A Young Woman's Heart

It was still early, so one of them went to the school's arcade, and the other went to the library.

"Are you coming over later?"

"Not necessarily, but let's go home together this afternoon. If I don't want to play anymore, I'll come find you at the library. Remember to grab our usual spot!" Mo Xueyao waved vigorously.

She was thinking about the Rainy Sky Brawl competition next semester, which would be attended by several schools. Although she felt that her skills were pretty good, she still needed to practice more if she wanted to win the championship.

Of course, she wouldn't put the cart before the horse, unlike some people who don't do what they're supposed to do and just think about coming over to play all day.

She wasn't worried about the game time, because most people have limited game coins. They might play a lot at the beginning, but then they would run out of coins. She only needed to use up about the same amount of game coins as most people.

As for Gao Yuan, he's an exception, and we can't compare.

She wasn't willing to exchange all her points for game currency; she wanted to save most of her points for the final reward.

Because it's the final reward, the points required are very high, so much so that Mo Xueyao has only saved about half so far. If she doesn't spend it recklessly, it will take her another semester to save up enough.

"Speaking of which, if other schools also want to participate in the competition, where will those students go to play this game?" Mo Xueyao tilted her head in confusion and glanced at the security guard sitting in the reception room, leisurely drinking tea.

On such a hot day, the guard booth was like an oven, with only an electric fan on. It's amazing that he could sit there.

There was a registration book on the table, which every student entering the school needed—of course, students he knew didn't need to bother.

Does this mean that students from other schools also came here?

This register is used to record exactly which students from other schools have come in.

But how do they exchange them for game currency?

Putting aside whether credits are transferable between different schools, some high schools don't even seem to have a credit system.

Or would students from other schools be specially arranged to play in a separate room, supervised by someone, with a limit on how long each person can play each day?

Mo Xueyao scratched her head, lost in thought, when she saw the uncle sitting in the security booth wave at her: "Oh, little girl, what brings you here today?"

"Um..." Mo Xueyao almost blurted out "playing games," but she quickly covered her mouth to avoid ruining the good impression she had of the other person. "The teacher called me over because something happened."

"Oh, which teacher? Only the principal came today, and he just left."

"Come and get something."

"Okay, do you need the key?"

"Ah...no..." Mo Xueyao's words were interrupted by another clear and melodious female voice.

"Uncle~! We're here to get the key! The key to the club room~!" Hua Yinyin grabbed Mo Xueyao's shoulder from behind and winked at her with a mischievous grin.

"Okay, you're all together."

"Yes, yes." Hua Yinyin nodded vigorously.

The uncle smiled, clearly assuming that anyone who hangs out with a good student must also be a good student. Without much thought, he handed over a large bunch of keys, seemingly for Mo Xueyao. The latter hesitated for a moment before accepting the keys.

She had no idea what Hua Yinyin was really up to.

"The keys to floors three through five of Building B are all here. Remember to return them after you're done. If I'm not here, just put them in the first drawer."

"Mmm, don't worry, Uncle~!" Hua Yinyin patted Mo Xueyao on the shoulder, "We definitely won't lose it."

"Uh, do I need to fill out that key registration form?"

"No need, no need, it's too much trouble. I can't find that notebook anymore. I'll wait until school starts and we'll get a new one." The uncle waved his hand and continued drinking his tea while looking at the magazine spread out in front of him.

Mo Xueyao tiptoed and peeked out, discovering that he was looking at what appeared to be a beauty magazine, and the theme was all about swimwear...

Reading such a restless magazine in the summer heat, doesn't it feel hot?

Mo Xueyao sighed inwardly as she walked into the campus with Hua Yinyin, who then grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the other teaching building.

"What are you doing? I'm going to play games."

"Tch, what's the point of playing games!" Hua Yinyin glanced at her sideways. "Come here, let's grab the keys and wander around!"

"What are you doing? Don't just wander into other people's clubs."

"Who said I was going to join another club? Hmm~ Let's go to the principal's office!"

"what?"

"Although Xiaoyao has been to the teacher's office, she certainly hasn't been to the principal's office, right?"

"You've been there?" Mo Xueyao glanced at her sideways.

"Of course not, so let's go check! Besides, didn't the security guard just say that the principal has already left? That's perfect time for our operation!"

"Stop fooling around, it'll be terrible if we get caught."

"What's wrong with that? I'm not stealing anything. Can't I just go into the principal's office for a look around? Besides, there's no one here right now. If I'm careful, I won't get caught!" Hua Yinyin looked completely impatient.

"Ah, hey, hey—" Mo Xueyao was forcibly dragged over, partly because... she was also very curious.

What would the principal's office be like?

Is it luxurious or understated?

Or perhaps his office is like any other teacher's, except that he only has his own desk and chair?

The principal's office is completely different from the other teachers' offices, which are usually located next to the classrooms or at least in the same teaching building.

The principal's office, however, is located on the top floor of another teaching building. It's usually only lively when all the students are gathered in the multimedia classroom; otherwise, it's quite quiet.

