, Pei Ning had the best relationship with Qiao Lan.

After this second semester started, the class teacher no longer arranged the seats, because some students claimed that the class teacher’s behavior was unfair to the students with poor grades, so the class teacher had to give up.

So the rule of arranging seats according to grades was replaced and now students with good grades could choose where they wanted to sit. 

If the poor students at the back were popular, they could also sit at the same table with those with good grades.

Most high school students were still a little shy at this age. There were many people in the class who liked Chen Yaoyang and Song Yao, but in the end, Chen Yaoyang sat with his best friend Li Fan, and Song Yao sat with her best friend.

Pei Ning also ran to sit at the same table with his best friend.

After such a change, the number of boys and girls in the class that sat at the same table instantly decreased by 90%, and Qiao Lan and Tan Mo represented the 10% left.

Tan Mo was nervous for a while after the head teacher announced the new rules for changing seats.

He was not stupid. He had long discovered that Qiao Lan was not friendly with most of the class. Apart from classmates who she would usually see and exchange greetings with, there was actually only Pei Ning who she could really talk to.

So Qiao Lan wouldn’t want to sit with other people, but she might want to sit with Pei Ning.

He glanced at Qiao Lan carefully, Qiao Lan sat on her seat calmly, as if changing seats had nothing to do with her.

Later, Pei Ning and another boy sat at the same table.

However, even if Pei Ning sat far away, he would still come to Qiao Lan whenever he had time, although he usually came because he couldn’t do some problems.

At the end of class time, Qiao Lan took her mobile phone out to look up some words that she didn’t recognize. Pei Ning then appeared out of nowhere and before he could ask her about the problem he was having trouble with, he saw Qiao Lan’s mobile phone and said, “Oh, did you buy a phone? Then save my number.”

Qiao Lan gave an OK gesture, Pei Ning reported a series of numbers, and Qiao Lan recorded it on her phone.

Tan Mo stared at the name “Pei Ning” on Qiao Lan’s phone, his eyes darkened and he didn’t speak.

A few days later, by chance Qiao Lan handed her phone to Tan Mo for safekeeping. Tan Mo stared at the white phone in his hand for a long time, then opened to the screen saver and found the contacts list.

 Qiao Lan’s mobile phone no longer held just his number anymore, besides Pei Ning, there were many people whom Qiao Lan knew while working.

The order of contacts were arranged according to the first letter of the name. Tan Mo’s surname started with T, so although he was not last, he was very far behind. Even Pei Ning’s name was in front of him.

Tan Mo pursed his lips, clicked on his contact, and added a 1 in front of the Tan in Tan Mo.

“Tan Mo” became “1 Tan Mo”.

Then he opened the contacts list again, and saw that his name was at the top in an instant,  followed by Qiao Lan’s phone number.

Which was added because she couldn’t remember her number. 

The upper part was Tan Mo, and the lower part was Qiao Lan. After looking at it for a while, the tips of Tan Mo’s ears suddenly became hot and he hurriedly turned off the phone, pretending that nothing had happened.

After Qiao Lan came back, he returned the phone to Qiao Lan.

Qiao Lan didn’t discover Tan Mo’s little secret, she was busy doing physics papers.

Since Qiao Lan has mastered physics, her interest in physics has increased day by day. The best thing was that she no longer had to mull over a hard problem for a very long time. As long as she showed it to Tan Mo, he would be able to solve it easily. So when she pushed the paper to Tan Mo’s side, Tan Mo’s actions were very practiced and natural. He took the paper and took the pen in Qiao Lan’s hand.

Qiao Lan then saw the bracelet on his wrist.

She spent a lot of effort to make it, so she was able to recognize it at a glance despite the change in appearance.

She didn’t know who had such a clever hand. Qiao Lan didn’t know how to finish the Peace Knot at the time, but now it was made into a bracelet. It looked very neat, and the small string that fell in the end had a small silver pendant strung on it.

In an instant, the beauty of Qiao Lan’s peace knot rose more than one level.

Qiao Lan stared at the black beads on the chain, “Is this bead agate?”

“No, it’s obsidian”, Tan Mo put down his pen, took out his phone and turned on the flashlight, pointing it so that it faced the black bead, “When the light passed through it an agate bead would remain pure black. An Obsidian bead won’t.”

Qiao Lan looked down for a long time, and saw that the black beads under the strong light reflected a slight rainbow.

“It’s very beautiful,” Qiao Lan said.

Tan Mo thought for a while, “There are still more boxes at home, I’ll bring them to you tomorrow.”

“No, no!”

Qiao Lan hurriedly shut up, she had just said it casually. If this goes on, Qiao Lan wouldn’t dare to be in Tan Mo’s presence.

She was really afraid that Tan Mo would bring it to her the next day.

Tan Mo’s daily meals also made her feel even more pressured. Qiao Lan had been thinking about how to bring it up to Tan Mo for the past two days, but she wasn’t able to find a suitable opportunity.

(TN: She is talking about him no longer coming to the western restaurant)

Qiao Lan had a foreboding thought that Tan Mo would be unhappy once she said this, but she had to say it since it was a matter of principle.

When she finished school in the afternoon and went to a western restaurant, Qiao Lan passed by a street. There were two or three barbecue shops all on the same street and the students in the attached middle school would jokingly call it the barbecue street.

Qiao Lan walked over to the barbecue street and found a familiar figure as she walked.

She squinted my eyes and looked over again. She had seen correctly. A bunch of Middle school students in school uniforms huddled outside at an open-air table. There were both men and women. The group of children were still drinking while they were shouting.

