A Young Woman's Heart

The snow was falling gently outside the window.

Although it was only light snow, it had been falling all morning, so some pure white snow had accumulated in places where no one went.

In ancient Chinese poetry, snow has always been a symbol of beauty and purity.

Sometimes, it's a way to express one's cold, melancholic sorrow.

Although from a scientific point of view, snow is not a very clean thing—but if everything were based on science, many things would lose their romance.

In the clubroom, the girls were sewing at their desks, and even Mo Xueyao, who wasn't good at needlework, was forced to join in.

In fact, she preferred to go to the next classroom and assemble furniture with the boys...

Mo Xueyao was sewing a pillow. The fabric for the pillow was bought and cut by herself, and the cotton inside was loose, so she had to fill it in herself.

These were all provided by the wealthy and powerful Gao Yuan.

Today, the art teacher wasn't in the clubroom; he was off playing games with the physics teacher and the others, neglecting his duties.

According to a tip from the homeroom teacher obtained by the English teacher, the art teacher went to an internet cafe and played Counter-Strike all night during the New Year's Day holiday. When he got home and went to sleep, he talked in his sleep about things like "Shoot him," "Grenade!" and "B point!"

Mo Xueyao's thoughts drifted back to the two English classes that morning, where they taught while making cakes. Although the final cakes were far too small for the whole class, Mo Xueyao still got a piece. Even though she didn't make them herself, she felt a sense of participation, and the cakes seemed to taste even better than those bought from a store.

"Hiss!" Mo Xueyao suddenly gasped, feeling a sharp pain in her index finger.

A drop of bright red blood rolled down her fingertip. To avoid soiling the pillow, Mo Xueyao quickly put her index finger in her mouth and sucked hard.

"What's wrong, Yaoyao? Did you prick your hand with a needle?" Mo Xiaoxiao asked with concern.

"Band-Aids." Li Wanyan handed over a box of Band-Aids with practiced ease and speed.

"Does it hurt? Be careful." Mo Xiaoxiao helped her peel off a band-aid. "Here, stick your finger over."

"Uh... thank you, it doesn't hurt." Mo Xueyao smiled awkwardly. "I'm still not very good at this."

Mo Xiaoxiao shook her head and covered her wound with a band-aid: "It's okay, take your time to learn, you'll get good at it eventually. Besides, even very skilled people get pricked by needles, it's normal~"

"Okay, take your time." Li Wanyan nodded gently.

"Sister—help me thread this needle..." Mo Zhuyou weakly handed the needle and thread to Mo Xiaoxiao, "My eyes are getting blurry from threading it..."

"You just have no patience."

"Tch, with my sister here, why do I need patience?" Mo Zhuyou pouted.

This was a minor incident that didn't cause much of a stir in her life. After putting on the band-aid, Mo Xueyao started stitching again.

What she's doing now is sewing a zipper onto the pillowcase so she can easily remove it to wash it later.

After such a long time, the preparation of the furniture is nearing completion.

Although everyone started learning to make them from scratch, they weren't very complex pieces of furniture, and the overall style leaned towards simplicity.

Some are made of wood, while others are made from scrap metal.

For example, Zhou Yong made a chair pieced together from thick iron wire, which had a post-apocalyptic wasteland style.

He even went to his physics teacher to ask about how to use electric welding.

The boys are now tinkering with the last piece of furniture—a bed—in the classroom next door.

Meanwhile, the girls were busy finishing all the bedding.

I should be able to finish the pillowcases today, and then I'll make a quilt.

"Phew... I'm halfway done." Mo Xueyao rubbed her sore eyes, looked down and pushed Sutang, who was playing with a ball of yarn, aside. "Sutang—you messed up the yarn again. If you mess it up again, we'll have cat meat hot pot for Chinese New Year, you believe me?"

"Cat meat must be sour," Li Wanyan said casually as she stuffed a wad of cotton into a thin nylon bag and tied it with the rope she had brought with her.

This is the pillow stuffing. You can take it out and air it when you change the pillowcase. If you feel that the cotton inside is no longer comfortable to lean against, you can also reopen the bag and stuff some new cotton in.

"Tsk, it's not afraid at all unless you threaten it a little." Mo Xueyao picked up Su Tang by the scruff of its neck. "Go down and play, don't mess around up here."

"Meow~" Su Tang waved her paws resentfully, as if to express her dissatisfaction.

"Sutang~ Come here~" Mo Xiaoxiao clapped her hands at it and tossed it a ball of yarn, "Here, play with this~"

"Meow~" Su Tang immediately hopped over excitedly like a rabbit and started playing with the ball of yarn on the ground.

"Yaoyao, are you going back to your hometown for the Spring Festival this year?" Mo Xiaoxiao asked casually.

"In a sense, yes, I guess so?"

"What about Wanyan?" Mo Xiaoxiao already knew that Li Wanyan was homeless and was currently staying at Mo Xueyao's house.

“Let’s go back together,” Mo Xueyao replied matter-of-factly.