Some student organizations are also located here, but not many. The larger student organizations are all housed in the main teaching building, which looks like a pair of underpants.

It was during the holidays, and the school was unusually quiet. There used to be an arcade on the second floor of this building, but now that half of the summer vacation had passed, most of the students who wanted to play games had probably already used up their coins. Even Gao Yuan, who bought coins from others, probably didn't have any left to play.

So when Mo Xueyao passed by the stairwell, she didn't hear the boys making noise; there was only a desolate silence.

The sound of their footsteps echoed, seemingly carrying far.

Mo Xueyao subconsciously lowered her footsteps and followed closely behind Hua Yinyin.

Finally, we reached the fifth floor. The principal's office was at the end of the corridor, probably the quietest place in the entire school.

"Clang—" The sound of Hua Yinyin shaking the keys startled Mo Xueyao.

What are you doing?

"Huh? What's wrong?" Hua Yinyin looked at her in confusion. "Hey, little Yaoyao, were you scared?"

"How is that possible!" Mo Xueyao exclaimed in a low voice.

But in fact, when Hua Yinyin took out the key to the principal's office, inserted it into the latch, and slowly turned it, her heartstrings really tightened.

Perhaps only Hua Yinyin likes to play this kind of 'adventure'?

"Don't worry, don't worry, even if someone walks by, we can just say the principal sent us to pick up something." Hua Yinyin shook her head, her two braids swaying along with it. "I've already thought of a plan!"

"Tsk..."

Mo Xueyao had just smacked her lips when she heard the sound of the heavy wooden door slowly opening.

"Squeak-"

The principal's office behind the door was finally fully revealed to the two of them.

This is a very spacious office. On the right is a sofa and a solid wood coffee table. There is a special tea set on the coffee table, which looks very expensive, although the price is unknown.

To the left rear is a heavy solid wood table, somewhat similar to the executive desks often seen on television.

Next to the solid wood table, right against the wall, is a bookshelf.

Behind the desk is a very soft and comfortable office chair, or more accurately, a boss chair, which is probably made of genuine leather.

There were some items on the table, and although there were many, they were all arranged neatly and did not look messy.

"Wow, what a big chair!" Hua Yinyin immediately took a liking to the boss's chair, rushed over quickly, plopped down, and stretched comfortably.

I don't know if it's because the chair is too big or because she's too petite, but it looks like there's enough room for another person to sit without it feeling crowded.

Hua Yinyin spun her chair around to face the floor-to-ceiling window behind her, squinting at the world outside.

This is, after all, the suburbs. Looking from this direction, there's nothing bustling about. The scenery isn't particularly impressive, as all you see in the distance are low-rise houses and many undeveloped farmlands.

"Be careful...don't break it, or you'll have to pay for it yourself. I can't afford it."

"Tch, it's very sturdy, it won't break so easily~" Hua Yinyin waved to Mo Xueyao, "Little Yaoyao, come and sit down, it's super comfortable!"

"Forget it." Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes and walked to the bookshelf. She didn't reach out to touch it, since just looking at it was enough to satisfy her curiosity.

Many of the books on the bookshelf were ones she had never seen before, and many of them didn't even have titles written on them.

"Ah, that looks like a photo album?" Hua Yinyin jumped down, walked to the bookshelf, and pulled it open without saying a word.

"Be careful...hey," Mo Xueyao said nervously.

"I told you it couldn't be that fragile." Hua Yinyin reached out and grabbed the photo album, pulling it out of the full stack of books with some difficulty, almost causing several books to fall down with it. Fortunately, Mo Xueyao stopped her in time.

"Phew... These might all be books with collectible value. It would be a huge loss if even one corner got broken." Mo Xueyao said irritably, stuffing the other books back. Since Hua Yinyin had already brought out the photo album, she couldn't suppress her curiosity and went over to take a closer look.

"Look... at the principal's photo album!" Hua Yinyin said in a affected tone, slowly unfolding the first page.

……

Chapter 88 The Principal's Photo Album

Opening the photo album, there was a group photo on the first page. At first glance, Mo Xueyao thought it was just an ordinary group photo of faculty and staff, but upon closer inspection, she found that it was a group of all kinds of people standing together. Not only were their clothes not uniform, but even their ethnicities were not uniform.

There were Black people, Asian people, and white people.

And some people who seem to belong to no particular category.

Behind the photo are some old streets, which don't even compare to the Hangzhou that Mo Xueyao grew up in; it looks like a small Chinese town from the 1960s.

"Hey, Yaoyao, did you notice?" Hua Yinyin stared at the photo and suddenly muttered in confusion.

"what happened?"

"The principal isn't in the photo."

"Ah, really?" Mo Xueyao looked at it several times with wide eyes, then pointed to the girl standing in the center of the first row and said, "But there's a picture of Teacher Su when she was young."

"It feels pretty much the same as it is now, um... if you look closely, the area between the eyebrows does look a bit more youthful."

Mo Xueyao tilted her head and thought for a moment: "Maybe it was the principal who took the photo? That's why he didn't appear in the picture?"