A Young Woman's Heart

The bustling platform made her feel like she was in a dream, even though she was tired.

The platform is mostly filled with students. On the outskirts of the city, there are several schools for migrant workers' children, ranging from primary to junior high school. Moreover, the number of students in each school is particularly large. Even the primary school section has more than twice the number of students as Yukong High School.

In the distance, the bus arrived, and the students, along with the adults, squeezed inside.

Both carriages were cramped at this point, with many people standing and swaying with the bus.

"It's so crowded..." Mo Xueyao felt like she couldn't breathe.

I usually ride a bicycle, and when I occasionally take the bus, it's usually very early in the morning when there are hardly any people on the bus. You can choose whichever seat you want, and the empty bus is quite comfortable.

Once you get used to its shaking, you can even take a nap while it's rocking.

"Why don't we ride our bicycles out today..." Mo Xueyao couldn't help but mutter.

"The bicycle is parked at the fruit shop." Li Wanyan's reply came muffledly from behind her. Although the two were very close, there was still an uncle holding tightly to the handrail between them.

Among a group of students, he looked like an adult rooster mixed in with a flock of chicks.

She was probably too tired, and Mo Xueyao almost fell asleep in the crowded carriage. Unfortunately, just as she was about to drift off to sleep, the train arrived at the station.

At the entrance of Yukong High School, etiquette staff were already standing on both sides. Whenever a teacher walked by, they would all stand at attention and shout "Hello, teacher!"

This also proves that it's getting late.

But the students who entered the school remained lazy and didn't seem to be in a hurry at all.

Although they weren't actually late, for Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan, it was no different from being late.

"Um, Xiaoyao, I'm on the third floor, I'm going to the classroom?"

"Oh, go ahead...bye..."

"Want to go home together tonight?"

"Evening? Hmm... if we don't go to the fruit shop... that's fine..."

Li Wanyan continued Mo Xueyao's words: "You can come back to the fruit shop with us for dinner."

"Huh? Um... I'll check later..."

She had made the suggestion, but now she hesitated, perhaps wanting to contact her parents later so they wouldn't be waiting for her to come back for dinner.

Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan said goodbye to her and continued upstairs.

The door to classroom 508 was indeed open.

I guess they got the key from the security guard, or maybe it was opened by the homeroom teacher, Ye Wen.

There were quite a few students sitting in the classroom, and some of them were even comparing answers.

Some were doing their homework.

Even Liu Xiaowei stopped copying homework; he was scratching his head and writing it himself. Perhaps he went to bed early last night and didn't finish the part of his homework that he hadn't completed during evening self-study.

Cha Li, who was in the same group as him, was very helpful in answering his questions about his homework. His deskmate, Wang Jiale, was not at his seat; only his schoolbag was on the table.

As soon as Mo Xueyao sat down, she felt as if her bottom was glued to the chair. She barely managed to take out her homework and put it on the table for someone to collect, then buried her head in her arms.

She felt as if she had only closed her eyes for five seconds when she heard Hua Yinyin shouting.

"Wow, Yao Yao! You didn't come to the band room today! We waited for you until the bell rang before you came back!"

"Oh... I slept in late yesterday... I only slept for six hours..."

"But you shouldn't be this sleepy, right?"

"I have to sleep for eight hours straight, not even an hour less..." Mo Xueyao yawned again, and with great difficulty raised her head, revealing the red marks on her forehead.

Hua Yinyin didn't answer. Instead, she turned around and rummaged through her schoolbag hanging on the back of the chair, then placed a small green sachet on her desk.

"what?"

"It's minty flavored, and there are some herbs in it. I don't know if the scent has dissipated... Hmm—take a sniff when you're sleepy in class later, it should help you wake up."

“Okay…” Mo Xueyao nodded, she felt that she really needed this thing.

The senior year of high school has just started, so we can't afford to fall behind in any of our courses.

At this stage, studying is like losing weight.

People who gain weight find it very difficult to lose it again, and it's also very difficult to catch up on missed studies.

While it's unlikely that missing one class will cause you to fall completely behind, it would certainly be best if you could catch up on all the content of each class.

If all else fails, we can always get Li Wanyan to tutor us; that's our last resort...

"Haven't you had your first lesson yet?"

"Okay, I'll wake you up in class later."

"many……"

Mo Xueyao swallowed the word "thank you" back down, buried her head, and fell asleep again.

……

Chapter Fourteen: Senior Year Physical Education Class

Wednesday, third period in the morning, physical education class.

The next class was Ms. Jingdie's math class, which made me lose interest in even the relaxing PE class.

—It would be great if the two could switch positions.

Ye Ran is still the physical education teacher for the senior year, while Mr. Jin, who taught the senior year last year, has switched to teaching the junior and sophomore years.

