A Young Woman's Heart

It's upbeat with a touch of rhythm, somewhat similar in style to the songs written by Hua Yinyin, except that the latter is more rock-oriented.

The students, who were taking a midday nap, were finally awakened by the alarm clock-like song.

"Alright, let's start our last new lesson of high school—English. Actually, if you pay close attention to the text, you'll find that our English textbook is quite interesting, like a novel, from elementary school to high school, with a plot! Today, we'll start with this plot—"

Wang Qianyu's English class is very interesting.

However, the knowledge density is not compact enough.

For students who only want to learn new knowledge and don't want to listen to nonsense, this is a waste of time.

But it's still good for most students.

At the very least, it allows them to concentrate for a longer period of time and then absorb and digest this knowledge.

The afternoon classes finally began with the ringing of the official bell.

The lecture was delivered in a relaxed manner, so Mo Xueyao listened while doing her homework.

She would lecture intensively, for example, in math class, she would concentrate fully on taking notes.

Although the math teacher, Jingdie, is very strict.

But even in math class, some people still can't help but feel sleepy.

After all, compared to the first and second years of high school, the third year of high school students do get significantly less sleep.

Add to that the bombardment of dense math concepts in class, and it just feels so hypnotic.

This is, after all, just a regular high school—which is why young teachers at Yukong High School generally use a loosely structured approach to teaching.

After all, if you don't do it that way, you won't absorb anything, so what's the point of having a dense collection of knowledge points?

As the last math class of the day came to an end, Mo Xueyao felt that all her energy had been almost completely exhausted.

Sometimes she really envied her father, who, even though he went to buy goods very early in the morning, still seemed very energetic at nine o'clock at night.

She could never do that.

Every day after evening self-study, all she wanted to do when she got home was sleep; she didn't want to do anything else.

"Hoo—" Mo Xueyao slumped her neck and tilted her head, feeling exhausted as if all her bones had been removed. "Luckily, high school allows students to choose between arts and sciences. I heard that the science students in the neighboring class are finding it too difficult."

"What's wrong?" Zhou Yong, who sat next to him, casually asked.

"It's as difficult as jumping from one plus one to a quadratic equation in one variable."

"That's an exaggeration."

"That's what they say, I'm not sure, but the math has definitely gotten a lot harder." Mo Xueyao was somewhat relieved. "Luckily, I'm in a humanities class, so I can barely manage this math right now. If it got any harder, I feel like I wouldn't be able to keep up."

"Oh? I thought you good students wouldn't find it difficult at all."

"Yeah, the math in the humanities class isn't that difficult."

Zhou Yong was speechless.

He, who had almost failed math several times, was speechless.

Hua Yinyin called her name again, with Wang Jiale's voice mixed in.

The girls invited her to eat out.

Mo Xueyao responded, and didn't forget to call out to Li Wanyan, "Wanyan, let's go eat!"

"Ah."

……

Chapter Sixty-Nine Halloween

2001 11 Month 4 Day.

Dragging her heavy and tired body, Mo Xueyao swayed back to the fruit shop.

It's already past eight o'clock.

We were supposed to go straight home by car today, but my father said we'd close the shop early and everyone would take a minivan home together.

As for the reason...

Perhaps he occasionally wants to take a day off?

Doing business may seem like a free choice, but in reality, it's just a change from being bound by the boss to being bound by the business.

At least you get rest when you're working, but when you're doing business, you're practically on call all year round, except for a few days during the Lunar New Year.

So all we can do is close the shop a little earlier occasionally to get a little more rest.

Because they needed to close early, they put some of the less fresh fruit in a large basket and sold it at a reduced price.

Everything is priced the same, and the fruit is a mixed bag, so the quality can't be guaranteed.

There were completely black, loose bananas, as well as a few longans or grapes that had fallen off.

Most of the apples and pears were bruised or rotten.

I sell some of this fruit every night, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Once it became a habit, people would come to buy it almost every day.

The prices are actually at a loss, but if they don't sell, the losses will only be greater.

Rather than that, it's better to minimize the losses.

A woman dressed as a sanitation worker carefully selected apples with fewer rotten parts, telling the person next to her that it was her son's favorite.

The worker, whose clothes were filthy, picked out a few bananas and some shriveled oranges, saying he was buying some fruit for a midnight snack since he would be working all night.

There was even an old man who smelled of rancidity, squatting down beside Mo Wenli with a snakeskin bag filled with plastic bottles and cardboard in one hand, asking if the pears, which were mostly rotten, could be sold at a lower price. He had a sore throat and wanted to buy some to make pear soup.

Exhausted, Mo Xueyao felt that her life was far removed from theirs, but upon closer reflection, she realized that her family had also experienced such days when they were at their poorest.

Their poverty may not be due to a lack of effort.

Sometimes, luck really does play a big role.

If my father hadn't met Grandma Jin, things probably wouldn't have gone so smoothly.

The fruit in the box wasn't all sold; there were always fruits in worse condition that went unsold.

Instead of lowering the price, the father chose to dump the contents into the trash can at the store entrance.

Mo Xueyao yawned and dragged Su Tang, who was trying to sneak out under the cover of night, back into the shop.

Li Wanyan went to the convenience store across the street without even putting down her schoolbag.

Pan Jiexiang is already at work.

Li Wanyan leaned on the counter, raising and lowering her right foot, gently tapping the clean tiles on the floor.

"Mom, did you sleep well today?"

"It's okay, I slept quite well."

What time did you get up?

"Two o'clock, I guess."

"You only slept for five or six hours, isn't that enough?"

"It's okay, I woke up naturally, I just couldn't fall back asleep."

Li Wanyan frowned, gently pinching her right thumb with her left hand: "Are you feeling unwell?"

"No, I'm just not sleepy anymore, I feel more energetic."

"Okay, maybe you should sleep a little longer next time."

"I'll sleep some more if I'm sleepy." Pan Jiexiang gently stroked Li Wanyan's hair, the smile lines at the corners of her eyes becoming more pronounced. "You should sleep a little longer too."

"Ah."

"Mom, I might have to leave for a while."

"Leave where?"

"Leave Hangzhou."

"Where to?" Li Wanyan rubbed her thumb quickly, over and over again.

"Go to Beijing."

Why go to such a far place?

“A friend of mine told me that there’s a job over there that pays a lot of money, and I’ll earn more so you can go to college.”

"Is your current salary not enough? I'll study hard to get into a good university to save you money."

“Well, it’s mainly for learning and training there. When I come back, I can open my own shop, and our lives will be stable.” Seeing that Li Wanyan was about to speak again, Pan Jiexiang interrupted her first, “Don’t worry, it’s still early. At least after the New Year, um… I’ll go after a while.”

"Oh." Li Wanyan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. She stopped tapping the tiles and stood up straight. "Let's spend this year here."

"Of course, the two of us..."

"We'll be together, I told Yao Yao that."

"Okay, we're family, after all."

"Ah."

After a brief silence of about ten seconds, just as Li Wanyan was thinking of what topic to discuss next, Mo Xueyao's loud shout came from outside the convenience store.

She was waving her hand vigorously: "Wanyan—! Let's go—! Let's go home—!"

"Mom, I'll go back now."

"Okay, go to sleep early, you've worked so hard too."

“I don’t feel tired at all. It’s already great that I can focus on my studies.” Li Wanyan looked at her mother earnestly, hugged her mother’s hand that was on her head, and gently touched her cheek. “I’m leaving.”

"it is good."

Stepping outside, the autumn night wind chilled Li Wanyan's face.