A Young Woman's Heart

"A dance machine? Hmm... I can give it a try? But first, I'll play a claw machine!"

"How many do you want to arrest?"

"Just catch one."

"Okay, I'll catch it for you."

"No, I want to catch it myself!"

Liu Xiaowei put his left hand in his pants pocket and his right hand in his shirt pocket, and walked forward: "What flavor of milk tea do you want?"

"Strawberry."

"Oh."

"How did it become you asking me? We agreed that I would treat, so let's keep things separate." Wang Jiale wrinkled his nose.

"I don't like milk tea."

She put her hands on her hips and asked, "What do you mean? If you don't want milk tea, what do you want to drink?"

"Just buy me a bottle of Coke."

"...Is that what you mean? That's easy, you can find them at any roadside shop, right?"

"It needs to have ice."

"How about KFC or McDonald's?"

"It must have lemons."

"...You're deliberately making things difficult for me, Liu Xiaowei!"

Liu Xiaowei glanced at her sideways: "Arcades sell these, you know."

"Huh?"

"He clearly has never seen the world."

"Okay, as long as the price isn't too outrageous."

Liu Xiaowei couldn't help but chuckle to himself: "Hey, seven yuan a cup."

"Oh—okay, no problem!"

His lips twitched; he had clearly underestimated her purchasing power.

……

========

Note ①: This is a joke, used to highlight Liu Xiaowei's ignorance and incompetence through narration, and to add a humorous touch—Lu Bu's real weapon is the Fangtian Halberd.

Chapter 194 A Monday Where I Can't Get Energetic

(One)

It's Monday again, and after several sunny days, Hangzhou is experiencing a light drizzle.

The wonton stall at the school gate had set up its large umbrella, and the old lady making wontons was still sitting on that small chair, deftly wrapping wontons.

It was still early, and there was no business yet; only wisps of smoke rose from the wood-burning stove.

They dyed this little world blue.

Mo Xueyao held the scallion pancake she had just bought in her hand. Although she was holding an umbrella, there were still some water droplets on her shiny leather shoes.

The security guard, whose face was scarred, had just gotten a neat buzz cut and was shaving his beard with a simple little razor in front of the window.

The black cat that Teacher Su from the medical office keeps is wandering around in the corridor, its tail held high like an antenna that can receive signals.

Mo Xueyao even ran up quickly and patted the tip of its tail. The latter lazily turned its head and listlessly meowed.

Even the voices of reproach seemed somewhat perfunctory.

"The results are out." Li Wanyan called out to Mo Xueyao, who was too energetic early in the morning, and pointed to the printed paper pasted on the wall of the lobby on the first floor.

The blackboard used for publicity had the words "Opening Exam" written in large characters.

The first-year high school students are on the far left, while the third-year high school students are on the far right.

"Third place, huh? Looks like my grades have stabilized. Before, I used to randomly pick a spot in the top ten." Mo Xueyao pinched the soft flesh on her waist with her hand in her pocket. "Ah ha, second place is from Class One, not easy at all—Wanyan is fourth this time."

"Hmm." Li Wanyan frowned slightly. "I'll pass you next time."

"Where does this intense competitive spirit come from...?"

Interestingly, the first place winner this time was not Mr. Xue, but another student from Class 3.

Generally speaking, the school's overall score ranking is usually between Class 1 and Class 2, but this time Class 3 snatched a spot and even came in first.

"Hmm—I don't recognize the name. Oh, Xiaoxue has fallen so far down this time. Where is she...?" Mo Xueyao searched around in confusion, but couldn't find her name in the top ten.

Her gaze and Li Wanyan's swept downwards in unison, and they saw Mo Xiaoxiao, Cha Li, Xuan Anyi, as well as Lü Bolun, An Ruosu, and Duanmu Ji, but conspicuously, they did not see Mr. Xue's name.

"Xiaoxue took the exam this time, right?" she muttered to herself, puffing out her cheeks in confusion.

Li Wanyan suddenly pointed to a spot: "Xiaoxue".

"Ah, here... Oh, this guy, twenty-ninth... and he's tied for twenty-ninth with someone else. The next one is thirty-first." Mo Xueyao glanced at his scores in each subject and was certain that this was definitely not Mr. Xue's usual level.

Of course, the scores are quite interesting; all the subjects have whole numbers except for math.

There's reason to speculate that he might have suddenly developed a strange interest, since theoretically, precise score control is much more difficult than giving your all to achieve the highest score.

Speaking of which, will his teachers single him out and criticize him, saying that he was lazy during the winter break and that his grades have slipped?

