A Young Woman's Heart

Li Hongran had already walked ahead and called An Ruosu over: "Susu, it's up to you now. You're the best at climbing trees."

"I'll do it." An Ruosu rolled up his sleeves, grabbed the tree trunk, and scrambled up in a few movements. A moment later, his voice came from above, "Get ready down here—"

"Here you go, aim high!" Li Hongran and Ma Jianhang took the bags from Liu Xiaowei.

One by one, the persimmons were carefully tossed down. A few were missed and fell to the ground, so everyone simply picked them up, wiped them with their hands, and started eating them on the spot.

There weren't many persimmons left on the tree. The ripe ones had already been picked, and what remained were mostly late-ripening ones, mostly unripe, with only a small portion just ripe.

Green persimmons are extremely astringent, and almost no one can eat them, while red persimmons need to be peeled before eating, since the most astringent part is the outer skin.

"Here, Zhou Yong, have one. It fell on the ground. Eat it quickly, or it'll spoil tomorrow." Gao Yuan handed him one, peeled one open for himself, and ate it in big bites.

Even though he had already eaten dinner, Zhou Yong's stomach was still rumbling when he heard Gao Yuan eating.

He had certainly eaten persimmons before, but not often. They were usually quite expensive, and he could only afford to eat one or two when they were in season.

On the contrary, I eat persimmon cakes more often.

However, the taste of persimmon cakes is quite different from that of fresh persimmons. At the very least, fresh persimmons are very juicy and not as sweet and cloying as persimmon cakes.

It is sweet, but more of a refreshing sweetness—the kind of sweetness that makes you want to eat another one after you've had one.

"Is that a chestnut tree over there?" Li Hongran asked Yang Yankai.

"Yes, I saw it during the day, it should be that one, right?"

"Let's shake some chestnuts down, and we can throw them into the fire when we cook tomorrow."

"Okay, sure." Yang Yan climbed up another tree, and this time, Zhou Yong was also pulled over to help.

"What the hell is this? Why is there a small house in the field? It's so small, is it a doghouse?" Liu Xiaowei said as he shone his flashlight over and saw a pair of dog eyes reflecting the flashlight beam.

"Woof woof woof!!!"

The piercing barking of dogs finally shattered the tranquility of the night. Before the others could figure out what was happening, they panicked when they saw Liu Xiaowei turn and run away.

"Damn it, what's going on?" Li Hongran shouted.

"I don't know, Liu Xiaowei ran away!"

"There's a dog!"

"Maybe someone's here, patrolling with their dog!"

"Who would bring a dog to patrol the fields so late at night..." Yang Yankai said helplessly, but the others did not have his rich experience and their first thought was to run away as soon as possible.

The fact that everyone was still able to hold onto the bags in their hands meant they weren't scared out of their wits.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" Ma Jianhang sprinted ahead, even overtaking Liu Xiaowei, and jumped over the low wall.

It's called a low wall, but it's not actually that low, probably about 1.6 meters. You have to push your way over it; you can't just step over it directly.

Li Hongran was quite tall. He braced himself against the wall with one hand and carried a large bag of persimmons in the other. He flipped over the wall with a flourish in mid-air. Zhou Yong was so nervous that he almost lost his shoes and couldn't muster any strength to climb over the wall.

The dog attracted several other dogs from the vicinity, and they all ran towards the scene. In the pitch-black night, the group, already feeling guilty, wished they could teleport back to their rooms.

"Zhou Yong, hurry!" Even Yang Yankai, who was running at the back picking chestnuts, had already climbed over, and now only Zhou Yong was left on the wall.

It looked like a flashlight beam was shining in the distance; now, even if no one was coming before, people might start to come.

"Zhou Yong!" Li Hongran called out in a low voice, climbed back up the wall, grabbed his hand, and pulled him up. Before he could even stand up, his legs gave way and he fell down.

The others caught him quickly, ignoring the few okra scattered on the ground, and dragged him towards the apartment.

But at least they were loyal enough not to abandon him.

By the time everyone ran back to the apartment entrance, the barking had stopped. The dogs had stopped chasing them after driving them out of the farmland. The air in the suburbs had finally calmed down, and the moon had peeked out, shining its bright light on them.

Perhaps the commotion just now dispersed the clouds on the horizon.

This time, opening the door made a little noise, but everyone didn't care anymore. After locking the door, they quickly climbed upstairs.

The items were all given to Li Hongran for safekeeping, to be 'divided' the next night.

"What's going on? Why is it so noisy?" Students from other classes came out of the room, rubbing their eyes and complaining, but what greeted them was the seemingly unchanging silence.

"Going to sleep, going to sleep." Liu Xiaowei crawled directly into bed.

"I'll take a shower before I go to sleep." Gao Yuan opened the bathroom door.

"Wait, let's go together... to save time." Zhou Yong looked at Liu Xiaowei, "You were sweating so much just now, and you're already asleep?"

"It's nothing, the weather is so cool, I didn't sweat much," Liu Xiaowei replied calmly.

"I've never showered with another guy before," Gao Yuan teased, patting Zhou Yong's butt. "What's wrong? You want to hook up with a rich guy?"

"Damn, you're disgusting." Zhou Yong rolled his eyes. "I'm just in a hurry, so hurry up."

