A Young Woman's Heart

"Women don't have any freedom," the mother scoffed. "It's already good enough that I've been able to read a few books and write a few words."

"Hmm."

"So I hope that you, Yan Yan, will study hard and become a knowledgeable and learned person in the future, break free from the shackles of those old rules, and become an independent woman."

"Yes, I definitely will," Li Wanyan said confidently.

"I will not interfere with your love life in the future. I will not stop you from loving whoever you like or marrying, as long as you two truly love each other and the other person can truly give you a happy life."

"Hmm! But, can't I not get married?"

“If you don’t want to get married, that’s fine too… After all, a broken marriage is not as good as being single. But… if you have a happy family, then it’s definitely better to get married.” The mother smiled and shook her head. “I don’t know if you will understand what I’m saying, but just remember it for now, and you will understand when you grow up.”

“I understand now!” Li Wanyan stood on her mother’s lap, hands on her hips, and shouted triumphantly.

"Pfft, good, good~ Yan Yan has grown up and can understand now."

"Yes, of course I understand." Li Wanyan smiled with her eyes crinkling, jumped off her mother's lap, and bounced around on the bed.

"Okay, stop jumping. If the bed board breaks, we'll have to pay for it."

"Hehe." Li Wanyan turned around and hugged her mother. "I love Mom the most~"

"Sweetie~ How about we cook some noodles in the rice cooker tonight?"

"Okay!"

The aroma of noodles filled the small rented room, bringing happiness this time.

But next time, it won't be the same.

That was shortly after I started high school.

Li Wanyan lay on the top bunk reading a book.

The mother was squatting in front of the rice cooker on the ground, cooking noodles.

The aroma of scallions filled the air.

The man pushed open the door and walked into the house, looking completely drunk.

"All he eats all day long is noodles!"

"What else can we eat if we don't eat noodles?" His mother has become increasingly unable to tolerate him lately.

"Can't you earn some money and eat something better?"

"Then you're not going?"

"I'm making money every day, I'm just losing it all."

"You call that making money?" the mother retorted sarcastically.

"What the hell do you mean? You son of a bitch!" The man kicked his mother to the ground. "Are you asking for a beating? Haven't you had a good spanking in days and your skin's itching for a beating?"

"So what if it is?"

"Alright, come on, let me make you feel good!" He unbuckled his belt and whipped it hard across his mother's body.

"Smack!" The sound of skin being torn open made Li Wanyan's brow twitch. She wanted to hide under the covers, but where could she hide in this house?

The sound still reached her ears; she couldn't block it out no matter what.

"Fine, you dare to fight back?"

"Yeah, I'm going to fight you to my heart's content today!"

"Come on, hit me, hit me in the face, you dare..."

"boom!"

"You bitch, you actually dared to hit me? You've gone too far! I'll sell you to a brothel! No, wait, you old hag, nobody's going to want you. Maybe only some seventy or eighty-year-old man would be interested in you! Ha! Bang! Cough..."

Then came the sound of something being overturned.

"I'd be so angry I'd want to chop you to death with a kitchen knife, you believe me?" Today, the mother seemed to have finally reached the end of her patience. Her tone was even angrier than usual, and her sharp voice was somewhat grating.

"Get out, you crazy woman! You're carrying a kitchen knife? Go ahead and take it if you dare!"

"Bang!" The door slammed shut.

Then came another sound of rummaging through drawers and cabinets.

Then, the man left.

"Can't I have a harmonious and happy family...?" Li Wanyan hugged the quilt and wept silently.

Finally, I fell asleep, exhausted.

In my sleep, it seemed like people were coming and going, until the early hours of the morning when everything finally quieted down.

That night, she had nightmares all night long...

……

Chapter Ninety-Nine: Blood

The clouds in the sky remained unchanged, quietly stirred by the wind.

The strong wind blowing across the ground bent a withered weed by the wall.

Time seemed to slow down at this moment, and even the air seemed to become as sticky as glue.

Mo Xueyao instinctively reached out and grabbed Hua Yinyin, who was closest to her, while she herself forcefully retreated.

The exclamation still echoed in the air, but Li Wanyan was too far away, and her speed was far too slow.

Hua Yinyin let Mo Xueyao hold her right hand, while she reached out her left hand and grabbed Li Wanyan's arm.

