A Young Woman's Heart

"Of course I'll take it." Li Wanyan gently shook her head.

"……How is it going?"

"I'm very happy," Li Wanyan replied simply. "And your mother?"

"I'm fine too."

The mother and daughter fell silent for a moment.

Before meeting, you may have a thousand words to say, but after meeting, you seem to have nothing to say.

The presence of a prison guard standing nearby made both of them uncomfortable, and they seemed unable to speak freely.

Or perhaps it's because they've already said everything they wanted to say in their letters, so when they met in person, they didn't know where to begin.

"Mom, I miss your cooking."

"What dishes can I cook? There's hardly any meat in them, it definitely won't be as good as what you're eating now~"

"But only the dishes my mother makes are truly unique."

"Yan Yan is much better at chatting than before. Does she have a lot of friends now?"

"Yes, I've made a lot of friends." Li Wanyan's gaze fell on the back of her mother's hand, noticing a scar that hadn't completely faded. "Was it an injury from work?"

Pan Jiexiang paused for a moment, her gaze following her to the scar, then she smiled casually and said, "It's okay. It's normal to get injured at work. Sometimes you can even take a day off because of it."

"Hmm..." Li Wanyan touched her right wrist, as if recalling the pain from that day, "Mom also needs to take good care of herself."

"Of course Mom will take good care of herself."

“No, sometimes Mom still needs me to take care of her,” Li Wanyan said earnestly, “When you were sick before…”

“Hmm, I know Yan Yan has been sensible since she was little~ but there’s no need to come to Mom’s to brag, right?” Pan Jiexiang said jokingly, “When you’re with other people, you must remember to behave well and do things yourself, otherwise you’ll be disliked…”

Once Pan Jiexiang started rambling, it was like she had opened a floodgate, and she talked a lot in one breath.

In fact, these were all the same instructions written in the letter, many of which were repeated over and over again, but Li Wanyan did not find her words long-winded at all—in fact, she found them so precious and cherished.

In front of her mother, Li Wanyan is a somewhat stubborn little child, no longer appearing so mature, and sometimes saying many childish things.

"Mom, you can't lie to me. You have to come back after I graduate from high school."

"Okay, okay, I'll definitely come back, I'll definitely come back, don't worry."

"No lying allowed."

"If I'm lying, I'm a dog."

"No, if I lie, Mom will have to live another hundred years."

"Pfft, how can a person live that long? Hmm, but I promise you, I will definitely come out—I can't hug you right now because of the glass, but I'll give you a big hug when I get out."

"I want to... I want to hug you right now... Mom... I miss you so much..." Li Wanyan said, her eyes red and her voice trembling with tears.

“But not now. Soon, very soon. Next year, then another six months, in the summer, we’ll be able to meet. It will definitely be a beautiful summer. Then, I’ll go up the mountain to pick some wildflowers and give them to Yan Yan, just like before, okay?” Her mother wiped away her tears through the glass. “Good Yan Yan, don’t cry. You’ll look silly if you cry your face.”

"It's okay..." Li Wanyan covered her face with her wrist, her body trembling, and she could barely speak.

"Excuse me, could you give her a few napkins?" Pan Jiexiang asked the prison guard next to her.

The latter nodded, and then had the prison guard standing on the other side of the glass hand Li Wanyan a few napkins.

"Thanks……"

"Time's almost up, five minutes left," the prison guard kindly reminded him again.

"It seems like we don't have much time left," Pan Jiexiang said with a smile to Li Wanyan behind the glass. "Yanyan, if you keep crying, you won't be able to say much more."

Although she was smiling, her expression was somewhat distorted, and then she finally couldn't help but turn her back and pinch the corner of her eye.

She always has to smile in front of her daughter.

This has been a habit for over ten years.

“Yes, I won’t cry anymore…” Li Wanyan choked up and hiccuped again. “Xiaoyao is a very good friend of mine. The time I spend with her helps me forget my worries.”

"Then you must treat her well, and you must not let her down."

"Um……"

Time passed by second by second. There were clocks on both sides of the glass. Every second seemed to pass so slowly, but every minute seemed to pass so quickly.

The mother and daughter looked at each other, as if trying to imprint each other's appearance in their minds.

Time is almost up.

Li Wanyan finally whispered, "Mom, can I not get married in the future?"

Pan Jiexiang paused for a moment, then nodded gently: "With a family like this... it's normal for you to have these thoughts, but those things are still a long way off, let's talk about them later... If you really... really don't want to, that's okay too, Mom can stay with you for the rest of her life."

Li Wanyan opened her mouth, about to say something, when a prison guard reminded her, "Time's up, it's about time to go. If there's anything else you haven't said, please tell us as soon as possible."

"It's nothing." Li Wanyan shook her head.

"Well then, Yan Yan, take care of yourself."

"Mom too."

Accompanied by prison guards, Pan Jiexiang turned around and left the thick bulletproof glass.

Standing at the small doorway where she was leaving, she took one last look at Li Wanyan before turning and leaving.

