A Young Woman's Heart

"Hey, are you even a man? What are you spacing out for? Let's go!" Liu Xiaowei's teasing shout pulled her back to reality, and she instinctively straightened her knees.

But then Zhou Yong hurriedly stood up: "Oh, oh, you're taking books again?"

"Who knows? Didn't we already get the books over summer vacation?"

"It's also possible that they didn't take them all."

Zhou Yong didn't seem to have fully recovered from his daze. When he walked out of the classroom, he almost bumped into the door frame, which drew a few more 'taunts' from Liu Xiaowei and Gao Yuan.

"Hey!" Hua Yinyin suddenly patted Mo Xueyao on the shoulder, startling her so much that she almost fell off her chair.

"What do you want?" she asked irritably.

"Do you remember when you first came here, Xiaoyao, you called for the boys to come over, and you went with them?"

"I just couldn't hear whether it was a boy or a girl shouting at that time."

"But you were the only girl among those people back then. Didn't you find that strange at the time?"

Mo Xueyao slapped away Hua Yinyin's small hand: "Tch, it's been so long, I can't remember the details anymore. I was probably just spacing out at the time."

"So annoying..." Ever since she found out today that she would be sitting next to Liu Xiaowei, Wang Jiale's complaints have never stopped. Right now, she turned around and leaned on Hua Yinyin's desk to complain, "Even if I'm sitting with Yinyin, I don't want to sit with him."

"Ugh, what do you mean 'even if you sit with me'? I don't want to sit with Lele either!" Hua Yinyin complained, deliberately teasing, "Why don't you ask Awen to let you sit by the podium? Then we won't have to assign you a deskmate."

"Hmph, I'd rather sit by the podium alone and eat chalk dust." Wang Jiale pouted and rolled her head slightly on Hua Yinyin's desk.

The boys quickly carried their things in.

Ye Wen followed along.

"Alright, the next books are for the second semester of senior year, but actually we should finish them all in the first semester. Some courses might even be studied before the second semester's..."

Zhou Yong, who was helping to distribute the books, placed a sixth-grade Chinese textbook in front of Ye Wen, following her voice.

Upon receiving the book, Ye Wen couldn't wait to open the table of contents first.

All the texts in Unit 4 of this book are excerpts.

The other units also contain many excerpts of texts, so it seems there isn't much to learn.

Mo Xueyao also went through the third year of junior high school, and she'll probably go through the same thing in her third year of senior high school.

These so-called excerpts will probably never be taught in the end; at most, they'll just be something that interested people can flip through on their own.

From an exam perspective, they are completely useless.

But since it's recorded in the Chinese textbook, it must have its own value.

Some of the selected texts are actually much more interesting than the ones that are required to be studied.

"Huh, is this a Chinese textbook?" Hua Yinyin asked, just like Mo Xueyao, she immediately opened the table of contents as soon as she got it.

The reason for this question is that the first lesson of the first unit is called "Mathematics and Culture".

The second lesson is about 'entropy', which introduces a new worldview. The word 'excerpt' is particularly eye-catching in the parentheses next to it.

"I've already given the new semester's timetable to the class monitor. Later, class monitor—" Ye Wen said, nodding to Li Wanyan, "you post it behind the door. Although we've changed classrooms, it's still the same old place. Everyone, copy down the timetable after class. Senior year will be very busy and intense. There are already many fewer elective courses, so your time to relax will be much shorter. Everyone needs to get used to it as soon as possible and just hang in there for this year..."

She said some encouraging words, which Mo Xueyao found novel, yet also felt as if she had heard them somewhere before.

Ok……

My teacher in the third year of junior high school seemed to say the same thing.

Back then, the idea was that getting into a good high school meant getting into a good university, and once you got to university, life would be easy.

And now, university is just one step away.

Is university life really that easy?

No one knows for sure.

At least now we can rely on this little bit of hope to alleviate the pressure of senior year.

"Tomorrow morning, the school will arrange physical examinations. There will be no classes in the afternoon, so you don't need to bring your backpacks. Today, the teachers will mainly be talking to you about the arrangements for senior year and the difficulties you might encounter. Don't be afraid, and don't put too much pressure on yourself—Liu Xiaowei, stop grinning like that. You can't be so carefree." Ye Wen glared at him, annoyed. "Then, if any of your school uniforms are too small, you can register with your class monitor. It's free, but you must be too small or unable to wear them before registering. Don't waste school resources..."

It seems unlikely that this first Chinese language class will cover any course content.

In fact, Ye Wen treated it entirely as a class meeting.

"Actually, this is my first time teaching senior high school students. Well, okay, it was also my first time teaching junior and freshman students before. So, you are my first batch of students. I hope you can all do well and get into your ideal schools. Don't think there's still plenty of time. If you regret it when the college entrance exam comes, it will be too late."

"Phew, actually my pressure is no less than yours, it feels like I'm going through my senior year of high school all over again..."

Ye Wen paused, and waited for the sudden ringing of the bell to end before speaking again: "Let me repeat myself. Since we didn't have a formal class just now, many of you may not have heard me. The biggest difference between senior year and junior year is that there is evening self-study. Some schools may have it as early as junior year or even junior year. Moreover, senior year students will be dismissed later. Nine o'clock is normal. In fact, some schools don't dismiss students until eleven o'clock."

