A Young Woman's Heart

(four)

"The sky is a pale blue, but the sun is still shining brightly, la la la..." Mo Xueyao still loves to sing.

She was in a good mood because she was riding on a newly built road.

There were no cars on the wide road, and green lawns on both sides.

She had just struggled to get up this hill, and now she was enjoying the exhilaration of going downhill.

"Yaoyao, slow down." Li Wanyan gripped the handrail nervously, her long hair disheveled by the wind.

"We've finally made it up, how can we slow down? There aren't any cars around anyway, and this is such a long downhill!" Mo Xueyao shouted excitedly on the deserted highway. "Wow! Sometimes, going downhill isn't such a bad thing!"

"Hmm?" Li Wanyan seemed not to understand her hidden meaning.

"I mean, adults always say that life has its ups and downs, and you shouldn't be sad when you encounter a downhill road because there will be an uphill road. But I think that sometimes going uphill is too tiring, so sitting in a car and enjoying the wind going downhill is quite nice!"

"Perhaps," Li Wanyan said, neither confirming nor denying.

"Who decided that the bottom of the valley must be a failure? The bottom of the valley has its own beautiful scenery! Whoosh—! There's another uphill ahead. Alright, let's use the speed from the downhill to charge up in one go!"

"Slow down, slow down..."

"Charge!"

The water in the red bucket spilled out, and several tadpoles seemed to be struggling and swaying in the waves of the ocean.

Mo Xueyao pedaled the old tricycle so fast it seemed like it had a motor.

"They're coming up! Downhill!"

On the left are farmlands, and on the right are woodlands.

The sunlight behind them seemed unable to catch up with them, and in the distance, a freight train could be seen clattering across the bridge.

As it shook, a few more coal slags were scattered.

The tricycle sped downhill once again, making their hair dance wildly in the wind.

At this moment, perhaps even hair is free.

……

Chapter 193 Dog's Sorrow

"Damn it..." Ever since Liu Xiaowei learned this swear word from TV, he has been unconsciously muttering it to himself these past few days, and it has almost become his catchphrase.

Or perhaps the original sentence was too long, and not long after, he changed it to "his mother's".

He put his hands in his pockets and walked with his toes pointing outwards like an old man walking his bird. The afternoon sun shone on him, making him feel warm to the point of feeling a little hot.

He was supposed to go online today, but the illegal internet cafe he used to frequent had been demolished, and the familiar farmhouse had become ruins. It had only been a little over a week since he last went there, but it felt like half a year had passed.

So he had no choice but to walk, using his "walking bicycle" to get to the internet cafe a little further away.

But to my surprise, the internet cafe was shut down, supposedly for allowing minors to access the internet.

He spat on the ground and said, "Damn it, if they really investigated them one by one, all the internet cafes in Hangzhou would have to be shut down!"

Liu Xiaowei lost interest in going to internet cafes, so he decided to go to a nearby arcade for a while. It was a good place; even if he ran out of game tokens, he could at least watch other people play.

An afternoon can easily pass by.

So he crossed the main road that had been temporarily dug up for repairs, and walked on the broken sidewalk tiles. The bicycle bells behind him kept ringing. He impatiently turned to the side and let the bicycles dart past him.

Further on, the road widened, with rows of shops lining the sides, but business was rather slow.

The warm spring breeze made him pull down the zipper of his coat, but the breeze seemed to dislike him and refused to get into his arms.

He brushed his hair aside and gave a disdainful smile, but unfortunately no dandruff fell. Suddenly, he felt that life seemed to be missing a little bit of fun.

"Woof woof, woof woof woof—!!"

Suddenly, a loud barking came from around the corner ahead. It was the entrance to a factory. The other shops were quite far away. Although there was a fairly busy supermarket across the street, it was still on the other side of the street.

Liu Xiaowei felt a lot of nonsense running through his mind, but he didn't stop walking. He wanted to see what kind of dog was so arrogant in the city.

As he turned the corner, he looked closely and saw four or five mixed-colored dogs barking incessantly around a girl with pigtails, while three or four of their canine brothers were rushing over from a distance.

"Go away, go away!" The girl frantically waved her hand, clutching her violin case, but she could only make the dogs move back a little; she couldn't drive them away completely.

She took a few steps forward in a panic, her weak legs twisted, and she half-knelt on the ground, seemingly unable to stand up for a moment.

And these beasts, who knew exactly when to strike, swarmed around her, looking as ferocious as if they wanted to devour her alive.

"You son of a bitch—" Liu Xiaowei didn't cut the line this time, "Get out of here!"

He shouted and strode forward, scaring the bastards into stepping back several paces so he could stand beside the girl.

But seeing that he was alone, and that he was short and somewhat thin, they seemed to lose their fear and began to howl even more fiercely.

"Damn it, you won't give up until you see the Yellow River, huh?" Liu Xiaowei looked around, but there was no suitable 'weapon'. He missed his bicycle that was broken when he smashed a dog. If he had that thing, he would be as invincible as Lu Bu's eighteen-foot spear (Note ①).

The sun continued to shine down relentlessly, but no one walked this way.

