A Young Woman's Heart

This question touched on an area where Mo Xueyao's knowledge was lacking.

Although there are indeed some girls around her who have been in relationships, to be honest, she herself has absolutely no experience in this area.

She glanced at Lu Chengyuan subconsciously, feeling like she had found an example: "I think... if a girl likes you, she'll probably be more proactive, right?"

"How much does it take to be considered proactive? Mo Xueyao, you can be quite proactive sometimes, can't you?" Zhou Yong joked.

"Ugh, stop disgusting me!" Mo Xueyao pretended to hit her, but seeing that the other party didn't react, she awkwardly lowered her hand. "Tsk, and also, will he act like he cares about you a lot? Sometimes he'll deliberately approach you, and then pretend it wasn't intentional?"

"Ah...that's so hard to tell."

"Of course it's not that easy to tell." Mo Xueyao placed her math textbook on the table, twirling her pen as she muttered, "Girls have a hard time understanding this."

Why are you so emotional too?

"Hey, what's it to you?" Mo Xueyao glanced at him sideways. "And what about him, like taking the initiative to care about you?"

"If someone invites me to a movie, and we sit quite close together during the movie, does that count?"

"Huh?" Mo Xueyao looked him up and down. "If that's really the case, then it's practically an open secret!"

Zhou Yong scratched his head awkwardly and secretly touched the movie ticket he had used on Saturday in his pocket.

"Could it really have happened?"

"Cough...uh, no, no."

“I told you, it’s impossible for this to happen to you.”

Zhou Yong looked extremely embarrassed, but Mo Xueyao seemed oblivious: "As for pursuing girls... well... I think, if you like someone, you like them; if you don't, you don't. For example, someone like Liu Xiaowei, no matter how hard he tries, he'll never win Lele's heart, right? What do you think?"

"That's true..."

"Damn, are they talking about me again?" Liu Xiaowei overheard the two whispering.

"No, I'm saying you're handsome!" Mo Xueyao immediately gave a thumbs up, and Zhou Yong nodded vigorously in agreement.

"So if the other person has no feelings for you, pursuing them is pointless." She turned around and continued what she had been saying.

"Then, what if it seems like we can pursue her?"

"That's easy!" Mo Xueyao snapped her fingers silently. "Show your best side, and don't be too clingy. Be independent, a little more manly, uh... something like that?"

"and then?"

"And then? And then it's all over?"

Zhou Yong covered his forehead with both hands, seemingly speechless.

After a long while, he murmured softly, "If only it were that simple..."

"Hey, are you even a man?" Mo Xueyao couldn't help but push him. "If you like someone, just confess! Have some courage, okay? If I were a man... I wouldn't be such a coward like you!"

"Okay... so how should I confess my feelings? Should I just say it directly, or write a love letter?"

"...Then I don't know. Would it be more straightforward to just say it directly?" Mo Xueyao was still somewhat self-aware, and she quickly added, "But the effect might not be very good. Or how about being more subtle? Confessing on my birthday, or a love letter? Wouldn't a love letter be too old-fashioned?"

"How should I know? I'm asking you the same thing..."

The school bell interrupted their conversation, ringing urgently.

Zhou Yong scratched his hair hard, still looking troubled.

……

(three)

"Cicada? Did you use the movie ticket from last time?"

"Ah."

"You saw two movies, right? What did you see?"

"Hmm...it's nothing, it wasn't particularly interesting."

"Okay, I have five more here. Do you still want them? You can use them up this month. If you don't want them, you can just go into the movie theater and get a free popcorn."

Okay, thank you.

"It must be lonely to go to the movies alone, right? Well, at least I have Nianlu with me."

"It's alright, I'm used to it."

"Okay, okay, I'm going now, I have things to do."

Are you very busy lately?

"Yeah, I'm pretty busy. My dad keeps trying to find me suitable blind dates, but you know my situation, I really don't want to... sigh."

"Um……"

……

Chapter Twenty is about wine.

(One)

noon.

The clouds in the sky had, unusually, dispersed somewhat.

Although the sun was still partially obscured, at least a small portion of the blue sky could be seen.

