A Young Woman's Heart

A large meat dumpling costs 80 cents. It is very big, about the size of two girls' fists—or even bigger.

It's mostly lean meat inside, with no fat. If you want some with fat, you have to buy special fatty meat rice dumplings.

The proprietress was wrapping glutinous rice balls for Li Wanyan and asking her what she wanted to add.

"White sugar will do," Li Wanyan replied, offering the most economical solution.

"No pork floss or pork tenderloin or anything?" Mo Xueyao poked her lower back.

"Hmm... I don't have much of an appetite."

"Little girl, what do you want?" The proprietress looked at Mo Xueyao again.

"I don't need it." She shook her head and took half a step back, but she still hadn't made a choice even after walking all the way to the school gate.

When there was really nothing else to choose from, I bought a plate of fried rice noodles for 50 cents for breakfast.

"It's already the beginning of winter today," Lu Chengyuan said indistinctly, biting into a grilled sausage. As the grease dripped down, she quickly pulled her right leg back a little to avoid getting her socks dirty.

"Winter is finally here again." Mo Xueyao rubbed her eyes. After walking for a while, she felt a little sleepy. "I just want to stay home and sleep until noon when the sun is at its most comfortable..."

"Then I'm afraid we'll have to wait until winter break—there aren't any other holidays after that, right?" Lu Chengyuan looked at Li Wanyan and asked doubtfully.

"Nothing."

Today, the security guard on duty at the gate was that slightly chubby uncle. He was practicing his handwriting on the small blackboard hanging at the gate, and every word he wrote was neat and tidy. Mo Xueyao even thought that his handwriting was better than most teachers'...

However, sometimes classes are rushed, which is probably why the teacher's handwriting is so messy.

As long as you can understand it, that's fine.

"Hey, why don't you sleep a little longer in this cold weather?" The uncle glanced at the three of them out of the corner of his eye and greeted them with a smile.

He seemed to say the same thing often last winter, which made Mo Xueyao feel somewhat dazed, and even the concept of time became blurred at this moment.

"Good morning, uncle. Have you eaten yet?" Lu Chengyuan swaggered to the small blackboard. "What's the point of practicing this?"

"It's not very useful, just something to do," the security guard said with a smile.

Meanwhile, Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan had already walked far away. Lu Chengyuan turned around and glanced at them before quickly following.

Sometimes conversations don't necessarily need an ending; they often end abruptly.

Liu Xiaowei was waiting at the door early. Judging from his anxious look, you could tell that he hadn't done his homework and was rushing to copy it in the morning.

However, most girls wouldn't lend him their copies, and even Mo Xueyao wouldn't.

Because the notebooks he borrowed would always mysteriously end up with other people, or he would get the pages dirty or something...

So he usually borrowed boys' homework to copy.

For example, Zhou Yong borrowed Mo Xueyao's copy, and then he borrowed Zhou Yong's copy...

"Why are you here so early? Nobody's here to let you copy their homework," Mo Xueyao teased.

"Damn it, do I have to come here so early to copy homework?!" Liu Xiaowei shouted indignantly. "Can't I come to school early to study properly?"

"...The sun didn't rise in the west today, did it?" Mo Xueyao looked at Lu Chengyuan and deliberately teased him in a silly tone.

"Hmm... I don't think so?" Lu Chengyuan cooperated fully.

"I just didn't do my Chinese homework well. I didn't need to copy yours at all. Who am I? If I want to do it, is there any homework I can't do?"

"Can you please stop talking big?" Mo Xueyao glanced at him sideways and followed Li Wanyan into the classroom.

She subconsciously placed her schoolbag on the chair in front of Li Wanyan, which made Lu Chengyuan laugh.

"what?"

"Xiaoyao, have you forgotten?"

"Hmm? Oh...right, I changed seats." Mo Xueyao glanced at the desk that didn't look quite familiar. "This is Lu Bolun's..."

"Sigh, now that Xiaoyao's gone to the front, I have no one to talk to..."

"Isn't Wanyan still here?"

Do you think the class monitor will chat with me during class?

"Then go find Ashley."

"She doesn't seem to want to talk to me..."

"How could that be?" Mo Xueyao put her backpack back on and placed it on her seat in the first row. "It's just that she's not interested in what you're talking about, right? Besides, just focus on your lesson, why are you chatting?"

"Xiaoyao and Lele can chat, but I have nothing to talk about. I'm so lonely—"

"If you get lonely so easily, what will you do if you have to live alone in the future?"

"Then find a boyfriend!"

