A Young Woman's Heart

"What if?" Zhou Yong's face was abnormally flushed.

"Isn't it just that I want to see girls without clothes?" Duanmu Ji said casually. "What's so strange about that?"

Mr. Xue nodded, subconsciously pushing up his glasses—but he had taken them off while sleeping, so he only pushed them up to nothing: "Didn't you get enough of them in biology class?"

"Damn, can a real person and a picture be the same? And those pictures in biology class are totally boring!" Zhou Yong said, unable to resist climbing over the passage, and saw Gao Yuan carefully placing his hand on the doorknob.

"Ha...haha...Zhou Yong, what brings you here?"

"Hehe, I want to see it too!"

“You two…” Mr. Xue shook his head and sighed helplessly.

"Damn, Xiaoxue, Xiaoji, what brings you here? Didn't you say it wouldn't be fun?" Zhou Yong 'mockingly' said.

Duanmu Ji said with a serious expression, "I'm here to stop you."

"Crack!"

The doorknob was turned and opened.

Surprisingly, the girls seemed completely unsuspecting; the door wasn't locked!

This left Gao Yuan somewhat at a loss.

Upon opening the door, one could see girls' underwear drying in front of the air vents at the top of the stairs.

Each item looks to be only the size of a palm.

Bright red blood slowly flowed from Gao Yuan's nostrils.

"I feel like I'm a little feverish..." Zhou Yong covered his nose and quickly closed the door.

Duanmu Ji raised his eyebrows, seemingly looking down on these two guys who had the desire to steal but lacked the courage.

Mr. Xue's fair face appeared somewhat translucent under the moonlight. He shook his head helplessly and pressed down on Zhou Yong and Gao Yuan, saying, "Alright, you two stop fooling around and go to sleep."

……

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Finding a Job

The date is May 8, 2000.

Zhuang Lianlian wrote this line in her diary.

I want to write, but I don't know what to write.

In the end, all I wrote was the sentence, "Going to look for a job today."

She pushed open the van door, and the cold wind from the street made her shiver.

I even felt a little dizzy and almost fell to the ground.

She held onto the car door, took a few breaths, gritted her teeth, and struggled to lift the suitcase out.

"Will they come back?" she murmured to herself as she closed the van door.

Fortunately, it was winter, and there was no odor even after not showering for several days, but my body still had a lot of dust on it.

She shook her head vigorously, brushing the snowflakes off her hair.

It's unclear whether it's due to a long-term lack of nutrition, but her hair is generally grayish-white, like the hair color of an elderly person.

Of course, it's not that exaggerated; it's just that the difference is more noticeable when you stand next to people your own age.

Zhuang Lianlian did not have a cane.

It wasn't lost, but rather deliberately thrown away by her.

She didn't want to be seen as an oddball by others, needing crutches.

Although the prosthesis prevents her from running, walking slowly is not a big problem.

However, the roads were slippery due to the rain, and it was quite difficult for her to walk in the snow with her prosthetic leg, as she made a 'crunching' sound.

She had to stop and rest for a while almost every short distance.

The suitcase was difficult to drag on the snow, and as the distance it was dragged increased, more and more snow accumulated on the chassis, requiring it to be stopped and cleared before it could be used again.

And so, a girl appeared on the street—

Gritting her teeth, she dragged the heavy pink suitcase forward.

When passersby asked her if she needed help, she refused them all with gritted teeth.

It's like deliberately torturing yourself.

“Uh-oh—!” Zhuang Lianlian pulled her suitcase and stopped in front of a pastry shop. There was a job advertisement posted on the shop window.

It seems they're hiring a cake decorator, and the requirements are that the applicant be female and have a good appearance.

She hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth, clutched her right leg, and staggered up the stairs, pushing open the shop door.

"Welcome! Would you like something?"

"Huff...huff..." She breathed warm air onto her hands, which were purple from the cold. The expression of gritting her teeth just now vanished without a trace, as if she had magically changed her face. "Um...excuse me...is this...a job posting?"

