A Young Woman's Heart

Like Ye Wen, Duanmu Ji looked at Qiu Yi with anticipation and said with some envy, "Teacher Qiu also knows Japanese."

"I know a little bit, I know a little bit~" Qiu Yi probably wanted to learn from Mr. Xue's attitude, but when he said it, there was no humility at all. Instead, it was full of showing off.

As we were chatting, we suddenly heard the soothing sound of a pipa, as if a beautiful woman living in seclusion was expressing her feelings through music while we were relaxing in a farmhouse courtyard.

Of course, the one playing the pipa was not a beautiful woman, but Hua Yinyin, whose face looked as young as a junior high school student.

She would sometimes pluck the strings, sometimes twirl them, sometimes twist them, and sometimes gently pat the pipa as if it were a drumhead.

"Teacher Taiyin, how about this one?"

“Journey, discomfort, suitability.” Taiyin’s voice was clearly very pleasant, but she seemed not very good at speaking, and she said softly with some hesitation.

"Let me think, for the journey, something a little lighter, with a slight change in rhythm..." she said, and started playing again. In her hands, the pipa was like a keyboard synthesizer, magically producing the sounds of several instruments.

A melodious and cheerful tune began to play. Mo Xueyao felt that it was somewhat familiar. After listening for a while, she realized that it was actually a slowed-down variation of the tune "Falling Leaves Are Like Potato Chips".

No wonder I can always feel the scent of autumn.

Although it might not be quite right to listen to it during a summer trip, it has a unique charm.

After driving for a while longer, the dark clouds overhead were broken up by the wind and slowly dissipated into the air.

As time went by, the carriage gradually quieted down. The long and smooth journey made everyone a little sleepy. Only Duanmu Ji was still excited and continued chatting with Qiu Yi. The two seemed to be meeting each other for the first time and had a very pleasant conversation.

However, Qiu Yi often interprets some plot points that Duanmu Ji and Mo Xueyao find unpleasant from an adult perspective, explaining the deeper meanings hidden within them.

From an adult's perspective, it suddenly evokes a different feeling.

This made the two of them feel as if their horizons had been broadened considerably.

—In fact, the view outside the car window was indeed much wider.

Because the RV had entered a coastal road, there was an endless sea to the right, but the beach, full of pebbles and resembling a construction site pile of rubble, was a bit of an eyesore.

In fact, not all beaches are covered with golden sand; beaches like this, which are not very attractive, are the norm in coastal cities.

……

Chapter Eleven: Surrounded by Boundless Bewilderment

The RV, much larger than a sedan, came to a stop almost silently. Qiu Yi slowly pressed the brake pedal all the way down before pulling the handbrake.

It wasn't until the car came to a complete stop that Mo Xueyao, sitting in the passenger seat, felt a slight sway.

The coastal highway along the way is certainly beautiful, but after a while, you can get tired of looking at it because the same roads are like copied and pasted pictures, which can easily lead to aesthetic fatigue.

"Hey ho!" After driving for more than four hours, Qiu Yi unbuckled his seatbelt, stretched lazily, and even stuck one arm out the window. "Wake up, we're here!"

The quiet carriage gradually began to become noisy.

This is a warehouse by the sea.

The beach was paved with gravel, and only a paved road was built far from the shore. For about a kilometer before the warehouse, there was no road—if the barely compacted gravel could be considered a road.

There is a rather unofficial pier here, which doesn't look like it was built by the government because it looks dilapidated and somewhat messy.

Only a few small cargo ships can be moored beside the dock, while there are more small boats carrying people. In front of a few dilapidated fishing huts closer to the shore, there are also a few canoes.

The RV was parked at the very back of the warehouse, next to some small pickup trucks that were loading seafood. Small cargo ships converted from fishing boats were unloading the seafood and taking away essential daily necessities such as coal briquettes and rice.

The small cargo ship gradually sailed away and disappeared under the overcast sky.

The slivers of light that pierced through the clouds looked as if they were shining from hell.

Although the rain had stopped, the apocalyptic sky remained unchanged.

Of course, it's also possible that the rain clouds just happened to drift here.

Mo Xueyao was the first to get off the bus with her luggage.

She was not only dragging a large suitcase that was almost a meter tall, but also carrying a bulging backpack on her back. And that wasn't all; Li Wanyan had the same suitcase, plus an even larger hiking backpack.

They did bring some things they needed, including some rather bulky snacks, but most of the things were put there by their mother. Even Li Wanyan didn't know exactly what her mother had packed in there.

The warehouse was filled with the distinctive fishy smell of seafood. It wasn't particularly busy, but there were at least seven or eight people moving things back and forth, making it quite lively.

Mo Xueyao stretched, sweeping away the fatigue of the long journey.

—I don’t know if a four-hour drive counts as a long trip.

"Phew—finally I'm off the bus. It feels like I've been in a dream where I'm struggling to survive in the sea..." Hua Yinyin got off the bus carrying her ordinary suitcase that she had used several times. It looked much simpler than the ones used by Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan.

