A Young Woman's Heart

A woman with a wrinkled face was lying on the bed. When she saw someone come in, she tried to sit up, but she couldn't move her legs at all. She could only support herself with her hands and lean against the wall.

"No need to be so polite..." Mo Xueyao quickly waved her hand, "Hello, we are Zhang Yumeng's classmates..."

“This is my mom…” Zhang Yumeng said softly, “She usually works in a factory, but she’s had a high fever lately, so I’m staying home to take care of her…”

"I see... Where's your dad?"

"He also works at the factory, and he'll bring lunch back later."

"oh oh."

Mo Xueyao breathed a slight sigh of relief. Although the family situation wasn't good, it still seemed like a complete family.

"You...cough cough, okay..." Zhang Yumeng's mother had just opened her mouth to say something when she coughed violently. Zhang Yumeng, who was next to her, quickly handed her some water and gently patted her back. It took her a long time to catch her breath. "I'm sorry, my legs are bad, I can't move, I can't get out of bed..."

"It's alright, it's alright, you can just lie down," Mo Xueyao quickly said. "We just came to check on you, it's nothing serious."

"Click..." Just then, the sound of a key turning came from outside. The door opened, and a man in an old trench coat walked in. He was clearly taken aback, obviously because he had never had so many guests in his home before.

He held the plastic bag containing the lunchbox in one hand, looking nervous and uneasy: "Who are you...?"

"Dad, these are my classmates."

"Oh, hello." The weathered man cleared his throat. "I'm sorry to have made you laugh."

Only then did he turn completely to face the crowd.

Only then did everyone realize that he was missing an arm.

But everyone kept their mouths shut and didn't say a word, as if everything was normal.

"I should be able to go back to school on Monday, right?" Li Wanyan asked, but an awkward silence still hung in the air.

"Yes, it's possible..."

"Okay, then we'll leave these things here and be on our way."

"What are these...?" the man asked awkwardly. "I feel so bad for bringing gifts..."

"It's alright, these, these were sent over by Wen." Ye Banxia said quickly, "Yumeng, just accept them, and then, then we won't bother you anymore..."

The man glanced at Mo Xueyao and her friends who were turning to leave, then quickly patted his daughter's shoulder, gesturing for her to come over: "Your friends are here, why don't you go out and chat with them, take a walk..."

"I... okay."

……

(two)

Every country has places like slums.

This place is practically a slum.

Although it seems relatively safe, you can still see quite a few hair salons with red ribbons hanging on the streets.

The women inside looked to be as young as fifteen or sixteen, and as old as thirty. While not all of them were dressed extravagantly, they were all dressed very scantily, seemingly trying their best to display their physical allure to passersby.

Occasionally, a man who was dressed fairly neatly would walk in, choose one of the women, and go upstairs.

“My parents weren’t originally disabled; it was just an accident at work that made them like this.”

"Ah, that's alright." Mo Xueyao meant that since this wasn't a congenital disability, it wouldn't be passed on to Zhang Yumeng.

"Um... thank you for coming all this way, but there really isn't much to see here..." Zhang Yumeng looked a little uneasy and awkward.

"Don't feel inferior." Mo Xueyao said, putting her hands behind her back as she walked. "We're all classmates, no one will look down on you because of something like this."

"Yes, but I didn't expect your family to be in such dire straits, not just financially..." Ye Banxia nodded, giving her a reassuring smile.

"By the way, with this place being so chaotic, do you have any trouble getting to and from school?"

"Fortunately... there are a few stray dogs here that recognize me, and they'll escort me when it gets late..."

"That's alright, but it's still very dangerous."

“There’s no other way…we can only live here, the rent in other places is too expensive…” Zhang Yumeng bit her lip, “I don’t plan to go to university, I’ll go to work after I graduate from high school.”

"Oh, but your parents have worked so hard to send you through high school. Wouldn't it be a waste if you didn't go to university?"

"But the situation at home is just too bad..."

"But we can't give up, we've come this far."

"I...we'll talk about it later." Zhang Yumeng didn't continue the topic.

Mo Xueyao tilted her head and looked at the hair salons next to her that did illicit business: "Won't people here abduct innocent women and sell...you know what?"

"No, that's not the case. Everyone goes voluntarily."

"Huh?"

"For money."

