A Young Woman's Heart

The brilliant stars in the sky seemed to be about to fall down.

The twinkling lights reflected on the water's surface made it seem as if the Milky Way itself was included within them.

She played with the frosted blue stone in her clean little hands, feeling as if it were a drop of water frozen in her hand.

A splashing sound came from the bathroom. Hua Yinyin was far more wasteful with water than she was, as the water was being used almost continuously.

This made Mo Xueyao doubt whether the freshwater on the island was really that plentiful.

However, this island is large enough that it might have a lake or an underground river...

If freshwater resources are truly scarce, then Ye Wen would likely advise everyone not to waste water.

There is a large water tank on the roof of the dormitory building. The water must be pumped up from below, but we don't know where it comes from.

Just then, Hua Yinyin in the bathroom suddenly exclaimed "Eh!"

"Why is there no water?"

"The water's cut off?" Mo Xueyao slapped her forehead, surprised that what she had just thought had actually come true.

"What should I do? I'm covered in foam!"

"Why did you leave the water running while you were applying foam...?"

"I'm used to it!"

"I'll go ask Wen." Mo Xueyao, still wearing yesterday's pajamas, pushed open the door and went out. As soon as the door opened, the clothes hanging on the curtain rod next to the window were immediately blown violently by the wind.

She washed the clothes herself yesterday, and they look a bit wrinkled now, probably because she didn't straighten them out properly when she hung them up.

"Dong dong."

The door to room 304 was quickly knocked open. Ye Wen, with a lollipop in her mouth, looked at Mo Xueyao. Her hair was still a little wet, and the hairdryer in her hand indicated that she was about to dry it.

"Wen! Our room is out of water!"

"No water? Ah—oh…we have to use water sparingly. There are limits on the amount of water each room can use every five minutes and the total amount of water used throughout the day. Once those limits are exceeded, the system will automatically shut off. Some of the water used by our school is transported from the land, and a simple purification station has been built at the foot of the mountain to filter domestic water. There are not many people now, so it's fine. But if there are more people, I don't know if it will be enough."

"Ah...why not just use them all with the islanders?"

"There isn't that much freshwater available. We need to think long-term, otherwise the water level will drop in just a few years."

"Oh...you didn't say that before?"

"Hehe." Ye Wen stuck out her tongue and winked mischievously. "I forgot!"

"Then I'll talk to the others... I'll have Qiu inform the boys."

"Yes, I will talk to him."

Mo Xueyao nodded, and then casually knocked on the door of Xuan Anyi and Cha Li's room next door.

"Have you experienced a water outage?"

"No?" Cha Li shook her head, somewhat bewildered.

"Oh, Wen said that there are limits on how much water we can use every five minutes, and there are also limits throughout the day, so everyone should use it sparingly."

"Luckily, my aunt has a habit of using a large plastic basin to collect bathwater. The extra bathwater can be used to wash clothes for the first time and flush the toilet."

“Auntie is so frugal…” Mo Xueyao muttered. “Never mind, I’ll go tell Wanyan and the others.”

"Okay." Cha Li closed the door behind her, looking like she was just about to take a shower.

Mo Xueyao took a few steps and knocked on the door of room 302, but only heard the noisy sound of a hairdryer coming from inside. She knocked several more times before the door was finally opened.

And it was opened by Li Wanyan.

“Wanyan! Awen said there are water restrictions; you can't exceed the limit every five minutes, and there's also a daily limit.”

"Hmm." She nodded gently, glancing at the nightgown Mo Xueyao was wearing. "Yesterday's?"

"Yes, I wear it to bed at night, and I don't sweat, so I won't wash it. Besides, this isn't home, so we have to be careful with the water."

"Did you wash yesterday's and today's clothes?" She nodded and asked again.

"I washed it, but there's nowhere to dry it, so I hung it on the curtain rod."

"Give it to me and I'll wash it for you."

"Oh? No need, no need, I can wash it myself, although it's a bit of a hassle..."

"Give it to me," Li Wanyan sighed softly. "You can't clean it yourself."

"Hey...so...you washed them all?"

"Ah."

"Okay!" Mo Xueyao stopped pretending to be polite. Actually, there was no need to be polite with Li Wanyan. After all, these were clothes she wore, and there were also her underwear underneath. It just didn't feel right to have someone else wash them.

After all, even among male best friends, no one would be willing to help you rub your boxer shorts.

However, if it's Li Wanyan, it wouldn't be too surprising.

"It's more convenient to wash together, and it saves on soap powder."

