A Young Woman's Heart

"Comrade, you'd better stay away from the truck, it's very dangerous."

"Danger? Tsk, what, trying to threaten me? Well, I'll show you today!" With a wave of his hand, a group of people swarmed forward, seemingly wanting to divide up all the goods in the truck.

Mo Xueyao felt that the man looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had seen him before.

When she first saw the truck coming, she thought that now she had companions, and with more people crossing the road together, these people might not dare to be so arrogant.

But I didn't expect him to be so easy to talk to.

But now... there are only two people on a big truck. Even if they're really good fighters, they can't fight against four people with just their own fists...

These are not simple, honest villagers; they are clearly a band of bandits.

Some people even tried to smash the carriages open with sledgehammers.

Just then, the truck door was suddenly pushed open. From where Mo Xueyao was sitting, she couldn't see what was inside. She only saw that the man closest to her suddenly had blood splattering out from his thigh, as if a flower had bloomed on it.

"Don't move!" A powerful shout came from inside the cargo compartment. Then, two armed soldiers slowly stepped down from behind, and the young man, with his hands raised, slowly backed away.

More villagers gathered around, and apart from the group whose guns were pointed at, the others didn't show much fear on their faces.

The elderly men tilted their heads slightly and winked at the other young men beside them.

Perhaps fearing that the matter would be exposed and implicate more people, these people seem to be planning to take a risk and kill them outright.

If the whole village then agrees on a story, this matter will probably just fizzle out again.

Although everything will eventually be exposed, they always think they can never be discovered.

Simply put, they haven't adapted to this new era and still feel like they're living in the lawless old society.

Because I don't know much, I'm not afraid.

Mo Xueyao felt a chill run down her spine. If all these soldiers were killed, then they probably wouldn't be able to escape either...

"Watch out!" she finally couldn't help but shout.

The burly men standing next to the van glared angrily, but before they could do anything, the gunshots rang out again.

A man who was sneaking out from the side of the field to launch a sneak attack had just pounced on a soldier when a dark gun barrel was pointed at his head. At that close range, his head was as fragile as tofu and exploded with a 'bang'.

Pieces of flesh and blood were flying everywhere.

Mo Xueyao had only ever seen such things on television; to her, they were news stories far removed from her own life.

But I never expected it to actually happen to someone I know.

The people around her treated her gently, which sometimes made her forget that society is still full of violence...

At least in this era, killing and death are not uncommon, even in the relatively peaceful country of Z.

Otherwise, why would people always flock to big cities?

One of the important reasons is that big cities are relatively much safer, isn't it?

Bullets flew through the two soldiers' hands as if they were free.

Those men who wanted to make a move instantly fell to the ground like harvested rice.

At least three to five people lay dead in pools of blood.

"Cease fire!" The young man who had been smiling just moments before now had a very serious expression on his face. The two soldiers looked extremely tense, and their fingers on the triggers remained on for a full three or four seconds before they released them.

She finally remembered who this familiar man was.

Isn't this Huang Gou, the instructor of Class Two during military training?

"Everyone, raise your hands and put your heads down. Everyone, come and kneel down in front of me. The old and the young are all the same!" Huang Gou slammed the truck door shut, his booming voice carrying an air of authority that compelled people to obey.

About twenty minutes later, five or six SWAT vehicles roared over.

Everyone who participated in the operation has been handcuffed.

Immediately afterwards, another military jeep arrived, and a squad of soldiers got out, grabbed their guns, and rushed into the nearby village.

"I think... everything's alright now?" Mo Xueyao patted her chest, still shaken.

One of the middle-aged men who had been brought in was still shouting angrily, "You dare to kill my son? You don't want to live anymore! My uncle is the police chief!"

"Your nephew?" Huang Gou looked at the pot-bellied, bald man with amusement; even the police uniform seemed a little too big for him.

Before Mo Xueyao could hear what he said next, she was drowned out by the sound of a soldier knocking on the window of the van.

"Were you also stopped because you were trying to cross this road?"

"Ah...yes...yes, thank you so much for earlier, young man, want a cigarette?" the father said with a grateful smile, his expression genuinely heartfelt.

This looks like the young man who was sitting in the passenger seat earlier.

"no thank you."

"Well, uh, do you want to come down and give a statement?" The father touched his nose, his face practically screaming "cooperate."

“No need, we have a record of the entire incident.” He gently shook his head. “Were you injured? Or was any cargo damaged?”

"No no."

"Okay, you can leave now. We'll handle the rest."

