A Young Woman's Heart

The price is very cheap—80 cents per person, and 20 cents more for girls, so it's one dollar.

Three people means three yuan.

If you didn't bring your own toiletries, you can get a small bar of soap for free.

Of course, its foaming effect is only barely noticeable.

The opera music from the landlady's tape recorder gradually faded away, and the thick curtains separated the bathhouse from the outside world.

There was a large pool filled with warm, pale green water; it looked like a bathtub.

This color likely comes from the presence of some disinfectant or antibacterial substances.

"It's best not to soak that, it's very dirty," Jiang Yuruo reminded Yu Shu, noticing her curiosity.

"Um...I know."

She had been to bathhouses before, of course, but this was the first time she had ever been to one with such a rough and rustic decor.

Tiles were only laid on the floor, and the tiles on the walls only went up to half a meter high; above that, it was all black cement.

Several chairs made of scrap metal were scattered around the bathhouse. They looked as if they had been coated with paint, so even in such a humid environment, they did not rust but instead became even shinier.

For other facilities, stainless steel was used whenever possible, and recycled scrap iron was used for those that couldn't be made of stainless steel.

It's like an old factory that's been converted; it's filled with the smell of old industrial life.

It makes you feel like you've been transported back to the 1950s or 60s.

Partitions are completely non-existent here.

A person is standing under a showerhead.

With just a casual turn of the head, one can see everyone around them clearly.

Yu Shu's only consolation was that neither of her two new friends was like Hua Yinyin.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to take a bath at all.

Wu Shanshan is nearsighted. After taking off her glasses, she can't see things very clearly even two meters away.

Although Jiang Yuruo had excellent eyesight, she wasn't interested in that at all, focusing solely on scrubbing and bathing herself.

Judging from the way she was doing it, it didn't look like she was giving herself a bath; it looked more like she was cleaning an inanimate object.

She rubbed her skin until it was red, but she still didn't stop.

Feeling inexplicably empty inside, Yu Shu turned around, found a corner, carefully removed her last piece of clothing, and awkwardly began to take a bath in the rough public bathhouse.

The misty air eased her tension slightly.

She suddenly felt that what happened today was actually a dream. Was making friends really such a simple thing?

You don't even need to tell each other that you're friends, or spend a lot of time together. Just get together occasionally for something, chat, and have some fun, and you'll naturally become friends.

This was the first time in many years that she had made a friend on her own, rather than through someone else.

Jiang Yu could be considered Wu Shanshan's friend, but Wu Shanshan truly belonged to her as a friend.

“Friend…” she muttered softly, then suddenly found herself ridiculous, like one of those particularly reclusive people in a TV show or novel.

In fact, she doesn't think she's a loner.

—In short, that's what she thinks, and that's true.

……

(Fives)

The wind and rain mingled together, and no other sounds could be heard.

This is the end of the street; there aren't even any cars passing by.

"Squeak-"

"Cough cough cough..."

"My grandpa's back," Jiang Yu Ruo, lying on the bed, quickly explained, then pulled the blanket over Yu Shu a little more.

"oh oh."

"Yu Shu, Yu Shu, I've always thought your name is so beautiful." Wu Shanshan continued the previous topic—they were talking about what their first impressions of everyone's names were like. "It's the first name I've ever heard that I thought was the most beautiful."

"Mmm!"

“Mmm!” Jiang Yuruo agreed wholeheartedly.

"Speaking of which, how did you get to know the senior students?"

"Senior...?"

"It's Mo Xueyao, the most beautiful girl in our school."

"Well...actually, I've known her for a long time..."

"Huh? What happened? Tell me!"

In the pitch-black room, only the sounds of talking and breathing could be heard.

But this also made the listeners more focused on the story.

"When did you meet?" Jiang Yu Ruo was also very curious.

"When I was in kindergarten..."

"Wow--!"

"Hmm... back then she was... a... tomboy." Yu Shu thought for a while before coming up with this description.

Although she couldn't see anything, she could sense that the other two had already pricked up their ears and were listening intently.

……

Chapter 107 One Night

(One)

The events of her childhood are too distant for her to recall now. If you were to ask Yu Shu to explain how she met Mo Xueyao, she would have no recollection of it at all.

It seems that from the very beginning of my memory, I was already getting along very well with Mo Xueyao.

I did hear some stories from my parents about how the two families met, but they didn't sound like they had experienced it firsthand.

“My parents said… Xiaoyao’s family moved here when I was three years old, and then we went to the same kindergarten together…”

From that time on, Yu Shu often went out to play with Mo Xueyao.

The two were practically inseparable. Although Mo Xueyao didn't take care of this 'tagalong' behind her, she didn't mind taking her everywhere.

Unlike her current neat and tidy appearance, Mo Xueyao used to often come back covered in dust and dirt when she went out to play, which was in stark contrast to Yu Shu, who still kept most of her clothes clean.

Climbing trees, scaling walls, crawling through holes, playing in the sand and mud—basically, running around everywhere.

However, I sometimes quiet down and go to the videotape section of the supermarket to watch cartoons.

They would flip through the books, but picture books without any words, the two of them could lie there and look at them all day long.

Sometimes they would argue about what story the painting depicted. Back then, Yu Shu was not like she is now; she was very opinionated and would never back down in such discussions. Eventually, Mo Xueyao would run out of words and could only slink away in defeat, making an excuse to look at something else.

"Back then, I would go out with her, and she would listen to me when we discussed things..."

"Oh—Yu Shu sounded very outgoing when she was little."

"Have you become shy as you've grown up?"

"Because later... I got seriously ill and moved away. My family sold the house to someone else at a very low price—or rather, it was transferred at that time."

"Did you recover from your illness later?"

"It cost a lot of money and I was lucky to get cured. In the past few years, I had to go for check-ups frequently, but recently I've had no problems and I'm almost like a normal person."

"Did you move back after you moved out?"

"Hmm...it's probably a coincidence. That room just happened to be rented out again...so now she and I are next-door neighbors again."

"So you joined the band later? Because you happened to know her? And you also met other female students along the way?"

"Yes, that's it..."

……

(two)

The rain hadn't stopped, and from time to time, two coughs could be heard from downstairs, along with the sounds of making tea, drinking tea, and spitting.

Jiang Yu brazenly placed his legs on Yu Shu's thighs, almost lying on his side as if he were sleeping.

Fortunately, the bed was big enough that even three girls could lie down comfortably.

"Oh, Yu Shu, why do you like musical instruments?"

"Because they can express emotions without speaking..."

"Yes! Me too! The instrument is great! And the feeling of playing it is wonderful!"

Wu Shanshan turned her head and asked curiously, "But I didn't know you could play an instrument, Ruoruo. You never mentioned it at school. Do you not practice much?"

"No need to practice! I'll play when I feel like it. If I always practice, I'll lose the fun."

In her mouth, it sounded less like a musical instrument and more like a toy.

Why did you learn the dulcimer? It doesn't seem like a very common instrument.

"When I was little, I bought a toy that imitated a dulcimer. Later, when I was in junior high school, my parents brought me a real dulcimer when they came home for the Chinese New Year."

Is the dulcimer fun?

“You can try it tomorrow!” Jiang Yu Ruo seemed to become excited when she talked about the yangqin. She walked past Yu Shu and patted Wu Shan Shan’s forehead hard.

"Ah—don't film me, don't film me—I can't play any musical instruments, I've never learned."

Are you interested?

"A little?"