A Young Woman's Heart

"Ah! A flashlight?" Mo Xueyao obviously didn't have one.

"I have one." Taiyin, who hadn't said much along the way, took out a small flashlight from her pocket. The light wasn't very bright, but it was enough to illuminate the way ahead.

The mountains were so quiet in the dead of night that you couldn't help but hold your breath. Every now and then you could hear some rustling sounds, like the wind blowing or some animal walking by.

"Won't there be snakes?" Hua Yinyin shrank back, following closely behind Taiyin.

Taiyin, the petite of the three, walked at the very front and became her pillar of support.

Perhaps you couldn't see the slightest bit of panic on her face?

"Well... who knows?" Mo Xueyao couldn't guarantee anything, so she could only try her best to avoid stepping on those areas overgrown with weeds.

As they were talking, they suddenly heard footsteps behind them.

Mo Xueyao glanced at Li Wanyan and found her standing right next to her.

Where did those footsteps behind us come from?

"Who, who...who's there?" Hua Yinyin shouted nervously.

"Are you a local?" Mo Xueyao swallowed.

The footsteps grew closer, and Taiyin, who was walking at the front, suddenly started running. This startled Mo Xueyao and Hua Yinyin, who also started running as if some ghost or beast was chasing them.

Mo Xueyao was so frightened that her mind went blank. She only cared about grabbing Li Wanyan and running away, and didn't have time to think about anything else.

"Huh...huh..."

"They're still chasing us!" Hua Yinyin's face was pale. "Could it really be a ghost? It sounds like human footsteps!"

Li Wanyan's expression was somewhat strange, but she didn't say anything and just followed Mo Xueyao and the others.

As they slowed down, the footsteps finally grew closer and closer.

Neither of them dared to turn around, when they heard a loud shout.

"Hey!! Taiyin, and Mo Xueyao, why are you running away?!"

"Huh?" Mo Xueyao was startled at first, then turned around with a trembling body. Taiyin's flashlight shone over at just the right moment.

It turned out to be Wang Qianyu.

"I came back by boat without a flashlight. I saw that you guys had one, so I wanted to run over and use it. But you all ran so fast, what are you doing!"

"..."

"Mo Xueyao and the others may not know, but Taiyin, you must know it's me, right?"

"Eh? Teacher Qianyu went to see the opera too?"

"Pfft, I'm on another ship, really, but it's quite far away, so it's normal that you didn't see me."

"Seeing them terrifies me, so I'll give it a try," Taiyin said expressionlessly, revealing her prank.

Mo Xueyao never imagined that she had such a wicked sense of humor, even though she seemed so serious.

"...I saw it before."

"Hey, why didn't you say anything about Wanyan!" Mo Xueyao and Hua Yinyin said in unison.

"...because it's very interesting."

"Hey! Did Teacher Taiyin infect you, or did you infect Teacher Taiyin!?"

……

Chapter 264 Daily School Life Deep in the Mountains (Part 1)

(One)

On Sunday evening, the students, who had been 'indulging' for a whole day and a half, finally had to return to the classroom.

It's evening self-study time now.

Even though there was no homework assigned before, the teachers suddenly handed it out and asked the students to complete it during evening self-study time.

English was taught through newspapers, Chinese through specialized training in classical Chinese, math through workbooks, and geography, history, and politics through memorization—the teacher was in the classroom, and once you memorized something, you had to go up to the classroom and recite it in front of the teacher.

None of the teachers for these three subjects came this time, so Ye Wen had to do all the work on their behalf.

As a Chinese language teacher, she seemed to feel no pressure about teaching these three subjects.

—It's just that I'm much busier than usual.

"No one is allowed to leave get out of class until they've finished memorizing it." Ye Wen blinked as she leaned on the podium. "Let me tell you, I'll stay up with you until 1 a.m.!"

You scratched your head in anguish and joined the others in groaning.

I imagine that for you, having to finish your homework and memorize all of this must be an incredibly difficult task.

At this point, the most sensible thing to do is to find a loophole.

When you can't solve something, you always try to find other ways to solve it, just like you do now.

And in fact, you do always manage to solve it—but not every time.

"Liu Xiaowei, I'll be keeping an eye on you today." Ye Wen squinted at you.

You're a little intimidated, but you still puff out your chest as if you're not afraid: "Pshaw, it's just a few words, do you think I can't memorize them?"

"These are all the simplest basic knowledge. If you can't memorize them, you're doomed."

You suddenly feel listless.

—Completing something that isn't challenging isn't interesting enough.

Although you tend to give up on most challenging tasks.

Okay, you've decided to tackle the simpler Chinese language first.

No matter what, you're a humanities student, so writing a Chinese essay shouldn't be a problem for you.

There are people in this world who are bad at math but still get into science classes, but there are probably very few who are bad at Chinese but still try to squeeze into humanities classes.

Unless the grades are so bad that there is no other choice.

But being able to stay in this top class proves that you have the ability.

You sighed and unfolded the exam paper.

He sighed again as he picked up the pen.

Back in junior high, I didn't need to work very hard to get into the top ten in my class. Although I didn't get into a top high school, I didn't really miss out by just a few points.

"Sigh, people are just incomparable."

"What are you doing, sighing all the time?"

Your deskmate, Wang Jiale, never gets along with you. Whenever you make a move, she looks at you with disdain.

You were a little unhappy at first, weren't you?

But you're something else, kid; you actually started to enjoy it later on.

That's because you think that if the other person pays attention to you, it means they like you.

That's absolutely hilarious! Only someone like you would think that way, right?

Actually, you hate the other person to death—oh right, after what happened last time, you might not hate them as much anymore, but you definitely wouldn't say you like them.

"Damn it, the voice in my head is so annoying..."

"You're talking to yourself?"

"Don't you have it? It's that subconscious feeling."

"...Liu Xiaowei, you're getting weirder and weirder. And don't go over the line, okay? I don't even have room to write anymore."

"Damn, even though I exceeded the limit by such a small amount, it counts?"

"Of course it counts!" she said, pushing the books piled on the table toward you with dissatisfaction. "Stop making a fuss, okay?"

"Damn it, you were the one who spoke to me first..." You decide not to argue with a woman and continue doing your homework.

Take that broken pen and slowly write your lousy words on this broken desk.

"How can your mother talk like that..." you said to yourself, but you had to admit that it was what you were thinking subconsciously.

You actually know very well what kind of person you are. Of course you feel inferior when you're alone, but most of the time you use a hard shell to disguise yourself.

Oh, yes, of course you're not that fragile. Okay, go do your Chinese homework and stop thinking about all that nonsense.

……

(two)

The moonlight shone into the room inch by inch.

The ceiling light above wasn't very bright, emitting a dim, yellowish glow.

But that's good, at least it won't make your eyes feel dizzy.

The orange cat came again; it always seemed to like sticking close to Mo Xueyao.

Damn it, it's so great to be a pretty girl.

You can't help but think that way.

—Even cats like you, unlike you, even dogs bark at you.

Although you are very self-aware and know your place.

But I still feel envious sometimes.

You can't help but imagine how much food and drink you could eat and drink for free if you were a beautiful girl.

But the thought of not being able to do those things with girls immediately makes him feel depressed again.

Forget it, the girl is beautiful, but that's about it, she's not good enough.

You kicked the table leg, and the pretty girl next to you immediately exclaimed, "What are you doing?!"

It's like it has a switch; it reacts to whatever you make.