A Young Woman's Heart

"You are...?" Mo Xueyao didn't remember knowing such a girl.

"Is this Mo Xueyao?" She pushed up her neatly worn black-rimmed glasses and asked, her eyes fixed on Mo Xueyao.

“It’s me…” Mo Xueyao swallowed hard, feeling an indescribable pressure as she spoke with her.

Even though they are of the same generation, it felt like I was facing the headmaster.

"I am Li Wanyan, the class monitor of Class 2, Grade 11," she said, pointing to herself.

"Um... Class monitor... Hello..." Mo Xueyao said with a slightly awkward smile, pushing the iron gate at the door open.

"These are what the teacher asked me to bring for you," Li Wanyan said, handing her the paper bag she was carrying. "Inside are the school uniform, a few workbooks that were distributed later, and some lined exercise books."

"Oh, thank you!"

"Are you feeling better?" Li Wanyan's question made Mo Xueyao feel a little guilty.

However, she seemed unaware of what illness Mo Xueyao had that required her to take a month off.

"He has almost fully recovered."

"Then you should be able to start classes after the National Day holiday, right?" Li Wanyan brushed her bangs aside. "The school term starts on October 8th, and we'll have classes for a whole week."

"Hmm... I understand." Mo Xueyao scratched her ear somewhat awkwardly. "Anything else...?"

"School starts its holiday tomorrow," Li Wanyan said, taking off her schoolbag, unzipping it, and taking out five notebooks.

—Not the kind of notebook used for laptops, but a notebook for writing.

"Hmm...?"

“These are my class notes, covering Chinese, math, English, physics, and chemistry. You can copy them from your textbooks.” Li Wanyan handed the five notebooks to Mo Xueyao as well, “so you don’t fall behind in the school’s pace.”

"Thank you," Mo Xueyao said, somewhat touched, feeling a little bit of goodwill towards this serious and unsmiling class monitor.

"Okay, that's settled then. Remember to wear your school uniform to school. If the custom-made uniform is the wrong size, have your parents call your homeroom teacher to replace it."

"it is good……"

"Goodbye." Li Wanyan ended the conversation crisply and turned to leave.

It was so refreshing that it took some getting used to.

Mo Xueyao stared at the contents of the bag for a full minute before snapping out of her daze and returning to her bedroom.

The midday sun shone on her face, and like unwrapping a gift, she couldn't wait to take everything out of the paper bag.

Some extracurricular exercise books, some notebooks, and two sets of school uniforms.

It's probably a summer style, the kind you wear alternately.

It just looks a little strange.

"It seems a bit thin?" Mo Xueyao muttered to herself, unpacked the package, took out the clothes inside, and then her face instantly turned bright red, as if she had been electrocuted. She hurriedly threw the clothes on the bed.

This is basically a blue and white sailor uniform!

She wore the same blue and white short skirt as Li Wanyan, and a short-sleeved shirt with a white background and blue stripes on top.

At first, Mo Xueyao was wondering why Yu Kong High School didn't require students to wear school uniforms, but it turned out that those were the school uniforms.

Compared to most public schools of this era, Yukong High School was extremely ahead of its time.

In the past, Mo Xueyao would probably have been happy to see girls wearing short skirts to and from school every day.

She'll be the one wearing short skirts from now on, and that probably won't make her feel so good.

In fact, even now, Mo Xueyao has never worn girls' clothes.

They mostly wear loose-fitting casual clothes and trousers. Such clothes do not have particularly obvious gender characteristics and can be worn by men, women, young and old.

In fact, she had been avoiding this topic.

He still seemed to be a boy, as if he were still wearing his old men's clothes.

However, reality always forces her to face all sorts of things she doesn't want to face.

"After October 8th, do I have to wear this to school...?" Mo Xueyao sighed, messing up her hair, and finally reluctantly put it away and tossed it onto the bed.

“Let’s copy from the notebook…” Mo Xueyao sat down in the chair dejectedly and opened Li Wanyan’s notebook. The neat and orderly handwriting was arranged in a clean and concise layout. Looking at her clear and easy-to-understand notes and comparing them with the textbook, it felt like she had attended a class.

"It's as detailed as supplementary material in a textbook..." Mo Xueyao exclaimed to herself, then began copying down the contents of her notebook.

Copying is also a part of memorization.

This is why teachers often ask students to take lots of notes in class; after all, copying once is better than reading ten times.

Li Wanyan's handwriting is bold, beautiful, and very neat, almost like the font printed out by a printer.

Each one is almost the same size, and even if it is the same character, the way it is written is also similar.

It's practically a human-shaped typewriter!

In comparison, Mo Xueyao's handwriting was not as good.

She likes to use a 0.35mm pen tip, so her handwriting is very small. But don't get the wrong idea, small doesn't mean delicate and cute; it could also be crooked and messy like a dead mosquito.

From a distance, it looks like a bunch of dead mosquitoes on a laptop.

Sometimes the characters are written so small that the strokes stick together, to the point that even Mo Xueyao herself can't recognize them.