"Okay, okay, thank you!"

"You're welcome. Serving the people is my duty." He stood at attention and saluted. "Have a safe journey."

The van slowly drove away, and the entire road ahead was empty. There was no one blocking the way at the other end of the road, only a pile of scattered chairs, as if they had left in a hurry.

The reason these places can be so arrogant is simply because the emperor is far away and the local tyrants are left unchecked.

But once the military gets involved, these bandit robberies are nothing more than minor incidents that can be easily dealt with.

Mo Xueyao didn't know what would happen next, but she decided she didn't want to take this path again unless someone could tell her definitively that the 'bandits' inside had been completely dealt with.

Reality isn't like a TV drama; it always tells the audience what happens next.

In fact, most of the time, people are just participants in one part of an event.

There are many things that are best left uninvolved in.

The van drove back onto the main road, and for the first time, Mo Xueyao felt a sense of familiarity with the road, which was crowded with cars.

The oppressive silence inside the carriage finally dissipated considerably.

"Phew... Dad, if the military hadn't come, would you have just given them the money?"

"It's good enough if you can get by if you get paid."

The mother scolded her impatiently, "I told you not to take that road, and look what happened! Otherwise, why wouldn't other people take it when it's so empty?"

"Haha, cough..." The father chuckled dryly, scratching his cheek. "Alright, alright, let's just stay here and not take the shortcut."

Mo Xueyao nodded vigorously and gently closed her eyes. Although the bloody scene was somewhat distant, the thought of it still made her feel nauseous, and her motion sickness was a bit stronger than usual.

……

Chapter 47 It feels so good to be home

The dusty van was stuck on the congested national highway for most of the day before finally returning to Hangzhou.

　Only at times like this would Mo Xueyao realize how crowded the usually spacious roads were.

　It's also strange that you never see so many cars normally, but now they seem to have sprung up like bamboo shoots all at once.

　Accustomed to the dilapidated and tranquil countryside, the sight of the high-rise buildings and bustling crowds in the city gave her a sense of being in another world.

　Hangzhou's prosperity is still far behind that of neighboring Shanghai.

　Cities and rural areas are indeed different.

　This may sound like a truism, but hearing it from others is completely different from what you actually experience yourself.

　The saying "Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles" is not entirely accurate. Rather, it should be said that it is precisely because one has read ten thousand books that one can combine the feelings experienced on the road with the words read in the books when traveling ten thousand miles, thereby gaining new and deeper insights.

During the bumpy ride, Mo Xueyao woke up and fell asleep several times. Even though her home was very close, it still took her almost two hours to get to the vicinity of her home.

Her posture changed from leaning against the window to lying on Li Wanyan's lap, and then she took off her shoes and put her feet on the back of the chair...

She even had a headache from sleeping so much on the way.

"Yaoyao, wake up, we're almost there." Li Wanyan gently nudged her. In the distance, they could see the familiar streets and the slowly setting sun.

She woke up for a while when she entered the city, and the sun showed no sign of setting at that time.

"Finally—have we arrived..." Mo Xueyao stretched out her arms, yawned widely, and gestured to Li Wanyan to help her sit up.

"Ah."

"I'm so tired, I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight." She rubbed her eyes, rolled the window down completely, and then leaned over it, watching the car slowly drive into the narrow road of the residential area and stop in front of her building.

"We're here! We're here!" The father, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly shouted, pulling the handbrake hard, looking as if he had finally been freed.

But the things in the car still had to be moved upstairs, which was another big project. The already crowded home felt even more cramped after being piled with so many New Year's goods.

Mo Xueyao had nowhere to put her feet; she could only tiptoe and barely manage to touch the ground through the cracks.

Although the house was a mess, she could still smell a warm and cozy atmosphere.

She ran around, opening all the windows, letting the wind drift in from the balcony windows and out from the small room and kitchen windows.

It also brought some fresh air to the house that had been uninhabited for several days.

The mother was busy tidying up the messy items, while the first thing the father did was to go up to the balcony and smoke.

"Ahhh—it feels so good to be home!" Mo Xueyao lay back on her small bed, her whole body bouncing gently with the mattress.

The bed at my grandma's house is actually quite warm, but I never feel comfortable sleeping in it—perhaps because it's not my own bed and I feel a bit constrained.

Actually, she hasn't slept well these past few days, as if she's been constantly on edge.

I was finally able to relax completely after I got home.

This even lifted my spirits a bit.

As the saying goes, there's no place like home.

A true home is one that brings joy.