A Young Woman's Heart

"Goodbye, teacher." Li Wanyan nodded politely.

"Wanyan, why don't you go to the band room to read the letter? It's quieter there." Mo Xueyao tossed the white scarf into her bag. "Hmm... I want a black one, what do you think?"

"Anything is fine." Li Wanyan didn't seem to have any particular preference for colors.

……

"Winter is so cold—the sun has disappeared again." In the band room, Hua Yinyin lazily lay on the table. "I really want to be a convenience store sausage spinning under the warm light..."

"What a strange metaphor!" Mo Xueyao was somewhat speechless. "But... it's quite apt."

"Right?"

All the members of the Snow Music Band have arrived, except for Yu Shu, who is not here today. Perhaps she is attending a club activity.

All the girls sat at the conference table made up of desks, while Mr. Xue sat alone in the corner of the classroom, wiping the suona in his hands.

"Xiaoxue, would you like some tea?" Mo Xueyao waved to him.

The latter looked up, smiling and revealing a few white teeth: "No need, may I use your keyboard later?"

"Uh, of course, what do you want to do?"

"Try other instruments." Mr. Xue suppressed his smile, put the cleaned suona back into his bag, and then sat down in front of Mo Xueyao's electronic keyboard, trying to play a simple melody.

"By the way, Xiaoxue, Lele and I went to ask today, and the surveillance footage won't be available until Monday."

"Hmm?" Mr. Xue seemed not to understand what she was talking about.

"It's...that thing. It's causing a huge uproar throughout the school. She even put your picture up in the lobby today, you know?"

"Hmm, I'm not quite sure."

"In short, the truth will come out on Monday."

“Okay.” Mr. Xue didn’t seem to mind. He grinned and said, “Thank you for your concern.”

You seem to be alright?

"It's alright," Mr. Xue replied ambiguously, and the difficulty of the piece gradually increased accordingly.

The others glanced at Mr. Xue, hesitated to speak, and ultimately did not continue the topic. Instead, they gathered around Li Wanyan and read her family letters together.

She usually reads family letters by herself, but since she didn't mind others reading them together, and everyone was bored anyway, they came over to join in the fun.

However, someone like Hua Yinyin, who has little patience for other things, only glanced at it a few times before pulling Wang Jiale aside to chat about various gossip news.

Mo Xueyao was probably the only one who watched the whole thing.

"Yan Yan, how have you been lately?"

"My job now is to knit scarves. During my free time at work, I also knitted one for you and your Xiaoyao. How are you two getting along now? Have you been arguing? You should treat each other like sisters and get along well."

"Knitting those pretty scarves takes a lot of time, and I don't have much time. I'm quite busy with work every day, so these two are very ordinary ones, without any patterns. One is black and the other is white. You and she can each choose one."

"The weather is already quite cold, so please make sure to keep warm and wear more layers so you don't catch a cold."

Have you been doing better in your studies lately?

Get better...

Mo Xueyao's lips twitched. At least within Yukong High School, it would be difficult to improve her ranking much further.

After all, she has always been ranked in the top three overall.

The top three scores are often separated by only one or two points, and there are even cases where three people are tied for first place.

"I'm living very well here. Apart from being busy, everything is fine. You don't have to worry. I eat well, sleep well, and I get to eat meat once a week."

Mo Xueyao was stunned when she saw this sentence, and then she remembered that before her family opened the shop, her family didn't seem to be able to eat meat every day.

It's just that I ate meat almost every day of the year. You could say there were practically no days without eating meat. Even if there were, it was because I deliberately ate vegetarian food for the sake of my health.

Eating meat no longer seems like a rare thing.

But for Li Wanyan's mother, who works away from home, eating this once a week is already a blessing.

"Yan Yan, study hard and get into a good university. Don't worry about the tuition; I'll pay it for you. Just focus on your studies and don't listen to those people who say 'women are useless when they study'..."

It must have been a long time since we last contacted each other. The letter was very long, with many words written in varying shades of ink, suggesting it wasn't written in a single day.

After reading the letter, Li Wanyan sniffed, seemingly missing the time when her mother was by her side. When she looked out the window, the sun peeked out from behind the clouds again. The warm sunlight made Hua Yinyin look like a sunflower. She quickly lay down on the table, her little face flat like a glutinous rice ball, looking very content.