"Huh? Hiring? Oh, that flyer, I forgot to tear it off. Sorry, sorry, we're not hiring anymore."

"..." Zhuang Lianlian lowered her head dejectedly, forcefully pushed open the glass door, staggered out of the store, and continued to walk forward, dragging her suitcase and gritting her teeth.

Work, find a job.

She told herself that.

But the initial persistence and enthusiasm were gradually extinguished by the cold reality.

Hangzhou is, after all, a provincial capital city, and most shops are hesitant to hire a little girl they don't know and who is underage.

Some shops allow sixteen-year-olds, but require them to show their ID card or household registration book.

She didn't have any of those things.

She could only leave again and again amidst people's apologetic gazes.

Yes, no one was giving her a hard time, but she felt like she was going crazy.

She began to hate those pitying looks and wanted to tear those 'hypocritical' faces apart.

"If you pity me so much, then give me a job. Why all the hypocrisy and give me food as charity?"

It turns out that surviving on your own is such a difficult thing.

Rejected once again, she stood at the door with her suitcase, walking unsteadily.

Although I haven't been to many places, my energy is almost completely depleted.

She felt lost, confused, and wronged.

She bit her lip gently, breathing softly, feeling a tingling sensation on her scalp and a stinging feeling in the corners of her eyes.

She blinked hard, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.

She took a deep breath, but choked on her saliva and then coughed violently.

Sometimes, this is how despair arrives.

When people are desperate, they tend to go to extremes.

When things go to extremes, even the good intentions of others can be perceived as malice, as if the whole world wants to hurt you.

"Thump!" Her foot slipped, and although she was holding onto her suitcase tightly, she still inevitably fell, and the suitcase slid down the slope.

This is the entrance to the cancer hospital. She walked here from somewhere else and was about to go downstairs.

But the roads were slippery in the snow, and it was downhill, so even a person with all four limbs could easily slip and fall, let alone her.

"Waaah, waaah...!" Zhuang Lianlian finally couldn't help but sob softly, but as if she had eaten too much and was too full, she kept hiccuping, making it impossible for her to cry freely.

The suitcase, covered in snow, slipped off and eventually crashed into a silly little husky standing by the roadside.

"Thud—bang!" The husky was knocked down onto the suitcase, but this increased friction and made the suitcase stop intermittently.

A tabby cat chased after the husky from a nearby shop, quickly darted to its side, and was about to pat it with its paw when it saw the suitcase in front of it.

So, the cat and dog sat there curiously, staring at the pink suitcase, as if waiting for its owner to come and claim it.

"Beep beep beep—!!!!" A car horn sounded from behind.

"What are you doing! Lying on the road in broad daylight, are you looking to die!" The car driver stuck half his head out of the window and shouted angrily.

For a fleeting moment, Zhuang Lianlian even thought it would be better to just be run over by the car.

However, the driver certainly didn't dare to actually run her over, so he drove around her beforehand.

Zhuang Lianlian only heard the whoosh of a car passing by her ear.

She closed her eyes and thought of Chen Cheng, who had treated her to dinner that day, and Mo Xueyao and the others who had shown her kindness that day.

Suddenly I wonder if I'm being too sensitive and too extreme?

Let's try one last time.

She slowly got up from the ground, her back soaked with snow that had become dirty from frequent car traffic.

It was cold to the bone marrow.

She trembled, clutching her right leg, and limped to her suitcase.

If that still doesn't work, then commit suicide.

With this thought in mind, strength surged through her body again, or rather, her last bit of strength.

In the fruit shop next door, a couple was working and chatting.

"Ali, why haven't Xiaoyao and Wanyan come back yet?"

"What's the rush? Didn't the teacher say yesterday that it's a club activity? With the teacher there, what are you afraid of?"

"That's hard to say. Maybe the teacher himself isn't a good person?"

"What are you thinking? Stop assuming such bad things about people, okay?"