A Young Woman's Heart

"I should be fine." Wang Jiale could still keep up with such a slow piece of music.

“I’m about the same,” Mr. Xue nodded.

"So, shall we begin? Youyou, shall we start?"

"It's me again, oh well... then... one, two...!"

A soothing melody begins, and the sound of the drum kit continues throughout. However, most of the time you only need to play one drum. It's not that simple to begin with; the difficulty has been lowered to accommodate Mo Zhuyou.

The initial collaboration went quite well. Hua Yinyin's pipa kept everyone on the right track, followed by Mo Xueyao's zither playing.

Mr. Xue's bamboo flute brought a melodious feel, and he deliberately lowered the pitch a bit so as not to steal the spotlight from the pipa.

However, it's impossible to keep a low profile with a bamboo flute, no matter how much you want to, because its sound is just too penetrating. Perhaps only the suona can surpass it.

The dark curtain on the horizon swallowed the last rays of the sunset, plunging the entire city into darkness. Then, rows of streetlights lit up, illuminating the city once more.

"Phew...not bad!" Hua Yinyin gave a thumbs up.

"Am I alright?" Mo Zhuyou asked, both nervous and expectant.

"Youyou is pretty good!" Hua Yinyin gave a thumbs up. "Keep it up!"

"Alright, it's getting late, everyone should hurry home."

"Ugh, Ms. Qiu, you're such a spoilsport."

"Well, as a teacher, of course I have to play a management role!"

"whispering sound--"

But after the piece was finished, everyone was indeed a bit tired. After all, it was the first time they had played such a difficult piece together, and everyone's attention was highly focused.

In addition, after practicing for a long time, even though the ensemble performance wasn't perfect, I felt like I couldn't keep going. Continuing to practice wouldn't be effective because my attention had already wandered off.

"Then, let's go home!"

"Wait, has Wanyan finished her homework? Could I, cough cough... borrow some of her work?"

"Hey, Yinyin, do it yourself! Don't even think about it!"

"What? I was asking about Wanyan, not Xiaoyao!"

"No loan."

"Pfft, haha—"

The girls all huddled together laughing.

……

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Pink Hair and Pink Eyes

On Saturday morning, Sanhua Tongjue got up earlier than Wang Jiale, but she had already been sitting in front of the dressing table for almost an hour.

Wang Jiale, who got up late, had already washed up.

Her parents had already left, leaving no breakfast behind, so she just grabbed a piece of sachima (a type of Chinese pastry) to eat.

"Is Tongtong planning to go out?"

"Okay, time to go out." Sanhua Tongjue smiled at her reflection in the mirror, revealing two slightly sharp canine teeth.

"Where to go?"

"Let's go for a walk in the street, Lele, come with me."

"Okay, okay... Hmm, then should I put on some makeup too? Otherwise, I'll feel really awkward walking next to you..."

"It's up to you."

"Then I'll just put on some light makeup..." Wang Jiale muttered. In reality, it was just about applying lip gloss, some concealer foundation, and changing into some nicer clothes.

As a Chinese student, she was not good at makeup. Not only was it not allowed at school, but even at home, if her parents found out she was wearing makeup, they would scold her.

So much so that she would only use concealer to cover up the occasional pimple.

"Doesn't Lele know how to put on makeup?"

Not really.

"What about when you go out with your boyfriend?" Sanhua Tongjue opened her eyes wide and put on the colored contact lenses with three pink petals.

Wang Jiale felt uncomfortable just looking at it. Even before she knew about colored contact lenses, she knew about regular contact lenses and always felt uncomfortable with foreign objects getting into her eyes.

She thought that even a grain of sand in her eye would take a long time to rub, let alone colored contact lenses—which is why she admired Sanhua Tongjue so much.

I can endure this discomfort just to wear colored contact lenses...

"Huh? Just go out like this when you're with your boyfriend."

"Huh...won't it be impolite not to wear makeup?"

"No way..." Wang Jiale shook his head blankly.

"Is that so..."

"It would be strange if we wore makeup, wouldn't it? We're just high school students."

