A Young Woman's Heart

(One)

"Dengdengdeng..."

After the hurried sound of people going upstairs, there was the sound of a key turning and the door being pushed open quickly.

Mo Xueyao kicked her shoes on the ground and walked in, her footsteps clicking on the wooden floor.

She clutched her stomach with one hand while quickly rummaging through her suitcase filled with various daily necessities with the other.

Without bothering to tidy up the few clothes scattered around, she grabbed the bag of soft 'Sofy' toiletries with one hand and rushed to the door. Not having time to put her little leather shoes back on, she simply slipped on her shower sandals and ran quickly to the bathroom.

Yes, it's one of the troubles of being a girl.

It's my period again every month.

Although two or three years have passed, Mo Xueyao still hates having her period. Every time it comes, she feels inexplicably irritable and can't help but miss the teenage years when she didn't have a period.

The most annoying thing is, of course, when I first arrive.

Although you can calculate the date, it may be delayed or brought forward occasionally. If you're lucky, you've already paid for the day in advance, so there's no pressure when it arrives.

Bad luck... or rather, most of the time, it's only after a few drops of blood have already stained my pants that I realize my damn period has started.

If most of the time it's just a light drizzle when you first arrive, then when you're unlucky, it can be a torrential downpour right from the start, and it's not impossible for it to stain your entire pair of underwear red.

Some girls in the class occasionally make careless mistakes, and when the boys find out, they will tease and laugh at them several times.

Even though I know they were just joking, it still makes me feel really annoyed.

Fortunately, it was during class time, and it was even a PE class. Otherwise, Mo Xueyao would either have to wait until get out of class ended to go to the toilet, or she would have to raise her hand and ask the teacher.

Either way seems rather awkward.

The root of all this lies in the lack of openness and freedom in social atmosphere.

It still carries some conservative ideas from feudal society.

Otherwise, no matter how you look at it, you won't find anything funny about it.

But humans are social animals, and they are always affected to some extent.

……

(two)

"Phew..." Mo Xueyao hung the cleaned underwear on the window to dry, finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Although it has rained again these past two days and the weather has cooled down considerably, she still broke out in a sweat from all the work.

A cool breeze blew in from outside the window, making her sneeze.

It was May, but she felt as cold as March.

"Is it that cold today..." she muttered, turning around to clean up the mess she had just spilled on the floor.

I put the clothes back in my suitcase, took out a light jacket and put it on, and then I felt a little more comfortable.

As for warming up... that certainly won't happen anytime soon.

This time, she slowly squatted down, put on her little leather shoes, wiped the dust off the shoes with a napkin, making them look so shiny they almost reflected light, before standing up, closing the door, locking it with her key, and letting the 'tap tap tap' of her footsteps fade away unhurriedly.

……

(three)

"Hey—why is there no water?" Mo Xueyao stood in front of the water dispenser holding her water cup and pressed the hot water switch again. "What's going on? Has no one changed the water?"

There weren't many students in the classroom; most of them were in physical education class.

Le Tingfeng, who was sitting in the back reading a novel, glanced over here: "There's no water. I went to carry some this morning. The warehouse is out of water. We have to wait for water to be transported up."

"Ah..." Mo Xueyao slumped down, her arms hanging limply. "I wanted to drink some hot water..."

Every time my period comes, I always feel an urge to drink something hot, even in the sweltering summer.

No matter how hot it is outside, even if you sweat, you still feel cold inside.

It's like having ice packs applied to the walls of your internal organs.

"Are you cold?" Yue Tingfeng crossed his legs. "Uh, would you like some cocktails to warm up?"

"If you want me dead, just say so..." Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes, leaving Le Tingfeng somewhat confused, wondering why she was suddenly so angry.

He remembered that his mother liked to drink alcohol when it was cold, like cocktails, which had a low alcohol content and could warm him up.

"Wanyan—!" Mo Xueyao yelled at Li Wanyan, who was sitting on the steps by the door chatting with Cha Li, "Do you have any hot water to drink?!"

"Hmm." Li Wanyan glanced at her, as if she already knew what had happened. "In the drawer."

"OK~!" Mo Xueyao rushed back to the classroom as if she had been saved, opened the thermos in Li Wanyan's drawer, and poured half of it into her own water cup.

Holding the warm cup and drinking the hot water, Mo Xueyao felt as if she had been brought back to life.

Of course, this amount of water is far from enough to drink, so we have to conserve it and drink it slowly, since who knows when the bottled water will be delivered.