Perhaps because of the recent heavy rains, the sky was exceptionally clear, a blue so intense it resembled a strangely colored cake.

—This description might sound strange, but that's truly how Mo Xueyao felt at the time.

"Little Yao Yao!"

"What—" Mo Xueyao lowered her head and continued washing the chopsticks in her hands, "Don't always be so jumpy, okay?"

"Let's go to the band room later! We definitely need to practice hard today!"

"Oh—" Mo Xueyao was skeptical. She carefully washed the foam off the chopsticks and put them back in the plastic box. "I have to go back to the classroom to put the chopsticks away. It's such a hassle. Both classrooms are on the fifth floor."

"There's no way around it, this is the inevitable path for high school seniors on their journey to maturity~"

"What kind of 'must-pass' is this? What does this have to do with maturity?" Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes. "I heard that back in the day, the senior year classrooms were on the first floor!"

"Wouldn't that be incredibly noisy?"

"Hmm—who knows why?" Mo Xueyao shrugged, shook the water droplets off the plastic box, and called to Li Wanyan and Wang Jiale beside her, "Let's go, let's go back to the classroom!"

"We need to get to the band room right away."

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Wang Jiale hopped over like a little rabbit and asked in confusion.

"Hehe, it's a secret!"

"Secret my foot! It's obvious you're plotting something terrible."

Wang Jiale nodded in complete agreement: "Exactly!"

……

(two)

The band room, located on the fifth floor, seemed to have an air of coolness about it.

Students don't often come to the laboratory building, especially at lunchtime like this.

The wind that swept through brought a touch of desolation.

Yu Shu didn't eat lunch today; she came straight here after class.

It's not that I feel physically unwell, it's just that I don't have much of an appetite.

This was a common occurrence for her; she would usually just drink some water and eat the desserts and snacks she always kept in her bag to get by.

She hummed a song softly, a tune she had practiced many times before.

"Xiaoyao and the others don't have much time to clean..." Yu Shu muttered to herself, taking a broom and walking around the classroom.

The floor didn't look too dirty on the surface, but when you swept it, there was quite a bit of trash.

Various scraps of paper, plastic bags, or even hair are hidden in corners and under tables and chairs.

Yu Shu noticed that the place where everyone often gathered to drink tea and eat snacks had an unusually large amount of hair, all of which was tangled in the broom and could only be removed by hand.

It seems that places with a lot of girls are always like this.

It's not hair loss, it's just that with such long hair, it's bound to fall out more often; it's a natural process of metabolism.

Since she had already swept the floor, Yu Shu decided to go all the way and wipe down the table and windowsill as well.

The whiteboard hasn't been written on in a long time; it's covered with a thin layer of dust.

"Phew...always leaving things on the table." Yu Shu muttered, shaking her head as she neatly tucked all the messy things on the table back into the drawer.

There were various picks that Wang Jiale bought, and the plastic bags containing their packaging were left aside without being thrown away.

Yu Shu didn't know whether she still wanted to use them or not, so she didn't throw them away, but simply put the picks away.

Come to think of it, you don't need a pick to play bass, so I really don't know why she bought so many picks. Is it just because they look nice and are fun?

On the table were the pipa strings that Hua Yinyin had replaced. I didn't know whether to keep them or throw them away, but I put them back in the drawer anyway.

Although Mo Zhuyou's drumsticks were stuffed in the drawer, they were stuffed in a crooked and messy way, and... how come she had several drumsticks?

There are three colors: natural wood, red, and black.

There were still unopened ping-pong paddles in the drawer of the table; I have no idea when they were bought.

Yu Shu could only tidy up the table again.

Inside, we also found several replacement mouthpieces for the suona that Mr. Xue used.

Scrolls and plush toys are things we've long been accustomed to.

Yu Shu put them in one of the table compartments, while the rest of the musical instruments were placed in another.

There were two notebooks open on the table. Judging from the handwriting, one was Mo Xueyao's and the other was Hua Yinyin's.

Mo Xueyao's handwriting is relatively large—although it's smaller than before, her habit of writing with force remains unchanged. The handwriting is clearly imprinted on the pages, and it's clearly visible on the back as well.