Even though I know that writing like this is not good, it is hard to change because I have gotten used to it.

In other words, it is only effective if you consciously correct it each time, but if you forget to correct it after a while, it will return to its original state.

Therefore, Mo Xueyao greatly admires people like Li Wanyan who can write each character perfectly, stroke by stroke.

The copying process was somewhat tedious, but she found it quite interesting because she hadn't written properly in a long time.

She could also practice her handwriting at the same time, which resulted in several of her notebooks having different handwriting.

But none of them could consistently stick to it.

"No, no, if they're all stuck together, I won't be able to see them myself." Mo Xueyao scratched her head. "Let's try to write them more spaced out... Let's make that our goal..."

People who get good grades actually have all sorts of learning methods.

It's not just about talent, but also because these people are able to turn learning into a source of enjoyment.

It's like when you're bored while walking, many people will deliberately walk along the lines, imagining that they are playing a game. If they step outside the lines, they lose the game.

Mo Xueyao was currently playing a game where she insisted on writing clear and neat characters.

With a goal in mind, time seems to fly by.

Before I knew it, it was eight o'clock in the evening.

"It's so late... Why haven't Mom and Dad come back yet?" Mo Xueyao turned on all the lights in the house with some unease, and paced back and forth at the door several times before finally hearing a series of tired footsteps.

She excitedly pushed open the door and saw her father dragging his shoes at the door. When he saw her, he yawned widely.

"Dad, where's Mom?"

"Your mother will be a little late today." Her father smiled and handed her a plastic bag he was carrying. "She won't be cooking dinner tonight. This is some fried noodles for you."

"Mmm...uh!" Mo Xueyao, who was already starving, started salivating as soon as she heard the words "fried noodles," and eagerly took the plastic bag from her father's hand.

When I got close to him, I could smell a strong odor of sweat on him. His clothes were also wrinkled, probably because they were soaked with sweat, dried by the sun, and then soaked again... This was caused by repeated cycles.

Stepping into the house, Father shook his head, and a few specks of what looked like dandruff or salt fell from his hair. He looked around, then paused, surprised. "Huh? You've cleaned the house?"

"Yes, it's a spring cleaning. How is it? Clean, right?"

"Not bad, not bad, you're a daughter after all," the father said with a gratified smile.

“…Hmm.” Mo Xueyao remained silent, sat down at the dining table in the living room, opened the box of fried noodles, and began to eat.

The fried noodles were quite generous with the ingredients, including eggs, shredded pork, pork tenderloin, and ham sausage. With so many extra ingredients, the price should be at least twice as expensive as the original fried noodles.

"How is it? Is it delicious?" The father took off his shirt with a 'rip' sound, as if he were peeling off duct tape.

"It's quite delicious."

"As long as it tastes good."

"Dad, do we have to leave this early to haul goods?"

“Yes, the earlier you go out, the more trips you can make in the morning. It’s cooler then, and you get paid more.” The father took out his somewhat tattered fake leather bag from his pocket, pulled out a green fifty-yuan bill from it, and shook it. “Hey, this is what I earned today. I’ll use the change to buy you fried noodles.”

"No wonder he's so generous..."

"Haha, when have I ever mistreated you?" the father laughed, but couldn't hide the weariness in his eyes. "The teacher called today and said she would send over the school uniform and other exercise books and notebooks. Has it arrived yet?"

"It's here..." Mo Xueyao muttered, her eyelids drooping, "The girls' uniform from Yukong High School, why is it a skirt..."

"Oh? Is that so?" The father was somewhat surprised, then laughed. "Isn't that great?"

"What's so good about it!" Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes, stuffed the noodles into her mouth, and chewed them as if venting her anger.

……

Chapter Four: Let's Go and See Rain Sky High School

The beginning of October is a cause for celebration for students who have been in school for a month, as they get a seven-day holiday.

For workers, it's a day when they can finally catch their breath, since the longest holiday of the year, apart from National Day, is the Spring Festival.

For the entire country, it is naturally a day to celebrate. Although China has not done so well in many aspects during this era, and several major events have occurred in recent years, this does not prevent people from feeling excited and joyful when they see tanks and airplanes appearing on the live broadcast of National Day on television. Of course, there is also worry.

After all, there are better options in other countries.

The National Day of 1999 was a special day, as it marked the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Therefore, not only does it appear grand on television programs, but the solemnity of the National Day can also be felt everywhere in reality.

The streetlights were covered with small national flags, and on the playground of Yukong High School, the national flag was always hanging, fluttering in the wind.

Yukong High School, located on Muge Road in Hangzhou, was originally a private school founded by a Mo family. Later, it was taken over by the government as a public school and renamed 'Yukong High School', but after seven years of operation, the results were not good.

The college entrance rate is much lower than that of the private Mo Family High School. Its only advantage is that the school's atmosphere is still relatively good.

Of course, this is also because the ratio of girls to boys at Yukong High School is three to two, slightly more than the number of boys, which achieves a delicate balance in maintaining order.