A Young Woman's Heart

"Sorry...didn't you sleep well?"

Tian Tingchan didn't answer, but continued to write something on the desk: "You should sleep a little longer, your clothes aren't dry."

"Oh... wait, what a mess! I didn't tell my mom I was going to be staying out tonight!" Zhou Yong panicked and pulled back the curtains, looking out the window. "How long will it take for my clothes to dry...?"

"The sun is shining brightly today, so it might be soon."

"Excuse me, excuse me, um, Brother Chan, do you have a phone? Can I borrow it?"

"On the cabinet," Tian Tingchan replied without looking up, gently biting the cap of her pen as if pondering a difficult problem.

In the shallow cabinet next to it, there were some Buddhist prayer beads and basic Buddhist books scattered around, as well as a pile of empty or unopened medicine boxes.

"Are you going to take so many medicines?" Zhou Yong casually asked, finding an old, unidentifiable brand of cell phone among the pile of medicine boxes.

"Ah."

"What's wrong with you?" Zhou Yong asked instinctively, then suddenly realized he sounded like he was insulting someone, and quickly tried to salvage the situation, "I mean, what's wrong with you? Ah... no, I didn't mean to insult you."

"Hmm..." Tian Tingchan replied perfunctorily.

After a full half-minute delay, he suddenly answered again: "Heart disease."

"Oh...then you shouldn't drink alcohol."

"It's okay to drink it occasionally."

"Okay, I'll make a call."

"Ah."

Zhou Yong quickly dialed his father's number, which rang about four or five times before being answered.

"Hello? Dad?"

"Is that Xiaoyong? What's wrong? Are you home yet?" The father on the other end didn't seem worried at all. "How did you sleep at Gao Yuan's house last night?"

"Huh?" Zhou Yong was stunned for a moment, completely unaware of what was going on.

"Next time you're going to stay overnight at a classmate's house, you should tell them in advance, okay? Yesterday, your mom had to call Gao Yuan to find out you were at his house. Luckily, Gao Yuan and you are good friends, and we have his phone number, otherwise how would we have been able to contact you?"

Zhou Yong and Gao Yuan were childhood friends. His parents knew him, so when he didn't come home late at night, their first thought was to call him.

—Of course, it's also because Gao Yuan has a cell phone and can make calls.

"Cough... Okay, next time, next time for sure."

"No need to rush. Drive carefully. If you're going home for lunch, I've left a ten-yuan note on the table. Go buy something to eat outside."

"Okay." Zhou Yong breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I'll hang up?"

"Okay, oh, whose number is this?"

"Ah, this, this is Gao Yuan's sister's." Zhou Yong made up a 'sister' out of thin air for his best friend, which made Tian Tingchan glance at him sideways.

"He has an older sister? What does she look like? How much older is she than you? Why don't you ask him to introduce you to her, let you get to know each other, and then you can get married when you're old enough?"

"what?"

"With your looks, I doubt you'll ever find a wife. You'd better start training her sooner rather than later."

"What? What?" Zhou Yong exclaimed in exasperation, "Am I really that bad?"

"I'm your father, do you think I don't know what you're like?"

"Everyone is against early dating."

"Come on, they don't allow early relationships because someone likes them. You, who no girl likes, should hurry up and start dating."

"...I'm not talking to you anymore, I'm hanging up."

"Okay." The father on the other end hung up even faster than Zhou Yong. Before he could press the hang-up button, he heard the 'beep beep beep' sound in his ear.

"Your father?" Tian Tingchan asked.

"yes……"

"They have a good relationship." Her calm tone carried a hint of restrained envy.

"It's alright," Zhou Yong replied casually, then lay back down. "Ah, suddenly I feel like lying here is pretty boring... but I don't have any clothes to wear..."

"Do you want to wear my clothes?"

"I don't wear women's clothes..."

“I have regular clothes to wear.” Tian Tingchan’s bottom seemed glued to the stool, and she didn’t want to stand up at all. “Open the innermost drawer of the cabinet, and there’s a folded school uniform that I wore in high school.”

"School uniform? You must have gone to a regular high school."

Tian Tingchan didn't answer, but her eyes revealed her confusion.

"Well, because the girls' school uniform at our school is a skirt."

"Even if my high school is the same as yours, you can still wear my school uniform."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Zhou Yong didn't understand at all, but he had one great advantage: he didn't dwell on things he couldn't figure out.