"If that house is finished, can my sister and I move in first?" Mo Zhuyou said happily, "Let's celebrate the New Year in the new house!"

"Well, I probably won't be living there in the future."

"Huh? Why? Isn't it more lively when everyone's together?" Mo Zhuyou asked, looking puzzled.

Li Wanyan brushed a strand of hair behind her ear: "I'm staying at Xiaoyao's house... quite comfortably."

"Well—but it's someone else's home after all," Mo Xiaoxiao said cryptically.

"Tch, what's wrong with that? My parents have already taken Wanyan as their goddaughter." Mo Xueyao glanced at Mo Xiaoxiao sideways. "What's wrong with a goddaughter living with her godparents?"

Mo Xiaoxiao gave the two of them an apologetic look: "Since you get along so well, then there's no problem."

They chatted casually like that, and time flew by.

Mo Xueyao finally managed to sew the zipper on at 12:30. Although it looked slightly crooked upon closer inspection, it wasn't a big deal, and she was too lazy to take it apart and sew it again, so she decided to just make do with it as it was...

"Phew—I'm exhausted." She stretched and yawned, making a 'click-clack' sound. "I'm going to check on how things are next door."

“Let’s go together then.” Li Wanyan stood up. “I’m all ready here too.”

"Hmm, let's see what the boys are up to~" The two sisters raised their hands in agreement.

The classroom next door was an empty classroom, which was temporarily used by the art club to store furniture. Now the classroom is filled with many things.

"Duanmu Ji, bring me that board."

"Zhou Yong, you don't need to help it anymore, go help it over there."

"Gao Yuan, give me the nail."

Mr. Xue was like a carpenter, and the others were his assistants gathered around him. In fact, he drew many of the furniture blueprints, so he was directly in charge of the production process.

"Hey, you guys are here? Did you finish making the pillowcases today?" Gao Yuan turned around and greeted the girls. "Hehe, are you here to see our handsome figures?"

"Apart from Mr. Xue, who else among these people deserves the word 'handsome'?" Mo Zhuyou said sarcastically, her eyelids drooping.

"Holy crap, are you saying our Xiao Ji isn't handsome?" Gao Yuan exclaimed, his eyes widening in exaggerated surprise.

Duanmu Ji rolled his eyes: "Don't call me Xiao Ji."

"Ahem, haha, we plan to finish building the house before the Chinese New Year, or more accurately, before the winter break." Gao Yuan patted his chest and looked at Li Wanyan. "Then anyone who needs it can move in."

Li Wanyan glanced at Gao Yuan with a complicated expression, sighed, and said softly, "Gao Yuan, come out for a moment."

"Huh? What's wrong?" Gao Yuan asked, scurrying out of the classroom.

"Come this way." Li Wanyan turned and walked towards the rooftop, and Gao Yuan quickly followed.

The two walked all the way to the center of the rooftop before stopping.

Li Wanyan turned around and gave a rare smile: "Thank you, Gao Yuan."

"Huh? You're welcome. Helping classmates is the right thing to do, especially since you're my deskmate, right?"

"You can let the two sisters, Mo Xiaoxiao and Mo Zhuyou, move in."

“Of course, I know about this too—” Gao Yuan scratched his head and chuckled awkwardly, “Huh…? Uh… what’s wrong? Don’t you like living with them?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it,” Li Wanyan shook her head. “I feel like I don’t need it anymore.”

"Oh, it would be better to stay at Mo Xueyao's house, wouldn't it?"

"Ah."

"That's great! If you ever want to stay there, you can always come to me," Gao Yuan said nonchalantly. "You can stay wherever you want, it's no big deal, haha—don't be so serious, smile again!"

Li Wanyan couldn't help but chuckle softly. For some reason, her eyes felt a little sore. She wanted to say something, but seemed too embarrassed to say it.

"Oh, no need to thank me for caring about you, right? That would be too much trouble."

"I haven't said anything yet."

“I can tell just by looking into your eyes. Look at my clear eyes; they have the power to see through everything!” Gao Yuan said, pointing to his squinty eyes.

If he were thinner, his eyes might look bigger, but now they're squeezed into slits by the fat on his face.

"Pfft! Where are your eyes?"

"Here, hey, don't look at my nostrils!"

“I think that looks more like your eyes.”

"Hey, are my eyes really that small?!" Gao Yuan tried to open her eyes as wide as possible. "How about this?"

"I can see the whites of your eyes now."

Where are the eyeballs?

"I can't see it."

"Damn it." Gao Yuan slapped his forehead. "Forget it, is this all you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Um...and also, thank you, you're a good person."

"Hiss—" Gao Yuan pretended to shiver. "Don't say that. I'm getting goosebumps. I didn't even confess. Why are you so eager to reject me?"

"Huh? What?"

"I mean, the person I like is another girl, class monitor, don't flatter yourself!" Gao Yuan teased in a high-pitched voice.

"What are you saying?" Li Wanyan smiled helplessly.

"Haha—let's go, let's get back to work!"

……