A Young Woman's Heart

When there are many people, it becomes very difficult to reach a consensus.

"Right, Su Tang?" Mo Xueyao poked the big cat lying on its back on the table, its clean belly showing.

"Meow?" It clearly didn't understand why she would suddenly ask such a question.

"mom--"

"Mom, my foot!" Mo Xueyao was amused by Zhou Yong's words once again.

It wasn't that I was really angry, just a little helpless.

"Ahem, Mo Xueyao, this question..."

Let me see—

……

Chapter 219 Qingming Festival.

(One)

Friday, July 5, 2002.

Today is Qingming Festival, a rare day for relaxation in the intense life of senior high school students.

Since there were no classes, some students didn't even bring their backpacks to school, while others filled their backpacks with snacks.

Although the school had arranged for them to visit graves, they all acted as if they were going on a spring outing.

This holiday, which always seemed to carry a touch of sadness, was thus dispelled by the students' innocent optimism and their slightly harmless frivolity.

"Seniors, this way!" Yinling, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, was directing traffic through a megaphone. The school buses had pulled up from the playground to the school gate, making the place feel like a crowded passenger transport center.

The students chattered away like a flock of cheerful sparrows.

"Class Two, everyone line up here, don't wander off! You're not elementary school students anymore! Liu Xiaowei, Gao Yuan, what are you two doing running to the next class?" Ye Wen's voice was a little hoarse from shouting. The students' excitement was quite unexpected.

However, in Hangzhou, Yukong High School is probably the only high school that still arranges activities during the Qingming Festival.

Buses drove out of the road, which was now somewhat congested.

The students boarded the bus in a disorderly but orderly manner.

Ye Wen recounted the headcount to make sure no one was missing before reporting to Yinling.

A few minutes later, the bus also started up.

Mo Xueyao leaned back comfortably in her chair, letting the breeze from the window caress her face.

It rained heavily this morning, and the ground and air are quite damp.

Unlike students in other grades, the senior students' bus was heading to the suburbs; obviously, this time it wasn't to the martyrs' cemetery where many people visit to pay their respects every year.

……

(two)

"Hey, Xiao Ji, Zhou Yong, why are you two still sitting behind me... It's not like we're in a classroom." Mo Xueyao smoothed her long hair and asked helplessly.

"This makes it easier to ask questions."

"Me too." Duanmu Ji meant that he was also there to learn.

"Reading on the bus, be careful you don't go blind." She closed her eyes and shook her head.

Hua Yinyin, standing next to her, seemed to be asserting her dominance, pressing almost all her weight onto her.

"Yinyin, what are you doing?"

"Hey, let's get close."

"It's so heavy."

"It's not heavy at all!"

"Help! Lele, can you sit next to me?" Mo Xueyao stretched out her arm and pleaded with Wang Jiale, who was sitting in front of her.

"Oh dear, Xiaoyao, just enjoy Yinyin's 'love'~" she teased with a sly smile.

"Yinyin, don't bully Yaoyao," Li Wanyan said casually, turning her head to the side.

Startled, Hua Yinyin quickly straightened up to the side: "I didn't!"

"Phew, my shoulders are so sore..." Mo Xueyao breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed her shoulders vigorously. "By the way, where are we going today? I don't think I've ever heard of any martyrs' cemetery in this direction. Are we going to F City?"

Although there was no martyrs' cemetery there, she did know that there was a burial pit there for civilians who were massacred by the Japanese.

It is said that hundreds of people died at that time.

“But this direction—could it also lead to T County?” Yang Yankai replied. Le Tingfeng, who was sitting next to him, had vomited all over the place, so he had to leave his seat and stand next to him.

Ye Wen, who was prepared in advance, had already brought a broom and was cleaning up the scene.

"That's possible. Yang Yan, your home is in T County, right?"

"Well, to be precise, it's in a small town under T County."

"By the way, what's wrong with Yue Tingfeng? He never used to get carsick, right?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Yankai gently scratched his cheek, suppressing a laugh, and said, "He brought wine today, saying he wanted to pay tribute to the martyrs, and then took a sip before getting on the car... that's all."

"Pfft, it's hard to believe. His family owns a bar, so how come he doesn't drink?"

"Xiaoyaoyao's family owns a fruit shop, but you don't like eating fruit either!"

"Hmm, that seems to make a lot of sense..." Mo Xueyao paused for a moment, then nodded slightly.

……

(three)

As time went by, the highway gradually widened, and there were far fewer cars on both sides of the road.

There are no shops or high-rise buildings to be seen, only vast stretches of farmland and farmhouses nestled along the roadside.

The buses were lined up neatly in a long queue, and they had indeed driven into the suburbs of T County.

After making a few turns, we drove into a lush, green forest.

The car stopped in front of an open space at the foot of the mountain.