Of course, there might be some in the teacher's office, but other students would probably go there to get water too, and it's already afternoon, so even if there is, there probably won't be much left.

……

(four)

Fridays in the mountains are not like Fridays when school ends early, unlike in regular school.

In fact, the classes were the same as the previous few days, and evening self-study sessions continued until 11 or 12 o'clock.

After almost a month, I am indeed tired, but I am mostly numb.

This, to some extent, seems to prove just how high a person's endurance is.

On the contrary, the closer it gets to the end of the training camp, the more restless and uneasy people feel.

Just like during winter and summer vacations, the closer the vacation gets to a long one, the less students want to go to class.

That's how people are. When there's no hope, they can keep going like this, but once there's hope, they'll try their best to grasp it and struggle desperately to escape.

"Kaz—" The water delivery person finally arrived. Li Hongran ran to carry a bucket of water and put it into the water dispenser. He was the first to eagerly fill a plastic bottle with water and then drink it all in one gulp.

"Damn it... I'm so thirsty..." Li Hongran let out a long breath, still seemingly not quite satisfied.

"Li Hongran! Press the switch to boil water, I need some hot water to drink later!" Mo Xueyao hurriedly called out. If the water hadn't taken so long to boil, she would have gone over to get it by now.

"Hey... Phew... Xiaoyao is here today too?" Wang Jiale tilted her head and leaned her body on her desk from the front.

"Hmm...Lele too?"

"Yes, me too, today."

When did you arrive?

"I was fine during PE class when I first arrived..." she said, looking exhausted.

"I came during PE class. By the way, how did you know?"

"I saw you hanging there when I got back to the dorm... la."

"Oh, oh." Mo Xueyao immediately felt a sense of shared misfortune. "How are you? Are you cold?"

"It's so cold, it feels like I've been stuffed into a refrigerator." Wang Jiale, like her, had also put on a long-sleeved jacket, but still couldn't stop shivering while sitting in her seat.

"You're... much colder than me. I just feel a little chilly."

"Hey, is it too cold? Want to snuggle into my arms? My arms are super warm!"

"Yinyin, go away..." Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes.

But Hua Yinyin insisted on placing her hands on her little face: "How is it? Isn't it super warm?"

"Hey, Yinyin, why are your hands so warm? Do you have a fever?"

"What? It's because I'm healthy!"

"Yinyin~ Can I touch your hand?"

“Here.” Hua Yinyin immediately handed over both hands.

Wang Jiale held her hands in his arms, couldn't help but let out a comfortable sigh, and then pressed them against his cheeks: "So warm..."

"Hehe, right?"

Wang Jiale nodded, stood up from the chair, and sat on Hua Yinyin's lap: "Hmm, it's warmer here, warm and soft."

"What a tongue twister..." Mo Xueyao pouted and teased, "Yinyin's scheme succeeded."

"Ugh, am I that kind of person? Besides, Lele is so skinny, she's like a skeleton, she doesn't feel anything when you touch her."

"Lele, look."

"Xiaoyao, please don't try to sow discord today."

"Ugh, when did your affair develop to this point?" Mo Xueyao sniffed, feeling like she might have caught a cold.

"Hey, is Yaoyao jealous? Well, you can come closer if you want, okay?"

"Go play somewhere else." Mo Xueyao shrank back against the wall and spread out the test papers on the table. "Instead of playing, you might as well do some homework. You don't want to go back to the dorm after evening self-study at midnight, do you?"

Evening self-study ends normally at 11 p.m., but if you haven't finished your homework, you can stay and continue writing until midnight, when the teacher will come and ask you to leave.

Because if I didn't go to sleep then, I wouldn't even be able to get five hours of sleep.

"Oh no, I give up. If all else fails, I'll just copy Xiaoyaoyao's work!"

"There's nowhere for you to cheat during the college entrance exam."

"Little Yaoyao, you must sit next to me during the college entrance exam!"

"For this kind of thing, you should contact the education bureau..."

……

(Fives)

Tonight's dinner is rice cake soup. There was a large iron bucket placed at the door of each classroom, and bowls were given to the students. They could help themselves if they wanted some.

The rice cake contains tofu, cabbage, and a little shredded meat, but the flavor is rather bland, which most boys don't like.

"Thank goodness it's rice cake soup..." Mo Xueyao, who had little appetite, breathed a sigh of relief. When she was on her period, she could only eat light and soupy foods like this.

"Ugh... I want something spicy..." Wang Jiale, who was also on her period, licked her lips, looking like she had no appetite. "This is too bland..."