Suddenly, Hua Yinyin, who was standing next to Mo Xueyao, gently patted her shoulder and handed her a small stack of book covers.

"Ok?"

"Wanyan asked me to give this to you." Hua Yinyin pointed to the space behind her.

"Oh……"

Since she had nothing else to do, Mo Xueyao took the opportunity to cover the newly delivered textbooks with book covers, and also covered some of the thicker exercise books.

Her schoolbag was on the table, and the desk drawer was neatly filled with books.

No wonder when I passed by the classrooms of senior high school students before, I noticed that almost every desk was piled high with test papers everywhere. At the time, I thought they didn't have time to tidy up, but now I realize that there really are so many things that have nowhere to go...

"Everyone can tidy up their books first, and just listen attentively to what I have to say—"

Ye Wen picked up the water glass on the table and took a big gulp. The tea seemed too bitter, so much so that she frowned: "Our school's evening self-study ends at eight o'clock. Since many students are day students, the school hopes that everyone can go home early. At eight o'clock, there are still quite a few cars and people on the streets, so it is relatively safe to go home."

"So everyone, when you finish evening self-study, you must, you must, you must go straight home. Don't linger outside. Walk on the main road and don't go into the alleys, especially the boys."

When Ye Wen said this, her gaze was fixed on Chen Cheng.

The latter curled his lip and made a disdainful expression.

In fact, he hasn't ventured into alleyways much lately.

He couldn't wait to get home and see his girlfriend every day.

Mo Xueyao can attest to this.

"Friday evening self-study will end a little earlier, at 4:30. Don't think that just because it's earlier than usual, you can wander around outside. It's best to go home early because the homework on weekends will be much more than in the first and second years of high school. Doing it all on the last two days might be tiring. Try to do as much as you can on Friday."

Ye Wen suddenly stopped talking.

She noticed that many students were looking towards the classroom door.

The head of student affairs, dressed in a suit and wearing gold-rimmed glasses, stood by the door and adjusted his glasses.

"Hey, Silver Bell... what's wrong?"

Ye Wen quickly walked out and asked in a low voice.

The two teachers were whispering something to each other, their expressions seemingly serious.

"Um, a senior male student got into a fight with some thugs and was slashed several times. He's still in the hospital. Those thugs even said they'd retaliate against students from Yukong High School. It's best if everyone goes home in groups for the next few days and doesn't linger anywhere else." Ye Wen cleared her throat after seeing Yinling off and said earnestly, "But don't worry too much, our school will handle this..."

She mentioned it briefly before changing the subject.

Of course, it's still related to the senior year of high school.

"When we go to the cafeteria at noon in our senior year, we're usually among the first to arrive, sometimes even earlier. So some classes might not have finished their lessons yet. When you go downstairs, please be quiet and don't disturb other classes. Take a good nap during your lunch break, otherwise, having your brain working at high intensity all day will have a negative effect..."

The autumn wind outside the window swirled past Mo Xueyao's ears, gently lifting her temples.

Zhou Yong, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but glance at it before turning his face away again.

……

Chapter Five: My First Evening Study Session in High School

4:45 PM.

The bell for senior high school students finally rang.

Their bells were different from those of the first and second year high school students; there was no melodious music, only a metallic clanging sound.

By the end of the day, Mo Xueyao could clearly feel how tight the schedule was.

Almost every break between classes lasts only five minutes.

Fortunately, these young teachers don't have the habit of extending class time, otherwise they wouldn't even have time to go to the toilet.

The only advantage is that you can go to the cafeteria earlier at lunchtime and avoid squeezing in with students from other grades.

There are still quite a few senior high school students, but there are still many fewer students than before.

This was only the first day, and none of the teachers had really taught any classes. They just talked about the plans for the entire senior year, but even just listening to them made Mo Xueyao feel a bit listless.

Thinking that there's still a year left feels incredibly long.

Thinking about it again, Yukong High School is considered relatively lenient, so I couldn't help but feel sorry for the other students, especially those in key high schools.

"School's out, but it doesn't feel like school's out at all..." Mo Xueyao walked out of the classroom and looked down.

The school gate was rather deserted, with only a few first- and second-year high school students carrying their backpacks walking out; they were probably just finishing cleaning.

She turned around, instinctively wanting to pack her bag and head to the band room first.

Then it suddenly dawned on me that there seemed to be no time left to go.

Some students were cleaning the classroom, but the books were spread out on the tables and the backpacks were casually hung on the backs of the chairs, as if it were just a break after a class.

The sky in the distance was somewhat hazy.

The golden sunset cast a filter over the world.

Mo Xueyao leaned on the railing, lost in thought, suddenly unsure of what to do.

There's no need to notify parents, because the homeroom teacher had already called each student individually during the day.

"Yaoyao, aren't you going to eat?"

"Oh? Right, shall we eat at home?"

"What should we eat when we get back? Let's just buy something at the school gate today! Let's eat in the band room! We only cleaned up a bit at lunchtime, so we haven't practiced yet!"

Li Wanyan and Hua Yinyin appeared on either side of her.