A Young Woman's Heart

She remembers loving to play this when she was in elementary school. She would run to the playground to play after every get out of class, and if she was late, she couldn't get a spot!

There are no rewards or punishments for winners or losers; the children are simply enjoying the process.

"Oh dear—" A little girl's exclamation brought Mo Xueyao back to reality. She was about to reach the finish line, but one foot slipped, and she wobbled for a while before finally stepping outside the line with her other foot.

"Out!" the others shouted gleefully.

The little girl looked somewhat dejected: "Sigh, just a little bit short."

"My turn! Your turn is impossible, it looks like I've won this round!"

"Tch, what are you talking about? Do you think you can just jump over that in one go?"

"Hey, of course, no problem!"

Don't underestimate hopscotch. It may seem like just jumping on one foot and then on both feet, but the difficulty varies depending on the lines drawn. The squares they draw are very small, just big enough for a child to step on, so it's easy to get eliminated. You have to find a good landing spot and not step on the lines when you jump over them, which is not an easy task!

"You're having so much fun!" Mo Xueyao couldn't help but glance at him a few more times, only turning her gaze away when she had to turn the corner.

“That’s how kids are.” Li Wanyan smiled gently and pushed up her black-rimmed glasses.

"By the way, Wanyan, do you need to get new glasses?"

"Not for now."

"Is the prescription okay?"

"Yes, I can see everything clearly." Li Wanyan nodded.

Mo Xueyao scratched her head, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping herself.

What did Wanyan play with when she was little?

"When I was in elementary school?"

“Yes.” Mo Xueyao walked unsteadily, as if walking like this would make things easier, and occasionally bumped into Li Wanyan, letting out a few silly laughs.

Let's play shuttlecock.

"Will it still be like that now?"

“I haven’t played in a long time.” Li Wanyan shook her head. “I used to be able to kick more than two hundred at a time.”

"Wow, that's amazing. My highest record is only thirty-something." Mo Xueyao wasn't really good at this. Speaking of this, she remembered something from her second grade. "I remember when I was in second grade, there was a girl who lived in a farmer's house. She walked home from school on the same route as me, so she would take me to play. We played shuttlecock together, and I accidentally kicked the shuttlecock onto the roof."

"Yaoyao is really strong." Li Wanyan smiled gently, pursing her lips.

"Well, it was one of those really low farmer's houses, just one story high, like a small storage room in someone's house," Mo Xueyao gestured. "Yeah... about the size of a matchbox. I was pretty strong back then, so I kicked it up."

"And then what happened?"

"Later she cried, saying that this was her only shuttlecock and she would be scolded if she lost it."

"and then."

"Uh... back then my family didn't have any money, and I didn't have any pocket money either, so I couldn't afford to buy her a new shuttlecock... I tried to get it down, but I couldn't, so... uh... I left, and we never saw each other again."

Is that all?

"Oh dear, we were just kids back then!"

"Did I ask you to pay me back?"

No, not at all.

"This shows that she is still very understanding of others and knows that you didn't do it on purpose."

"Ah...maybe?" Mo Xueyao chuckled and scratched her short hair, which had grown a little longer. "Oh, right, let's go buy shuttlecocks."

There are no shops here.

"Yes!" Mo Xueyao ran quickly to a three-story building. These buildings looked like apartment buildings, but they were all unusually short.

Li Wanyan followed behind her with some confusion, only to see her knock hard on a window, which was then slowly pushed open. A little old man yawned and asked casually, "What do you want to buy?"

"Boss, do you sell shuttlecocks?"

"Have."

"how much is it?"

"Two cents."

"Give!"

Mo Xueyao gave Li Wanyan a dollar directly. After the other party returned the money, she excitedly waved a shuttlecock in front of Li Wanyan, like a primary school student showing off his new toy.

"Have you ever seen these small shops that take advantage of their own home to open a business? The items are cheaper than elsewhere."

"Yes, I've seen it before."

"Hehe, I thought it was amazing when I was a kid! I used to come here often, but I didn't come as often after I started junior high. I didn't expect it to still be open, and that old man hasn't changed at all..."

"As you get older, the changes become less."

"That's about it," Mo Xueyao said, tossing the shuttlecock into the air and trying to kick it, but missed. "Ah! I missed!"