In that brief moment, that was all Hua Yinyin could do.

Mo Xueyao was essentially holding back two people, and all three of them fell backward due to losing their balance—but before falling, they still took two steps back in a brief moment.

The truck driver's bewildered and terrified expression was particularly clear at this moment. He frantically tried to turn the steering wheel, but only managed to steer the truck slightly to the left.

Then, the flow of time resumed.

"Bang—Boom—!!"

The out-of-control truck crashed into the wall, veering to the left and collapsing the entire wall before finally coming to a stop.

The collapsed wall fell to the other side, and construction debris from the truck sprayed out with a 'whoosh'.

Blood spurted out from who-knows-where.

Although it was only for a brief moment, Mo Xueyao felt that her vision had turned completely red.

"Eek—! Ah!!" Hua Yinyin fell to the ground, covering her eyes in terror, a few drops of blood slowly dripping from the back of her hand.

"Are you alright?" Mo Xueyao, who was backed out, asked in a panic.

But Hua Yinyin couldn't answer at all, only screaming trembling all over, "Blood, blood, blood...! Eeya ya—"

Mo Xueyao ignored her and immediately dragged Li Wanyan back a bit, scanning her from head to toe.

She looked quite disheveled, with some pieces of concrete on her body, but none of it seemed serious, just some scrapes.

This made Mo Xueyao breathe a slight sigh of relief: "Wanyan, are you alright? You weren't crushed, were you?"

"Gulp..." Li Wanyan swallowed and licked her dry lips. "It's okay... a little... painful."

"Where?" Mo Xueyao quickly looked elsewhere. Blood was gushing from her right hand, and a piece of concrete with a small section of thin steel bar rolled to the side, stained with dark blood.

Upon closer inspection, the bloodstains on Hua Yinyin's skirt and the back of her hand originated from this.

Li Wanyan's wrist was now a bloody mess, with bones covered in flesh and blood and muscles still trembling.

On the ground nearby, there was a small piece of flesh that had been scraped off.

Mo Xueyao immediately got goosebumps all over her body.

This was the first time she had ever seen such a sight in real life, and so closely at that…

"Wanyan...can you move your right hand now?"

“…No.” Li Wanyan said weakly, biting her lip.

Hua Yinyin, who was standing to the side, finally overcame her fear, closed her eyes, and asked in a trembling voice, "Wan... Wanyan... is... no... no... alright...? Just... just now... ugh... okay..."

"It's alright, it's alright," Mo Xueyao quickly reassured her. "You weren't crushed."

"Huff...huff...huff..." Hua Yinyin took a few deep breaths. "Just now...so much...blood...I...I thought...she was going to...turn into...minced meat..."

"No, the blood was from a cut."

"That's good." Now she finally relaxed, took her hands off her eyes, and looked at Li Wanyan again.

She tried to open her eyes wide, but to Mo Xueyao, she still looked like she was squinting and afraid to look.

Hua Yinyin wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes. When she saw the bloody wound on Li Wanyan's wrist, she trembled violently again. Tears streamed down her face due to her physiological stress response. She swallowed hard, trembling, "Hurry... ambulance... Wanyan's hand seems to be very, very badly injured."

"Where is your phone?" Mo Xueyao finally came to her senses and knew what she needed to do at this moment.

"mouth, pocket..."

"Clothes or pants?"

Hua Yinyin looked like she was about to cry again, but this time she was anxious: "I...I forgot..."

"Let me look." Mo Xueyao knew that her condition was also unstable at this moment, so she could only force herself to calm down and search all the pockets on Hua Yinyin's body.

Actually, she was also very scared.

Although Li Wanyan wasn't crushed, her injuries were still quite severe. This was the first time in her life she had encountered such a sudden situation.

However, at this moment, her masculine consciousness took over, allowing her to maintain composure and not show any signs of panic or helplessness.

Men, men, are supposed to solve difficult problems; otherwise, why would the character for "man" (男) be pronounced the same as the character for "difficult" (难)?

At that moment, this sentence kept popping into her mind. Although she was actually a girl, she still told herself that she had to shoulder the responsibilities of a man.

Sixteen years of subtle influence—how could it be so easily changed?

Estrogen may have some effect, but when faced with a real emergency, it is the deepest subconscious that takes the lead.