A Young Woman's Heart

……

Not all those who have passed away are martyrs; many ordinary people also died for various reasons.

Some are accidents, some are illnesses.

Some people are still misunderstood even when they die.

Tian Tingchan stood quietly in front of a tombstone, holding a bunch of wildflowers of different colors in her hands.

She rolled the flowers together in newspaper, like a bouquet, and quietly placed it in front of the grave.

For Tian Tingchan, life's journey is a process of finding kindred spirits and exploring oneself.

Buried in this small grave is one of her friends.

Or rather, he was a guide, a mentor.

He was also a pitiful person who wanted to become a girl.

The world is always strange; some people don't want to be girls, while others try their best to become 'her'.

They once supported each other across thousands of miles, but eventually one of them couldn't hold on and collapsed.

Their first meeting was not long after the start of the university semester.

So much happened in her family and in her life; she didn't die by suicide.

Even in her most desperate moments, she still longed to live.

She was accidentally killed by her own father.

As for what sentence her father had been sentenced to, Tian Tingchan didn't know completely, only that he was still alive.

At that time, Tian Tingchan, who had no money, gritted her teeth and took out all her living expenses to buy the cheapest grave in the corner of the cemetery in this remote suburb.

It's probably only half a square meter in size.

But I still had to borrow some money to afford it.

It took three months to pay off the loan.

She doesn't regret doing what she did back then, which made her burden even heavier and almost caused her to break down—if she hadn't met Zuo Ziya later.

If she could do it all over again, she would still do it, at least now there is a place to remember her.

She was alone during both the cremation and burial.

Her parents and relatives ignored her death and refused to do any follow-up work, which gave Tian Tingchan the right to do all this.

Tian Tingchan stood quietly in front of her grave for a long time, gently stroking the low tombstone.

Besides her name, the only inscription on the tombstone is that of her friend, Tian Tingchan.

Tian Tingchan gently bit her lip, trembling slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she only opened her mouth without making a sound.

The wind carried her silent words to the distance, the wildflowers in front of the grave were gently blown up, their petals drifting in the air, a few landing on her black, somewhat rough hair.

A single, murky tear fell before the grave, then pattered down like a light rain.

long long time...

The area in front of the grave became empty and desolate again, with only a tombstone remaining, silently telling the untold story of the past.

……

After returning home, Zhou Yong couldn't wait to turn on his computer. Recently, he has been frequently using the forum's private messages to chat with "Winter Cicada," also known as Tian Ting Chan.

Waiting for a reply from the other party each day became the happiest thing for Zhou Yong.

In real life, he probably wouldn't be able to chat casually with such a beautiful girl, right?

In reality, it would be impossible to understand each other so deeply.

So, the internet is really a wonderful thing.

He sighed and opened his private messages.

It contains Tian Tingchan's reply.

"Good afternoon. The school organized a tomb-sweeping event today. It was unusually quiet there."

"Was it organized by the school at a martyrs' cemetery?"

"Yeah, did you go to sweep the tombs today?" Zhou Yong quickly sent the message, then quickly added, "I meant sweeping the martyrs' tombs."

"Haha, I know, no, I'm not that free."

"Oh, right, are you free to hang out?" Zhou Yong typed this message and hesitated for a full minute before sending it.

"OK."

……

Chapter 191 The Arrangements for the School Anniversary (Part 1)

In the blink of an eye, another week has passed, and we've arrived at the last day of the week—Sunday.

Today is April 9th, which means the school anniversary celebration will officially begin tomorrow.

Therefore, classes are only held in the morning, and the afternoon time is left to be freely allocated by various clubs and classes.

Students who have no assignments in class or clubs can go home after school.

As the publicity committee member, Mo Xueyao had to prioritize class affairs, as did the class monitor.

Fortunately, the others can go, and Mr. Xue is also helping out from the art club. In addition, Teacher Qiu is providing technical guidance, so there shouldn't be any problems.

Those who remained in the class were Mo Xueyao, Li Wanyan, Ye Banxia, ​​and Cha Li, as well as Li Hongran, who was assigned to do hard labor by the homeroom teacher, and An Ruosu, who was called by Li Hongran to help.

"So, let's move the things over now?" Most of the people in the classroom had already left. Li Hongran, who had just helped with a quick clean-up, asked with great enthusiasm, rolling up her sleeves.

"I'll go with you to move them over. Wanyan, have the others help stack all the tables and chairs to the back," Mo Xueyao instructed. As the publicity committee member, she was second only to the homeroom teacher in command in this matter. Everyone else, including the class monitor, just needed to follow her instructions.

Of course, this is only in theory. If people don't get along, they will definitely try to trip each other up.

Mo Xueyao had met him when she was in junior high school.

Moreover, these were all decisions made after discussions among everyone. They already had a general understanding of how to proceed, and Mo Xueyao's decisions were mostly just about the details.

“If we bring them all, we probably can’t carry them all in one trip.” Li Hongran wiped his neck and looked at Mo Xueyao walking behind him. “Should we make several trips or just take a little at a time?”