"Let me give it a try." Li Wanyan picked up the shuttlecock that had fallen to the ground and kicked it more than thirty times in a row. "I haven't played in a long time, and I've become rusty."

"Wow, that's already pretty good. I feel like I can't even kick ten times. Uh oh no, my balance has gotten so bad..." Mo Xueyao muttered as she kicked, trying several times, but only managing to kick five times in a row at most. "It's not fun!"

"Because I'm not a child anymore."

"Take it back, just in case you want to play with it again later." Mo Xueyao tossed the shuttlecock in her hand and smoothed the feathers with her other hand. "I used to really like playing with these feathers, they felt so ticklish and comfortable."

"When I lived in the countryside, I would make my own shuttlecocks."

"Well, this shouldn't be too difficult, right? Hmm... all you need is a coin with a hole, and then you stick the shuttlecock into it... uh, it seems a bit difficult."

"However, homemade ones are more likely to fall apart than store-bought ones."

"Yes, definitely!"

As we were chatting, the children who had been playing hopscotch earlier ran out of the alley, seemingly heading home. But even on their way home, they wanted to play a game of cat and mouse, darting around on the streets where cars rarely travel.

The children's laughter made the journey home anything but boring.

……

Chapter 138 Opening the Letter from Mother

At eight o'clock in the evening, Mo Xueyao was watching TV in the living room.

Li Wanyan had just finished showering and was drying her long, wet hair with a towel.

A few flies and mosquitoes, along with several large moths, were perched on the screen window, eagerly wanting to come in.

Meanwhile, smaller flying insects leisurely slipped in through the gaps in the screen window.

Sometimes, if you walk too fast, you might even bump into them.

Every morning when I wake up, I find many of these small black insect corpses.

Li Wanyan casually opened the drawer and looked around.

There are Mo Xueyao's things here, and there are also her things.

One of the letters, which she had already read, caught her eye.

That was sent to my mother by my homeroom teacher during the Dragon Boat Festival. A week later, the reply finally arrived.

She kept the letter and would occasionally take it out to look at it.

But he only read the whole thing the first time. Every time after that, he would just gently stroke his mother's handwriting a few times before putting the letter back.

Although Mo Xueyao's family treated her very well, no matter how good they were, it was still completely different from the feeling she had with her own biological mother.

After all, that's the bond of family, thicker than blood.

Only a cold-blooded beast would be completely unmoved by this.

Whenever Li Wanyan thinks of this, all she can think of is her father, who shouldn't even be called a human being.

He doesn't even know if he's alive now, because he's disappeared.

But deep down she hoped he was dead.

It would be better if he were dead.

The envelope was written in illegible handwriting, like something a primary school student would write.

However, he was very careful with every stroke.

"Sent by Pan Jiexiang, for my daughter Li Wanyan."

She couldn't help but read the words on the envelope over and over again, calculating how long it had been since she had contacted her mother.

The two months of summer vacation definitely need to be included, because since I couldn't contact my homeroom teacher, I naturally couldn't send letters to my mother.

Pull out the letter, and the handwriting inside begins to become more elegant, having changed from clumsy to graceful.

It's clear that the words on the envelope were written first, and the words on the letter paper were written later.

I guess it's because I haven't written in a long time that my writing was so 'awful' at the beginning.

Perhaps because she hadn't written in a long time, and there were some characters she couldn't remember how to write, Li Wanyan's mother even used pinyin to replace them.

For some reason, her heart suddenly calmed down at that moment.

She had never read the letter a second time before, but she subconsciously started reading it again.

Actually, my mother's level of education doesn't seem low; she only uses pinyin for some relatively difficult characters.

Even just looking at the beginning, you might think she has some literary knowledge.

"Wanyan, I have received your letter." This is a more formal form of address, rather than the usual nickname 'Yanyan'.

This is the beginning of the letter.

"Mom is very happy that someone has taken you in. I hope you will be well-behaved and sensible in their home. Do things yourself and don't ask others for help. This way, they will have a good impression of you, since you are staying in someone else's home."

"Your friends get along very well, which is great, but remember not to have any conflicts. Mom knows you're quite mature, so you should be more accommodating to your friends who are a bit younger. But Mom is still at ease about that; you're a very smart child."

The first few paragraphs of the letter were basically a reply to most of the content in Li Wanyan's letter, telling her what she should do now and expressing her happiness for her current situation.