Of course, because of this, he also approaches studying in the same way...

A faint scent of mothballs wafted from the closet, where a white school uniform with blue stripes was neatly folded.

The school uniforms are generally on the larger side, and although Tian Tingchan is much shorter than Zhou Yong, she can still manage to fit into them.

It just feels a little tight.

"Ha, that feels so much better..." Zhou Yong, wearing his school uniform, stretched out with a big yawn. He could smell her fragrance in the uniform, but for some reason, he didn't feel particularly embarrassed. Perhaps it was because it was just a standard school uniform.

"Gurgle, gurgle..." At this moment, Tian Tingchan's stomach suddenly made a sound.

Are you hungry?

"It's alright," Tian Tingchan replied casually, closing the book, reciting a few lines silently, then opening it again to look at it, closing it again to recite silently, pausing for a full two minutes before saying, "I usually only eat one meal a day, I'm used to it."

"Oh, I'll go buy breakfast then. Where did I put the money in my pants pocket?"

Tian Tingchan silently pointed to the cabinet near the door.

On it were the banknotes and coins Zhou Yong had brought with him when he left home. He didn't even bother to count them properly before stuffing them all into his pocket.

"Then I'll go out and buy breakfast! What do you want to eat?"

"You don't need to buy my share."

"Ah, since we're going to buy it anyway, why not? I have quite a bit of money here, buying some breakfast won't be a problem!"

"casual."

"Then wait for me to come back." Zhou Yong pushed open the door, put on his shoes, and ran downstairs.

Before long, the sound of 'thump thump thump' came from the corridor again, and then the knocking sounded. Only then did the person realize that the door had been left open, so they pulled it open and came in.

"I didn't know what you liked to eat, so I bought xiaolongbao, pan-fried dumplings, and tofu pudding. I bought one serving of savory and one serving of sweet. Do you want sweet or savory?"

"It's all right."

"Then I'll give you something sweet." Zhou Yong placed the tofu pudding on her small folding table. "You won't have the energy to study if you don't eat your fill. By the way, what are you studying?"

“…Nursing.” Tian Tingchan brushed a strand of hair aside and gathered up the schoolbag, paper, and pens on the table. “Put them here.”

"OK." Zhou Yong placed the breakfast on the table, sat down on the floor, and started eating. "Eat up, eat more."

Tian Tingchan stared silently at the steamed buns in front of her, swallowed almost imperceptibly, then tore open the plastic packaging of the disposable chopsticks, picked one up, held it lightly in her hand, and took a small bite.

"The taste is alright, isn't it? I bought this xiaolongbao from Xinfeng Snack Shop; it's shrimp-filled."

"Mmm, it's delicious." Tian Tingchan closed her eyes slightly, a peaceful and happy expression appearing on her face.

"Why do you always keep the curtains drawn? It's so dark. Why don't you open them completely to let the sunlight in?" Zhou Yong said as he walked to the window and yanked the curtains open with a 'whoosh,' letting the bright sunlight stream into the room, causing Tian Tingchan to squint.

She didn't say anything in the end, and after finishing her meal, she continued studying.

Zhou Yong, meanwhile, waited idly for the clothes to dry.

"By the way, do you have any paper?"

"Tear." Tian Tingchan tore off a piece of draft paper.

Can I use this money?

"Ah."

Then came a long silence.

Zhou Yong felt a little embarrassed. He touched the hem of his pants again and again. After they were finally dry, he couldn't wait to pull them back up and put them on again: "Ha, they're finally dry. I'm going home now."

"Ah."

"Bye-bye! Let's hang out again next time!"

"Ah."

"boom."

The door was closed.

The room fell silent again, just like always.

Tian Tingchan subconsciously walked to the window and saw the bustling traffic outside bathed in sunlight.

She turned around thoughtfully, put away the school uniform that Zhou Yong had worn for half a day, and prepared to wash it later.

But when he instinctively reached into his pocket, he found several ten-yuan and five-yuan bills, as well as one-yuan and five-jiao coins.

Tucked inside the banknotes was a torn piece of draft paper with a not-so-perfect round smiley face drawn on it in black pen.

……

Chapter 216 A Good Sun, A Good Mood

I woke up today not in that cramped bed in the small room of the fruit shop, but in the spacious and soft Simmons bed in my bedroom at home.

"Whoosh!" Mo Xueyao sat up abruptly and found that Li Wanyan was already awake, with the sound of running water coming from the bathroom.