"Let's take some first and try to make one, then we'll take the others." Mo Xueyao took her hands out of her pockets and gently patted her face to dispel the drowsiness brought on by the midday sun.

"Mo Xueyao, do you know which boy in our class is good at folding origami cranes?" Li Hongran, who was walking in front, casually brought up a topic when she saw that the atmosphere was a bit boring.

"What's wrong?" Mo Xueyao didn't answer immediately, but subconsciously glanced at An Ruosu.

An Ruosu, who was walking beside her, stiffened for a moment, then pretended to look casually at the aisle next to her.

"I don't think I've told you this before. Oh, on April Fool's Day, some jerk sent me a love letter."

"You've been tricked?" Mo Xueyao asked casually.

"Yes, at first I thought it was from a girl because it came with origami cranes and little stars, the kind you fold from paper. The letter was also written very sincerely, but it turned out to be from a boy at the end." Li Hongran laughed self-deprecatingly. "I even thought it was from a gentle and virtuous girl, and I was thinking that as long as she was decent enough, I would say yes!"

"You narcissistic muscle man, why do you sound like you're giving me charity?" Mo Xueyao pouted and nudged Li Hongran with her elbow. "You're overthinking it. How could you possibly receive a girl's love letter?"

"Why is it impossible?" Li Hongran tossed her hair. "How could a woman not like a handsome, dashing man like me, full of masculine charm? Being with me makes you feel very safe, okay?"

"Tsk." Mo Xueyao clicked her tongue, tilted her head and thought for a while, then said very seriously, "I think you might be more attractive to boys."

"Holy crap, why? You're giving me goosebumps."

"Because men all want muscles like yours, they like to get close to you and be your friend, and share how to build muscles like yours."

"Oh, please explain clearly. This is quite normal, but in a sense, it is indeed a kind of 'attraction'." Li Hongran scratched her head. "Then can't girls appreciate it?"

"Please." Mo Xueyao's mother had been watching Taiwanese dramas a lot lately and had unconsciously picked up a bit of a Taiwanese accent. "It's a peaceful era now. Girls' aesthetics have changed a lot. They don't want men with explosive muscles like you anymore. In their eyes, you're like a frog."

"Damn it." Li Hongran felt hurt. "So, does that mean Mo Xueyao doesn't like someone like me either?"

"What level of liking do you mean?" She yawned widely and glanced at Li Hongran sideways. "I can appreciate it, but that doesn't mean I like it."

"Well, it's good enough that you can appreciate it; you have good taste."

"Are you just trying to make yourself look good?" Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes at Li Hongran, then put her arm around An Ruosu's shoulder. "What's popular now is someone like An Ruosu: a sunny young man with a beautiful figure, some muscle but not too big, and over 1.72 meters tall."

This was certainly not her own aesthetic standard, but something she heard from other girls.

After all, living surrounded by girls all day long, it's hard not to know him.

"To put it bluntly, it's all about pretty boys... tough guys like me with sharp edges are being neglected by the times." Li Hongran clutched her chest. "It hurts so much."

“These movements are fine for Gao Yuan, but they look really weird on you,” Mo Xueyao teased, her eyelids drooping. “Can you stop clowning around? We’re almost there, let’s get to work.”

As she spoke, she quickly walked to the door of the small warehouse, unlocked it with the key, and went inside.

The place was piled with things, with only a narrow passage in the middle, which made the tall Li Hongran have to turn sideways to pass through.

"Take this cardboard, and these, and take these out. Two people should be able to carry two sets, right?"

“No problem,” Li Hongran replied readily.

An Ruosu nodded and hugged the things she needed to take, while Li Hongran carried them on her shoulder, as if to say that taking another one wouldn't be a problem.

Mo Xueyao was holding a small basket containing simple tools such as tape, scissors, and watercolor pens, which she would use later when decorating.

When we carried our things back to the classroom, everyone was still moving desks and chairs. After a lot of work, we finally managed to stack all the desks and chairs at the back of the classroom.

"Let me draw a line. This area is divided into ten sections. There shouldn't be any problem placing ten of them here," Mo Xueyao said, using chalk to simply mark the positions. Then everyone gathered around the podium and pieced them together—the lectern was also moved to the back of the classroom, freeing up a large space.

For this school anniversary celebration, the theme for Class 2 of Grade 11 is 'mystery' and 'making friends'.

The cardboard boxes were all recycled from the recycling center. They were disassembled and then cut to make miniature houses.

It doesn't need to be too big, just big enough to fit a table and two chairs.

People inside can't stand up; they have to bend over to go in and out.

As for its design, it wasn't particularly exquisite; it looked more like a matchbox. Mo Xueyao opened the cardboard cut into the shape of a door, bent down, crawled inside, and sat down on the chair.

"How are you, Xiaoyao?" Ye Banxia's voice came from outside, sounding somewhat distorted because of the cardboard in the background.