A Young Woman's Heart

“Well… the reason we come out at night…” Mo Xueyao continued writing, “is because it is said that on this mountaintop at night, you can see stars that you can’t see anywhere else.”

Without a moment's hesitation, Li Wanyan continued writing: "She looked up, a few strands of light blue hair swaying gently in the breeze, and she saw the shadows of the trees become menacing."

"Hey, how did this turn into a horror story?" Wang Jiale pouted as she took the draft. "Upon closer inspection, it was just a tree branch being blown by the wind; there was nothing unusual about it."

"But at that moment, a blinding light suddenly burst forth in the sky." Hua Yinyin seemed determined not to let her go.

"So it's the sun rising. The so-called special stars are the rising sun." Mo Xueyao smoothed things over.

"Golden sunlight filters through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground."

Seeing that Li Wanyan had only described the scenery, Wang Jiale breathed a sigh of relief and took over the description herself: "The sunrise is so beautiful," Wang Jiale said, and then planned to go home with the servants.

"But Wang Jiale received no response. She turned around and saw that her servants were frozen in place, their skin being covered by stone layer inch by inch."

Mo Xueyao felt she couldn't save her, so she could only write: "Wang Jiale ran down the mountain in fear, escaping a disaster and not being petrified."

“The servants on the mountain have been turned into statues, their expressions lifelike, except that the corners of their mouths are slightly upturned for some reason,” Li Wanyan continued.

“Hey! Hey!” Wang Jiale wrote nervously, “Then she successfully ran down the mountain and escaped disaster.”

Hua Yinyin chuckled mischievously as she picked up her pen: "It's not that easy—just as Wang Jiale reached the foot of the mountain, she suddenly saw a dazzling light, and then her world was plunged into complete darkness."

Mo Xueyao shrugged, indicating that she had done her best: "Wang Jiale is still conscious; she is not dead yet."

"She felt someone pick her up and place her on a soft cushion."

When it was Wang Jiale's turn again, she read and wrote: "Wang Jiale returned home, and the doctor said she would recover soon."

"Why does the story get so boring when it gets to you?" Hua Yinyin teased. "But although her body can recover, her blindness can never be restored, and she became blind."

"Blind man, my foot!" Wang Jiale punched Hua Yinyin's shoulder hard.

"However, there is still hope, as long as we find the legendary healer."

"Wang Jiale's father sent people to find that miracle doctor." Li Wanyan continued writing, following Mo Xueyao's words.

"Then they finally found it. The miracle doctor came to Wang Jiale's house and cured her blindness!"

"Hey, this story is way too sloppy! Even fairy tales aren't this sloppy! There's no beginning, development, climax, or resolution! There's no detailed description!" Hua Yinyin couldn't stand it anymore. "What kind of story is this boring?!"

"Who told you to try and kill me off from the very beginning?!"

“That’s right, that’s right,” Mo Xueyao chimed in. “All you ever do is bully Lele.”

“Actually…” Hua Yinyin’s expression changed, “This is God’s will, Wang Jiale, if you go tonight…”

"Stop it!" Mo Xueyao pushed her face aside, picked up the draft paper herself, and continued writing.

The other three tried their best to fight against Hua Yinyin and steer the story in a positive direction, but later on, they couldn't write it any better. Unless they wrote something illogical, the story would eventually lead to a tragic ending.

Then Li Wanyan also started helping Hua Yinyin write, and Mo Xueyao followed suit.

"It's better to die sooner than to suffer like this..."

“This is accelerationism.” Li Wanyan looked at Mo Xueyao and nodded slightly.

Finally, the story relay ended.

In the story, Wang Jiale dies a tragic death in the end.

His tendons in his hands and feet were severed, and he was tortured for three days and three nights before bleeding to death.

"Ugh—" Wang Jiale quickly closed the draft notebook and threw it under the table. "The three of you ganged up on me, I'll have nightmares tonight!"

"If you don't want to have nightmares, don't wear clothes to bed~" Hua Yinyin had a smug look on her face.

"Don't believe her." Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright, it's past eleven, let's go to sleep..."

"I'm sleeping by myself tonight..." Wang Jiale muttered as she walked back to her room. A few minutes later, her voice rang out again from her room, "Xiaoyao—can you sleep with me?"

"Huh? Why?" Mo Xueyao walked to her door and asked in confusion.

"Um...um...I definitely can't sleep with Yin Yin, and the class monitor is too serious..."

"Huh?"

"I...I'm afraid of having nightmares..."

Thinking about how she had also "persecuted" her earlier, Mo Xueyao felt a little embarrassed to refuse, and could only nod awkwardly: "Well, okay then..."

But when she crawled into Wang Jiale's bed, she found that something was wrong.

"Why is your body so slippery...? Huh—!! You're not wearing anything?!" Mo Xueyao panicked and tried to escape, but Wang Jiale grabbed her like an octopus. "I... I'm afraid of being punished by God..."

"Hey, I already said it was a lie."

"But... anyway, Haruka, please sleep with me for one night..."