After reading it, Li Wanyan picked up a pen from the pen holder, looked at Mo Xueyao, and asked, "Does Yaoyao have any blank paper?"

"Is writing paper okay?"

"Yes, either is fine."

Mo Xueyao took out a notebook from the drawer, which she had used as draft paper for doodling, tore off a whole page, and handed it to her: "Do you want to reply now?"

"Okay, I'll have Ms. Ye Wen mail it out for me later."

"Hmm, that's true. Come to think of it, Christmas is almost here."

"Pfft, today is only the first day of December!" Hua Yinyin couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Christmas is still almost a month away!"

"Well, time flies anyway, December is already here, so Christmas can't be far behind!"

"Little Yao Yao is a Western worshipper!"

What happened to me?

"You like celebrating Western holidays, huh?"

"Tsk, stop arguing, are you asking for trouble?"

"Hehe~"

……

Chapter 184 Sacrifice

School ended early on Friday, and the sun was shining brightly in the sky.

Zhou Yong was in a good mood and was hurrying back to take a shower.

Well, to be precise, it should be the routine activities held every Friday.

Because only on Fridays, when his parents are still at work, he is alone when he gets home.

At this moment, he certainly didn't want to play games; instead, he wanted to see if the artists he followed on the forum had updated their works.

If so, you'll have to draw the curtains and use more tissues.

"Zhou Yong, you're not even going to play games?"

"No, no," Zhou Yong declined Gao Yuan's invitation.

"Damn, what do you do every Friday? Why don't you go out and play after school? What's the point of going home?"

"Uh, something came up," he said, making excuses, but then he saw a familiar face at the school gate.

A young girl stood at the door. Her face was lightly made up, and her short hair, which wasn't very long, was neatly combed and clipped with a hair clip that resembled a flower petal.

She wore a cheongsam with a blue and white porcelain pattern, revealing a pair of slender legs.

Her gentle demeanor drew the attention of many passersby, but her gaze was fixed on Zhou Yong.

"Holy crap... Zhou Yong, your girlfriend's here." Liu Xiaowei nudged his arm in surprise. "Damn, she's dressed so beautifully..."

"Uh, I already said she's the older sister..."

"Don't give me that. You don't have a sister at all. She doesn't look like you at all."

"Can't I have a sister I've recognized...?"

"That's probably his girlfriend, a relationship between an older woman and a younger man, that's incredible."

As they spoke, the three of them approached.

Liu Xiaowei exaggeratedly shouted towards the sky, "Hello, sister-in-law!"

"You fucking..." Zhou Yong gave an awkward laugh, somewhat hesitant to speak.

"Hello." Tian Tingchan smiled and nodded, looking like a girl who had stepped out of a period drama.

"How far have things progressed between your sister-in-law and Zhou Yong?"

"Go away, go away—Gao Yuan, why are you joining in the fun!" Zhou Yong shooed them away like flies before walking over to Tian Tingchan and saying with an embarrassed smile, "Sorry, my friend always makes jokes."

"It's ok."

"Brother Chan, what brings you here?"

Tian Tingchan didn't answer, but maintained her gentle smile. When the two reached a secluded path, she finally let out a soft sigh: "Well, I just need you to help me carry some things, understand?"

"Haha, it's no big deal. What do you need to buy? Do you need someone to help you?"

"I need to buy a lot, so will you help me or not?"

"Of course I'll help, I'll definitely help," Zhou Yong replied hastily. "Hehe, Brother Chan, it's more comfortable when you talk like that."

"What, you little brat, do you want to be scolded?"

"No, no, this is more natural. At other times, it always feels like I'm deliberately putting on airs, like I'm suppressing myself."

"Because girls should act ladylike when they're out in public." Tian Tingchan's eyes darted around, and she slapped Zhou Yong hard on the back. "Let's go!"

"Damn!" Zhou Yong stumbled from the slap. "Now he really is Brother Chan!"

The two took a bus and went to the cheapest vegetable market in the area, which was also the wholesale market for many vegetable shops.

Even if it's just retail, the prices here are much cheaper, and many elderly people come here to buy groceries every day.

—Anyway, they're old and have nothing better to do.

"Why are you buying so many vegetables today? Do you have guests?" Zhou Yong asked, waiting for Tian Tingchan to finish bargaining.

"Because it's for a sacrificial ceremony."

"Sacrifice?"

"Ah."