"It's okay, let's go together. Hey, let me see how big you are."

"Whether it's big or small, it's definitely bigger than yours."

"Oh dear, I don't like hearing that. Let's have a contest if you dare," Gao Yuan muttered.

"No."

"Are you afraid?"

"If I get aroused by you, I'm doomed, aren't I?"

"Oh, that makes sense. It's a pity I didn't bring the disc."

"We have a disc but no machine to play it. Hurry up and wash it, or the teacher will find out."

"It's alright, Wen is definitely fast asleep. When have you ever seen her come over for a surprise inspection in the middle of the night?" Gao Yuan waved his hand and went into the bathroom first.

"Oh, not bad at all!"

"You can do it too."

"If I were thinner, I would definitely be even bigger."

"Come on."

"Ha ha--"

"Keep your voice down, don't let the other teachers hear you," Zhou Yong said, turning on the showerhead.

The two of them were just taking a quick shower, and after three minutes they rushed out of the shower, not even bothering to dry their hair, and quickly lay down on the bed.

"Go to sleep, or I won't be able to get up tomorrow." Zhou Yong turned over on the top bunk, looking at the moonlight shining on the floor, which looked like a pool of silver water, rippling slightly.

Sleepiness quickly overcame him, dragging him into dreamland.

……

Chapter 79 Stealing Someone Else's Blanket

In the countryside, the mornings always begin with the crowing of roosters, followed by the incessant barking of dogs that echoes throughout the mountains and fields.

Like the beacon fires of the Warring States period, the signal spreads from afar to nearby, and then from nearby to distant places.

It's like responding to the rows of streetlights that illuminate the city at night.

Although it has only been a few days, Mo Xueyao seems to have already gotten used to waking up early.

The main reason is that there is less urban noise in the countryside, making it easier for people to fall into a deep sleep. Once people are awake, they naturally don't need to stay in bed.

To be honest, the frost in the countryside already had a chill that seemed to seep into your bones.

Mo Xueyao sneezed loudly and realized that she was covered by three blankets all by herself.

The two extra lines appear to belong to Hua Yinyin and Li Wanyan, respectively.

Moreover, they are not overlapped, but rather overlapped, essentially turning a single quilt into a larger double quilt.

She wrapped herself in the three quilts and lay down in the spot closest to the wall, forcing Li Wanyan to switch places with her.

Mo Xueyao slept soundly, but Hua Yinyin and Li Wanyan were frozen all night.

In a half-dreaming, half-awake state, the two unconsciously huddled together, like two kittens that were afraid of the cold.

"Ahem..." Mo Xueyao blinked a little embarrassedly, and quietly pulled the blanket back over herself, trying to cover up her 'crime scene'.

But even such a slight movement seemed to have startled Li Wanyan awake.

Rather, it's more accurate to say that she wasn't really asleep at all, because she hadn't been covered by a blanket and was in a semi-conscious state the whole time.

Her eyelashes trembled slightly, then she opened her eyes a crack and looked at her with her dark, slightly narrow eyes, remaining silent for a long time.

"Ahem..." Mo Xueyao froze on the spot, gave an awkward laugh, and wanted to lie, but under the other person's gaze, she simply 'didn't dare' to do so.

Li Wanyan gave a helpless bitter smile, breaking the awkward silence. She grabbed the blanket and draped it over herself, then covered half of Hua Yinyin's body as well: "Yaoyao, were you tired yesterday?"

"Hmm... I work during the day and stay up very late at night, so I'm probably very tired, but thankfully, I'm not very sleepy..."

"Lie down for a while, it's still early," Li Wanyan said, patting the spot next to her.

The sky outside the window was still dark. Although it was getting light late, there wasn't even a glimmer of sunlight yet. It was probably around five o'clock at the latest. Of course, it was fine to sleep a little longer—everyone else in the living room was sound asleep right now!

Mo Xueyao crawled into Li Wanyan's bed, and now the three of them were sharing a single quilt.

Hua Yinyin was still fast asleep, drool dripping from the corner of her mouth, probably having some sweet dream.

"Wanyan didn't sleep well last night, did she?" Mo Xueyao asked apologetically in a low voice.

“It’s alright.” Li Wanyan paused, then continued, “Last night I thought it was you next to me, so I hugged you.”

"Huh? Oh... what's wrong?"

"...It's nothing." Li Wanyan buried half her face in the blanket. "I'll sleep a little longer."

"Hmm... I'm not sleepy anymore. Never mind, I'll get up and wash up first."

"Mmm." Li Wanyan's voice was soft and weak, with a hint of drowsiness.

To avoid waking others, Mo Xueyao deliberately kept her voice down while washing up in the morning. Even when turning on the tap, she only turned it on the lowest setting so that the sound of the water wouldn't be too jarring.

After washing up, she put on the sportswear she wore for agricultural work. It was actually her junior high school uniform. Because she had bought it a size too big back then, even though she had grown a little taller, the clothes didn't look small at all; in fact, they fit perfectly.

Amazora High School doesn't have this kind of sportswear, but according to Mika Hitomi, Japanese students have two types of school uniforms: one is a regular school uniform, and the other is worn for physical education classes or when activities are required, similar to the school uniforms of ordinary schools in China.

I don't know if the school took into account the financial situation of some parents, or if they just copied others and only did half of it...