Return to Monke

(A/N: I had to do it. +1 for title name)

The weather was clear and sunny. A perfect day for flying.

A civilian aircraft descended from the clouds with a roar, gliding straight into the runway of the Hongqiao International Airport in the bustling city of Shanghai.

Among the crowd heading towards the airport shuttle, Miaoyi, wearing a U-shaped neck pillow and carrying a shoulder bag, yawned repeatedly. She looked exhausted, almost falling asleep while standing.

Following behind her were Qiuying and Yun Jie.

"Qiuying... I'm too tired to keep walking. Can you carry me? " As she spoke, Miaoyi put on her best impersonation of a wounded kitten.

"Alright, hang in there. We're almost home, and you can sleep as much as you want there," Unfortunately, Mioayi's request fell on deaf ears as Qiuying side-eyed Miaoyi. "Who allowed you to stay up late playing games last night? We almost couldn't wake you up this morning. Luckily, we barely made it to the plane."

"It's not my fault! Song Ziyin asked to play games, and I got distracted. Besides, she went out of her way to extend the invitation, so it would be rude to refuse." Tang Miaoyi blinked her eyes, feeling a bit guilty about staying up late playing games and nearly missing the flight.

Yes, Song Ziyin suddenly contacted her last night, requesting Miaoyi to accompany her in playing games.

Under normal circumstances, she would never have accepted. She had a flight to catch in the morning, so she couldn't stay up late playing games.

She would never risk missing a flight on something so trivial.

Right? She definitely refused, right?

...

..

.

...Of course, she accepted.

Hey, at least she got an epic artifact out of it...

And that's why Miaoyi was now in a dog-tired state. She had barely gotten an hour of sleep, so she had been half awake from the beginning of the flight until now.

Yun Jie didn't say anything, only looking at Miaoyi with a hint of confusion in his eyes.

This was the supposed once-in-a-lifetime producer? This teenage girl who can barely open her eyes and is stumbling around an airport with messy hair and dark eye bags while wearing a neck pillow?

Yun Jie already doubted if he made the right choice in being her manager.

(A/N: RUN YUN JIE!!! DON'T LOOK BACK!!!)

With Qiuying dragging Miaoyi along the way, preventing her from falling asleep on the road, the group finally took a taxi and returned to the community where Miaoyi's house was.

"Jie Jie, you can live in this room from now on."

After unpacking and tidying up a bit, the first thing Miaoyi naturally did was arrange a room for Yun Jie on the second floor, right across from Qiuying's room.

"Okay," Yun Jie nodded, accepting his boss's arrangement. They had discussed this situation during the last two days of their vacation, as his commute would be much too time-consuming otherwise.

"Alright then, I'm going to sleep now. Wake me up for dinner. I'm dying for a few hours." Miaoyi yawned, the corners of her eyes stinging, and waved her hand. She immediately headed to her room and entered.

Then, with a loud "bang," the door closed.

Work and studying could wait for now. The most important thing was to sleep, as there was plenty of time.

Now that she was back in the bustling city, the first thing to do was to report to school. The rest, whether it was "Countdown" or "Levels" or any other future works, could all be put on hold for a while.

After all, although Miaoyi and Qiuying had officially entered the music industry, they were still students. They should be focusing on their studies.

As a senior high school student, taking three days off was already quite a lot. Although these few days out meant nothing to Miaoyi, Qiuying was different.

Unlike Miaoyi, who had a decent educational background from her past life, taking a few days off could potentially cause Qiuying to fall behind in her coursework and face many troubles. So, for the next period, she would undoubtedly be busier.

First, they had to settle the school matters before they could do any more work.

However, there wasn't much to say about the works, as Miaoyi had plans for them.

"Countdown," the theme song for the collaboration with the drama "Counting The Seconds," would be sung by Qiuying as the main vocalist, keeping with their usual style. They could start working on it after finalizing "Levels," as there was no rush.

These things could be taken slowly.

...

After staying awake for the night, Miaoyi fell asleep almost instantly and couldn't be woken up for dinner.

The consequences were evident - her hard-earned sleep schedule, which had just been rectified, was once again disrupted.

As usual, Qiuying shouldered the responsibility of being a self-walking, human-shaped alarm clock. Early in the morning on a school day, she began the arduous task of rousing Miaoyi from her bed.

The hardest battles are given to the strongest soldiers...

- - - - - - - - - -

In the classroom of Class 2 at Shanghai No. 7 Senior High School, Qiuying softly reminded the visibly dejected Miaoyi, "Miaoyi, I checked the schedule, and it appears we have a quiz today."

Miaoyi's voice sounded somewhat whiny, filled with unmistakable resentment as she replied, "A quiz... why couldn't they just let me sleep at home? After taking so many days off, what difference does one more day make?"

Qiuying appeared somewhat helpless as she replied, "But you're the class monitor. Shouldn't you set a good example? Aren't you worried about me taking over your position?"

Miaoyi's entire upper body slumped onto the desk in despair, exclaiming, "Ah! How boring! I feel like I'm dying!! As for being the class monitor, you can take it if you want. I don't care."

"Okay, okay, the teacher is here," Qiuying interjected, noticing the teacher entering the classroom from the corner of her eye.

Miaoyi reluctantly sat upright under the pressure of the teacher, completely transforming her demeanour from a moment ago, appearing quite ladylike in contrast.

The teacher, a middle-aged woman with a dignified and beautiful appearance, walked in wearing a dress. Although there were faint crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, she exuded an intellectual aura. Surprisingly, her first announcement upon entering the classroom was not about the exam, nor did she have any papers in her hand. Instead, she circled the classroom before returning to the podium and calmly stated, "I have a last-minute announcement for all the students. Today's math quiz has been rescheduled to the third period tomorrow morning."

Miaoyi's attention immediately perked up, her eyes widening in surprise. Faint murmurs could be heard from other students in the class as well.

However, before the cheers could erupt, the teacher's tone suddenly changed. "But I still have something else to discuss with all of you."

"Today, instead of the exam, we will select students to perform at the school's anniversary celebration. As you all know, Shanghai No. 7 is a prestigious high school in the city, renowned for producing talented individuals. The anniversary celebration is one of our most important events, and coincidentally, as you all know, the 50th anniversary of the school's founding is just half a month away."

The teacher delivered her statement slowly and deliberately, capturing the students' attention.

Listening attentively, Miaoyi suddenly understood and nodded. So it was about the anniversary celebration.

Fortunately, there would be no exam today, and it didn't concern her anyway.

However, the teacher's gaze abruptly shifted and landed on Miaoyi. "If the student representing our class passes the audition and is included in the list of performers for the anniversary celebration, they will receive a scholarship and have their poor grades cleared. I will personally sponsor the scholarship... right, Class President Miaoyi? Class Monitor Qiuying?"

"..."

"..."