A Young Woman's Heart

"What songs would you like to request?" Shi Haiming asked while flipping through the CDs. "What singers do you like?"

"Whatever, a simple pop song will do." Mo Xueyao leaned back lazily in her chair.

"Oh, then this one will do, 100 popular hits." Shi Haiming said as he put the disc into the DVD player. After a few 'swish' sounds as the disc was read, the picture began to appear on the large screen television.

"Where is the light switch?" Li Gutao asked, searching on the sofa.

"Just turn on a simple light behind the door, nothing too bright, it's too blinding."

"That's it? The feeling of the starry sky?" Li Gutao first turned off the fully lit lights, and then turned on the projection light, which seemed to project the starry sky onto the ground.

"That's about right, let's leave it at that." Shi Haiming nodded and sat down in the middle of the sofa.

"This is my first time in a karaoke bar." Mo Xueyao looked around curiously, picked up the instrument used for accompaniment, whose name she didn't know, but which made a 'clattering' sound whenever it was shaken.

"Well... after all, most schools prohibit students from going to KTVs... they're not exactly good places." Shi Haiming patted the microphone, "Hello, hello?"

"Xiaoming, let me tell you, Xiaoyao's hands are super soft, do you want to touch them?"

"Really?" Shi Haiming turned to look at Mo Xueyao.

"I refuse!" Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes. "Do you think I'm a prostitute, someone you can just touch whenever you want!"

"Haha, actually I'm not interested, because I've touched too many of them before. Although most of them aren't pretty, there are some that are... well, but this kind of thing, really, you'll understand once you've experienced it. I'm already completely unmoved when I see people without clothes."

"Are you going to become a monk?" Li Gutao handed another microphone to Mo Xueyao.

"Hey, you know what, there are a lot of things that you want to do more the more you forbid them from doing them, but if you let them do them freely, they lose interest. Isn't that strange?"

"That's just human rebelliousness, isn't it?" Mo Xueyao teased. "It means you're still in puberty."

"Tch... Come on, let's start with the first song. Who knows it?" As they were talking, the melody of the first song started playing, and the song title appeared on the screen: "Anita Mui's 'Song of the Setting Sun'."

"Cantonese or Mandarin version? I'm not very good at the Cantonese version," Li Gutao asked.

"It seems to be the Mandarin version. These are songs that our parents' generation would like to listen to, right?" Shi Haiming looked at Mo Xueyao beside him, "Xiaoyao, do you know it?"

"Probably... My dad often listens to this type of song, like Teresa Teng's and Anita Mui's... but I haven't sung them much myself."

"Then you two sing, I'll sing the next song later."

"Uh... then I'll sing the third song—if I know it, Xiaoyao, shall we sing first?"

"Eh? I'm singing alone? Okay..." Mo Xueyao didn't have time to say anything more, because it had already started, "The sunset is infinite, but its brilliance is only fleeting..."

She has a good grasp of rhythm, but she has a little trouble remembering the lyrics. Fortunately, the lyrics are displayed clearly on the screen, and apart from occasionally mispronouncing words, there are no other problems.

So everyone started singing. Since they were all very popular songs, they all knew them, so they took turns singing them.

If you don't know how to sing it, sing it for those who do. If no one knows how, sing it together.

While one person sang, the other two chatted nearby, and time passed quickly.

"We haven't heard much about Anita Mui this year." At this moment, Shi Haiming was singing Anita Mui's "Woman Flower," while Mo Xueyao and Li Gutao were whispering in a corner.

"It seems like... I saw in the newspaper last time that it was about some kind of charity work."

“Charity… Rich people and celebrities especially love doing this kind of thing,” Mo Xueyao muttered.

"Perhaps it's just a show," Shi Haiming said into the microphone during a break in the accompaniment.

“But it’s also possible that he genuinely enjoys doing this.” Li Gutao glanced at him sideways. “Don’t always think so badly of people, okay?”

"Tsk tsk, rich people, let me tell you, there aren't many fools among them, and likewise, there aren't many truly good people either."

"Nonsense." Mo Xueyao curled her lip, not agreeing with that.

"Tsk tsk, never mind, you wouldn't understand." Shi Haiming, who was about the same age as him, was acting like a seasoned veteran.

Of course, it was impossible to sing all 100 hit songs. Some songs that people didn't like were skipped, but in the end, they couldn't sing the last song before staff came to urge them and told them that time was up.

"Would you like to extend the time?" Shi Haiming took out his wallet.

"No need, I've had enough fun singing. My voice will get hoarse if I keep singing." Mo Xueyao shook her head. "Speaking of which, I'm a little hungry. Let's go out to eat."

"Yeah, let's go eat. I was fine until you mentioned it, but now that you mention it, I'm really hungry." Li Gutao rubbed his stomach.

"Let's go then!"

The three left the KTV and entered a large hotel.

Mo Xueyao had only dined at hotels of this caliber with her godfather and his family.

I think it only happened once or twice in my memory.

The food names on the menu were so fancy that Mo Xueyao couldn't even recognize what was what.

Li Gutao did the same, and in the end, he naturally left it to Shi Haiming to order the food.

"I just ordered a few things, we'll order more if we're not full," Shi Haiming said, putting down the menu. After the waiter left, he leaned forward slightly and teased with interest, "Atao, how's it going? Did you find a girlfriend in high school? Didn't you go to that vocational high school because it was almost entirely girls?"

"Girlfriend...?" Li Gutao's expression turned somewhat strange. "Uh... how should I put it, I guess... she doesn't count."

