✔The Earth is Online

1-10

˚ :♡ ·˚ ₊˚ˑ༄ؘ ⁺ 𓂋 𓈒 ♡

001

Once the library opened its doors at nine in the morning, the seven or eight people waiting entered, all of them with grey hair. Today was Monday. It was different from the weekends when many parents would bring their children to the city library to read. Usually only retired old people came to the library on working days.

Outside the library was a busy world. The library itself was quiet, with only the sound of pages being flipped.

At 10 o'clock, more people started coming to the library.

Tang Mo sat in front of the computer to help check out the books. His left hand tapped the keyboard and entered the serial number of the book. His right hand clicked on the mouse to confirm. After doing all of this, he looked up. 

"You have borrowed a book for nearly a month now. Haven't you finished reading it?"

The middle-aged woman in front of him smiled and shook her head. "No, my son is a slow reader. Is there a problem if the book isn't returned in a month?"

Tang Mo explained. "One month is the free period. After that, I need to collect the library fee of 1 yuan a day." He paused and added, "If you lose the book, you would have to compensate by paying the original price. This book is 82 yuan."

The woman's expression changed. "It is so expensive...okay, I will go home today and tell that boy to read the book quickly." She turned around and left.

Tang Mo looked at the woman striding away, his handsome face not showing much expression. He took the next person's library card and swiped it.

"Not finished? I think she lost the book." A crisp female voice rang out.

Tang Mo swiped while speaking, "Maybe."

There was disdain in the female voice. "A library card is 50 yuan and that book is 82 yuan. I don't think she will come here again."

"I also don't think she will come again." Director Wang, who was in charge of the reception work, came over and patted Tang Mo's shoulders.

"Xiaotang, go and see what that huckster is doing. I just saw him go to the corner where there is no monitoring. Make sure he doesn't do anything."

(TL: I chose huckster because it was an English translation that one dictionary site provided me, but it is more like a swindler who uses religion and superstitions to obtain illegal benefits)

Tang Mo nodded and walked to the corner. The Suzhou City Library was located in the centre of the city and had a total of three floors. The third floor was mostly books on humanities and history. Tang Mo walked from the help desk to the southeast corner. He passed more than 30 bookshelves before finding the huckster. In November, Suzhou was a bit chill and the winds howled outside the window. The window shook because of it, but the sunlight shining through the window was warm. The huckster sat cross-legged on the floor by the window. He had five or six books scattered around him in a haphazard manner. He wasn't even looking at a book as he placed his hands in his hair and made the messiness worse. Tang Mo's lips pursed as he walked over and picked up a book. "Mr. Chen, our library has tables and chairs. You can read books over there."