A Young Woman's Heart

"Xiao Ji, you've worked so hard today!"

"Can we have something else for lunch? This is all too greasy..."

"How about I make you some chicken soup? Actually, I started making it this morning!" Duanmu Bi hooked her arm around Duanmu Ji's neck, who helplessly gripped the rag in his hand and glanced at her sideways. "And then I'll reward you—we'll take a bath together tonight!"

"What kind of reward is this..." He drooped his eyelids, completely uninterested.

"Huh? Little Ji has really grown up. Looks like I need an even better reward. Here's the reward—you can sleep with your sister after your bath!"

"..."

"It's been so long since I've slept without clothes on!"

"Who wants that kind of reward!" Duanmu Ji struggled free from her arms. "That's practically punishment!"

"What... Waaah, you actually dislike me that much..."

Duanmu Ji had no intention of comforting his sister for her poor acting skills; he simply turned around and went back to his work…

……

Chapter Thirty-Six: Jin Ying Children's Welfare Home

Tuesday, April 2001, 4.

Today marks the 101st anniversary of the founding of Yukong High School.

However, Yukong High School did not hold any activities; it simply notified the students in advance that they would only have half a day of classes today.

However, this seemed to make the students happier than any kind of celebration. Even though the school gates were still open, they were already discussing where to go in the afternoon.

But the members of the Snow Music Band were preparing to set off.

"Heave-ho—" Mo Zhuyou struggled to lift her drum kit, and Mr. Xue, who was standing on the car, took it from her and carried it inside.

This is a bus rented by Yukong High School. All the students and accompanying teachers going to the event today will ride on this bus. However, because there are not many people, the bus looks quite spacious, which makes people feel a little more relaxed.

"Sister, you should go back to class!" Mo Zhuyou jumped onto the bus, grabbed the metal railing as a handrail, and shouted to Mo Xiaoxiao, who had seen her off at the school gate, "We're about to leave!"

"Okay, let's do our best today~" Mo Xiao smiled, her eyes crinkling, revealing two shallow dimples.

"No problem!" Mo Zhuyou nodded confidently, then turned around with a pained expression and plopped down next to Wang Jiale. "Really, it's okay...? We..."

“You said it yourself that there was no problem.” Wang Jiale couldn’t help but cover her mouth and laugh. “It’s okay, it’s okay, anyway you’re sitting behind the drum set, no one can see you.”

"It feels great to be hiding behind the scenes like this for the first time..." Mo Zhuyou muttered with relief.

Because Ye Wen had several Chinese classes on Tuesday morning and couldn't get away, she didn't accompany them this time. Instead, she was accompanied by Yin Ling, the head of the teaching department, and Ye Yu, a physics teacher who seemed quite easy to talk to.

Luckily he was there, otherwise the atmosphere would have been very dull.

As for Principal Mo Kong, he will also be traveling with us, but not by bus—he will drive his own minivan.

Mo Xueyao chose a window seat next to the exit door and closed her eyes to rest. Of course, Hua Yinyin sat next to her. After all, with Li Wanyan not around, no one could compete with her.

The sun was shining brightly today, making Mo Xueyao feel warm all over, and she even had a little sweat on her forehead.

"Check if all the students are here." Yinling, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, gently patted Ye Yu's thigh, then sat down near the driver.

"Oh, oh..." Ye Yu patted his pocket, then looked awkwardly at Yinling, "Where's the order form?"

"Didn't I tell you to leave it there?"

"Cough... Ah? Could it be on the desk?"

"You always forget things." Silver Bell glanced at him sideways, crossed her arms, and snorted softly. "If I hadn't put it in my bag, would you have had to run back to get it?"

"Oh dear, it was an accident..." Ye Yu explained in a low voice, quickly unzipping Yinling's red handbag and taking out all sorts of small bottles and jars. Finally, he found the list hidden on the side.

Hua Yinyin gestured towards Mo Xueyao with her lips, and seeing that she was looking out the window and didn't notice, she rested her head on her shoulder: "Hey, little Yaoyao, Teacher Yinling and Teacher Yeyu have a special relationship."

"What?" She hadn't heard their hushed conversation, nor had she seen the little drama that had just unfolded.

"They must be lovers, right? Hmm...maybe they're already married."

"Tch, what's so strange about that?" Mo Xueyao looked uninterested, causing Hua Yinyin to swallow back the rest of her sentence.

"Mr. Xue!"

"arrive."

"Mo Xueyao!"

"Huh? Oh... here..."

Besides the Snow Music Band, there were seven or eight other students who went to perform plays and dances, and they were all first-year high school students, so I didn't find any familiar faces.

The only person I was familiar with was Yu Shu, who was my accompanying photographer.

Because there were many empty seats, Yu Shu sat alone in the corner of the last row of the bus, holding her camera and ready to capture any fleeting moment.

With a hissing sound like the car farting, the bus slowly started moving.

The roadside trees outside the window seemed to be falling backward one by one, and Hua Yinyin's breathing became heavy—she was still so prone to motion sickness.

The car had only just started moving.

"Teacher Ye Yu!" Wang Jiale, sitting next to the boarding door, asked excitedly, swinging her legs slightly, "Are there other performers this time?"

"Correct."

"From other schools?" Mo Zhuyou asked curiously.