"High school students are at the perfect age to wear makeup!" Sanhua Tongjue looked at herself in the mirror from side to side, and only stood up with satisfaction after making sure that her wig and colored contact lenses were on.

"Aren't you uncomfortable? The wig and colored contact lenses."

"Huh? It's alright, you'll get used to it." Sanhua Tongjue twirled in front of Wang Jiale. "Lele, how do I look dressed like this?"

"Ah, it looks pretty good."

Today, Mika Tongjue's outfit was completely different from her usual style. Her entire look was dominated by cherry blossom colors—her hair, her contact lenses, and her dress...

The dress is a cherry-printed dress, somewhat resembling a kimono, with a large red bow tied at the back; the rest of the dress is pink.

Even her socks were the same color scheme, the kind that only reached her ankles, and the wide, flowing skirt made her pale yellow legs look even slimmer.

She wore pink and white leather shoes, and a pink cherry blossom hair clip was clipped to the side of her hair...

"So pink!"

"Does Lele not like this color?"

"No, I actually quite like pink." Wang Jiale pointed to her bass guitar. "Look, my bass is pink and white!"

"I also love pink. It feels very gentle, but it doesn't make you look too mature."

"Mmm, the key is that she's very cute, wow—Tongtong, blink your eyes again."

"Ok?"

"So beautiful... much prettier than in the photos, it looks amazing in motion!"

"Really?" Sanhua Tongjue blushed slightly and spun around. "Do you think Xiaoxi would like it?"

"Pfft, they're starting to call her 'Xiao Xi' now?"

"Huh? Because I feel like our relationship is gradually getting closer!"

"Don't you want to pat his head?"

"Yes!"

"Go for it, knock him down soon!" Wang Jiale used the phrase he learned from Sanhua Tongjue, and even made a 'push' gesture.

"Hmm, hehe..." Sanhua Tongjue tilted her head and couldn't help but start daydreaming.

She has absolutely no resistance to cute boys.

However, Huang Yuxi is indeed the cutest boy Wang Jiale has ever met, not only in appearance but also in personality.

Even though he developed aphasia, he didn't become depressed all the time; he remained sunny and optimistic.

The clouds in the sky today are very thin, and they don't look white; instead, they have a bluish tinge.

As Sanhua Tongjue walked down the street, she immediately became the most eye-catching one.

The main reason is that her pink outfit is so eye-catching. Even though she isn't particularly beautiful, the clothes and makeup make her look incredibly cute.

Sanhua Tongjue's wigs are of very high quality, exactly the same as real hair, and even smoother and more natural than many people's real hair.

It doesn't look like she's wearing a wig, but rather like she has dyed hair.

"Tongjue, have you decided where to go for a stroll?"

"Huh, I didn't."

"Where are you going...?"

"Just keep walking along the road." Mika Hitomi took a deep breath. "The feeling here is very different from when I was in Japan!"

"Is it too shabby?" Wang Jiale asked somewhat embarrassedly.

"No, I think it's great. Cities that are too bustling lack human warmth." Sanhua Tongjue took Wang Jiale's small hand and gently swayed it back and forth. "It feels a bit like going back to my parents' generation."

"Hmm, it's that far behind?"

"Hmm...maybe?"

"When will our place be as developed as that...?"

"It'll be quick."

“But becoming developed isn’t always a good thing. It feels like all development comes with the loss of a lot…” Wang Jiale muttered softly. “If everything here really changes, I’ll feel very uncomfortable.”

"Is that so? But changes are inevitable, and there's nothing anyone can stop them from happening." Sanhua Tongjue took out her digital camera, which was covered with many small charms that made a clattering sound when they bumped against each other. "Let's preserve this memory in photos!"

"Um……?"

"Come on~" Sanhua Tongjue stretched out her arm, flipped the camera screen over so it was facing the two of them, "Smile~"

"Yay~" Wang Jiale made a gesture that looked like rabbit ears.

The image was frozen at that moment.

"Okay, if I take a lot of photos later, I'll develop them all and put them in an album~" Sanhua Tongjue put the camera back into the small bag she was carrying with satisfaction.

"Tongjue has a lot of things in her little bag."