Under the gloomy sky, the students lined up lazily, the pressure of the start of the school year leaving many in a less than ideal mental state.

Some had greasy hair; some had pale and rough skin; and some had large dark circles under their eyes, yawning constantly even while standing.

Ye Ran couldn't help but laugh as he circled around everyone, shaking the string on his stopwatch: "What's wrong? You've become like this after being a senior in high school?"

"Teacher—I'm so tired—!" Wang Jiale cried out, her shoulders slumped, looking pitiful. "Can we skip the run today?"

"Not exercising every day is even worse for your health." Ye Ran clicked his tongue and shook his head, then suddenly whistled, "Attention! Everyone, perk up! Jog one lap around the track, then you're dismissed for free time!"

"yeah--!"

The students immediately shouted excitedly, and then obediently followed the sports committee member, running on the spacious playground.

The group was sparse, with only a few boys keeping up with Li Hongran, while almost everyone else lagged behind.

The girls were even more united, and their speed was almost as fast as walking.

Perhaps it's similar to brisk walking.

Ye Ran shook the timer, wanting to shout a urging, but after thinking about it, he just picked at his ear and sat down on the flower bed next to him, leisurely crossing his legs and watching a group of new first-year high school girls jump rope.

That was the class that Jin Jiahui was in charge of.

Four hundred meters isn't a long distance, but probably because she hadn't done morning exercises in a long time, and because physical education classes had become free activities since the beginning of senior year, running one lap still left Mo Xueyao quite exhausted.

Although the weather has cooled down considerably, it only applies if you stay in one place and don't move around too much. Once you start moving, you can still get so hot that you'll be sweating profusely.

Mo Xueyao saw some boys getting water from the taps at the edge of the playground to wash their faces, and couldn't help but run over as well.

The water was very cool, and it felt quite refreshing when it was splashed on my face.

It just gets her hair a little wet—even if Mo Xueyao tries her best to pull her hair back, it's hard to avoid.

"Phew...it feels so much cooler..."

The autumn wind, after all, is the autumn wind. When it blew across her water-dampened face, the coolness immediately seeped into her skin and penetrated her body.

"I'm so tired." Hua Yinyin walked to her side, dampened a napkin, and wiped her face. "I feel like my physical fitness has been getting worse and worse since I graduated from junior high school."

"After all, physical education isn't tested in the college entrance exam."

Even the physical education classes at Yukong High School only help students maintain a certain amount of exercise.

But this is already much better than other high schools.

Especially in top-tier high schools, sometimes there isn't even one physical education class a week.

Physical education teachers always have a very 'easy' job because they're either sick and on leave, or they have to go out, or they sprain their ankle while running or something...

"So sleepy." Mo Xueyao lazily uttered two words, "I want to go back upstairs to sleep."

"Oh, I was thinking of asking you to play badminton."

"What the hell..." Mo Xueyao tried to open her eyes wide, but quickly closed them again. "If I don't take a nap, I suspect I'll fall asleep in math class later."

"Little Yaoyao is really sleepy today."

"Yeah, I'm so sleepy."

By the time students reached their senior year of high school, even the number of boys playing basketball had decreased significantly.

Li Hongran couldn't gather enough people after searching around, so she dragged Zhou Yong onto the court.

A guy like him, who can't even dribble properly, is usually turned away.

In the badminton court, only Cha Li and Xuan Anyi were playing badminton. The other girls were sitting in groups of three or five on the benches of the playground chatting. For them, this was a better way to relax than exercising.

"Don't go back to the fifth floor, we'll have to come back if the whole line gets regrouped later—or maybe I should just find a chair and lie down for a bit?"

“Okay…” Mo Xueyao took the initiative to put one hand on Hua Yinyin’s shoulder, like a drunk person, entrusting her with the weight.

Hua Yinyin's face turned slightly pink. She coughed and turned to look at Mo Xueyao: "Hey, little Yaoyao is quite proactive today!"

"Tsk, I'm not in the mood to joke around with you..." Mo Xueyao then simply leaned his whole body on her shoulder, the action looking like close male friends hooking their arms around each other's necks.

Her slightest breath would gently brush against Hua Yinyin's cheeks, making the latter's earlobes even pinker.

However, it's not so pleasant to walk in.

Although Mo Xueyao wasn't heavy, Hua Yinyin still felt a bit too heavy to carry.

She finally found an empty bench to sit on, and breathed a sigh of relief.

As soon as Hu sat down, Mo Xueyao seemed to fall into a daze, as if she were in her own bed at home. She bent down to take off her black leather shoes, then tilted her body, rested her head on Hua Yinyin's lap, stretched her legs slightly, and drifted off to sleep.

This quality of sleep is something that countless people suffering from insomnia would envy.