"What do you mean by 'not counted' and 'counted'? What exactly is going on?"

"Sigh, you think vocational high schools that are all girls are great? They're just as chaotic, you know, full of backstabbing and fighting all the time." Li Gutao rolled his eyes. "Xiao Yao, you know that delinquent girl from last time, right?"

"I know."

"...Her name is Lin Huihui."

"Hmm, this name doesn't suit her at all."

Li Gutao chuckled and touched his cheek: "Well, how should I put it? It's like we became friends after a fight... Our relationship has been getting better and better lately, even though her way of expressing goodwill is quite different from others."

"How is it expressed?" Shi Haiming became interested.

"Fighting... It's like the kind of relationship between boys. Do you guys remember those troublemakers in our class when we were in junior high? They were always fighting, right? They were the kind of people who got closer the more they fought."

"Oh—" Mo Xueyao nodded, "Is that how it feels? I think I understand."

“So…” Li Gutao lowered his voice a little, “I just don’t quite understand whether her feelings for me are brotherly or… or romantic.”

"Oh my, it seems you need some love advice?" Shi Haiming immediately transformed into a 'love guru,' a meaningful smile appearing on his face.

"Huh, you actually like that kind of girl? She's alright looking, but how should I put it, I just can't stand her personality, can I?"

"Ha...haha...actually...after spending more time with him, I find him quite cute," Li Gutao said with an awkward laugh.

Shi Haiming squinted at him and said, "Tell me, you don't have masochistic tendencies, do you?"

"You're the one who has that!"

"Tsk tsk, we're brothers for life now, I need to give you some advice so you don't stumble into the grave of marriage."

"I'm incredibly lucky to have a brother like you for life," Li Gutao teased. "Besides, we're not even boyfriend and girlfriend yet. What do you mean by 'marriage is a graveyard'? It's not like we can get married so easily."

"So you really want to marry her? Come on, tell me, what kind of girl is she? Xiaoyao, please add your details so I can give you some advice."

"Fine... if you can't say anything nice, I'll kill you."

"Don't you know how to use proverbs, kid?"

"Is this a proverb? This is an idiom!"

"Bullshit! Idioms are clearly four characters long!"

"Have you lost your culture?"

Mo Xueyao drooped her eyelids and watched as these two 'uncultured' guys started arguing again.

……

Chapter Twenty-Three: Prison

For law-abiding citizens, prison has always been a distant place.

However, people have seen what prisons look like in movies and TV shows quite often.

It was nothing more than a cold and damp place, and the prison guards there were extremely violent. They would raise their stun guns to make prisoners behave at the slightest provocation.

However, this prison is slightly different.

This is Zhejiang Women's Prison, which houses female criminals who have been imprisoned for less than five years, and a small number of those who have been imprisoned for more than five years but less than ten years.

The prison is not located underground, but above ground; the entire enclosed area, resembling a factory area, is the prison's territory.

There are dedicated canteens and dormitories, as well as labor camps.

Although it is a prison built by the government, the Su Group donated a large sum of money to the site when it was built, which transformed the prison, which was originally planned to be far less well-equipped, into what it is today.

This place is located in a remote area, dozens of kilometers away from the nearest small city. Its only advantage is that the surrounding natural environment is relatively good.

A black van slowly pulled up in front of the prison. After a brief pause, the gate opened and the van drove into the open space behind the gate. Then, Mo Kong, the principal of Yu Kong High School, wearing brown sunglasses, got out of the van.

He casually opened the passenger door, and a woman who looked very young, even somewhat immature, stepped out. She was Su Yuqing, a teacher from the medical department.

"Mr. Mo, Ms. Su, please wait a moment. The deputy warden will be here shortly," a female prison guard said, approaching with neither servility nor arrogance.

"Okay, we're not in a rush." ​​Su Yuqing smiled shyly, looking like a high school girl who was easy to approach.

Mo Kong, who was clearly clean-shaven and unlike his usual unkempt appearance, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, put them in his mouth, but did not light them.

A few minutes later, a middle-aged man in a police uniform walked over in a slightly hurried manner.

As he approached, he extended his right hand to Mo Kong with a smile, saying, "Mr. Mo, seeing is believing. As expected of the current head of the Mo family, you have an extraordinary presence."

"No need for formalities," Mo Kong waved his hand. "Take us to see Pan Jiexiang."

"This must be Miss Su, right? The Su family donated quite a bit of money to us when the prison was built..."

“It’s a new era now. There are no more families anymore; now it’s just large corporations.” Mo Kong shook his head, a cigarette dangling from his lips. “How’s the prison doing lately? How’s its finances?”

“Although prisoners are cheap labor, selling the goods they make is barely enough to keep the prison afloat. In fact, the funding from above is always late. The money we applied for has been stuck for a long time. If this continues, the prison guards won’t get new uniforms this year.” The deputy warden looked distressed, but his gaze kept drifting towards Mo Kong.

"The Mo Group will donate some money here before the end of next month. We hope you can treat the prisoners here well and help them reform themselves. Would you prefer the donation to be made through the Red Cross or directly?"

"Well, the rule is that it's usually done through the Red Cross, but direct donations aren't impossible either..."

"Yes, the group will contact you then, you can make the arrangements yourself." Mo Kong nodded.

"Haha, okay, okay, I thank you on behalf of all the staff and prisoners. This is also a contribution to society, and the value of contributing to the prison is actually greater. If the prisoners are reformed, they will not re-offend. If they are oppressed here, they will only hate society more when they get out, which would be worse."