"Yu Meng, you absolutely must not go. Going there is like falling into an abyss."

"I won't go." Zhang Yumeng's words were clearly perfunctory, and she glanced at the hair salon next door a few more times. "I heard that place doesn't make much money. Some places can earn twenty or thirty thousand a month..."

"Then don't be tempted!"

“I know…” Zhang Yumeng gave a wry smile, “I, I’m not good-looking either, I can’t sell for such a high price.”

“You can’t have that kind of thinking.” Li Wanyan said seriously, “Life will get back on track, just hang in there.”

"Yeah, if all else fails, how about we discuss having your family stay with Xiaoxiao and her family?"

"That's not good, my parents will affect them..."

Mo Xueyao scratched her head, realizing that her suggestion was a bit hasty.

"Thank you all, but I'm used to it now. Don't worry about it. There are so many people in the world who need help, and you can't possibly help them all."

“But at least we can help one person.” Mo Xueyao looked at Li Wanyan. “Well… in short, come to us when you need help. Don’t always try to carry it all by yourself. Also, if you’re feeling down, you can come to us… it’s always better to talk about it than to keep it bottled up.”

"Thank you." She nodded gently.

Ye Banxia licked her upper lip with her tongue: "Shall we go then?"

"Let's go, it's getting dark."

"I'm leaving, goodbye." Li Wanyan nodded.

"goodbye……"

……

(three)

Zhang Yumeng breathed a sigh of relief, as if she had thought of something. She quickly covered her pockets and ran towards her home, passing through narrow staircases and corridors, and knocked on her own door.

The mother was eating, while the father was talking about trivial work matters, hoping to make his wife happy.

"Have you been that busy lately?"

"Yes, we've been working overtime these past few days."

"Then I'll go tomorrow and earn more money."

"Yes... my daughter is back."

"Dad, Mom," Zhang Yumeng called softly, taking out three hundred yuan in cash from her pocket. The money looked quite new, as if it had just been withdrawn from the bank not long ago.

"This is?"

"They gave it to me just now." Her eyes darted away as she looked at the aloe vera plant on the windowsill and said softly.

"How could you accept money from a classmate..."

"No, it wasn't given to me by a classmate, it was given to me by my teacher."

"Oh, this, this is so embarrassing. Your school has already helped us so much, and we even get a poverty subsidy every semester..."

"Yes."

"This is... the poverty subsidy."

"How come they're giving out poverty subsidies before the end of the semester?"

"Well, because... because I'm graduating soon, I'm sending them more frequently." Zhang Yumeng seemed to be trying to find an excuse, then quickly changed the subject, "Dad, are you going out tonight?"

"Of course we'll go. There's a lot of work lately, so we can do more and earn more. We'll save some money so that when you go to university, we can go with you and rent a place near the university. We need to save more now."

Zhang Yumeng opened her mouth, hesitated for a long time, and only said when her father stood up to leave: "How about I don't go to school... University is expensive, I'll just go and work after I graduate?"

“That won’t do. You’ve already finished high school, and you’re just one step away from university. You can’t give up.” The father raised his eyebrows. “Only education can change our destiny. Otherwise, our family will continue to be like this. You can’t be so short-sighted, you know, Yumeng.”

"but I……"

"Is it because your grades are too bad to get into university? Yumeng, your parents work so hard to send you to school, you can't just sit around doing nothing."

"I didn't!" Zhang Yumeng was a little agitated. "I, I studied hard, it's just, not very well... barely, barely enough to get into university, but I heard that the tuition fees for not-so-good universities are very expensive."

"It's alright, your parents can afford to send you to university." Her father patted her head with his only remaining hand and rubbed it hard. "Don't worry about the family. Your task now is to study hard."

"Um……"

"Don't overthink it, life will get better and better."

"it is good……"

"Alright, alright, I'm leaving now. You stay home and take care of your mom. Remember to eat."

"Ah."

Zhang Yumeng stood at the door, watching her father leave through the narrow corridor.

Darkness gradually swallowed his silhouette.

The broken streetlights on the dirt road outside came on, some dimly lit, and some even completely broken.

The light made the slum appear patchy, with patches of darkness and light.

Many people here seem to prefer hiding in the shadows.

Vulgar and obscene insults came from not far away; it seemed some thugs were having another brawl...

……