Although it wasn't a matter of life and death, it left Li Wanyan with a deep sense of emptiness and a feeling of fear as if she couldn't grasp her destiny.

She stood there in a daze, as if her mother had not yet left.

Suddenly, someone gently patted her on the back. Turning around, she saw Mo Xueyao's smiling face.

"Yan~ Yan~! What's wrong? I told you everything would be alright, right? Aren't you happy to see your mom?"

"pretty good."

"Is Yan Yan crying again? Oh dear, I've discovered that Yan Yan is actually a crybaby!" she said jokingly, instantly dispelling some of the sadness of parting.

"Yaoyao is looking more and more like Yinyin."

"What? Where is it?"

Li Wanyan didn't answer; she just smiled.

"Is it over? If we can't get back in time tonight, let's stay at a hotel nearby. But let Qiu Yi get some sleep first, he's too tired." Ye Wen pulled Qiu Yi, who seemed to be almost fast asleep, up and whispered in his ear, "Qiu Yi—let's sleep in the car?"

"Oh..." Qiu Yi opened her eyes groggily and was helped out by Ye Wen.

"Are you all hungry? We can go get a prison lunch later."

"Prison lunch?" Mo Xueyao turned around, her eyes brightening. "What does it look like? Is it good?"

"If we were eating like the prisoners, the food definitely wouldn't be very good—but we were eating the kind of food the prison guards were fed."

Will it be like a buffet where you can choose for yourself?

"There's no more buffet at this time, but we have boxed meals. Just have the kitchen heat them up." Ye Wen laboriously tossed Qiu Yi into the car, opened the window a little, and then slammed the door shut.

"Alright, let's go get lunch and try the prison boxed meals." Ye Wen clapped her hands and said with a smile.

"Is the food for prisoners much worse?"

"Of course."

Li Wanyan listened from behind and couldn't help but slow down and look back a few times. Only after the two of them had gone far away did she hurry up and catch up.

……

Chapter 225 is coming soon, the great battle in the rain and sky!

Monday in December was characterized by unpredictable weather.

The sun peeks out and then hides back in, only to peek out again when the students standing on the playground feel cold.

Mo Xueyao and Li Wanyan returned yesterday, but although they stayed at a hotel nearby that night, they were unable to see Li Wanyan's mother again when they left in the morning.

Because visiting relatives shouldn't be too frequent; you can't visit them yesterday and then go again today.

It's only a few hundred meters away, but it feels like we're thousands of miles apart.

As a result, Li Wanyan was in a low mood today, and she rarely showed a listless appearance.

"Next, please have a student representative give a speech under the national flag..." Shen Kelin stood on the podium, momentarily stumbling over her words, and quickly corrected herself, "Speech under the national flag!"

Originally, the host on the stage was a senior high school student, but next year will be the last six months before the college entrance examination. Naturally, she will have to step down from these jobs that are not related to her studies. So, starting this Monday, Shen Kelin will be the host of the Monday morning meeting.

Although the winter school uniforms are much thicker, they are still ultimately worn as skirts.

Although Shen Kelin was wearing thick, fleece-lined leggings that were clearly visible to the naked eye, she still couldn't help but shiver slightly when the cold wind blew.

Her face has matured quite a bit, and she looks a bit like the charming female secretary in TV dramas who is always favored by the boss.

In fact, even the word "charming" felt strange to Mo Xueyao when used to describe her.

In Mo Xueyao's memory, Shen Kelin had always been a cheerful girl with a touch of chivalry. However, girls change a lot as they grow up, and many of these changes are completely unexpected.

Fortunately, the morning assembly at Yukong High School was not long. After shivering in the cold wind for a while, everyone finally received instructions to disperse and leave.

As soon as the students lined up and walked out of the playground, the whole line broke up, and everyone rushed towards the classroom to enjoy the warmth inside.

"Xiaoyao~!" Shen Kelin, who had already lost her classmates, stood next to the vending machine and waved to her.

When she got to her, Mo Xueyao realized that she seemed to have grown quite a bit taller. Before, she only needed to look up, but now she had to tilt her head up slightly to make eye contact with her.

She wore a neat high ponytail, with some messy strands of hair hanging around her ears: "Long time no see."

"It hasn't been that long, has it...?" Mo Xueyao ran to her side with small, quick steps, rubbing her face, which was purple from the cold. "Aren't you going upstairs? It's freezing."

"Are you cold? I'm fine. Why is your health so poor, Xiaoyao?"

Mo Xueyao didn't answer her question, but rolled her eyes and, leaning on the vending machine with one hand, said with some surprise, "Huh, there are a lot more hot drinks now."

The vending machine only had Coca-Cola as its only room-temperature beverage; the rest were hot drinks such as coffee, milk tea, and black tea.

Of course, the price is relatively high, and they are all canned, so if you are thirsty, you can basically drink the whole thing in one gulp.

"Gurgle—" Two cans of hot coffee rolled out of the vending machine. Shen Kelin picked them up and handed one to her. "Here, this is for you."