"Mmm." Mo Xueyao immediately ran to her room, then came running back in her half-worn sandals, handing her a handful of clothes. "I'm going to prepare my lessons!"

"it is good."

"Little Yaoyao—will she ever come back...? Huh, there's water?"

"Use it sparingly. There's a daily limit, and you can only use a certain amount of water every five minutes. If you exceed the limit, it will be paused."

"This is so troublesome."

"After all, it's an island, so there aren't that many freshwater resources for you to squander."

"Tsk." The sound of water in the bathroom stopped, and then after a while, the sound of splashing water could be heard again.

In the second half, she finally didn't waste any more time, and soon came out drying her wet hair.

"Ugh, this wasn't enough!"

"...Please, can't you be a little more frugal?" Mo Xueyao adopted the tone of a dubbed film, "My God, you're really wasting money."

"Tch—" Hua Yinyin rolled her eyes. She could have sat across from her at the table, but she insisted on squeezing into a chair with her.

"What are you doing?"

"Blue stone?"

"Oh? I found this on the beach." Mo Xueyao held it up proudly. "How about it, isn't it pretty?"

"Hmm...it looks pretty good."

Wanyan said they're just as beautiful as my eyes!

"What? Your eyes are much prettier than these! There are impurities in these, but your eyes don't," Hua Yinyin said indignantly, as if she wanted to get justice for Mo Xueyao.

"...It's precisely because of these similar patterns that it looks beautiful."

"Not pure enough!" Hua Yinyin said, then suddenly leaned closer for a closer look, muttering in confusion, "This looks like... sea glass, right?"

"Sea glass? Naturally formed glass?"

"No, it's just glass trash thrown into the sea. After being washed by seawater, the relatively intact and sturdy pieces turned into this. I even bought some at the market before, but the ones sold there were all artificially ground. They were very crystal clear, but they felt very fake. Yours... is all-natural. The impurities inside probably got stuck to something while drifting in the ocean, or maybe some liquid seeped in and stained part of it over time? Or maybe some of it melted down after being exposed to high temperatures and then stuck together with something else? Well, anyway, that's roughly it."

"I thought it was some rare gemstone! Or at least a special pearl or something." Mo Xueyao was a little disappointed. The actual value of this thing was about the same as the glass beads she played with when she was a child.

"Hmm... Usually, it's just used as a decorative piece in a fish tank. But Xiaoyao's is completely natural, and even the impurities are beautiful. It would be nice to keep it as a souvenir. When I take it home, I can drill a hole in it and use it as a pendant!"

With her eyelids drooping, she teased, "What's the difference between that and wearing glass beads around your neck?"

"It has a different meaning! Time and nature have given it new meaning! It's a stone that has traveled a long way; maybe it was just a glass bottle that drifted from England at first."

"Okay, okay, but don't put your wet hair on my face, okay?" Mo Xueyao pushed Hua Yinyin's face away and continued to play with the piece of sea glass. "I'll go take another look next time. I wonder if I can find something even purer."

"There are plenty of these. We'll definitely find more after the next heavy rain!"

"How come you're so experienced?"

"Little Yaoyao~ The knowledge in books is my experience."

"It sounds really strange coming from you."

……

Chapter Twenty-Two: Going to See the Sunrise

In the dark room, a corner of the curtains was slightly lifted by the wind.

The moon was setting towards the sea, its pale yellow light appearing gentle and calm.

"Little Yaoyao, Little Yaoyao, wake up, wake up!"

Mo Xueyao opened her eyes and saw a chubby baby face very close to her, the little face filled with excitement.

"What—?" She lifted her eyelids to glance at the sky outside the window, then pushed her cheek away with her elbow. "Sleep a little longer..."

"We're watching the sunrise!"

"I don't want to look..." Mo Xueyao buried her head in her pillow; all she wanted to do right now was get some sleep.

"Look, look, you're up so early, it's rare for you to be up this early!"

"sleep……"

"Little Yaoyao~!" Hua Yinyin stretched out her hands, placed them where they shouldn't have, and then took a bite with a "whoosh".

"Hello--!"

"Awake?"

"I really am..." Luckily, Mo Xueyao wasn't grumpy when she woke up, otherwise I would have hung her up and given her a good beating.

It is said that Shi Haiming has a bad temper when he wakes up. When he was in junior high school and living in the dormitory, he was woken up by the dormitory supervisor and almost got into a fight with him.

Mo Xueyao scratched her messy hair, reflecting her mood at that moment.

I don't understand what Hua Yinyin is suddenly up to.

"I've already washed up!" Hua Yinyin, as if afraid of being beaten, sprang up and hid to the side.