But perhaps not, since the teachers might discover that he had assigned a very difficult task.

She looked at Li Wanyan silently, and the latter conveyed the same thought to her with her eyes.

"If we calculate it this way, if Xiaoxue performs to her full potential, I'll be fourth, and Wanyan will only be fifth?"

In the usual monthly exams, the scores of the arts and science classes are compared together. Unexpectedly, Class 1, which had always been ridiculed for not being able to beat the arts class in scores, has actually surpassed them. It just goes to show that you can't relax for even a moment before the college entrance exam is over.

"However, in any case, we can skip class on Saturday. We can go to the band room to relax or do something else. What about Wanyan?"

"Classes may continue."

"Huh? Actually, it's not really meaningful. After all, everyone says Saturdays are for reviewing basic material, right? We don't need that, do we? We might as well go swimming or take a walk. If we really want to study, we can buy some advanced practice problems to do."

“…Hmm.” Li Wanyan nodded hesitantly. “I’ll go and buy some workbooks after school on Friday.”

"Then let's talk about it on Friday—I can't remember anyway, I'll have forgotten it by then." Mo Xueyao quickly ran up several steps. "Alright, alright, let's hurry upstairs, it's still early, let's relax and rest for a while."

"Are you already tired on Monday?"

"Yeah—that's why I'm tired on Monday. After all, the long week has just begun. There are weekly tests during evening self-study today and tomorrow. It feels like my life is going to be an endless cycle of going over test papers, taking tests, taking tests, and going over test papers."

"There are only three or four months left."

"It seems like it goes by quickly, but in reality, it goes by very slowly." Mo Xueyao shook the umbrella in her hand, and water droplets dripped from the umbrella surface onto the ground, leaving one circular mark after another.

"It happened so quickly, in the blink of an eye."

"You've blinked, why hasn't it passed yet?"

"Are you so eager for it to end?"

"Hmm—not really, lol. If we could just keep getting together like this without having to study so hard, I think we could continue like this forever."

"But if it weren't for studying, we wouldn't get together."

Three years is too short.

Li Wanyan pursed her lips and didn't say anything, but quickened her pace slightly and went upstairs side by side with her.

……

(two)

"Oh dear—it's Monday again!" Mo Xueyao's deskmate this semester, Hua Yinyin, seems to always arrive early lately, even if she doesn't need to copy homework.

"Did you feel like this weekend was too short?"

"It was already so short, it's like I only got one day off on Sunday. I'm so tired, I need to sleep for two days to recover, sob sob..."

"Go to sleep if you want, but don't use my arm as a pillow, okay..." Mo Xueyao said irritably, pulling her eyelids shut. "You've been drooling all over my arm!"

"Hehe!"

"From now on, we'll have to attend classes every Saturday. Even if we don't attend, we'll still have to come to school."

"I only have one day off left each week, but it's okay. As long as I have Yao Yao by my side, every second is filled with happiness!"

"Sorry, I'm in the top 30, so I don't have to stay in the classroom on Saturdays." She chuckled and teased. "I can go to the playground or the swimming pool, or even just go to the band room to sleep or something. Apart from having to stay at school, I can do whatever I want. It's free time, after all. I wonder if Teacher Taiyin will be there on Saturday. Maybe I can go visit her and have some milk tea or something."

"Waaaaah! How dare Yao Yao abandon me!"

"If that's the case, then you should take the exams more seriously. Just aim for the top 30 in the monthly exams, wouldn't that be enough?"

"Okay, I'll definitely perform exceptionally well today and tomorrow, and show Xiaoyao my true strength!"

“Weekly tests don’t count…” Mo Xueyao covered her forehead helplessly.

Hua Yinyin deflated like a punctured balloon and immediately lay motionless on the table.

"Hey? What's wrong? Are you that sad?" A few minutes later, Mo Xueyao finally couldn't help but nudge her, only to find her sleeping peacefully with her eyes closed, a serene smile on her face. "And I was worried about you... really..."

……

(three)

The only advantage of rain is that Monday morning assembly can be held in the classroom.

This is the happiest thing for students who are catching up on their homework.

However, in the last semester of senior year, students who are willing to make up their homework are considered good students, because most of the homework is no longer collected for teachers to grade, but is instead explained during class.

Students can grade their own work.

Some teachers, like Jingdie, will check whether the students have completed their homework before class, but others, like Guan Peng, will just lecture without caring whether the students' homework is blank.

Only a small number of important assignments will be collected, or they will be collected for checking after class.