"Put your clothes on first."

"What if I get punished?" Wang Jiale said fearfully, her eyes reddening slightly. "I... I'm really scared... No... I'm not kidding..."

"Phew...then let Yinyin sleep with you?"

"No, no, no!"

"Then get dressed..."

"Well, I am wearing something, I am wearing something, just not a tank top..." Wang Jiale stuck out her tongue.

"Put your tank top on too, hey!"

……

Chapter 263 Obstacle Avoidance Test

Sunday, July 5, 2000.

As summer deepens, sitting in a fruit shop can feel rather dull.

Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan returned from Wang Jiale's house in the morning, and now they were sitting leisurely at the door, enjoying the gentle breeze.

Sitting by the door feels fine, but if you sit inside where there's no wind, your forehead will be covered in fine beads of sweat in no time.

"I reckon we'll have to use the electric fan by the end of the month." The father was watering the flowers with a watering can. Once the weather gets hot, we have to water them frequently, otherwise the flowers will get too dry and won't look as good.

Fresh flowers, the most important thing is 'freshness'.

"I feel like I need to use it next week... It's already so hot." Mo Xueyao hid in the shade of the eaves, panting like a dog with her tongue lolling out.

"Take your tongue back, you're a girl, that's not proper." Her mother glared at her disapprovingly.

"Tch..." Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes, but still obediently retracted her tongue and used an apple branch to poke at the few ants on the ground.

There should be an ant nest nearby, because you can often see them carrying 'food' from the vicinity.

Since it's a fruit shop, there's often rotten fruit. That fruit is thrown into a metal trash can, and ants crawl in and out, bite off a piece, and then slowly carry it to their anthill not far away.

The husky came to play again. It stretched out its tongue to lick the ants, as if it had a genetic mutation that gave it the ability to digest ants like an anteater. However, when it swallowed them, it disgustedly used its paws to push all the ants away.

It is said that ants are acidic...

The weather wasn't very hot, but for the husky, it was unbearably hot. For the entire morning, it lay there without wanting to move an inch. If it weren't for constantly turning its head, it would have looked like a dead dog.

"Meow—" Su Tang hid in the cardboard box, enjoying the breeze on one side and avoiding the scorching sun on the other.

Mo Xueyao was flipping through a thick encyclopedia titled "A Thousand Little-Known Facts You Didn't Know".

It mentions that a cat's hind paws will always step on the same spot where its front paws have stepped.

In other words, cats don't leave hind paw prints when they walk; they only leave front paw prints.

The so-called cat walk is based on this principle and is imitated.

It also states that cats have a strong ability to avoid obstacles; even if there are obstacles in front of them, they can still try to find a way out.

"Hmm, let's give it a try!" Mo Xueyao became interested, folded the page of the book, and then closed it. "What should I use as an obstacle... I've got it, Dad's mahjong set!"

My father brought the mahjong set from home, intending to find someone to play mahjong with when he had some free time. However, with my mother keeping an eye on him, he has never played a single game so far.

He used to be a gambling addict, and although he has turned over a new leaf, some of his hobbies are still hard to change.

"Dad, where's your mahjong set?"

What are you going to do?

"Take it and play with it!"

"Don't leave me short of cards under the table!" the father instructed.

"Okay, okay!" Mo Xueyao replied perfunctorily, taking out the mahjong set.

She laid the mahjong tiles out neatly on the ground, and to prevent them from rolling down the steps, she placed several cardboard boxes to block them.

"What is Yaoyao doing?" Li Wanyan asked, looking down as she carefully read Das Kapital.

"Put some obstacles out."

Dominoes?

"No, no, I just wanted to test if Su Tang would knock them over." Mo Xueyao arranged the last mahjong tile, then took the bewildered Su Tang out of the cardboard box.

"Go quickly!" Mo Xueyao gently nudged its body. The latter wagged its tail in confusion, looked up at her a few times, and then gracefully stepped inside.

Although the speed was not fast, it did not hit anything.

When Mo Xueyao was setting up the display, she deliberately left gaps in certain places that could fit a half-paw, and every time, it stepped into these gaps.

In just over ten seconds, it crossed the obstacle course and even calmly walked back to its original cardboard box.

"Amazing!" Mo Xueyao exclaimed excitedly. "Indeed, practice is the sole criterion for testing truth!"

“You can try other things.” Li Wanyan leaned back in her chair and smiled at her.

“The rest… um… the rest are just dogs, let’s use the husky!” Mo Xueyao grabbed the husky’s two forearms and dragged it over. “Husky, husky, get up, get up, try walking over here?”

"Woof!" The husky clearly didn't understand what was going on and remained lying on the ground, unwilling to get up.

"Hurry up, try walking around once, stop lying there all day, you lazy dog..." But no matter what Mo Xueyao said, it just wouldn't move, its blue dog eyes filled with disdain.

"Get up! Come here and I'll give you a banana!" Mo Xueyao waved the banana in her hand and placed it opposite the mahjong tiles.