"Haha, no, this time only students from our Yukong High School are participating. The other performers are all adults, from the community. Oh, and a few of them seem to be college students."

"Eek! Does that mean we have to compete against a professional team?!" Mo Zhuyou hugged her knees and curled up, looking extremely nervous.

Ye Yu laughed heartily: "Haha, don't worry, don't worry. It's not like we're participating in a competition, it's just a performance. Everyone participating is a volunteer, and we're all just trying to bring joy to the children."

"Like a charity gala?" Wang Jiale seemed to have some experience. "Hmm, I've attended ones with my dad..."

"It's not like that. It's not about donating money. It's purely a spontaneous event organized by people from all walks of life. Yukong High School just helped to connect people with it." Ye Yu smiled and shook his head. "Many times, charity galas are actually quite hypocritical because the big bosses who attend are not there to do 'charity'."

The two girls nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

This time, the place they were going to was not the Kongqing Welfare Home that Mo Xueyao had visited before, but the Jinying Welfare Home located in F City.

F City is a prefecture-level city very close to Hangzhou, but compared to Hangzhou, this city appears much more dilapidated.

The city itself is only a small area – perhaps only the size of one district in Hangzhou. Most of the surrounding area is rural and wasteland.

The bus drove slowly, and as time went by, fewer and fewer people talked. The carriage became very quiet, as if everyone had fallen asleep.

At least that's true for Hua Yinyin and Mo Xueyao, who are standing next to each other.

Wang Jiale, who was playing with her pet machine with her head down, seemed to have gotten tired of the boring electronic music. She looked up and wanted to rest for a while, only to see that Yinling, who was sitting opposite her, had completely snuggled into Ye Yu's arms. He, who was resting with his eyes closed, seemed to notice her gaze, opened his eyes, and gave her a somewhat embarrassed smile.

"Pfft." Wang Jiale winked at Ye Yu, her round and cute almond-shaped eyes seeming to be searching for something.

Ye Yu seemed to understand her gaze, and nodded gently.

"Are you really married?" she finally couldn't help but ask.

"Cough...not yet..." Ye Yu answered softly without moving, as if afraid of waking her.

"Wow—" Wang Jiale nudged Mo Zhuyou, who had been watching her play the pet machine for a long time, with her elbow, and the latter nodded vigorously.

Students always seem particularly curious about their teachers' love lives, and in their eyes, the love between teachers seems to be the most beautiful...

The bus stopped at the foot of the mountain. The area looked very desolate, with only a few farmhouses scattered in the fields in the distance.

"Hey, teachers! Can we go up from here?" The driver seemed to be a first-timer, and he turned his head and called out to the back while holding the steering wheel.

"You can go up this way, it's drivable. This road has been repaired, and other cars all go up this way." Ye Yu nodded affirmatively.

"Okay, I'll start then."

"No problem, there's a parking lot upstairs."

Because of the steep slope, the feeling of leaning backward can be quite unsettling, and the students who had fallen asleep woke up one after another.

Hua Yinyin's eyelashes trembled, but she was unwilling to open her eyes.

"Yinyin, you're awake? We're almost there."

"Um……"

"What? Haven't you had enough sleep yet?"

"I'm afraid if I open my eyes... I'll throw up..." Hua Yinyin mumbled indistinctly, her eyes tightly closed, still leaning on Mo Xueyao's shoulder, "It feels so awful..."

The so-called parking lot was actually just a patch of yellow mud that had been cleared of weeds and trees. There were quite a few cars parked here, but fortunately, although it was rudimentary, the area was still quite spacious, so the bus easily found a spot to park.

"Students, take your things and get ready to get off the bus," Yinling, who had woken up on the way up the mountain, called out loudly from the bus door.

Ye Yu, who was standing to the side, clapped his hands vigorously and shouted, "Let's go, bro... Classmates, get off the bus!"

Although they are about the same age, compared to Yinling, Ye Yu is more like a young man who has just entered society.

Mo Xueyao picked up her electronic keyboard, stood up, and patted Hua Yinyin beside her hard.

The latter opened her eyes with great difficulty, staggered out of the car, and Mo Xueyao had just run to her side and grabbed her when she vomited into a clump of bushes in front of her.

"vomit--"

"Yinyin said she skipped breakfast to prevent herself from throwing up," Wang Jiale said with concern as she ran over and gently patted her back. "Are you alright?"

"Huh..." Hua Yinyin vomited a few more mouthfuls of bitter water, and only stopped when there was nothing left to vomit.

Mo Xueyao handed over the napkins that Li Wanyan had asked her to prepare: "Here you go."

"Oh, little Yaoyao is so nice..."

"What? I also came to show my concern!" Wang Jiale put her hands on her hips, pretending to be jealous, which made Mo Zhuyou, who was standing next to her, burst into laughter.

After Hua Yinyin wiped her mouth clean, everyone had time to turn around and see what the Jin Ying Welfare Home looked like.

If Kongqing Welfare Home looks like a general hospital in a big city, then Jinying Welfare Home looks like a dilapidated farmhouse.

Inside, there were only two three-story low buildings, and next to them were some low mud-brick houses that were only one or two stories high.

The tall iron gate at the entrance was probably the most presentable thing, but the black paint had peeled off, revealing the rusty metal inside.

The yellowed wooden sign was hanging precariously on the gate by a wire, as if it had been broken before, because traces of re-gluing could be seen.