"It doesn't sound like a boyfriend, more like a tool to relieve loneliness... You might as well get a pet." Mo Xueyao took out her homework and put it on her desk so that the group leader could easily collect it.

Of course, it's also possible that some students might directly copy it.

"Wanyan, please keep an eye on my homework for me. If any is missing, someone must have copied it!"

"Ah."

"Is Xiaoyao going to the band room?"

"Yeah, are you regretting not coming?" Mo Xueyao said with a mischievous smile.

"No way... Phew, I'll have breakfast first!"

"I'll go eat in the band room." Mo Xueyao picked up her fried rice noodles and leisurely walked out of the teaching building.

But when she got downstairs, looking at the golden sunrise overhead and then at the boarding students who were about to go for their morning run on the playground, she decided to sit on a bench nearby and eat while watching them run.

People always enjoy watching a spectacle, and they especially love seeing others suffer misfortune.

—For Mo Xueyao, these boarding students who were dragged out of bed to run every morning, and then had to run or do morning exercises with other students again after class started, were simply the epitome of bad luck.

And it's the kind of thing you can't escape every day.

Of course, An Ruosu was an exception. He seemed to be enjoying his morning run, and his body looked very light, without any signs of fatigue.

This reminded Mo Xueyao of the first time she saw him jogging on the morning playground.

Even though we're classmates, I always feel like we don't have much interaction.

……

Chapter 138 How to Pursue a Girl

The classroom felt even warmer under the afternoon sun.

Even the girls who usually run back to the classroom sit in twos and threes on benches or by flower beds, basking in the sun.

There were quite a few classes having PE this time; the entire playground was packed with people. There weren't even enough basketball courts, let alone ping-pong tables.

Liu Xiaowei, Zhou Yong, and Gao Yuan were the kind of guys who didn't like sports. Seeing that there wasn't even a place to sit, the three of them simply started walking around the playground, chatting as they went.

In a sense, this can also be considered a form of exercise.

"Zhou Yong."

"What?"

Gao Yuan put an arm around Zhou Yong's shoulder: "Look, there are so many girls in our class, and quite a few of them are pretty, so why don't the three of us have girlfriends?"

"What are you thinking? There aren't many guys in our class with girlfriends, and none of them are from our class—except for Lao Lü."

"Didn't he break up with Wang Jiale a long time ago?" Liu Xiaowei said in surprise.

"Huh? When did this happen? How come I didn't know?"

"You're way too out of touch..." Liu Xiaowei clicked his tongue. "Why change seats if you're not breaking up?"

"I thought it was Awen who felt that the two of them were affecting her grades."

"How could that be? It must be that Lao Lü couldn't stand it himself and went to talk to Awen about it."

Gao Yuan added confidently from the side, "They did break up. I asked him."

"What a pity."

"So, back to the question we were asking, why don't we have girlfriends?" This time, Gao Yuan put her arm around Zhou Yong's neck.

“That’s normal… Look at Liu Xiaowei, how will he ever find a girlfriend?” Zhou Yong started talking about himself before Liu Xiaowei could retort. “And me? I’m pretty ordinary in every way, I don’t have anything that attracts anyone. Gao Yuan, you’re rich, but… high school girls don’t care about money, right?”

"If I could find a girlfriend with money, I might as well not bother." Gao Yuan rolled her eyes. "I rely on my personal charm, you know? Personal charm!"

"Where did you get your personal charm from, kid?" Zhou Yong rolled his eyes along with him.

"Stop! I think pursuing girls requires skill, not just looks, money, or knowledge." Liu Xiaowei took two quick steps forward and stopped them. "Do you two even know how to pursue girls?"

Zhou Yong and Gao Yuan looked at each other, then shook their heads in perfect unison.

"You don't even know how to start, and you still want girlfriends?"

"If you're so capable, why don't you go find someone?" Gao Yuan retorted sarcastically.

"What does it matter? It doesn't stop us from doing our research!" Liu Xiaowei said, looking at Zhou Yong. "Zhou Yong, let's imagine a scenario. If a girl is out of school and everyone else has left but she hasn't gone home yet, what would you do?"

"...That person must be the class monitor, right?"

"Well, let's assume it's someone else!"

"Oh...ask her if she needs any help?"

"and then?"

"...Uh, help her out?"

"and then?"

"Going home...?" Zhou Yong scratched his head. "I can't possibly confess my feelings just because I helped someone, can I?"

"No, that won't do. That's not brave enough!"

"So what should we do?" Gao Yuan frowned. "Should we say we want to stay at my place overnight?"

"Then they must have called the police!" Zhou Yong shouted.