This is quite normal, since they are using the new model that their mother bought last year.

"We're here! This beach doesn't feel quite like what I imagined." Wang Jiale jumped off the beach with her backpack on, then turned around and carried her particularly exquisite suitcase off as well.

The suitcase looked like a Transformer, full of mechanisms. With a 'click', a pair of huge plastic wheels popped out from below, as if they were specially designed for this bumpy gravel road.

The rest of the people also got off the bus.

Mr. Xue and Duanmu Ji brought the fewest items.

The former at least had some clothes packed in a small beige cloth suitcase, and also carried a backpack for miscellaneous items on his back.

The latter simply carried a backpack.

It makes one wonder if he only brought clothes with him.

"Everyone, please bring all your luggage down!" Ye Wen got off the bus feeling refreshed, and naturally, Qiu Yi took over the task of carrying the luggage.

"Ah, Ms. Qianyu, you're here?" Cha Li had just stretched when she was startled by someone getting out of the back of the car. Turning her head, she saw that it was Wang Qianyu, the English teacher, who was rarely seen wearing fitted casual clothes.

"Sleeping in the RV...headache..." she muttered, rubbing her head. What she was dragging behind her could hardly be called a suitcase anymore; judging from its shape, it was more like a shopping cart, except it was covered in various compartments and pockets...

That's right, this is an extended suitcase with four large wheels.

You could say it's the dachshund in the suitcase...

"Have we arrived?" Xuan Anyi asked, somewhat puzzled.

Because there's only this one warehouse around here, and the nearest warehouse looks at least seven or eight hundred meters away, it doesn't look like a rural village at all.

It looks more like a private port that hasn't been developed by the government.

"Not yet, we have to take a boat, it will probably be—" Ye Wen looked at Qiu Yi.

Qiu Yi continued, replying, "About an hour."

"So far?" Mo Xueyao blurted out.

"It's relatively close. The farthest island in this area takes more than two hours to reach. Of course, if the boat is fast, the time may be shorter, but there aren't any particularly fast boats here right now."

"Is the RV parked here?" Along the way, Duanmu Ji and Qiu Yi had become much more familiar with each other, and now he patted Qiu Yi on the shoulder without any hesitation and asked.

"Yes, we can stop here, but I need to hand things over with the person in charge, even though we've already contacted each other before..."

With teachers leading the way, students can take a good rest here and think about whether they have left anything on the bus or forgotten to bring it.

Otherwise, it would be troublesome to come back and get it.

Not long after, Qiu Yi returned, the only difference from before being that he had a cigarette tucked behind his ear.

"Alright, all done. The boat has been waiting for us for over an hour!" Qiu Yi waved, signaling the others to follow. "Let's go, let's go, time to get on the boat!"

Coastal cities only became wealthy in modern times.

In the students' minds, coastal cities must be rich.

However, this is not entirely true.

Moreover, even if cities are wealthy, the island villages that depend on them may not necessarily be able to develop.

Just like the underdeveloped transportation in mountainous areas, island villages also have their own inconveniences.

Especially those that are far from land.

Even though it's only a little over an hour's journey, it can still be dangerous for small boats.

Especially in bad weather.

Sometimes, it may just be a thick fog that makes the boatmen lose their way.

While it's not impossible to find it, it will certainly waste a lot of time.

The only solution is to relocate the people living on the islands to the cities.

But this is not a convenient solution; it will take time to get people to voluntarily leave their homeland.

The cargo ship carrying everyone was the largest in this makeshift harbor.

—It’s said to be very big, but it actually looks about the size of a heavy truck.

It was nowhere near as exaggerated as Mo Xueyao had imagined, that she could play basketball on the deck.

Transporting them was a side trip; the decks and holds were piled high with goods, the largest quantity of which was coal.

There isn't much firewood available on the island, so most people choose to burn coal, which is a relatively more 'economical' method.

Not all of this coal is transported to the islanders; a large portion is shipped to large ocean-going vessels that are much farther from the island than the shore.

For them, these small cargo ships are like supply ships.

It allows giant ships to avoid having to dock all the time.

Among them were some government warships.

Yes, even in this era, there are still some destroyers that use coal, a few that use diesel, and cargo ships that also carry supplies—transporting supplies to warships requires special permits, which is not something that ordinary people can do.

They don't have cargo transport jobs every day. When there's no work, they turn into fishing boats and go fishing in coastal waters to earn some extra money.

After all, there are still a ship full of people who need to be fed.

The students did not see the captain, and these matters were naturally handed over by the teachers.

Ye Wen, Qiu Yi, and Su Yuqing were not there; only Wang Qianyu and Taiyin remained.

There were no restrictions on the deck; there were sturdy railings all around, and after putting away your luggage, everyone could move around freely.

The sea journey of more than an hour seemed longer than the car journey.

Perhaps it's because the scenery at sea is even more unchanging than that on the road.

Mo Xueyao lay on the stern of the boat, the propeller splashing water high into the air, with a few drops occasionally landing on her.