Qiao Yuan’s round body full of rolls was squeezed between the thin bodies of the other student, making his figure especially conspicuous.

Father Qiao and Mother Qiao have always been willing to spend money on Qiao Yuan, Qiao Lan didn’t think much about it, and turned to the bus after just a glance.

In the evening, Tan Mo arrived as promised, but Uncle Chen left after sending him there, saying there was something he needed to do.

Tan Mo still ordered the exact same dishes as yesterday. After a long time, Qiao Lan asked him, “Aren’t you tired of eating this kind of food every day?” 

No matter how delicious things are, he should be tired of eating them every day.

Tan Mo has eaten at this restaurant for three consecutive months. He has eaten all the dishes back and forth, for who knows how many times. Wasn’t he tired?

Uncle Chen has recently ordered less and less and even started to order red wine. Qiao Lan would even dare to bet that Uncle Chen was absolutely tired of eating here.

But Tan Mo, who was slicing the steak, answered Qiao Lan seriously, “Not tired.”

He didn’t lie, Tan Mo wouldn’t lie.

He really wasn’t tired, he liked this type of unchanging things in his life, whether it was the place where he lived,  the people around him, the things in his room, or the food to fill his stomach.

It was good enough to be full.

After Qiao Lan’s trial failed, she stared at Tan Mo in silence for a long time, before suddenly saying, “Tan Mo, do you know how much money you have spent in this restaurant.”

Tan Mo stopped cutting his steak. He didn’t know why Qiao Lan suddenly asked this. Because Qiao Lan was talking, Tan Mo politely raised his head and  answered her honestly, “I don’t know.”

Uncle Chen paid for the meals every day, and Tan Mo didn’t care enough to ask.

Today there were few people in the restaurant and Uncle Chen was not there. Qiao Lan simply sat where Uncle Chen had been sitting before, and faced Tan Mo.

 “Tan Mo, in three months, you spent a total of 70,000 yuan in the restaurant.” 

In Qiao Lan’s previous life, in addition to getting ninth place in the college entrance examination before transmigrating into the book, the government rewarded her with 50,000 yuan. She hadn’t made detailed calculations before, but after careful calculations, she found that Tan Mo had actually spent so much at this restaurant, and Qiao Lan could no longer sit still.

Tan Mo still didn’t understand Qiao Lan’s meaning, so what if he consumed 70,000 in three months. 

What was wrong with that…

Qiao Lan frowned, “Don’t you think it’s too much?”

Tan Mo didn’t even think about it, and shook his head, “Not much. “

Qiao Lan:” …… “

She did not want to discuss with Tan Mo what the seventy thousand meant for rich people compared to ordinary people. So she took a deep breath,”But for me, it’s too much, so there is no need to waste it like that.”

“It isn’t a waste,” Tan Mo put down his knife and fork, and his light brown eyes looked at Qiao Lan intently, “I come here to eat. You can get commissions and tips, so it’s not a waste.”

This was not a waste.

This was the first time that Tan Mo clearly stated that he came for Qiao Lan. It was false to say that she is not moved, but she couldn’t allow it to affect her stand. “It is a waste to spend money every day to eat things that you don’t like.” Qiao Lan said, trying to explain it clearly to Tan Mo.

Tan Mo was silent for a while, then lowered his head and whispered, “I don’t hate it.”

“You don’t hate it but you can’t say that you like it, right? Before coming to this restaurant, Tan Mo, you had a professional nutritionist to help you eat every day. If you think about it, you need to supplement your body with balanced and adequate nutrition. Your body will not allow you to eat such greasy and unhealthy things for a long time.”

Tan Mo did not refute, but then he finally realized the faint  meaning behind Qiao Lan’s words, “In the end”, He looked at Qiao Lan, “What do you want to say.”

“I want to say, Tan Mo, after today, eat at home like before, don’t come here again.”

Tan Mo looked at her without saying a word, and after a long time he said with a dull voice, “Then I won’t come.”

Before Qiao Lan could breathe a sigh of relief , he continued, “I will ask Uncle Chen to take it back every day.” Qiao Lan sucked in another breath.

“No”, Qiao Lan finally realized that she couldn’t go in circles with Tan Mo at all. She needed to tell him directly and clearly what she wanted to say, “Don’t come here for dinner, and don’t let Uncle Chen get takeoue…”

Tan Mo became irritable and uncontrollable. He didn’t understand.

“You don’t want money, and you don’t want me to come here, so what do you want me to do?”

 “You don’t have to do anything, Tan Mo”, Qiao Lan repeated again, “You don’t have to do anything, you don’t need to help me by giving me money. I have money, I can…”

“If you can, why did you come here to work.”

Tan Mo was obstinate and couldn’t understand why Qiao Lan kept struggling with this problem. She lacked money and he had money, it was just 70,000 yuan. Why must money be so hard?

Qiao Lan’s tone became more serious as she couldn’t understand why he couldn’t make sense of what she was saying. “I lack money but it has nothing to do with you. Why don’t you understand. We are friends and classmates. No friend or classmate would do this. Tan Mo, there is no relationship between us that dictates that you need to support me…”

Tan Mo’s repressed irritability exploded when he heard the last sentence, slamming the knife and fork in his hand on the plate, and shocking Qiao Lan. Even the people around them looked over to see the commotion.

Ignoring the looks, he stared at Qiao Lan coldly, “I’m done, I want to check out.”

GTRSV – Chapter 32.1