This place looks like a desolate wilderness, which doesn't seem to have much to do with tomb sweeping.

"Alright, get off the bus! We've arrived at our destination!" Ye Wen shouted, waking up the students who had already fallen asleep.

Seven buses were parked here, completely filling the not-so-spacious open space.

As soon as she got out of the car, Mo Xueyao felt that her feet felt different.

Unlike the solid cement roads in the city, this is very soft soil when you step on it.

She took a deep breath of fresh air, feeling all her pores open up.

Water droplets that hadn't evaporated remained on the leaves, and there were several small animal footprints on the muddy ground next to the bushes, which looked like those of squirrels or rabbits.

Looking up, you can see the plank road built along the mountainside, with wooden planks and ropes connected together, which looks very dangerous.

The earthen houses are even embedded directly into the mountainside—or rather, they are simply a hole dug into the mountain and a door installed on the outside.

The buildings there were dilapidated and decayed, and looked like they hadn't been inhabited for a long time.

"This is the original site of Yukong High School!" Ye Wen introduced like a tour guide. "In the beginning, the first principal opened the school here. At that time, it was not called Yukong High School. It was just a private school that provided a place for girls to study."

"Huh, so that's a school up there?"

"That's right, back then, students went to school there, but we can't go up there now because the roads are dangerous due to years of disrepair."

Yukong High School has a history of over a hundred years, from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China and then to the People's Republic of China.

The name has been changed several times, and even the concepts of individualized instruction and people-oriented approach have faded considerably.

The students' destination was not the old school building above, but another low hill next to it.

The mountain road was very narrow, and the group was stretched out in a long line.

About ten minutes later, we reached the top of the small hill.

Even when you reach the top of the mountain, it doesn't feel spacious because there are even higher mountains next to you. To them, this low mountain is only halfway up the mountain.

This is a memorial site, and there are also many neatly arranged tombstones.

“Every year, the senior students are assigned to sweep the tombs here, which is also the annual big clean-up.” Ye Wen led the students to line up in a corner. “So, now we need to divide the work. Our class has been assigned to the area where we are standing now. Li Hongran? You arrange for the boys to sweep the floor, sweep up the fallen leaves and stuff, and pile them up to the side.”

"Where are the girls? Holy crap, are they just standing there watching?"

"Of course, the girls have other things to do. The girls are responsible for cleaning the tombstones, tidying up the offerings in front of the graves, and then putting new offerings on top—those paper flowers, candles, and the like." Ye Wen glanced sideways at Liu Xiaowei, who had just spoken. "Alright, if you understand, let's begin. Class monitor, vice class monitor, sports committee member, hygiene committee member, and academic committee member, the work assignments are yours! Let's get started!"

Stone tablets are not just tombstones; some are 'books' that introduce the past and leave records of history.

Even though there were tombstones everywhere, and everyone had to wipe them by hand, the girls weren't afraid. Perhaps it was because there were so many of them. They even had the leisure to gather together and read the epitaphs on the back of the tombstones.

Compared to visiting the martyrs' cemetery, this place feels much more casual.

It wasn't very formal.

Moreover, if visiting a martyrs' cemetery is just about playing the national anthem and saluting the heroes, like going through the motions, then here, it's a real tomb-sweeping experience—look, those boys are carrying big brooms, sweeping up fallen leaves with a 'whoosh' sound.

……

(four)

"The earliest Yukong High School was called Fan Hua Academy." Mo Xueyao stood on tiptoe, tilted her head back, and looked at the words at the very top of the stone tablet, reading softly, "The purpose of establishing a private school was to enable women to read, to acquire knowledge, and to emerge from ignorance..."

"It was an all-girls school from the beginning," Hua Yinyin muttered. "Why did it become co-educational later?"

“Probably to keep up with the times.” Mo Xueyao continued reading the inscription on the stone tablet, “In 1939, a small group of Japanese troops discovered the school buildings while stationed nearby, attempting to turn the school, which housed all female students, into a military brothel. The school teachers and principal devised a plan to delay them, and later put up a fierce resistance, buying the female students time to escape…”

"Hey, are these the teachers who died back then buried here?"

“It seems so…” Mo Xueyao’s eyes widened. “Several female teachers in the school stayed behind to cover the retreat. They were later captured by the Japanese army, raped and killed, and even their bodies were not spared.”

Hua Yinyin read straight to the bottom: "In 1940, an ordinary Japanese soldier, unable to endure the atrocities committed by his comrades, deserted his post and provided a large amount of intelligence to the local militia. At the end of that year, the local militia launched a surprise attack on the enemy through underground tunnels, destroying a small Japanese unit of more than 80 men and seizing a number of weapons..."

She then went to the back of the stone tablet, where the story of the defector Japanese soldier was written.