The factory gate was rather deserted. The wind rustled the weeds, and the annoying sparrows chirped incessantly.

"Lend me your bag!" Liu Xiaowei shouted, looking down. The girl looked up as if she had seen a savior, but her bright spirit immediately collapsed.

"Liu Xiaowei...it's you!?"

"Huh? Wang Jiale, what the hell did you do to deserve such hatred?"

"I...I don't know either. I just walked past here and they all surrounded me..." Wang Jiale's voice was trembling with tears, and she was in no mood to say anything mean to him.

"Can I borrow your bag for a moment?"

Wang Jiale didn't react in time and blankly handed over her violin case.

He weighed it in his hand, finding it manageable, and raised it high, ready to smash it down. He wondered why he always seemed to be dealing with dogs his whole life; even rescuing a damsel in distress involved hitting a dog, and his nickname was related to dogs...

"No!" Wang Jiale suddenly stopped him.

"What are you doing? Are you afraid of killing these beasts?"

"No, no... in there, my piano... if you smash it, it will break..." Wang Jiale swallowed, shaking his head as he shouted as he tried to remain rational, as if he was about to cry at any moment.

"Huh?" Liu Xiaowei loosened his grip on the violin case a little, and Wang Jiale immediately snatched the large violin case back.

The pack of dogs had already surrounded him again, and the lead dog had even pounced at Liu Xiaowei's feet.

He was wearing spring trousers, not winter cotton trousers that are more durable.

The thought of being bitten by these vicious dogs and having to get a rabies vaccine, which would cost enough to buy him a lot of nice things and eat snacks for days, made him furious.

Don't let his thin appearance fool you; he grew up in this kind of environment. He's fought with people, dogs, and even both. He's had his wins and losses, but he's never lacked ruthlessness.

So he grabbed the short-legged mixed-breed dog that had gone mad, grabbed its two hind legs, and started swinging it around like a stick.

"You son of a bitch, fuck your mother..." Liu Xiaowei muttered under his breath, gritting his teeth, and used the dog as a weapon to swing it around with great pleasure.

The beasts that were just moments ago so ferocious started whimpering and ran away with their tails between their legs.

As for the one in his hand, it was foaming at the mouth and looked like it had been hit on the forehead and was about to die. Liu Xiaowei was quite decisive and threw it in the direction the dogs were running away. Suddenly, a large truck came out from around the corner and crushed the dog into a bloody pancake.

"You...you are so cruel..." Wang Jiale hugged her violin case and covered her eyes with her hands, only daring to peek through her fingers.

"Damn it, they're about to bite you to death, and you still think I'm cruel?"

"...maybe he was just being aggressive and didn't really mean to bite."

"If you keep giving in, they might actually bite." Liu Xiaowei's tone was unexpectedly calm, but his eyes were practically rolling to the sky.

"Phew..." Wang Jiale rallied his spirits, straightened up, and carefully looked Liu Xiaowei up and down.

He still looked disheveled and dirty, as if he had just come out of the slums.

—In fact, the place he lived was practically a slum.

"I know you don't feel..." Liu Xiaowei turned to the side, but was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

"Thank you anyway."

"Huh?" He turned around in surprise, as if he were meeting Wang Jiale for the first time. "Why aren't you being stubborn?"

"What's going on?" Wang Jiale's expression was very sincere. "Although you're usually so annoying and always so sloppy, I'm really grateful to you for getting me out of this predicament.

"Uh..." Liu Xiaowei's sarcastic words got stuck in his throat, and he couldn't say them out.

"So, I'll treat you to milk tea as a thank you gift, and then I'll still hate you the way I always have."

"...I just don't understand, do you hate me that much?"

"Then you should do it well yourself, and other people won't dislike you."

"Forget it, I'm not the kind of man who caters to others." Liu Xiaowei rubbed his hair, making what he thought was a cool gesture, but Wang Jiale only saw the greasy hand he pulled out.

So she lowered her head and quickly took out a napkin to wipe the area in the violin case that Liu Xiaowei had touched.

He twitched the corners of his mouth, feeling that he absolutely had to wash his hair properly tonight so that she would look at him in a new light.

It's not for anything else, it's just to prove someone wrong.

"No, I'm going to the arcade."

"Huh?" Wang Jiale was taken aback.

“I’m walking this way,” Liu Xiaowei said coolly, though that was just his own opinion—as he raised his chin at a 45-degree angle, he imagined Chen Cheng’s appearance.

Well, it's a pity he's not as handsome as Chen Cheng.

"Are there bubble tea shops over there too?"

"..." He felt that Wang Jiale definitely didn't know how to read other people's expressions.

"Arcade? Perfect, I don't want to go home so soon anyway, I'm going to play the claw machine!"

"Tch, little girl, all she knows is playing such childish games."

"Hey, Liu Xiaowei, you're so annoying! You always have to say something sarcastic, no wonder people can't help but dislike you."

"Cough..." He realized he was wrong about that, so he awkwardly touched his nose and tried to salvage the situation, "You could try the dance machine."

Today, Wang Jiale is wearing a plaid skirt, looking every bit the youthful and lively high school student.